FlyingCruiser2

We live less than 4 hours from 4 of the Florida ports and still go down and stay near the port the day before!

The poster I quoted was asking about how you choose what two bottles are in the bar in your room. I know that applies to PH and RS, not sure if also other Retreat cabins too.

On the last two we brought bottles aboard, we were not charged. Both times were FLL.

You tell them what you want. We asked for Mezcal, assuming it was something they normally stocked on board. When we got on board, they had put 2 nice-brand bottles in our room. We noticed, however, that we couldn’t find Mezcal at any bar. When I asked concierge about it, he told me he had sent someone to the liquor store near the port to get our Mezcal.

We had no problems with food temp. It was the only time we had a meal in the room. For our first time on X, we had no complaints about anything.

We were in the PH on Connie in March. Confirming what peanut head says - same on Constellation. There is a "special" room-service menu for all Retreat cabins. One night we went to Sushi on 5 for takeout. Over our protest, they would not let us wait and insisted on our returning to our room and they had the butler deliver it.

We are on Rotterdam at the end of November. You cannot reserve Canaletto at all from the app, but you can reserve for all of the other specialty restaurants. If you want to reserve Canaletto you have to use Holland America website. All of the special dining venues are available every night for reservations, except Canaletto for departure day.

I did get the information about Carnival changing the rate and offering refunds to existing reservations from a poster on another board - I haven't confirmed it is accurate first-hand.

We got an email today about an update to our Villa reservation, telling us the A/C is being removed. What's interesting is that Carnival has lowered the price by $100 and is offering credit to people who have already booked. Confirmed by phone this morning that Holland will NOT be doing the same. Since our cruise is at the end of November - it's not a big deal at all. Would I book on in July/August now? Don't think so.

Not only have prices gone up, but apparently they are removing the a/c units in the villas and cabanas. Saw an article yesterday about Carnival notifying guests that have already reserved villas for after Oct 1 that they can get a discount/refund and they are lowering the price “accordingly”.

when we were on Eurodam last year, they had one night where Pinnacle Grill became Rudi’s - great lobster then.

This was our first time on Connie and first time with Celebrity, and we were in a PH. Our previous comparable cruises have been HAL (Pinnacle Suites), Virgin (Massive Suite), and other lines suites. Have to say we've liked Celebrity the best. The inclusions of the drink package, tips, stocked bar, obc credit, and especially the unlimited Specialty Restaurants made it the best value. The cabin was considerably nicer than the others mentioned above, fantastic balcony that takes up half the width of the ship. Service was fantastic from our Butler (although we asked for very little compared to requests I've read about). Not much interaction with Michael's club and the Retreat Concierge - except for one thing he did that went WAY beyond. Before leaving they emailed us about preferences for the bottles that they provided. One of our requests was for Mezcal, asking for one that was a Joven (least aged). When we got on the ship there were two bottles of Mezcal (plus our other requested spirit) and both were good brands. As we visited different bars on the ship - only one of them had Mezcal and it was a different brand then they furnished us. I had assumed they would have given us a brand from the ship's normal bar stock. When I asked the Retreat Concierge about this, he told me that he had sent someone off the ship to a liquor store during turnaround to get our bottles - that he wanted us to have a good brand of them. Needless to say, he was mentioned on survey and tipped well. Bottom line is that our experience did change our preferred line to Celebrity, but likely just the smaller class of ships like Connie. Back to Luminae - another difference you'll have on Connie is that you can order from the MDR or BLU menus.

Thanks for the feedback. We are going to do a B2B with the PH on the first leg and the Reflection on the second. Nice to hear about the cabana, but we'll likely not leave the balcony!

We were on in March (hope that's recent enough). We thought the food and service was great - especially the service. For example on lobster night, we heard a lot of people complain about the MDR - small, cooked wrong, had to pay for additional....but in Luminae, we asked when ordering if we wanted 2, and it was butter-poached and perfectly done. Also, one night early in the cruise my wife asked about a recipe for one dish. The final night our Luminae server tracked us down at one of the specialty restaurants to give us the printed recipe.

We are looking at the Reflection Suite on Reflection for an upcoming very special occasion. For anyone who has stayed in that room, or the Signature Suites that are next to it - is there noise from the Sky Observation Lounge? Thanks in advance - Larry

It was open when we were going through Panama Canal - but only that day (on Eurodam).

Meant NCL Site😀

Haven’t cruised on NCL since pre-Covid…do they still stock the Owner’s Suite bar with 3 bottles of your choice? Can’t find anything on RCL site that mentions this.

We got an email about 3 weeks before our Constellation trip. We stayed in a Penthouse Suite. Everything we requested was taken care of. As an "above-and-beyond".......I asked for a joven Mezcal for one of our in-room-bar choices (thinking that the ship would have some kind of Mezcal on board). Arriving in the room, there were 2 bottles of Mezcal - one of which happened to be a favorite brand of ours. However, at the bars on the ship we could not find Mezcal anywhere. I asked the concierge about this, and he told me he sent someone to the liquor store near the port to get our bottles. I was pretty darn impressed!!

We definitely didn't get charged. Maybe because we were in PS?

The wine pairing option is not included, and not covered by drink package. It was $30, and according to DW was more than worth it. On our trip (Connie in March), they had an Indian themed night instead of TPC - best cruise ship meal we’ve ever had and our first experience with Indian food. That was included as part of the unlimited speciality restaurant perk.

You’ll want to ask about it either at the restaurant or at a table they set outside of the Oceanview to make specialty restaurant reservations. We only heard about it by chance then went to reserve it.

One thing I forgot to mention….. One night where they normally had Le Petite Chef, they had a menu from India. They brought out all the dishes on the menu on smaller plates “family style”. It was the best meal I’ve had on ANY ship EVER and in the top 3 for lifetime.

We were on Constellation the trip before she went back to Europe this spring. For us, service was awesome and food was great. However we were in a Penthouse suite. Along with the enhanced service it included unlimited dining in all of the Speciality restaurants and a different “main dining” venue. After cruising on this, Holland, and Virgin last - it was definitely our favorite and also best “value” for suite class. We did hear people complaining about main dining room. I’d have to say comments went 50-50 good vs bad. A lot centered around changes from people’s previous cruises - like charging for additional lobster tails on Chic Night. I personally didn’t care for the Oceanview cafe. Often times we struggled to find seating as people would just park themselves and read or play cards. This was a sailing with just over 1000 guests.

I posted on the Carnival Roll Call for their trip as I was nosey as to what they charged. Someone replied that they indeed changed their itinerary to go to Nassau instead. Before they changed though, it looks like they were charging same as HAL.