cruise wizard

18 minutes ago, daytona said:

We like Maloney’s also. Close to the Hampton Inn/Home2 where we try to stay. The wings were pretty good last time.

 

Dave

We usually stay at the Hampton Inn/H2S - very convenient to Publix and CVS for those last minute items / snacks. We like to eat outside and watch the foot traffic while enjoying an early meal.

46 minutes ago, wallysdtr said:

My husband and I will be on this cruise as well.  No excursions planned for NOLA and i'm looking forward to going to the French Market and getting pralines. Of course getting the best Etoufee in the world too.   My team isn't in the Super Bowl (there's always next year!) so I am not crazy about watching either. 

Thanks Gary for the tip on Maloney's.   I wonder if this is the same irish bar I stopped at 20 odd years ago.

 

It could be - their are quite a few Irish Pubs in the Tampa Bay area..........it looked like the business was well established. Maybe you were at one of these pubs???

https://tampabaydatenightguide.com/irish-restaurants-and-pubs-in-tampa/

Sorry that the Bill's didn't make it to the BIG game............our Miami Dolphins didn't make it either.

We are on this cruise and will be following your posts. Suites are not in our retirement budget, so I'll be interested in the differences between standard and the Suite experience.

We have eaten at Maloney's in downtown - food has been excellent especially their grouper and burgers, A real friendly place with both indoor and outdoor dining. The location is a few blocks walk from the Hyatt Place downtown.

https://www.maloneyslocalirishpub.com/maloneysmenu

Safe travels to Tampa...........hope to see you on board.

25 minutes ago, island lady said:

Another fun thing was the next Empanada assembly.  Our chef asked us to make the most outrageous shaped Empanada we could think of, which we all got pretty creative with. 😉 They collected our art work, then sent them to the kitchen for baking.  The kitchen staff was designated as judges for the winning entry.  

 

My creation won....but after all that wine...don't ask me what the thing was supposed to be. 🤣  They gave me a jar of Dulce De Leche (famous and popular local caramel sauce) as my winning prize.  

 

 

 

 

 

I will have to e-mail you what your "creation" resembles!!!!!!!! 

9 hours ago, pstone1 said:

Here are a couple of observations from our first day!  
 

The food we had for lunch today in the Windjammer and tonight for dinner in the MDR (My Time) was all piping hot and delicious!  Our MDR Waiter told us that each night, there will be an off menu “special”.  Tonight, it was a 6 oz Filet Mignon, which Jim ordered!  He said it was cooked perfectly, and delicious!  Tomorrow night’s off menu “special” will be swordfish, but we will be in Izumi.  We rarely eat in the MDR as we buy the the UDP, which wasn’t offered on this cruise.  We did get the 10 night package (the most offered) on each cruise, but if the MDR continues to impress us, we may cancel that for the next cruise.

 

As most of the FWC, and many others went to Iguazu Falls today, the ship seemed almost empty tonight!  We were almost alone at Vintages and there were only a few people at the Schooner Bar when we walked by after dinner!  The show tonight featured local Tango Dancers, Musicians, and Singer brought onboard for tonight only!  They were fantastic!

 

We are happy to be onboard!

Paula and Jim, Mean Mary and I hope that you have a fantastic cruise(s). We will be following the thread and taking care of things back here in Florida. Bon Voyage!!!!

37 minutes ago, island lady said:

Great tour yesterday.  A bit long in the seat of the little van, but interesting tour of the city of Montevideo.  Very happy to see a healthy city here in Uruguay versus what we experienced in Brazil.  

We were lucky to have a tour that was a total of 9 pax (including us).   Simple, clean and newer little 15 pax touring van.  Really nice guide.  

 

Some beautiful parks and statues.  The one building was built/designed by a man that used to live in Dubai.  Ummm...yeah, I can see that.  😉 

 

Found an interesting fellow photographer really into his work as well.  😄 

 

 

I have seen this paparazzi guy before - beware!!!!! He's always shadowing someone and sometimes he pops up behind a bar drinking wine............just sayin'

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

A picture of Dubai says a 1,000 words...   Ouch

 

Looks like our experience in Vancouver at Canada Place with 4 ships in port and all funneled into one terminal. Those lines went inside, outside, up and down in elevators and escalators. Disney World was easier!!!

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

But, was the cost per day or a one off cost.

No way would I pay that per day, especially as Elite we used to get priority tendering ( which they stopped after COVID).

The cost is per day and all within a cabin must purchase the program. Prices do vary.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/how-can-i-purchase-the-key

11 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

It was just announced today that Celebrity has introduced a new Program called XPass - 

 

Includes many of the perks like priority boarding, Embarkation Lunch, Priority Tendering, Reserved Seats on Chic nights.    You too can now getting a Disney type Express Pass for just $32.99 pp / pd

 

Seems expensive to me but many may enjoy the privilege.

Sounds like "The Key" program that Royal Caribbean has had for several years.

1 hour ago, AF-1 said:

out of all the ships you mention;  which was your favorite and why?

 

We loved the Edge - the ship is beautiful, lots of open spaces to relax, the decor is "fresh" - simple elegance. Lots of food venues and MDR choices (try them all). We enjoy Cafe al Bacio a lot. Our cabin of choice is a full balcony - not the infinite verandas.

We will have our first cruises (B2B) on the Equinox in January of 2025 out of Port Canaveral. I hope that some / most of the issues will be addressed and corrected by this time. We have cruised on the Eclipse, Millennium, Summit, Infinity, Edge and this coming February on the Constellation.

I just returned from our Celebrity Summit cruise to Canada & New England and brought back to the ship a dozen donuts purchased in Portland, Maine - no problem bringing them on board. There was a man about 5 people ahead of me in the security line that put his box of donuts in the plastic security tray and nothing was said. I had my box of Holy Donuts in a paper bag and they were not questioned. 

2 hours ago, vickykay said:

If you’re looking for lobster rolls, the I’d recommend the West End cafe in Bar Harbor, right across the street from the tender drop off.  They had a special which we shared with and extra bowl of clam chowder ( also excellent).  Also Dimillos in Portland.  I never had a lobster roll with so much lobster!  

Totally agree on the West End Cafe..............my wife had the lobster roll special - I had the haddock au gratin casserole............both excellent and we both had the clam chowder (Mmmmmm good) and the blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream (fantastic)!!!!! We missed DiMillo's but have eaten there before and it is great.

6 hours ago, Ashland said:

Not good to hear about the staff not allowing them to be brought on. 

Which ship was this and when?

I bet that the security folks would eat them.............it is a SIN to throw away Holy Donuts!!!!

19 minutes ago, shellunderwater said:

Oh my gawd...yes.

 

A dozen...wow.  Holey Donuts are pretty heavy, that would be rough on my stomach.  But good.

We share with the crew too!!!!! It is a good thing that I don't live in Portland because I'd be 500 pounds!!!!

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Oh no...it's a requirement for RCI to put every ship there on every itinerary.  😄 

And now Celebrity is stopping at CC..............perhaps RCCL needed to have an "adults only" option for the "X" cruisers. I am on "X" now and don't think that the clientele are DJ and party fans..........just sayin'. CC will be like Nassau for us - stay on the ship for an "adult experience" - peace and quiet and short lines for lunch!!!!

On 9/13/2023 at 2:04 PM, Ashland said:

We've never had a problem bringing on some "Holy Donuts" or bakery items 😋

We will be in Portland on 9/20 (on the Summit) - I sure do hope that I can bring on a dozen of Holy Heavenly Donuts!!!!!

1 minute ago, Arzeena said:

Noted the dates. 😁

I just started a roll call for each of those dates - stop by and post if you book. Would love to see you on the Equinox and start off 2025 with a cruise!!!!

2 hours ago, MagentaandRiffRaff said:

Just booked our first Celebrity cruise out of this port! January 2025!

Maybe we will see you - we booked the 1/4 & 1/11 cruises.

12 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

We moved to Florida 30 years ago and you are correct, new construction going on everywhere. I-75 south of Tampa was only 2 lanes in each direction now it’s 3 lanes and in some sports 4 lanes and around Sarasota they could use 5. That being said we wouldn’t live anywhere else plus it’s so easy to hop on a cruise ship.

 

Sounds like both coasts are growing. Our I-95 can be a parking lot South of West Palm Beach. Seems like the highways are always being widened. We moved 9+ years ago - best move that we ever made - just love our State, our local area and of course just wearing shorts, t-shirts and sandals year round. We enjoy calling my SIL when she is getting below zero temps, snow and ice storms!!!!

48 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

Lemon Squares are available at the Gordon Food Service store in Hollywood, Florida. How does this compare to what is available on the ships? 

 

https://gfsstore.com/products/728012/

 

OK.............now I am hungry...........THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We ball hawk all of our booked cruises right up to FPD, and can count on one hand (and have fingers left over) the number of times we have actually found a better deal. YMMV

Price reductions were fairly frequent prior to the shut down...........today...........like hen's teeth!!!! Oh, the good days!!!

3 minutes ago, orville99 said:

And if history is any predictor of future pricing, when you ultimately pull the trigger on that “better” offer, you will have paid substantially more for it.

 

We currently have 21 other cruises booked (all but two booked when itineraries were first released), and every one of them has significantly increased in price with several more than twice what we booked for, and two that have tripled.

We try and book when the new itineraries open up (at least a year early) - that way we get the cabin category and location of choice............and have all of that time to find a better deal / sale / promotion.

5 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We are on the 1/4 cruise. Would have done the 1/11 one as well, but we are already booked for a B2B on Adventure over superbowl week in February. 

Looking forward to meeting you on the 1/4. We most always do B2B's and the second leg has Key West that we originally had on the Reflection in both June and September of 2024 but was changed to Beyond and a different itinerary.

We have a courtesy hold on a CS cabin for the 1/4 & 1/11/25 cruises. Decisions - decisions!!!!