9 minutes ago, Orator said:

They peddle the normal rubbish. 

It's a shame, really - as well as a lost opportunity IMO.

Do they peddle this apparent rubbish on Alaskan cruises as well or do they offer somewhat more relevant and authentic works such as Inuit and/or Haida prints, sculpture and carvings?

13 hours ago, Ma Bell said:

Celebrity responded to their passenger’s desire to wear whatever they like with food to match. Anyone who doesn’t understand that the decline in the quality of food has something to do with the “I don’t care” attitude of the passengers might want to give that a thought. Why should they provide the special “little things” to people who don’t care what anyone does?

 

It seems the major concern for most people on Celebrity today is how many drinks they can get. That’s fine if that’s what everyone wants but don’t be surprised when the rest isn’t as good as it used to be. Guess what, the quality of the drinks isn’t as good as it used to be either, but who cares?

You know, I've mulled this over for a couple hours now and I'm no closer to appreciating how one draws a correlation among jeans, cuisine and liquor. To suggest that people who love martinis but hate ties and little black dresses will somehow be happy with Cracker Barrel quality "cuisine" is beyond preposterous. But then what do I care? 🙄

Aqua, please.

14 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Perhaps the verbiage changed, but the code used to say county club.    Too each his her own.  

Also used to say "formal". 😉

Further to chemmo's point, wallie5446's "ruff run down" - 8th post in the following thread - provides a pretty good accounting of a how a BP pays for itself on a typical cruise day. I imagine prices have increased in the past 5 years too...

1 hour ago, Cruise a holic said:

We have been on at least 6 cruises since the "official" formal nights were removed and chic nights replaced.  Really almost the same.  Many people dress up in what was previously formal attire- however less long gowns, replaced by short cocktail dresses and fancy pants suits on ladies, more suits and sports coats on men, less tux.  And some people who didn't read the memo don't dress up at all and look like they are going to a back yard barbecue.

 

The posted dress code is country club attire, but not everyone belongs to a country club and perhaps dosen't understand what that means. - A few other people decide not to dress differently then any other day.  

 

 We enjoy celebrating the cruise as a truly special occasion and do dress as if we were going to a party.

I wonder if that's why the "posted dress code" makes no mention of neither country nor clubs?

1 hour ago, Fogfog said:

Search feature will pull up several threads with pics of current menus from multiple recent sailings.  A glass of wine can run you 9-22$US Martinis about $15.

Cappuchinos/Espresso from Bacio are not free, nor are bottled waters etc

 In fact you don't even need the search feature - the third page of this forum reveals this...

7 minutes ago, chipperberg said:

If both my hubby and I have the drink package and he has my card and his card, can he grab a drink for me?  TIA

In my experience, yes - I did for my wife.

Is it a contest? Last month it got up to 186 replies...

Is Formal Night a thing of the past?

Your Classic package will also get you a 15% discount off any bottle.

  "Is there a cap of drinks for Premium per day!

 No!

On 5/17/2019 at 8:43 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Cecilla Bartoli (Opera Singer) was on one of our cruises in the Penthouse.   She was very pleasant and no one seemed to give her a second glance.    Maybe most of the passengers didn't know who she was.

I don't know who almost any of the "celebs" listed are. Even when I see celebs I do know, I usually don't recognize them until sometime later, when it either dawns on me or someone else tells me. I've sat in the aircraft cabin and failed to immediately recognize The Beach Boys, Liz Hurley, Tony Hawk, The whole cast of Canadian Idol... I had no idea I was sitting at the next table to Pink in an Air Canada lounge, I was standing behind Susan Lucci at a check-in counter, no idea... WHo know how many others I've missed. Altogether pretty clueless 😂

43 minutes ago, lachelli said:

I will be the one one with the lowest drinks package, the premium non alcohol.  

 

If everyone's got a premium package, I'm not sure of the reason for the question.

I subscribe to one of those sites that sends out travel offers (don’t believe I’m allowed to name it but I will say it’s a sort of “zoo”). One day there was an offer for  Celebrity cruises. Despite having always been pretty much dead against cruising, I took a look anyway. Probably the 3 things that sold me on the idea we’re anytime dining, drink packages and being able to have my own veranda. I research absolutely everything I do using the web and in short order I determined CC was one of the better resources for information. A review of a cruise on Reflection by librarylady convinced me we should give it a go so I booked and surprised my wife later that evening - turned out it was something she always wanted to do but didn’t say as she knew I loathed the idea. We loved it, did one more and will do our 3rd next January with a group of close friends who are first timers.

59 minutes ago, Orator said:

I was on that cruise! The Chef, who left for Princess, told me that the shipment of NY Strip never arrived and he went to the market in Barcelona to replace it. They were also out and he shopped in Malaga. He knew that the meat was tough but thought he could tenderize it. Didn't work! Said that he'd never purchase inferior meat again.

Any real chef would know that marinating does not tenderize meat.

5 minutes ago, the_dylaness said:

Could we please, please, please call her Captain McCue?

None of the other (male) captains are called by their first name and I think it's disrespectful of her hard work and earned respect.

Indeed. DId we call Joan of Arc "Jo'? Florence Nightingale "Flo"? Mother Teresa "Mo"? Have some respect people!

16 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

Guess I should have clarified that. Until we cruised on the Reflection that was our experience with the food on Celebrity. The EDGE for us was the only one below average. The Reflection was by far the best ever on Celebrity. We will see how the Equinox compares. Our review and opinion only. I am sure many loved the food on all the Celebrity ships. The last two sailings with Royal was the Serenade of the Seas and the Harmony . Both had awesome food. So I was just comparing our experiences. nothing else. Comparing Carnival and Princess. About par with one another. Maybe Princess a slight bit better. HAL better than both.

Ah, splendid. Do come back and let us know how Equinox works out. I'll be the one on the edge o' me seat.

On 5/14/2019 at 11:04 AM, twodaywonder said:

What I do not understand is that the food quality and grade on Royal ships are far better than the upscale Celebrity ships. Every Royal ship we have been on had excellent food. Every Celebrity ship we have sailed on had good to below average food. That is my experience. What about you? I am not talking about the Specialty restaurants.

Sorry to drag this thread up as it's past it's "best before date" but, I just happened across this comment you made in a recent thread about Reflection and I must admit, I am beyond flummoxed how food on can be both "below average" and "excellent" at the same time.

"Took the same cruise, Apr 1st and was blown away by the MAXX show. Awesome. Such exquisite choreography. yes, the food, the ship, the crew everything was excellent. Only one problem we had and that was our room steward. other than that. Unbelievable wonderful cruise. Worth every penny went home having a wonderful cruise. Now anxiously awaiting for the Equinox June 22."

21 minutes ago, Groovybusybee said:

I’m only kidding, whilst strictly speakers they are a starter served with an onion gravy to fill you up so you don’t eat much beef, they are more usually served as an accompaniment these days.

 

I had heard that a long time ago and asked a Yorkshireman I worked with at the time for verification. He told me "Bl**dy H*ll, we eat it with every course, mate - including afters". 😂

12 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

There’s the answer then: A Brit! I have to say, our experiences have been more similar to Debbie’s above.

 Yes, the Chef at the time was Darren Ridley - he was a former exec chef at Buckingham Palace and also worked for Gordon Ramsay for a spell.

7 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

A variation, to be sure...

Was it tasty as expected?

bon appetite and bon voyage

It was superb - the perfect accompaniment to the juicy, medium rare beef!

Reflection - 2014 (the exec chef at the time was a Brit)

8 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Yes, we’ve heard this many times, but I wish someone would instruct all of the chefs into how to make a decent Yorkshire pudding 🤣. Last week on Silhouette, and all of our other cruises where it was offered, they have been as hard as bullets. A dentist visit is compulsory after attempting to eat it on any X ship .

 

 

I'm a YP aficionado and had superb ones on my first cruise on Reflection - huge, tender-crisp, tasty...