JamieLogical's November 13 B2B Summit Live Blog

[vms]

6 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Actually, it was quite eventful! After several delays, I didn't make it home until after midnight. I am still recovering and trying to get settled in at home. I have a ton of notes and photos to post from the second leg of my B2B, so I will try to get those posted tomorrow.

 

It was great to meet you too and I hope your trip home went better than mine!

Oh no! Hopefully you can rest up during the holiday weekend!

 

Mine went fine, but trying to get caught up today was brutal. Thank goodness for a 4 day weekend!

[JamieLogical]

3 hours ago, Janedoe2012 said:

Hi Jamie- it’s your Canadian helipad friend. It was a pleasure meeting you on the cruise.

I booked  the Summit again in April 2022 as the Black Friday deals are to good to pass up.

Wishing you and your husband a wonderful Thanksgiving!
 

Barb

 

 

 

Cruising is off the table for me in April, as I am already doing a family reunion vacation that month. I am eying June or July for my next potential solo cruise.

[colliercruiser]

@JamieLogical Did not see anything regarding the second part of your B2B.  Any thoughts about your experience in Aquaclass vs your suite during the first cruise?

[Northern Aurora]

I also hope that  @JamieLogical will return and provide her insights in the second leg of her B2B.  

[JamieLogical]

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated! I am soooooo sorry for taking so long to post. I had not anticipated how crazy life would be once I returned home and I had hoped to be able to do some posting while we were docked in the Bahamas, but apparently Google Fi no longer gets coverage there. I was surprised, as I have used my Google Fi service many times in the Bahamas in the past.

 

Things haven't really calmed down a ton for me. I am having surgery on my right eye tomorrow and then it's Christmas and New Year's, but I wanted to try to at least post all of the notes I had already typed up while onboard and try to post some of the photos I took on the second leg of my B2B as well. I never did type up notes for the last day of the cruise. And my memory is foggy at this point, but I do at least have some photos from that last day.

[JamieLogical]

11/18
As predicted, the Surf wifi is pretty spotty and slow, so I don’t think I will be able to catch up on photos until we are in port tomorrow and I can use my cell service. For now, I am typing notes into a Google Doc and will copy them over into CC when I can.

 

Yesterday was a big day, as it was turnaround day. I had to get up bright and early to get showered and make it down to breakfast in Luminae while they were still open. I made it down just after 7:00 and had a cheddar cheese omelet and some toast. I got to say goodbye to a few of the friends I had made there over the cruise. And I hinted to the staff that they should try to sneak me in during my second leg, even though I’m not in a suite. None of them seemed to really bite on that prospect. Oh well.

 

After breakfast I went back up to pack the rest of my stuff. Mostly just my dirty laundry from the night before, my electronics, and my toiletries. Just crammed all of those into my backpack, which I carried with me for the turnaround.

 

The Retreat Lounge was supposed to be open until 8:30 and I wasn’t supposed to meet up for the B2B in the Rendezvous Lounge until 9:10, so I hung out in the Retreat as long as they let me. They ended up kicking the rest of us out at about 8:50 when they said they were clearing the ship.

It was actually really good timing as there were already a lot of people waiting in Rendezvous, so I had missed the initial rush of people and there was just a steady trickle. They checked my name and stateroom number, had me fill out a paper health questionnaire, and gave me a sticker that said “40” on it. It’s the same kind of stickers I know they use for excursions to help you identify and stay with your group.

 

We really didn’t have to wait too long.  The only delay in clearing the ship was there was one couple that was trying to arrange to do a back to back at the very last minute, but border patrol/customs said no, because they weren’t on the manifest in time or something? So, unfortunately, those two did end up getting sent home.

 

Anyway, we got off the ship around 9:15 or 9:20. First they scanned and took our old Sea Passes as we disembarked. I was initially really upset by this, because I have kept the key cards from all of my sailings as souvenirs, but they reassured me that they would give it back. I found out later that they get delivered to your stateroom later in your second leg, just to prevent any confusion over which card to use on your current leg. I genuinely hope that is true. Would really hate to lose the only suite keycard I have ever gotten.

 

Once off the ship, we were led on a winding route downstairs to border patrol/customs to have our faces scanned with their facial recognition. Then back upstairs to have our security photos re-taken. I really don’t understand why that was necessary. I don’t think any of our appearances had changed drastically in the past 5 days. They then went down the line handing out everyone’s new sea passes, except mine, which was missing for some reason. They led everyone back onto the boat, scanning their sea passes as they boarded. I had to wait off to the side for a second for someone to run my pass over to me. It wasn’t in a fancy envelope like the others’. But it scanned as I got on the ship, so whatever. Once again, despite being told to have my passport and vaccination card in my hand, I was never asked to show either to anyone.

 

Back on the ship I went up to my new room. I am soooooo glad I did my research on Cruise Deck Plans and figured out which balcony on deck 9 had the least overhang. I got a balcony that sits almost directly under the “notch” created by the bay window shapes of the Oceanview Cafe, so I have significantly less overhang above me than the balconies to either side of me and most of the balconies on this deck. I will definitely try to post photos showing what I mean.

 

The rest of my room is pretty nice. I would say the only negative is how small the closet is. The height for hanging clothes does not accommodate my maxi dresses and the floor of the closet is too narrow and shallow for the laundry hamper I bring with me on every cruise and usually keep in the bottom of the closet.

 

Everything else is great though. It’s a very efficient use of space in the tiny bathroom. There are plenty of shelves and I feel like I actually have more storage than I did in my suite bathroom. I’ll have to let you know how the shower is tomorrow (haven’t showered yet this morning). It looks small, but at least I won’t feel like I am risking my life climbing in and out of it. And ladies, you will be happy to know it has a bar to use as a footrest while shaving your legs. Something I end up missing desperately on NCL sailings. I always have to pack a suction cup foot rest on those ships.

 

Speaking of footrests, that reminds me that my room steward was unable to bring me one for my balcony, which was a little disappointing. I had been able to get one on the Equinox. I don’t know if they just don’t have them or if they just don’t have extras or they just don’t like to hand them out or what. Luckily, since I am traveling solo, I can just use the second chair on my balcony as a makeshift footrest.

 

Alright, back to the room itself. It’s actually almost too efficient in its utilization of space. Instead of a couch, there is a wide chair that I believe pulls out into a twin bed? It’s only the width of a twin, but there is plenty of floor space for a full. There are gaps between the bed and nightstand on either side and there is a pretty big gap between the one nightstand and the chair. Everything could easily be shifted over to fit in a full size sofa.

 

There is a table lamp on one side of the bed that has two US outlets and two USB ports built into the base. Very convenient for a phone and/or watch charger. However, on the other side of the bed, the lamp is hanging from the ceiling and there are no US outlets over there, just one EU outlet close to the floor, behind the nightstand. Not sure why they didn’t do a table lamp on each side?

 

The desk also has two US outlets and two USB ports, so it’s a great spot for my laptop. There are also a bunch of drawers in the desk, so plenty of storage if you run out of drawer space over by the closet. There are four big drawers over there as well. Just wish there were more hanging space. If traveling on a long cruise with a partner, closet space would probably be a big issue.

 

I was also happy to see they added a little, movable table over by the big chair. In one video I saw of an early tour after the renovations, there was no moveable table in the room so the poster was complaining that there was nowhere to sit and eat room service. There is a nice table now, the same type as I had by the couch in my suite.

 

Since my steward had moved all of my things the night before, I was able to get unpacked after I typed up the previous days’ notes from all of you. My wine from my Drinks & More package was delivered and I had a glass of the already chilled Pinot Grigio despite the fact that I don’t really drink wine.

 

Once I was unpacked, I went down for a drink at the Martini Bar where I met a couple who had been on the first leg of my sailing, but I had never actually chatted with. They were great and I definitely enjoyed our conversation. But it made me late to call my husband, as I had told him I would call at noon and it was already 12:18!

 

After a call to my husband, I went to lunch in the buffet. There was supposed to be a special lunch for the B2B cruisers in the MDR at 12:30, but I had missed that. I was content with my buffet lunch, though.

 

After lunch I took my customary nap, expecting to call my husband between 3:00 and 4:00. Turns out I got the time of his availability wrong and he was on another call at 3:00, so I had to wait until 4:00 to talk to him again. I used that time to change and go to the Solarium for a bit. At this point it was pouring down rain outside, so the Solarium was actually a little busy, since people couldn’t use the outdoor pool.

 

At 4:00 I came back up to my room and called my husband while I changed and went down to Cafe al Bacio for a late afternoon coffee. I stayed there in one of the comfy chairs for a good long while, chatting with my husband and then reading. Once we started sailing away, I stood outside on the covered area of deck 5 and watched the monsoon. It was windy, pouring rain, and thundering and lightning. While it didn’t make for a picturesque sail away, it was a unique experience for me.

 

While out there I chatted with four guys who were traveling together on this sailing. I showed them how to use the app to find entertainment and talked about why I prefer Celebrity to NCL. They had previously only sailed NCL. They seemed a little disappointed about the more low key vibe and lack of a “club” onboard, but they seemed open minded and excited about the evening’s comedian in the main theater and the quality of the food. They were going to be doing Le Petite Chef for dinner.

 

After we had sailed away and got out into the open ocean where I could only see a few dozen yards away from the ship because of the heavy fog and clouds, I went back inside and checked out Cellar Masters, where the Diamond Duo were playing. They are a violin and acoustic guitar act I had only caught briefly in Cafe al Bacio on my first leg. They are very good and different from anything else I have heard on the ship. I hadn’t spent much time in Cellar Masters before, since I am not a wine drinker, but I hung out at the bar and had two moscow mules while listening to the music. Then it was off to dinner in Blu.

 

Blu is a really nice space with beautiful décor. I was seated next to a younger couple who turned out to be vegetarian and I turned them onto the fact that they could order off the MDR menu as well. They were very excited about that and ended up ordering almost every vegetarian dish between the two menus and trying them all. I wasn’t super impressed by the Blu menu options for the evening, so I ended up ordering off the MDR menu as well and even ended up ordering all vegetarian food! I had the cream of mushroom soup and the spinach and ricotta ravioli.

 

We really had a great conversation throughout dinner, but I left at dessert time, because I was way too full. So I headed over to Rendezvous Lounge to hang out with all of my favorite bartenders. I had three more Mr. Worldwides and got to chat with the bartender who perfected them for me for quite a long while. He has been working on cruise ships for ~15 years. He has worked exclusively on Celebrity and says he’s been on all their ships. He has a wife and two teenage sons. And he was lucky enough to NOT get caught on a ship when everything shut down for COVID. He doesn’t know what ship he will be on next yet, but he gets to go home in January.

 

Also, while hanging out at the Rendezvous Lounge, I met two of the guys from NYC3 and we had a really long and pleasant chat. One of them is originally from Syracuse, so we initially talked about, but eventually ended up talking about living in NYC, life through the pandemic, our pandemic pets (one adopted two cats like me and one fostered dogs), and just all sorts of stuff. I wasn’t even the first one to pull up the pet pictures on my phone! I really hope to run into them again. They were just such pleasant people to chat with.

 

They had to leave for their dinner reservation at Sushi on Five right as the evening’s game show was starting up. It was another round of True or False and I participated in the first round. The couple I’d had dinner with was there. I got eliminated pretty quickly and I didn’t play the second round because they were recycled questions from the last leg, so that felt like cheating.

 

After the game show, I headed down to the theater for the stand up comedy act, Louis Ramey. I sat next to another couple who had been on my first leg, but I hadn’t had a chance to chat with. They are from Cincinnati and since I am originally from Columbus, we had a lot to chat about right off the bat. And, I am happy to report that the comedian was MUCH funnier than the one from the previous leg. I had a great time and I am excited to see him again if I can stay up late enough on the last night of the cruise. He is supposed to be performing at 10:15 on Sunday night.

 

After the comedian, I headed back to Rendezvous because Thiago was playing. I enjoyed that as well and ran into the four guys from sail away. They had gone to the comedy show as well and seemed to be having fun.

 

Once Thiago finished his first set, I went down to the casino to make my daily contribution and then up to the buffet for late night snack. I was in bed around 11:00. Had a great, full day and managed to get to bed at a decent time and not overdo it on the alcohol.

 

Day’s Drinks: Pino Grigio, Murano Martini, Americano with Bailey’s, Moscow Mule x2, Botanical Bliss, Mr. Worldwide x3

[JamieLogical]

11/18

 

Breakfast in Luminea

 

 

 

Retreat Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

Aqua Class Veranda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch in the buffet

 

 

Monsoon as we left Miami

 

 

Diamond Duo and Cellar Masters

 

 

Dinner in Blu

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stand up comedy in the theatre

 

 

Tiago in the Rendezvous Lounge

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by JamieLogical

[JamieLogical]

11/19

Yesterday was another SUPER lazy day. I got up with room service breakfast and then headed down to Blu after my shower. After Blu, I headed to Al Bacio for a coffee and to read a bit. I ended up reading quite a bit and then headed back to my room. I came up for air long enough to do lunch in the buffet, and then it was back to my room again for a nap and more reading. Ultimately I ended up doing dinner in the buffet as well and just reading pretty much the entire night. The only time I was really out at all was to see Thiago briefly in the Rendezvous Lounge and to gamble a little. I finished my book a little after midnight and then finally went to sleep.

 

Day’s Drinks: Mimosa x2, Americano with Bailey's, Screwdriver, Moscow Mule, Dark & Stormy, Ginger Mojito

[JamieLogical]

11/19

 

Breakfast in Blu

 

 

Al Bacio

 

Lunch in the buffet

 

Snacks left in my room

 

 

Dinner in the buffet

 

[JamieLogical]

11/20

I woke up as we were docking in Nassau and was disappointed to find I had no cell service. I have had service there with Google Fi in the past, but no more. I had really hoped to be able to post my notes online, but alas, it now looks like that will have to wait until I am back in the States.

 

I was determined to have a more active day yesterday, but I didn’t want to do a sit down breakfast, so I opted for the buffet for breakfast for the first time. I was happy with the food, but surprisingly a little let down by the service. Maybe it was just because it was so busy? There was only one made-to-order egg station open and they seemed a bit backed up. A woman working on the outside of the counter was basically just running the finished eggs to whoever ordered them, but that meant that if you wanted fresh eggs, you had to sit in that section of the buffet. I put in my order and she asked me where I was sitting and I said I didn’t know yet, because I hadn’t gotten any food yet. I told her I would go get my other food and come back, which I did.

 

Getting the rest of my food was also a bit frustrating. For the most part, I don’t mind the fact that Celebrity still has staff serving you your food at the buffet. There are the expected issues of them not giving you the exact quantity you would take for yourself or them putting things in weird places on the plate, making it hard for you to get other items on the same plate. But the most frustrating situation is when there is no one currently at a station that you want something from. You end up just standing there stupidly, inches away from the item you want, and unable to just grab it for yourself. This happened to me twice at breakfast yesterday, as the items that I wanted were scattered across multiple stations.

 

But by far the most frustrating thing was being unable to get a drink. I stood at the beverage station for a couple of minutes and no one showed up. I was worried about my egg being done over at the egg station and me being nowhere in sight, so I just grabbed a cup of water (water and coffee from the machines are still self-service) and went back over to the egg area thinking someone would likely be around to take my drink order anyway, since that seems to be the norm at the buffet. Well, I was wrong. I ate my entire breakfast, slowly even, hoping to even just make eye contact with a crew member to try to get a drink and no luck. A couple of tables around me managed to get drink orders, but it was like I was invisible sitting there with my bright purple hair.

 

Once I was done eating, I went to the drink station on the other side and managed to finally get a mimosa. Happily, my day took a turn for the better right after that. I went over to a new area to drink my mimosa and ran into a couple I had chatted with the first day of this sailing at the martini bar. We had a wonderful conversation about everything under the sun and before we knew it, the buffet was serving lunch!

 

The couple went off to shower and head to the pool. I decided to just stay right there in the buffet and have lunch. I had some delicious Indian food out at the Sunset Bar and just ordered my own drink from the bar so I didn’t have to try to wait for service like at breakfast.

 

After lunch I headed back to my room for some TV and a nap. I watched Antiques Roadshow and some show called Bargain Hunters (I think) where teams buy three items at a flea market with the help of an expert and then try to sell the items at auction for a profit. One team made $7 profit and one team made $1 proffit. So not exactly a lucrative business!

 

I must have really needed a nap after my active morning of sitting in the buffet, because I ended up sleeping until almost 4:00! I had told myself I would go to the Solarium, because I didn’t want to go on the last day and have to pack a wet swimsuit for the trip home. So I changed into my swimsuit and headed down to the pool bar for a drink. But once I finished that drink, I realized I never had my afternoon coffee, so I ran over to the buffet to grab a cup and then took that with me back to the Solarium, which was PACKED. Due to COVID, the maximum capacity in the pool is supposed to be 10 people, but I counted 14 and there were still people waiting around the edges (like me) wanting to get in.

 

I sat in a lounger just people watching and drinking my coffee and by the time i had finished, a group of four had gotten out of the pool, so I was able to get in, but I didn’t get to use the benches on either side. Both of those were already occupied by groups of three. I did get to enjoy the warm water for a bit at least, but not really as long as I had wanted to. It was not the relaxing experience it had been earlier in my trip. It was a little disappointing only because I knew it was going to be my last time in there.

 

After my brief visit to the Solarium, I went back to my room and changed and then headed out for the evening. First I stopped at the Martini bar where I had another nice conversation from the couple from Cincinnati. In fact, it was so nice that before I knew it, it was 6:18 and I was in quite a rush to squeeze in dinner at Blu and still make it to the 7:00 show.

 

At Blu, I was seated next to the same couple from Long Island that I had sat next to the first night of the sailing. They had managed to find several vegetarian options, which I was happy about. We chatted while I had my soup, but then they took off to make it to the show, since they were a bit ahead of me timing wise with dinner. I finally got my entrée just before 7:00, scarfed down about half of it, and then rushed out at 7:05. I wasn’t TOO late to the theater. I got there right at the end of the first song by NYC3. This time I went down and sat in the front row, because I really wanted to make the guys feel appreciated and help get the crowd riled up. Now that I know them as people, I really just wanted them to feel like they were doing a great job, which they were!

 

The crowd still didn’t get as into it as I had hoped. That’s the challenge with a 7:00 show. The drinks haven’t been flowing as long. I hoped the 9:00 show would be a bit more energized. Which reminds me, this sailing is the first sailing that the Summit has started back having two shows a night. With the lower capacity of the previous sailings, they were only doing one 8:00 main theater show. But with higher capacity this week (a whopping 814 passengers), they are back to two shows, one at 7:00 and one at 9:00.

 

After the show, I rushed back to Rendezvous for the Whisper gameshow. I had missed it the previous sailing and heard it was a lot of fun, so I didn’t want to miss it this time. I found Komang and got myself a Mr. Worldwide, while I spectated. It really was very very funny to watch. My couple from Blu participated and their team ultimately won. I was sad they only played one round. I would have liked to have participated if they did a second round.

 

After the gameshow, I was chatting with a couple from Orlando. I introduced them to Komang and the Mr. Worldwide, which we actually decided to officially call “Shenanigans”, because in order to make it, Komang always goes into the room behind the bar and works some dark magic to concoct it. We decided he was getting up to shenanigans back there, so that is now they name of this drink.

 

I wanted to go back and see NYC3 again, so the couple decided to join me. We sat in the way back on the upper level this time though, so we could make a hasty exit. I wanted to sneak out in time to gamble a bit and then see the new band playing in Rendezvous.

 

Yesterday was the first day for two new musical acts onboard. I believe the one I saw last night was replacing Gemini Music Duo. These guys are called Rippy Dippy Duo and couldn’t be more different than Gemini, but they were a lot of fun. They won me over when they played Barenaked Ladies’ “If I Had a Million Dollars”. I genuinely love that song and have even requested it on previous cruises!

 

I couldn’t stay for their whole set as it was WELL past my bedtime. I ran up to the buffet, had my obligatory late night pizza, and then it was off to bed.

 

Day’s Drinks: Mimosa x2, Moscow Mule, French Caribbean, Murano Martini x2, Botanical Bliss, Mr. Worldwide x2
 

[JamieLogical]

11/20

 

Docking in Nassau

 

 

Lunch in the buffet

 

Dinner at Blu

 

 

 

NYC3

 

 

Whisper Game in Rendezvous Lounge

 

 

Rippy Dippy Duo in the Rendezvous Lounge

 

 

Late Night Snack in the buffet

[JamieLogical]

11/21

 

I don't have any contemporaneous notes for the last day of the cruise, but looking back through my photos jogged my memory a bit. We were the first Celebrity ship ever to port in Bimini, Bahamas. I didn't get off the ship at all, as there is really nothing to do there, other than a beach day and I hate beaches. I used the time in port to take 360 video tours of the ship. At some point I will try to get those posted! I remember that in the evening, I ran into the couple from breakfast the previous day at the Martini bar and we got to chatting and had such a nice time doing so that we decided to have dinner in Blu together. It was lobster night. I went to the theatre show after dinner, but skipped out a little early to check out the new dance band that had just finished quarantine and was able to finally start performing. I also went to the late night/adult content comedy show, which was really funny.

 

I do have a little story to tell about disembarkation day. Remember how I had to surrender my suite class keycard on turnaround day between my B2B legs, but they promised they would get it back to me on the last night of the cruise? Well, they didn't! I was so upset. In the morning, the first thing I did was call Guest Services and they said there wasn't anything they could do, as the concierge desk wasn't being staffed that morning. I then talked to my room steward to see if he had ever seen the card, since it was supposed to have been left in my room. He hadn't seen it, but thought maybe it had been sent to my old room by mistake, so he called the manager of my old room steward and eventually talked to my old room steward and he hadn't seen it either. As a last resort, I decided to stop by the Retreat Lounge (even though I wasn't a Retreat guest anymore. Connie, the concierge there had been super nice to me all along and when I ran into her on the second leg of the cruise, she insisted she would let me in there, even though I wasn't a Retreat Guest anymore, though I didn't take her up on that.

 

Well, Connie was, as usual, the BEST. Despite all the chaos of disembarkation, she was calling all over the ship to try to find my card. She talked to the concierge, housekeeping, and who knows who else? Finally the acknowledged that my card was just lost. But determined to not send me home disappointed, she had the concierge print me a new card. It wasn't exactly right, since it had the date of the current cruise printed on it, but at least I still have a card to add to my collection and a fun story to tell! I am still sad they didn't get my original card back to me as promised, but they really did try. I passed by the security guard who I had begged not to take my card in the first place as I was getting off the ship. She actually recognized me and asked if I had gotten my card back. You should have seen the look on her face when I said "no". She was so deflated! But I assured her that everyone had worked hard to resolve the situation and I think that cheered her up a little.

[JamieLogical]

11/21

 

Morning snacks from the buffet

 

Docked in Bimini

 

Lunch in the buffet

 

Chocolate fountain in the buffet

 

 

Snacks at Cafe al Bacio

 

Tiago at the Sunset Bar

 

Sunset in Bimini

 

Dinner in Blu

 

 

 

 

"Soundtrack"

 

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

11/20

 

Getting the rest of my food was also a bit frustrating. For the most part, I don’t mind the fact that Celebrity still has staff serving you your food at the buffet. There are the expected issues of them not giving you the exact quantity you would take for yourself or them putting things in weird places on the plate, making it hard for you to get other items on the same plate. But the most frustrating situation is when there is no one currently at a station that you want something from. You end up just standing there stupidly, inches away from the item you want, and unable to just grab it for yourself. This happened to me twice at breakfast yesterday, as the items that I wanted were scattered across multiple stations.

 

But by far the most frustrating thing was being unable to get a drink. I stood at the beverage station for a couple of minutes and no one showed up. I was worried about my egg being done over at the egg station and me being nowhere in sight, so I just grabbed a cup of water (water and coffee from the machines are still self-service) and went back over to the egg area thinking someone would likely be around to take my drink order anyway, since that seems to be the norm at the buffet. Well, I was wrong. I ate my entire breakfast, slowly even, hoping to even just make eye contact with a crew member to try to get a drink and no luck. A couple of tables around me managed to get drink orders, but it was like I was invisible sitting there with my bright purple hair.

 

First of all, thank you for sharing your stories and your pictures!

 

On my cruise on the Regal Princess last month, I also had drink troubles, but the opposite of yours.  I COULD NOT get my own drinks in the buffet on that ship, at all, ever.  The drink stations were guarded and in crew-only locations.  So I had to get food first, then someone would come over and bring silverware and ask me what I wanted to drink, when they could find me.  It seemed wasteful to me of these crew members' time and effort and only minimally safer (IMHO) since I only wanted the basic non-alcoholic beverages.  But this sounds like it would have suited you perfectly.  I'm sure if you wanted to imbibe more exotic stuff, they would have been thrilled to deliver it.

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

First of all, thank you for sharing your stories and your pictures!

 

On my cruise on the Regal Princess last month, I also had drink troubles, but the opposite of yours.  I COULD NOT get my own drinks in the buffet on that ship, at all, ever.  The drink stations were guarded and in crew-only locations.  So I had to get food first, then someone would come over and bring silverware and ask me what I wanted to drink, when they could find me.  It seemed wasteful to me of these crew members' time and effort and only minimally safer (IMHO) since I only wanted the basic non-alcoholic beverages.  But this sounds like it would have suited you perfectly.  I'm sure if you wanted to imbibe more exotic stuff, they would have been thrilled to deliver it.

 

I don't mind getting my drinks myself, but that particular morning, the drink station wasn't currently staffed, so the only way to get a drink was the traveling servers, none of whom seemed inclined to help me either.

[colliercruiser]

@JamieLogical Thanks for the trip summary of your second cruise.  Given your prior Sky suite experience and then the move to Aqua class, did you find the difference (overall) to be that significant?  Was Luminae a big jump up from Blu or not so much?  Any other differences worth noting?  I did note your comments about the limited closet space which might be a big issue for the two of us.

 

We're have booked a Summit B2B in Oct 2022... first 12-night NE/Canada cruise in a Celebrity suite and second 12-night Boston-to-Miami repositioning cruise in an Aqua-class cabin (no suites available).

[MartinsCruise]

Jamie - Thank you for another entertaining review.  We're booked in Aqua on the Summit for a b2b next April.  The aft cabins on 11 are taken so we have a cabin on 9 under the pool deck.  What cabin were you in that had the smaller overhang?  

[vms]

Thanks for finishing this up Jamie! It was so great to meet you on the last night of your second leg, although I clearly missed my chance to tag along and get a "Shenanigans". I'm thrilled to hear they were able to get you a suite card, even if your original card wasn't available.

 

Happy sailing.

[JamieLogical]

16 hours ago, MartinsCruise said:

Jamie - Thank you for another entertaining review.  We're booked in Aqua on the Summit for a b2b next April.  The aft cabins on 11 are taken so we have a cabin on 9 under the pool deck.  What cabin were you in that had the smaller overhang?  

 

9140

[JamieLogical]

17 hours ago, colliercruiser said:

@JamieLogical Thanks for the trip summary of your second cruise.  Given your prior Sky suite experience and then the move to Aqua class, did you find the difference (overall) to be that significant?  Was Luminae a big jump up from Blu or not so much?  Any other differences worth noting?  I did note your comments about the limited closet space which might be a big issue for the two of us.

 

We're have booked a Summit B2B in Oct 2022... first 12-night NE/Canada cruise in a Celebrity suite and second 12-night Boston-to-Miami repositioning cruise in an Aqua-class cabin (no suites available).

Yes, I remember you telling me there were no suites left in your sailing. And I thought about you when I saw the closet, because I know you were on a longer sailing. My advice would be don't overpack hanging items and plan to have laundry done a time or two. I did get a free bag of laundry on my second leg, since I was doing a B2B, do keep that in mind. There is a lot of drawer space and room for folded items. It's just the hanging space that felt limited.

[JamieLogical]

18 hours ago, colliercruiser said:

@JamieLogical Thanks for the trip summary of your second cruise.  Given your prior Sky suite experience and then the move to Aqua class, did you find the difference (overall) to be that significant?  Was Luminae a big jump up from Blu or not so much?  Any other differences worth noting?  I did note your comments about the limited closet space which might be a big issue for the two of us.

 

We're have booked a Summit B2B in Oct 2022... first 12-night NE/Canada cruise in a Celebrity suite and second 12-night Boston-to-Miami repositioning cruise in an Aqua-class cabin (no suites available).

Oh, I forgot to say, I really didn't feel the "downgrade" from Retreat to Aqua. Mostly I missed the staff and my fellow passengers in Luminae. Not that the staff and fellow passengers were any worse in Blu, just that I really enjoyed the people I had met and spent time with in Luminae. The room was obviously smaller, but I actually liked the bathroom better. I didn't miss having a butler at all. I hadn't used the Retreat Lounge much on the first leg and only went to the Retreat Sun Deck one time to explore and take photos. So, in all, I think I wouldn't pay the difference to upgrade to a suite again unless it was a really good deal.

[colliercruiser]

15 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Oh, I forgot to say, I really didn't feel the "downgrade" from Retreat to Aqua. Mostly I missed the staff and my fellow passengers in Luminae. Not that the staff and fellow passengers were any worse in Blu, just that I really enjoyed the people I had met and spent time with in Luminae. The room was obviously smaller, but I actually liked the bathroom better. I didn't miss having a butler at all. I hadn't used the Retreat Lounge much on the first leg and only went to the Retreat Sun Deck one time to explore and take photos. So, in all, I think I wouldn't pay the difference to upgrade to a suite again unless it was a really good deal.

Thank you for your additional info… very helpful.