Suite Privilege Program for non suite guests??

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, miched said:

Fantastic

 

Book a inside and become friends with those that are in a Royal or Penthouse suite for the cruise you are on.  

 

Even better if if someone has one of those suites and invites everyone on their roll call to take advantage of the perk

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

It is not a perk.  Non-Suite guests have to pay for dinner if they go with any suite guest who invites them into Luminae.  That has not changed.  If somebody in a PH suite invited 10 additional people from their roll call to dinner it would cost $300 plus probably a nice tip.  This would even be the case before the new policy.  It would need to be arranged in advance and would be subject to availability.  

[miched]

4 hours ago, TeeRick said:

It is not a perk.  Non-Suite guests have to pay for dinner if they go with any suite guest who invites them into Luminae.  That has not changed.  If somebody in a PH suite invited 10 additional people from their roll call to dinner it would cost $300 plus probably a nice tip.  This would even be the case before the new policy.  It would need to be arranged in advance and would be subject to availability.  

 

It is a completely different offer according to one of the posters. It is $59/day pp for any guest traveling with someone in RS and PH suites.  They then get  a lot of the amenities of those in the suites.   

 

According to the  post it is family or friends. Who is a friend?   I am just showing how someone in a  PH or RS could offer it to all their roll call “friends” that are willing to pay $59/ pp  to show how ridiculous that program is.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

[K12Guy]

On 10/10/2019 at 7:20 PM, JFontaine said:

Suite Class distinctive key card

Well, heck yes. There is nothing I enjoy more than flashing my Suite Class key card when leaving or returning to the ship, watching the steerage passengers in the cattle line while I hold my key card over my head, saying, "Lookee here, y'all. I have that distinctive key card". 😎🤪

 

Seriously? Someone actually cares about their distinctive key card? I must be missing something.

[K12Guy]

On 10/11/2019 at 3:51 AM, hcat said:

Hope this won't extend to use of BLU.

Well now. It seems you are having Blu snoot moment!🧞‍♂️

 

I wonder, and you may be able to answer, how many suite guests actually dine at Blu?

 

We have walked past Blu in the evening on our way to a specialty restaurant and the line was probably fifty people deep. I have never seen more than four people waiting at any time at Luminae, but we dine early, too, so that may affect lines.

 

If Blu is that good we may give it a try on our next cruise. It looks like Luminae may be crowded!

[K12Guy]

On 10/12/2019 at 1:03 PM, miched said:

Book a inside and become friends with those that are in a Royal or Penthouse suite for the cruise you are on.  

Yep, you got it. I think I may post it on our roll call and offer to add folks for the upcharge plus $20 pp per day. Help offset the cost of our stateroom. 😎

[hcat]

1 hour ago, K12Guy said:

Well now. It seems you are having Blu snoot moment!🧞‍♂️

 

I wonder, and you may be able to answer, how many suite guests actually dine at Blu?

 

We have walked past Blu in the evening on our way to a specialty restaurant and the line was probably fifty people deep. I have never seen more than four people waiting at any time at Luminae, but we dine early, too, so that may affect lines.

 

If Blu is that good we may give it a try on our next cruise. It looks like Luminae may be crowded!

Some of us prefer BLU for simpler food prep,  less fussy food, low salt, less gravy and sauces, and personal service.  The more that  pile in, the less pleasant it gets as space and staff are limited. 

 

Later hours are  not a big issue,  but we dine early for health reasons and it does fill quickly.. Suite guests like to dine there to change things up and  out of curiousity ..Not BLU snoot..we just like it the way it was originally created!

[K12Guy]

9 minutes ago, hcat said:

..Not BLU snoot..we just like it the way it was originally created!

By the way, I agree completely. I would be bothered if Luminae was sold out and we suite passengers could not get in. I've always wondered why suite passengers would be allowed to dine at Blu. This past cruise we had lunch as part of the officer's dining experience in Blu. The food was very good, but the dining room seemed very small (Eclipse).

 

The Blu snoot was just a joke, by the way.

[hcat]

K...okay!

BLU was offered to suite guests subject to availability when there was no Luminae , and many  suite guests felt  neglected.   Never thought access would continue after Luminae was created...but it does. And never calculated that  cabins would be converted to AQ Class...adding to the eligible cruisers

 

  Hope changes  re Luminae access for friends and family does not  extend to BLU...

[phoenix_dream]

On 10/11/2019 at 8:51 AM, MEcruzr said:

For those of you saying you didn't know about this option or that X didn't tell you... did you have your reservation linked to a non-suite reservation? If not, there was no reason for you to be told about this offer.

 

We are in a RS on Summit in May 2020 and we are linked with family staying in a verandah cabin. It will be interesting to see if the shoreside concierge offers this to us. We won't do it. They have a premium bev package and we don't like Luminae so we're happy to eat in the MDR together. 

 

For those concerned about Blu being used by suite guests, I can tell you that we've asked twice to eat at Blu and got turned down both times based on "no space available". So they DO keep track and they DO turn down suite guests.

Like many things with Celebrity, suite guests allowed in Blu is inconsistent.  I believe what you said.  But I also know that on a recent sailing the Blu maitre d’ refused to enforce that policy even though a number of us AQ guests complained about the severe overcrowding.  Lines were literally 10 couples deep, restaurant full, and suite guests were seated. This was on Reflection, already more crowded due to more AQ rooms than other S class ships.

[abbydancer2003]

Our first cruise in an SS was on the Reflection.  We asked about Blu but were told it was too busy and the only time we could go was right after they opened.  (Too early for us).  We had friends in Aqua who liked to eat around 8, they always had to wait.

 

Several months later, my sister and I were in an SS and ran into some friends who were on the same cruise.  (No idea they even cruised until they found us in Key West.)  We were able to have breakfast with them in Blu, and we took them to lunch in Luminae (20.00 per person).  

 

In 2021, we're on a cruise with 4 friends.  Four of us are in SS, the other two are in Concierge.  I'd like to use some of our OBC to invite the Concierge friends to have dinner with us a few times.

 

 

[miched]

15 hours ago, K12Guy said:

Well, heck yes. There is nothing I enjoy more than flashing my Suite Class key card when leaving or returning to the ship, watching the steerage passengers in the cattle line while I hold my key card over my head, saying, "Lookee here, y'all. I have that distinctive key card". 😎🤪

 

 

 

That was you? 

 

Small world.  

 

🤗

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[TeeRick]

16 hours ago, miched said:

 

It is a completely different offer according to one of the posters. It is $59/day pp for any guest traveling with someone in RS and PH suites.  They then get  a lot of the amenities of those in the suites.   

 

According to the  post it is family or friends. Who is a friend?   I am just showing how someone in a  PH or RS could offer it to all their roll call “friends” that are willing to pay $59/ pp  to show how ridiculous that program is.   

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

Yes I have read about the $59 pp/day and my previous post was in error in leaving that out of my example. Sorry.  I was just trying to point out that all suite guests have been able to arrange guests to have dinner in Luminae.  No change there.  Now those few lucky (or wealthy) passengers in a RS or PH could pay $300 for 10 people on their Roll Call to join them in Luminae for a dinner one night.  People in Sky suites can do the same for the same price.  But the PH or RS suite guests would need to pay $590 per day for 10 roll call people to join them for any meal in Luminae as well as use the suite amenities every day.  I am not sure if they can do this for just one day or do they need to sign up these folks for the entire cruise??    Maybe some will afford that no problem.  But I'm just guessing not many.  Time will tell if this leads to additional and noticeable crowding.

[K12Guy]

1 hour ago, miched said:

Small world.  

Indeed. I am almost sure you were on the other side, flashing your 'distinctive' sea pass card. The experience is titillating, right?

💥

[MEcruzr]

On 10/12/2019 at 4:03 PM, miched said:

Fantastic

 

Book a inside and become friends with those that are in a Royal or Penthouse suite for the cruise you are on.  

 

Even better if if someone has one of those suites and invites everyone on their roll call to take advantage of the perk

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Someone said the reservations have to be linked. So you'd need to get that done, too. LOL

[TeeRick]

Remember it is limited to a total of 16 guests per day combined for all high level suites based upon some priority.

[villauk]

38 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Remember it is limited to a total of 16 guests per day combined for all high level suites based upon some priority.

 

 

Or perhaps more if it proves profitable. Obviously, those would be in addition to any of those pax who ask for others to join them for dinner, as I note you have done previously.

 

For $59 per day, it’s a good offer to entice family to join you on a cruise if they were able to stay in insides/regular balconies etc. I know we would definitely consider it if any of our friends took suites. Tbh, many could probably endure an inside if they were accessing all the suite perks during the day.

[Mynki]

43 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Remember it is limited to a total of 16 guests per day combined for all high level suites based upon some priority.

 

 

Which would suggest to me that an analyst has been crunching data across the fleet to arrive at the number 16. 

Personally I really don't think many will be impacted at all. I suspect Celebrity have listened to feedback from PH and RS guests who have expressed a wish to have those travelling with them join them in Luminae. Nothing more. :) 

[villauk]

2 minutes ago, Mynki said:

 

 

Which would suggest to me that an analyst has been crunching data across the fleet to arrive at the number 16. 

Personally I really don't think many will be impacted at all. I suspect Celebrity have listened to feedback from PH and RS guests who have expressed a wish to have those travelling with them join them in Luminae. Nothing more. 🙂

 

 

I thought someone posted that it will start at the top suites and then work it’s way down through the other suites until the 16 have been reached?

[Mynki]

37 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

I thought someone posted that it will start at the top suites and then work it’s way down through the other suites until the 16 have been reached?

 

Maybe. Whilst I appreciate this will be an unwelcome change to some, and it also cheapens the suite experience to a degree, I really don't think it will be a massive problem though. 

[MEcruzr]

45 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

I thought someone posted that it will start at the top suites and then work it’s way down through the other suites until the 16 have been reached?

Someone else posted that it's just offered to RS and PH guests who have linked reservations with guests not in a suite. 

[villauk]

13 minutes ago, MEcruzr said:

Someone else posted that it's just offered to RS and PH guests who have linked reservations with guests not in a suite. 

 

Wasn’t the one poster in a Reflection suite who said they had spoken to X and their cousins intended to participate (see post #45)? Guess we’ll find out more in the coming months as this is a relatively new offering?

Edited October 14, 2019 by villauk

[jagoffee]

50 minutes ago, Mynki said:

 

 

Which would suggest to me that an analyst has been crunching data across the fleet to arrive at the number 16. 

Personally I really don't think many will be impacted at all. I suspect Celebrity have listened to feedback from PH and RS guests who have expressed a wish to have those travelling with them join them in Luminae. Nothing more. :) 

As well as the Michael's club and the Retreat area if there is one.

 

 I agree that this modification likely was in response to larger families or even close friends that booked more than one cabin.  (It would apply only if the rest of the party is not actually staying in a suite).  In theory it might be possible to cheat or abuse the system, I just seriously doubt that it will be abused.  I would guess Celebrity would monitor the situation closely.  Lack of adjoining  cabins and linked reservation would be an easy way to monitor for abuse.  Perhaps it is available only if invited to use?

 

I almost always stay in some kind of suite and I am not concerned about overcrowding.  I also think that this is a nice new benefit for RS and PH suite guests.

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

On 10/11/2019 at 5:03 AM, chemmo said:

This looks to me like an idea that could go badly wrong...

 

If a RS/PH couple have their elderly mother in an inside cabin I would want Celebrity to allow Mum to join them for drinks, and dining...I would like Celebrity to show the same generosity to the Mum of a Sky Suite guest too. It would be nice if this could be allowed at a moderate cost...I see this as very reasonable and having minimal impact on the suite experience of others...

 

I can see scheme this being popular for RS/PH guests traveling with adult children and partners where the family hope to enjoy the main suite space socially but want privacy for sleep/showers. However, numbers can quickly multiply.... PH 2 guests, 2 non suite  cabins for their children and partners 4 guests (6 in total). Add in the grandchildren 2 per inside cabin (10 in total), make it a three child family with two more grandchildren and the 2 in the PH now have 12 attached guests! 

 

With the max occupancy of a PH or RS being 4 perhaps each of these suite could be allowed to link up to that number? Two guests in a PH or RS can link 2 non suite guests? That would at least limit numbers to some degree...

 

We were once on a cruise when a group of 1xRS, 4xSS (10 guests in total)  were travelling together....They really were demanding, they wanted a specific area of Michael’s and expected others to move, ran the RS butler ragged, expected shore excursions to change the bookings of other guests so they could all have the same timing, were loud in Luminae and these were just the things I knew about!!! They were all suite guests and ‘entitled’ to the facilities but certainly impacted on the pleasure of others simply by being a large group and lacking sensitivity....

 

If RS/PH guests can ‘link’ families and friends I can see many instances of the above scenario. If linked guests decide not to purchase drinks packages as they have access to Michael’s/Retreat then I can see a very busy and possibly noisy lounge.

 

 

 

Agree, we spend $$$ to enjoy uncrowded space and good service....We will see how things unfold...

 

 

This has kind of been going on for years. On our 15 NT TA on the Silhouette, my DH and I had one of the PH suites, and his mother had a concierge class balcony down the hall from us. When the Concierge found out that we haven’t been coming into Michael’s Club the first few nights, she arranged for her to come and go as she pleased, same with Luminae we paid $400.00 (less than 27.00 a day, that was a steal of a deal) and she could dine with or without us B,L, & D. So I’m sure they have all been making reasonable adjustments for upper suites all along. To me Family is one thing but friends on a daily basis I’m not so sure I agree with. Hopefully this isn’t Celebrity’s version of RCCL and the “Key program”.

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, DiamondSuiteCruiser said:

This has kind of been going on for years. On our 15 NT TA on the Silhouette, my DH and I had one of the PH suites, and his mother had a concierge class balcony down the hall from us. When the Concierge found out that we haven’t been coming into Michael’s Club the first few nights, she arranged for her to come and go as she pleased, same with Luminae we paid $400.00 (less than 27.00 a day, that was a steal of a deal) and she could dine with or without us B,L, & D. So I’m sure they have all been making reasonable adjustments for upper suites all along. To me Family is one thing but friends on a daily basis I’m not so sure I agree with. Hopefully this isn’t Celebrity’s version of RCCL and the “Key program”.

 

A big difference between allowing one guest to join the PH couple compared to multiple friends....Lots of people travel regularly as groups of 6/8/10 friendship couples or  extended family. Whilst I wish them all the best for a great cruise smaller venues like Michael’s/Retreat/Luminae can quickly become overtaken by a party of 10+.  

Edited October 14, 2019 by chemmo

[hcat]

1 minute ago, chemmo said:

 

A big difference between allowing one guest to join the PH couple compared to multiple friends....Lots of people travel regularly as groups of 6/8/10 friendship couples or  extended family. Whilst I wish them all the best for a great cruise smaller venues like Michael’s/Retreat/Luminae can quickly become overtaken by a party of 8/10+.  

Same for BLU.....a small venue not suited to large group dining.

 

At best they can handle a max of  2 large groups at a time..usually 2x per night, staggered.     The best plan  is for them to be seated towards the rear,  but it can still  be more noisy,  and  requires more staff attention.  Most others who are offered seats nearby refuse...so it  skews all the seating away from the groups, causing more crowded seating up front.   Not much can be done but it does affect enjoyment.