markeb

I had to look. We're spending at least one and maybe two nights (two reservations while we make up our mind) in Columbus in April. The Courtyard Downtown is $327 + parking for the Sunday night. In fairness, it's a 1/2 mile from Nationwide Arena and Bruce is playing that night (which is why we're there), but downtown Columbus ain't Midtown Manhattan!

When was your last time in NYC? $400 is kind of the new $250. Not saying you can't get there under $300, but if you're there two nights, have to stay in Queens, spend the time getting into Manhattan, and one of you has never been to New York, I'd probably try to stretch my budget if at all possible. As a for instance, I just checked one of my favorite Midtown properties and it's almost 3X what I paid two weeks ago for your dates. There was a time where I'd expect that to come down as it got closer. Not so much these days. I'd look at Nitemare's suggestions and see if any of them work.

Hoping the OP comes back with more questions. From their other posts (which is how I deduced Equinox and Martinique) I have the impression they DO want to leave the ship in Martinique, and that does require a passport.

I guess I largely have different expectations. We were on Equinox in November. The menu in Luminae was limited, as it was the two previous times we were in a suite. There continue to be too many boring beef options, but there were very nice lamb offerings, the seared tuna was actually rare, and the black bass delicious and not overcooked this time. My wife enjoyed a great vegetarian dish one night. The serving sizes were appropriate instead of huge. We left the dining room comfortable where previously the options were stuffed or leave food on the plate. I will agree that service was quite a bit slower. And the availability of good whisk(e)y at the bars had definitely decreased. Equinox was pretty much all in on the martini bar and there was plenty of gin and vodka and gin and vodka drinks.

I've heard that as well, but can't find it on Celebrity's web page. Deep in their travel confirmation it may well say a passport is required for this cruise. I know they put the responsibility totally on the traveler to know the documentation requirements for the cruise, so if they choose to enforce that and you don't have a passport, your insurance isn't going to pay either. I personally would be on the phone to either Celebrity or my TA (if I had one) on Monday morning and I'd be looking up passport requirements at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports.html this weekend. Current processing for an expedited passport is supposedly 2-3 weeks. And in this case I'd probably be getting a passport application started regardless of what Celebrity says, if you can find anyone who can answer the question authoritatively...

That thread’s one of the primary Google hits on the topic. Martinique was a fun stop. I’d hate to miss it on that itinerary.

Your cruise stops in Martinique. Martinique requires a passport. You can't go on that cruise without a passport. I doubt they'll let you board and stay onboard. We were actually told to carry ours off in port (no one checked). She either gambles on a passport, or makes an appointment for same day service as soon as possible to go in two weeks before the cruise.

What are the stops? Do any of the ports of call require a passport?

This has been the norm in a lot of the restaurant business in the US. The front of the house staff do better because of tips than most of the back of the house staff that are on some version of full pay. There were some changes to the law over the last few years that allows back of the house staff to share in mandatory tip pools, but only if the business doesn't take a "tip credit". The tipped employees themselves frequently don't want the system to change.

Head space timing issue. I was trying to be sure how many ships they had, and pulled up Viking. Stuff happens sometimes... Need to close CC for a week!

And yet, the RCG CEO keeps making public statements that would put the corporation at risk from the SEC if not true that they have record bookings regardless of how much they raise the price. Apparently no one around here, but SOMEONE is booking Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Silversea. Just looked again. Twelve ships all under 1000 passengers. They can live by scooping up crumbs...

FWIW, the ceviche was delicious on Equinox. The Luminae menu does suggest (require?) stepping out of your comfort zone on occasion.

If you're going to be sleeping (you hope) anyway, look at rebooking in Car 2 (the Quiet Car). No talking, cell phone use, etc. And the conductors generally take that seriously. You can do that in the app. I "think" that train originates in New York, not Washington (many of the NB Acelas originate in DC). If you are earliesh and get a red cap, you'll be on the train and asleep before they start official boarding. But there's no reason to be there an hour early. Thirty minutes (maybe 40 if it does start at Moynihan) is the earliest a red cap can get you down. If Google is right, H&H opens at 6:00 😬...

That's something I forget. Didn't they used to put "attaboy cards" into your welcome aboard packet? Or am I thinking Royal. I know I've done them in the past. Everything's in the app, but I don't remember a way to do an attaboy in the app!

Roger that. It sometimes feels like people want to be sure that only their waiter is getting the extra. They probably have more control over a direct cash tip, but they're probably not keeping it all either.

The wait staff works multiple venues. Your MDR waiter for dinner is taking turns carrying trays and drinks in the OVC for breakfast and lunch. If done correctly, the workload should balance out. And the pooling would cover that as well. I've never seen anyone leave a tip at the OVC. I'm sure some people do, but not many. I don't know how they're pooled and split. In some venues it does seem they track who works what tables. But odds are the front of house people you see are getting help from other front of house people you didn't see. That's why they pool. And there's some formula for splitting. In land based restaurants that don't pool, the waiter (the one who took the order and presented the bill) is going to be "tipping out" the other staff that worked your table. On a credit card transaction that may be handled by the POS system, although they may have to select people and their roles. For cash, they're literally dividing the cash and giving it to the busboy, the bartender, etc. It would be incredibly rare for one person to keep the entire tip. It's part of the culture of the restaurant. Back of house is a black hole. That was never part of a traditional tip pool in the US. You still can't mandate sharing pooled tips with back of house personnel if you take a tip credit against salaries; everyone has to be earning at least minimum wage. They might get tipped out if there's no mandatory tip pool. It's complicated. I think most of us assume the ship's follow some version of the US model though they don't have the same legal obligations. But I don't know of anyone on Cruise Critic who's actually worked as wait staff on Celebrity and would have a definitive answer.

Those are after the UN opening, New York Fashion Week, and the US Open, so that's good. But September has always been crazy stupid in NYC, especially Manhattan. Just to confirm, by "next September" you mean this fall, or literally September of 2025 (next year)?

They already have. That's how this works in almost every establishment in the world. And the employees agreed to the process when they accepted employment. And them may be the employees themselves, who are probably tipping out others if they're not mandatorily or voluntarily pooling. The ship isn't a mom and pop restaurant where one person does everything for you. Your really good waiter appears really good partially because he or she is taking care of those that take care of him or her...

Pretty much second @cruisestitch. The by-the-glass list was never great, but a lot of the interesting "other wines" seem to have dropped off. And there seems to be significant variety from ship to ship and venue to venue. The "Steel" chardonnay is a very nice unoaked French style chardonnay. If you love oak and butter, it's not that. The Cake Bread Primitivo was very nice for a red. Beyond that, try wines and discard the ones you don't like. Most of the venues will give you a taste of anything on the package; that may be enough to rule something out for you (although that can be dangerous, too).

That's a twist I've not heard before. There are too many urban legends on what's done and how. I just tip and let them figure it out. Which is what I do on land.

Does it matter? Even if they pool it, they're getting more than if you hadn't left extra. The stock answer on CC for years has been that if the customer leaves the auto tips in place, the individual can keep the extra cash gratuity. The flaw in that logic is the customer could remove the auto tips up until 10:00 pm or so the last night and the individual with a cash tip would have no idea they now owed the pool. I just choose to accept that what happens to the gratuity is between the employee and their employer.

A lot of that depends on what you like, especially in a Pinot Noir. It looks like there's one Zinfandel from Mendocino County on the menu. There's also a Primitivo (same grape, long story) by Layer Cake from Puglia, Italy. If memory serves the Primitivo is pretty good; I don't think I've ever had that Zin. Those are both in the premium package. Decent selection by the bottle. Pinot Noir is a different story, and you'll probably have to pay extra, or if you're looking for a really nice Pinot Noir, just buy a bottle. The primary Pinot Noir if a Mondavi California that most people seem to despise (I've never had it and can't imagine I ever would). The "Elevated" Pinot Noirs are Cherry Pie and their Elegance co-brand with Kendall-Jackson. They're showing that in the app as a Sonoma County wine. I've had it and it's OK. I thought they were selling the Penner-Ash from Yamhill-Carlton region of Willamette by the glass, but I don't see that on Ascent. It's been available by the bottle, but the MDR on Ascent shows Grand Moraine from the same area. $80 a bottle (20% discount for premium package plus 20% gratuity so just under $80). As far as reds worth an upcharge, the Kiona Merlot from Red Mountain Washington is very nice, maybe the best upcharge on the menu. The Opulence Cabernet from Grgich Hills is $25, so $9.60 over the package. It's as good as I'd expect from Grgich Hills and not as crazy stupid of an upcharge as Caymus. You're probably just going to have to try a bunch of wine and see what you like. But the better wines are by the bottle. Even more so than in the past. And remember each venue has some variation on their wines, including the by the bottle wines.

THANKS! We did look at the Tonglen Lake Lodge, but no availability when we were there. Denali Bluffs and Tonglen were the two properties that most interested us. I did look at the Seward Military Resort, but I'm a retired O5, so it's actually more expensive than the Edgewater (or essentially the same price). Rank based pricing. Go figure. So Edgewater looked most interesting. Harbor 360 is sold out. We're spending two nights in Seward to get the Gold Service train down. Like I said, there's a part of us that didn't really believe we were doing this...

I think I would have simply looked at you and asked if you worked for the restaurant and when you said no thanked you for your interest. And ignored you completely.

Most of the car services now book through Uber and Lyft. They'll probably pull up with stickers for the company you booked through and an Uber and Lyft sticker.