A poster on Cruise Critic is reporting that Celebrity has introduced a real embarkation day benefit for its Aqua Class guests, lunch/brunch in the Blu restaurant upon boarding. I’ve reached out to Celebrity to see if this is going fleetwide, but have yet to hear back. If so, this is a real enhancement for the Aqua Class product, which I’ve sailed twice and frankly would have a hard time booking another Celebrity cruise in another class of service. Yes, I love the Celebrity Aqua Class experience that much.
Embarkation can be stressful on a large ship, and stress is the one thing that should be most avoided on a cruise. The stress can come from dealing with the masses as they fight their way to the birthright “embarkation lunch” in the buffet restaurant. In fact, MrsMJ and I have taken to lunching at a favorite Miami restaurant prior to boarding our last few short get-away cruises and skipping the madness entirely, or if we are boarding a ship with alternatives to the buffet that are open on embarkation day we head there, even if it’s a restaurant with an upcharge.
Assuming this possible change for Aqua Class guests goes fleetwide, it’s one more reason to book an Aqua cabin with Celebrity.
-MJ, May 16, 2014
Sounds like a great idea. Not sure if I would book Aqua class, it would depend on the cost (and well, the aromatherapy might make my allergies go nuts)….but allowing guests in that class to have an embarkation lunch in Blu would likely get them into cruise mode quickly!
Do all ships do that silly boarding photo thing NCL does? Seems like it slows down boarding so much!
Yep…. all the big ship lines anyway. Don’t know about NCL, but it’s usually easy to just politely say no and keep walking with RCL.