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Aqua Class - do we get benefits & Blu?


jej122000

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We booked a guarantee balcony for Eclipse 3rd May 2010 4 day sailing to Ireland. Just had stateroom confirmation and have been allocated Aqua Class. Will we get all the Aqua Class benefits as a "guarantee balcony" booking and will we get access to the Blu restaurant? The original booking only offered the choice of select dining and there seems to be some discussion elsewhere that Aqua Class select dining gets allocated to the MDR - to get in to Blu will we need to change from select to traditional dining On-Line or can we sort it out when we board?

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Interesting question. However, all other things being equal, in AQ you will be entitled to breakfast and dinner in Blu and all sorts of other goodies, including, but not limited, to daily ice tea, bottled water, champagne in your cabin, flowers, daily fruit bowl etc.

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To be sure to be in Blu I would definitely change to traditional dining. You can eat at Blu at whatever time you want but there is still some confusion on those who choose "Celebrity Select Dining" not being ablt to eat in Blu. If you want to eat there I'd switch just to be sure! By the way...congrats on the upgrade....makes me hopeful....I have a little 3 day holiday planned on Eclipse 11/17 and decided to take a chance on a balcony guarantee....maybe we'll wind up in AQ too...that would be great as we LOVE Blu!!!:)

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jej122000,

 

Just in case it was not clear to you from the responses. When one is upgraded to a certain class like CC or AC, one receives all the benefits of the particular class. It makes no difference as to whether the class was originally booked or is a result of an upgrade. Congratulations on your upgrade. Also if you do not like your assigned location, you can change to another location as long as it a cabin is available in the same category.

 

Enjoy our cruise.

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We booked a guarantee balcony for Eclipse 3rd May 2010 4 day sailing to Ireland. Just had stateroom confirmation and have been allocated Aqua Class. Will we get all the Aqua Class benefits as a "guarantee balcony" booking and will we get access to the Blu restaurant? The original booking only offered the choice of select dining and there seems to be some discussion elsewhere that Aqua Class select dining gets allocated to the MDR - to get in to Blu will we need to change from select to traditional dining On-Line or can we sort it out when we board?

 

you will need to switch to Traditional to get Blu (& will be asked to pick main or late seating)--you can do that now to be sure you are in Blu..just call them.. they are aware of the confusion about this issue......

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We booked a guarantee balcony for Eclipse 3rd May 2010 4 day sailing to Ireland. Just had stateroom confirmation and have been allocated Aqua Class. Will we get all the Aqua Class benefits as a "guarantee balcony" booking and will we get access to the Blu restaurant? The original booking only offered the choice of select dining and there seems to be some discussion elsewhere that Aqua Class select dining gets allocated to the MDR - to get in to Blu will we need to change from select to traditional dining On-Line or can we sort it out when we board?

 

BLU is entirely hit or miss, though it offers far more privacy than the main dining room.

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That seems really strange since when we were in Blu in November we could eat any time we wanted. Has it changed?

 

No, it hasn't changed it's just that you have to be signed up for "traditional dining" to eat in Blu. It's confusing but I guess Blu is not prepared to take diners signed up as "Celebrity Select Dining" since they would then have to determine if that guest is AQ or not and since many people are choosing Celebrity Select, Blu could easily become overcrowded very quickly. So I guess their solution is to require AQ guests to signup for Traditional and then let them eat whenever they want. That's what occurred on our Solstice trip in January. We were signed up for early seating and had a letter waiting in our stateroom telling us to come "when we want." We LOVED Blu!:)

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I just came back from a cruise on Solstice, having been upgraded to Aqua Class. We were entitled to all the benefits of Aqua Class, but you do need to make sure that Blu has you on their guest list. When we initially boarded the ship we made sure that we were on the list and found that we were still listed for the main dining room. This was quickly changed and we had no further issues.

 

Enjoy the perks, but watch out as it does spoil you.

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I asked Celebrity via their Customer Service email request to clarify the Blu - Select Dining option and this is the response.

 

"AquaClass guests who opt for Celebrity Select dining at the time of booking will be seated in the Main dining room. However, upon embarkation, all guests dining in Blu will receive a letter communicating their booked dining time, as well as, information on how to take advantage of the flexible dining format being offered if they wish to do so. If the guests wish to dine at their booked dining time, they simply go to Blu at that time. If the guests wish to take advantage of open seating without reservations, they may arrive at Blu between the hours of 6:00 and 9:30 PM and all efforts will be made to seat the guests right away. If the guests wish to change their booked reservation time, they may:

 

-Visit the Maitre D' in the Blu Restaurant to make alternate arrangements

-Call the Blu Restaurant at the extension provided in their embarkation letter"

 

I got this seven days after submitting the request.

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Hi, we have been given an (unwanted) upgrade to AQ and probably won't be able to switch as the sailing is full, May 3rd on Eclipse. Does anyone know if we can breakfast in Blu and dine in MDR (we are booked Select and from the menus I have seen Blu is too fancy and limited for me as I don't eat seafood, pork, lamb or veal - have very rarely had a problem in MDR's) - have eaten in Murano's but would only choose speciality at most once a week, nothing to do with cost, just personal taste. However I have always been disappointed with breakfasts both in dining room and self service - and room service has been a disaster with everything cold by the time it reached us (only at breakfast!).

 

Anyone who knows, please enlighten me!!

many thanks

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Yes, you can eat breakfast in Blu if you are in Aqua Class and by choosing Select, you will be assigned to the MDR.

By the way, Steak is an all the time option in Blu. The food is not that fancy, just different and smaller portions with definitely healthier sauces, seasonings & sides.

We sailed with a gal in Feb that ordered shrimp cocktail with sauce made a special way, iceberg lettuce salad, steak & a baked potato every single night in Blu--NO problems at all.

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Yes, you can eat breakfast in Blu if you are in Aqua Class and by choosing Select, you will be assigned to the MDR.

 

By the way, Steak is an all the time option in Blu. The food is not that fancy, just different and smaller portions with definitely healthier sauces, seasonings & sides.

 

We sailed with a gal in Feb that ordered shrimp cocktail with sauce made a special way, iceberg lettuce salad, steak & a baked potato every single night in Blu--NO problems at all.

 

Thanks for that - I was put off by the menus that another cc member kindly posted, as there was virtually nothing for either DH (who is not nearly as picky as me!!) or me!! I think I will ask TA to find out if we switch to Blu and don't like it, whether we can get back onto Select - it's not a major problem for the 4 nights, but may as well get it as right as we can!

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Hi, we have been given an (unwanted) upgrade to AQ and probably won't be able to switch as the sailing is full, May 3rd on Eclipse. Does anyone know if we can breakfast in Blu and dine in MDR (we are booked Select and from the menus I have seen Blu is too fancy and limited for me as I don't eat seafood, pork, lamb or veal - have very rarely had a problem in MDR's) - have eaten in Murano's but would only choose speciality at most once a week, nothing to do with cost, just personal taste. However I have always been disappointed with breakfasts both in dining room and self service - and room service has been a disaster with everything cold by the time it reached us (only at breakfast!).

 

Anyone who knows, please enlighten me!!

many thanks

 

They are tremendously accommodating in Blu. If you ask, they will show you the menu for the following day, and if nothing appeals, with make something to meet your desires, eg. chicken or beef. We have sailed in AQ twice, and the food preparation is excellent. It is worth going to Blu for the presentation of the food...lovely serving ware. Service is excellent but very friendly...not at all pretentious. And the room really has a lovely ambiance.

 

On both of our Solstice cruises, filet mignon was on the menu for the first night in Blu. It was every bit as good as the filet we had in the Tuscan Grille. So if you like beef, it is worth a try.

 

Also, sometimes the descriptions of the food in Blu sound more esoteric than the food is. Some dishes or sides actually did not sound appealing to begin with, but everything I ordered was delicious and I stopped worrying about the descriptions.

 

IMHO, Blu is worth a try before deciding to move to the MDR. If you do decide you'd rather be in the MDR, I'm sure the Maitre d' in Blu will do everything to assist you.

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While we're on the subject! We are a family of 6 travelling in 3 cabins. Two of the cabins are AQ and the third is an inside on the Penthouse deck. We know that we can't all dine in Blu, so we are expecting to eat most nights in MDR. My question is this: if DH and I wish to dine one night in Blu by ourselves, will we be allowed to do that, being that we will have already chosen MDR as our dining choice?

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