kwokpot

I sympathize with your wardrobe dilemma and had the same issues (I spent two days Scotchgarding our walking shoes). At least for our sailing the weather forecasts so far are very favorable for all three Iceland ports! 🤞

Day 2 - Dinner Dinner tonight was at 7:00 in the Cosmopolitan dining room. It was much busier than the first night in Tuscan but there still wasn't a wait and we were seated immediately. Overall service was friendly and efficient and although we didn't feel rushed we had three courses in 40 minutes. I would have preferred a few more minutes between courses. But we are fast eaters and since my husband doesn't drink alcohol we don't sit and have a round of cocktails before dinner. Starters: I had the califlower flan and my husband had the garden salad. I thought the califlower flan was delicious but there wasn't enough of the flan. It was literally two butter pats worth of flan smeared on the bottom of the bowl. The plating and portion size was more appropriate for a multi-course tasting menu, especially if you compare it with the generous size of the garden salad. A more appropriate plating would have been to use a small ramekin with about an half inch of flan and the other ingredients sprinkled on top. Entrees: We both had the roasted trout and it was delicious with the flavors of the accompaniments all coming together. Desserts: We both had the carrot cake and my husband remarked that it was a refined version of carrot cake and not some you would find in a diner or even The Cheesecake factory. Portion size was perfect.

Day 2 - Afternoon After some sun and lunch at the buffet ( I'll elaborate on our buffet experiences after a few more days experience) and some time relaxing in the room at 4:30 I ventured out to the fitness center for my daily workout (4-4:30 is my regular workout time whether at home or on a cruise) and was shocked to find the gym packed with people. There were young and old and people weren't just doing cardio but actually lots of people doing weight training with the weights and machines. Late afternoons are usually quiet times on cruiseship gyms so I was a bit taken aback and can only wonder how busy it must have been in the morning. Then it was back to the room for a shower and off to dinner.

It's ridiculous what the younger generation does at the sauna and steam rooms at my gym at home. They go into a steam room fully dressed with full workout clothes, socks and sneakers, and phones with airpods on. Mind you this is prior to working out, it's to warm up.

That's fine. But no one should be wearing the same clothes they went into the buffet for breakfast and lunch into the steam or sauna rooms. That's inappropriate. If you want to wear CLEAN, previously not worn clothes into the sauna and steam room, that's fine. And please, don't wear outside sneakers into the steam and sauna. And no mobile phones either. It's not Starbucks.

You should not be using the infrared sauna in street clothes, and definitely not the steam rooms. That is not appropriate at all.

Americans are prudes when it comes nudity. I can't imagine we are CURRENTLY have people that are embarrassed about the most famous statue ever created on Earth, Michelangelo's David. Teachers are being FIRED for teaching about this statue. A statue.

What does what you're paying have to do with anything? You don't want to see, don't look then. It's not all about YOU.

A complementary sauna in the gym/spa locker rooms are located on all M & S class ships.

12:30pm Having never done an Iceland cruise I wasn't sure what the weather and temps would be for the entirety of the cruise but I sure wasn't expecting sunbathing weather! Definitely surprised about this and I'm going to change into a swimsuit for a little bit of sun before lunch!

We had perfect weather for the sail away yesterday. Bright sunny skies made for great viewing and picture taking. The Magic Carpet was packed with people watching the sail away and enjoying having drinks out in the wonderful weather. Dinner last night was in the Tuscan dining room at 7. I had made pre-cruise dinner reservations for all nights of the cruise. The dining room wasn't crowded. Service was quite good and the food came out quickly. We both had soup as starters and they were nice and hot and tasty (not particularly photogenic which is why no pictures). Our entrees were also served promptly and hot. Having sailed several times on all E-Class ships we are familiar with the entrees and noticed some changes to preparation. I had the Tuscan dining room exclusive Tuscan pork chop. When the Edge first sailed this entree selection was not necessarily recommended by the servers as it was considered dry and tough. It was neither on this occasion. The pork may be slightly less in thickness but I suspect the difference may be the pork had been brined in salt water, which is one way to lessen pork from being dry and tough. The result though may be the taste is saltier as is the case of my pork last night. My husband had the Strozzapreti Carbonara and the plating has been changed from a bowl to a platter (same as my pork chop) and the portion has definitely been reduced by half as what was previously offered. We didn't have coffee or dessert at Tuscan but decided to venture to Cafe Al Bacio for premium coffee and a slice of delicious chocolate cake! Afterwards we enjoyed some music in Eden by The Storytellers Duo, a wonderful couple that performed 60's hits. This was followed by fun in the casino which was very busy. We gained an hour last night and my husband used it to gamble some more. Then off to bed.

Actually the Family hours for the solarium are 4-11for both days 1&2, so I'm assuming that will be the ongoing hours.

Yes there's a family hour from 4-10

Are you planning to use the train to get from Amsterdam to Rotterdam?

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and used the street trams to go from our hotel to the cruise pier. We had bought single use transit tickets the night before from the Metro ticket machines so we didn't need to fuss with it in the morning. We also bought tickets to use for disembarkation to go from the ship pier to Rotterdam Central Station after the cruise. The pier was four stops from our hotel and it took about 15 minutes. So easy. I would recommend the street trams over the metro since there's no lugging your bags up and down underground. Check-in was a breeze. You drop off your luggage at the far end and then walk back into the terminal. They first check to see that you have the proper documentation (passports) then you proceed to the security scanners. After that you proceed up the escalators to the check-in area. Here is where you need to let staff know if you have priority status (Retreat, Elite+) so they will direct you to a check-in person, otherwise they will have you sit down and wait. As Elite+ we went immediately to check-in which took all of 2 minutes and we were done and allowed to board the ship at 11:15am! We went to drop off our backpacks in our cabin. The cabin door was closed and keycards in the mail slot but the sign was still on the door that the rooms weren't quite finished. We dropped off our backpacks in the closet and went to the Oceanview Cafe for some cold beverages and here we are relaxing outside in absolutely beautiful weather ( best weather in four days!). Too early for food. An easy and stress-free check-in!

I wanted to have a nice steak for dinner so I checked out the reviews for a good steakhouse. My first choice didn't have any availability until late, so I went with my second choice. No regrets. The Iron lady Steakhouse is a 15 minutes walk from the main city center but it was in a wonderful neighborhood setting with low-rise apartment buildings and retail on the ground floors. The restaurant has a trendy but casual vibe and it has a wonderful sidewalk table settings with built-in wooden benches on the street facing side. Our Ribeyes were perfectly cooked to medium rare and a tasted delicious. We had crispy broccoli and onion rings as sides. Surprisingly my Negroni cocktail was quite reasonably priced at €9.50. We finished the meal with a slice of lemon curd cheesecake and coffee. The setting was decidedly urban yet so relaxing and serene. TBH I preferred it over Amsterdam and I could have seen myself living right around the corner from that restaurant. https://ironladysteak.nl/

Yes, all the bars or order from a waiter at the Oceanview Cafe.

There are no self service soda machines on any Celebrity ship.

The train ride to Rotterdam was uneventful and we had mobile service the entire time. We arrived at the Rotterdam Central Station and immediately proceeded to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Rotterdam Central Hotel, which was conveniently located three blocks away. We were able to check in and a room was ready for us. A basic room but clean and just fine for one night. Now for lunch! As we walked to our lunch place, you can immediately notice how different Rotterdam is from Amsterdam. The look and feel was closer to other European major city centers than the quaint and low scale buildings around canals that is Amsterdam. We had lunch outside on the sidewalk, and as we wait for our food I noticed how one could mistakenly thought we were sitting at a sidewalk cafe on the Upper East Street Side of Manhattan, albeit without the noise and the crowds. It was sunny out and we enjoyed our Goat cheese salad and buratta with prosciutto sandwich among the sunshine and sophisticated atmosphere. Photos of lunch and random shots of Rotterdam City Center.

It's the most asinine policy and/or explanation.

We are currently on the train from Amsterdam Central to Rotterdam Central, where we are staying one night before embarkation. The Doubletree Amsterdam Central Hotel is extremely convenient if you're using the train to get around. Literally from our hotel room to the train platform it took 10 minutes! What made it even easier was using the Netherlands Rail app(NS App with the yellow logo version) and buying the tickets in advance, then using the QR code that's generated to scan at the train turnstiles to enter the train concourse. We also did this to use the train from the Amsterdam airport to Amsterdam Central Station. It just makes things easier and less hectic when your at the station. One major negative is the train cars aren't set-up for luggage, so you have to make do. This train to Rotterdam at least had double facing seat sets which allows us to take one section for us and the luggage. The train we took from the airport didn't have these seats arrangements so we had to leave the bags in the aisles.

You're 100% correct. There's no reason whatsoever that during the conversion drydocks for both ships they couldn't have added ice buckets and in the case of Luminosa WORKING Ice machines in the Lido buffet. It shows the lack of commitment the company took in converting these ships and cost cutting was emphasized over passenger convenience and fleet consistency.

That's the premium teas that are a charge and are also offered at the Java Blue Coffee shop. The buffet and MDR will ALWAYS have the Lipton's black tea, green tea (I forget the brand), and regular and decaf brewed coffee for no charge. You just have to specifically ask for the complementary hot beverage choices. The Art of Tea and espresso based coffees have always been listed as extra in the MDR (many years ago they were included) on all the ships. I know there was much controversy about this on the initial Luminosa sailings from Brisbane where many Australian cruisers didn't realize that there was complementary regular coffee and Lipton's black tea offered at dinnertime in the MDR and thought the premium selection for a fee were the only choices.

Carnival doesn't serve Chamomile tea in the lido buffet fleetwide. Only two tea choices, Lipton and Green tea.

Same thing, actually even more so. For Asians drinking cold beverages is bad for your health. Not only do Asians not drink iced water but they will drink plain hot/boiling water.