CalTexCruiser

This sailing epitomizes our changing world from climate change.

Who would have thought that it would be possible for a cruise to sail from out-of-control wildfires in Hawaii to a hurricane in California?

What's next...a blizzard in Fort Lauderdale?

May be rough seas even if down to tropical storm...not sure if the ship will chance sailing into LA on Monday...maybe wait until Tues perhaps.

Has any fellow passenger actually given this crass self-entitled person a verbal what-for?

These types of people MAY back off on their selfish behavior if confronted. 

We have a selfish neighbor that used to allow her dogs to roam unleashed on our street but after we got into it with her she has since (1) kept her dogs off the streets, and (2) avoided us.

48 minutes ago, gfkcruiser said:

Received this response to my email concerned that smoking in casino and other areas would return. 
 

Our casino players have indicated that being able to vape while playing would enhance their gaming experience. Overall guest feedback indicates that guests who do not vape do not feel vaping in the casino would negatively impact their experience.

 

What "Overall guest feedback"?  This response from Celebrity is total horses**t.

The correct non-vaping guest population to survey are non-vaping/non-smoking gamblers.  I'm sure if you ask a non-vaping gambler who never enters the casino whether vaping in the casino would negatively impact their cruising experience, of course the answer is no.

Unfortunately it looks like vaping in casinos is a done deal.

4 hours ago, ldtr said:

Let's see a 12 day cruise at 200 per passenger per day. The 14.95 optional cost for using the App is .6%.

 

If you ate at Alfredos once every day of the cruise that would total 7.5%. Most likely less.  After all.it is optional and while not the same there is still slice.

 

Actually its 200 per passenger TOTAL for 12 days for the mini-suite.  So the percentage is much higher.

NCL Bliss and Joy have smoking only in an enclosed space of the casino--the rest of the casino is smoke free.

27 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

It's a one time $14.99 charge to opt-in to OceanNow for the entire cruise.

 

Are you going to deny yourself that enjoyment after paying thousands on a cruise?

We paid $ 200 pp + port fees/taxes for a mini-suite on our 12-day upcoming cruise.  When we booked, Alfredo's and OceanNow were free.  Now we have to pay for these services which in the aggregate will make up a substantial percentage of our cruise fare.

3 hours ago, zitsky said:

I’m not familiar with Seabourn.  Can you explain how a Celebrity suite compares to a Seabourn suite?

I was comparing the Sky Suite to Seabourn's Veranda Suite (lowest level suite) which we are booked in.  Similar square footage.  The Celebrity Suite would be comparable to Seabourn's Penthouse Suite.

There are no non-suite cabins on Seabourn.  

2 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

@CalTexCruiserThere are 27 Celebrity Suites and above on Reflection.  Don't forget about the ones on deck 14.

Yeah forgot about those odd-ball Signature Suites

1 butler to 9 suites still pretty good

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

I believe the Reflection also has 77 Sky suites including the Aft facing SS. So that now means the team of 2 butlers will have a lot of work to do.

Yikes.  If one enjoys being on hold when calling shoreside customer service, that experience will be extended to SS passengers trying to reach their butlers.

14 minutes ago, bnurick said:

 

Our 2024 SS booking was $11,490 or $1,149 a day. For that kind of money, you need more than a standard room to justify, it is the areas, drink, food and service.

 

I

Oof.  that's a bit steep for a Celebrity Sky Suite.

We have an upcoming Seabourn cruise for $ 800 a day (for two people).  No such thing as AI because everything is automatically included, including specialty dining.

Thanks all for your replies.   1pm or later sounds great.

I tried the strategy of arriving at 1:30pm when embarking in SF on Ruby Princess, but still waited 3 hours in line.  But that was a perfect storm of lots of covid patients on board waiting to get off, a crappy terminal (Pier 39 which should never be used as an embarkation/debarkation port), and rainy weather.

3 hours ago, sixpackeddie said:

We are currently on the Reflection in an upper level suite.

 

There are currently only 3 butlers on our ship that take care of Celebrity Suites and above. All the Sky suites are being taken care of by 2 Butlers from Michael’s Club. 
 

On the Reflection, I counted 20 upper suites (Celebrity Suites and above).

That means each of the 3 butlers assigned to the 20 upper suites would serve about 7 suites.

This is a VAST improvement before the latest changes.  Previously, our "dedicated" butler when we stayed in an upper suite may be assigned up to 18 suites total.

Hopefully, for the OP, this translates into butler service that should be much, much better than before, notwithstanding no specialty dining room service.

The folks getting Royally Screwed(*) are in Sky Suites with the 2 assigned butlers.

* "Royally Screwed" is a trademark of Royal Caribbean.  All rights reserved.

We have a cruise departing Ft Lauderdale at 4pm.

For the experienced Princess cruisers out there, when do the embarkation crowds generally thin out?  

If we arrive at 1:30pm, would that still be too early?

We'd like to time it so we can check in and walk on without any lines.

I must have missed the discussion on buffet utensils.  Are there an insufficient number, or are they of the wrong type, or are they in a state of disrepair?

Won't be long now before this thread gets shut down.

On 8/2/2023 at 12:21 PM, Lastdance said:

Stay tuned, as Celebrity is re-defining luxury...TBD!  Maybe Luminae will be an upcharge for the lowly suites, or ...?  Your guess is as good as mine; your next cruise in a lower suite may be your last, but only time will tell.  Best of luck booking and cruising it forward.🤑 I hear now they are using AI(artificial intelligence) to determine what happens going forward.

I think you are on to something re Luminae.  One complaint I have of Luminae is that it gets very crowded and loud during rush hour, especially on the Edge class ships.

To enhance the experience of Celebrity's valued customers, Sky suites get X # of visits to Luminae per week, and any excess visits will be charged a nominal fee per person comparable to specialty dining charges.  

If I'm in an upper suite and want to try the innovative Retreat Butler and Team, can I request that rather than a dedicated butler?

1 hour ago, drwbrt said:

I may need to post separately, but this seems to have the right knowledge base in here. If you bid upgrade to a suite, does the access to concierge lounge come with that upgrade?  IIRC Royal Caribbean does not allow things like the genie the come with upgrades through the bid system. Was wondering if Princess did anything similar. 

Yes concierge lounge comes with the upgrade (note that only Royal class ships have a concierge lounge).

More photos of your new Retreat Team

2 minutes ago, OysterD said:

LOL.  Welcome the new Retreat Team.  Please stay out of the way while they are buzzing down the hallways delivering to our valuable suite customers.

13 minutes ago, cruisefam38 said:

 I can imagine those little robots rolling around with coffee perched on their little flat heads.

The doorbell rings, the passenger opens the door, the robot says, "Greetings Cabin 9017, here is your morning coffee, cream, no sugar.  Have a good day."

 

No need to imagine robots rolling around.  In many Asian buffet restaurants (both here in the US and in Asia) where customers are able to order specific items from their phones while sitting at the tables, these robots are already delivering food items.

It won't be long before robots are able to deliver room service on ships after you've placed orders from your app or called the room service chatbot.

The Retreat Team will include both humans and robots to make for a streamlined experience for Celebrity's valued customers.

1 minute ago, zitsky said:

So butlers became Retreat Host and now Retreat Team?

Actually butlers became Retreat Hosts then became butlers again and now Retreat Team, unless you are staying in an upper suite in which case they are still your butlers/hosts.

If (and that is a big IF) done correctly, I suppose the Retreat Team concept may actually enhance the customer experience.  On the Edge series ships there are so many Sky Suites that sometimes any particular butler may be overwhelmed. 

The Retreat Team would allow the workload to be more evenly distributed, ASSUMING that there are enough members in the team.  Hopefully Celebrity did some analysis to optimize the number of members to include in the team, but I fear it will be trial and error leading to many frustrated suite passengers.

I think perhaps people are jumping the gun on this

On our cruise 5 months ago, the housekeeping manager told me both the room attendant and butler work under him

I was surprised at this since in the past the butlers were under the suite manager.

Perhaps Celebrity’s plan is to have one person perform the roles of both attendant and butler for Sky suites, rather than have 2 persons which may be inefficient.  This may work if they have Sky suite only room attendants who can focus their attention on suite customers and not have to deal with non-suite cabins.

53 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

They are taking from Peter to give to Paul with a much better spin on it.

Thanks.  Since I want to be Paul, I just paid Princess an additional $ 1,440 for my 12-day upcoming cruise to purchase Princess Plus.