wineoclock

If I could get an SV on E class I’d be happy not to be in retreat. Dh doesn’t like the retreat lounge and we prefer the speciality restaurants to Luminae. We use elite breakfast rather than Luminae and sometimes buffet for dinner & breakfast. We book a suite purely for the balcony which I’m non negotiable on. We spend more time in cafe al bacio or one of the bars rather than the retreat lounge, which though perfectly pleasant, doesn’t have much atmosphere imo.

I assume the complaints must have been off the charts for X to bringing back butlers.

When we were on Silhouette last year there was an excellent speaker on board. I attended all his lectures and really glad I did.

Thank you - makes sense. we cruised on beyond in October in a SS and weren’t bowled over by the butler experience. It wasn’t terrible but not what we were used to but then we have done PS and CS as well! Next cruise we didn’t bother with a SS as we’ve managed to score a good deal on an SV on Apex. May do move up.

I didn’t realise butlers were coming back! Good to know. I’ve missed that info. How come if someone doesn’t mind telling me thank you? I assume a lot to do with complaints on board.

Not the ones I’ve tried. I thought the Mer soleil was dreadful! I did blind wine tasting at berry brothers and I only liked the old world wines - I think it says my palate isn’t as varied as I’d like. I accept my loss!

Louis Jadot is perfectly good Chardonnay. I don’t drink Californian wines as just don’t find them very good. Can’t compare them to French or Italian wines.

You could also stay at Chewton Glen. Not too far from Southampton. I do like Harbour hotels.

We always do at least 2 or 3 specialities even when eating in Luminae. It’s good but nice to change it up a bit. LPC once done not again - food was dreadful. S class Murano is our preferred choice if only one. E class If I had to pick one either Eden or DB depending on type of food I fancied.

Landmark is my favourite hotel! Love it there. It’s a short cab ride away.

S class yes I’d switch to Blu. And have done. E class I’d only switch to an SV as I like a proper balcony. I’ve just done that for my upcoming cruise on Apex.

I suspect that will have been an upper suite if it was a butler with canapés. Our retreat host said anything like that was strictly room service. Since afternoon tea served in the lounge I didn’t feel the need to have canapés also.

Yes that’s our worry about being bored but if we don’t try we won’t know!

Dh isn’t keen on retreat lounge so if I’m with him we don’t use it. I do though. The sundeck? well that is worth it imo but at that price? E class is a difficult one for us as we don’t like the IV. So I suppose if we couldn’t get an SV we may have considered staying put. Luckily didn’t have to make that decision!

Our retreat host made it clear that we could order through room service or go to the lounge for drinks etc. he was too rushed off his feet to help make our stay special. He was a room attendant and most certainly not a replacement for the butler! The ‘team’ imo were non existent. Still suites on our upcoming Apex cruise are almost sold out so people are still paying the prices! We decided that unless a move up or a guarantee we will no longer sail in a suite on X as the value (for us) is no longer there.

Luckily we had booked on board before the increase in deposit. We lost £250 or thereabouts. It was worth it for the £13,000 difference! I may have had more pause for thought if I’d paid 10% deposit!

I concur re butler. Were on beyond in SS in October. Night and day to our cruise last October in a CS on Apex. None of the things that made sailing in a suite special. And at those prices can’t justify it. Moved our upcoming X cruise from a CS to an SV and with the money have booked a cruise on Regent in concierge for less than a SS. No butler but I didn’t get that this October either.

We’ve made reservations for 8.30pm every night on our upcoming Apex cruise. I’m hoping even if not honoured it won’t be too difficult getting a table at that time.

We went end May start June this year. Weather was fine and lots of waterfalls. Great time to go though I wouldn’t book uk half term again as no so many children on board!

We love eating at 8.30. It’s the time we generally eat at home as well. Our dinner reservations for our upcoming cruise are all at 8.30. Works for us.

God not August. And I’m Cypriot and used to the heat. June or September are always safe. We usually do a Med cruise in October and that’s perfect. Occasionally day of rain but not always!

We had this on our cruise in June. I find it really frustrating as it’s clearly an IT issue.

On our recent cruise I complained about one of our ‘small shore excursion’ in Corfu. wherever we went we were constantly waiting for the other ‘small group’ to join us on coffee breaks and wine experience making us a large group. I got a refund of 25%. It just wasn’t good enough experience.

This is interesting. Dh came back from our recent Beyond cruise with an ‘unusual respiratory infection’ according to our GP., Thinking back there was a whiff but I didn’t think much of it and whenever we are in cabin have balcony doors open for air.

You were lucky. Ours (same sailing as Charla) was retreat host and was most definitely not a butler.