bjahil47

I was so excited to see a post from you starting a new cruise!  Love following along hearing about your adventures.  So happy the Queen will be joining you.  You have a wonderful gift to be close to your mom and to be able to travel with her.  Cherish every moment..❤️❤️

Bonnie

Just caught up on your adventures thus far!  Have a great cruise!

Bonnie

Thank you for your review!  We will be on Reflection in 2025 and your review was helpful!

Safe travels home!

2 hours ago, PinkSandGirl said:

Rooftop Garden Grill - 2nd time. 

 

Another wonderful meal and outstanding service!

 

I promise pictures.  =).

 

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In March we ate there and did not care for the main course.  We had brisket and the ribs and both were so hard to chew we finally gave up.   Dried and hard.

2 hours ago, PinkSandGirl said:

Our view when dining tonight.  Beautiful sky.  Saba (island).  It was like a backdrop. 

 

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Great pictures!  I see just about that view when I am at our place in St. Maarten.  It’s only about 28 miles away and our place looks directly out at Saba.  

I have the credit card and stopped using it as the rewards were not worth it

We were on Beyond last month and my husband had an issue with his eye.  All they could do was look in it with a light and charge him $220 and no receipt.  They did arrange for him to see a retina specialist the next day in port.  They had transportation ready for him and had an interpreter go with him.  It was well planned by Celebrity and luckily he was able to reboard ship after a procedure.  …

Happy you are feeling better!

Following along!  Have a great cruise!  We did a partial Panama Canal transit on Beyond last month and it was great!  Enjoy!

Following along!  Safe travels to Florida!  ✈️ 

We pick up foaming hand soap at Publix before we board

Just caught up!  We were on Beyond last month and it will be interesting to hear your views!

Enjoy St. Marteen, it’s one of our favorite places and we go every January for 3 weeks!  If you are looking for jewelry, go see Jack at Majesty on Front St. And tell him Bonnie sent you!  A few blocks down from him on a side street is a little restaurant called The French Touch.  It is fabulous!  Have fun!  

Just caught up!  Following along, we will be on reflection next year!

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Reflections has 2X the number of Sky Suites 44 vs 84 plus Extra Reflection Suite and Signature Suites...   Puts a strain on both Retreat and Luminae.    When first introduced we had a major problem with the restaurant and chose to never sail her again.   

 

Again... many do not share our opinion and love her.

Thanks, I did not research that.  Don’t know if will make any difference that we will be in RS.   Can’t be any worse than Beyond, in which we got a pager and had to wait 40 minutes for a table in a half full Luminae.  We were in SS on Beyond.  

15 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Today was day 4 and I thought I would reflect on the cruise - especially with our recent disappointment with the Edge Class ships.

 

Michael's Club - vs - Retreat Lounge

 

While the Suites lounge hasn't been updated and still the old dark clubby paneling - we are enjoying it much better than Retreat.  

 

The Concierges are engaging, attentive and very responsive to any request.   Even though they don't have a hot/cold table they have everything you wish with table side service.   It is our go to place for a light continental breakfast.    We went to the CC Breakfast one morning and it was mobbed -- we had to grab a table when someone got up and it was cleared of the dirty dishes quickly.   I think this cruise has a large CC member count -- they had 2 Captains Toasts --- Elite + and above and all others the next day.

 

They have a actual bar on Solstice which we love.   Originally there were 4 chairs and Lucy pulled up 2 more --- then last night she had 8 high top seats for the group that we have been drinking with.     Really fun -   as opposed to to the Airport Lounge feel of Edge. 

 

Sorry --- these are of course only my opinions and we each have different tastes and preferences.    I think Edge convinced us we will never sail E-Class again.     If E-Class is Celebrity's future we are Celebrity's Past... ok... ok.... I'm an GRUMPY OLD GIT!   Stay tuned.

 

Luminae -

 

So far would give it a 10+ on Solstice vs a 7 on Edge.   Food always perfectly cooked to order.   The Maitre'd an Assistant are ever present and checking in.    The Sommelier greets us when we arrive and is watching glasses constantly.    Edge shall we say was like pulling teeth or asking the assistant waiter to find him.     Iain was please that they had his  Louis Jardot - Macon-Village 2020 on the Premium Package.... He is happy.   I have my Fre Red - January 2024 so am also pleased.

 

When we first boarded we saw they had implemented the "New" Luminae Menu -  Of course the Raspberry Pistachio Vancherin had been replaced with the Chocolate Pill on the Daniel Boulud menu.     Last night I noticed it was on day 3 menu.   I asked Mori (our waiter) if it was a mistake.  He said no-   they were going to alternate and it was indeed available ---  2 points for the Solstice.

 

Next up Murano -

 

Excellent as usual.   It was quiet with light music in the background -  unlike ALL OF THE SPECIALTIES  on Edge Class with no walls and blaring noise an music.  I would give our experience a 10+ vs.   all the specialties on Edge Class -  7-

 

More later --- Iain just left for a smoke and I meet him in Michael's Club in 15 minutes.

 

 

 

We have been on Equinox 8 times!  We went on Beyond last month and did not care for it.  To us it was cold and uninviting.  Not once did anyone greet us in Retreat Lounge, call us, etc.  it took 9 days for the assistant waiter to comprehend I was gluten free.  On Equinox we were always greeted walking in Retreat door, waiters/assistants knew I was gf on day one and remembered and gave me options for dinner instead of me asking “can I eat this?”.  We also always received calls from Retreat on Equinox.  
 

We booked a cruise on Reflection while on Beyond.

Safe travels home!  Thank you for sharing your cruise with us!  I love your style of writing, it keeps everyone engaged and wanting more!  
 

Looking forward to your cruise with the Queen!

We were on Beyond in mid March and it was a sold out cruise to Panama Canal and ABC islands.  We were in Retreat and one night we had to wait 40 minutes to dine.  
 

We went to the buffet several times for lunch and a few times had to walk around to find empty seats.  Food was very good!   I usually found a free seat at Cafe Al Bacio.  We tried to go to a few shows in the smaller venues and could never find any seats.  Also, in the main theatre we only saw a few shows as there were no available seats at either show.  We usually showed up about 15 minutes ahead of show.  I was not spending my vacation sitting an hour waiting for a show to begin.   We walked the pool area several times, very crowded on sea days but many open chairs on port days.  
 

We have been on Equinox 8 times and this was our first time on an Edge Class.  We found it very cold and uninviting.  The cabin was very nice.  We booked a future cruise on board on Reflection.  
 

We still had a great cruise as I am sure you will!  

In the Celebrity app, look under Welcome aboard!  It lists pertinent topics for that day and will state if casual or evening chic that night.  Not sure how far out from the cruise it will be listed, ours was about a month out from cruise.  

I believe you will have to pay a $100 per person change fee.  

25 minutes ago, RK-NC said:

Thanks for the reminder @1Virgo about chic night reserved seating. I was asking @bjahil47 about shows on the other nights. We're trying to plan and wondering if one show is more popular than the other (early 7:30 vs late 9:30)

Shows were packed at both times.  We either tried early or late show depending on when we ate dinner.  

4 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

True, but we never had a problem in that (second level) section on any night....

That’s great!  On Beyond a few weeks ago we arrived 30 minutes ahead of shows and could not find seats anywhere for a few of them.

1 minute ago, CruisinShips said:

We never had a problem getting a seat when sitting in the reserved Retreat seating area.

The reserved Retreat section is only on Chic nights

7 minutes ago, PinkSandGirl said:

Were you on the 10-night or 11-night Itinerary? 

 

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The 11 night with partial Panama Canal transit

Will be following along!  We just got off the Beyond end of March.  

I love good coffee and buy only fresh beans that are freshly roasted.  I grind them myself.  I do cheat as I have a fully automatic coffee maker that makes great cappuccinos and americanos,  

cafe Al Bacio is good, not great coffee.  It is much better than room service coffee or coffee in buffet.  We were just on Beyond and the Cappuccinos were never hot.  
 

For the amount of time I am on the cruise ship, Cafe Al Bacio is fine for coffee or tea.  

We got off Beyond a few weeks ago.  @jelayneis correct in her info.  
 

If you do not get to the show at least 45 minutes ahead of time you may not find a seat.  We personally feel the quality of Luminae has decreased.  They put this salty brown sauce on most everything.  We ate a few lunches in the buffet and had good meals, better offerings than Luminae.  
 

We sat in a window seat a few times.  You need to get there when it opens or later on to have your best chances at a window view.  Also, it was busy one night and we had to wait over 40 minutes for a table.  When they finally paged us, half the dining room was empty.