Itchy&Scratchy

I loved Dunes on Enchanted! My go to drink is Midori Sour so I ordered it first, but it was undrinkable (just plain awful). I looked through the entire menu in search of something that would be close to it and found Dunes. OMG, so amazing! P.S. If your wife liked Dunes, she may also like an Appletini (if it's made right, with apple schnapps, of course, and not too strong). 🙂

actually, Princess introduced a whole bunch of new production shows in the last couple of years, and they are excellent and quite contemporary. We are under 50 and were so tired of the old Princess shows. We were more than pleasantly surprised by the new shows on Enchanted last fall.

Park Cafe. Pre-pandemic my DH loved going there for lunch and getting a custom salad with all sorts of interesting toppings. It was the highlight of his Oasis class casual dining. Well, you'll be disappointed to know that post-pandemic, the choices for salad at the Park Cafe have been cut drastically. It's down to a few very basic ingredients. My DH was very upset.

oh, no, I am so sorry it was bad! We have always enjoyed Princess food to the max - MDR and buffet only since we don't do specialty (with the exception of the children's menu on Caribbean Princess back in 2016). We've been on Regal pre-pandemic and on Enchanted post-pandemic, and the food was great in its majority (if one wants to see pics and opinions, you can click on the links in my signature). We are going on Enchanted in 6 months again. I am so sorry to hear that you didn't like anything on Sky. That's a disappointment. So far I have no opinion of my own to offer on Celebrity food, but I will in April. Our friends cruise exclusively on Princess because of the food, but tried Celebrity once about 5-6 years ago. They said - never again, because the food was MDR and buffet food was cafeteria quality. P.S. based on your second post, I think that you may be a bit on a picky side. Nothing wrong with that, especially when paying a lot of money for the cruise, but it may explain why you were so disappointed in Princess food. Although, different ships may offer different quality food. However, I would like to think that Princess ships of the same class would offer similar quality, at least at MDR and buffet.

we tried that and were told there was definitely going to be a fee. it will probably depend on your waiter team, but I wouldn't just straight up tell people that it will definitely be free. Just an FYI for first time cruisers, these every day pastas are pretty tiny. You can see pics in my review (link in signature).

not our experience on Seascape a month ago. Definitely a $5 fee for extra entrees.

mmmkay, good for you, I guess.

there is a link in my signature to the NCL Getaway cruise where I elaborated quite a bit. But basically, their food and the smell of smoke on both ships are the main reasons we aren't even considering NCL. We would have liked to try the other free venues like the pub with wings, but it was so smoky that we could never stick around for more than a minute. P.S. I've just reread it and I think I was very generous and too positive back in 2018 when I wrote my review. The MDR food was bad. I do remember leaving MDR a couple of times before we even got to the dessert because the food was awful (dry, cold, undercooked, unseasoned, overseasoned, etc.) The kicker is - I am a glutton and would eat just about anything and love it. DH is a little more choosy and is not a glutton.

I just received our kid's new passport! 2 weeks!!!! Not expedited. Needless to say, I am shocked. We applied in person at the post office (since he is a minor) on Dec 9, and the new passport was issued Dec 18 (a week later). It has just arrived, making it 2 weeks from start to finish. Yay! I was hoping for a January issue date, though, just in case we ever score a Christmas or NY cruise 5 years down the road on a short notice. But, hey, I am not complaining.

we were able to connect our reservation (with package) with my parents' reservation (no package) on the phone prior to embarkation and sat together at MDR. The waiter team provided bottled water for all 5 of us, but I found out after the cruise that it was because of the Easy Plus package we had. We didn't order any soda or other drinks for my parents during MDR dinners, but we usually ordered soda and/or alcohol for ourselves. The asst waiter was excellent and he asked if we wanted the usual as soon as we arrived every night. 🙂

we were there in 2022 and I don't remember any long walks in port. And believe me, I would since I definitely don't walk 3-4 miles a day. We do need a taxi to get to the beaches because our favorite ones are definitely not within a 1 mile radius. You can click on my signature for my 2022 reviews which also cover ports of call. ABC islands is our favorite itinerary by far.

how old is your DD? Our DS started cruising at 3, tried out kid's club for 20 minutes and has adamantly refused to go to kid's club ever again. He'll be 13 when we cruise on Reflection in a couple of months. 🙂 He has just tagged along to everything with us on all of the cruises, so we never actually missed a show or a fun activity. He did use a tablet with games/movies/cartoons onboard until he was about 10, which provided us with very peaceful dinners in MDR over the years. my DH is obsessed with donkeys, so we may actually make it there some day. It's on the way to and from our favorite Sorobon beach in Bonaire, so - some day for sure. I am glad you enjoyed your cruise. We are looking forward to trying out Celebrity next year. Our cruise is already sold out, since it's during Spring break.

wouldn't you at THAT price?

this will be our first cruise on Celebrity (so, no previous experience) but our cruise is completely sold out (spring break), so we haven't received any move up offers.

on an old ship.... IMHO, of course. 🙂 We sailed on Caribbean Princess in 2016 and said - never again on an old ship. It was OLD in 2016, and I can't even imagine how much worse it got since then. Her only redeeming qualities were our MDR waiting team (still think about the most superb service we ever received while on a cruise) and the ABC island itinerary. Now we sail only Royal class and younger and have absolutely zero problems or issues.

Oh, I see. Thanks! Just checked - the drinks packages are the same price as before. In any case, there is no soda only package anyway.

do we get a tumbler for free with a soda package? We did on RCI.

our cruise is sold out, so no luck.

well, I dunno, but we've been on full sailings on Oasis class (6K passengers) and never dealt with this level of disorganization and crowds. The only times the buffet was a similar zoo was during disembarkation breakfast and embarkation lunch. But - guess what? Oasis class has several other complimentary eateries besides the WJ buffet, unlike Seascape. Apparently, so do large Carnival ships, despite being 3.5K passenger vessels. So, yes, MSC may charge a bit less, but you get a lot less than you do on other lines. And no - don't tell me that MSC has super low prices, because that's definitely not the case.

I am happy you had a wonderful cruise. 🙂 After all, that's how it should be, right? 🙂 Happy Holidays!

I am more worried about the food quality in MDR and buffet. I cruise to eat. Although, ABC island itinerary is a treat in itself. We are very low maintenance, but I want good food. P.S. We were and still are super happy with both RCI and Princess pre- and post-pandemic, but also wanted to try something different for the fun of it this and next year. RCI's prices have become unreasonable post-pandemic, so we are searching for something more reasonably priced.

oh, no.... I am starting to regret booking Reflection.

an alternative taxi wouldn't have helped in this situation, probably because it wasn't a breakdown:

I asked which Celebrity ship did the right thing. Since we are going to be on Reflection in 2 months and it doesn't look like they did the right thing on her.

really? which ship? We are going to be on Reflection in a couple of months, and they put a ping pong table in the elevator lobby, literally in a tiny corner, with no room to move around. The boys are not professional, though, and just love to play on cruises. On Enchanted the tables were somewhere on the pool deck next to a bar, as far as I remember. DH and DS spent hours playing and having fun.