Complaint about Blu

[OnTheJourney]

36 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

On another note, that some decided to post about, people eat early because they want to.

LOL...I might go so far as to say it's healthier too. 

[OnTheJourney]

39 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

Agree that they should open the doors at the advertised time. Period. If people want to stand outside for 45 minutes or whatever, fine...let 'em.

Right. AND, very honestly, I'd bet that if they don't open till the stated time, people will soon stop showing up 45 minutes early. What would be the point? 

Edited May 19, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[OnTheJourney]

31 minutes ago, mrgabriel said:

Dinner is always much shorter than 2 hours in Blu.

Sure wasn't the case our last night. Ran a full two hours. Like I said in one of the posts, somehow our service seemed to get linked to the people next to us, who ordered all sorts of stuff - multiple starters, second entree, etc. - so as a result our wait time between courses seemed to coincide with when these other people got their food. That doesn't seem right. 

[Baron Barracuda]

If they are opening doors at 4:30 then those window tables should begin to turn over around 6pm.  So if you really want one just go for cocktails and stop back at 6:15.

[Orator]

I was once in Blu with a group of about 30. They opened Blu early so that they could accommodate the group. 

[HskrCrsr]

Window seats in Blu are one of my favorite things on Celebrity cruises. I have found that different itineraries seem to bring different behavior: some cruises have the early lines, some have very short lines at opening. Our most recent Caribbean cruise had maybe 3-4 couples in line at opening. Since I wanted a window table, I showed up at 5:15 and had no problem. On other cruises, I would show up around 6:30, ask for a window table and say I was willing to wait. I'd go have a drink in the Rendezvous Lounge and get paged after 20 minutes or so. I have missed out on a window seat only in situations where I did not want to wait.

 

The downside is that I was not always seated in the same section so I did not always have a server who knew my preferences - but the sommelier would often see me, so THAT service stayed the same.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Sure wasn't the case our last night. Ran a full two hours. Like I said in one of the posts, somehow our service seemed to get linked to the people next to us, who ordered all sorts of stuff - multiple starters, second entree, etc. - so as a result our wait time between courses seemed to coincide with when these other people got their food. That doesn't seem right. 

If wedon’t want a leisurely dinner or are trying to make the show we just tell the waiter and service speeds up.  In 20 cruises in Blu I can count on 1 hand the times dinner in Blu is took more time Han 90 mins.  Most of the long dinners were on the Reflection where Blu is undersized for the # ofAqua  cabins

[ISABELLA]

After sailing in AQ for a first time back in 2011, we loved the concept of Blu and Persian Garden. Over the years, we’ve seen a decline in quality and variety in menu items. And drastic increase in pricing made us look at other options. 
We just took our first cruise on NCL in Haven and really enjoyed the experience. But AQ is not worth the money for us.

[swjumbo]

How lovely that people want to eat dinner at that time.

It should be actively encouraged to allow the rest of us to get dressed, have a drink or three and eat at a sensible time of 1930 till 2000 and leave us to enjoy ourselves without queues and have a long, leisurely dinner.

[ldubs]

17 hours ago, Octavias said:

That is a dilemma for sure.  If they let the line form, then the entire place will be seated at essentially the same time (when they open) which will cause problems too.  I have no idea what a good solution is.  
 

I like that they seat you at/near the same place with the same staff each night but it is unfair that some people end up with a view every time and others never.  

 

6 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

From what I've seen, the doors are closed and no crew member is to be seen until they open the door.  I cannot see X willing to post a crew member to enforce a no line rule

 

How could there possibly be a "no line" rule for any dining venue?  Not possible.  

 

If they are truly letting people in at 4:30 - 5:00 it will be interesting to hear if lines now start forming at 3:30. 😀 

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

 

How could there possibly be a "no line" rule for any dining venue?  Not possible.  

 

If they are truly letting people in at 4:30 - 5:00 it will be interesting to hear if lines now start forming at 3:30. 😀 

 

These things happen when you start charging for room service...lol

 

Truth be told, the line up issue will inevitably be solved with technology mirroring Carnival system of "checking in" into the MDR; you do so either in person at the MDR host stand or from anywhere on the ship using the app

[ldubs]

Just now, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

These things happen when you start charging for room service...lol

 

Truth be told, the line up issue will inevitably be solved with technology mirroring Carnival system of "checking in" into the MDR; you do so either in person at the MDR host stand or from anywhere on the ship using the app

 

We used that Carnival app for our family group earlier last year.  I have to say it worked really well for getting our tables in the MDR.  

[Hawkstar33]

12 hours ago, debsjc said:

It's strange people would want to eat that early. I would wait till they had all gone, and go in around 7.30-8pm 

Some folks have medical issues that forces them eat earlier than others do.   Then you got the ones that eat early, wanna catch the 7:00pm show, and want to go to bed early.  Others like the early quietness..  But agree, no lines should be forming, and should wait till it opens.  

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

With dessert, how long does it take?  For us it's well under 10mins from ordering to being done eating it

 

Pro tip to save a little time, you can order dessert along with your starters/entree/etc although you'll need to look the dessert choices in the app as it won't be in the regular Blu menu since they have a separate dessert menu

When they initially opened Blu at 5:45 pm here on the Eclipse, there were possibly 30 people in the queue when they finally opened the doors. It took about an hour or a little longer for a couple (like us) to finish their starters as well as their main course. That puts the time at 6:45 to 6:50 pm. Now add 10 minutes to that to get your servers to pick up your dishes, take your dessert order and subsequently deliver it. Now you’re at 6:55 pm or a few minutes later.
 

Remembering you’re on an S class ship and Blu is near the aft (Tuscan Grill) on deck 5,  you now need to go through the entire ship, remembering there are 2800 people on the ship hanging out in various areas and walking the halls about this time, find an advantageous place to sit in the theater after possibly getting a drink at the bar, in my case a Triple Baileys, all before the show starts. To be honest to get a good seat for a production show, you need to get there 10-15 minutes ahead of time. 
 

But, by opening Blu at 5:30, and leaving at 6:30 or 6:40 pm at the latest to eat dessert up in the OVC and even stop by the cabin to “freshen up”, we had no issues making the show 5-10 minutes every night before it started. 😁

 

Good idea on the Pro Tip. But since my DW has issues with gluten, it was up to the OVC for a gluten-free dessert every night on our B2B as they have quite the selection up there most nights, especially when it comes to chocolate desserts which Blu has a hard time producing on their menus! 😁

[NutsAboutGolf]

36 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

We used that Carnival app for our family group earlier last year.  I have to say it worked really well for getting our tables in the MDR.  

 

I thought the same and is far better than X's buzzer which doesn't have much range (only experienced the buzzer on the Millie)

[miched]

We have been in both Blu and Luminae.  We like to dine early and get there about 5 minutes before opening.   Window seats aren’t that important to us.   Most times they lower the shades of the sun.   The restaurants at most opened 2 minutes before time.   Sometimes even a few minutes late.    
 

To open 1 hour prior I think is a little bit of an exaggeration.   Do you think that the wait staff and cooks are just hanging around at that time?   I am sure they are using their free time doing something else instead of being in the restaurant wanting to work more hours because passengers show up early. ‘
 

I think the whole issue is that they couldn’t get a window seat

 

On every cruise on the first day I will tell the host that we want the worse table with the worse server.   On one cruise the host said that is impossible.   You can’t have both.  We even it out by putting the worse server at the most desirable tables and the best at those that passenger don’t want . 😱🤷‍♂️.   We then asked for the table with the best server and didn’t care where it was.  It was just a standing joke with her and she knew it and played along.   We would walk in and there were window tables but wouldn’t want to sit there.   For us there are better table locations that appeal to us.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[foodsvcmgr]

And everyone still believes that all this aggravation is a better alternative than fixed early or late seating in the MDR?

We eat early at home but late on cruises due to being busy during the day.

Have grown tired of long waits at Blu even at 8:30, plus the odd menu choices.

Will be back to traditional late seating on Eclipse in January, looking forward to the change.

[debsjc]

11 hours ago, gold1953 said:

We eat at 5pm AST at home. I am up at 6am daily so I still want my meal close to 5 but can hold off until 6. Once 7pm comes my desire for food has past.  And yes there are many like this. There is no changing the internal clock for many!. I have never slept in. We are not strange

 I can understand that at home. However you are more than likely going to be on a different time zone on your cruise anyway, so you will have to change the internal clock....... otherwise you might be getting up at 2am in stead of 6am! 

[debsjc]

1 hour ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Some folks have medical issues that forces them eat earlier than others do.   Then you got the ones that eat early, wanna catch the 7:00pm show, and want to go to bed early.  Others like the early quietness..  But agree, no lines should be forming, and should wait till it opens.  

 

It's partly just a difference in the times different nationalities eat I think. It would be very unusual for people in Europe to have dinner at 5pm. Actually in Southern Europe 9pm is more likely. 

[ScubesDad]

5 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

You may have misunderstood. We DID arrive early once we saw how things were going. Generally we were down there between 5:00 - 5:15. By quarter after or so they were usually already open and I'd say even half-full. 

 

I really didn't expect a defensive attitude to show up on this particular thread, though should have since that's how social media is nowadays. Sorry if I ruffled anyone's feathers who has had wonderful experiences in Blu. There also seems to be somewhat of an attitude against people who want to eat real early. 

Up until this post I was leaning in support of your position; but then you became part of the problem by going early.

 

Regrettably there is no easy solution to this problem. Open early and you encounter all the issues previously listed here. Open on time with a large line then you have a significant service issue in that orders for each segment of the meal hit the kitchen at the same time and results in slower response time, resulting in a prolonged meal service time.  No win situation.

 

We all want the window table...but we always can't have it. On our recent April cruise, we witnessed the good, bad, and ugly over the window table. One evening around 7pm a couple were being escorted to their table and they walked past an empty window table. The couple requested that table. The issue was that the table was just vacated maybe a minute or so before and was not cleared and reset. While the hostess tried her diplomatic best to explain, they were not relenting. Finally the hostess requested they have a seat out by reception while they prepared the table...nope they wanted to sit now...finally it took the maitre'd to assure them the table was theirs but they had to go to the reception area to wait. This was in Luminae.

 

Life is too short to have to deal with these dramatics.  I am on vacation. If someone cooks for me, plies me with wine all through dinner and then cleans up.....I am a happy camper.  Just for the record we usually head off to dinner sometime between 6:30 and 7.. Usually no line at all and we snag a window table about 1 in 3 nights.

Edited May 19, 2023 by ScubesDad

[JLMcruise]

3 hours ago, ScubesDad said:

Up until this post I was leaning in support of your position; but then you became part of the problem by going early.

 

Regrettably there is no easy solution to this problem. Open early and you encounter all the issues previously listed here. Open on time with a large line then you have a significant service issue in that orders for each segment of the meal hit the kitchen at the same time and results in slower response time, resulting in a prolonged meal service time.  No win situation.

 

We all want the window table...but we always can't have it. On our recent April cruise, we witnessed the good, bad, and ugly over the window table. One evening around 7pm a couple were being escorted to their table and they walked past an empty window table. The couple requested that table. The issue was that the table was just vacated maybe a minute or so before and was not cleared and reset. While the hostess tried her diplomatic best to explain, they were not relenting. Finally the hostess requested they have a seat out by reception while they prepared the table...nope they wanted to sit now...finally it took the maitre'd to assure them the table was theirs but they had to go to the reception area to wait. This was in Luminae.

 

Life is too short to have to deal with these dramatics.  I am on vacation. If someone cooks for me, plies me with wine all through dinner and then cleans up.....I am a happy camper.  Just for the record we usually head off to dinner sometime between 6:30 and 7.. Usually no line at all and we snag a window table about 1 in 3 nights.

I like your post - most folks here have probably never worked in the restaurant industry and don't understand the seating so many guest at one time starts another sets of problems they aren't aware of. Maybe they don't understand the "owner -Celebrity"  has the right to try and to work thru a problem for the best solution for staff and guest.  Celebrity tried to get the best solution - sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't. Life was never meant to be fair. "Life is is too short". When life gives you lemons make lemonade.

[markeb]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

When they initially opened Blu at 5:45 pm here on the Eclipse, there were possibly 30 people in the queue when they finally opened the doors. It took about an hour or a little longer for a couple (like us) to finish their starters as well as their main course. That puts the time at 6:45 to 6:50 pm. Now add 10 minutes to that to get your servers to pick up your dishes, take your dessert order and subsequently deliver it. Now you’re at 6:55 pm or a few minutes later.

 

Which is why traditionally early seating was for the late show. Eat early, take your time, go to the late show. Late dining was for the early show. Go to the show then eat afterwards. Set dining times made it difficult to do otherwise. Then they introduced the anytime dining concept (multiple cruise lines). Then Royal (probably others, but that's who we cruised) effectively decoupled dining and show times, especially on the Oasis Class where there's some activity constantly and you'd be hard pressed to schedule traditional dining around the activities. Celebrity has followed the same trend. We tend to go to Blu (when we were in Aqua) or Luminae (for the Retreat) at 7-7:30, which is when we'd eat at home. And usually have walked right in, frequently to a window table.

 

If I really wanted to see the 7:00 show, I'd eat at 8:30. But I'm on vacation, live near DC where that's "normal" (no one gets home before 5:00!), and have lived in and travelled a lot to Europe where I'd never find an open restaurant that early anyway. So it doesn't bother me. That's clearly not true for many on this thread.

[Ken the cruiser]

25 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Which is why traditionally early seating was for the late show. Eat early, take your time, go to the late show. Late dining was for the early show. Go to the show then eat afterwards. Set dining times made it difficult to do otherwise. Then they introduced the anytime dining concept (multiple cruise lines). Then Royal (probably others, but that's who we cruised) effectively decoupled dining and show times, especially on the Oasis Class where there's some activity constantly and you'd be hard pressed to schedule traditional dining around the activities. Celebrity has followed the same trend. We tend to go to Blu (when we were in Aqua) or Luminae (for the Retreat) at 7-7:30, which is when we'd eat at home. And usually have walked right in, frequently to a window table.

 

If I really wanted to see the 7:00 show, I'd eat at 8:30. But I'm on vacation, live near DC where that's "normal" (no one gets home before 5:00!), and have lived in and travelled a lot to Europe where I'd never find an open restaurant that early anyway. So it doesn't bother me. That's clearly not true for many on this thread.

Understand, and everyone has to play the “cruising game” in a way that works best for them. But when you get old like us and your DW has to eat as early as possible for digestive reasons, then there is only one “low stress” option. Book either an Aqua or Suite cabin on Celebrity, a Reserved Class (formerly Club Class) mini-suite or full suite on Princess, or pre-schedule all of your MDR and specialty dining times on NCL. Since we go as soon as the applicable cruise line’s “private” dining room is open and since we just dine by ourselves, we usually have no issue making the early show in ample time on any of the lines we cruise with.

[LaCal]

We’d get there at 4:30 

[gold1953]

13 hours ago, debsjc said:

 I can understand that at home. However you are more than likely going to be on a different time zone on your cruise anyway, so you will have to change the internal clock....... otherwise you might be getting up at 2am in stead of 6am! 

We have travelled a lot in different time zones and I love to get up with the sun! For me this is the most wonderful time of day and of course this means going to bed by 10 at latest. My internal clock seems to adjust easily to this. I never go to bed with food in my stomach and have never had a desire for evening snacking. Is what it is and I am exceptionally healthy for an over 65 as is my husband. No desire to change . We tried dining at 8 with friends on a cruise and I ate only bites