Apex - Raw On 5 $0 Reservation

[cruisellama]

I recently made a reservation for Raw on 5 (sea food specialty restaurant) on  a future Apex cruise.  What's interesting is when we sailed Edge, Raw on 5 carried the specialty restaurant basic fee of $55/pp to make a reservation on cruise planner.    For our Apex cruise, there is no charge to make a reservation  (the the menu is all a la carte).   I thought that interesting an interesting change.  Doesn't bother me at all and thought it decent we could make a reservation on cruise planner without dropping $110.

[JeffB]

Some more information on specialty dining and cruise planner ........ if you are at all interested in specialty dining, you'll do yourself several favors  by booking in advance. First, the packages save you money - about 10%. I booked a 3 specialty dining package for an upcoming 8n cruise in Greece. I did this knowing that there are actually 4 main dining rooms on Edge class ships each with unique decor, roughly the same menu for the main course selections with perhaps a unique side, salad or dessert. We love these. Food and service are great and it's part of your cruise fare! I've been told the chefs love to do this. It's fun to have a little variability when you're cooking up 3000 Chicken Cordon Bleu ..... anyway, we'll have 3 specialty dinners and 4 dinners in each of the 4 the mains ..... unless we find one we really like.

You can book single specialty dinning tables on the day and time you want (if available) but its the usual price. With the packages, you cannot reserve a table in advance, e.g. if you purchase the package for 3 at a discount in advance you can't book exact dates and times in advance. I thought that weird. I asked about this and was told yep, that's correct not a mess up on the web site. But, I was also reassured, not to worry, the maitre d's in the specialty restaurants are advised of advanced package bookings and plan for these so you won't get told no room. Best bet though, is to make your reservations within the first couple of hours after you board. There are restaurant staff all over the ship selling packages. They'll make bookings for your package at the places, times and dates you want. Even though there are going to be fewer guests, Matt mentioned there seems to be an unusual push for specialty dining among guests doing these early cruises. Get you tables.  

One additional thought: On Edge class ships with the 4 mains, you are much better off selecting anytime dining. Prior to the introduction of Edge class ships to the Celebrity's fleet we were fans of fixed seatings. (1) we have our routine. Bar, show, eat and (2) we like to meet new people at dinner. Confusingly, Celebrity now calls the dining time choices select early or late and select anytime. I can adapt. If you select early or late fixed dining on a fully booked cruise, you can get stuck in one of the 4 main restaurants becasue your guaranteed your seat at the chosen time but in the restaurant you are seated at on your first night. Staff will move you but expect to wait for a table if you want to dine in of the othe 3 mains.. 

These days and probably for a good year with COVID still a threat, there's going to be table spacing and limits on who can sit together at one table. So, for now, we'll get tables for two (I'm told there will be more of these and less 4-12 tops) but probably adhere to our usual 8:30 preferred dining time. If you do Select Any Time dining and have a routine, make sure to make your reservations in advance- you can do these on the app once you are aboard and logged into Celebrity wifi.   

[cruisellama]

16 hours ago, JeffB said:

Some more information on specialty dining and cruise planner ........ if you are at all interested in specialty dining, you'll do yourself several favors  by booking in advance. First, the packages save you money - about 10%. I booked a 3 specialty dining package for an upcoming 8n cruise in Greece. I did this knowing that there are actually 4 main dining rooms on Edge class ships each with unique decor, roughly the same menu for the main course selections with perhaps a unique side, salad or dessert. We love these. Food and service are great and it's part of your cruise fare! I've been told the chefs love to do this. It's fun to have a little variability when you're cooking up 3000 Chicken Cordon Bleu ..... anyway, we'll have 3 specialty dinners and 4 dinners in each of the 4 the mains ..... unless we find one we really like.

You can book single specialty dinning tables on the day and time you want (if available) but its the usual price. With the packages, you cannot reserve a table in advance, e.g. if you purchase the package for 3 at a discount in advance you can't book exact dates and times in advance. I thought that weird. I asked about this and was told yep, that's correct not a mess up on the web site. But, I was also reassured, not to worry, the maitre d's in the specialty restaurants are advised of advanced package bookings and plan for these so you won't get told no room. Best bet though, is to make your reservations within the first couple of hours after you board. There are restaurant staff all over the ship selling packages. They'll make bookings for your package at the places, times and dates you want. Even though there are going to be fewer guests, Matt mentioned there seems to be an unusual push for specialty dining among guests doing these early cruises. Get you tables.  

One additional thought: On Edge class ships with the 4 mains, you are much better off selecting anytime dining. Prior to the introduction of Edge class ships to the Celebrity's fleet we were fans of fixed seatings. (1) we have our routine. Bar, show, eat and (2) we like to meet new people at dinner. Confusingly, Celebrity now calls the dining time choices select early or late and select anytime. I can adapt. If you select early or late fixed dining on a fully booked cruise, you can get stuck in one of the 4 main restaurants becasue your guaranteed your seat at the chosen time but in the restaurant you are seated at on your first night. Staff will move you but expect to wait for a table if you want to dine in of the othe 3 mains.. 

These days and probably for a good year with COVID still a threat, there's going to be table spacing and limits on who can sit together at one table. So, for now, we'll get tables for two (I'm told there will be more of these and less 4-12 tops) but probably adhere to our usual 8:30 preferred dining time. If you do Select Any Time dining and have a routine, make sure to make your reservations in advance- you can do these on the app once you are aboard and logged into Celebrity wifi.   

During the Edge sailing days (pre-Covid).  You had to  request "Select" dining (open time) when booking.  That allowed  you into a 4 MDR rotation.  If you picked  fixed dining times, for some reason, they'll only let you rotate through 3 of the MDR options.  I would expect that nuance to  change post Covid with reduced ship passenger loading.   Now the ship would  want to spread people out as much as possible.

[JeffB]

This is a really good read of a TIme Magazine reprint of an interview with Celebrity's CEO, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo done by a pay-walled web site, Leadership Brief. I'm not a subscriber but the web site presents interviews with top CEOs and business leaders.

After Michael Bayley, long time Celebrity CEO, moved on to RCI, Lutoff-Perlo took up the CEO role at Celebrity Cruises. Bayley, for a long time, resisted change in Celebrity cruise lines that involved up-scaling the brand to compete with "Luxury" (loosely defined) lines and trends across the cruise industry. The Chandris tradition of X was strong, appealing and filled ships. But as the Celebrity fleet modernized with Silhouette class ships in the early 2015-17 time frame, Lutoff-Perlo arrived on the scene (2017) with a pretty aggressive plan to change all of that.

No question her approach was to appeal to a higher spending cruise cohort, something most of the major lines were doing in some form or the other. I didn't like that. some of my favorite and traditional X experiences vanished - the Golden Era of Cruise lines themed specialty restaurants disappeared when ships went threw refurbishment. More high rent Concierge Class cabins were added, suites were lavishly updated, restricted restaurants for suite guests and most recently restricted access areas in what Celebrity calls The Retreat showed up on Edge Class and the latter Silhouette class ships on refurb. Cabin pricing rose substantially with the lowest cost suits not much differnt than a balcony cabin and penthouse/two story suites fares out of the realm of most people's sensible vacation costs ..... but the money is there to be spent and right now, as cruising returns, there's a lot of it to spend and people are spending it on cruises in these phenomenally expensive cabins. Celebrity, as an RCI brand, is really well positioned for the surge in cruise spending over the next 3 years as the company tries to pay-off the huge debt they took on to survive and return to the golden years of 2019 profitability. Lutoff-Perlo deserves credit for that. Here's the article:

https://time.com/6073915/celebrity-cruises-ceo-lisa-lutoff-perlo-covid-19-travel-rebound/ 

 

[cruisellama]

4 hours ago, JeffB said:

This is a really good read of a TIme Magazine reprint of an interview with Celebrity's CEO, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo done by a pay-walled web site, Leadership Brief. I'm not a subscriber but the web site presents interviews with top CEOs and business leaders.

After Michael Bayley, long time Celebrity CEO, moved on to RCI, Lutoff-Perlo took up the CEO role at Celebrity Cruises. Bayley, for a long time, resisted change in Celebrity cruise lines that involved up-scaling the brand to compete with "Luxury" (loosely defined) lines and trends across the cruise industry. The Chandris tradition of X was strong, appealing and filled ships. But as the Celebrity fleet modernized with Silhouette class ships in the early 2015-17 time frame, Lutoff-Perlo arrived on the scene (2017) with a pretty aggressive plan to change all of that.

No question her approach was to appeal to a higher spending cruise cohort, something most of the major lines were doing in some form or the other. I didn't like that. some of my favorite and traditional X experiences vanished - the Golden Era of Cruise lines themed specialty restaurants disappeared when ships went threw refurbishment. More high rent Concierge Class cabins were added, suites were lavishly updated, restricted restaurants for suite guests and most recently restricted access areas in what Celebrity calls The Retreat showed up on Edge Class and the latter Silhouette class ships on refurb. Cabin pricing rose substantially with the lowest cost suits not much differnt than a balcony cabin and penthouse/two story suites fares out of the realm of most people's sensible vacation costs ..... but the money is there to be spent and right now, as cruising returns, there's a lot of it to spend and people are spending it on cruises in these phenomenally expensive cabins. Celebrity, as an RCI brand, is really well positioned for the surge in cruise spending over the next 3 years as the company tries to pay-off the huge debt they took on to survive and return to the golden years of 2019 profitability. Lutoff-Perlo deserves credit for that. Here's the article:

https://time.com/6073915/celebrity-cruises-ceo-lisa-lutoff-perlo-covid-19-travel-rebound/ 

 

Great observations.  One of the major shifts I noticed was the move away from "real" balconies in Edge class.  Over the past 20 years, much of their marketing campaigns ( M and S class centric) promoted the multitude of available balcony rooms.  They stated Celeb offered more than any other line.   Under Edge class that's gone away.   Rooms are in general larger, but I'm not impressed with the new balcony concept (large picture window "infinite veranda" , in my mind its  "finite").  But Lisa has done a lot of gutsy things - and changed things for the better.  Look at the Flora class for the Galapagos - pretty impressive, but I'm wincing at the competitive Silver Seas ship that will overlay with that "all suite" model.  Will be interesting watch the recovery.

[cruisellama]

Just had a reprice on our Nov 22 Apex cruise.   Saved $1,374 on our S1 reprice.

[JeffB]

Good as place as any to write this post. We leave Monday for Portugal then Switzerland, then Barcelona to board Apex on the 10th. We'll be traveling through 3 different countries all of them with different entry protocols (Spain is the easiest and stil will accept the CDC vax card for entry.

For guests sailing from Europe this summer, there have been some changes to country entry requirements, some just two weeks ago. Celebrity protocols have not changed but they are taking pains, in my case and sailing out of Barcelona on Apex (translant to PEV), to make sure I understand Spain's entry requirements when I arrive at the airport and head to the cruise port.

First, the EUC's Health body has essentially made it impossible for travelers entering from outside the Schengen region to show proof of vaccination to get through immigration by means of a card or piece of paper. That includes US passport holders having the CDC's Vaccination card. Without the EU's COVID "Certificate" - most EU citizens have their vaccination and/or testing records on an App. The App accepts a scan from an officially administered and recorded test and/or vaccination. The App also displays a QR code that when it is read by a scanner that can read it and recognizes the QR code as being on a valid, official EU document, it stores it to use to get around to the usual places that are otherwise restricted to unvaccinated. The purpose of all of this is to prevent the massive amount of forgeries and cheating being done globally. It's not just a US problem.

In order to pass legal muster within the EU, if you're not vaxed, you have the option to get tested at least every three days. IOW, no one is forcing you to get vaxed. Test results go into the app via a legit QR code and you are free to go the same places as the vaxed can go as long as the test isn't expired (72h or 36h for AG/PCR). These tests are covered by health insurance for EU citizens unless you are traveling (I assume that to be across boarders). If you are traveling and want a test to do so, you pay for it (varies by country usually under 50 EUs for the PCR less for the AG). Testing sites are ubiquitous throughout the EU. Some speak English some don't. The EU (by country) makes extensive use of tracing and tracking apps.

IMO, this has been predictable for about 6 months. The US is waaaay behind in doing this sort of thing, absolutely essential, IMO, if we want to get back to traveling outside of the US in COVID circumstance .... that's going to with us for a long time and the next one will be just as impactful. That we don't have compatibility between EU and US (others) in the technology that makes this stuff easy is just bafflingly stupid.

One outlier: Switzerland.  First, they are not an EU member. Second, they are doing their own thing. Seems more straight forward and fair. For non-EU citizens traveling in the in the EU, you CAN'T get an EU COVID Certificate, period. In Switzerland, if you have a vaccination document that the Swiss health authorities will accept (not the CDC card), for example, one with an official seal, non-forgeable, on it, they'll issue you a Swiss COVID Certificate that will get you across boarders in most EU countries. I was unsuccessful in doing this online. I will try again in person once we are in Switzerland. They may need to see the vaccine document from my health record that I have that does have a seal on it. Fingers crossed so I can avoid testing but I'm prepared for that if I need to do that.

Bottom line, if you are traveling to Europe pay close attention to varying entry requirements. I think this is going to improve for travelrs in the coming months. EU Restauranteurs and hoteliers are up in arms about this. Even EU countries are carving out exceptions (Spain still accepts the CDC card properly filled out), I expect others to follow but, it tough to move around if you aren't vaxed and can't prove it legitimately. I think that's the way it should be right now.

[cruisellama]

1 hour ago, JeffB said:

First, the EUC's Health body has essentially made it impossible for travelers entering from outside the Schengen region to show proof of vaccination to get through immigration by means of a card or piece of paper. That includes US passport holders having the CDC's Vaccination card. Without the EU's COVID "Certificate" - most EU citizens have their vaccination and/or testing records on an App. The App accepts a scan from an officially administered and recorded test and/or vaccination. The App also displays a QR code that when it is read by a scanner that can read it and recognizes the QR code as being on a valid, official EU document, it stores it to use to get around to the usual places that are otherwise restricted to unvaccinated. The purpose of all of this is to prevent the massive amount of forgeries and cheating being done globally. It's not just a US problem.

So if vax'd in US, how do you prove without an EU QR?  (I was looking ahead at Italy embarkation and I took away that you had to download the EU app, and you could scan your US CDC record into that app - guess I'm  reading it wrong?)

[JeffB]

You cannot obtain the EU COVD Certificate unless you are an EU citizen. You cannot travel within most of the EU countries without an EU COVID certificate. Each country, though, has separate COVID protocols for entering and traveling within it. Spain, for example, will accept the CDC card as proof of vaccination for entry. Throughout Europe countries have different protocols for both entering the country and entry into venues, e.g. restaurants, bars, shows, etc. Enforcement at the entrance to a venue may be good, e.g., Switzerland that is very strict about this or Greece which may be less so. 

What is required is thorough preparation on your part to travel in the foreign countries you plan to travel to and within. That includes looking at the US State department's Embassy web site for the countries you plan on traveling. Tourist web sites can also be good resources. Your airline usually has up to date entry info. I've found this site to be reliable with respect to current information. It changes frequently.

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/international-travel-document-news/1580226297.htm