markeb

And he could say that. Clicking ups his payback from YouTube. His post is essentially an ad that he could benefit from financially. I have no problem with others posting his content, but posting his content on this site when he could stand to benefit bothers me. I guess I need to reread our T&Cs wit Cruise Critic. I didn’t think that was allowed. Probably time to report it and see what happens. If it stays up it must be OK.

No intention of driving up someone’s click rate. Especially if the poster is the YouTuber.

I’m not sure what that means? Arguably the president of Celebrity will never be a “real” CEO. RCG has the board and shareholders. The brand presidents answer to RCG. LLP came in from an operations position. Was she brought in to improve operational efficiency? Is business strategy set at RCG? How much strategy is set at the brand level? Visionaries are rare. And typically short lived. What’s Apple done since the iPhone? Even before Jobs passed? What do you want the new president of Celebrity to do? And assume they don’t have carte blanche to commit capital resources. They almost certainly won’t.

I haven’t seen anyone mention Indian food. At least in August, Equinox had a nice selection, including a few vegan dishes, of Southern Indian food at the OVC for lunch. Had some really nice Dahl, for instance. It was hidden, probably next to the General Tso’s chicken 🙄, but was very good. Too much sodium I’m sure… Something else to watch for.

No refillable cups, no freestyle soda machines.

Mine are the old ones. Last time I was in London was the holidays in 2019 into early 2020. It’s only £60, but I’ll see what I can do.

That’s great news! Most iPad problems are reasonably straightforward.

It may or may not fit, but with 5 days, assuming you have Apple Care and an Apple Store nearby, it’s about an hour and a half to replace an iPad. Unless he isn’t backing it up to the Apple Cloud… And I also don’t worry about electronics out in the cabin.

Shorthand. I think they’re £20 notes.

No. The BEST way was a fully salaried, all expenses paid, three year tour in Bavaria courtesy of the US Army. Our own car, our own place. An hour and a half from Munich and about three hours to the Alps...

Le Spezia is basically the port stop for Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terre. But not next door to Florence (a lot closer to Pisa, but still not right there). You could spend a week around Florence, or Rome. Maybe even Naples, with Pompei and Vesuvius. It looks like it's about a 3 hour train ride from Florence to Naples, depending on the time of day (that's Google Maps not the actual train timetable). Rome is a little more than halfway between them. Pisa is about an hour by train from Florence. I really don't know about the other stops. Messina is obviously Sicily and not far from Mount Etna. If Barcelona and Cannes are places you really want to visit, especially if you have time to go to Barcelona early and stay in Rome after, then the cruise is going to give you a quick overview. If the Italy mainland stops are more interesting (really look Tuscany: Florence, Pisa, Montalcino, the surrounding hills) then I think you'd more appreciate a land trip to Italy and figure out how you want to divide your time. Florence to Naples is probably two hotel changes with Rome unless you day trip to Naples from Rome. Again, it's a breadth or depth question. You'll see more but less of it on the ship. Especially with the distance from port to the key sites in Italy. Either way should make for a great anniversary!

Are there stops on the itinerary that really interest you? Which ones?

This is not an easy question to answer. You're on a cruise forum. I see a couple of hesitant answers so far, but most everyone says yes, and assumes you'd want to see the same stops and move between them on a land vacation. If you want to "see Europe", whatever that means to you, you'll lay eyes on a number of places. That itinerary does have the advantage of beginning in Barcelona if you can go early, and ending "near" Rome, if you can stay late. You just don't get to experience any place. This is a Southern European cruise in June and it leaves almost all the ports by 6:00, which is about 2-3 hours before the cities even come to life. I'm a much bigger fan of visiting fewer places and experiencing them more. I don't generally like going somewhere and moving more than once. I'll usually find a central point and day trip from there. I realize I don't see as many places doing that, but I get to really enjoy the places I do visit. But not everyone has an opportunity to spend a week in London and go back later for a week in Paris. The cruise looks like a good cruise. I enjoy cruising, but I'd want to spend more than 11 hours in Naples...

Unless the OP is getting well away from an area tourists normally visit (and maybe not even then) isn't the best answer "contactless credit card or ApplePay/Google Pay"? I actually have to look at the pound notes I have left over from my last trip and makes sure they're not obsolete! I'd hate to have to track down a bank to trade them this summer! I almost never touched them...

This seems to be another consistent inconsistency. I just looked out of curiosity, and our 10N in November on Equinox has different menus (Luminae) for the 10 nights. I just looked and Equinox is doing the 10 night Southern Caribbean starting this weekend. Not sure what they're on right now.

Well, it was the 1990's. That's when we lived in Bavaria. You drink bier in Bayern... The wine regions of Germany are along the Rhine and Mosel rivers, so far west from Munich. And while I think there were good German wines then, I think there are much better German wines now. And most places in Munich at the time would have had one brewery's beer and mostly house wines, usually Riesling, and dry, half dry, or sweet. Italian or French places would have a much better selection, but I wasn't as into wine then as I am now...

That's pretty useless. One of the world's largest and most varied wine regions. If he didn't like Italian wines writ large, I don't know how he could be a sommelier (sommelier in title only).

Celebrity lets you save your pass to your iPhone wallet. You don't need connectivity for that. I assume you can do the same with Google Wallet.

And I haven't printed a boarding pass for any form of transportation in at least 10 years. I'll take my chances and save the paper.

The app is fine. Add it to your wallet in case the connectivity is bad inside.

First of all, that may be the best sommelier name ever! I've had that sort of experience on land at good restaurants. Obviously not 7 nights in a row. I've not found the shipboard somms to have that kind of sense of adventure. Maybe they don't believe the customer? Too many times when a California cab or an overoaked buttery chardonnay goes with anything. And a tendency to want to serve a wine before you've even looked at the menu, and continue to pour the same wine even after you've finished your course and moved on to the next one. I prefer when the somm knows their wines and the chef's dishes and knows which wines complement which dishes.

That it's not worth it if it's only the standard wines. But I'm only on my second cup of coffee this morning...

i kind of disagree with that, but it does depend on cost, time, and amount of OBC... I enjoyed that they had wines that I wouldn't have necessarily tried even in the packages. And some things that were probably in the classic package that were surprisingly good. You also discovered how good some of the somms are on the ship. One of the somms on Equinox in August WAS a sommelier and had worked in London (he was Indian). This was something he was doing to broaden his experience. In fact, I've got a recommendation for him for an Indian restaurant in London that I haven't been to. But that's a digression. The major downside is if you get a bunch of people without a drink package that just want to slam as much wine as they can in an hour...

Because it is fashion. And they don't know what the 80's are. Complement them on their look if you want to freak them out. If they think it's "old" they might stop it,

They've actually made a tremendous effort. You may not like it, but everything they're wearing or carrying has been thought out, down to the comb in their hair or back pocket. They didn't just come from shooting hoops, unless they're maybe 14. You can't shoot hoops dressed that way. Yeah, some try to get away with tanks/wife beaters, but not all of them. They've put far more thought into their dress than the people who grab the $20 khaki's from Kirkland in the size they wore 15 years ago, didn't try them on, and now either are flashing their ankle or walking off the hem as they try to close the fly or keep them from falling off. Along with a Kirkland polo and/or Hawaiian style shirt. But that's completely acceptable.