BLU on Edge....your opinion vs S Class

[Oceangoer2]

Just booked Edge and BLU for the first time and I've seen some bad reviews.  Please let me know your thoughts.

[Redtravel]

S class?    Best advice that I got from a Travel & Leisure column was decide what accommodation fits your real needs. Suites on mass market ships are overpriced. If you have the money to spend on a mass market suite, you’re on the wrong ship.  

[dkjretired]

7 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

QS class?    Best advice that I got from a Travel & Leisure column was decide what accommodation fits your real needs. Suites on mass market ships are overpriced. If you have the money to spend on a mass market suite, you’re on the wrong ship.  

 

Aqua Class is not a suite......If you wish and are proactive sometimes you can get good prices.  A few years ago we upgraded to AQ from an inside cabin for $100 PP for the week on the Equinox. We have always enjoyed Blu on both  S and M class ships. Sorry can't help you with Edge class ships. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by dkjretired

[Redtravel]

1 minute ago, dkjretired said:

 

Aqua Class is not a suite......

Just read S class and thought suite. Aqua class is ok. I like Blu. I also like the maiN dining room.  Celebrity has to change big time to incorporate social distancing. Wait to see new ways to travel. Be patient.

[Oceangoer2]

11 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Just read S class and thought suite. Aqua class is ok. I like Blu. I also like the maiN dining room.  Celebrity has to change big time to incorporate social distancing. Wait to see new ways to travel. Be patient.

Should have clarified...it's the location of BLU on Edge....just saw it on a deck 5 plan...no ocean view...inside facing the lifeboats...comments were it seems smaller and isolated...some tables on an aisle with no wall??  Seems like an afterthought.  Picked the cabin for location and will try the amenities..not sure we'll enjoy dining in BLU.

[ChucktownSteve]

21 minutes ago, oceangoer2 said:

Should have clarified...it's the location of BLU on Edge....just saw it on a deck 5 plan...no ocean view...inside facing the lifeboats...comments were it seems smaller and isolated...some tables on an aisle with no wall??  Seems like an afterthought.  Picked the cabin for location and will try the amenities..not sure we'll enjoy dining in BLU.

 

I've been grappling with the same thoughts before booking our first Edge cruise.  I too didn't particularly like the location. I've always enjoyed the window seating on our previous Blu experiences. I'm not thrilled with the AQ cabin locations.  So I'm not seeing the value.

 

I'm torn between the Concierge class for the club points or the SV aft cabin for the view.  The aft cabins are wonderful views during  sailings AND docking as long as you're not facing another ship. 

 

Is the BLU food that much better than the regular dining room? Since the Edge does four smaller dining rooms, I'm thinking that you'd almost get a BLU feeling in one of those.  However I have yet to prove that theory.

[Oceangoer2]

8 minutes ago, ChucktownSteve said:

 

I've been grappling with the same thoughts before booking our first Edge cruise.  I too didn't particularly like the location. I've always enjoyed the window seating on our previous Blu experiences. I'm not thrilled with the AQ cabin locations.  So I'm not seeing the value.

 

I'm torn between the Concierge class for the club points or the SV aft cabin for the view.  The aft cabins are wonderful views during  sailings AND docking as long as you're not facing another ship. 

 

Is the BLU food that much better than the regular dining room? Since the Edge does four smaller dining rooms, I'm thinking that you'd almost get a BLU feeling in one of those.  However I have yet to prove that theory.

We've never booked BLU before..just thought this was a good opportunity to try it, but BLU on the S class was in a great location from what we could see going into the Tuscan.  Food is apparently prepared a little healthier, which DH is not a fan of, nor I if they don't prepare with sauces for flavour.  Like you we prefer aft cabins or concierge midship.  May change this up...or...just dine in BLU for b'fast/lunch and try the other dining rooms.

 

[Redtravel]

Blu isn’t for everyone.  I liked it.  Friends did not.  We were able to order from both MDR and Blu menus.  If the cost is reasonable, try it.  For me, the only feature that I enjoyed was the smaller dining room. It is quiet.  That made us explore smaller ships. We prefer less noise.  After that, we booked other lines with smaller ships.....  Azamara, Oceania, Windstar.

[TeeRick]

Back pre-COVID times when people were having actual cruise discussions here --- there was concern from many Aqua passengers that Blu was overcrowded with wait times for dinner.  There were endless threads about the access to Blu for suite passengers when they have their own restaurant (Luminae).  You might want to Search some of those threads for your own information.

[Pennstatedj]

We mostly do Aqua class when we cruise. The menus are the same.Venues are really different. S class has a significantly better view than the E class. The E class ships are mostly designed for the Suite class. If you look at pricing after final payment you will see Aqua class on E class ships closer to veranda cost than on a S class. That tells you everything. 

We still love Blu no matter which ship we are on. We like the staff, service of smaller dinning room. We still do an occasional MDH and are usually very happy. 

 

[ChucktownSteve]

May change this up...or...just dine in BLU for b'fast/lunch and try the other dining rooms.

 

Unless they changed BLU on E class, BLU wasn't open for lunch when I cruised AQ

[Oceangoer2]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Back pre-COVID times when people were having actual cruise discussions here --- there was concern from many Aqua passengers that Blu was overcrowded with wait times for dinner.  There were endless threads about the access to Blu for suite passengers when they have their own restaurant (Luminae).  You might want to Search some of those threads for your own information.

Since we're NOT sailing, now or in the immediate future, it's reasonable to think conversations will turn to other cruise topics, like dining and cabin location or category for instance?   I'm feeling a mini-admonishment??...LOL.

Edited May 15, 2020 by oceangoer2

[Oceangoer2]

1 hour ago, ChucktownSteve said:

Unless they changed BLU on E class, BLU wasn't open for lunch when I cruised AQ

Oh...thanks for the info.

[TeeRick]

2 minutes ago, oceangoer2 said:

Since we're NOT sailing, now or in the immediate future, it's reasonable to think conversations will turn to other cruise topics, like dining and cabin location or category for instance?   I'm feeling a mini-admonishment??...LOL.

Oh no not at all.  I was just trying to be helpful and I am happy to participate in actual non-Covid related cruise topics.😀  It is refreshing.

[Oceangoer2]

Just now, TeeRick said:

Oh no not at all.  I was just trying to be helpful and I am happy to participate in actual non-Covid related cruise topics.😀  It is refreshing.

Thanks for that....I did a search for Edge BLU... without much luck.  Just hoped some who have sailed Edge recently would have opinions.  Probably won't change our cabin selection (still want to try Aqua class to see what all the hype is about....DH will probably love the better shower..?) but since finding BLU on the deck plan I wondered why they'd put it that location looking out onto the lifeboats...doesn't seem like a nice dining experience to me...unless they have those 'lovely' curtains on the windows as they have in Murano blocking out the lifeboats.

[TeeRick]

9 minutes ago, oceangoer2 said:

Thanks for that....I did a search for Edge BLU... without much luck.  Just hoped some who have sailed Edge recently would have opinions.  Probably won't change our cabin selection (still want to try Aqua class to see what all the hype is about....DH will probably love the better shower..?) but since finding BLU on the deck plan I wondered why they'd put it that location looking out onto the lifeboats...doesn't seem like a nice dining experience to me...unless they have those 'lovely' curtains on the windows as they have in Murano blocking out the lifeboats.

I was on Edge but did not dine in Blu.  But plenty of frequent cruisers on here like hcat sail Aqua and have been on Edge.

[jelayne]

We have dined in Blu on all 3 classes of ships.  Menu is the same on each aside from an occasion special a chef might have.  We found the service in Blu on the Edge to be a little better.  It could have been there was more staff, could have been that it was shortly after the first Edge Cruise and the crew was sourced from the best from all ships.  

 

I don’t think we went to Blu for breakfast on the Edge but at dinner we didn’t notice the lifeboats as curtains obstructed the view.  We dine late so even on the ships with nice windows 95% of the time when we go to dinner it is dark out so rarely anything to look at.

[Miaminice]

@oceangoer2

we love Aqua and we are real fans of Blu on M and S class.

 

I have nothing bad to say about the location of Blu on Edge. However, I have to say that we would never book AQ on Edge. The reason is simple. The smaller and quieter venue is Isually the reason for us to book Aqua. On Edge, however, we absolutely loved the 4 dining room concept and the diversity which comes with it. We always had great tables in quiet areas and food and service was excellent. We never missed Blu for a minute and therefore would not pay the hefty extra for Aqua on Edge. 

[Prost Seattle]

To me half the fun of dining on a ship is people watching.  I’ll have a great view of the water in my room, but the people watching?  That’s when the fun begins.  Give me a table with a great view of the dining room, not the water, and we’ll be the giggling group in the corner.  We’ll try and keep the noise levels down. 

[Oceangoer2]

19 minutes ago, Prost Seattle said:

To me half the fun of dining on a ship is people watching.  I’ll have a great view of the water in my room, but the people watching?  That’s when the fun begins.  Give me a table with a great view of the dining room, not the water, and we’ll be the giggling group in the corner.  We’ll try and keep the noise levels down. 

I would hope you're not one who is 'giggling' (laughing) at your dining companions behind or in this case, in front of their backs?

[Prost Seattle]

The first hour is us laughing at ourselves for some faux pas we will inevitably perform.  You are welcome to laugh with us.  

[Oville]

OP, we’ve sailed on Edge 4 times, twice in suites, once in AQ and one charity cruise.  I’ll take Blu on Edge over Luminae any day on E Glass.  Yes you can’t see the sea below but so what.  The service was superior and food better than Luminae.  Luminae is noisy, crowded and has waits, nothing we experienced in Blu.

[hcat]

Hi Katie

We  had a different  assesment of  our BLU experience on EDGE.

 

 We did not care very much for BLU on EDGE esp compared to BLU on M and S Class ships,

 

It is located away from the other dining venues  near Tiffany shop,  along the corridor to EDEN., To get there one  must walk through the dark forest or walk up a winding staircase.  

 

The view is of big life boats and window washing apparatus so they keep the curtains drawn almost 100 % of the time. The outdoor tables were counted for occupancy  purposes but are useless and  were not used for BLU  dining.

 

The acoustics are poor, esp when it is crowded. Breakfast was much nicer than dinner,p. As with all BLU,  they do not serve lunch.  We dine early but observed lines building shortly after that and the room was full and noisy. The banquet size tables towards the side were seated with very loud, larger groups..not a good idea for BLU .  Most folks did not want to sit  near there,  further crowding other areas.

( I believe I heard  some improvements were made after we cruised???)

 

On our cruise ( early on) the service and attention from waitstaff was excellent, but  the kitchen was  VERY slow on quite a few nights,  very long wait for entrees!   Menu choices and taste, as always,  were fine for us. 

 

On a subsequent cruise we had the 4 MDR Plan and loved it!  Unless one  prefers AQ Class for other amenities, the 4 mdr was much better...Quicker, more options and variety..  but opinions will likely vary!  Sunset Veranda cabin was AWESOME!

Edited May 16, 2020 by hcat

[hcat]

Above post was my recollection.. time has passed.

 

Here is a link to my actual review of AQUA Class in EDGE....,long and winding, but if you are Covid isolating with time on your hands it might be something to read!!!

 

 

[ChucktownSteve]

15 hours ago, hcat said:

Above post was my recollection.. time has passed.

 

Here is a link to my actual review of AQUA Class in EDGE....,long and winding, but if you are Covid isolating with time on your hands it might be something to read!!!

 

 

 

hcat, Thankx for the review!  It helped me confirm that while I enjoy AQ with BLU on M & S class ships, the SV aft will be the better choice for us on Edge.  We've booked several aft cabins and find that our preferred view now.  I'm looking forward to trying the four smaller dining rooms. 

 

We like the quiet dining of BLU on the M & S ships but believe after reading your review, we'll find that by not dining in BLU on our E cruise.  So I appreciate you posting the link to your review!

 

Our next cruise is AQ aft on the Solstice before trying Edge.

Edited May 17, 2020 by ChucktownSteve