LIVE SIDE-BY-SIDE Celebrity Summit Retreat & Seascape Yacht Club 12/9-21/2023 ~ 1st MSC vs Farewell (?) X Suite Experience

[Georgia_Peaches]

That steak looked perfect!  A nice pink in the center…char on the outside…yum! 😊

[jcpc]

@Stem to Stern You state:

 

Luminae, on the other hand, operated like a finely oiled machine.  The people of Luminae are the heart of Luminae.  Serdar is the face of the restaurant, greeting, smiling, laughing, engaging us, and of course back pillowing us at every meal.  

 

I totally, 1000% agree with you regarding Luminae on Summit.  No matter how many times I've eaten in Luminae on SM I always feel that I am extremely well taken care of.  Each and every maitre'd I've ever encountered on Summit in Luminae (well......with the exception of one) is top notch and definitely runs a finely tuned restaurant.  Luminae on the other Celebrity ships pales in comparison to Luminae on Summit.

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Stem to Stern

[abbydancer2003]

1 hour ago, jcpc said:

@Stem to Stern You state:

 

Luminae, on the other hand, operated like a finely oiled machine.  The people of Luminae are the heart of Luminae.  Serdar is the face of the restaurant, greeting, smiling, laughing, engaging us, and of course back pillowing us at every meal.  

 

I totally, 1000% agree with you regarding Luminae on Summit.  No matter how many times I've eaten in Luminae on SM I always feel that I am extremely well taken care of.  Each and every maitre'd I've ever encountered on Summit in Luminae (well......with the exception of one) is top notch and definitely runs a finely tuned restaurant.  Luminae on the other Celebrity ships pales in comparison to Luminae on Summit.

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Stem to Stern

Our experience in Luminae this spring was the same.  Raphael was the Maitre'd and he had a major problem to deal with - one very loud group that he was getting a lot of complaints about. He did his best to keep them separate, but on Aruba night, the only place for us to sit was next to them, and coming back later was't possible since it was after 8:30.  We decided to go to Blu.  He walked us up there, handed us over to their Maitre'd and told us we could order from the Luminae menu.  
Our server also popped by to make sure we were getting good service.  

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Agree.  Luminae on Summit (and any other Celebrity S or M class) is WAY better than the YC version.  For food, service, and atmosphere.  Just no comparison.  That's the one area that YC falls way short.

[jcpc]

56 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Our experience in Luminae this spring was the same.  Raphael was the Maitre'd and he had a major problem to deal with - one very loud group that he was getting a lot of complaints about. He did his best to keep them separate, but on Aruba night, the only place for us to sit was next to them, and coming back later was't possible since it was after 8:30.  We decided to go to Blu.  He walked us up there, handed us over to their Maitre'd and told us we could order from the Luminae menu.  
Our server also popped by to make sure we were getting good service.  

@abbydancerI am willing to bet we were on the same sailing……the April repo cruise???  Raphael was a wonderful Maitre’d and there was a loud , disruptive group in Luminae.  Our server, Moniek, apologized profusely about them.  We did, unfortunately, had to sit near them one night and they were truly awful.

Edited December 24, 2023 by jcpc

[abbydancer2003]

7 minutes ago, jcpc said:

@abbydancerI am willing to bet we were on the same sailing……the April repo cruise???  Raphael was a wonderful Maitre’d and there was a loud , disruptive group in Luminae.  Our server, Moniek, apologized profusely about them.  We did, unfortunately, had to sit near them one night and they were truly awful.

Yup.  Moniek was our server too. And she was great as well.  She'd been our assistant waiter on the Summit back in 2021.  I wonder if we actually met?  (My mom passed away while we were on the cruise - that might be the most memorable thing about me).

 

[jcpc]

16 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Yup.  Moniek was our server too. And she was great as well.  She'd been our assistant waiter on the Summit back in 2021.  I wonder if we actually met?  (My mom passed away while we were on the cruise - that might be the most memorable thing about me).

 

I don’t think we met.  Sorry about your mom.  That’s a tough thing to happen when you’re traveling.

 

Moniek is wonderful.  And, yes, she was our assistant waiter a couple of times.  It’s so nice to see that she got a well-deserved promotion.  I believe Yuksel (you probably know him too!) was responsible for her being promoted.

[George C]

I found Luminae atmosphere and service and food much better on M class than newer E class.

[abbydancer2003]

4 minutes ago, George C said:

I found Luminae atmosphere and service and food much better on M class than newer E class.

On E class, the restaurant is big and pretty noisy.  I had no complaints about service though.  

[Dolebludger]

Yes, one reason many of us cruise in the Retreat, YC, or Haven is to avoid the mob in the MDR and other places. But on a ship as large as the Seaside, the YC dining and lounge might seem a little ‘mobbed even though the main ship would be worse. We found the YC on the smaller Divinia to be fine. And the still smaller Retreat on the Eclipse and Equinox to be great too. But our favs are ships with under 1000 total pax. To us, large ships do not cut it — whether on the main ship or in a premium lux part if the ship.

[TheRabbit]

On 12/18/2023 at 12:43 PM, Tyskie said:

 

Just to let you know, I received an email from your account that was scamming asking me to buy apple and amazon cards. We had originally emailed over a coastal in 2018 before you had to cancel.

John

[Stem to Stern]

Very early on turn around morning Saturday, December 16th I shot a 1:23 video that I was able to post on board Seascape with the included internet package, but the upload did take quite a while.  I am home now and getting ready to enjoy our Christmas celebration, but let’s give another video upload a try.  I have other videos that I would like to eventually post.  I believe this was taken from 6120’s verandah on board Summit.

Merry Christmas to @goofysmom99 and everyone else on Cruise Critic reading this!

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Stem to Stern

[jelayne]

21 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Our experience in Luminae this spring was the same.  Raphael was the Maitre'd and he had a major problem to deal with - one very loud group that he was getting a lot of complaints about. He did his best to keep them separate, but on Aruba night, the only place for us to sit was next to them, and coming back later was't possible since it was after 8:30.  We decided to go to Blu.  He walked us up there, handed us over to their Maitre'd and told us we could order from the Luminae menu.  
Our server also popped by to make sure we were getting good service.  

I agree Raphael is an excellent, I think we may have been on that same cruise.  He also moved us to Blu one evening. 

[Jim_Iain]

Paul

 

Looking forward to you comparison.    I'm way behind in reading CC.     I'm up to page 5 and anxious to find how you enjoyed Yacht Club.

 

Iain is very apprehensive and I haven't made much leeway in changing his attitude so far. 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[hcat]

We are also interested in the final side by side conclusions.

 

I noticed a blue " bracelet" with a fob.. is that req on MSC.. ?  Not something I would enjoy wearing..esp on dress up nights..

[Stem to Stern]

16 minutes ago, hcat said:

We are also interested in the final side by side conclusions.

 

I noticed a blue " bracelet" with a fob.. is that req on MSC.. ?  Not something I would enjoy wearing..esp on dress up nights..

Summary will hopefully pick up steam after today.  Bracelet is not required, but allowed one of us to leave our room card in the slot in the suite so the lights and outlets continued to remain powered.  Many nuisances to work around, but I really enjoyed the Yacht Club.  I wish DH was as on board as I was.  It did not help that we followed it up with a mostly phenomenal stay in The Retreat.❤️😉

[Jim_Iain]

On 12/18/2023 at 6:03 AM, Ellesor826 said:

My solution to the ill designed chair dilemma.  

I stacked the chair with the sofa table.  
 

LOL --- I thought that was a High Chair at first....

[Stem to Stern]

40 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Paul

 

Looking forward to you comparison.    I'm way behind in reading CC.     I'm up to page 5 and anxious to find how you enjoyed Yacht Club.

 

Iain is very apprehensive and I haven't made much leeway in changing his attitude so far. 

Welcome home Jim!

I am honored to have you along.

Best wishes to you and Iain for peace and joy this holiday season.🤗 

[Jim_Iain]

1 minute ago, Stem to Stern said:

Welcome home Jim!

I am honored to have you along.

Best wishes to you and Iain for peace and joy this holiday season.🤗 

 

Thanks Paul.       I've really enjoyed your pictures and dialogue.     Looking forward to you final comparison.    I have a feeling Iain would never agree to Yacht Club due to the total number of passengers on the ship.    We have gotten to the point that we think that Edge Class ships are suffering due to the large passenger count.

 

We look forward to going back to an S-Class ship in April and hope the experience is much better than our recent Edge Class.    I'm convinced it is just management issues on Edge.

[Lena11033]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Paul

 

Looking forward to you comparison.    I'm way behind in reading CC.     I'm up to page 5 and anxious to find how you enjoyed Yacht Club.

 

Iain is very apprehensive and I haven't made much leeway in changing his attitude so far. 

 

When I was on Virtuosa in the spring I made friends with a man who normally cruises on Ponant (he's French). He said he'd only do MSC as YC, his husband not at all because he liked the smaller ships. We'd go for walks after dinner and the main area of the ship did get really busy.

 

I cannot afford Celebrity retreat prices that they currently are so I liked the option of YC. You can go out to the main areas for shops and theatre but I mainly spent my time in YC as it had a lounge with snacks and live music, pool deck with food/bar as well as the restaurant. Mini fridge was included, butler even said the bottle of alcohol included just take home (I did all my drinks I had in the restaurant or lounge and took a full bottle of Bombay Sapphire home with me).

One thing I will say with the food, I found when sticking to the Mediterranean food it was good but after trying a French pudding once i didn't venture into other dishes after - funny thing though the lobster was better on MSC than any lobster I've had on Celebrity

[Dolebludger]

I too am eager to read the final comparison. I must confess that it would be impossible for me to be objective. If I had been in a 161 square foot inside room with strange noises on a 5000 passenger ship, I probably would have jumped overboard! But there are more reasonably sized ships with a YC. We were on one (Divinia) with a nice balcony room and had a great time. 
 

You may not have read the post here about problems with drinks when booked on the Retreat. The drink package there covers drinks up to $17. So Celebrity raised drink prices to $19+ and surcharged guests for the overage (plus tip, of course) so I hope your review covers your experience with that situation, along with the included drink situation in the YC.

[Cap_D]

22 hours ago, jcpc said:

believe Yuksel (you probably know him too!) was responsible for her being promoted.

Yuksel was on Apex last Spring, and stellar. 

[Dolebludger]

We are like Lena 11033 (post 395 above) in that we usually cruise Regent, and will only cruise MSC in the YC. In fact, we will only cruise Celebrity in the Retreat — or did before the fare price hikes. No more! Our YC experience was quite good, though it was several years ago. So I will carefully read your review to learn how it is now.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Lena11033 said:

 

When I was on Virtuosa in the spring I made friends with a man who normally cruises on Ponant (he's French). He said he'd only do MSC as YC, his husband not at all because he liked the smaller ships. We'd go for walks after dinner and the main area of the ship did get really busy.

 

I cannot afford Celebrity retreat prices that they currently are so I liked the option of YC. You can go out to the main areas for shops and theatre but I mainly spent my time in YC as it had a lounge with snacks and live music, pool deck with food/bar as well as the restaurant. Mini fridge was included, butler even said the bottle of alcohol included just take home (I did all my drinks I had in the restaurant or lounge and took a full bottle of Bombay Sapphire home with me).

One thing I will say with the food, I found when sticking to the Mediterranean food it was good but after trying a French pudding once i didn't venture into other dishes after - funny thing though the lobster was better on MSC than any lobster I've had on Celebrity

 

I would say that the food was impressive on Ponant.    The Venison was incredible,  the Octopus tasty and tender,  the Foie Gras was buttery and perfectly cooked.     One thing I liked was that they had a Salad, Soup,  Cheese, Desert buffet every day.   You ordered your main dish but  served yourself from the buffet area.

[LorraineP]

3 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I hope your review covers your experience with that situation, along with the included drink situation in the YC.

Were you also able to use outside YC & Ocean Cay?