DrMark

I figured folks who smoked it like you & Doug would be OK, but you're probably a very small % of the steak-buying public.

According to the USDA guidelines I found, to safely consume blade tenderized medium rare beef, I would need to hold the minimum internal temperature of 135 for 36 minutes. When I smoke my steaks, I keep the smoker at around 225, so they warm up slowly, but not that slowly! The same document says that if I take the minimum internal temperature to 140 degrees (half-way between medium rare and medium), then I only need to hold it for 12 minutes. I could probably make that work.

To put this discussion back on topic (at least a little), does anybody know if Princess uses blade tenderized meat in the Crown Grill? (i.e., is it even safe to order a medium rare steak at the Crown Grill?)

--Mark

So, which cruise lines in Princess' class do have larger balconies? I've been on one celebrity cruise, and I did have a huge balcony which I loved, but I got the impression that I picked well, and that not all balconies were that large. When people say there is more similar between Celebrity and Princess than different, they are right. But, if one of the differences is a usable balcony, then it's decided for me!

Once in a blue moon I'll grab a Costco Prime tenderloin, but ALL other cuts of Costco Prime beef are BLADE TENDERIZED - even Wagyu on the rare occasion they have it! Unless you're a Medium or more done steak lover, this means you should never buy Costco steaks as they are risky to eat.

 

They do put the legally-required warning on there to cook to at least 160F but they don't say why - those blades punch surface bacteria deep into the interior so if there's any contamination at all you are guaranteed to eat it if you're a Med-Rare or less steak eater as I am.

 

I had never heard of blade tenderizing meat before you mentioned it. On my way home from work, I stopped off at my local Costco, and sure enough, every one of the steaks was labeled in faint, small legalese print that it was blade tenderized that you should cook the hell out of it.

What a bummer! Why would they ruin a perfectly good piece of meat?

At least I can keep buying my prime brisket there. With 15 hours of cooking and a final temperature of 202, I won't have to worry. Ironically, the brisket was the only cut of beef there that was NOT labeled as blade tenderized (and it is the only one that might be able to benefit from it).

You have done me a great service with your warning, and I thank you.

--Mark

I ate at the Crown Grill once (on a Baltic cruise), and the ribeye I got was maybe choice, but more likely select. It was also reeeeeeealy thin (like through a deli slicer). I ordered medium-rare, and it did come medium-rare (which was something of a surprise given how many places I've gone where they have no idea what that means). Overall I was very unimpressed, and have not bothered since. My wife committed the sin of ordering filet mignon well done.:eek: Maybe the chef was just so angry that he decided to take it out on me... :rolleyes:

I had a very nice ribeye at the lawn club on a Celebrity cruise I recently took. I can recommend that (but it won't help you here).

I think the bottom line is if you want a good steak, buy it at Costco and slow smoke it yourself (with a 1,000 degree sear at the end).

--Mark

Costco![/quote

 

USDA prime NY strip steaks there are around $20.00 per lb. last week. :)

 

Wow, maybe it is cheaper down here in Texas. I got Prime boneless ribeyes for $9.99/pound last week.

 

--Mark

Costco!

Good Lord, yes! Who in the world would pay $29/pound for beef? At that price, they should come to your house and cook it for you :D.

I do love Costco Prime beef! I smoke their prime briskets, and they come out amazing.

--Mark

I have a special number to call, and they will pay *you* to upgrade. But since people on here aren't very nice, I won't post either. :D

Still trying to figure out if the promenade deck is now smoke free? HAL's onboard guide doesn't expressly say one way or the other. It says smoking is allowed on "outside decks". Does that include the promenade deck? :/

Actually, it doesn't quite say that smoking is allowed on "outside decks". What it says is (direct quote from "what you need to know" doc from HAL's web site today):

The designated smoking areas for all ships are as follows unless otherwise noted.

 

• Stateroom verandahs
  
• Casino (Active players only)
  
• Seaview Bar
  
• Outside Decks
  
  • Sports Deck
    
  • Observation Deck (lists ships that actually have an observation deck)
    

   

For all of you who don't like keeping all of those receipts, has anybody ever found a mistake when reconciling your on-board account, and if so, how did you prove it? Did they credit your account?

I've read about a million posts of people complaining about smoking on the balconies, but what about the other public spaces on the ship? If we get an ocean view stateroom (no balcony), will we find that the smoke around the public spaces bothers us?

From reading this thread, I'm imagining that 99.9% of the passengers on HAL are chain smokers, and that there is smoke everywhere. If every outside deck had 1000+ smokers on it, it could be quite difficult to find clean air anywhere on the ship.

HAL has some really good prices on an itinerary we want to take next December. My assumption is that the prices are so low because people who cruise are an older demographic, that most of the cruising smokers are now dead, and HAL can't find anybody to sail on their ships.;)

Thanks !

Only my son seems to crave carbonated beverages and even then he usually chooses low or no sugar options.

I was on the Caribbean Princess last summer, and I need to warn you that the only low-sugar options on the soda and more package are diet Coke and carbonated water. The other diet options were in cans, and not included.

--Mark

I wouldn't be happy about it but I would only have myself to blame because the contract clearly states that conditions are subject to change without prior notification.

You have got to be kidding, right? If they decided that they would eliminate food because the contract "clearly states that conditions are subject to change without prior notification", that would be OK with you? :confused:

To the best of my knowledge employees sign a contract for x number of months and thus are technically independent contractors and not employees.

This sounds like the reasoning that Uber is trying to use to get out of responsibility for the actions of their drivers...

Legally and ethically Celebrity has no obligation to reimburse you. Sorry.

Out of curiosity, what are your credentials for making this claim? Are you an attorney with experience in contract law?

Running our 75th Half Marathon at the Dallas Marathon on Sunday

That is one way to take care of the cruise gained pounds!

:D

I was on the the Caribbean Princess out of Southampton last August. We brought 2 bottles of port and 1 bottle of white wine on board (I too like my glass of port before bed). We fully expected to pay corkage for the extra bottle of wine, but there was no where to declare it, nobody asked us about bringing on wine, and when they x-rayed the bags, nobody said anything. We were in our room before we realized what happened. So, it really does appear to depend on when and where you board the ship.

Are you suggesting that quality WINES are available for $9?

Oh, good point! I was wondering why you have to move up to the premium package to get beer priced over $6, and we really should be asking why do they charge $9 for poor quality wine when poor quality beer is only $6 :).

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the bias against beer drinkers:

Classic beverage package includes:

Beer up to $6

Frozen drinks up to $8

Wine up to $9

Why the lower max price for beer drinkers? If I want anything other than budmillercoors, I have to pay for the premium package.

I can't say much about Panama, but if you are flying to Quito, make sure you plan to arrive at least 24+ hours before your flight to Galapagos. I did a trip to Galapagos a couple of years ago, and our flight to Quito was diverted to Guayaquil (because of weather in Quito) where we spent the night (American Airlines). Because the pilots needed X hours of rest, they were not going to fly us to Quito until Noon the next day. The problem was that my flight to Galapagos was at 10:00 a.m. the next day, and there were no seats on any flight before my ship sailed. I managed to catch my flight directly from Guayaquil (it was a planned stop on my flight), but American wouldn't release my luggage. I had to shop for clothes in San Cristobal. I've since been told that Quito often closes at night due to weather. If you can arrange it, it is safer to fly into Guayaquil.

We were on Caribbean Princess last week and the Royal 2 months ago and they didn't have it available except in cans, which are not included in the unlimited soda package.I don't think they should say it is included when it never seems to be available.

I can confirm that on the Caribbean Princess Aug 1 sailing, they did not have diet anything except diet coke and soda water on the unlimited soda package :mad:.

You should have received your survey via email by now.

You may have to call to have them resend it.

Oh, by *E-mail*. I checked my junk folder, and there it was (along with about 40 advertisement E-mail messages from Princess:rolleyes:). I spent about an hour filling it out last night. Hopefully it will do some good for somebody.

Same rules apply (IMHO) to TripAdvisor reviews and researching shore excursions.

I learned a while ago that the most reliable reviews (on TripAdvisor or anywhere else) are the 3-star reviews. The 5-star reviews are nothing but praise (or paid reviews), and the 1-star reviews are people who have an axe to grind. The 3-star reviews are people who had mixed experiences; some things they liked and some things not so much. I read the 3-star reviews and just ask if I care about the thing they didn't like.

This is how it was on the Golden on our June 1st sailing and it made things faster and more efficient than I have ever seen at the IC. Those wanting only pastries in one line, those wanting coffee (with or without pastry) to the right. It allowed all coffee orders to be taken while the baristas worked from printed tickets. Wait times were very short, even in the morning and the system appeared to work well.

I was on the Caribbean Princess in August, and the lines at the IC were a disaster. I wish they did it the way you describe on the Golden. They had one line for espresso, brewed coffee, and food. There were mornings when the line stretched all the way to Vines. It was annoying when somebody would take their time looking at the pastries, and a gap would open in the line. People started lining up in the gap as if it were two lines.

The really frustrating part was that I had to wait in line behind all of those espresso drinkers when all I wanted was brewed coffee which was just sitting there in a carafe.

This whole IC thing is so unnecessary. Starbucks figured this out long ago. Just write down people's orders for espresso drinks with their name on a slip of paper, have them stand to the side, and call out their name when it is ready. They also need to move the brewed coffee to the lobby bar (at least in the mornings) which is right next to the IC.

Some other people on this thread said that on some ships brewed coffee was available at other bars. I never heard this on our ship. If it was there, I sure wished I knew about it.

DrMark, can you tell me if the Caribbean Princess self-service laundry machines use quarters or ship tokens that need to be purchased at Customer Service?

 

We sail on her this October for 14 days and will want to make use of the facility.

 

Thank you for any information you might have.

They use ship tokens that come from a vending machine in the laundry area. You select how many washes, drys, and "products" (soap) you want, swipe your card, and the machine dispenses the tokens. If I remember correctly, one wash, dry, and soap was $7.50.

Did the ship give you a copy of the complaint they filed for you? I would be sure to include this issue in the survey they send out after the cruise. We once received some OBC from reporting a serious issue in that survey that wasn't resolved while we were onboard. I would consider this a serious issue.

Yes, they gave us a copy of the complaint. It surprised me that they did it.

I haven't received any survey yet.