Cap_D

Warning: ask when and where card pick up is if prepurchasing cards. The Planner and App use language of "sale," but also mean pick up... At the Casino and not the Club before the show. If you don't pick the card up the Casino will attempt to keep your money until the end of the cruise.

The app is also flawed because the people operating it don't have any clue about customer experience. On Beyond after boarding time events were loaded and published for the middle the night, inconsistent description as compared to cruise planner, wrong menus while dining, and more. Onboard crew make excuses, but don't know what's on the app or may not have any actual role on publishing info.

Adding to the fun - on Beyond the Retreat Welcome Letter misspells the last name of Captain Kate as "Mc Cue " with the space. The letter presumably gets used 190x every cruise over three months or until the next cruise if they catch the typo.

FWIW, on Beyond our room phone button for "Retreat Host" direct dials the room attendant and not anyone associated with the butler function or Retreat. We were told this is an artifact of the no dedicated Butler period. It's organized chaos. And, access to the Butler is still dependent on chance encounters or proactive use of the ship phone. Convenient to keep down use of half butler staffing (and an AWOL team member), but sloppy.

On a very rainy Beyond now about to set sail from Fort Lauderdale: We will be having a hybrid butler experience. Head Butler "Roger" reported that Celebrity hired back only half the number of dedicated butlers as pre-layoffs. Yet, our intended assigned/dedicated butler is missing despite over 1,000 crew. So, that means our butler is the Head Butler and he has an unknown number of additional suites to service and his supervising duties. Roger was cagey about the number of suites he is covering. Also, he was very non suggestive about offering anything like afternoon snacks, water, or satisfying our pre cruise made requests. He also had no knowledge of a "Luminae Room Service Breakfast Menu," which was not surprising despite it being an advertised feature. We'll see how it goes. Aside: just observed two striped crew removing a cushioned chair from the Retreat Lounge and carry it off. Presumably they just raided the lounge for extra room furniture.

Not haunted. But, do find it interesting that Captain Kate is the brand's biggest ambassador, tied so closely to Beyond, and hasn't been rotated off to another ship. And, due to the deployment schedule the ship is full time Caribbean for the foreseeable future, including stops to CocoCay. Someone suggested the deployment for Beyond is to keep the ship at lower speeds and in less turbulent waters. Has anyone asked her for confirmation, and not been escorted out of the theater, or blocked from her social media pages?

Thanks. Will be on March 22.

Will report on Beyond in about 2 weeks.... Great idea for a thread.

FYI. If anyone is curious, the Cruise Dorks on YouTube stayed in a forward facing cabin on Ascent. There are about 5-7 videos on YouTube with a lot of cabin footage. Jim, one half of the couple, is a big guy so you will get some sense for the size of the room and slope of the ceiling as you get closer to the window.

You may want to share this directly with the hotel director and Captain Kate. The spa is contracted out, but if they have enough time to film for Instagram they should have enough time to oversee this Adi character.

Two MC Sky Suite rooms would be great. They are essentially the same space wise as the regular Sky Suites. The MC is also a lot of fun. Have a great vacation. Just in case you're considering the Celebrity Suite, note the door between the bedroom and living space allows a lot of light and noise between the two spaces. That said, you may be able to use a sheet or curtain to block light. That hack as not been discussed to my knowledge, but seems feasible. There are two entrances to the bathroom, although the noise may be enough to disrupt sleepers in the bedroom. If considering an interior or concierge room and MC Sky Suites, note that there are threads on the message board about the limited ability to purchase Luminae, lounge and deck access for affiliated passengers under your reservation. I haven't seen anything on the success rate, but just want you to know it's a possibility although not a guaranteed method for your family to have access to Retreat if only one suite room is booked. It may be too speculative to make sense. Edge and E Class have terrific places like Eden which kids may enjoy for reading and games without being disrupted by other passengers and vice versa. The club balcony when not in use also has some nooks, and then one is present for the activities.

The E Class Solarium doorway to the elevator is a hazard due to water and slick floor regardless of the age of the individuals using the solarium. This should be a bigger concern than who may be using the venue. I'd add that our child and myself were often one of a handful entering the pools after 4:45/5 pm ish during Easter Break last year and the year before, and not the reason for people taking leave for other parts of the ship. We hope it's the same on our upcoming cruise. Regardless we hope to avoid encounters with cranky guests of any age.

I hope you greeted him with an enthusiastic "We've been waiting for you!" While the butler is no doubt in an odd role given the number of suites and just a perpetual greeter, that you now have only just met makes the firing of the butlers all the more idiotic.

This also says room service is from Blu!

Yikes. Appreciate the info. We have several bookings for Eden and others at the $45 rate or whatever was prevailing for the others (Rooftop was and is less) at the same time during an upcoming 10 day on Beyond. We intend to keep the bookings, but good to know as the Luminae menu adjustments hadn't been made at the time of our reservations.

Looking forward to following along. Thanks in advance.

@David Kane is there still a max departure time requirement for the valet service? We have return flight departing at 1:30 pm, which is not ideal though direct and on points.

Same. Thanks @abbydancer2003

Do any of the Oasis or the new Icon ship have this issue at RC, or is it unique to Celebrity and Edge class builds? What about the M and S class when they were new or now? Hotels eventually get downgraded or a lesser flag, planes and cars get ripped part, new parts or recalled or more, but ships just continue to sail like there is no issue at all.

@bnurick did you make a chart of the Luminae menus to help you select your specialty dining days? Would you share them? I think I recall you writing about that for a prior cruise last year. I have a bunch of Eden and a Rooftop reservations for our March cruise, but they were built around the discontinued menu. Thanks.

David, thank you. On the topic of the shows in the theater, we observed the shows being packed on Apex last March. The ship was full. So, the production shows are probably not performed enough to meet demand.

The cruisedorks on YouTube just traveled on Ascent in a forward facing cabin. Lots of video.

Priceless. Thank you in advance. Love watching the Dorks. Have a great time..... Glad to see you're continuing your story....

Disappointing to see a burger in place of the filet on the kids menu. Our son likes burgers, but even he would say he has plenty.

Was the iPad ever returned?