cruisellama

Sounds like an SOS

First Celebrity cruise coming up July 7th Alaska on Millennium out of Vancouver, can't wait.

Always thought the bionic bar was a waste of space.  Interesting to watch once, but too slow from ordering to delivery.

I also just became Diamond and it reflected on the same day as Elite for Celebrity. hopefully yours updates soon. 

I waited a few weeks after I hit Diamond to even register with Celebrity and there was no issue at all. 

Getting rid of the bionic bar and Wonderland would be great improvements.

Immersive Dining Experience that Matt has referenced.
Pool Side Food TrucK

Concierge is  Analia Corizzo

More expensive.
In January AIDA and Costa switched their LNG ships to MGO because LNG prices went up more than MGO.
https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/11337-aida-costa-switch-lng-powered-ships-diesel-fuel
"According to Costa Cruises, its ships will be powered on MGO until the LNG energy market stabilizes.
Hansjorg Kunze, AIDA's spokesman said LNG had become 3 to 5 times more expensive. The price increase had been significant, not to say explosive, and delivery at reasonable operating costs was not possible."
Since then I think they have switched back to LNG but I can't find any news of that.
MGO has great energy density especially compared to LNG, but LNG burns cleaner.  It takes much more LNG to go the same distance due to the lower energy density.  Ships can be more sensitive to LNG price fluctuations because they need more of it relative to MGO.  

Book early, book often.

Book early, book often.

Book early, book often.

It's just like airfare. Closer you get (and more booked up it gets), higher prices go.
It's why booking early is so critical.

https://crew-center.com/carnival-sunshine-experiences-severe-storm

We've only had a genie the past couple of cruises.  We took our daughter (13) friend with us on our last one.  This cruise it's just her.  Other than Starbucks (poor Raj) what can they do for the kids?  thank you!!!

We'll be going on this cruise for our anniversary; we're Jared & Shannon from Kansas City

I just got back from a cruise on Harmony OTS.  The crew was definitely nice and friendly, but one of the things I noticed (after sailing Celebrity last December), was that every single employee I passed on Celebrity Apex smiled, and most greeted me with "good morning", "good afternoon", etc.  Not so much on Harmony.  Most didn't even make eye contact in passing.   Not that I need greeting, or smiles from the crew.  It's just a big difference that I noticed.
It's the little things like this that makes Celebrity stand out for us.  Yes, most on Royal are friendly if waiting on you, or encountering you more than once.  Our Harmony room steward was in our top 3 room stewards ever.  But Celebrity has little touches that Royal doesn't.   We sail Celebrity when we want great food, adult company, personal touches and a fantastic martini bar.  We sail RCI for the energy, the shows and a variety of things to do.  Both fit a niche for us. 
We also sail Celebrity whenever the suite prices are down, and also for some of the itineraries that are more unique than the same-old same-old Royal seems to be doing.  

I agree with Matt, the steak at Giovanni's is better than Chops.   

Add internet as a perk for grand suite and above on all ships, not just ships with a royal suite class.
Roll gratuities into the cruise fare.
Add self-service kiosks for snack and beverage basics.
 

Red sky at night, sailors delight.
Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.
 
Royal should could use this mantra….or any of the bountiful weather information publicly available. 
 
 

Very interesting discussion....but unfortunately, I don't have anything useful to add !  I am so very bad at visualization from renderings.  It is difficult for me to visualize how this is all going to look and flow.
Truly, I have heard nothing regarding menu(s) or how the addition of the Grove is going to affect the suite area, but I believe that the additional options for dining will only help...so long as they have staff to cover all of the areas.  I don't know if Royal is saving the "big reveals" for the suite neighborhood until last for a reason or if it is just less important to them than all of the family-oriented options....but very little has been released as far as I can tell.
I can't wait until 12-7-24 when we will be Star Class on Icon !!  This is the only SC booking I have and it will probably be the last one for a while, but I can't imagine a better way to make sure we get to experience everything...so I'm really looking forward to it.
PS.  From the renderings, it appears that the Grove area is going to be a lot of unshaded areas.  You will not find me there, if that is the case !

Hey Royal Caribbean Blog community, thought it might be interesting to see what people think, have heard or know about the Icon's Suite dining.  There are a few people that hear things, and some suite snobs that know the details about suite life. Would like to know what people have heard, any thoughts or roumors. about the differences or changes for Icon's suite dining and impact to the guests.  
Personally have only loosely followed the Icon's announcements, so really just started looking a little more in depth.  The addition of the Grove seemed to be one of the key changes and there doesn't seem to a lot of detail out there yet.  Also the two story CK is nice but wondering if that really expands the number of guests since a hot topic on these boards is Jr. Suite access for dinner.  
For the Grove, since there is really limited details on the internets, any news on menus, style of dining or anything really?   it seems to be similar to what we experienced on MSC's Yacht Club with outdoor dining on the suites sundeck/pool area.  What are the thoughts on Grove menu?  It is said to be Med, which might be a little harder of a concept as a counter style, so it seems more likely to be a casual sit down place.  It does seem from the pictures like it could be a little more geared towards a sit down restaurant than a grab and go or buffet type venue.  A real sit down venue requires more staffing, so wondering if that will be more like the artwork Royal has posted implies or if they made any changes.

With Costal Kitchen doesn't seem like there will be too many surprises.  As for the cuisine, its likely that the CK menu would be along the lines of the rest of the fleet.  The big change seems to be in the layout.  Everyone is reporting that Coastal Kitchen will encompass two deck but, in reality does that increase square footage or amount of tables?  Because it has a U shape it may not actually be more usable space.  

Anyone have word on how this may impact seating.  Also any word on how the bar area will be included.  I could see dining on one level and bar/lounge on another.  Just wondering since doing a quick count, if every suite is at max capacity, Icon would have something like 25 more guest with access to CK than Symphony, which has the potential highest number of Star and Sky guest in the fleet currently.  The Max guest count for Star/Sky is 438 and adding Sea brings the total to 718.  Jr. Suites could really be left fighting for diner reservations in some circumstance.   
  
Would love to hear anything that is confirmed about the differences or thoughts.

27 days to go...still waiting on Genie contact.  

Summary:  We sailed the week of 5 March 2023 with about 3200 fellow passengers.  Celebrity Beyond lives up to its name.  Its design and service goes beyond earlier Edge and Apex ships. Port visits included:  St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Puerto Plata DR.   At first glimpse, Beyond fixes some of the “nits” that Edge and Apex rolled out with.  For example, the Martini Bar is positioned into the center of the atrium, making it a focus while adding more seating, the Sunset bar is made over to give a Moroccan feel with various levels of seating on the aft starboard edge, and most noticeable for Retreat members, there’s an additional deck that holds a pool and two hot tubs.   The Retreat hits new levels now contained within 3 - decks with Luminae positioned between the Retreat lounge and upper pool deck (Decks 15-17 forward).
 
Embarkation: Port Everglades Celebrity  terminal is  updated and easy to negotiate on embarkation day.   The suite lounge is comfortable, but even at 10:30 (the early boarding time) we couldn’t find any seating.  Service was great, but had to stand for about 15 minutes and embarkation commenced.  We were onboard before 11am.
 
Ship Experiences
Food & Dining:  We stayed in a Sky Suite so had access to Luminae and Blu for main dining.  Except for 3 specialty restaurants, we dined in those venues all week for major meals.  Also dined in the Aqua cafe, Eden cafe, and Oceanview cafe.  All venues were well maintained, but it was obvious the menu quality & strength has been reduced (just as on the Royal parent).  Its not the Celebrity dining of 5 years ago.   
 
Le Voyage - Daniel Boulud’s intimate signature specialty restaurant on Beyond (and highest price).  Features assorted entrees a tasting menu and chef’s table.  We’re not fans of Daniel’s stye of French cuisine , but we needed to try the new venue.  Restaurant ambiance and service is first rate; however, the food is ordinary.  I would give a 10 to service and an ambiance, and rate the food between 7-8. The restaurant is a small space in the on deck 4 that has a rather hard to see front outer sliding door (think Star Trek).  It opens into a small space with the maitre’d and you then pass through a second sliding door into a very intimate dining area with about 14 small tables.  A small private dining room off to the side can accommodate a 6-8 person chefs table.  Its a 2 hour experience and service is old school cruise line style.  But the menu being the weakest part of the experience.  Not bad, not exquisite, just about equivalent to a Luminae offering at a premium price.
 
Luminae - Visited for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  If you’ve sailed Celebrity with Luminae in the past, you’ll notice a weaker menu.  (In fact our honest waiters confirmed our observation on several nights).   The Baja Eggs content/presentation was different from what I was used to on other ships.  When I attempted to explain to the waiter, he didn’t understand what I was trying to communicate (new guy with little English).  Second issue with a lunchtime Margarita Flatbread that had a blue food residue on the bottom.  Not knowing what this was (as it looked like mold), we informed the waiter resulting on a visit from the chef.  He apologized profusely, but admitted the blue material came from a placing the flatbread on a dirty tray  (that’s called cross contamination in a US restaurant kitchen).  We found out a few of the staff were on first contracts.  Which explained the low energy service and wait times.  Lunches could go 2 hours.
 
Retreat Lounge :  All good and exceeded expectations with service and food / drink offerings. Three deck areas:  Lounge, sun deck, and pool deck with pool and hot tubs with connectivity to the Luminae on deck 16.  (The arrangement is far more efficient arrangement than the new suite neighborhood on Wonder of the Seas configuration).  The total area seems large enough to accommodate everyone.   The availability of pool, hot tubs, and food within the private area allows guest to pretty much homestead in the Retreat.
 
Blu :   A lighter (maybe healthier) breakfast and dinner offering for AquaClass guests.   As suite guest, we also were given unlimited access and found the menu to be more attractive than Luminae on several occasions.   Service was also a little faster allowing you to not get too bogged down at a sit down dining venue.
 
Le Petit Chef:  French “like” cuisine with a clever animated table projection story about the creation of the dish.  The meal contained 4 courses and a projected petit chef walks you through the making of the particular dishes and his path to becoming a chef.   Kids would love it.   Its more about the show than the food.  Food was OK, but again, nothing you could not experience in the complimentary Normandy “French” restaurant.  In viewing the menu, it seems than many of the items are actually available as complimentary menu items in other venues.  Box checked.
 
Raw on 5:   As we enjoy shell fish, we really enjoyed Raw on 5.   We are raw oyster fans and had our fill.  They offer an Imperial Tower which is a seafood extravaganza of crab legs, oysters, lobster clams, shrimp, fish that will challenge 2 to finish.   Sushi is also offered with pricing well in line with what you would pay off the ship.
Oceanview Cafe:  Main buffet.   Nice offerings, but not as many as pre-Covid.   More of less on the serving tables.  Also noticed they would let stations go “empty” about 20 minutes prior to closing so you were out of luck if you got there too close to closing.
Onboard Activities
Entertainment:  Very ample.  Three theater productions, a couple of aft Eden productions and top liners.  Ship entertainment venues offer great screens for effects and the production teams know how to make best use of the “special effects” offered by the screen.
Service & Staff:  All good - no complaints.   They all worked to keep you happy.  They all seemed happy and enjoyed being with the guests.  Very attentive butler and room steward keep the room ship shape and ensured we had coffee first thing in the morning.
Ship Quality:   The newest and brightest in the Celebrity fleet.  Ship is fantastic and it seems they applied practical lessons learned from earlier Edge class ships.   Lots of space and filled with very nice art.  Edge deck plans exhibit a noticeable amount of asymmetry so you find there are not necessarily direct walking paths from bow to stern on certain decks forcing you to go up - go straight - go down to get from bow to stern,    Just takes some thought to select decks with straight paths between forward and aft section of the ship.  Elevator capacity seemed ample for the 3200 passengers if you avoid dinner rush.  Elevator capacity is being challenged on all ships pushing capacity.   We did notice the ship structure itself was obviously “noisy”.  When the sea state increased a bit, everything seemed to “creak” in the cabin.   In fact just walking the decks you could hear creaking and cracking everywhere you walked (like the rigging on a sailboat) .  We overheard one family saying maintenance showed up at their cabin and made adjustments to panels and doors that were apparently loose.  Appeared to be a feature on the ship.   I wondered if its still under warrantee.
Cabin/Stateroom: 10-215 port side Sky Suite with ample floor space and comfortable atmosphere.   Balcony was sufficient with lounge, chairs and small table.  Like the cabin, would stay there again.  Only nuisance was the creaking and cracking when seas were a little rough.  Room had plenty of light, and a very nice bath with a tub.
Summary:  The best in the Celebrity fleet at this time.  Outshines Edge and Apex.  Service was superb.  I don’t think the food is at the same level as experienced prior to Covid (menus are weaker).  But I believe that’s probably across lines and ships.  I would sail Beyond again and look forward to Ascent.  Footnote:  If you want a real balcony room on an Edge class ship, you have to book a suite.  All other outside rooms use what’s called an infinite veranda which encloses and integrates the balcony area into the room.  Instead of an open space, the window can be opened to the outside.  As someone who’s used to balconies, and after seeing family members IV cabins,  I would not book one myself.  (Would bite the bullet and move to a Sky Suite)