Live Royal Suite Summit - 7/31 to 8/7

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

2 hours ago, DisneyJen said:

 

Our room steward is Prez and he is a rockstar. Butler/PHR is Roland. Penelope and Mar are our Suite Concierges. Lyle (whom we have not been impressed with … story to follow tomorrow) is a Suite Concierge in training. Cecilia is the Retreat Bartender and quite lovely.

 

Yuskel is the Luminae MD … he impressed us at lunch. Here’s hoping that we continue to enjoy that level of service.

 

 

 

 

I had Prez for 18 nights in the spring.  He is indeed a rock star.  Would you ask Yuskel if he will still be on board for the October 15 cruise?  Lobo had indicated he might be back by then.

[Jim_Iain]

Is Lyle the "Suite Concierge in training" a Butler Trainee, Retreat Concierge or Suite Manager in training?   Just curious as the naming convention that Celebrity has shifted to gets confusing at times. 

[CruiseNYC]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Is Lyle the "Suite Concierge in training" a Butler Trainee, Retreat Concierge or Suite Manager in training?   Just curious as the naming convention that Celebrity has shifted to gets confusing at times. 

I believe that Lyle is a Retreat Concierge - didn’t realize he was in training. We originally met him on the Millennium this past December, where he was an Effy Ambassador.  We thought he was fabulous, just the right amount of contact without becoming intrusive. There seemed to be quite a few Retreat passengers on our cruise who kept Mar and Lyle very busy.   
Looking forward to following along on your next adventure, Jim!

[JHCruiser123]

On 7/29/2022 at 7:50 PM, DisneyJen said:

Congratulations and thanks @Kteacher🥂

 

Sounds like you enjoyed the Veuve dinner as well!

 

Your ears must be ringing @Jim_Iain ... Inspector Gadget (AKA Dr. Logi AKA @DJ's DH) has started phase two of packing which includes HDMI cables and all other possible modes of connection and communication. I told him to add the Firestick so we can watch youtubetv. "Genius" was his reply🤣

 

We're in search of our "suite" spot on a mainstream line as we love SeaDream. The only problem, first world of course, is that they spend a short time in the Caribbean and when they sail those dates don't work for the "retired" one.

 

So this test drive, if you will, is how the "ship within a ship" concept works for us.

 

We don't need all the bells and whistles ... We need a place to reconnect and recharge.

 

So I didn't think of this until you mentioned connections and firestick - is it possible if one brought along a firestick to watch MLB while cruising?  What am I missing?  Is this something you can only do if you have a suite?  Do you need premium wifi?  Perhaps stream it with a hdmi cable from a laptop?  

[PKB]

I am curious about this grand mimosa of which you speak.  google recipe says orange juice, but there were mentions of pineapple juice.  Also, is cointreau a good substitute for grand marnier?  

[PSU]

@Disney Jen

Hope that you have a fabulous time. We loved Mar. She was so helpful. We are..Penn State,

My husband and I met at Penn State.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, JHCruiser123 said:

So I didn't think of this until you mentioned connections and firestick - is it possible if one brought along a firestick to watch MLB while cruising?  What am I missing?  Is this something you can only do if you have a suite?  Do you need premium wifi?  Perhaps stream it with a hdmi cable from a laptop?  

First off -  Yes you need premium and even then if badwidth is thin may have trouble.  To my knowledge all cabin on the ship from inside cabins to Suites have TV's with HDMI connections.  You connect your Stick (Roku or Firestick) to the HDMI and then change source to which HDMI you are connected to.   I've posted a  number of tutorials on how to do this.

 

You first need to connect to the Ships Wifi and have to log in with your credential.   Most of the sticks allow this by using your phone and a code.   

 

You can watch anything that you either have access to or a subscription to.   Some services work better than others YouTube, Netflix and YouTube  TV have very good buffering and quality my shift to very low quality if bandwidth is limited.

 

Yes you can also stream it from your laptop using a HDMI and supposedly cast from an Android devise but i've had trouble with this.  Mainly you have to pick your TV and when it pops up there are 40-50 tv's all listed with the same name.

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, CruiseNYC said:

I believe that Lyle is a Retreat Concierge - didn’t realize he was in training. We originally met him on the Millennium this past December, where he was an Effy Ambassador.  We thought he was fabulous, just the right amount of contact without becoming intrusive. There seemed to be quite a few Retreat passengers on our cruise who kept Mar and Lyle very busy.   
Looking forward to following along on your next adventure, Jim!

Thanks --   I'll try to steer clear of Lyle for requests.    We had a trainee on one of our last cruise and he would forget to do things like make a dinner reservation.  He was a nice guy but definitely wasn't a concierge.

[DisneyJen]

16 hours ago, RosieRoo said:

I’m assuming they were the same ones in Luminae for lunch today?  It got a bit loud in there. 
I saw two tall gentlemen in Luminae today at lunch, but I didn’t want to ask which one might be sailing with @DisneyJen😊

Indeed they were loud @RosieRoo!

@DJsDHwas wearing Penn State garb ... and definitely not tall. We were seated by the window, first table as you entered. Dinner last night was around 7 at the last table by the window.

[DisneyJen]

16 hours ago, Kteacher said:

We spent a good deal of time enjoying our balcony every afternoon, much quieter than the pool deck and we had everything we needed close by (and no worries about chair hogs). Schedule your favorite snacks to be delivered in the afternoon and enjoy 🍾

That is our plan @Kteacher ... We had breakfast delivered this morning and dined at the the table. We have spend the whole of the morning on the balcony sipping Grand Mimosas, reading for work and pleasure and watching the sky and sea.

[DisneyJen]

We asked for the Blu menu last night. Our wonderful waiter Andy said he didn't have a copy but if there was something on it that we wanted he would try to get it for us.

 

[DisneyJen]

14 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I had Prez for 18 nights in the spring.  He is indeed a rock star.  Would you ask Yuskel if he will still be on board for the October 15 cruise?  Lobo had indicated he might be back by then.

Will do!

[DisneyJen]

14 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Is Lyle the "Suite Concierge in training" a Butler Trainee, Retreat Concierge or Suite Manager in training?   Just curious as the naming convention that Celebrity has shifted to gets confusing at times. 

Not quite sure ... regardless he has a LOT to learn about being in any of those positions!

 

We are a half-full glass kinda couple ... @DJsDH more than me. For DH to comment on how poorly we were treated takes a lot. Mind you, we weren't asking for anything special ... more to come.

[DisneyJen]

3 hours ago, PSU said:

@Disney Jen

Hope that you have a fabulous time. We loved Mar. She was so helpful. We are..Penn State,

My husband and I met at Penn State.

Mar is incredible!

 

@DJsDH and I met at Penn State in Psychology 101 🤣

[DisneyJen]

4 hours ago, PKB said:

I am curious about this grand mimosa of which you speak.  google recipe says orange juice, but there were mentions of pineapple juice.  Also, is cointreau a good substitute for grand marnier?  

 

It's basically your traditional mimosa of OJ and champers with a splash or two of Grand Marnier. Cointreau does work but we much prefer Grand Marnier.

[DisneyJen]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks --   I'll try to steer clear of Lyle for requests.    We had a trainee on one of our last cruise and he would forget to do things like make a dinner reservation.  He was a nice guy but definitely wasn't a concierge.

To be honest @Jim_Iain he didn't make a very good first impression. Story to follow...

[DisneyJen]

Good afternoon all from a breezy and overcast day somewhere in the Atlantic. Perfect balcony lounging weather for @DJsDH and me.

 

Embarkation Day - July 31

 

We left the Liberty International Newark Airport around 10:45 for the 15 minute drive to the port.

 

 

Waze did her usual fabulous job of getting us to the Special Delivery Drop off point.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by DisneyJen

[DisneyJen]

Struggling with the wifi on board ... please patient and gentle 🤣

 

[Jim_Iain]

35 minutes ago, DisneyJen said:

Struggling with the wifi on board ... please patient and gentle 🤣

 

Sometimes I've found that if you disconnect from Wifi by turning WiFi off and then back on you connect to a different router and get better speeds.   May or may not work but worth a try.

[DisneyJen]

@DJsDH dropped the hand luggage and me off at Special Delivery. He went to park the car. For some reason I saw our car pass us. So I called.

 

Me: "Did you just drive by?"

 

Him: "Yep, didn't realize the garage would be so close."

 

We masked up before we entered the terminal which was PACKED! We wait in line about five minutes. We presented all of our paperwork and were told to wait for the Concierge to meet us.

 

We moved to the side and waited while a couple to the left of us were checked in. Then Concierge Lyle made a big deal about the folks next to us and then said to us "Come along and keep up."  I was guessing perhaps these folks were in the PH or Super Duper Zenith. Nonetheless, we paid for a RS and expected RS treatment.

 

Maybe I was expecting too much.

 

As we were waiting for Concierge Lyle it was announced that all could board ... let the stampede begin.

 

@DJ's DH and I had to literally jog to keep up Lyle and the Super Dupers.  Lyle made NO effort to engage us. He was too busy talking the ears off the Super Dupers.

 

So we CRAMMED into an elevator all the way forward. It was quite an uncomfortable ride as Lyle, @DJsDHand I were the only ones masked.

 

We exited the elevator on Deck 6 Lyle left us in his dust as he hurried the Super Dupers to a RS two down from us. We were left to our own to find the suite and to learn about lunch and Luminae.

 

Thanks to reports from the wonder folks here in CC we were good to go.

 

Our wonderful room steward Prez was putting the finishing touches on the suite as we dropped off our hand luggage and headed to Luminae.

 

 

 

[DisneyJen]

We found our way to Luminae and met Yuskel, the warm and charming maitre'd. He asked our suite number and then escorted us to the first window table as you enter Luminae.

 

 

@DJ'sDH and I split the Lobster Roll and Steak Frites. Both were delicious.

 

We wanted a Tanqueray and Diet Tonic to go with our lunch. The Sommelier, Johanna, was obviously trying to keep up with the influx of passengers.We requested a wine list when she delivered out drinks but it never materialized.

 

While we were dining two group of 10 entered for lunch and the dynamic changed dramatically.

 

@DJsDHand I just chalked it up to embarkation day and all of its craziness.

[DisneyJen]

Sufficiently satiated @DJsDH, with masks on, checked in at our muster station in the Rendezvous Lounge. We spied a few what we though were open seats at the Martini Bar but were quickly told those seats we taken.

 

No worries ... we headed off the the Retreat where we were warmly welcomed by Penelope and Mar. What a serene and welcoming retreat from the the craziness of embarkation day!

 

We saddled up to the table by the door to the outside deck. Cecilia was behind the bar and was expertly handling requests. 

 

We chatted with the Suite team. We found then charming, warm and accommodating. Penelope was able to secure a 7 p.m. reservation at Tuscan Grille for us on Monday evening.

 

The view from the deck outside the Retreat.

[JHCruiser123]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

First off -  Yes you need premium and even then if badwidth is thin may have trouble.  To my knowledge all cabin on the ship from inside cabins to Suites have TV's with HDMI connections.  You connect your Stick (Roku or Firestick) to the HDMI and then change source to which HDMI you are connected to.   I've posted a  number of tutorials on how to do this.

 

You first need to connect to the Ships Wifi and have to log in with your credential.   Most of the sticks allow this by using your phone and a code.   

 

You can watch anything that you either have access to or a subscription to.   Some services work better than others YouTube, Netflix and YouTube  TV have very good buffering and quality my shift to very low quality if bandwidth is limited.

 

Yes you can also stream it from your laptop using a HDMI and supposedly cast from an Android devise but i've had trouble with this.  Mainly you have to pick your TV and when it pops up there are 40-50 tv's all listed with the same name.

Thank you!  That was extremely helpful!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, DisneyJen said:

@DJsDH dropped the hand luggage and me off at Special Delivery. He went to park the car. For some reason I saw our car pass us. So I called.

 

Me: "Did you just drive by?"

 

Him: "Yep, didn't realize the garage would be so close."

 

We masked up before we entered the terminal which was PACKED! We wait in line about five minutes. We presented all of our paperwork and were told to wait for the Concierge to meet us.

 

We moved to the side and waited while a couple to the left of us were checked in. Then Concierge Lyle made a big deal about the folks next to us and then said to us "Come along and keep up."  I was guessing perhaps these folks were in the PH or Super Duper Zenith. Nonetheless, we paid for a RS and expected RS treatment.

 

Maybe I was expecting too much.

 

As we were waiting for Concierge Lyle it was announced that all could board ... let the stampede begin.

 

@DJ's DH and I had to literally jog to keep up Lyle and the Super Dupers.  Lyle made NO effort to engage us. He was too busy talking the ears off the Super Dupers.

 

So we CRAMMED into an elevator all the way forward. It was quite an uncomfortable ride as Lyle, @DJsDHand I were the only ones masked.

 

We exited the elevator on Deck 6 Lyle left us in his dust as he hurried the Super Dupers to a RS two down from us. We were left to our own to find the suite and to learn about lunch and Luminae.

 

Thanks to reports from the wonder folks here in CC we were good to go.

 

Our wonderful room steward Prez was putting the finishing touches on the suite as we dropped off our hand luggage and headed to Luminae.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the warning about Lyle.  Will avoid him if he's still on board in October.  It sounds like they need to throw him back.  If someone told me to "keep up," my reply wouldn't be printable here.  It wouldn't hurt to have a friendly chat with the suite manager or the hotel director about that.

[RichYak]

21 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

If someone told me to "keep up," my reply wouldn't be printable here.

It would show up as asterisks (******) and you'll get an email warning from CC... so I've heard 😇