Who is on/ returned from a staycation?

[Debbiem83]

Hello all, nosy woman here, waiting for her cruise in October and hoping that despite the challenges for covid  the cruise will still be similar to past experiences!

 

what I really want to know is..

 

is the concierge lunch cancelled - I read that somewhere on another forum. This is new for me and I really wanted to experience it… so paid extra!

 

whats it like onboard…really like… compared to before?

 

none of this puts me off, I can’t wait to cruise again, but I’m at work and I’m bored so looking for something to tide me over in chatter!! Please let me know how your getting on!

[ShonaTay56]

4 hours ago, Debbiem83 said:

Hello all, nosy woman here, waiting for her cruise in October and hoping that despite the challenges for covid  the cruise will still be similar to past experiences!

 

what I really want to know is..

 

is the concierge lunch cancelled - I read that somewhere on another forum. This is new for me and I really wanted to experience it… so paid extra!

 

whats it like onboard…really like… compared to before?

 

none of this puts me off, I can’t wait to cruise again, but I’m at work and I’m bored so looking for something to tide me over in chatter!! Please let me know how your getting on!

Hi Debbie, We are going on the Silhouette on the 23rd and we have been following FB as well as CC and there is more info on FB at the moment. I can't answer your query regarding the concierge lunch as we will be doing the Aqua. From what I have read it is being held in the main dining room but on another thread it said that they had gone to the Oceanview for the lunch as the Concierge was not available. All reports i have read on the FB page indicate that cruising is back as good as it was before just a bit quieter.

[Debbiem83]

Thank you Shona! Is it just the celebrity Facebook page, or is it a specific staycation page on Facebook? 
 

Many thanks 

[laslomas]

 

7 hours ago, Debbiem83 said:

Hello all, nosy woman here, waiting for her cruise in October and hoping that despite the challenges for covid  the cruise will still be similar to past experiences!

 

what I really want to know is..

 

is the concierge lunch cancelled - I read that somewhere on another forum. This is new for me and I really wanted to experience it… so paid extra!

 

whats it like onboard…really like… compared to before?

 

none of this puts me off, I can’t wait to cruise again, but I’m at work and I’m bored so looking for something to tide me over in chatter!! Please let me know how your getting on!

 

I was on 3rd July Silhouette cruise, in Concierge Class. I look forward to the Embarkation day lunch too, just to be able to relax and unwind after the boarding process. On my cruise they did not have the lunch, due to the fact that embarkation did not start until midday and most people would not be on board before the lunch closed. However they did have a Concierge Lunch on a sea day where we had a separate menu alongside the usual lunch menu in the MDR. We sat on the other level in the MDR and had to show our gold cards to enter, but it was really nothing special.

 

It was really different on board. The App had to be used to look up bar menus, and also the MDR dinner menu at the beginning. Thankfully they came up with paper menus for the MDR when it really didn't work very well. But no paper bar menus for the whole cruise and in Cafe Al Bacio there was not even a menu on the App, so unless you knew the wide range of speciality coffees and teas, you had to hope the server could list them all for you

 

No problem finding a sunbed, was a plus.

 

Remembering a mask everywhere was annoying.

 

I hope these things will be more normal by October for you, and me too as I am on Silhouette again in October (hopefully!)

[Debbiem83]

2 hours ago, laslomas said:

 

 

I was on 3rd July Silhouette cruise, in Concierge Class. I look forward to the Embarkation day lunch too, just to be able to relax and unwind after the boarding process. On my cruise they did not have the lunch, due to the fact that embarkation did not start until midday and most people would not be on board before the lunch closed. However they did have a Concierge Lunch on a sea day where we had a separate menu alongside the usual lunch menu in the MDR. We sat on the other level in the MDR and had to show our gold cards to enter, but it was really nothing special.

 

It was really different on board. The App had to be used to look up bar menus, and also the MDR dinner menu at the beginning. Thankfully they came up with paper menus for the MDR when it really didn't work very well. But no paper bar menus for the whole cruise and in Cafe Al Bacio there was not even a menu on the App, so unless you knew the wide range of speciality coffees and teas, you had to hope the server could list them all for you

 

No problem finding a sunbed, was a plus.

 

Remembering a mask everywhere was annoying.

 

I hope these things will be more normal by October for you, and me too as I am on Silhouette again in October (hopefully!)

Thank you for getting back to me, that makes sense about the Lunch to be fair with the changed embarkation times. I hadn’t thought of that! Did you still get all the other little extras like the food and the wine in the room on request?

 

im hoping the iron out all the other issues the more they cruise, And also that they don’t cancel the Europe ones and replace them with staycations only!! But having had so many cancelled now I am at least prepared to just go somewhere else and cruise next year when it’s all back to normal!!

[laslomas]

 

12 minutes ago, Debbiem83 said:

Thank you for getting back to me, that makes sense about the Lunch to be fair with the changed embarkation times. I hadn’t thought of that! Did you still get all the other little extras like the food and the wine in the room on request?

 

.

 

The afternoon canapes still came. They were a bit different to ones I have had previously which were always savoury. This time, along with sushi, cream cheese things, and smoked salmon, there were chocolates, sponge cake, and even lollies with a strange kind of sherbet!!

I had the sparkling wine too, the steward brought it in an ice bucket, with flutes, when I requested it.

[Debbiem83]

22 minutes ago, laslomas said:

 

.

 

The afternoon canapes still came. They were a bit different to ones I have had previously which were always savoury. This time, along with sushi, cream cheese things, and smoked salmon, there were chocolates, sponge cake, and even lollies with a strange kind of sherbet!!

I had the sparkling wine too, the steward brought it in an ice bucket, with flutes, when I requested it.

Oh yey!!!! That all sounds lush!!!! I’m hoping to be on the 8th October to Spain and Portugal… fingers crossed!!!

[laslomas]

1 hour ago, Debbiem83 said:

Oh yey!!!! That all sounds lush!!!! I’m hoping to be on the 8th October to Spain and Portugal… fingers crossed!!!

I'm booked on that one too. Still not sure what will happen about it, will it go, or become another staycation???

[Debbiem83]

8 hours ago, laslomas said:

I'm booked on that one too. Still not sure what will happen about it, will it go, or become another staycation???

That’s my thoughts too, they have already cancelled some august and September, and are really pushing the staycations. We Should know in the next month I guess!!

[Debbiem83]

12 hours ago, Debbiem83 said:

That’s my thoughts too, they have already cancelled some august and September, and are really pushing the staycations. We Should know in the next month I guess!!

I’ve just seen they have replaced the cancelled august and sept for staycations on “sale”! I feel that is the same plan for ours now.

it’s just too close 

[Debbiem83]

On 7/13/2021 at 10:29 PM, laslomas said:

I'm booked on that one too. Still not sure what will happen about it, will it go, or become another staycation???

im afraid ive up and left the October one, ive done a lift and shift to a earlier one in september to pre-emt the cancellation. Uk staycation here i come!

[laslomas]

24 minutes ago, Debbiem83 said:

im afraid ive up and left the October one, ive done a lift and shift to a earlier one in september to pre-emt the cancellation. Uk staycation here i come!

 

So did you just move the booking? A "Lift & Shift" is a Celebrity promotion to move to the following year. 

 

Celebrity usually only offer the "Lift & Shift" when they cancel, and that is to a cruise of the same and nearest itinerary on a same class ship a year later, within 4 weeks of the original date. I have been looking at possible options if this cruise is cancelled and there are some nice itineraries next year that will be available if they offer the "Lift & Shift", keeping my original price and promotions. This would work well for me as the prices next year are much higher than I paid.

 

Have a lovely Staycation, I hope restrictions on port visits will all be lifted by then. I loved my recent Staycation, but if the Oct 8th is changed to one, I don't think I need a second one. Have fun. 🍸

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by laslomas

[Debbiem83]

58 minutes ago, laslomas said:

 

So did you just move the booking? A "Lift & Shift" is a Celebrity promotion to move to the following year. 

 

Celebrity usually only offer the "Lift & Shift" when they cancel, and that is to a cruise of the same and nearest itinerary on a same class ship a year later, within 4 weeks of the original date. I have been looking at possible options if this cruise is cancelled and there are some nice itineraries next year that will be available if they offer the "Lift & Shift", keeping my original price and promotions. This would work well for me as the prices next year are much higher than I paid.

 

Have a lovely Staycation, I hope restrictions on port visits will all be lifted by then. I loved my recent Staycation, but if the Oct 8th is changed to one, I don't think I need a second one. Have fun. 🍸

 

 

 

 

Yes it wasn’t a official lift and shift I was just using the term to describe we swapping it all over. But they cancelled my Oct and changed it over to sept 

[BestGuessed]

We were on board Silhouette last week and apart from wearing masks when moving around the ship, only having a limited number of passengers on board and a rule of four for the lifts everything was virtually the same as our past Celebrity cruises. 

The live music was great and we were even able to dance when we chose to.  
Most people did not wear a mask once seated or when dancing.  This may be different on the present cruise and the one that was prior to ours, I can only report what we saw happening whilst we were onboard last week.   The Celebrity staff did not object to people removing their masks when seated and we didn’t see anything being enforced.    People seemed to be given the freedom to choose what they wanted to do and to chat and intermingle here and there. Perhaps this was as a result of everyone having the pre boarding PCR test plus double vaccination.

The tours were different with only a few people on each one but it worked well enough, however I think the big issue for some people was that we weren’t allowed to roam freely and wander around once off the ship.  We enjoyed The Beatles Story and Titanic Exhibition both of which were well organised.

Nothing had changed so much that it failed to resemble cruising pre Covid, it was just a little different and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
Life onboard is still fabulous !!

[chemmo]

5 hours ago, BestGuessed said:

We were on board Silhouette last week and apart from wearing masks when moving around the ship, only having a limited number of passengers on board and a rule of four for the lifts everything was virtually the same as our past Celebrity cruises. 

The live music was great and we were even able to dance when we chose to.  
Most people did not wear a mask once seated or when dancing.  This may be different on the present cruise and the one that was prior to ours, I can only report what we saw happening whilst we were onboard last week.   The Celebrity staff did not object to people removing their masks when seated and we didn’t see anything being enforced.    People seemed to be given the freedom to choose what they wanted to do and to chat and intermingle here and there. Perhaps this was as a result of everyone having the pre boarding PCR test plus double vaccination.

The tours were different with only a few people on each one but it worked well enough, however I think the big issue for some people was that we weren’t allowed to roam freely and wander around once off the ship.  We enjoyed The Beatles Story and Titanic Exhibition both of which were well organised.

Nothing had changed so much that it failed to resemble cruising pre Covid, it was just a little different and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment.
Life onboard is still fabulous !!

 

Thanks for your review!

 

Did you visit any of the speciality restaurants?

Edited July 19, 2021 by chemmo

[BestGuessed]

14 minutes ago, chemmo said:

 

Thanks for your review!

 

Did you visit any of the speciality restaurants?

No, but we had Luminae as we were in a suite and therefore we didn’t  book into the speciality restaurants however people we spoke to on board commented that they had enjoyed them all … particularly Qsine which was a fun experience. 

[chemmo]

13 minutes ago, BestGuessed said:

No, but we had Luminae as we were in a suite and therefore we didn’t  book into the speciality restaurants however people we spoke to on board commented that they had enjoyed them all … particularly Qsine which was a fun experience. 

 

Thank you!