kwokpot

OT but somewhat germaine. Awhile ago I was on a land tour in Ireland and stayed at a castle property that which included mini apartments. A full Irish breakfast was included in the main castle property. On the first morning I asked for a bowl of OATMEAL. The server had no idea what I was asking, so I ordered the traditional Irish breakfast. A few minutes later I inquired with another server why you don't have the world renowned Irish Oatmeal. She then remarked, Oh you mean Porridge!!! Of course we have that.

Thank you!

Hello. I'm considering a side to side in January from the Ascent to the Reflection. I already have the Ascent booked, and both will be Casino bookings through BCC. I understand Celebrity will provide shuttle service between Terminal 25 to the other terminal (29???). Having never done this before, who do I ask about this, the booking agents at BCC? Any other perks? These will be complementary cruises, so cruisefare discounts are not applicable in this instance.

While oatmeal isn't on the menu, I can assure you that it's available. Surprisingly, oatmeal isn't listed for breakfast at Blu, which I always thought made no sense> It's considered the #1 healthiest choice for breakfast. Nonetheless, I request it and it's brought to me with no questions asked (in Blu), as is a bowl of berries to put in my oatmeal.

I think the key is what people want from a cruiseship balcony cabin, and that is you step OUTSIDE of your cabin into another area that is exposed to the elements. That is a feature of a balcony (a Juliet balcony is something entirely different, and while those do exist on a cruiseship and especially on riverboats I don't think a Juliet balcony is what comes to mind when people think of a balcony cabin on a cruiseship, regardless of the naming of that type of cabin). Some of but not all of the benefits of a balcony is exposure to fresh air and sunlight. While the IV cabin allows for those 2 benefits, you cannot, by design, step out of your cabin into an area that's exposed to the elements.

I will agree the implementation of the Sky Suites changes weren't properly done. I was commenting solely on whether on face value I saw merit on the changes they chose to make. OT: As I had mentioned I was a Business Analyst and process improvement specialist for a major bank. This was after a long career working in bank branches for the same bank (TBH the one and only company after college). The irony of this was I worked on a complex staffing modeling that provided the bank branches data to reduce headcount yet provide the same optimal service. Little did I know my own position would be eliminated! This was back in 2004 ,which is the last time I was employed. In hindsight being severanced out of my job forced me into early retirement and circumstances has allowed my husband and I to stay in retirement and travel on all these wonderful cruises!

No such thing on Celebrity, Royal, MSC, Carnival, Virgin, NCL

Isn't it great when we can all have a civilized back and forth discussion? As I had said in previous posts as someone who had done this professionally as a career it didn't seem to be a well thought out test. This may not be popular thing to say but from a Business analyst's and process improvement perspective Celebrity's changes to the Butler program for Sky Suites, along with the reinforcement of the Sky Suite mini bar policies was a prudent and wise decision and are changes I could see myself recommending if I was in that position at Celebrity.

You missed the first part of the OPs statement about 'Being outside on the balcony'. In an IV cabin it's impossible to be outside.

By the same token, is the MSC cabin pictured below, which they call an Infinite Oceanview room, a balcony room or oceanview? It has the same window.

Thank you for that piece of information, I've never sailed Holland so I didn't know that. Have you sailed Holland recently? How do they stack up against Celebrity?

I'm with you on this. I've stayed in an IV cabin on all three Edge Class ships, and will have an IV cabin on the Ascent in February. I LOVE the cabin for the same reasons you do, and understand what the cabin is but also what it isn't. I don't mean to be harsh but those that think it's a balcony cabin only think that because that's how Celebrity is marketing them. As I always say so if you sit by the open window in your bedroom at home do you consider that a balcony? MSC has the same type of cabin but treats it as what it truly is, a deluxe Oceanview with a panoramic window. They don't use furnishings to make believe it's a balcony, they treat it as a room with a window that opens and all the benefits that an OPEN window provides. My most recent IV cabin was last month on the Apex from July 7-19 on a 12 night Iceland and Northern Europe itinerary. It was great having that large window and watching the sailing in to our various Iceland ports of call. We would leave the window down a little bit to get some of the brisk fresh air and then put the window up when we got too chilly, since I had no plans to wear a coat to stay warmer with the window down. Nonetheless it allowed me to sit on the chairs or sofa and just take in the amazing vistas. Photo below is of Akureyri,Iceland taken from my IV cabin with the window down. The photo is something you can do in a real veranda cabin but not an Oceanview, which is why the IV is a hybrid but can never be a true outdoor balcony cabin.

Respectfully no you do not. You have an open window with room dividers that create the illusion of a balcony.

You answered your own question. IV cabins are indeed an oceanview cabin but the window opens. It includes a few interior design elements, change in flooring, the bifold doors, to simulate an outdoor space. But make no mistake, it's no different than sitting next to an open window inside your house since that's exactly what you're doing in an IV cabin.

The porthole veranda is also called on other cruiselines as a hull or cove balcony cabin and is a TRUE veranda with an real outside space, albeit a bit enclosed and narrow since it's within the ship's superstructure. You'll find it in the same section as other Veranda cabins when selecting a cabin. The only other drawback is they are either all the way forward or aft.

Because it doesn't make sense precisely for the reason that one pays $1,000's for a cruise. It goes against the whole persona of what a Celebrity cruise is supposed to be. There's ZERO reason there should be a charge for a COOKIE on a Celebrity cruise, ZERO. Put it in another way, Celebrity sees itself as a premium cruiseline to the extent that they provide cloth hand towels in the public rest rooms, which no other mainstream cruiseline provides.Yet they would have they audacity to charge for a cookie?

We cruise Carnival regularly and the singing and dancing waiters is my biggest pet peeve with Carnival. It interferes with the dinner service and most of the time the audio quality of the taped music is so poor and it's made worse with the volume turned up high, so it's this distorted static screeching of Ganggum Style. I would MUCH prefer a crew talent show in the theater which some lines used to do (although I REALLY don't need to see the human water fountain trick😬) since many a time the crew has better performing skills than the entertainment staff/headliners! Last month after our Apex cruise we were on a Greek Islands cruise on Royal's Odyssey of the Seas. It was a family cruise with 9 of us. We had anytime dining but they arranged for us to have a set table every night. We had great service but what was really nice is a server from another section, who on embarkation day had assisted my dad with a wheelchair boarding, came by to perform some magic tricks. He was truly entertaining and had the skills but also the personality superior to those headliner 'magicians' the ship brings on. That he came over to our table not in his section to entertain our family showed his true nature as someone who wants all guests to have the best vacation.

1) breakfast around 8:30 2) a walk around the ship 3) out to enjoy the sun around 10:30 4) lunch at 1:30 5) relaxing in the cabin 6) gym at 4:30 7) sauna and shower at 5:30 8)drinks at 7 9)dinner at 7:30 10) coffee and dessert at Cafe Al Bacio at 8:30 11) queue up and watch late show at 9 12)a little casino and/or music to cap the evening

The answer is no. I was on the Apex July 7-19 from Rotterdam to Iceland, Ireland and Scotland and I did a live trip report without issues. You can check it out.

I think it's the approach that Celebrity is taking to be quite honest is bone headed. In a prior career I was a Business Analyst and Process Improvement Specialist for the largest bank in the Country. We crunched all kinds of numbers and made recommendations on how to improve things from a cost and efficiency perspective. So from my professional opinion this cookie experiment made absolutely no sense in any way, shape or form. What would have made more sense is to reimagine the whole Gelateria counter in M & S Class ships by shifting the Gelato to the Oceanview Cafe as it is on E-Class ships and coming up with a new food and/or beverage concept which would be at extra cost. .

That's good if all the restaurants and shops will be open in February, and I hope the weather is OK. In 2019 we were in Santorini in December as a stop on a Suez canal crossing cruise and the weather was very windy and cool,probably in the high 50's-low 60's. Everything in Fira was shut down save a handful, and I mean handful of restaurants and shops. The streets were deserted with nothing open.and given the weather we didn't even bother going to Oia.

The thinking is if they're testing the viability of charging for a chocolate chip cookie you can't have free ones elsewhere, and certainly not across the way at Al Bacio..

No, both are the original recipes from the Edge as I remember them. Edit: First photo from Apex July, 2023, Second photo Apex November 2021

I can attest that the brownie recipe on the Beyond is different and exactly as you describe. Seems like it was a conscience decision to have a different brownie recipe, since on the Apex last month the brownies were the ORIGINAL recipe and tasted like I remember when they first debuted on the Edge.

Yes, I was on the Apex the first two weeks in July and although I didn't get to the Eden Cafe too often since it's only open on sea days they had BOTH the brownies and cookies, as pictured below: