terrydtx

Every time we walked into Luminae we were greeted by our names and thanked for coming in that night. The M'D must have a photographic memory as a job requirement. Last year on the Equinox for our 50th anniversary we decide to have dinner in Murano the night of our actual anniversary. The next night when we entered Luminae for dinner the M'D greeted us and said his staff was so sorry they missed us for our big event the night before, he said but tonight we have a special table for you. They had set up a table for 2 by a window with red roses and a bottle of champagne and he escorted us to the table. Later in the night I asked how they knew we would be in Luminae that night and he said they had coordinated it with our PRH. I remembered earlier in the afternoon our Butler asked us what time we thought we would be going to dinner in Luminae so that they could make up our room while we dinned.

I tried to think of things to add and I couldn't you covered what to expect in a Sky Suite so thoroughly. Here is one example of how a Butler will go above and beyond what you may expect. One afternoon my wife and I were walking down the hall to our SS cabin with drinks in hands from the Retreat Lounge and our Butler stopped us and said next time we wanted a drink to call him, and he will get them for us. I thanked him but we never did use him for that other than brining a mimosa for the wife and a bloody Mary for me with breakfast a couple of times.

That is one of the best and most complete posts about what and how much a Butler can do if only asked. Your post should be a permanent thread about what to expect from your PRH in the Retreat.

Denny, I can assure you that Luminae is the finest dining experience of any no specialty restaurant in our 20 cruises to date. After our first retreat experience last year on the Equinox, we felt the two dinners we did in Murano and Tuscan were a waste of our money as the service was nowhere near to what we had in Luminae and the food was good but IMO no better than Luminae. The night we went to Murano we had the Herb crusted rack of lamb, three nights later it was served in Luminae and it was much better prepared and tasting in Luminae. The first night fillet of beef was one of the best fillets outside of Ruth Chris Steak house I can remember. On the last night I had the seared duck breast and again it was delicious. The only bad dish I had was the Daniel Boulud Moroccan Chicken, would never order it again. Do not listen the whiners in the above posts the retreat is excellent, Luminae is a fine dining experience and worth every penny.

As much as I hate flying American Airlines I did not have to pay bags fees last year on our FBC booked economy seats because we have the American Airlines Advantage Platinum Select card. When we checked-in online and added our bags, the notation came up that we were "Advantage Platinum Select" and not subject to bags fees. I was surprised, but I still hate flying AA.

We have 2 cruises from Italy in August so we are just as anxious about the testing requirements. At least we will not have to test to fly home to the US.

Other than Viking I do not believe any other cruise lines have dropped pre boarding testing as of today. December is a long way off and the testing requirements could change by then.

Now getting local pacific salmon is a treat for sure. I bet the MDR didn't have it either. I do not care for the farm raised Atlantic salmon at all. One of the best fish dishes we have eaten in Luminae is the crispy Branzino that was cooked perfectly.

Thank you, we got specialty coffees delivered to our cabin by our butler no problem from Cafe El Bacio. This guy has whined all over CC about his no coffee maker in his cabin.

You just need to move on, you have been making posts and whining all over CC about how your cruise was ruined because of no coffee maker or kettle in your Celebrity Suite. BTW I have looked at listed amenities on the Celebrity website for a Celebrity Suites and I failed to see anywhere that a coffee maker is included. If it says specialty coffees are included, we got those when our butler brought us espressos and Capuchinos to our Sky Suite. Celebrity is obviously not for you in a suite. I have wasted enough time with your posts and will waste no more.

My wife wanted to use our OBC to book and pay for a mani-pedi on embarkation day in Trieste, so had to use the CC as no way she would get a time in the spa after we boarded.

Yes you are right, that is why we book farther forward under the pool. However in our 12 deck aft facing SS last year on the Equinox we never heard a sound from the deck above. On E class we prefer the 10th deck forward, you just take the stairs or elevator straight up to all of the Retreat facilities, Luminae, Retreat Lounge and Retreat sun deck.

Not sure, we have never spent any money in any ships casino.

Those are not hardly the entry level lower cost suites I was mentioning.

In the last few days I have seen posts about complaints with butlers over minutia, one because her Butler wouldn't put their empty suit cases under the bed for them and an other over not having a coffee maker and/or a hot kettle in their CS. Neither of these are part of the normal duties of any Celebrity PRH.

I agree, have you ever stayed in hotel with a coffee or espresso maker that made a decent cup of coffee? I have stayed in many 4 and 5 star ones and I can't think of one memorable cup from any in room coffee maker. Not once have I let a bad coffee maker in my hotel room ruin my whole vacation experience.😁

I asked that on another social media site, and the answer is no, you would have to cancel the booking and then rebook. You would lose any pre booking discounts and risk not being able to rebook if the excursion or specialty restaurant is sold out.. We have $300 in OBC from a HAL promo that we may have to spend in the over priced onboard shops. I thought back in February we could use the OBC for shore excursions pre cruise but the only thing we could so was use the up to $200 shore excursion credit we got with the Have It all promo booking. We also got to use the 2 specialty Restaurants Have It All credit pre cruise.

Even land trips do not keep you safe from Covid. May 29th to June 5th our whole family (9 people) spent a week in St Thomas in 3 separate condos. My son and his wife both tested positive 3 days after we all returned, he thinks it was on the flight home as the guy behind them on the plane was coughing the whole 3 hours flight. That same week my sister and her whole family did a, NCL Hawaii cruise and my brother-in-law and their 11 year old niece all tested positive when they got home. COVID is going to be with us forever, so we just need to accept the risk and live as normal as possible. Every one in our and my sister's family have recovered and as my son said yesterday, he has had colds that were way worse than his case of Covid.

That is what I thought, good to know my memory hasn't slipped any, LOL

We spent 2 weeks touring Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire by land 20 years ago, it spoiled us for not only great lobster but the diver scallops and fresh muscles too. I still remember the awesome lobster roll too. One day outside of Portland Maine, we stumbled upon a local lobster festival and enjoyed so many lobster treats. Back then you could buy a whole live 1 lb lobster for under $5, I hear that is no more from friends who live up there.

Again on the Noordam in 2019 the jumbo shrimp cocktail was available every night at no charge, our grandson who loves all shellfish, had one and sometimes two every night. He was 10 at the time and he even loved the raw oysters we had in Vancouver before the cruise.

That makes sense. Our 14-day Oosterdam cruise is not cheap by any means and if the Nav app is right we would have to pay extra for the lobster. The app also shows the jumbo shrimp cocktail is a $8.50 addon in the MDR.

Mary, I doubt the price you pay for a cruise had anything to do with what is available in the MDR. The passengers in the least expensive cabins eat in the same MDR and have the same menu as those paying for the most expensive cabins.

On that 10-day cruise, that would have been my only negative about the food, but I knew better than order the lobster. Instead, we had the rack of herb crusted lamb in Murano, and it was one of the best I have ever had at sea and on land.

On our 2019 Noordam cruise to Alaska, our grandson loved the lobster and had 3 of them in the MDR. But he wouldn't know a good or bad lobster.