Cap_D

Agree with above poster. Also eventually the Luminae menu cycles through dishes with the same or similar items as the MDRs and elsewhere just fancied up and more likely to be cooked to order or prepared to your specification or special order. Also, don't be shy about letting your waiter and maitre d know your preferences, including off menu likes or dislikes. I suspect the MDR team would also be accommodating, but think of the Luminae team as being able to access and address anything. E.g., our toddler desired fresh veggies each evening, and that was anticipated after the first night. Same for our desire for some extra veggies on the table, and espressos.

We were in an S1 sky suite on Edge in April. We overall had a terrific time and think that the overall experience should be delightful. The combination of the ship design and crew will hopefully meet or exceed your needs. Our room had a couch that was of course horizontal to the wall opposite the doorway, and facing the TV. That couch does have a pull out, is firm, and remains horizontal when set up for sleeping. In front of the couch is a relatively low coffee table that could be pushed out of the way and you would still have decent amount of walking room between the TV wall and the pullout. You'll need to do something with the chair however. That's the one with the arms that doesn't entirely allow it to be pushed in underneath the counter by the mirror. Next the issue that you might have is that there is a step up into the bathroom of about 6 in or so. I'm assuming that's the case and all the S1 rooms maybe in all the rooms. Others coming on this in places too but the door the bathroom is magnetic and extremely fast the clothes and as we recall somewhat heavy. In order to make it easier for someone to open in the middle of the night we place the washcloth between the closing mechanism and the door frame and maybe there's some better way to do that. This avoided clicking and too much noise when somebody got up in the middle of the night. Our room was not classified as an accessible room and we do not know if there is a difference. I think there's some commenters in the forum on grab bars and we do remember the shower could use a better grab bar or something to help steady one when they are entering shower / tub. We think you'll probably want to keep the inside table but they could probably find a place for it if you didn't want it. And we also can say there was enough room on the balcony for a third chair, good idea. And the same time you might also ask for a second small table for the balcony if all three of you plan on enjoying some food or otherwise hanging out and needing a table. Now this is well documented the balcony table is quite small and low to the ground. The room service tray though can balance itself on the tables and it's possible to eat outside or in the room but not at normal table height At the time of our cruising retreat was 100% full but the rest of the ship was relatively empty with about 1,600 passengers. In our view there was more than enough staff that they should have been and generally were accommodating of various requests and needs. We assume you'll ask for anything that you possibly need and should. We have noticed that there is one YouTube vlogger where the wife is in a wheelchair and they do a terrific job of walking through accessibility issues including things such as bed height. We have not observed them to be on a celebrity ship but it's possible they have done one. If it helps to find them they are not travel agents but did come up and viewing various YouTube videos of cruisers and their experiences post pandemic.

The following may be helpful: http://media.celebritycruises.com › ...PDF Celebrity Solstice SMClass Staterooms

This isn't a function of cash flow, it is mismanagement. Whoever is in charge should be fired if they can't get the a/c to work and put paying customers in the room.

These issues are inexcusable regardless of what the ship had been doing for the past 2.5 years. It also begs the question do they not have any quality assurance program? No a/c for the past 2.5 years? What type of operation are they running here? No one should settle for this type of experience even if its a cruise ship, staffing or whatever justification anyone else here has provided.

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_04_06_SP_Celebrity_Beyond_E-Brochure_Editable.pdf

Find the map and chart with S1, S2, S3 coding as there are differences in room config, for the verandah for those near and under the magic carpet.

Ditto. In recent months it was sitting just off Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Hopefully it went through an extra deep clean. It may have been the busiest ship in the fleet in terms of passenger turnover given the crew rotations.

FYI, we've seen that they bring the snacks in from the ship galley.

We were on Edge in April. The overall experience matched many of the YouTube reviews and tours. And props to the crew for accommodating our toddler traveler they had never been on a cruise and really a vacation until the trip. That made it worth it. That said, there's room for improvement and there may be some things that are inherently issues like the noise in practically every restaurant including Luminae. Also, as one poster commented above, we found it odd that Eden was essentially a place to take a nap most of the day and night even when there was an acoustic set. The venue has been praised so much, but the pushback they must have received on the creative performances seems to have crushed them. The Eden Cafe was also something that was a bit of a mystery. It was closed almost the entire trip, and when it was open it would be for like an hour and not even a full meal timeslot. Also the cruise director and staff were seemingly going through the motions. Lewis and Crystal seem like they might need some shore leave and were not ambassadors for the ship. With celebrity it's not going to be summer camp, but if they're going to be doing their thing and on payroll they should at least do it in a way that connects with the passengers on a seemingly individual level instead of canned announcements and sleepwalking through trivia on the resort deck. We also noticed a lot of people walking around that look like they were with the crew but not really doing much. They seem to come out of the woodwork for Martini Bar activity and to clap and make it difficult to walk around the plaza. Yet the ship is so nice that it essentially makes up for anything else particularly when the weather is nice. The ship could probably use a library or a few more board games or just something that gives people activities other than drinking or walking around looking for the next bite to eat. Also seems like parts of the ship like the theater really go to waste during the day. They play some movie on in the club but it's not exactly the best viewing experience And this is a celebrity issue overall, but even with the all-inclusive package with premium drinks they still wanted to charge for gelato when almost nothing else was an upcharge. The cost has to be so de minimis that it makes it even more perplexing that they would waste their time even distinguishing and charging for something out of the same case as ice cream. It seemed like an unnecessary way to take people out of the experience that the ship promotes. Also in terms of the food, There was a noticeable use of GFS foodservice items, average bar mixes, some sort of multi-mix for the soft serve that's also doubles for mixer at the bar, commercial mass produced quality goods like English muffins and Lenders style bagels at breakfast, frozen hash browns, and other things that made us think of a college cafeteria, Disney World or the free breakfast at the Hampton Inn. That was at the OVC and Luminae. And if you're spending a lot per day, some of that ends up being perplexing after a few days and you realize that most of the food on the ship is the same regardless of where it's picked up. And I'm not sure the specialty dining is actually special except the fact that it's an up charge. Nothing we saw seem to reflect anything more than a well-run chain restaurant as opposed to say high-end food cooked order. For example, demi glace on a fillet isn't anything particularly challenging or that you would find at a high end restaurant. That's what they serve at la petite bistro, we kept seeing on ither menus. $55 for BBQ was odd too. It wasn't like an Argentine steakhouse or anything close. Nothing one would pay $55 for a land or $55 plus whatever you're leaving on the table by not eating at a different venue. But again the overall experience is made up for by the ship, making requests and having the crew follow up (there's plenty of crew), and that it's the totality of the experience. With little things that you'll like and some that you might not. There's nothing we've seen to indicate that the experience would be any different on Apex except the funky room on the way to Eden and the sculpture at the pool. Beyond looks to be an improvement because of the enhanced sunset bar and modified positioning of Luminae if you're in retreat. And if you're on a cruise that will allow you to be outside the resort deck generally on the edge class ships seem to be a vast improvement over the pictures we've seen of the older ships. But morning the pool capacity is only like 35 people or something close. And overall celebrity should be appreciated for actually putting some thought into the ship design and overall feel and experience. Something that looks modern in can compete with a nice hotel room surprisingly took till 2018 to pull off. Our hope is they work on the destinations, especially a decent island with a well-maintained beach opportunity versus what we saw in Costa Maya.

On Edge the sommelier will try to sell you a wine opener / corkscrew. Has anyone else had the pleasure?

Does Oceania charge for a small scoop of gelato? Do they have a coffee machine in each room? Even with a premium suite and always included, the premium drink package, and all the retreat hosts and concierges one can use to find .25 of lays potato chips and pots of mass brewed coffee, Celebrity charges for gelato.

In April (as a first time cruiser) the app messaging feature seemed like it may have been a re-skinned version of the RCL app. We had watched a royal caribbean blog Youtube video that walked through the app. And, pre-cruise we found a lot more info about the RCL app than Celebrity's version.

For 10-14k on up Celebrity should be providing Jura Fully Automatic Espresso Makers in every room, Luminae should always be fresh wild caught salmon (in season) and the best of whatever is ordered, some noise dampening, and so on. Don't want want the convenience of a coffee maker and instead want it delivered to your room (and interact with the host), okay with frozen farm raised salmon, or whatever else one is content with, go for it. They can remove the coffee maker, just like they can remove down pillows or alcohol. But at 14k or whatever anyone is paying there shouldn't be a need to justify or accept the false scarcity, mindgames, and barriers that are created for Retreat passengers identified on this thread. To whomever writes back and says sorry you didn't like your cruise, find a different cruise line, can't you pay for gelato, I don't drink coffee, I bring my own via, you need to get an icon suite, what do you expect Viking?, I like when a guy knocks on my door at 630 with a pot of coffee, oil prices, stock price, supply chain, and so on...the point is for thousands a day, none of this should be even ripe for debate or discussion. They have the resources and are charging enough for food to be cooked to order, for the dining room to be comfortable, to provide coffee makers, and provide more than a lenders bagel or a few lays potato chips and a slice of salami at the lounge for an hour a day. Whatever it takes for Luminae, and Retreat by extension, to knock your socks off. Simply put the premium experience should be premium. It's not made premium simply because they call it premium, license a sous vide menu from a chef, put a .20 chocolate on the pilow, only have lobster one random night a cruise, make you request something the retreat host has on their iPad, it's a relative improvement over whatever someone had a decade ago when they first sailed or because it's on a 20 year old ship that is perceived to be more cozy, or a new ship. Celebrity needs to give the customers what they want, and it should be as good or better than just about anthing else going.

If budget is a consideration, and you're not using OBC then specialty dining seems to be something that requires weighing the environment and the food vesus what you would otherwise be getting at Blu as your designated restaurant, MDR, or OVC. Many of the restaurants are loud, windy and/or open to the plaza. You'll pretty much get good service everywhere including the OVC, and the food throughout the ship will be edible or better. The drink selection seems to be virtually the same too. And, Blu has a nice dining room and deco. More likely to have your needs catered to in Blu too, without the charge.

Exactly. Many of the Celebrity Caribbean itineraries don't include stops with large beautiful beaches. There's no way that the beaches at Costa Maya (with wild dogs and shanty beach clubs for as far as the eye can see) and Nassau (e.g., the Blue Lagoon place that looks like it belongs at a Six Flags in the early 90s) could be considered large, beautiful, or convenient. At least the beach areas at Coco Cay are actually sand without debris, kept up, modern amenities, etc. There's even an adult area. Celebrity has none of that at many of its ports of call. And, Atlantis doesn't count, and already has its own occupants. We also have no interest in the RCL ship product at the moment due to their room design (and lack of anything close to a luxury experience for a cost is a turnoff). That said, we'd take a day at the beach on CocoCay over a stop at Costa Maya or anything similar.

We'd like to see Celebrity have an itinerary that stops at a private island perhaps even parts of Coco Cay on its Caribbean cruises. The beach areas in Nassau and Costa Maya (roaming dogs) don't compare with even some of the least picturesque beaches in the United States. There are far nicer beaches that one can stay on in the Caribbean for the same price as a Celebrity Cruise. As best we can tell, none of the other large format ship cruise lines lack a private island and beach experience, although they also frequent Nassau and Costa Maya.

The dessert was nothing interesting but I recall it being themed to the animation. Our toddler loved it. If you're traveling with a child you go for watching the experience that they'll have. The child price was substantially lower than the adult one on our cruise. Presumably it's comparable with anything that a child could experience on a Disney cruise. And when we factored in that the OBC is essentially to use for these types of experiences and allocate space then you can try not to think of it as a paid version of the same meal you'd have somewhere else on the ship. Considering they're serving the same food for everyone, at the same time, it didn't seem as if any of the dishes were being cooked to order. If you Google the concept it turns out it's available at some resorts across the world and not just Celebrity. Also agree, one and done unless you have a child who really wants to return.

We were on the final US Western Caribbean cruise on Edge in April in a Suite / The Retreat. Bottom line we very much enjoyed and appreciated "Luminae," and especially Maitre'D Martin (this guy is good) and the servers (Lorenzo, usually, in our case). It worked well for us - even with the downsides mentioned below. We never waited more than five minutes for a table, and all the food was as promoted. Price for the trip overall seemed reasonable compared to any on-land options at resorts and nice hotels. But, Lumiane / Retreat is definitely not necessary to enjoy the ship or eat well. Haven't read or heard of enough or any all negative non-Retreat food or service experiences to be concerned about FOMO. Rather, its perhaps the opposite. We certainly could have had more variety and newness each day if we weren't in Retreat and using Luminae, or it was the same food. We were first time, relatively young cruisers with a toddler wanting a higher end, effortless, covid tested bubble vacation, and found it. We especially appreciated that the staff treated all three of us the same, and that our younger well behaved cruiser was able to have a full restaurant experience (especially after 2 years of bypassing many dining rooms due to the pandemic)*. Luminae was an important part of our overall satisfaction, but there is room for an improvement (and a need for flexibility) as part of the Retreat experience. *We didn't get that vibe from watching Youtube videos of Norwegian's Haven experience. And, overall, we really took to the Celebrity approach that the entire ship is higher end, and that Retreat is merely a supplement if you want to make it that. In contrast, our impression is Norwegian is RC with a nicer suite area, albeit a caste system like rules. We would have enjoyed a decent beach experience, as compared to whatever one would call the seaside of Mexico or the inconvenience Nassau excursions. With Luminae what you get is a well run dining room with accountability (Martin, on Edge), some apparent access to a lot of what others have on the ship (if you want something else, please people, just ask, they will try and did for us - appreciate those that have written about that on other threads), some built in memory (but doesn't every restaurant and cruise ship dining room with a computer profile on you do that?), plus the Luminae menu. The downsides are the dining room is far too loud, and not sure how that makes the environment any different from other ship dining rooms. The Bistro area was actually quieter when we dined there, and it was quieter during a zip through the OVC at 6 pm on our final night. There needs to be some sound dampening put in. The noise isn't ambience or part of the gimmick. It is a design flaw, and we agree the partially open wall to the banquet like bussing and prep area makes zero sense. That area also makes it seem like a food factory and not a restaurant. As for the food, we enjoyed our meals. But, we do think there needs to be some more flexibility and products that one would expect for the dining room that caters to the premium customer. Said differently, it compares favorably to a good hotel restaurant, but at a local restaurant in your home area is likely able to have an easier time producing a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger (we went through 4-5 on the Retreat deck before they got our order correct), substitutes, and sourcing higher end products like a solid bagel or english muffin that superior to what's in the OVC or wherever else the same menu items are served. We also would have liked to see some of the Blu menu items. Many of the food items everywhere seemed to be the same, including OVC. (Didn't see a different french fry than one at the Mast Grill the entire time, including the Retreat Burger with Truffle Oil mist.). Also considering the entire ship is all inclusive, the Luminae food didn't seem to be customizable, and some of the dishes may be pre-made. That's likely the case for everything on the ship, however. There's a greater opportunity, however, to ask for off menu items (unclear if one could change the specs). In our view, Luminae probably should not be the chef's table or the faux Michelin experience that's on Beyond. The funny money OBC (which helps Celebrity give guests choice, and control demand) can be used to access those experiences. Rather, we'd like to see Luminae make most of the other dining experiences moot by being as good or better (and that is our impression) and give users the personalized experience that comes from the same place over and over again, plus some higher end ingredients (if possible and it makes sense, e.g., would have liked to see a better English muffin, the higher end bacon, a better cooked to order burger, entree, a better apple pie desert (the limp pie was everywhere) etc.). As a baseline, a lot of the dining and service throughout the ship seemed to be evenly good, and a lot of the uniqueness of any dining experience seemed to be an illusion both in terms of service, product, and even cost if one considers the OBC a way to just give faux choice and control demand and create some FOMO. It's not like there's much to use the OBC on if one is in Retreat and already getting premium drinks. It's monopoly money (that you're paying for). Staff everywhere are friendly and want to be accomodating, and foodwise a lot of the food product seemed to be same. For example, a filet is the easiest steak for a banquet hall to produce, adding sauce is a cover, and we really didn't see grilled to order steaks that looked as good as a steakhouse anywhere on the ship or Youtube. Couple general observations that while only partially Luminae related bears mentioning because they detract from the overall experience and relate to food. 1. The integration between the Luminae kitchen, Retreat Deck, Retreat Lounge and suites needs to improve. Excuses don't cut it. Regardless, the level of quality and options should be the same, and that goes for the ship too. 2. On the Retreat deck they need to serve food directly to guests wherever they may be located and not just at the crowded/small bar area. 3. We had a comical experience with the staff telling us that we had to be pick up our food at the bar and bring it to our loungers (the only available spot) ourselves, and even came to our location to tell us our food was the bar. But, they refused to carry the food to our seats. We also ended up with at least 5 burgers because the order kept arriving wrong. Cooking a hamburger with nothing on it shouldn't result in multiple undercooked cheeseburgers with various wet toppings. Plus to avoid a brioche bun, it would have been nice if anyone of the over 1,000 crew to the ~1650 passengers could have ventured to the Mast Grill for a regular bun vs the ordering passenger. And, while the fries are good (and we appreciate the sunflower oil ingredient as opposed to soybean oil), they were not unique compared to the Mast Grill or OVC. They were a good frozen mass produced fry. The upside was seemingly the entire kitchen came out to apologize and express regrets when after we had to escalate the order. (BTW, no amount of retreat butlers, bartenders, concierges, lounges (with no snacks), etc matter when you'd like to eat lunch before the artificial ordering cut-off time and they keep getting the order wrong). 4. The Retreat Lounge food timing is abysmal. There were no snacks available most of the day, and it was neither a substitute for venturing elsewhere or BYO snack from home. Airport lounges do better. 5. At lunch at Luminae the sommelier solicited us as we were about to take our first bites of lunch for a wine opening device / cork screw like we were walking through the "As Seen on TV" section of an AutoShow. The experience was surreal. Does Celebrity spif the sommeliers for selling wine accessories? Does RCL and Celebrity think the average Luminae diner doesn't already have whatever wine gadgets they may need and actually think they'd buy them before biting into lunch? It was a ***** moment, and a day after the burger clown car situation described above. 6. What's with the upcharges for gelato, and indistinguible quality level between the ice creams on the ship? It all seemed to be made from the blue carton multimix used at the bars and for the softserve machine. They gladly gave us a chocolate bunny on Easter, and any alcohol we could consume, but not a scoop of whatever they claimed was gelato? And, $55 for BBQ in the wind, on top of thousands of dollars for a cruise, is nuts. 7. From what we can tell, Celebrity needs the Princess band so there is more flexibility to obtain what you want when you want it. A lot of the staff and desks are redundant to the app, but at the same time the delivery system for food and other services is far too dependent on where one is physically located. See the burger experience above. 8. Retreat prices seem to be about space and possibly reverse FOMO. If you want a room with any floor space the Retreat class is the only way to get that. Same for a room with a wall between the bedroom and sitting area. Everything else is marginally an improvement over the rest of the ship. For example, Luminae is nice, but can you get by with eating OVC and the restaurants - yes. It won't be quieter in Luminae. Is the Butler a nice touch, sure. It adds a personalization level and troubleshooter to your team, and frees you up from having to coordinate things at Guest Relations or other desks and being beholden to your voicemail. Gordon and others also helped facilitate a special activity for our junior cruiser. But, the room service quality is no better, and so on. 9. Our junior cruiser loved Luminae because of the staff and familiarity. We expected the food to be good. 10. Decor at Luminae. We like the ship and decor overall. IT was a selling point. But, the Luminae dining room looks like an extension of the hallway decor down to the carpet and wall pictures. Something needs to be done to make it a bit more distinguishable from the stairwell. * * * Whether the value proposition for the Retreat makes sense for someone is a bit difficult to figure out, but if price is not an issue the quasi personalized, convenient, experience worked very well for us. Luminae is an essential part of the total experience, but so would have eating at Blu every meal. And, there are some systemic issues that Celebrity should address to get the full benefit of the effort being put in and the overall approach to their product, especially Retreat. Yet, it shouldn't become a locked down and off putting experience like what Norwegian is promoting in its PR and some of its rules (and overly univiting decor).

Better question, is the cheese plate actually special or just something to eat? We didn't notice anything particularly high end about the cheeses, or the crackers, while on Edge. There's plenty to eat throughout the day, so as a snack it was fine. But the included cheeses were of an average quality, and the crackers were pepperidge farm or less. All perfectly fine for a snack, but not exquisite or anything to spend thousands of dollars to have access to. There was a lack of snack food, overall. The Retreat Lounge only has snacks for about an hour each day, and its nothing like an airline lounge that always has bar mix and some sweets to nibble on, plus veggies, etc. Regarding take out generally, it's an important gap. At Luminae we didn't need a fancy dessert at 8 - 9 pm when we were done with our entrees. Rather, we'd have preferred to have it a bit later. Taking a dessert to go consisted of the heavy plate and plastic banquet cover from the 1970s. It was not practical, and surely could be improved upon. As an aside, the regular apple pie that is served everywhere was less tasty and more flacid than a Table Talk mini-pie from the grocery store.

If dining with a young cruiser, we suggest ordering a crudites appetizer by default at each sitting. It's a nice way to keep a child occupied while parents review the menu. And, our child really enjoyed having his own menu and interacting with the waiter each evening. Don't hesitate to ask for a thing off menu, modified (like plain pasta) or a half portion of a regular entree.

Ditto. It's an ask once and it gets done with follow-up type experience. Plus the bikers have much more at their disposal then any Ritz butler considering they have carte blanche throughout the ship to make things happen and coordinate with others members of the team Gordon on Edge was terrific. We didn't need much, but he did help arrange a special and priceless experience for a inquisitive under 5 cruiser, and was available to handle things that otherwise might require waiting in a line, on hold, following up, or checking the voicemail. Plus a familiar and ubiquitous presence in the hall, room service attendants for breakfast number one and more. Frequently also knows what direction a spouse is headed in after exiting the room, and realizes when you night need some coffee or waters delivered. It's a unique level of service and personalization of what otherwise could be a very nice albeit more impersonal or preset vacation experience. They make the experience something more than a nice room. Certainly more engaged then anyone else in your overall satisfaction next to the servers and maiterd at Luminae if in Retreat. They also serve as a bridge between the app / computer record that follows you around the ship and reality. They also have magic phones! But if on a budget, or just don't mind tending to everything a bit more on your own, we would not hesitate to book a no butler room. Seems all cruisers say the crew makes the difference, and at least on Edge the crew was all personable, attentive and engaged. They are there to serve, even the cleaning crew wiping down the glass railings the plaza. All super friendly and that adds to the comfort level in ways that can't be quantified. The plus side of celebrity is the diverse cruisers, overall ship and crew are all present for the same quality experience, so extras are just that. Most of the ship literally is decorated and uses the same materials and soft goods. The food is generally the same, etc. No need for FOMO. Btw, in terms of a personal experience, Reeza at Scoops is the standout. He memorized all the names of guests he meets and then rmebers them throughout the cruise. He should be the cruise director.

Coffee on Edge was drinkable. Lavazza is a decent product, and used at many fine restaurants. At least it's not GFS or Sysco brand! Fresh coffee always helps, of course. Recent room tour views of RCL showed low level suites with Nespresso pod machines. So Celebrity should do the same, but only to supplement the room service experience. All things considered coffee maker related trash, including pods, can stink and cause a mess.

No issues with taste, but definitely excerise caution when opening and closing. Don't hesitate to ask the bartenders to open them. In our experience, most will open by default and make a reminder. Overall we found Celebrity's single serve approach to water and soft drinks, including mixers, with the juice machines preferable to soda guns and fountains. The water on Edge was also drinkable, but the cups are often not enough. As an aside also helps that most people have the classic drink package so the bartenders were quick to get water bottles out to guests. They probably should just make them available as grab and go.

You can check some sites to confirm this, but I believe this was the ship kept off shore near the Celebrity Pier in Ft Lauderdale to place sick crew on. If it's the same ship, in April it was just sitting in the distance during sail away. In any event, there's nicer ships.