Muushka

Are you by chance allergic to mold? Blue cheese can be a problem.

No, sadly, soy.

Since you apparently never went back in the remaining 10 days of your cruise to investigate, any answer you get here would be only speculation. There is no set collection of cheeses they offer on any specific night cruise after cruise.

While on the cruise I attempted to find out from the maitre d, but he didn't give me the name of the cheese that was on the plate (it wasn't a cheese plate, it had some fruits, just one kind of cheese). He was so upset that I got sick I didn't want to push it.

You're probably right about set cheeses, that's probably why he couldn't tell me the name of it. I was thinking the name of the cheese might have been on the menu.

I had an allergic reaction to a cheese plate (I think) that was served from the dessert menu in Luminae. As soon as I ate it I knew there was going to be a problem. I stopped after a few bites.

It was the 2nd night on a 12 night cruise. I figured I could find the menus when I got home on the internet but had no luck. I believe that was the night they served seared cod and Moroccan chicken..

I suspect that the cheese was made of soy.

Can anyone who has dined or will dine in Luminae let me know what kind of cheese it was? I NEVER want to eat it again!

PS The allergic reaction was severe vomiting until everything was removed from my stomach, then I felt great!:)

We have QM2 with us today. Of course they are tendering.

We are set to go to St Lucia.

We got our first invite to a "sail in" tomorrow morning. We've only done sail aways on the helipad. Looking forward!

December 1 scheduled stop in St Lucia was changed today to Martinique. The shorex brochure in the staterooms on boarding still shows St. Lucia so even they were caught by surprise.

We are right next door to you (I'm on the balcony from Silhouette, wave!) and are scheduled for St. Lucia tomorrow. Hmmmm. Maybe I should go down and check if we are still going!

It is fun having 2 S class ships side by side.

We're in a RS right now and we're told there are no laundry perks. We were directed to use the per item charge tag and attach it to the laundry bag. I thought there would be some kind of perk with being in RS.

Wow. That's just wrong.

Just as clarification, there are no longer any 'coupons' to get. Your perks for Captains Club are included as a part of your account.

Good! This was 7/16. Can't wait, just another 17 days and we'll experience the non-coupons!

Our butler asked for our Elite coupons for our laundry in a RS. Go figure.

I remember circa 2013 Red Bull was $5 a can.

The pool party we had on the Eclipse was great. There was a giant ice sculpture with "2014" and at midnight they push the 4 into the pool and replaced it with a 5. They handed out party hats, etc. They also had a champagne menu and you could order a bottle of champagne (at a cost of course) to be delivered to any bar on the ship at a certain time. We had a nice bottle delivered to the Martini Bar and the bartenders kept it on ice for us even while we went up to the pool party at midnight. The pool party had free champagne being handed out for a toast at midnight.

 

You'll definitely enjoy it!

We were on the same cruise, it was a wonderful cruise. We walked around the pool deck and found them filling thousands of champagne glasses. And we were very lucky on that cruise. The captain got permission to race to St. Maarten so that we were able to watch the fireworks. How nice is that??

There's an old saying that comes to mind.

When 3 people tell you you're dead, lie down.

I got the same email a few years ago for a Christmas cruise. I tried to book and was unable to.

Thankfully Christmas still came and we enjoyed our cruise. I hope you do also.:D

I've gotten the patch from S. Korea (I have friends that live there and visit there). The drug is over the counter there, It is called Kimite. If we can't get it here, we will get it from Asia. I actually found the patches in an Asian supermarket once (here in NC) but they no longer carry them. You might try that avenue if you can't find any here in the US. Oh yes, and they are dirt cheap (Kimite). A friend sent me a bunch of them a couple of years ago, still using them!

I just called our TA (big box that store begins with a C) and they didn't have a clue why they sent me the additional email yesterday (2 days in San Juan). They called X and verified that no, we are not going to San Juan and yes, we are going to Coco Cay, then 2 sea days,

So there we have it.....for now.:)

I am getting conflicting information. Our online travel agent has sent an email stating that the two day stop in Puerto Rico has been cancelled and replaced with one day in Bahamas and another sea day.

 

This doesn’t bother us in the least - I completely understand the situation and sympathize with the people there. I’m sure that they don’t need to ‘entertain’ us right now.

 

However, Celebrity’s website doesn’t reflect this change at all. They appear to still be offering excursions at that port which is odd to say the least.

 

Does anyone have any further information on this itinerary?

The fact that X's website isn't correct is puzzling to you? ;p

I think we can safely assume that we will be doing Coco Cay and not San Juan.

Not too much longer now!

Celebrity used to give them when you bought the soda package. But it has been several years since they stopped giving them.

Thank you so much for all of the great information. It sounds like something we would both really enjoy.

I appreciate your input!:)

Has anyone done this cruise line sponsored excursion?

Overview Beans to Bar - The Chocolate Express Tour

 

Savor the flavors of Soufrière on this journey to Hotel Chocolat where you'll enjoy a hands-on chocolate-making workshop. Discover where chocolate comes from during a visit to the cocoa seeding nursery. View the cacao beans in their pods. Then, visit Hotel Chocolat's fermenting room and sun-drying station. Taste the beans and learn about their distinctive characteristics. De-shell, grind the beans, and craft your own recipe. Mix and pour the chocolate to form your own signature chocolate bar. Then, indulge your senses and take a delicious bite of your hand-crafted chocolate. Browse the shop and purchase locally hand-made chocolate. Finally, savor a delicious lunch at the local Boucan Restaurant and take in stunning views of the Pitons in the lovely town of Soufrière. SLK1 $189 per adult

 

We have some OBC and thought this would be a special way of spending it. Thanks!

I read threads like this and just shake my head. My idea of a nightmare excursion.

OP, you sounds like a reasonable person. Thank you for the heads up.

It's nice to read about someone going above and beyond in their duties.

I can be a squeaky wheel. If something is clearly wrong, I will tell the powers that be about my experience.

But I also tell management when one of their employees does a great job, as you will do.:)

Hi Muushka. Yes, it is indeed a beautiful song, and I think probably most Australians do know the words - and love the song so much. I guess that the Australians and the New Zealanders are a bit like the Americans and the Canadians. The lovely thing is that what we find with the New Zealanders is that so often they have amazing voices, particularly the Maori. I love to hear them singing. On our NZ cruise last year we sat out on the balcony as the New Zealand coastline grew smaller and smaller and on my iPad I played the superb Maori farewell song:

 

 

They also can render old hymns in such a way that it just about brings tears to the eyes. For example:

 

Oops, I do seem to have led this thread into different directions, but I'm hoping for lots of lovely Maori music at the sailaway party from Auckland.

I hope you have Maori music for your sail away! A cruise in that part of the world (esp NZ) is on my bucket list.

gwsster-

I do not know where you sailed out of last month on the Infinity, but I do know from personal experience, that some towns like Seattle have very strict city ordinances that absolutely prohibit ANY music or noise of any kind at sailaway. Sailing out of Seattle was quite the letdown for us after experiencing sailaway in New York.

The citizens of Seattle who live close to the docks got together and it is not allowed. :loudcry:

OK, that explains a lot!

We will be sailing out of Auckland at 9pm next February. I'm intrigued as to what might be played - perhaps Pokarekareana. If that be the case, I hope nobody will object to me singing along. So looking forward to it - the sailaway feeling is fantastic.

I'll admit it, I had to look up Pokarekareana. I watched the video of Hayley Westenra singing it.

My goodness what a beautiful song and a great singer she is. Do you really know the words? Wow!

The best for me was Disney (all of the Disney cruises for me) the happy atmosphere and happy people make it extra special. They played the horns "When you wish upon a star" very cool.

The absolute worst was on my last cruise on Celebrity Infinity this month. NOTHING going on at poolside, NO music Nada. They had a burger grill open but no drink station, everyone was crowded into the buffet. It was the most underwhelming sail away in my opinion. This was my first Celebrity cruise so wasn't prepared for the lack of enthusiasm for sail away.

I agree. Disney does know how to whip up a crowd! As far as X compared to DCL, we had to get used to the difference. We took our first X in 2006 and we have done 10+ since and just 3 DCL. Out of all of our X cruises we just had 1 sail away the was similar to yours. But the ship was late leaving port so everything was messed up. All of the others have been pretty good. Not Disney good, but just pretty good. We don't have children but love the Disney product. But we also grew to appreciate the quiet, subtle atmosphere of X. Plus the price difference, well, X wins.

Sorry for changing the subject OP. By the way, great thread. Adds more bucket list items!

Thanks everyone. I think I figured it out.

I didn't use Celebrity to do the pricing (I NEVER do, too cumbersome). The site I used took into consideration my residence and age and automatically took the reduction. But the W doesn't take that into consideration. So if you remove those discounts, the W is actually a little less than the S2.

On X website, the W is cheaper than the others, which does make sense. Next time I'll check X before I post! Sorry.

PS Yes jelayne, all of those cabins I listed prices for are available.

We have a cruise booked for Nov 26, 2017. I see that they are offering guaranteed suite cabins.

Here are the prices of the cabins:

S2 $2949

S1 $3144

Category W $3534

CS $4909

RS $6574

PS $10104

If I understand W category, if you book one of these cabins you could get any suite, from a S2 to who knows what.

My question is, why would I pay $3534 for a W if I could end up with a much less expensive S2?

Or is the W for CS and above?

We are currently booked in an S2 (which we booked for right around that price), just curious. Thanks!

I agree. My cruise does not begin until my luggage is unpacked and stored away. And my cruise ends when I'm going to sleep on the last night. I wish there was some "magic potion" you could take where you would go to sleep on the last night in your bed on the ship and magically wake up the next morning in your own bed at home ;)

I would buy that potion.:D

I think for us the cruise ends when we retire that last night in our cabin. It is all yuck after that.