jenniebnyc

I can't imagine 3 adults in a balcony cabin, but if you know what you are getting into and have an open mind, it's possible. IMO this would not be enjoyable, so would never do it while on 'vacation'.

 

I had a rather disappointing butler experience on my last Reflection cruise. I also saw several management issues that were more eye-opening to me. If it had been my first Celebrity cruise, I know I would be looking elsewhere in the future.

We did too back in January. Broken glass in the middle of the floor was never cleaned up after we requested. 5 hours later when approached many excuses were given. It was downhill from there. Every minor thing we asked for was never done and when asked why, there was an excuse. It was so annoying we asked for a new butler who was really not any better. We decided they were more of a nuisance than anything. We got our own apps and brought to room in the afternoon and my dad got pastry and coffee in the morning bc if we relied on the butler is was prepared wrong and hot items were literally ice cold. As I said, it was just annoying and a waste of time and energy. We have had wonderful butlers in the past, specifially Gordon from Goa and Luis from Honduras. These past two, horrible.

For the prices you pay for a suite this is not acceptable. I blame management for improper, or lack of, training.

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. Your reactions are your reactions, I'm not sure why others have to offer a rebuttal. We will be in a suite on Silhouette in January for the 1st time since Luminae debuted, and I have to admit I am skeptical going in. The menu just seems so limited, I've seen menus and several nights there are just no appetizers, etc that sound appealing to me. I've heard that we can order off the MDR menu but I'm not sure what the advantage is there, we expect an upgraded experience in Luminae and not the regular choice and quality. Anyway, I'm hoping we'll be impressed by the service and atmosphere if not the food!

Give it a try. We were on Reflection in Luminae in January and it was very hit or miss. The MD was like a used car salesman. All talk, no action, and would never leave us alone. He was OTT. He has since left the ship. The food was "trying too hard" and in most instances just OK. Never hot, but lukewarm. The only exception were the pastas that were absolutely delicious and piping hot upon delivery. I suggest getting a few pastas for the table as an appetizer to share each night to try them out. I am a big fan of gourmet food and found myself ordering entrees off of the MDR menu most nights as the frilly entrees on the Luminae menu just were not great...always one too many ingredients that made it more weird than elegant or tasteful. Even down to the beef and lamb items...MDR entrees were better than Luminae. The room itself is very nice and I definietly prefer it to the hustle bustle of the MDR. They need to rethink the Luminae menu a bit. It's been over a year now. Might be time. That said, I would still prefer dining in Luminae over MDR or elswhere. Good luck

here is 6145

In a lot of the towns you can do the excursions yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Rainforest hikes in Ketchikan are simple. The Visitor Center guide will give you lots of information and maps for them all.

Juneau is amazing and definitely do the whale watching. You can get to Mendenhall for $30 (there and back) right from the dock. But I'd still get a whale watching excursion if you can. Such a cool event.

Skagway is a great little town to wander all the shops. And you can rent scooters for cheap and go up into the mountains! (Just watch for bears!)

Victoria is a beautiful town. You have to see the Butchart Gardens and Craigdarroch Castle. Such a wonderful history.

 

Be sure to pack for cold weather and warm weather. It'll likely be raining at some of your stops and when you're on the water or in the Fjord, it'll be cold (if not freezing!).

 

Most importantly, have fun!

awesome, thank you!

Thank you everyone so much!

I think we have a lot of research to do! So many things to do!

Keep the suggestions coming. I am all ears.

As for 4 to a bathroom in a suite, we found if one of more of us went to the spa for a shower it made things a bit easier. The showers are huge and all ammentiies you need are there. Just a thought if you plan to book a RS or CS.

X doesn't really need it...plenty of seats most days...maybe a bit more crowded on sea days but not overly so...

 

I have never had an easy time getting good seats on a carribean cruise. You must be lucky

Great to hear! Thank you. We are currently booked in Celebrity Suite 1233 with the large angled balcony I believe on the Sky Deck. We will stay put. Thanks again

I believe you can order wings from the room service menu.

Hi: Can someone please shed some light on being located on the port side of the ship for this itinerary? First time on a cruise to Alaska. This cruise is roundtrip from Seattle. Will we miss many of the sites not being starboard? Also, I know weather is hit or miss with no guarantees, but what about traveling to AK in early September? Pros and Cons? Not to miss excursions? Thanks is advance.

Hi:

Can someone tell me if the Celebrity suites were updaded on Millineum? I hear the furnishings were old and worn. Wondering if they have been replaced? Also, were the bathrooms gutted?

Any recent pics would be welcomed.

Booked on Millie August 2017 for Alaska. Wondering if we would do better on the Solstice. Any feedback on M vs S in Alaska?

Thanks in advance.

I was told it's not happening this month. The MC hostess I spoke to was leaning toward April for rollout, but it sounded like mostly speculation.

When was your cruise? For any January Eclipse cruise in a SS there was one large bottle in the cabin, but it was not free. There were small bottles delivered everyday or whenever we used our supply on the counter as we moved them to the frig. I do not know if this is a new process or just something our Butler did. It was not big deal for us because we had a drink package anyway. Our Butler did offer to get us cocktails at any time if we would just give him the numbers on our card, but we never asked.

 

Could be we just had an amazing Butler.

 

 

 

I would think that the number of cruiser who have not booked at least with the Big pricing and received at least one perk would be very low. Therefore it is probably just more of the idea of the elimination than the actual impact. From our experience in Aqua it was suppose to be two bottle of water a day, but they always supplied as much as we wanted.

We were on the Jan 22 cruise. The butler was very happy to show us our one bottle (not large) or free water for embarkation. We were laughing and said ok but there are three of us. No big deal to us either as we had a drink package but they presented it like it was a bottle of Dom.

Sounds like you got lucky with a wonderful butler! Was his name Gordon?? Bc he is the best and apparently on the Eclipse right now! Unfortunately our first butler on this cruise was so poor we had him changed for another who was not much better. All we asked for was ice 3x a day and hot strong coffee in the morning. Even this did not happen. Room service breakfast was so cold that cheese in eggs was congealed. I ordered an iced espresso one day in hopes of strong coffee and got cold coffee in a paper cup with no ice. It was laughable. Not a good experience. Next cruise we are just going to forego the butler and we will rid of a lot of hassle. Still had a great cruise nevertheless.

We were just in a celebrity suite on reflection where I guess we get water on embarkation too. On the table when we walked into the suite was One bottle of water (room temp) for three people. Seriously, don't even bother.

Rack of Lamb, last month in Blu (Eclipse) was superb - as was the Pomegranate Duck.

 

 

That food looks far better than what was served to us in Luminae on Reflection last week.

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Chummy servers are the scourge of modern dining. For a server to actually sit down at your table is outrageous and should never occur anywhere, much less in a "fine dining" establishment.

They ask how your meal is and they want open feedback. With that said, if something was not hot temperature-wise or not prepared properly or came with random sides that don't compliment the main entree we gave feedback. They asked for it. They begged for it, but then when they got it they didn't know how to handle it. I don't need a hug, I don't need you to sit with me, I don't need to hear excuses, I don't need 10 pounds of more food. We continued to say, what would be best is if you get it right the first time --hot food hot, cold food cold is 85% of the food being good imo. And, anticipate the customers needs. I continued to repeat myself for the first leg of the trip. After a few days I just said everything was fine bc I couldn't handle talking to another person in the dining room. I shouldn't have to tell you my food is cold. You should be properly trained to not bring me food unless it's hot and when I give you feedback that you ask for, take it back to the kitchen staff and fix the problem. It was really too much after a few days. They need a lot of improvement in this dining room.

Thank you for the time and energy you put into your posts!

 

 

 

What did you think of the party band? Who was the cruise director?

Party band was fine. Not horrible but not the best I've heard on X.

Cruise director is Alexander. He wasn't as annoying and obnoxious as last cruise two years ago. I saw him in Michaels club once where he only conversed with a group that included a gay man. Never came over to anyone else that was in the club. The only other time I saw him was as MC at a show in the theater. That was fine by me. No need to see him more than that [emoji57]

We have wondered who is directing that the lights be so low, especially in the evenings.

 

We have asked on 3 different ships why this is done in MC, with no response.

 

The lights are on a dimmer switch, so they can be turned up.

 

There's really no valid reason for MC to be so dimly lit, especially when there are functions like the Officer meet and greet!

I noticed the lights on dimmers too. The bar and bartenders were in complete darkness with no lights overhead. It was really strange. Not sure what concept they are going for in here but it was uncomfortably dark.

Curious...will you continue to book with having dinner in Luminae going forward?

 

Comparing MDR, Blu and Luminae which do you prefer? So many mixed reviews for Luminae. Thanks!

I will continue booking suites so our dining room will be luminae. The dining room itself is nice and somewhat intimate. The food and service were hit or miss. I will write more later on this. We did order quite a bit off mdr menu and in most cases, the mdr food was better! I was very surprised! Those dining in mdr must have been very happy on this cruise. We only ate one lunch here and one breakfast. We had all dinners but one when we ate at Qsine. I will say things got a bit overbearing at times. I was getting anxious bc so many people were flocking around us, talking to us, sitting with us, etc. they need to know when to leave the guests alone. I just wanted to eat a nice meal in peace and that did not happen much.

I have enjoyed reading your review and seeing your trip photos. We take lots of pictures of our food...people look at us like we are crazy, I do not care, I want to remember (and hopefully recreate) my favorites. We will be sailing Reflection in March of 2017 (seems like a long time from now but we are fortunate to have a Solstice cruise booked this coming September and just disembarked from a back to back Connie cruise a week ago). I am looking at a number of reviews and do not see the cabanas mentioned. What are they all about? First come first serve or do you have to reserve them? Seems like a nice place to relax and read or just veg. We have been on the Solstice class once prior and love all of the venues. Wish we could do a back to back but alas, time is short for our 3/17 cruise slot. Thanks in advance...Julie

Hello: the cabanas usually need to be reserved in advance. They are located far from the pool on the deck above the pool. There is nothing to my knowledge included in the cost of the cabana. All good and beverages would be extra. There are servers for the cabanas. I didn't see a real need for them. There is a beautiful sunning area on the Solstice deck that is quiet and subdued. We like sitting up there away from the chaos near the pool and bars. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

I see that you took a bridge tour. Did you take it as part of the ship's tour? Or was it a perk for booking a suite? Thanks.

 

 

 

I thought that food at the Centurion in the Miami Airport looked REAL good!

Hi: the bridge tour was invite only...at least for our tour. We asked our Michael's Club hostess and she made it happen for us. It was interesting and an honor. I am sure you could always ask your concierge and maybe they can make it happen for you.

Another iceberg salad. I ordered mixed greens. Oh well.

Green curry entree. Inedible

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Seared tuna. Fine. Nothing great.

Seafood fettuccine and four cheese gnocchi. Both tasty. I will be carb free effective today for at least two weeks! Lol

Some final food shots.

Some mushroom risotto and gnocchi. The pastas are made by a Jamaican woman named Pinkie. Pinkie should be head chef at Luminae. Her dishes were hot, delicate and cooked perfectly. I can't say too much about the dishes other than pasta, but glad we were able to experience pinkies pasta each night.

Homemade cavatelli with a duck bolognese and fresh ricotta. On par with NYC restaurants. Very comforting.

Chicken liver mousse terrine. Lovely.