Jim_Iain

7 hours ago, hcat said:

 If not elite yet, hope you will get there soon!

 

Jim made another great suggestion..cafe Baccio  but just pastries.  Heard they niw have snall sammies at lunch time.

Recently they have also had 3 types of small sandwiches in the afternoon tea time.

They don't have the entire menu but can make the regulars --as well as many that have booze in them.   They do not have pastries or snacks...

They also sell Premium OJ, Water, Wine and basic adult beverages. 

Thanks for posting.   I've started researching Explore.    I really had not heard of them until I saw them in HNL.    Your review makes us even more interested.

You have many good choices -  OVC of course, but Eden Cafe (free),  Aqua Spa Cafe for light breakfasts, Captain's Club Elite and above breakfast.   Al Bacio has pastries and coffee

I have to share the joy of getting back to California.   Due to the went winter and spring the wild flowers are in full bloom and much more abundant than normal.

Due to our usual drought conditions many homes have natural landscape and are incredible.

Well we are getting back to normal -   I had a big surprise in the Mail --- Got summoned for Jury Duty on the week of May 20th... ugh.

I had accidentally tossed it in the  junk mail stack, luckily Iain went through the stack and said ---you've got mail.

On 5/8/2024 at 8:52 AM, Mike981 said:

 

Funny you just put those shoes on here Jim. I just finished a six part documentary called The Power of Film, if you like movies I think you will enjoy it. It breaks down the formulas used to create the movies and helped me understand some of the classics better.

 

I found it on MAX/HBO, my wife said it was a little to much like going to college and I explained that the host is a professor at UCLA (I believe) and that would make sense. They ended the documentary talking about The Wizard of Oz, and it really is an easy watch.

 

 

Ummmm, I just let my cartoon bubbles float away and leave it at that. 😉

 

Glad you two made it home safe, now Iain can make you that dinner you were looking forward to.

 

Take care friends and thanks again for such a fun trip review, although, I feel your reviews are more of being let into you and Iain's life. And it is very special.

Thanks Mike.... hope you enjoy your upcoming cruise.

On 5/8/2024 at 5:35 AM, MyView said:

Jim, we are considering our first cruise back with Celebrity since the Pandemic and are considering the Edge classs Sky suite.  If you don't mind could you speak as to why you don't seem to care for this class?  We have always enjoyed Celebrity but am now feeling a little nervous about booking after reading a number of fairly negative comments.  Would certainly appreciate your perspective.  Also why are you not as satisfied with Celebrity and booking other lines.  Thanks so much and always enjoy following your travels.  Catherine

Our main decision is related to the food in Luminae.   While they have the same menus we get the feeling the meals are being made banquet style and were often over cooked, missing items or cold in the middle of numerous entrees.   On the M and S class ships they cook all dishes to order -  there may be a slightly longer wait time but was very pleased with all meals I've ever had on M and S Class ships.

The other thing we don't like is the sheer number of additional people.   While it usually doesn't affect Suite Passengers --- Disembarkation at some ports cold take 2+ hours and even leaving the ship as a Suite Passenger with escorts was delayed and of course the glares you get as you are escorted to the front of the line can be uncomfortable.

The other thing we don't like is that all of the specialty restaurants are open air (no walls) and very noisy.    Finally there is not Tuscan Specialty or Murano.     Final Cut's just doesn't do it for us.

On 5/7/2024 at 5:52 AM, Liao said:

I’m curious, other than the standard post cruise survey, has Celebrity ever contacted you directly to follow up for more detail?  Wonderful review, thank you for sharing this!

In all my years I have never been contacted for further details.     I have however both spoken to Laura and written her.    She agreed with my comments and indicated changes were coming and hoped to win us back as dedicated Celebrity Cruisers.

22 hours ago, Spyder2up said:

Thank you for the detailed rule…he may also decide to leave it in the car.

Will be interesting to hear what you find out.   I have a similar one I usually carry and left it at home on my last cruise.   I was tempted to put it in my shaving kit and see if I could get it aboard.

I later figured I wouldn't be able to bring it ashore and back to the ship so ditched the Idea.

11 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

Hmmmm 🫣🫥 what the heck happened? 

What is going on? It tastes just like egg whites😑🙄🫨😵😵‍💫🥴

Really just 😮‍💨🥴🤢😵😵‍💫 not good. 

We thought it was just us but on Solstice the Ice Cream really wasn't good at all.    Tasted like ultra cheap ice milk.   The taste on the Vanilla Ice Cream also was just off.

So excited to see and hear of your time in Istanbul.      Never been before and will be taking a cruise from there in Nov 2025

I think we will be spending 2-3 days there per-cruise.

Curious what class you were traveling on Cunard and if that may have been the reason for the congestion, crowding and disorganization.   This fall we will be sailing Cunard eastbound from New York to Southampton Queen's Grill. 

Having never sailed Cunard it will indeed be an adventure.

19 hours ago, Vallesan said:

They sent out an email around 4 weeks before the cruise advising that you will get a ‘check-in’ email shortly. When you get the email to ‘check-in’ for the cruise which is roughly 21days prior you will get to pick your boarding time from a list during the check-in process. 

Thanks much.   We have to get our Passports Renewed (out of pages) so will have plenty of time to get out new passports as we don't sail until September.

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 While I had the Raspberry pistachio vacherin 

The original looked similar to the present one but iflatter and a bit more whipped cream

This was from about 4 years ago (2019) when Chef B created it.   We had it at his first Chef Table  

On 5/3/2024 at 10:30 AM, Colin_Cameron said:

Oops. That bottle was upright when I posted the pic.

 

Boarding was OK. We had a short wait in the terminal as they had to suspend boarding while a container ship manouvered past QA.

 

Someone mentioned a boutique hotel rather than ship feeling and there's certainly something about the lift lobbies that gives that impression. Not sure what it is.

 

For the first hour and a half our cabin toilet wouldn't flush, but seems to be OK now. I hope this doesn't turn out to be a repeat of QV's maiden voyage.

 

The lower hanging rail in the main wardrobe is too high to allow stuff on the upper rail to hang cleanly without draping over the lower rail but it's OK in the narrow one beside the bed. A total of 30 hangers (20+5+5) in this standard balcony cabin.

 

On QV the full length mirror was inconveniently on the inside of the wardrobe door.  They corrected this on QE by putting it on the outside of the wardrobe facing into the cabin. Having learnt that lesson where do you think they've put it on QA?

 

Edit:I see these portrait photos have also turned sideways. Not sure if HH can do anything with them?

That can be a common problem with CC.   To fix (pre-post).   Open Photo on Edit and click the orientation icon 4 times and save.    It has something to do with the way the camera is held when shooting confusing the orientation

Can anyone advise when on-line check-in opens?  Do you get an e-mail advising when it opens for selection of check-in times?

Recently in Greenland and USD or Credit Card were the norm.

5 hours ago, DUTRAVEL said:

Welcome back to a beautiful day in the Bay Area. Thanks for taking the time out of your vacation to take us along.

 

Dianne

It was indeed a beautiful day.     With all the rain this year I'm blown away that everything is in bloom.     The double Kumamoto trees are in full bloom in our front yard.    I was half expecting to have missed them this year. 

I took my full walk today and really enjoyed it.   It is nice getting back my regular routines again.

There's no place like home ---

5 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Glad to hear you made it back to California and that Iain apparently survived his encounter with the security folks.  Thanks so much for doing another great trip report; I appreciate the time and effort you put into these reports.  Looking forward to your next adventure!

Ended up not being too bad ---- except for some reason a yellow spot was showing up on his groin and the inspector had to go into a more intimate feel than normal.    Only delayed us about 10 minutes

For those that have Chase Sapphire and Priority Pass.    They have a nice lounge in the Departure area.   Rather busy but when filled they would find open spaces for those waiting.    There is a pretty regular flow keeping seating available most of the time.

Yikes ... I feel cheated.   The Casino called and said they were sending and offer to our room.   It ended out being $100 off a number of select cruises -  Caribbean  only.    No thanks.

OK... I'm not a big gambler.

9 minutes ago, Octavias said:

If you have a drink package, does it already have the tips figured in as well?

If you have a drink package drinks include gratuities but many tip extra on top for exceptional service.

We have gotten to the point in the Specialty when buying a bottle of wine and they add the 20% on top we do not feel compelled to tip extra.    After all we generally would not tip beyond 20% in gratuities for dinner or drinks.

You're Mother's Seafood dish looked incredible...   Looks like something I would enjoy.    Did it taste as good as it looked?

1 minute ago, rinshin said:

We are not big portion eaters and when we grill T-bone or porterhouse, we share.    Can we do that when dining in Tuscan?  I know there is a surcharge for dry aged prime porterhouse and that is fine.  

Definitely they will do what you wish.  

We are not big eaters also and they were very good at giving us 1/2 portions or even appetizer size portions of anything on the menu.

I'm home and enjoying my afternoon catching up on your journey.    You are capturing the beauty and energy of Japan.