Sid1962!! Was just thinking of you and Mrs. S yesterday, wondering how your TransCanal was. So thrilled for you both, that you were upgraded to a Sky Suite, aren't they great? Gosh, that's great news. What a way to start your sailing.
Did you fit OK in the shower? The reason I ask is I had to duck, ! Man I love the Sky Suites, every single thing about them - but alas, I'm just a little too tall, drats!
Looking forward to reading your review, however informal or formal it is.
Did you guys take advantage of the Celebrity Passage, for a future booking for $100? Looking forward to comparing notes...
Welcome Home!
__________________ Triton
G / L Host & Board Moderator
Sailed!: =X= Infinity 16-Night Panama: September 25, 2009
Sailed!: Pacific Princess Amazon Rainforest: April 10, 2009
Upgraded to a Sky Suite! That's great!! What did you do to deserve that!! After 15+ Celebrity cruises, we've never been upgraded. Oh well, at least now we know there is hope!!
We have no idea whatsoever how it happened. This was only our 4th cruise with Celebrity.
We did hear that there was a very large group from Germany that wanted to have cabins close together, and that was why it was done. So who knows. Probably the luck of the draw.
Needless to say, it was a suprise. We spent the first 2 days thinking that someone would tell us that it was an error and we would have to move. But that didn't happen, so we enjoyed it. We had no idea about what to have the butler do though.
Butlers are great for unpacking your things and making sure you have everything you need to be comfortable.
On our Scandanavia cruise we had our Butler bring us fresh brewed Cova coffee every morning; it was great...and complimentary. We decided to have one formal dinner in our Sky Suite one night, and he dressed the table, and brought every entre' just as it was presented in the Trellis Dining room, very nice. Other than that, we really couldn't think of anything else!
__________________ Triton
G / L Host & Board Moderator
Sailed!: =X= Infinity 16-Night Panama: September 25, 2009
Sailed!: Pacific Princess Amazon Rainforest: April 10, 2009
We had thought about the dinner same as you did, but for whatever reason, didn't do it. We did like the tea service (pastries and small sandwiches, etc.) every afternoon between 3:30 and 4:00.
I will say that when Teguh (the butler) made his appearance initially the Sunday we sailed, he was in full attire, and reminded me of Anthony Hopkins in "The Remains of the Day." We were intimidated sort of - and I mean that humorously.
Wish I had known about the Cova coffee because we would have taken advantage of that. Not sure how early he would have been able to get it to us though. Our day usually started around 0530 or 0600 with yours truly schlepping 2 large Dunkin' Donuts travel mugs up to the coffee on deck 10.....and believe it or not, there were already people there before me ! I will say that the Cova pastries were exceptional, and many's the time I would bring Mrs. S (and myself) an almond croissant mid-morning.
....ah, good old post cruise depression......time to start looking at the 2010 schedules.....
Have always felt the way to cure a post-cruise.. is to start planning the next one..I've got one cruise the end of November, one for next October and thinking about 2011..so many places and so little time and $$.
By the way, Sid1962 - thanks for the tip on the Cova pastries...we sampled them a few times, whether a late breakfast / brunch or snack. I always thought they were for guests who purchased from the Cova Cafe. Shows what I know! Anyway, we had some good snacks there.
I didn't know about the complimentary brewed coffee either, but I shared with Arvid (our Butler) that we wanted some "good coffee" and he said he would be delighted to bring it to us every day.
__________________ Triton
G / L Host & Board Moderator
Sailed!: =X= Infinity 16-Night Panama: September 25, 2009
Sailed!: Pacific Princess Amazon Rainforest: April 10, 2009
WOW you must be lucky!!! Can you play the lottery for me. We have been on 11 Celebrity cruises in 7 years and so far no upgrade fairy for us either.
Congratulations and thanks for the review. I love the SS United States for some reason it's my favorite out of all the specialty restaurants. We've never eaten in the Alternative Dining on deck 10.
We usually eat in the Alternative Dining venue as often as we do the dining room now. We used to be die-hard dining room people but tried the alternative on the Mercury in 2005 and found the food and service to be outstanding. But we always go the MDR on formal nights or if there's something really yummy on the menu!
__________________
Oceanus 1987
Splendor of the Seas 1997
Regal Empress 1998
Horizon 2000
Summit 2001
Sovereign of the Seas 2003
Noordam 2003
Zenith 2004
Mercury 2005
Princess Sun 2006
Princess Sea 2007
Constellation 2008
See my comments on the Alternative Dining menu these days in my Infinity mini-review in this forum. The menu has changed, and in our opinion, not for the better. Granted, it was the Infinity, and perhaps other Alternative Dining venues on other ships may be different, but Curried Leg of Lamb and no beef choice?
We agree on the ambiance of alternative dining, and much prefer it over the MDR, but as the menus stands now, I'm not sure we could do it.
Again, personal observation, so take it for what it's worth.
Sid 1962-I read your review-it was great! Very informative and unbiased.
We are sailing on the Mercury again at the end of the month so we'll see what the alternative menu is like. I agree-curried lamb is not for everyone. On the Connie last year there was usually a beef, a chicken, a fish and a pasta-pretty mainstream. I plan on writing a review-never done one before.
__________________
Oceanus 1987
Splendor of the Seas 1997
Regal Empress 1998
Horizon 2000
Summit 2001
Sovereign of the Seas 2003
Noordam 2003
Zenith 2004
Mercury 2005
Princess Sun 2006
Princess Sea 2007
Constellation 2008
Bottom line is that we were upgraded at check in at the pier to a Sky Suite ! From a 2A cabin. So we "endured" a 14 day voyage in luxury.....mostly.
Something just occured to me. Can you refuse an upgrade? The reason I ask is that we booked our cabin on the Mercury last Feb. and gave a lot of thought to where we wanted to be and why. We booked CC (our first balcony!) and decided on 1201 on Sky deck. This particular cabin appealed to us because a) it was on the top passenger deck b) it was close to the elevator c) there is a Sky suite aft of us but nothing forward d) there is nothing to cause any noise either above or below us and e)we get a larger balcony. When I heard Sid got upgraded to a Sky Suite I thought "how wonderful-perhaps we will too!", It would work if we got a Sky on the Sky deck BUT it could be on the Penthouse deck 2 decks below. We'd gain a larger balcony, a bath tub we'd never use, a little more space we don't really need and a butler we DEFINITELY don't need. For us, we'd be giving up more than we'd be gaining. Has anyone ever refused an upgrade?[/quote]
__________________
Oceanus 1987
Splendor of the Seas 1997
Regal Empress 1998
Horizon 2000
Summit 2001
Sovereign of the Seas 2003
Noordam 2003
Zenith 2004
Mercury 2005
Princess Sun 2006
Princess Sea 2007
Constellation 2008
Yes, Virginia, there is .....
! Man I love the Sky Suites, every single thing about them - but alas, I'm just a little too tall, drats! 
After 15+ Celebrity cruises, we've never been upgraded. Oh well, at least now we know there is hope!!
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