Infinity makes the NY Times BIG!

[DrKoob]

If you haven't seen it, check out the HUGE photo of the aft cafe on Infinity that is on the front page of the NY Times Travel section.

 

Imagine my surprise (and I was thrilled) to see a huge pic of one of my favorite places on my favorite ship in an almost full page pic and a wonderful article about the X Savor the Caribbean series.

[RB Bonzo]

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/travel/26cruise.html

[cruiseyguy]

Unfortunately, the author's viewpoint is often self-centered and condescending toward the ship and its passengers.

[CPPADILLA]

Ditto to what Cruiseyguy said.

 

Why can't some people just enjoy their cruise and be thankful that they are able to take a cruise when there are so many who never ever will have that experience.

[lysolqn]

Is it presumptuous of me to assume the author isn't chomping at the bit to join the Captain's Club?

[Vistadeck]

Lol what a load of crap -- well at least the part at Bimini Road... I was on this sailing and the Bamini Road excursion .. didn't participate in the other cooking things, was there to spend time with my Mom doing fun Caribbean stuff -- but I loved Bimini Road, the food was excellent and flavourful. The band was fun :) and a nifty way to wrap up a nice lunch. I wonder if the writer was the person on the tour with a NY accent that loudly wailed when we met our guide at the resort .. paraphrasing "I hope we dont spend much time looking at the fish (we were going to see the tunnel of glass which is an aquarium) we have people that haven't eaten yet!" Lol I took the excursion to see the fish and tour of the resort which was advertised in the tour, with a nice meal at the end.

 

Anyway, I was on the same trip and sounds like this person just has a bad attitude and can't be much of a knowledgeable food person if they didn't expect French cuisine (In the United States) to possibly be a bit rich lol.

 

I got a kick out of it, thanks for the link.

[clopaw]

While I enjoyed the pictures, it's hard to understand this person's point of you. I don't think they would have been happy with the cruise no matter what.

[Lane40]

clopaw....I agree. I read the article twice and could not follow it at all. She completely lost me right from the beginning. Figured as soon as she put the fare she paid for the cruise, she was going to crush the entire thing throughout the article.

[excitedofharpenden]

Interesting article. The first words of her first sentence said it all for me:

AS a lone-wolf traveler and something of a food snob

She won't be on the list for one of Michel Roux's private gatherings, I'm sure;) I agree that perhaps she needs to be happy with the whole cruise experience. If you are into a culinary extravaganza, there are better options to be had out there. As for me, I just like being on the sea, pampered more than I get at home and having a really good meal without having to do the washing up afterwards!

 

Phil

[tuggers]

Ditto what the excited guy said!:D

[trcori]

Unfortunately, the author's viewpoint is often self-centered and condescending toward the ship and its passengers.

 

seems to be fashionable these days to publicly sneer at the cruising experience, unless perhaps the voyage takes place aboard a private yacht with a private vegan/macrobiotic chef, private Pilates instructor, and an itinerary stopping only in towns with poet and painter colonies, etc.

 

but if you REALLY want to read something LONGER that's an account of a Celebrity cruise taken by a self-centered, condescending author, might I recommend something that stumbled into my reading rack just a few days ago -- the title essay from David Foster Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" -- about a Harper's-bankrolled Caribbean cruise on Zenith in 1995 (when Zenith was considered a relatively big ship).

[usha]

Gee, am I sensing a very good reason why the author was traveling alone?

Would you want a share a cabin with a person with an attitude like hers?:eek:

[DrKoob]

When I first posted about the article this morning I was just thrilled to see photos after just getting off that same cruise a week ago.

 

Some observations after reading it:

 

Yes, the author is a SNOB with a capital S.

Would never do a cruise unless you paid her.

Had an agenda before she left.

 

We had already booked this cruise before we found out about Savor the Caribbean. It was our third time on Infinity in 14 months. She and her crew are like family to us.

 

We were thrilled when we found out about the Savor program. Cooking is my hobby and I thought the program was excellent. We had Brian Katz on our cruise and we did the shore excursion to the Olde Stone Farmhouse. Brian was an excellent teacher and did a superb job.

 

But anyone who thinks they are going to go on a cruise with 1950 other people and be able to actually cook something is either naive or stupid. How did this writer think they were going to do "hands on" demos for that many people. And the liability insurance situation would have been nutso.

 

But there were nice pictures though. If you get a chance, check out the printed version as the picture is huge and there are a bunch more taken throughout the ship. Great shot in the Trellis restaurant.

[cruiselover20]

What a rude person. Pretty sad......what people will write to keep a job.

[jeffkauf]

I don't know why so many of you are upset at this author's take on what she thought would be a special "food cruise" entitled "Savor the Caribbean". Yes, the idea of tons of hands on experiences was incorrect, but then again she had no past cruise experience. Now, as to her critique of her fellow passengers, gee, I gotta tell ya, I've been on over 60 cruises, from Silversea, Crystal, Seabourn, Princess, Celebrity (was on Infinity last year) and too many others to recall, and I must say her observations about some of her fellow cruisers hardly rings of an over exaggeration. Now for those of you who think her review is unfair, well fine, but then again this wasn't as much a cruise review as it was a food review (the reason she took this trip). If you think this review was too tough and in some way has diminished your sense of "cruise legitimacy", well then you might be easier to please or she might be difficult to please or you might just be upset that somone didn't find your cruise/food experience(s) consistent with hers. Such is life.

[Andy]

Why can't some people just enjoy their cruise and be thankful that they are able to take a cruise when there are so many who never ever will have that experience.

 

Hi Cppadilla !

 

Very Well said. I live by that exact feeling every time I am on a Cruise Ship.

 

I always say how thankful I am, that I can be with My Family, and that we are all in reasonably good health. I also enjoy meeting and making new friends on a Cruise. This way, even when things are less than perfect, I always stay positive, enjoy the moment, and try my best to make a positive out of a negative. I feel it is a good way to live my life.

 

On the rare occasion that I see others on Cruises that are very unhappy, I wished they did the same thing too.

[The Big Booper]

I saw the travel section in the Times this morning chock full of cruising articles and put down my tax workload to read the section. The Times has a history of putting down cruises and cruise people in their travel section as regular readers know (we only get the Sunday edition). There was quite a bit of snobbery and elitism in the article which seems to have gotten the people here in an uproar.

 

Ironically, in lurking and occasionally contributing to the X section, I have consistently observed the very same snobbery and superiority manifested by the X-people towards other big ship lines, especially your stablemate RCI. The tone is EXACTLY the same and DW and I laughed out loud while reading the article and coudn't wait to see the posts here today.

 

Look in the mirror. This board consistently has the same putdowns and air of superiority towards other lines as the Times foodie has towards Celebrity and its cuisine.

 

You have been trumped by a higher power !!!!:D

[lionheart]

I too am happy that I can take a nice cruise each year. A nice break from everyday duties. THe food isn't always the "best" but I never went hungry on the ship and their is always something I can find to eat and enjoy. Plus when I'm done eating, no cleaning up and for that matter no preparing the food on my part. Onboard the ship, I try to be in a good mood (I'm on vacation-why not) and not look at every imperfection. Plus I try to treat everyone with respect. I notice some people aboard the ship that are rude to others don't seem very unhappy and would not be satisfied no matter what is served...

[fsr44]

DrKoob, I thought of you immediately when I saw the Times article! While I took issue with the tone of the article, it was wonderful to see my favorite spot pictured on the front page. Oh how I wish Fred and I were sitting there and enjoying the sunset with sushi and cocktails right now!

[Moeve]

It says the writer is a senior something or other with peoples magazine - now help me out here isn't peoples magazine on of these "glittzy make something up about the stars if there are no decent stories out there" mags???

 

´Well if so why does the NY Times need to use such writers???

[The Big Booper]

The Times ain't what it used to be. Ask about Judith Miller and Jason Blair and other similar stories that have yet to surface.

 

The Times likes to assign writers to take cruises who normally wouldn't be caught dead on a ship. Last year they practically forced a Florida bureau stringer to go on the Sovereign for a 4 nighter and the woman sulked the whole trip and wrote a poison pen review. This story about X was mild by comparison.

[bulldogmom]

I didn't read the article (didn't have any use for it after what the rest of you said) but I was wondering..........

Is there a cafe like this on the Galaxy?? I'd love to eat dinner there one night. It'd be awesome!

[usha]

Not yet, bulldogmom.

btw, I'm a bulldoggrandma.:)

[rundogrun]

Ahhh...it's never fun for the first timers when they first learn the excursions are written by copywriters and rarely live up to expectations.

[marinco]

Clopaw:

 

You hit the nail on the head. Speaking of heads, give Hero a pat for Melinda and me.

 

I hope you trip to Hawaii goes well. Aloha!