Aqua class and Blu?

[Redtravel]

thinking about booking an Aqua cabin. How different is it from concierge? Curious about eating in Blu. how different is the food offerings compared to the MDR?mCan you order from the MDR menu if you don't like what is on the Blu menu? Does Blu serve the "always" items like onion soup, escargot, apple pie, and cheesecake? I really like those items.

[Luvcrusn]

The cabin size is identical to concierge. There is a nicer shower head with jets that move on an post below the main shower head. You get a bottle of water on day one and flavored teas (usually iced) delivered daily along with the same savories as you get in concierge. The service in Blu is better than in the MDR (we never had a bad experience in the MDR) and much more intimate. Additionally you can go when you like without a reservation and there is rarely any wait. (we were given a beeper only once and waited about 3 minutes on our last 12 day cruise.) We had the same wait staff daily. Yes the standards of shrimp cocktail, onion soup, escargot etc. are all available on a nightly basis. On the S class ships Blu isn't near the MDR like on M-class and you cannot order from the MDR menu, but the standard offerings of steak, salmon etc. on the MDR menu are also on the menu nightly in Blu should you not find what you like as well as crème brulee etc. The breakfasts in Blu are lovely. DH and I didn't think we'd care for it and would miss the choices available in the OVC, but were so pleasantly surprised that we never went to OVC once. Basically you can get whatever you'd get elsewhere, served to you hot and cooked as you like while seated at a nice table with a lovely view. You can always ask to see the menu for the next day and if you like the MDR selections better you can make a reservation there. We never did and I'd be willing to bet you won't either.

[CYNSport]

Aqua cabins are very similar to Concierge, same size, etc.; they have a different shower though, with a rain head and jets in it (which we really like). The food is different than the MDR with an emphasis on leaner sauces. You can’t count on being able to order from the MDR menu in Blu. Many people have reported doing so, but we’ve been told otherwise by our waiter on many cruises (we’ve done about 10 cruises in Aqua Class). They have an “always available” group of foods including Caesar salad, escargot, apple pie and cheesecake, plus NY Strip and some other items I am probably forgetting. None of this is written in stone, and they have changed the menu in Blu, so your experience may vary. Whatever you decide, have a great cruise.

[Kartgv]

….You can always ask to see the menu for the next day and if you like the MDR selections better you can make a reservation there......

 

I've never heard of this possibility - can you explain how it would work? I know you couldn't make a reservation for one of the traditional seating dining slots as those tables are all pre-assigned. If you tried to make a reservation or just show up for Anytime Dining, aren't the names checked off against a list of who should be there?

[Luvcrusn]

The maître d in Blu will make a reservation for you in the Select dining area if you request it.

[schippy307]

Not impressed with Aqua Class. Dining in Blu was hit or miss with service; sometimes it felt like we were forgotten.

 

 

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[Luvcrusn]

Not impressed with Aqua Class. Dining in Blu was hit or miss with service; sometimes it felt like we were forgotten.

 

 

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Sorry you had that experience. We've never had other than stellar service that seemed to go the extra mile. What ship?

[Ozzmund]

Not impressed with Aqua Class. Dining in Blu was hit or miss with service; sometimes it felt like we were forgotten.

 

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Sorry you did not have the experience you anticipated.

We have been fortunate that all of our cruises in AQ have been as expected. Blu has always been an enjoyable experience for us.

[schippy307]

Celebrity Summitt this past June.

[Duanerice1]

We book AQ (sometimes, price dependent) just for Blu. It is more like a restaurant rather then banquet seating. Always had great service but I can pretty much say the same for the MDR too. The food is different. There were a few times that there really wasn't much I wanted so the "anytime" menu worked.

 

I like the shower in AQ. Very enjoyable, lot's of pressure. Also like the idea that each cabin only holds 2 people so the chances of having a big family next to you are slim. Doesn't always mean it's quiet but you have a better chance.

[Mynki]

Celebrity Summitt this past June.

 

We also experienced very poor service in Blu on the Summit back in December. We chose to eat in the specialties / MDR as a result.

 

Blu had one sommelier for the entire restaurant. Several mistakes were made with our orders and those of other diners. The Maitr'e D' was kept quite busy that cruise.

 

Aqua Class is worth a little bit more than other balcony cabins but not much, but if you want to see Celebrity at it's best you need to travel suite class.

 

The Blu menu may suite those who like lamb and game more than those who do not.

[travel1light]

Hi,

 

What is the “anytime” menu and items available?

 

Thanks.

 

We book AQ (sometimes, price dependent) just for Blu. It is more like a restaurant rather then banquet seating. Always had great service but I can pretty much say the same for the MDR too. The food is different. There were a few times that there really wasn't much I wanted so the "anytime" menu worked.

 

I like the shower in AQ. Very enjoyable, lot's of pressure. Also like the idea that each cabin only holds 2 people so the chances of having a big family next to you are slim. Doesn't always mean it's quiet but you have a better chance.

[Hlitner]

Not impressed with Aqua Class. Dining in Blu was hit or miss with service; sometimes it felt like we were forgotten.

 

 

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Agree! We did AQ on multiple cruises until we got tired of the Blu menus, lowered quality, and the lousy location of many of the AQ cabins (especially on the S-Class ships. We finally realized that we are a lot happier by just booking a well-located regular balcony cabin (sometimes upgraded to Concierge) and using some of the money we saved to purchase an alternative restaurant package. IMHO the food/service in Blu is not even in the same ball park as Murano.

 

Hank

[Kartgv]

Hi,

 

What is the “anytime” menu and items available?

 

Thanks.

 

The 'anytime' menu is exactly the same as the traditional dining room menu. To see the latest versions, just enter 'dinner menu' in the "search forum" box at the top of the Celebrity board page. Skim the answers and you'll find pictures of just about all the current menus.

[southernbreezes]

We love the service and food in Blu. To be honest we love the service and food in the MDR same quality I feel. But the big difference is Blu is a much more intimate dining room, I will never go back to the MDR. We used to go to the specialty restaurant two or three times a cruise, no more Blu is perfect and I do not need a reservation ever! I book early so I have always had a perfect Stateroom location (for us) sometime AQ1 sometimes AQ2. Love Suites but the price has to be right I will not pay $4,000.00 more than the price of an AQ stateroom anymore.

[2theship]

We are most definitely Aqua Class fans. We choose our cabins carefully, usually booking early for the best cabin selection. I love Persian Gardens, even on M-Class ships, and the special showers are great. But, the primary reason for booking AQ is Blu. We like the fact that the entire staff gets to know you and your preferences. Generally, if we have a service issue (a rare occurrence), we let the Maitre D' know and it gets resolved. The breakfasts in Blu are wonderful - I'm not a fan of the buffet because it seems that in the buffet, I have to have half of my breakfast cold. I've been looking at Blu dinner menus lately and I'm considering making a break from some of my favorites just for the sake of variety. The only trouble is that after our cruise next month, we have two Princess cruises (better itineraries) and I don't know when my next AQ cruise will be!

[cangelmd]

We enjoyed AQ enough in January that when we booked our TA for this fall, it was on AQ. Everything that has been said above is true, although we had excellent service.

 

The main perk of AQ is Blu. Blu is NOT a specialty restaurant, it is an assigned dining room with predominantly tables for two and a few round tables of 6 (I think the rounds are 6). The tables for 2 are close together, which can be an odd distance - a little too far for easy conversation, a little too close to be dining in fine restaurant. It has a lovely view out that can be appreciated by most tables, although at dinner of course, its dark. The food is better than banquet level, a bit more adventurous than MDR, less adventurous than Luminae, and generally excellent. There are a few "classic" dishes served every night - a steak, grilled chicken and salmon, Caesar salad, onion soup, escargot or shrimp cocktail. The onion soup and really all the soups were great, Caesar salad was fresh and comfortably familiar. The Blu kitchen is separate from the MDR on all S class ships I think, so you cannot order freely at will from the MDR menu on those ships.

 

 

The service was great to us. The staff wanted to you to be happy. The second evening the maitre d' automatically asked if we wanted to wait a moment or two to get the same table from the previous evening. That table was right next to the door where the staff was going in and out from the drinks and bread station, and I found that quite distracting and wanted a different table with the same waitstaff. We were instantly accomodated, but it threw the waitstaff into a bit of a tailspin, because they thought we were unhappy with them. We are wine people, and the sommelier was right over with recommendations after the first evening.

[musik07]

I haven’t seen the always available on any menu or the app. Is that still happening. I am a bit worried about some restrictions I have with food triggers for a pain condition keeping me from eating a lot of the menu. Knowing I reliably had Cesar salad, shrimp cocktail and the French onion soup nightly as well as the option of steak would be great!

 

 

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[keesar]

As mentioned, Blu is NOT a specialty dining room. It is a smaller dining room with tables for 2 being rather close. Last cruise, they were 12 inches apart. Makes it difficult to hold a private conversation. It is NOT an intimate setting in my opinion.

[phoenix_dream]

We love Aqua Class specifically because of Blu. Have sailed in it probably more than a dozen times. In all our experiences there was only one sailing where we had service issues. We talked to the Maitre d' about it and from then on we were treated like kings. On one sailing we tried Murano and had absolutely horrible service, so you just can never say never (or always:)).

I agree the tables are sometimes very close together. If you really want privacy some tables are more private than others so you can always request one - you may wait a bit longer but you can get more private tables (especially on S class).

 

 

I also agree that the AQ rooms are not always in the best of locations. It is my belief, shared by many, that they created Aqua Class specifically to find a way to entice people to pick the cabins in less desirable locations. That said, we have never had a real issue in any of the AQ cabins we have sailed. One or two had some noise from the pool deck a couple of nights, but nothing that bad that we were sorry we chose AQ. Since we usually can't afford suites (or aren't willing to pay the premium price for all the "free" perks) it is our cabin of choice. It is rare that we sail any other category.

[vadell]

I haven’t seen the always available on any menu or the app. Is that still happening. I am a bit worried about some restrictions I have with food triggers for a pain condition keeping me from eating a lot of the menu. Knowing I reliably had Cesar salad, shrimp cocktail and the French onion soup nightly as well as the option of steak would be great!

 

 

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I have the app and was planning what nights to eat in specialty restaurants the app does cover the every day entrees on my phone but not the appetizers.

[cangelmd]

I haven’t seen the always available on any menu or the app. Is that still happening. I am a bit worried about some restrictions I have with food triggers for a pain condition keeping me from eating a lot of the menu. Knowing I reliably had Cesar salad, shrimp cocktail and the French onion soup nightly as well as the option of steak would be great!

 

 

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I'm not onboard, so I can't swear to it, but based on the popularity of the Caesar salad, onion soup and shrimp cocktail, I would guess that there would be an uprising if they were all dropped from the menu. Seriously, as many of those dishes were ordered as any of the other appetizers, so I would think it unlikely that they would change - can't get much cheaper than onion soup, and it was delicious.

[vadell]

I'm not onboard, so I can't swear to it, but based on the popularity of the Caesar salad, onion soup and shrimp cocktail, I would guess that there would be an uprising if they were all dropped from the menu. Seriously, as many of those dishes were ordered as any of the other appetizers, so I would think it unlikely that they would change - can't get much cheaper than onion soup, and it was delicious.

 

 

That is good to hear

[musik07]

I'm not onboard, so I can't swear to it, but based on the popularity of the Caesar salad, onion soup and shrimp cocktail, I would guess that there would be an uprising if they were all dropped from the menu. Seriously, as many of those dishes were ordered as any of the other appetizers, so I would think it unlikely that they would change - can't get much cheaper than onion soup, and it was delicious.

 

This is good to hear! I can pretty much make it through a cruise on the salad, a shrimp cocktail or two, and the soup. Maybe add a steak or chicken entree in. I cannot eat anything smoked, pork, duck, aged etc as they tend to trigger a flare. I didn't book the aqua room and having heard my cousin RAVE about the food in Aqua an knowing that she is a very 'basic' eater I figured I would be find until it was much to late to switch. My mom is extremely excited to try Blu so I will make it work with what is available, make a dinner out of appetizers or hit the buffet after we eat if I can't find anything if I get sick of the steak.

[musik07]

Hello,

 

Does anyone have a current wine list for Blu? Sailing in 2.5 weeks and trying to decide if I need to upgrade from Classic to Premium. I am concerned that since there are no drinks on the menu under $12, I am also going to struggle with finding a wine in the classic package range. We are sailing equinox!