cgolf1

It was there in 2021 up in the top deck entrance area to the bar/entertainment area that looks out the front of the ship. Disney ships used to have them too, so I was the odd one to notice it and know who made it.

The problem we are currently seeing with reviews, especially for hotels, is that they are all over the top negative, and borderline unbelievable. This is even with some of the mid level name brand hotels. We have stayed at a few despite the reviews and they were fine and what we expected of the respective brands. I wonder if some of the bad reviews are random or put in by disgruntled employees. That said last weekend we stayed at a small semi upscale hotel for 200 a night in the middle of nowhere WI and hand written welcome note, a note stating what local coffee they put out and where you could get it were really nice touches along with heated tile in the bathroom. I don't ever remember seeing this stuff at a hotel in this price range ever in my time. This hotel did have really good reviews though, and I wish the cruise port hotels we pay 300+ for were half as nice.

Even now when I can afford much better, Bic Round Stics are my go to at home and work, and I really like when ships or hotels use those. I have also liked the Bic Atlantis click pens too. For some reason those pens just work and don't leak. I have tried better pens and brands and always go back to these. Maybe I am using the better brand;)

So a balance due showing 2.5 times greater than your paid in full balance is an acceptable glitch? I don't think so, as some may see that and pay the extra! If the glitch is caught, it may take a while to refund the money, or X may just get a bonus? Who knows how often this happens, and if the number is smaller, some may just pay. Have a great trip on the Expedition, we go next year.

Long as they leave that last option off we are good. I always do khakis and either a short sleeve button down or polo shirt each night. Only time in a tux that I know of was when I got married.

Or it’s a typo. When we were on the Connie, not on the app but the paper sheet they had Undresses instead of sundresses. Thankfully no one followed that. Seriously though not sure how they set up the app, if they need type some lines in or they just choose from different pre made options.

Great pictures. I am curious what you used for lenses. Currently I am leaning towards my 400 max zoom lens, but would love to take my 300 instead. The 300 is over a 1 lb lighter than the 400. I can make it work, but I had shoulder surgery and working with the heavy lens is still a challenge. Hoping by the trip the shoulder will be good enough.

I was really glad to see the 22lb limit on the carry on. Over the phone I had been told 15lb and I was getting worried. I have an under seat bag that will carry my cameras, lenses and my CPAP. I am trying to avoid putting my CPAP in its own case and have 2 carry on bags. Leaving it home is an option I may take though.

Thanks for posting this. We go next year, and a quick read you have information I haven't seen before. Will do a much more thorough read through tonight.

35$ an hour is a lot of money. I know a lot of young engineers that don't make that. Could be where we live too. Living in the midwest sucks, because you can't move east or west coast due to the change in cost of living. Coming from the coasts you can get some some great deals on houses and bank some money moving to the midwest.

So I first want to say that we always tip extra when the service warrants it, but it is not a huge amount like 100+ or something, but extra. We have even given a bartender an extra 10 at the end of a cruise for just being super nice and providing great service. The thing that always bugs me is that they are being paid way less. Compared to what I make in the US, for sure. But we have talked to more than a few people, and some are working hard now to retire early, because their cost of living is so much lower where they live. We had a server that had owned one convenience store back home where his mom and wife worked at and planned to buy another and retire from active work in his 40s. I know I am not doing that. Could they be paid a bit more to lessen the tip burden, sure. Should they be paid the same wages as workers in the US, not sure there really is a good answer here.

That was the same itinerary we did and it was amazing. We had a hotel close to the port and we walked to the port, and got some really nice photos. So different than sailing out of a US port. The MDR food on HAL was very good as was the prime rib. For me equal to X in flavor. The difference was HAL never ended up having escargot, they replaced it with something else the one night and my wife seemed to prefer the food we had on the Edge vs HAL. It’s hard with food because we all have different tastes.

They didn't have them in the MDR last February, but the buffet ones were good. Veggies and potatoes are plate fillers to me so I don't get excited either way. Mashed would be better than a bunch of beets that taste like dirt to me;)

We might try a larger HAL ship in the future, but our traveling companions on that cruise who sailed HAL before the Zaandam had better entertainment in the past on that ship. Honestly we love that size of ship, knowing there are some trade offs of course. We really enjoyed the Connie last year as well.

We do sail insides. The onboard entertainment on X is much better. HAL had a dance group multiple nights and one night played part of the BBC Earth show with some live musicians playing along. HAL did have a really funny comic though on our sailing. How HAL handles Gluten Free is way behind X and I ended up just eating at the burger bar most days for lunch, and grabbing mashed potatoes from the buffet, not kidding as I always grab mashed potatoes on X as well for lunch. The difference on X is the have gluten free gravy which is a treat. HAL ran out of gluten free buns in the burger bar with three days to go. They also ran out of amaretto, which in my eyes is inexcusable, as booze doesn’t have a shelf life. my wife wasn’t impressed by the buffet either, and found desserts went quick and weren’t always refreshed. The way HAL handled the seating in the dining room was chaotic and we never had the same serving team. Being gluten free it is nice to have the same service team every night. We like a quickly paced meal. overall it just wasn’t as smooth as an X cruise, but we would sail them again for a unique cruise, but if X has a similar cruise we would sail X.

Nope it isn't. We sailed HAL like 2 months after our Edge cruise. After all the excitement died down from an amazing cruise because of the port intensive itinerary, it dawned on me that while HAL is an option for us in the future, X was the far superior cruise line, even with the cuts. But wow that Canada New England cruise was amazing, and I really liked the design of the Zaandam and the ships we have sailed from that have come from that builder in that time frame.

I hear prime rib is back. In February, on an 11 night cruise on the Edge Prime Rib was not offered at all. Also have heard the nigh time buffet has improved. As someone that eats a gluten free diet, the night time buffet in February would have been a challenge for me to get a proper meal.

To the Ops question I say bring it on with the kids. We are so used to it with Disney and RCCL that it has really never bothered us and we did cruises with just the wife and I on those two lines. I know it does bother some, but not us. IMO it might lighten up the crowd. I like X the cruise line, but the crowd is different than the other lines we have sailed.

When my daughter was in her teens we found ways to make it work with inside rooms on Disney. It is tight at times, but since we weren't in the room much we were able to deal with it. X has well thought out storage so room for clothes should not be an issue. One thing we did find was that sideways inside rooms with the door on the middle of one side had a much better layout and more floor space, not sure if X has these.

Curious what is wrong with a Sirloin? Don’t get me wrong, a ribeye, porterhouse, or T-bone are my favs, but with the ridiculous prices of them this year I have been getting fresh sirloins from a butcher and they have been very tasty and tender. That said they are thicker cut and a 2-3 lb steak, so super easy to get a perfect medium rare cook on them. Just curious to learn from others. My steak preferences may be different than many as I prefer flavor over texture, so a filet is quite low in my list of steaks. The only texture I hate are tough and chewy ones that end up just short of beef jerky.

Wasn’t trying to in this instance. In my Edge thread I started from our February cruise, I gave a review with each nights menus and what we ate. I didn’t get in depth on the food as you mentioned, but tried to share menus. I am not a foodie so I don’t generally go into great detail on the food, because everyone’s tastes are so different. My generalization above was that the boards and Facebook had me thinking it would me the worst food ever in February and we wouldn’t find anything to eat. At that point people who hadn’t cruised this year, would thank people for their honest opinion if they said the food was the worst and basically not believe anyone that posted positive. It was pretty toxic, not all that different when they released the Edge. Heck on FB I mentioned the gluten free options were less this year on our cruise and someone told me I shouldn’t be cruising with my food allergy lol. That is why I think it is important not to judge on other’s comments and to find out for yourself. The only issue is regardless of what line we sail it is an expensive gamble. I am just glad to hear it hasn’t changed much from February, so that helps me set my expectations.

Or get lucky and find someone who was onboard when you were last and then more recently to give you insight if it was similar. I lucked out today and found out it’s similar, so we are good for now. Food is so subjective it’s almost impossible to judge another person’s opinion. Especially if this is the first time they have sailed post shutdown. I think everyone needs to find out for themselves, because back in February my bar was so low based on the boards, that I was pleasantly surprised by the MDR, but I definitely had critical comments, but it was no means school lunch food.

For the most part agree with this. One of our favorite local restaurants kept the same price for the entree, but now sides are 3-4 bucks a piece for the sides that used to be included. So we aren’t getting out of there at the same cost pre Covid. The outlier seems to be some of the supper clubs we go to. There prices seem to be the same as pre Covid even with the steaks. Not sure how they do it, but it’s a win for us, 3 old rashioneds, rib-eye and baked potato, wife had White meat fried chicken and hash browns plus all the supper club extras for under 80 with a 20%+ tip included in that. If the supper clubs can do it on volume of customers, you would think cruise lines could too.

I have been guilty of doing mashed potatoes at every buffet meal on our 3 X cruises. The reason isn’t the potatoes, it’s the gluten free gravy. In the last 12 plus years since I have been gluten free X has been the only place I can have the gravy:) The true saving grace for me with the buffet was they had the minute steaks all but one day and they were precooked so that you could pick a thicker cut and get a nice medium rare piece. The Indian food was very disappointing on the buffet. I am hoping it gets better by 2025, our next X cruise, or sooner if we decide to do a second after our Galapagos cruise next year. Thought about a third this year, but just too many misc things going on to fit it in.

Was it about the same? We were on the Edge in February for the partial Panama Canal cruise and did not see Prime rib on the menu at all, even with the extra nights (heard they added it back). We also felt the options in the lunch buffet were less varied and simpler dishes than we have seen in the past. Of course the MDR was more limited too for options. That said we did enjoy the food we ate, I just missed the normal variety in the MDR and buffet.