conquesodor

There's a burger on the dinner menu one night of the week? The horror. I've even heard that there is a burger on the Luminae menu! When do we riot?

What do you mean? I've had very good wine service in the MDR. There are many wines available that aren't printed in the daily menu. I've had Chianti Classico for example. I always meet the wine steward the first night and make friends with them. I agree that beer is not a strength on Celebrity.

I am Elite with Celebrity and took my first RCL cruise on Freedom of the Seas just last month. I very much enjoyed my first experience with RCL and I even found things about Royal that I wish Celebrity did. However, there's still no question in my mind that Celebrity is a superior product for my taste and interests. Some thoughts in no particular order: This ship was LOUD. Music was pumped up to 11 on the Royal Promenade and all the upper decks. Royal has a lovely wine bar (Vintages) but you can't enjoy it because of the relentless BOOM BOOM everywhere. There was also much more of a party atmosphere and everything that comes with that. The only way to get a beach towel is to stand in line to sign out a towel that will be charged to your account if you don't return it. No iced towels to refresh you when you return to the ship. Only plain water if offered. Cafe al Bacio is superior in every respect to Cafe Promenade's very basic selection of coffee drinks and snacks. Food in the MDR where we ate most of our meals was good. A few dishes were very similar to what Celebrity offers, such as the escargots, but as far as menu selection and quality of dishes, it was a notch below Celebrity. We prefer to have internet and a beverage package when sailing Celebrity, but Royal not only forces you to buy each a la carte, you won't even know how much it will cost until you book your cruise with Royal. This is because Royal doesn't have a set price for anything and the price can vary significantly from one ship or sailing to the next. This is bonkers and I don't know how they get away with it. I am a wine drinker and Celebrity is far and away superior in terms of wine selection and service. Basic vanilla and chocolate soft serve for your complimentary ice cream, versus the variety of ice cream on offer at the Oceanview Cafe. All this said, here are a few things about Royal that stood out in a good way. Service from the staff was uniformly excellent and was comparable to the great service I am familiar with from Celebrity. My family and I had a great hibachi meal at Izumi, which is something that Celebrity does not offer. That said, hibachi is probably better suited to Royal's brand than Celebrity's. Royal offers a program called The Key which we loved. For less than the price of a typical specialty dining charge, each of us got a basic internet package, an exclusive embarkation day lunch featuring selections from their steakhouse menu, and an exclusive disembarkation day breakfast with an upscale menu. It also includes priority access to certain shows and activities onboard that we did not take advantage of, but both meals were excellent and provided an oasis away from the usual chaos during those times. I wish Celebrity offered something similar. Our sailing stopped at Perfect Day at Coco Cay, which is an amazing place that's exclusive to Royal. Freedom of the Seas has a true promenade deck that wraps around the entire ship! It incorporates the bow helipad and the stern with a great wake view. So nice. In summary, our cruise on Royal was a family cruise and we had a great time. I will probably book Royal again under similar circumstances. Depending on your values and interests, you might prefer Royal too. However, when it's just my wife and I cruising, we'll continue to prefer Celebrity because it delivers a superior product for the things that we value. The only exception might be if there is an itinerary that Royal offers that Celebrity doesn't, which isn't out of the question due to Royal having a much larger fleet.

I will be following your posts! Looking forward to hearing about your experience. Bon voyage!

It worked seamlessly for me in reverse. Just took my first RCL cruise in May and my status was Diamond even though it showed I had zero Crown and Anchor points. Post cruise I now have 3 C&A points, but still have Diamond status. The Diamond status showed up for me pre-cruise, so I would think that the OP's status should show as Select, even without any Captain's Club points. If not, I agree that a call to Captain's Club will probably fix the issue.

We always choose anytime dining and just show up whenever we want. The option to make a reservation in the app has always been a bit confusing because it often tells you that my only choice is one time that is very late. Whenever it's shown this, we still show up whenever we please and usually have only a short wait to be seated.

We've done Blu twice, 2019 on Eclipse and 2022 on Equinox. Our experience was fantastic both times and I agree with others that say Blu is the #1 reason to book Aqua Class. I can't speak to what Blu is like on M class, but in the past if we ran into a long line at the MDR, we usually figured out what times to avoid and worked around it. Talking to the maitre d' usually helps, particularly if you've had a bad experience. If the food in Blu is not to your liking, than you might as well book a less expensive class cabin.

The small print at the bottom of the CC Benefits brochure says to go to this web site: https://www.celebritycruises.com/captains-club/enroll#Terms For everyone's convenience, here's the part on drink packages. Emphasis added by myself. Discount on beverage packages Members may purchase a Classic or Premium beverage with their discount pre-cruise only, by calling Captain's Club at 1 800-760-0654. Discount does not apply to beverage packages purchased onboard. Discount does not apply to promotional beverage packages, including promotional package upgrade. Not combinable with other offers. Discount on beverage package upgrade Members may purchase a beverage upgrade from the Classic Package to the Premium Package with their discount pre-cruise, by calling Captain's Club at 1-800-760-0654. Discount does not apply to upgrades purchased once onboard. Discount does not apply to promotional beverage packages, including promotional package upgrade. Not combinable with other offers.

Hi everyone, I finally heard back from Celebrity, with an apology for it taking so long. Here is what they said about the drink package discount for Elite status: "I am happy to inform you that Elite members like you are entitled to a 15% discount for purchasing or upgrading your drink package pre-cruise. At the moment, discounts can only be applied over the phone. Should you want to take advantage of the discount benefit, please feel free to call our Cruise Enhancements team at (800) 722-5941."

Interesting. I sent an email tonight to the Captain's Club support address to see what they say. The benefits brochure states that elite should get 15%. https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/updated-captains-club-brochure-v6.pdf

I had that question as well, but the fine print (that I read somewhere) says that discounts can't be combined.

Hello, I have a question for anyone who has used their Captain's Club benefit to purchase or upgrade their drink package. If I go through the motion to purchase a drink package in cruise planner, it does not seem to acknowledge any type of discount would apply based on my Captain's Club level. I am guessing that I have to call to make the purchase/upgrade to have that applied? Also, I see conflicting information on the discount for Elite level. If I look at my summary of benefits for Elite on the web site, it says "10% off beverage package upgrade to Premium pre-cruise," which is also what it says for Elite Plus. However if you click "view all tiers and benefits" it opens the Member Benefits Brochure and that says for Elite, "15% discount on a drink package or on a premium drink package upgrade when purchased pre-cruise" and for Elite Plus, "20% discount on drink package or 15% discount on premium drink package upgrade when purchased pre-cruise." Anyone used this benefit and can confirm the discount received? Thanks! Ken

People are conflating staffing issues with the recent changes that X made this year. Staffing difficulties have been an industry wide problem since cruising restarted. It's completely hit or miss whether or not the sailing you are on may have a noticeable issue with service, but it's well documented that the industry is doing everything it can to fill out their staffing needs. This will get better in time and by all accounts has been steadily improving. Unfortunately, cost saving strategies are the name of the game for all cruise lines in 2023. Considering what the industry has been through it is understandable and something we have to accept if we want the industry to survive. I'll judge for myself in July if any of these cutbacks significantly impact my enjoyment of my cruise on Summit. If so, I'll try to provide X with some constructive feedback, as I'm sure they don't want to alienate their customers. Complaining here may be fun, but letting X know your specific and detailed disappointments will ultimately be more beneficial for all of us.

I was on Solstice in November and I was able to get Tuscan Grille's signature negroni at the martini bar. They kept a bottle of Antica vermouth there after that, pretty much just for me. I can't say if special requests like this will always be honored, but I figure the fact that I tip a little extra and I'm always polite to the bartenders doesn't hurt. The ship was also about half full, so that may have also have helped.