sptrout

1 hour ago, ICANTWAITTOCRUISE said:

Thank you! I will try using a PC. Both our travel agent and multiple departments at Celebrity told us this couldn't be done so I am very happy to hear there is a chance! This is our first ever cruise out of many on Celebrity that we have not been either aqua class or aqua class suite and we have to have it :)!

We booked in advance the Thermal Suite for last January (we are on the Beyond now, and the year before on the Reflection PG). Booked via a PC, didn't have an App at the time.

As mentioned, we are nearing the end if an 11 day cruise on the Beyond. We are in a Sky Suite and decided that the Thermal Suite was not worth the steep costs for 11 days even though it would have been covered 100% with OBC. We did not really care for the TS last January vs Persion Gardens. Very busy and time allowed on the beds was restricted to 30 minutes and enforced. The Persion Gardens have the same time restrictions, but due to smaller crowds time wasn't an issue.

Yes, you a should be able to buy access to the Thermal Suite in advance unless it is sold out or too early. 

The system asks you to pick day/or time, but it means nothing. An IT issue I guess. Just randomly pick a time and pay on the way out. If using OBC make sure that you carefully use the checkout page. It is easily confused and if not done correctly your CC will be charged. 

No reason to check on embarkation day other than make sure that all is in order. I assume that you are familiar with the Thermal Suite (E-Class Ships) vs. the Persian Gardens in older ships. Not exactly the same and you may, or may not, like the differences.

We will ask our Retreat Host, but he is more invisible than Casper. LOL... not really.

We are on the  Beyond now in a SS1; no bags other than the laundry bags.

2 hours ago, Moby Jones said:

We have 4 pairs in an SS1 too. 

Could it be because they can accommodate 4 people with the sofa bed?

Could be, but our sofa looks too short to include a bed. 

2 hours ago, sptrout said:

We are in a SS1 now on Beyond and if either of these two items are in the cabin we missed them. Funny, my wife bought her Celebrity bag from our Beyond cruise 12 months ago.

We just returned to our cabin and DW found four pairs of slippers. If anyone is currently on Beyond we have two pairs of your slippers. Could not find a bag or lip balms.

2 hours ago, OceanCruise said:

Are they still providing slippers and tote bag?

We are in a SS1 now on Beyond and if either of these two items are in the cabin we missed them. Funny, my wife bought her Celebrity bag from our Beyond cruise 12 months ago.

This week on Beyond, chocolate at night yes, lip balm no.

4 hours ago, JDPCruisers said:

Thanks for that. Any cards for the concierges left in your cabin? If so, and only if you find a chance, mind posting their names? Wanting to see if they are anyone we have had in the past.

The names of the Concierges are: Pau, Rosanna, Simi, and Venita. Very helpful ladies. Sure beats going down to Guess Services.

59 minutes ago, JDPCruisers said:

Thanks for the feedback. We have lowered our expectations but still anticipating a good cruise on a "new" ship to us. Do you remember the Head Butlers name? Not sure they will be ours but good to just know in advance. 

Our Head Butler according to his business card left in the cabin is "George" no last name given.

1 hour ago, JDPCruisers said:

We will be on Beyond in April/May. Who currently are the concierges? Curious your experience, so far? 

Do not know the concierges; really have never known them.

So far after 4 days of an 11 night cruise in the Retreat (Sky Suite) everything has been okay. The room service is no more than what I would have expected in a lowest level cabin on a ship. Just a cabin attendant (aka, Retreat Host). Previously provided pre-cruise inputs ignored, but provided after mentioning them. Met the "Head Butler" briefly one time. Do not expect to see him again.

We were on this same ship exactly one year ago this week. We noticed cut backs even then when compared to a 10 -night sailing on the Reflection one year previous. This year even more noticeable. As mentioned the room service is what one would expect from a single cabin attendant. Remember when there was a cabin attendant, assistant cabin attendant, and a Butler? 

Our only request was for bottled water of any kind. So far random two bottles of water in plastic.

Lumiane service has been very good as usual, but food quality is down and generally unimpressive. 

I know that I sound negative, but probably more negative than what I should be posting. We are having a good time and it seems like the ship is close to capacity. No official word on the number of passengers on board, but my quess is full especially the Suites.

We are on Beyond now and will be Elite+ at the end of this cruise. We decided for next January to jump back to Princess and sail on their new, still under construction, Sun Princess. The Sun Princess' new Sanurtary Class seems to be Princess' first attempt to try a ship-in-a-ship concept. The pricing seems reasonable even after adding their version of a all-in option. We have sailed Princess several times and try are close to Celebrity. 

We will miss the Retreat, but Celebrity has priced us out.

Just got the form this evening, $29 p/p and we are in the Retreat.

Not directly related, but we are on Beyond now and today's newsletter letter says that Luggage Valet will be available for certain airlines at the end of our cruise. Told to call for details soon.

Costs may be a problem, but Moody Gardens and their hotel is a great place to stay with many things to do. 

https://www.moodygardens.com/

Another nice, but again costly option, is San Luis Resort & Spa.

https://www.sanluisresort.com/

There are other hotels on the island just search to hotels on Galveston Island.

12 minutes ago, smeck said:

I saw you had lunch in the retreat on embark day I was under the impression that Luminae wasn’t open for lunch on embark day. 

Unless there has been a change since January and earlier cruises; yes, Luminae is open for lunch on embarkation day. That is always the first place we head to when we first board. I do not remember though when it closes. Could be closed for people with late boarding.

23 hours ago, sptrout said:

Just another opinion about Princess' Enclave Spas. Having sailed on most of Celebrity ships and several Princess ships, IMO the Enclave on the Royal Class ships (and newer I can only assume) are far superior to anything on Celebrity since the end of the Century Class ships. Night and day difference. In our experience only the newer MSC Class ships are at least comparable to Princess. Celebrity has really dropped the ball when it comes to spas.

Could be, my memory of these two types of ships is fading. As you can see in my signature, MSC was our last non-Celebrity cruise, and the Regal was a couple years earlier. MSC's spa as I remember it, has numerous small rooms each with different features; from a pool, to a salt room, to an ice room, etc. Easy to lose your partner LOL. The Princess Regal, as I recall, was one large room with a variety of options all easy to find, but overall fewer options than the two MSC Ships that we have been on.

In any case, either brand is light years ahead of Celebrity's Persian Gardens or Thermal Suite (E-Class). With the newer E & S-Class builds Celebrity really missed the target. Really disappointing.

Just another opinion about Princess' Enclave Spas. Having sailed on most of Celebrity ships and several Princess ships, IMO the Enclave on the Royal Class ships (and newer I can only assume) are far superior to anything on Celebrity since the end of the Century Class ships. Night and day difference. In our experience only the newer MSC Class ships are at least comparable to Princess. Celebrity has really dropped the ball when it comes to spas.

Not an answer to your question, but below is a link to "Casual Navigation's" explanation of morning lines. More to it than us non-folks may realize.

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

I’m from the Westcoast. There are plenty of wild salmon that is not from Alaska.  Costco on the Westcoast sells fresh or previously frozen wild salmon. Usually Copper River or Sockeye. We do not eat farmed salmon.  Costco is actually pretty good for seafood on the Westcoast. Lots of fresh crab.  

I do not remember ever seeing Copper River, but I could easily have missed it if they had it. One thing that you mentioned that has always puzzled me and this is not a Costco thing, but every place that I know of that sells "previously frozen XX". Why thaw it out? Can these items be refrozen? The same goes for other seafood items such as shrimp; always previously frozen and we live near the Gulf Coast which has many fresh shrimp markets. 

About a year ago our local big super market had nice looking previously frozen sockeye salmon for a great price. The filets where too big for a meal so I asked the meat manager if previously frozen salmon could be refrozen? He totally dodge the question, but had a better answer, he when back to their freezer and sold us rock hard frozen filets for the same "on sale" price as the thawed-out fish in their display case. Seems dumb to me to thaw out good fish/shrimp/etc. when they can sell still frozen stuff from their freezer. 

35 minutes ago, diesel1973 said:

Read an article once that if it is wild caught it is probably farm raised. The light pink wild caught salmon at Costco says "coloring added ". What color was it before the coloring was added? The Alaskan salmon is a dark red and firm texture. Delicious !!!

I agree, almost all salmon not labeled as "Alaskan Salmon" is farmed raised. Any fish that has "Alaska" or "Alaskan" on it has to be wild caught or the manufacturer will likely be meeting Alaska's AG in Court. Alaska takes this very seriously; like Walt Disney does with anyone they catch using their characters without authorization. Buying Sockeye is another way to make sure that it is wild caught since Sockeye cannot be farmed raised.

As for color, farm raised Salmon that has not had coloring added looks kind of grayish. IMO, it is almost certain that any Salmon served on a ship or any non-Alaskan restaurant will be farm raised. Good wild caught Salmon is very expensive, even at Costco where you can buy both frozen Alaskan Sockeye and farm raised Salmon. In Costco's unfrozen fish displays they do have wild caught Salmon, but that is rare at least here in Houston, most of the time it is farm raised. Usually, not labeled as farm raised so you have to look at the labeling closely where it will say "coloring added". Big red flag.

We were on the Beyond this past January in a corner aft cabin. There are two of these SS1/Retreat cabins on a few decks and they are a long ways from any other Retreat Cabins. Being so far off the beaten Butler/Retreat path I was not too surprised that we only saw our butler on day 1 and day 6. However, the cabin was stocked to Retreat standards (whatever we wanted in the mini-frig for one thing) that we really never missed the Butler. And it truth we seldom used our Butlers in previous SS cabins. 

We have an 11 day Beyond cruise booked for this coming January, but this time mid-ship. It will be interesting what we will have lost in service/treatment between 1/24 & 1/25. We like Luminae for the great service, but the food and presentation was several points down this past January from our previous sailings. I think that the food cuts were in full force even then. Le Voyage was the only restaurant that we visited that was truly unforgettable. But it helped that we ran into Captain Kate just a few steps from the door; what a nice lady. 

Sorry to read that several folks were not able to visit Volcano National Park. I have been there 3 or 4 times and it is always a place to remember, Nothing else like it. I hope that all of you get a chance to visit the Park again some day.

12 hours ago, hcat said:

has anyone  who enjoys MSC,  experienced the spa or equiv to thermal suites/ Persian Garden on X..

Do they have a T pool,?

Sorry hcat, but I no longer remember all the details, however I remember that we were very impressed with the spa's on Seaside and the Meraviglia. We wore our YC robes from the cabin over our swim suits and they just let us right in after giving us locker keys.

Much better experience than the spa's on any of the Celebrity Spas. They contain a wide variety of experiences/rooms that divide the large spa into more manageable experiences. Yes, they do contain T-type pools and several other experiences, and also a door to an outside spa only area that we never managed to get to.. If you have sailed on Princess' Regal Class ships (the newest that we have sailed) the MSC Spas are similar, even better/bigger. Either MSC, or Princess Regal Class, spas put Celebrity's to shame IMO.

We live just a few miles (<10) from IAH and I can tell you that timing for any trip is a crapshoot. The International Terminal as well as some of the domestic United Gates are in the middle of a complete remodeling (from the ground up). When are you coming through IAH? I recommend that the site I have below become your new "home" website.

https://www.fly2houston.com/