biscuitsandhoney

3 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Menu of limited offerings in the Retreat Lounge was rolled out yesterday on the Ascent.   The beverages are all that are available now in the lounge and all fall within the premium beverage package , so upcharge was short lived in the Lounge.  Unfortunately the list does not include some of the previous favorites.

Thanks for the update. We are on Ascent in March. We will report back 😀

Classic and Premium Package PDF attached

12_15_23_OB_SP_Drinks-Flyer_V4.pdf

On 12/18/2023 at 10:05 PM, goofysmom99 said:

Report is coming from Summit, now.  Anything that's over $17.

We were in the Retreat on the Summit for the Dec 21st Christmas Cruise. No card readers existed in the Retreat Lounge or Retreat Sun Deck, and no up-charge was applied for anything we ordered.

Lisa and Kevin

26 minutes ago, Softball20 said:

We are supposed to be on January 3, too - our 35th anniversary.  Playing it by ear until this Friday 😞

 

We are going - no doubt - and hope we can meet you and wish you a happy 35th in person! We are celebrating our 18th. Hang in there!

LKC

58 minutes ago, Softball20 said:

Thanks. Were the tables appropriately spaced in the dining rooms?  How about pool loungers?  

Hi Neighbor! 

I think it will be much less crowded on the cruise leaving Jan 3. I know the holiday cruises had more interest than a "short one" in Jan. I keep checking and see a lot of available rooms even now on our upcoming Jan 3 cruise. Reading the current cruise thread, it sounds like the staff is sanitizing frequently - pool chairs in the evening and theatre after each show. Sounds like they continue to take extraordinary measures to keep us safe.

We sailed in August and Sept and never felt uncomfortable. Kept a mask at hand and maybe used it once on the elevator...otherwise all very clean and physically distancing was being followed by all. 

Hang in there!

🙂

LKC

On 12/24/2021 at 11:16 AM, bigtony22127 said:

Thanks for your updates! I find them really informative. We are supposed to be on the Equinox on Jan 3 so I'm following this closely.

We will be on the ship Jan 3 too. Looking forward to the exceptional crew 🙂

On 11/2/2021 at 7:02 AM, RedneckBob said:

Don’t say that it will be awhile. If you on the Equinox Sunday expect 2200 passengers. In three weeks the ships capacity has gone from 1250 to 1600 to next cruise 2200.

A passenger on the current sailing (Nov 7) stated actuals at about 1800 guests.

25 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

The 14 days apply to your second shot, at which time you are considered fully vaccinated. As the booster shot isn't a current requirement, it doesn't matter when or if you've had one or whether it has kicked in.

 

As for the flu shot and booster together, health officials here recommend doing so as there is no negative interaction. I suppose part of the thought process is if you wake up the next day feeling lousy or running a fever, does it really matter which shot did it? 

I THINK that is what Celebrity is trying to say but the wording could be better. The below is from their website FAQs:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/faqs#testing-and-screening-faqs

4 hours ago, lovrccl said:

We were in a sky suite last month and received a email with numerous questions about what we wanted. We got the email about a week or 2 before we sailed.

Same for us! We received several email messages that directed us to a questionnaire about how we wanted our room setup. No phone call, although Celebrity called us this week about the itinerary change for our upcoming January cruise - that's new.

🙂

-LKC

1 minute ago, lovrccl said:

No we didn't, and I know all the suites were not fully booked. We loved the retreat areas and E class is one of our favorites because it is different.

Thank you!

On 10/30/2021 at 5:41 PM, mac_tlc said:

Enjoying a pre-dinner drink in the Retreat Lounge. Not too crowded .

 

WOW!

Just now, NCHPcruiser said:

I can’t speak to the current situation  but on our last cruise February 2020 (Caribbean) The Retreat (Edge) was anything but packed!  Not even close to being crowded, ever!   In the evenings prior to dinner in Luminae there was usually less than ten people there for pre-dinner cocktails.  The Retreat pool area was fairly busy but never “packed” and we were always able to get a lounger and had great service.   

Thank you very much for sharing your experience!

-Lisa and Kevin

On 11/8/2021 at 12:44 PM, terrydtx said:

We were in the Retreat in August on the Equinox in a Sky Suite. The service and food on that cruise were exceptional in Luminae. We had the same excellent server for the whole cruise in Luminae for all meals and when we entered he greeted us by our names and brought my favorite cocktail almost as soon as we were seated.

 

In the Retreat Lounge  the bartenders also greeted us by name and remembered my favorite cocktails and my wife's wine preference. The bar is well stocked with premium brands of spirits. The first day in the lounge I asked for an Old Fashion with Woodruff reserve, the bar tender apologized for not having any maraschino cherries for my drink, he said he didn't think there were any on the ship, I said it was not a problem. While in the lounge he went off and found a huge jar of cherries and kept them in the lounge. This is just one of many exceptional service encounters we had on the cruise. What airport lounge would have done what this bartender did?  BTW at the end of our cruise i gave him a very generous cash tip.

 

We were blown away by the Retreat service and experience, so much so we will no longer cruise with Celebrity in any cabin less than a Sky Suite.

I remember the 'great cherry adventure'!! The bartenders had to hide their stash from each other...although all of them managed to get me one for my manhattans 🙂  Perhaps they were borrowing from Mircea in RL.

On 11/8/2021 at 3:48 PM, terrydtx said:

They bartender in the Equinox RL also made an excellent Negroni, much better than the one I had in the Craft Social bar. It was my second favorite drink in the RL. I got hooked on Negronis while spending a few weeks in Italy in 2018.

Was it Mircea? We are headed back to the Equinox in January so we can see him and his wife one last time before they head home. He will be missed at that bar!

On 11/6/2021 at 1:38 PM, lovrccl said:

Just got off Edge last month, In a sky suite and service all around the ship was excellent. Only had 900 on board so maybe that's why. Suites we're mostly booked but not all.

I have read that the retreat areas were crowded (someone said 'packed') on E class, which would be very different from the S class we were on where it seemed like we had a private lounge. Did you experience a feeling of overcrowded retreat areas on the Edge? We are booked on the Edge in January and are excited to experience E class for the first time.

On 11/6/2021 at 11:40 AM, DCPIV said:

 

My recent Summit sailings have had 2 Retreat Concierges on board. There's a live thread that mentioned that was down to 1 momentarily with another to arrive soon. 

We were on Equinox in August and September, and we had two concierges in the retreat. The manager was also there quite frequently as well as the hosts taking turns helping guests during the tea hour.

19 hours ago, luckybecky said:

 

We used the gym 3 times to run on the treadmill. The app said reservations were required. My husband noticed that right away and worried about it, but it turned out to be nothing. We did not make reservations and no one was in the gym checking reservations. You just walked right in. There was no check in procedure of any kind. We hardly saw any staff at all, in fact. And the gym did not seem crowded at all during our cruise a few weeks ago, even on sea days which is when we used it. No problem getting a machine. I think you do have to make reservations for classes, but not just for general use of the gym, in our experience.

Thank you so much for the information! After I saw the pics of the pool I thought - the gym can't possibly be more crowded than the pool! We really appreciate you taking the time to research and respond. Cheers to you!!

Lisa and Kevin

I see in the Celebrity app that gym reservations are required. Are you able to confirm that is accurate? Any idea if it is difficult to get a reservation to use the gym facility? Thank you!

Lisa and Kevin

Thank you for sharing your pictures and experiences! We are on the August 27th and Sept 5th Equinox sailings. SO excited to be one week closer.

-Lisa and Kevin

On 8/13/2021 at 8:11 PM, Cruisin_FL_Girl said:

Hi! My sister and I are new cruisers (well new-ish, we took a 3 night Carnival cruise once a few years ago). We will be in this cruise with you!! Just got our negative tests back today and we are so excited for a twelve day cruise. Will we love it or are we going to regret going from three nights to twelve nights??? I hope we aren’t to spoiled after this! Lol. 

Yes you will be spoiled and will never go back. 🙂

Are you sure about your comment regarding the specialty restaurants? I haven't cruised on X yet, but my experience on most ships is that your limited to one entree at the specialty restaurants yet may order as much as you want from the other categories.

We were encouraged to order several at Tuscan Grill on the Equinox. And of course, we ordered several at Silk Harvest (sharing plates) and then ordered another order of the first entrée because it was so delicious! So yes, it seems that can order whatever and as much as you would like.

LKC