Some very personal musings about our Beyond cruise....

[dani negreanu]

16 hours ago, hcat said:

Hope you will post some photos b/c they are usually quite beautiful!

 

Thank you for your kind words. I've already posted some pictures on "my" thread (Royal Caribbean boards), so I'll just attach a link to it. Since it's a huge thread, making it easier for you 😉

 

Page 2522 - #63036 & 7

          2529 - #63209 & 210

          2533 - #63318 & 323

          2549 - #63712

          2553 - #63819 & 820

 

 

[cruising sister]

Thank you Dani, I enjoyed your pictures. I hope you fell better soon. I have enjoyed reading your thread. 

[HMR74]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

What is kitchen roll?  Paper towels?

check out amazon for a choice of safer BBQ grid cleaners, I use the brick type which leave a residue (clean with wet towels or take the grids off and rinse in utility sink)  but I use a power washer periodically when I deep clean.

 

Otherwise, right when I turn the BBQ off I use my wire brush to push around kitchen paper towels soaked with water to clean off grids and that does a pretty good job.

[hcat]

2 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Thank you for your kind words. I've already posted some pictures on "my" thread (Royal Caribbean boards), so I'll just attach a link to it. Since it's a huge thread, making it easier for you 😉

 

Page 2522 - #63036 & 7

          2529 - #63209 & 210

          2533 - #63318 & 323

          2549 - #63712

          2553 - #63819 & 820

 

 

Thank you for the links..I will  try to follow them.

This fridge is so neat and clean..  Ours is more cluttered but kept clean..we only buy fresh  products that are on sale..economic necessity these days!

[calicakes]

I consider myself a "foodie" as well.  I wrote a live blog on our September 2019 Equinox cruise, I had a lot of comments on the food in Blu.  I was told I might prefer a different line.  We decided to branch out and try Oceania in February.  I found the food on Oceania to be much better, the baked goods IN particular.  We have our first Celebrity Suite booked in September.( using FCC).  We're going to stick with Oceania going forward. 

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, calicakes said:

I consider myself a "foodie" as well.  I wrote a live blog on our September 2019 Equinox cruise, I had a lot of comments on the food in Blu.  I was told I might prefer a different line.  We decided to branch out and try Oceania in February.  I found the food on Oceania to be much better, the baked goods IN particular.  We have our first Celebrity Suite booked in September.( using FCC).  We're going to stick with Oceania going forward. 

Are cabins similar on Oceania meaning inside, veranda, suites etc?

 

How many restaurants do they have onboard?

[calicakes]

On 7/4/2022 at 12:35 AM, CU64 said:

Things are very different after Covid. ….surely you must know this I suggest you travel Oceania for the food and itineraries. You will pay for it but your expectations might be netter served.

I just typed a reply about our experience on Oceania after I kept a live blog in September 2019.  I had complained about the food in Blu and was told to find a more luxury line.  Personally, we paid around 9k for a suite on a 10day Caribbean cruise on Oceania.  I didn't think it was that much more $$ than Celebrity. 

[calicakes]

On 7/5/2022 at 1:05 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I have been on six X sailings since the restart, never saw any of the crew encourage or enforce social distancing.  Elevators being a major culprit.

 

  

  

 

You'll need to increase your sailing budget to find a boutique luxury cruise line who buys fresh fish. The standard process is all food comes aboard frozen on pallets at the embarkment port; I sailed Crystal in 2017 and they stated all their food has to be frozen prior to coming on board for safety reason.

 

  

 

I do understand the disappointment of finding a foreign item in ones food and being told issues will be elevated but they aren't.  They did offer free(?) medical support and two comped meals.  I believe the bigger issue is swallowing a metal wire as far less dangerous that most realize.  Furthermore, like anything, if one is injured from a sailing as pointed out, one would sue anyways, not sure why that's even worth mentioning to the officer who attempting to make the passengers happy.

 

Seriously, a braces wire is MEANT to go into your mouth( I should know, I currently have braces).  A wire from a GRILL BRUSH is NOT meant to go into a persons mouth.  2 very different wires. 

[calicakes]

14 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Are cabins similar on Oceania meaning inside, veranda, suites etc?

 

How many restaurants do they have onboard?

We were on Marina( last minute switch, it was supposed to be Sirena, but they moved Marina back to the states( was in Europe).  Marina holds 1250 passengers.  There were 338 on our Feb cruise.  There are 4 specialty restaurants( ALL INCLUDED) and a main dining room.  They also have a grill( Waves grill) attached to the buffet restaurant.    You could get lobster at any time( granted it was FL lobster, but still, lobster), all non alcoholic beverages were included( I loved not having to carry a sea card anywhere). 

 

The rooms are the same I believe.  inside, ocean view, veranda and 3 levels of suites( we had the lowest level suite).  The service was amazing!!  There is only one show a night and the production level isn't that great( no broadway type shows).   We never went to a show as we go to bed early and rise early.  There were lots of trivia and other games.  You accumulate points and on the 2nd to last day of the cruise, you can turn in your points for swag.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

47 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Seriously, a braces wire is MEANT to go into your mouth( I should know, I currently have braces).  A wire from a GRILL BRUSH is NOT meant to go into a persons mouth.  2 very different wires. 

Brace wire is NOT meant to be ingested, it’s thicker, more rigid & therefore more dangerous than most thinner and more flexible bristle wires.

[calicakes]

13 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Brace wire is NOT meant to be ingested, it’s thicker, more rigid & therefore more dangerous than most thinner and more flexible bristle wires.

Of course, Its not meant to be ingested, but it is made to sit in your mouth.  My brace wires are inside the brackets, very low chance of me every swallowing one. 

[mfs2k]

I have to think a grill brush wire, coming off a grill brush, surviving on the grill during the cooking process and ending up in someone's food is a rare situation. 

Also rare is a plate dropping on the floor, and a chip flying up into a tub of salad greens and winding up in someone's salad course, but I've seen it happen in a large professional kitchen.

I've seen lots of rare, unplanned for things happen in kitchens.  Sometimes you can learn from these experiences and make changes, and sometimes they're just rare and not likely to reoccur.

Rare events unfortunately do happen, and of course the cruise line would be liable if someone was injured by ingesting a grill brush wire. The food and beverage team should be aware of what happened, to investigate if they are defective grill brushes and they need to order different ones, or if it was just a fluke of nature and is unlikely to reoccur.

I think the cruise line responded appropriately.  I don't think they have an obligation to report back to the customer how they dealt with it internally.  If you were dining in a restaurant on land, it's unlikely you would get a follow up report.  

Even if you reported a food handling problem to the local health department overseeing a land based restaurant, it's unlikely you would learn the outcome of their investigation.

 

[dani negreanu]

5 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

The food and beverage team should be aware of what happened

 

But that's exactly my whole point: the F&B Manager was not aware...

[HMR74]

21 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

But that's exactly my whole point: the F&B Manager was not aware...

and why I suggested they and all businesses should have a proess of reporting up something  like this.

Whatgets measured gets done, in this case meaning if the top boss sees these incidents jobs are at stake, so people are more cautious.  or else as it catches up with them. On a fleet of 17 ships if somehtign wromng is occuring on one there is a fairly good chance its wrong on another ship. Its also why polite customer feed back  good and bad is desireable.

 

Compromising on safety is just not acceptable in any business.

 

I woudl also bet we all ingest little stuff we do not know is happeningeven in our homes.

[mfs2k]

1 hour ago, dani negreanu said:

 

But that's exactly my whole point: the F&B Manager was not aware...

 

I think it's up to them what path the reporting shall go, unless you choose to also report the incident higher up the food chain. It's literally their business to manage.

[HMR74]

8 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

I think it's up to them what path the reporting shall go, unless you choose to also report the incident higher up the food chain. It's literally their business to manage.

of course. then they will bear the consequences of losing customers if this does not improve. Or perhaps its isolated. They might not know either way but they should.

 

I once flew on Peoples Express Airlines, which had the nick name  Peoples Distress. -planes were filthy. Which is why I flew it once. Long time ago. The CEO and I traveled to east coast and when we landed he and I walked over to United and booked the return on that. His asst who booked it never said a word about it again.

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Good for you for ensuring the wire issue made it to the top, and I’m so glad your hubby’s ok! I can’t say I’m surprised about the food quality or lack thereof. My buffet burger (they had the grill closed all cruise) a few years ago was red inside, and they ran out of things without replacing them til asked by a pax. 

[HMR74]

1 minute ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Good for you for ensuring the wire issue made it to the top, and I’m so glad your hubby’s ok! I can’t say I’m surprised about the food quality or lack thereof. My buffet burger (they had the grill closed all cruise) a few years ago was red inside, and they ran out of things without replacing them til asked by a pax. 

I was told they , on X, will only do well done, no rare burgers.

[ILgirl]

I ask for rare at the Mast Grill.  They ask for my cabin number and then cook it rare as requested.