Is Luminae over-rated or under-rated?

[TeeRick]

6 hours ago, Cap_D said:

We were on the final US Western Caribbean cruise on Edge in April in a Suite / The Retreat.  Bottom line we very much enjoyed and appreciated "Luminae," and especially Maitre'D Martin (this guy is good) and the servers (Lorenzo, usually, in our case).  It worked well for us - even with the downsides mentioned below.  We never waited more than five minutes for a table, and all the food was as promoted. 

 

Price for the trip overall seemed reasonable compared to any on-land options at resorts and nice hotels.  But, Lumiane / Retreat is definitely not necessary to enjoy the ship or eat well.  Haven't read or heard of enough or any all negative non-Retreat food or service  experiences to be concerned about FOMO.  Rather, its perhaps the opposite.  We certainly could have had more variety and newness each day if we weren't in Retreat and using Luminae, or it was the same food.  

 

We were first time, relatively young cruisers with a toddler wanting a higher end, effortless, covid tested bubble vacation, and found it.  We especially appreciated that the staff treated all three of us the same, and that our younger well behaved cruiser was able to have a full restaurant experience (especially after 2 years of bypassing many dining rooms due to the pandemic)*.  Luminae was an important part of our overall satisfaction, but there is room for an improvement (and a need for flexibility) as part of the Retreat experience.

 

*We didn't get that vibe from watching Youtube videos of Norwegian's Haven experience.  And, overall, we really took to the Celebrity approach that the entire ship is higher end, and that Retreat is merely a supplement if you want to make it that.  In contrast, our impression is Norwegian is RC with a nicer suite area, albeit a caste system like rules.  We would have enjoyed a decent beach experience, as compared to whatever one would call the seaside of Mexico or the inconvenience Nassau excursions.

 

With Luminae what you get is a well run dining room with accountability (Martin, on Edge), some apparent access to a lot of what others have on the ship (if you want something else, please people, just ask, they will try and did for us - appreciate those that have written about that on other threads), some built in memory (but doesn't every restaurant and cruise ship dining room with a computer profile on you do that?), plus the Luminae menu.  

 

The downsides are the dining room is far too loud, and not sure how that makes the environment any different from other ship dining rooms.  The Bistro area was actually quieter when we dined there, and it was quieter during a zip through the OVC at 6 pm on our final night.  There needs to be some sound dampening put in.  The noise isn't ambience or part of the gimmick.  It is a design flaw, and we agree the partially open wall to the banquet like bussing and prep area makes zero sense.  That area also makes it seem like a food factory and not a restaurant.

 

As for the food, we enjoyed our meals.  But, we do think there needs to be some more flexibility and products that one would expect for the dining room that caters to the premium customer.  Said differently, it compares favorably to a good hotel restaurant, but at a local restaurant in your home area is likely able to have an easier time producing a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger (we went through 4-5 on the Retreat deck before they got our order correct), substitutes, and sourcing higher end products like a solid bagel or english muffin that superior to what's in the OVC or wherever else the same menu items are served.  We also would have liked to see some of the Blu menu items.  Many of the food items everywhere seemed to be the same, including OVC.  (Didn't see a different french fry than one at the Mast Grill the entire time, including the Retreat Burger with Truffle Oil mist.). 

 

Also considering the entire ship is all inclusive, the Luminae food didn't seem to be customizable, and some of the dishes may be pre-made.  That's likely the case for everything on the ship, however.  There's a greater opportunity, however, to ask for off menu items (unclear if one could change the specs). 

In our view, Luminae probably should not be the chef's table or the faux Michelin experience that's on Beyond.  The funny money OBC  (which helps Celebrity give guests choice, and control demand) can be used to access those experiences.   Rather, we'd like to see Luminae  make most of the other dining experiences moot by being as good or better (and that is our impression) and give users the personalized experience that comes from the same place over and over again, plus some higher end ingredients (if possible and it makes sense, e.g., would have liked to see a better English muffin, the higher end bacon, a better cooked to order burger, entree, a better apple pie desert (the limp pie was everywhere) etc.).

 

As a baseline, a lot of the dining and service throughout the ship seemed to be evenly good, and a lot of the uniqueness of any dining experience seemed to be an illusion both in terms of service, product, and even cost if one considers the OBC a way to just give faux choice and control demand and create some FOMO.  It's not like there's much to use the OBC on if one is in Retreat and already getting premium drinks.  It's monopoly money (that you're paying for).  Staff everywhere are friendly and want to be accomodating, and foodwise a lot of the food product seemed to be same.  For example, a filet is the easiest steak for a banquet hall to produce, adding sauce is a cover, and we really didn't see grilled to order steaks that looked as good as a steakhouse anywhere on the ship or Youtube. 

 

Couple general observations that while only partially Luminae related bears mentioning because they detract from the overall experience and relate to food.

 

1.   The integration between the Luminae kitchen, Retreat Deck, Retreat Lounge and suites needs to improve. Excuses don't cut it.  Regardless, the level of quality and options should be the same, and that goes for the ship too.  

 

2.     On the Retreat deck they need to serve food directly to guests wherever they may be located and not just at the crowded/small bar area. 

 

3.      We had a comical experience with the staff telling us that we had to be pick up our food at the bar and bring it to our loungers (the only available spot) ourselves, and even came to our location to tell us our food was the bar.  But, they refused to carry the food to our seats.  We also ended up with at least 5 burgers because the order kept arriving wrong.  Cooking a hamburger with nothing on it shouldn't result in multiple undercooked cheeseburgers with various wet toppings.  Plus to avoid a brioche bun, it would have been nice if anyone of the over 1,000 crew to the ~1650 passengers could have ventured to the Mast Grill for a regular bun vs the ordering passenger.  And, while the fries are good (and we appreciate the sunflower oil ingredient as opposed to soybean oil), they were not unique compared to the Mast Grill or OVC.  They were a good frozen mass produced fry.  The upside was seemingly the entire kitchen came out to apologize and express regrets when after we had to escalate the order.  (BTW, no amount of retreat butlers, bartenders, concierges, lounges (with no snacks), etc matter when you'd like to eat lunch before the artificial ordering cut-off time and they keep getting the order wrong).  

 

4.       The Retreat Lounge food timing is abysmal.  There were no snacks available most of the day, and it was neither a substitute for venturing elsewhere or BYO snack from home.  Airport lounges do better.

 

5.        At lunch at Luminae the sommelier solicited us as we were about to take our first bites of lunch for a wine opening device / cork screw like we were walking through the "As Seen on TV" section of an AutoShow.  The experience was surreal.  Does Celebrity spif the sommeliers for selling wine accessories?  Does RCL and Celebrity think the average Luminae diner doesn't already have whatever wine gadgets they may need and actually think they'd buy them before biting into lunch?   It was a ***** moment, and a day after the burger clown car situation described above.

 

6.        What's with the upcharges for gelato, and indistinguible quality level between the ice creams on the ship?  It all seemed to be made from the blue carton multimix used at the bars and for the softserve machine.  They gladly gave us a chocolate bunny on Easter, and any alcohol we could consume, but not a scoop of whatever they claimed was gelato?  And, $55 for BBQ in the wind, on top of thousands of dollars for a cruise, is nuts. 

 

7.        From what we can tell, Celebrity needs the Princess band so there is more flexibility to obtain what you want when you want it.  A lot of the staff and desks are redundant to the app, but at the same time the delivery system for food and other services is far too dependent on where one is physically located.  See the burger experience above.  

 

8.       Retreat prices seem to be about space and possibly reverse FOMO.  If you want a room with any floor space the Retreat class is the only way to get that.  Same for a room with a wall between the bedroom and sitting area.   Everything else is marginally an improvement over the rest of the ship.  For example, Luminae is nice, but can you get by with eating OVC and the restaurants - yes.  It won't be quieter in Luminae. Is the Butler a nice touch, sure.  It adds a personalization level and troubleshooter to your team, and frees you up from having to coordinate things at Guest Relations or other desks and being beholden to your voicemail.  Gordon and others also helped facilitate a special activity for our junior cruiser.  But, the room service quality is no better, and so on.  

 

9.      Our junior cruiser loved Luminae because of the staff and familiarity.  We expected the food to be good.

 

10.      Decor at Luminae.  We like the ship and decor overall.  IT was a selling point.  But, the Luminae dining room looks like an extension of the hallway decor down to the carpet and wall pictures.  Something needs to be done to make it a bit more distinguishable from the stairwell.

 

*  *  *

 

Whether the value proposition for the Retreat makes sense for someone is a bit difficult to figure out, but if price is not an issue the quasi personalized, convenient, experience worked very well for us.  Luminae is an essential part of the total experience, but so would have eating at Blu every meal.  And, there are some systemic issues that Celebrity should address to get the full benefit of the effort being put in and the overall approach to their product, especially Retreat.  Yet, it shouldn't become a locked down and off putting experience like what Norwegian is promoting in its PR and some of its rules (and overly univiting decor).

 

 

 

 

Wow- quite the detailed response and analysis.  Thanks for your observations and thoughts on this topic!

[HMR74]

37 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

My ONLY negative with the Luminae, the Daniel Boulud Moroccan chicken was so dry and over cooked. For us Luminae is more than just the food, which we really enjoyed, it more about having a fine dining experience more like one in a fine dining land restaurant, with exceptional service. We have never been impressed with the MDR on any cruise line. For us the MDR is more like eating in a banquet hall while Luminae and even Blu is more like fine dining. Before we sailed in our first suite on Celebrity, we had been in Aqua class only because of access to Blu to not have to dine in the MDR.

This problem is new and we have not cruised since  late 2019.

 

So its a thing I have to experience myself to evaluate.

 

The higher price I can live with esp on Beyond which has so much to do viz a viz entertainment and just hanging out at for example sunset bar. Or if I want the retreat outside bar. Or outside the Oceanview bar.

 

However, I have this crazy notion that if the disappointments  are discussed here some will be addressed. Is the Luminae kitchen on Beyond actually up on the upper deck with Luminae-if so, that does make it difficult to get MDR selections. But on the other hand it should ensure better preparation and delivery.

 

So far on X the disappointments have been few and not show stoppers.

 

I heard RCCL is making FCC permanent.

 

I used to have small, very small,  investments in a number of upscale but not premium  restaurants and I would go there with the principals to these places. They would  order several dishes for us and we would share and they were testing the outputs. I cannot begin to explain how upset they were if something came out of kitchen for them and was bad, like overcooked. They instituted a process  at each place to have someone checking QC of dishes just before they were picked up by servers. They even random selected output for temp and taste. Hot Soup should be hot. Iced cream should not be served 1/2 melted.

 

The restaurant buiness is a difficult one, but can be managed properly.

 

 

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

My ONLY negative with the Luminae, the Daniel Boulud Moroccan chicken was so dry and over cooked. For us Luminae is more than just the food, which we really enjoyed, it more about having a fine dining experience more like one in a fine dining land restaurant, with exceptional service. We have never been impressed with the MDR on any cruise line. For us the MDR is more like eating in a banquet hall while Luminae and even Blu is more like fine dining. Before we sailed in our first suite on Celebrity, we had been in Aqua class only because of access to Blu to not have to dine in the MDR.

We agree.

Also, I don’t know what the problem is with Boulud's recipe but we have been served the dry Moroccan chicken in Luminae too. Our solution was simply to ask our waiter to bring us an alternate main choice (and not to order it ever again 😁).

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, cangelmd said:

Absolutely agree. Had it been longer than a 7 day, I’m pretty sure we would have spoken to maitre d. As it was these were the first night (which kind of ignored the noise a bit, thinking it was part of typical first night chaos), then 2 nights late in the cruise. We did come later each time, and once had to wait for a table, and I’m thinking yay, we will get down at the end, or people are all leaving. But no, same location across from the noise.

 I’m sure that staffing and Covid made it worse. I’m also thinking that the number of suites and the configuration of the room may make the noise more noticeable. We will find out after 2 weeks on Apex!

Unfortunately that is part of the problem. We found that the best time to show up for dinner was from 6:30-7:00 pm. It may be too early for some, but it allowed us to have a leisurely dinner and have plenty of time to make it to the show in the theater.

[HMR74]

33 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

We agree.

Also, I don’t know what the problem is with Boulud's recipe but we have been served the dry Moroccan chicken in Luminae too. Our solution was simply to ask our waiter to bring us an alternate main choice (and not to order it ever again 😁).

Just for the record, when I bbq, my wife fears my overcooking it. Whatever it is.

 

On tuna, I am on top of it to just sear it.

 

Being a cook/Chef is not easy-it is very hard work.

 

But if I was a betting person, and I do bet, I bet the chicken got warmed up. A second otr3rd time.

 

 

[HMR74]

1 minute ago, C-Dragons said:

Unfortunately that is part of the problem. We found that the best time to show up for dinner was from 6:30-7:00 pm. It may be too early for some, but it allowed us to have a leisurely dinner and have plenty of time to make it to the show in the theater.

we have dinner early at home but late on cruises.

 happy hour in room at 5 ish, show at 7 or 7:30 (7 preferred) , perhaps a drink in bar before and take to show, then dinner after the show and walk around after dinner. stop for a nice coffee-with E class we have the Club where we can hide out of its cool or too windy on top. Since Eden has entertainment that can be good too.

nice thing about non peaks travel period  is us older folks are on cruise and "we" in general wind down early.

For those of us who like two stay up late, its usually a quiet ship.

 

 

[terrydtx]

23 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

Unfortunately that is part of the problem. We found that the best time to show up for dinner was from 6:30-7:00 pm. It may be too early for some, but it allowed us to have a leisurely dinner and have plenty of time to make it to the show in the theater.

Our observation and preferred dining time in Luminae, never had to wait for a table either.

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, HMR74 said:

Just for the record, when I bbq, my wife fears my overcooking it. Whatever it is.

 

On tuna, I am on top of it to just sear it.

 

Being a cook/Chef is not easy-it is very hard work.

 

But if I was a betting person, and I do bet, I bet the chicken got warmed up. A second otr3rd time.

That may have been true at the time, but I'm not sure Boulud would appreciate his dishes being retuned because they weren’t served properly.

Besides, each time chicken, or any other meat is reheated, the quality decreases.

[Whinenowine]

1 minute ago, C-Dragons said:

That may have been true at the time, but I'm not sure Boulud would appreciate his dishes being retuned because they weren’t served properly.

Besides, each time chicken, or any other meat is reheated, the quality decreases.

Exactly….I don’t think anyone dining at Luminae should expect the quality of a Boulud shoreside restaurant. He sort of sold his soul to the devil (for a nice price, I assume) when he lent his name to X.  I’ve been lucky enough to have eaten at his NY restaurants consistently for 20yrs and none of my Luminae meals have come even close.  Having said that, we’re Luminae fans for what it is. I’ve had only 1 Luminae experience that was less than “good”, which is a pretty good hit ratio.  When I finally sale on the Beyond I’ll definitely try Le Voyage to see if my theory holds there too.  Oh the things I must suffer through for research,  🥳

[terrydtx]

19 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

That may have been true at the time, but I'm not sure Boulud would appreciate his dishes being retuned because they weren’t served properly.

Besides, each time chicken, or any other meat is reheated, the quality decreases.

Luminae promotes the Moroccan Chicken as one of his restaurant's signature dishes, it was bad enough that I would not eat in his restaurant if given the opportunity. The night I ordered it on the Equinox, our waiter told me that he had many complaints that night about the entree. I am sure Boulud would not be happy at all with how Celebrity is cooking his recipes.

[Tony UK]

We find Luminae Breakfast and lunch is far superior in terms of service and sometimes food than dinner!

On our recent Edge sailing there were issues with getting a table, also longish waits especially on elegant chic nights for some food and drink items.

We have had a far better experience on Solstice and millenium class ships. It is difficult to maintain a high service standard in the larger dining room it seems. 

Having access to 4 dining room menus plus Blu and Luminae on Edge class ships seems to impact service even further. Also I do think it should be practice when the dining room is so busy to offer to serve coffee in the retreat lounge. Some had 2 coffees after dinner whilst people were standing in line at the desk.

We are European and enjoyed the food offering. I would like a variety of menu to reflect the regions being visited.

On the retreat sundeck a downside was the inability to have a coffee, even though it was available in the lounge. The food offering is very similar to standard room service....Eden lunch is far superior!

I do find the upselling attempts of speciality dining, wine tasting type events, chef's table etc. annoying and not compatible with the standard of restaurant they are aiming for.

And for someone from the UK the scones at tea were appalling in the retreat.....I could give them a recipe. They need it!

[HMR74]

42 minutes ago, Tony UK said:

We find Luminae Breakfast and lunch is far superior in terms of service and sometimes food than dinner!

On our recent Edge sailing there were issues with getting a table, also longish waits especially on elegant chic nights for some food and drink items.

We have had a far better experience on Solstice and millenium class ships. It is difficult to maintain a high service standard in the larger dining room it seems. 

Having access to 4 dining room menus plus Blu and Luminae on Edge class ships seems to impact service even further. Also I do think it should be practice when the dining room is so busy to offer to serve coffee in the retreat lounge. Some had 2 coffees after dinner whilst people were standing in line at the desk.

We are European and enjoyed the food offering. I would like a variety of menu to reflect the regions being visited.

On the retreat sundeck a downside was the inability to have a coffee, even though it was available in the lounge. The food offering is very similar to standard room service....Eden lunch is far superior!

I do find the upselling attempts of speciality dining, wine tasting type events, chef's table etc. annoying and not compatible with the standard of restaurant they are aiming for.

And for someone from the UK the scones at tea were appalling in the retreat.....I could give them a recipe. They need it!

The Ships Captain is responsible for it all.

In the entirty, if there is a problem that  is seen in many of the ships, where the company has to address it via more money being spent or support in other ways the Capitans should pressure management. A process is needed where if the captains cannot get it fixed themselves they need mgt support.

 

Now, a new problem is shortages of food regardless of the reason. A ship finishes one cruise and has 8-10 hours at most to totally provision it before the new cruise starts.

Getting that food and whatever else is needed on board in that time window is difficult espeically if ther are only a few boarding points.

 

Do not forget that all perishable food is inspected. Glitches are more permanent  now than 6 months ago. and then what if diesel fuel goes into shortage. How  are they going to get everything delivered timely. Dunno.

The new logistics reality.

 

But then again cruise companies are selling a vacation a week or two or more away from the routine. If they cannot deliver that vacation experience  they have a real problem.

 

 

[HMR74]

1 hour ago, Whinenowine said:

Exactly….I don’t think anyone dining at Luminae should expect the quality of a Boulud shoreside restaurant. He sort of sold his soul to the devil (for a nice price, I assume) when he lent his name to X.  I’ve been lucky enough to have eaten at his NY restaurants consistently for 20yrs and none of my Luminae meals have come even close.  Having said that, we’re Luminae fans for what it is. I’ve had only 1 Luminae experience that was less than “good”, which is a pretty good hit ratio.  When I finally sale on the Beyond I’ll definitely try Le Voyage to see if my theory holds there too.  Oh the things I must suffer through for research,  🥳

nothing beats fresh top quality ingredients, a great recipe and top drawer preparation.

A 14 day TA presents big challenges.

[cangelmd]

3 hours ago, C-Dragons said:

Unfortunately that is part of the problem. We found that the best time to show up for dinner was from 6:30-7:00 pm. It may be too early for some, but it allowed us to have a leisurely dinner and have plenty of time to make it to the show in the theater.

That may be the best time for leaving a leisurely dinner and going to show, but that was the later times I was talking abou. I think everyone came about six, and stayed until 8. I think the latest we came was about 7:15, and still only one table. We rarely even go to the show.

 

im going to try to shift my eating pattern to dinner around 8, just for this cruise.

[Covepointcruiser]

The crowding in Luminae and also in Michael’s (Retreat) Lounge on the Reflection is the main reason we will only book suites with unlimited specialty dining.     There are more suites on the Reflection and they contributed to the overcrowding.   Thee noise in Luminae was also a problem on this ship.

[Mimiya11]

On 6/9/2022 at 6:34 PM, 39august said:

Another vote for the octopus!

And another ! 

[terrydtx]

6 hours ago, HMR74 said:

nothing beats fresh top quality ingredients, a great recipe and top drawer preparation.

A 14 day TA presents big challenges.

From about day 10 forward on those TA's the lettuce and other fresh veggies and fruits start getting a little wilty. 

[Tony UK]

23 hours ago, HMR74 said:

The Ships Captain is responsible for it all.

In the entirty, if there is a problem that  is seen in many of the ships, where the company has to address it via more money being spent or support in other ways the Capitans should pressure management. A process is needed where if the captains cannot get it fixed themselves they need mgt support.

 

Now, a new problem is shortages of food regardless of the reason. A ship finishes one cruise and has 8-10 hours at most to totally provision it before the new cruise starts.

Getting that food and whatever else is needed on board in that time window is difficult espeically if ther are only a few boarding points.

 

Do not forget that all perishable food is inspected. Glitches are more permanent  now than 6 months ago. and then what if diesel fuel goes into shortage. How  are they going to get everything delivered timely. Dunno.

The new logistics reality.

 

But then again cruise companies are selling a vacation a week or two or more away from the routine. If they cannot deliver that vacation experience  they have a real problem.

 

 

I do get there are some issues with supplies staffing etc right now. I do think though this thread has highlighted some specific issues many of which should be fairly easy to resolve. 

I love the idea of the suite class but is is more than your suite....it is the whole experience from Luminae to the retreat lounge and pool deck to room service. I do love the extra space, however for the additional cost I sometimes wonder if I'd rather have Blu and a cruise long speciality dining package. That would also give me spa access! 

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, Tony UK said:

I do get there are some issues with supplies staffing etc right now. I do think though this thread has highlighted some specific issues many of which should be fairly easy to resolve. 

I love the idea of the suite class but is is more than your suite....it is the whole experience from Luminae to the retreat lounge and pool deck to room service. I do love the extra space, however for the additional cost I sometimes wonder if I'd rather have Blu and a cruise long speciality dining package. That would also give me spa access! 

Along with pricing suite vs aqua vs veranda vs….I do agree with you that it is all about putting a package together that suits you best. No right, no wrong answers.

 

 

[Gracie115]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:29 PM, Covepointcruiser said:

The crowding in Luminae and also in Michael’s (Retreat) Lounge on the Reflection is the main reason we will only book suites with unlimited specialty dining.     There are more suites on the Reflection and they contributed to the overcrowding.   Thee noise in Luminae was also a problem on this ship.

 

We've sailed in a suite on Reflection and never had an overcrowding or noise issue.  We do prefer to sit in the front section rather than the back, but always had great service and if we waited for a table it wasn't more than a minute or two.   Just haven't bothered with specialty restaurants barely at all since Luminae began.  To each his own.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

We've sailed in a suite on Reflection and never had an overcrowding or noise issue.  We do prefer to sit in the front section rather than the back, but always had great service and if we waited for a table it wasn't more than a minute or two.   Just haven't bothered with specialty restaurants barely at all since Luminae began.  To each his own.

Good to know, we will be on the Reflection Aug 5th and I agree the service and food in Luminae is so exceptional that we are passing on the specialty restaurants, unless we have some OBC to burn. On our last Equinox cruise we were disappointed with Murano, the food was good but the service was no where as good as Luminae. For us Luminae is a specialty restaurant.

[zanderblue]

Long time Celebrity cruisers, all in regular cabins. We like most things onboard, hence we keep coming back.

Our last cruise was a SS1 on the Summit in early March this year. We had to try it and there was a reasonable deal so we booked.

We found dinner service in Luminae particularly underwhelming in pretty much all aspects. Food quality was variable, service poor (long waits for food), wait for a table on 3 nights (one night the wait was more than 30 minutes), sommelier service was very poor, the poor girl was run off her feet, also wine choice was limited. 
I did discuss above with retreat manager and received an apology, but nothing changed.

Slightly off topic………. The overall suite experience wasn’t much better, cabin whilst larger was nothing special. The retreat lounge was always busy and drink service was slow. The one aspect that we found worked well for us was the retreat sun deck, where food and drinks quality and service was very good indeed!

We have booked another Celebrity cruise on Apex, but we’re back in a veranda cabin.

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, zanderblue said:

Long time Celebrity cruisers, all in regular cabins. We like most things onboard, hence we keep coming back.

Our last cruise was a SS1 on the Summit in early March this year. We had to try it and there was a reasonable deal so we booked.

We found dinner service in Luminae particularly underwhelming in pretty much all aspects. Food quality was variable, service poor (long waits for food), wait for a table on 3 nights (one night the wait was more than 30 minutes), sommelier service was very poor, the poor girl was run off her feet, also wine choice was limited. 
I did discuss above with retreat manager and received an apology, but nothing changed.

Slightly off topic………. The overall suite experience wasn’t much better, cabin whilst larger was nothing special. The retreat lounge was always busy and drink service was slow. The one aspect that we found worked well for us was the retreat sun deck, where food and drinks quality and service was very good indeed!

We have booked another Celebrity cruise on Apex, but we’re back in a veranda cabin.

 

As far as the suites are concerned on the M class ships like Summit I find the Sky Suites really lacking.  Except for the 2 that are next to the Penthouse they are mostly just too small to pay the additional $$.  

 

I've read and not just on X that dining post Covid has been hit or miss even in Luminae.  Lack of personnel, training and quality product HAS impacted the lines.  We haven't been on X since 2019 and are eagerly awaiting our sailing this October on the Apex.  Also hoping that some of the reopening issues have been ironed out.  I still expect we will be very happy just to be back on X.  We have done 2 Royal cruises in the last year which were fine, but not even close to the quality we find on X.

[islabahia]

We really never dine in Luminae with the exception of the day we board.  Not a huge fan of their food and, if busy, the service can be spotty.  I know we are probably not typical of suite pax but we prefer dining in our suite and/or specialty restaurants.

 

 

[HMR74]

22 minutes ago, islabahia said:

We really never dine in Luminae with the exception of the day we board.  Not a huge fan of their food and, if busy, the service can be spotty.  I know we are probably not typical of suite pax but we prefer dining in our suite and/or specialty restaurants.

 

 

Are you in sky suites, or the bigger suites, where the cabin is better suited for dine in and you have the no extra cost option of specialty