Velvetwater

We brought back a bottle of spirit from Flam Norway while on the Jade in 2017.

No-one said anything.

Seems to be a general Europe thing....not just EU

Yes although I find if we take the best black tea from these Isles the water and uht milk on board make it less tasty than home.

55 minutes ago, hawkeyetlse said:

Congee on the Dawn every morning, but it is not vegetarian. It has chicken and is quite heavily salted with lots of ginger. I liked it, but if you need something plainer, they have oatmeal, cream of wheat, and grits.

 

The Indian dish was usually chickpeas in the morning, with fried rotis. Lunchtime there was always fried rice, white rice, and several Chinese and Indian dishes, often mislabeled. Typically one meat and one veggie, plus dal. Poppadums and sauces. For some reason the rotis are behind the counter and you have to request them.

I prefer to add my own toppings but I add lots of soy and onion at home anyway so sounds good.

On P&O Oz their congee station had a topping bar so I changed my veg and meat combos each day.

Not Asian but I really like congee for breakfast.....especially if its a chilly Baltic morning!

On the Jade we were putting dhaal on our bacon and eggs. Delicious.

Hey I never asked for food to be specially cooked for me at the buffet.

Just have certain tastes that I prefer eating.

We noted on the Jade in 2017 that the Asian offerings weren't too bad compared to usual Asian offerings at a buffet. I believe the head Chef was SE Asian so that probably helped.

Awesome news, thank you!

We are also on a 9 day port intensive Baltic with no sea days although we have visited some ports before so not sure if we will be heading back to the ship early.

Done it twice as we work in European education.

Was fine but hot as hell.

Would happily do it again.

Hi 

Last time we were with NCL on the Jade in Europe they had things like congee rice porridge and curry for breakfast. Do they still do this? We also enjoyed the biscuits n gravy.

The lunch and dinner options also had  good range of daal and curry and South East Asian classics each day like Adobo and fried noodles etc.

Is this still the case? Will be on the dawn doing the Baltics in 2 weeks.

Thanks

On 7/27/2023 at 1:52 PM, cruiseny4life said:

What brand should I try? I choose Grey Goose on NCL over the well crap. Well...when I remember. 

What does NCL stock these days? 

I would agree GG is better than say...Smirnoff but certainly not worth paying to upgrade a package for especially if its mixed with something else.

If you are drinking it straight go Belvedere which might be a premium upgrade maybe? It's Polish so they know how to do it. If you are mixing I'm sure NCL used to stock Stolichnaya which is cheaper over here in Europe but is made in a traditional premium way but not Russia anymore. 

Drink the good stuff in port. Premium brand drinks...particularly fizz and most spirits on most lines on pretty standard.

I'm still baffled why every non European cruiser goes nuts over grey goose for instance. The French really can't make Vodka like Northern Europe can. 

Traditional rums on cruise ships I can get on with however.

Our friends on the celebration confirmed they were charging for the third entree.

The waiter told them when they joked about getting 10 lobsters tails.

Spare underwear in case of luggage loss

A few outfit basics that will go with clothing bought in port in case too  (long black jersey skirt, leggings, floaty mini dress, socks, tee to sleep in)

4 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Any experienced cruiser would have known that TAs have a higher passenger age demographic by the virtue that is a 14 night cruise with so many seadays. Not sure why anyone would think that a 14 night cruise with all those seadays would have lots young people on board.

They have done at least one 2 week repo cruise with sea days and didn't think it would be super young but said there's a lot of much older on board and carts and nappers on deck and things. They also said that there will be really good bands on a night (pig n anchor area) etc and there would be only a handful of folk. They are both 40 and die hard ccl fans.

Our other and older friends have also said it is gentler than their other carnival journey cruises and their long transpacfic and transatlantics. They think it's weather related. Oh I asked these guys about chibang and they had a mix but said the Mexican was nothing different to cantina, slow service and the Asian food was worse than jijis.

We have 2 sets of friends on this cruise. Both appear to be having a good time but both have had Problems with queues. Not sure at what times or venues. Will ask.

One just posts pics of drinks on their social media and ports and the other is fb msging me.

Other things:

-Our foodie friends said Chibang was awful

- Shaqs is loved by both and busy. MDR also good

- The two new bars are busy and loved by all (latitudes and the panelled one)

- Some illness on ship (mainly sea sickness and other)

- Some nights have been quieter than expected. Especially the first night. Our younger friends are surprised with the higher age on board compared to shorter cruises they take.

- Cruisers were moaning at guest services as people couldn't use their balconies on the very first chunk of the cruise due to high seas

- Ship is not full ( I knew this already as they had rooms for sale a few days out.....if I wasn't working I would have jumped on a 2 hr train to Southampton as last minute prices were awesome)

I'll check my chats but that's what I can remember 

We left the Glory at 8.30 this summer....were at the airport before 9.30. Had a midday flight but could have squeezed earlier. 

Never had this on a cruise.

But I always drink lots of non booze drinks and keep active.

I'm also mid 30s and a normal weight?

Just wanted to add that some cruise lines will have a time to be checked in at the terminal but close slightly before that.

On our Princess cruise, two passengers who had never cruised before showed up 10 minutes before check in ended in a taxi. Southampton terminal and staff were nowhere to be seen.

They did manage to get attention but did not have time to covi d test and were denied boarding. We found out this story on our social media after sailing. Not sure what happened after that.

About 7? This mainly for 10 plus day cruises though.

Trainers

Flip flops

Evening formal shoes

General evening shoes

Day sandals

Day slip on canvas shoes

General sandals

We have done this with NCL and P&O and can agree. We could leave and come back any time in Oslo and Bali.

We also had an overnight in St Petersburg with Carnival but Visa laws meant we could only be with a tour. Check port and country laws too as some port areas have open/close times or are industrial ports with no foot traffic.

Yes even though you don't even need to raise cruise prices (looks at Oz and UK et al) lines.

Also, paying staff fairly would mean more financial safety for them.

If you think about it, the rise of the all inclusive fare has increased on mainstream lines in recent years anyway. Cruising markets in non US countries are rising and that means the industry moving to those tastes. Will it ever be the norm? Hopefully.

Go up to a high deck and look out at port with a cocktail.

£4500-5000 in 2018

But that was a holiday in Singapore before the cruise, holiday in Oz after the cruise and a 14 day sailing for 2 adults with drinks and grats. It was also UK summer holidays so we have to pay a certain price on flights. Didn't do too bad overall. 

Tea time was also on the Glory last week. Last sea day.

1 hour ago, tigereye said:

Velvetwater, we were on the Glory last week also and the day that they had bacon it was terrible quality. Really fat. Maybe they are trying to kill passenger's desire for it.

We generally only have a little bit of bacon on Carnival as we prefer back bacon anyway. I think you guys call this Canadian bacon?

I don't understand the cut down on bacon but there being more smoked salmon on carnival. I like both but salmon is pricier.

Booking

We booked this cruise 3 weeks beforehand. Very last minute for a long distance but as our 10th Wedding anniversary Cruise had been covid cancelled and we have plans to start a family soon we thought we should just pull the trigger. My new job and illness had made us pause cruising this year initially.Flights were the usual pricey summer holiday affair but as teachers this is what we know. Last minute prices were not too bad at all and with our cruise being ridiculously cheap with cheers thrown in all it took was some Belgian beers, My tablet and we were booked! My husband was away at friends bingeing on star trek and wine so I booked alone. He was excited enough to message me back so Cruises beat Sci Fi.....it's official.

Also booked 3 nights in NOLA in the Troubador (Highly recommended) and direct BA flight from London Heathrow to Louis Armstrong there (fantastic) and AA return with a stop in Dallas (twats).