Celebrity Retreat vs Neptune Suites

[zgscl]

Before I get started, for those of you who followed my live last July, you know that mom & I did a HAL cruise in July with Seth when he was their brand ambassador. He has since gone out on his own and is doing group cruises. I had such a good time and booked a spot on the first one. It departs Monday & I will be doing a live over on the X board if anyone is interested in following. I am also in a Royal Suite and will be comparing to my HAL Neptune experiences. 

On to my thoughts on The Retreat vs Neptunes: 

 

I also sailed with Celebrity in November onboard the Solstice and wanted to share a few thoughts. This was before some recent cutbacks so we will see if my opinion changes. After 15 HAL cruises (13 of which were in Neptunes) I decided in November to give X a try. I had been looking at them for a long time and finally got an offer on a Royal Suite that I could not pass up. At the last minute my mom decided to join and booked a Sky Suite (they had a single supplement offer that made it cheaper to book 2 cabins than add her to my room).

 

To be fair, I only have 1 cruise with Celebrity. As we all know experiences can vary greatly from one ship or class of ships to another. I also stayed in a Royal Suite which is a higher end suite and HAL has no equivalent to. More on that below.  I will also be updating this thread over the next couple weeks to add my impressions from the Constellation which is an older class of ship than the Solstice. 

 

Suite Overview

All Suites on Celebrity  include access to a private suite only dining room (called Luminae -  closest HAL equivalent is Club Orange), The Retreat Lounge/Michaels club (compares to the Neptune Lounge), and on newer ships there is also The Retreat Sun Deck which is exclusive to suite guests (No HAL equivalent). All suites on Celebrity also come with butler service. 

 

Suites also come with "Always Included" by default which is similar to Have it All. That being said you can sometimes purchase a no-perks fare. Always included includes gratuities, wifi (level of wifi depends on what type of suite you book), and a premium drink package. 

 

Celebrity fares default to a non-refundable deposit (which also features a $100 per person change fee to change sailing date or ships). You can upgrade this to a refundable deposit for an additional cost. 

 

Suite Overview - Celebrity has a much larger range of suites in their Retreat Class than HAL has. With HAL you have Neptune Suites & Pinnacle Suites and the only variation within category is the location. 

 

Entry level Suites  include all of the above. The mini bar is not included, however this depends highly on your butler. Some butlers will not charge you and will stock with your requested items at no cost. If you don't have one of the butlers who will do this you can ask them to empty it and then get soda cans with your drink package and stock it yourself. 

Sky Suite: roughly equates to a Neptune. Neptunes are a larger and in my view better room. On all but the R class ships HAL also has aft wrap Neptunes which my favorites. 

Celebrity Suite: Similar in size or larger than a Neptune. They feature a separate sitting area and a bedroom that has a door that closes. 

 

Upper Suites - the below categories are considered upper suites and come with added perks. Unlimited free laundry/dry cleaning only starts here (they say 2x per cruise but it is really unlimited unless you try to sneak in a lot of laundry from your family of 20 who are not staying in suites). You also get unlimited specialty dining. You get complimentary non-alcoholic beverages in your mini bar and 2 bottles of liquor. Additionally you will be contacted a few weeks before the cruise by a shore side concierge who will make note of your preferences and you should find that your mini bar has been stocked 

 

Royal Suite: Slightly larger than a Neptune with a living room and dining area as well as a separate bedroom. You also have a day head/guest bathroom off of the living room for visitors. 

Penthouse Suite: Roughly equivalent to a Pinnacle Suite though I believe the Pinnacle is larger depending on which ship you are comparing. 

The Edge class ships (which are Celebrity's newest) have some larger suites also. 

 

That is all for the moment, but a lot more to come comparing the experiences in the next few days. 

 

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few photos for reference. 

 

Sky Suite (Celebrity Solstice, aft corner)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standard Neptune Suite - Eurodam

 

 

 

 

 

[zgscl]

Aft Wrap Neptune Suite - Eurodam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aft Wrap Neptune Suite - Koningsdam Deck 4 (More balcony than you will know what to do with, and my favorite HAL cabins at sea)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zgscl]

And finally, the Royal Suite on Solstice which is by far the best cabin I have ever sailed in. Loved everything about it. 

 

 View from the entry door - behind me to the left is the day head. The hallway to the left enters the bedroom. To my right is the dining table & buffet/minibar area & straight ahead is of course the living room area. 

 

Dining table and mini bar/butler pantry

 

 

View from living room back to the entry way. The couch on my left folds out to a bed (reportedly very low)

 

 

 

 

Day head for visitors, or so the guests sleeping in the living room don't have to disturb you at night. 

 

 

And the bedroom (off to the right is.a small desk and the TV)

 

 

Master Bathroom

 

 

 

 

And I totally forgot to take pictures of the walk in closet!!

[Florida_gal_50]

Thanks for the comparison and the great pictures.  Have a wonderful cruise.

[scooter6139]

Love the picture and review.  Haven't tried X yet but likely will.  Trying our first Neptune in August on Westerdam and are really looking forward to it.

[atxlady]

A big difference in the Michael's lounge (X) and Neptune is alcohol. The Michael's lounge had a full bar and we were able to visit w/ other passengers while enjoying a few adult beverages. 

I love the Neptune lounge, but for the price we pay they should also serve alcohol.  

[atxlady]

Thank you so very much for the wonderful pictures. I loved that aft deck.

[zgscl]

4 hours ago, atxlady said:

A big difference in the Michael's lounge (X) and Neptune is alcohol. The Michael's lounge had a full bar and we were able to visit w/ other passengers while enjoying a few adult beverages. 

I love the Neptune lounge, but for the price we pay they should also serve alcohol.  

Totally agree! Will be updating on that shortly 🙂

[canadianbear]

So glad I found this and will be following along here and on the Celebrity board.  We have mostly sailed in Neptune suites and have only tried one Celebrity cruise.  We were SO impressed on Celebrity (I think we were in a Sky suite) and how many better perks included compared to Neptune suite.  
 

We enjoyed Michael’s Club visiting others and the liquor was included.  We were escorted onto the ship too.  Can’t say enough about the suite private dining room Luminai (sp?) where we could have escargot every night, yum!  Another perk we really liked was the reserved area for the suite guest evening shows (which were fantastic)-meant we didn’t have to get there 40 minutes early to get seats. My husband did tell our butler we didn’t need him (lol) so he kept a low profile.  But…we had a celebrity excursion one day and were a bit late getting back.  Our butler had place a cheese plate/crackers etc in our room saying welcome back.  That was appreciated.  
 

Have a wonderful time!
 

 

[terrydtx]

21 hours ago, atxlady said:

A big difference in the Michael's lounge (X) and Neptune is alcohol. The Michael's lounge had a full bar and we were able to visit w/ other passengers while enjoying a few adult beverages. 

I love the Neptune lounge, but for the price we pay they should also serve alcohol.  

On Celebrity Edge Class ships and the older ships that have been Revolutionized Michaels Lounge is called the Retreat Lounge with a full-time bartender and free drinks, no matter what drink package you have. On E Class ships on the Retreat sun deck all drinks at the bar on the deck are also included no charge. The E Class ships were built with the Retreat and were not an add on retrofit, so they have a more elevated Retreat experience. Luminae is a completely different menu than the MDR and they have the ability to do special orders as the kitchen is not part of the MDR kitchen.  Non-suites guests cannot buy into access to Luminae as you can do with Club Orange.

 

Having said all this and as a suites guest almost exclusively with Celebrity, the line is now pricing future cruises to the point that the Retreat is no longer the bargain it once was compared to Neptune suites. I am seeing pricing for entry level Sky Suites on X costing more than HAL Neptune suites for similar itineraries. Many loyal X suites customers are now looking at more premium lines because of future pricing specially in the higher suites. 

Edited February 10, 2023 by terrydtx

[terrydtx]

On 2/9/2023 at 3:20 AM, zgscl said:

Suites also come with "Always Included" by default which is similar to Have it All. That being said you can sometimes purchase a no-perks fare. Always included includes gratuities, wifi (level of wifi depends on what type of suite you book), and a premium drink package

The Always included in all suites is Premium drinks (up to $17) and premium Wi-Fi plus gratuities.

[tupper10]

• The cost of the Celebrity suites are absurd. If I wanted to spend that much $$ I would go with an upper end small cruise ship.  Also I do not like it when I pay a hefty fee for a cruise in a veranda that  now I am treated as  a 2nd class citizen.   We experienced this once and decided never again.  

[terrydtx]

51 minutes ago, tupper10 said:

• The cost of the Celebrity suites are absurd. If I wanted to spend that much $$ I would go with an upper end small cruise ship.  Also I do not like it when I pay a hefty fee for a cruise in a veranda that  now I am treated as  a 2nd class citizen.   We experienced this once and decided never again.  

We are booked in a Sky Suite on the Edge next year for a 12-night New Zealand cruise. When we booked, we paid $4849pp with the premium all included amenities and an $800 OBC. Currently the same Sky suite and amenities would cost about $6800. Today a similar itinerary Neptune Suite on the Oosterdam for 12 nights next year with Have it All is $5199pp. That is how ridiculous Celebrity pricing is now for an entry level suit. BTW a Celebrity Sky Suite is about the same size as HAL Signature suites which when priced out with HIA is way less in cost than the Sky Suites. We recently booked our first Oceania cruise for 2025 to South America and we are getting 18 nights on O for less than a Sky Suite on a 14-night similar itinerary with Celebrity. If Celebrity keeps up their expensive future cruise costs for a suite we may be permanently booking with Oceania. Now that we are retired, we want to travel on venues and to locations that are more premium.

 

My suggestion for HAL is that they include the Premium Drinks and Wi-Fi with all suites, and they could attract more Celebrity customers.

[tupper10]

I think Celebrity suite customers like their own private dining room which HAL doesn't have.  I know most of my friends now have switched to Viking, Oceania, Azamara, etc.  Unfortunately since Viking and Oceania still use latex gloves in their food preparation I can't go on any of their cruises. Holland America used to use latex too but finally switched. For years due to this allergy we could only sail on Celebrity/ RCL (with our kids).  We loved Celebrity''s smaller ships, but once they went mega we stopped sailing with them. Every time I have gone to book with them the fares  turn out to be outrageous especially since we want a refundable rate.   I know others love the Edge class ships but they are not for us.  Glad that you got a wonderful rate- enjoy your cruise.  We did that one on Celebrity - but a small ship - fabulous cruise.  

[hrhdhd]

On 2/9/2023 at 4:45 PM, canadianbear said:

Can’t say enough about the suite private dining room Luminai (sp?) where we could have escargot every night, yum!

Escargot is on the always available menu in the main dining room(s) on Celebrity; it's not a suite (Luminae) perk.

[canadianbear]

11 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

Escargot is on the always available menu in the main dining room(s) on Celebrity; it's not a suite (Luminae) perk.

I didn’t know, thanks for the info. Just thought it was in that restaurant.  On HAL it was only one night of the whole cruise on their special night so we were very happy on Celebrity! 

[kevingastreich]

Thanks for the pictures!  What is the difference between a butler and a room steward?  Thanks.

[zgscl]

Main Dining - Celebrity wins

I really liked having a suite only dining room on Celebrity. Luminae is open for embarkation day lunch, and then breakfast & dinner daily and lunch when at sea. We were assigned the same waiter & assistant waiter for the entire cruise (but not necessarily the same table). The restaurant was split into two smaller more intimate dining areas. We always sat in the same one so we got to know the wait staff for that area very well. 

 

Luminae has its own menu that changes daily (except for breakfast). Depending on the ship you can also order off the MDR menu also so this gives you a lot more choices. HAL does not have an equivalent of this. HAL sort of tried with Club Orange but CO only has the main dining room menu with one extra entree. I found that the staffing level was much better and service quality was higher in Luminae. Our half of the restaurant had 3 waiters and at least 3 assistant waiters plus the beverage folks.  There were more folks who worked in the other half that we never met. We found the food quality to be excellent and I would not mind skipping specialty dining and eating every meal there. 

 

Club Orange is a nice step up on the Pinnacle Class ships but it feels more like a main dining room rather than an elevated experience or specialty dining. It also is never open for lunch. On one cruise I thought the food was the best I had had on HAL but on others it was just OK, and on HAL I usually tend to do almost all specialty dining for the evening meals. 

 

 

 

 

A random selection of Luminae menus 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[canadianbear]

My friend raves about aqua class on Celebrity I guess because it’s cheaper than even the entry level suites-she seems to like their food offering in aqua class.  
 

I must admit we never tried the dining room, always ate at Luminae and felt very spoiled.  Absolutely excellent service. 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, canadianbear said:

My friend raves about aqua class on Celebrity I guess because it’s cheaper than even the entry level suites-she seems to like their food offering in aqua class.  
 

I must admit we never tried the dining room, always ate at Luminae and felt very spoiled.  Absolutely excellent service. 

Blu is the biggest advantage of booking Aqua Class over Concierge and lower cabins. It is a totally private dining venue with a different menu than any other venue and changes everyday. It has better service and a more intimate ambiance than the MDR. Luminae takes dining to another whole level but is only one of many reasons to book a suite over any other cabin class, if you can afford the cost.

[canadianbear]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Blu is the biggest advantage of booking Aqua Class over Concierge and lower cabins. It is a totally private dining venue with a different menu than any other venue and changes everyday. It has better service and a more intimate ambiance than the MDR. Luminae takes dining to another whole level but is only one of many reasons to book a suite over any other cabin class, if you can afford the cost.

Yes, that’s it-she always raves about Blu!  She didn’t make it sound appetizing to us but maybe we will try that one day.  We are up to trying! 

[zgscl]

I never tried Blu because Luminae was so amazing and we also loved Murano (but more on that later). This next cruise is longer so I may have to go one night. 

[terrydtx]

12 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Yes, that’s it-she always raves about Blu!  She didn’t make it sound appetizing to us but maybe we will try that one day.  We are up to trying! 

Before Covid we booked only Aqua Class with Celebrity for Blu, after Covid lockdowns we used a 125% FCC to book our first Sky Suite and now we only book suites with Celebrity. We have one short 7 day cruise booked on the Koningsdam in November in a standard aft facing veranda as HAL has nothing dining or major amenity wise to elevate the cabin class for. We usually book Signature Suites with HAL for the bigger cabin, but for our Nov. California Coastal cruise we wanted an aft facing cabin.

Edited February 12, 2023 by terrydtx

[canadianbear]

5 minutes ago, zgscl said:

I never tried Blu because Luminae was so amazing and we also loved Murano (but more on that later). This next cruise is longer so I may have to go one night. 

Are you allowed to eat in Blu if not in aqua class but in a suite?  If so, we didn’t know bud like you, Luminae was so good we didn’t ask.

[canadianbear]

6 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Before Covid we booked only Aqua Class with Celebrity for Blu, after Covid lockdowns we used a 125% FCC to book our first Sky Suite and now we only book suites with Celebrity. We have one short 7 day cruise booked on the Koningsdam in November in a standard aft facing veranda as HAL has nothing dining or major amenity wise to elevate the cabin class for. We usually book Signature Suites with HAL for the bigger cabin, but for our Nov. California Coastal cruise we wanted an aft facing cabin.

We are 4* on HAL sailing mainly with them

but have found the entertainment really lacking (except BB Kings).  We found the one Celebrity  cruise we did the entertainment was fantastic.

Currently we have a long cruise booked for 2024 on the Koningsdam but that is refundable deposit.  So, decisions, decisions!  It’s why I enjoy reading everyone’s blogs or posts until we cruise again. 

I see you’re hooked on Celebrity suites now, awesome!!   I do agree they beat HAL.