canderson

If wine impacts your cruise that much, you may want to consider Silversea. Not only are many of their bottles priced at or near shore side retail (some actually a few bucks less than at home!), they have a reasonable depth and breadth in their cellars. And ... we had a L2 and a L3 CMS sommelier available for discussion/choices for some with which I wasn't familiar. They definitely try harder than X does.

You mean Michaels????? ☺️ I do remember the days. FWIW, Silversea still has such a spot - at least on the Muse class that we've sailed - with the goods for sale. It's even indoor/outdoor so the weather needn't be a bother.

Just a FYI: The level of 'peat' in the flavor varies widely among brands and even among different offerings within a brand. There are a quite few you may want to try that are known specifically for being 'very low peat' or unpeated altogether. Here's an article to get you started (and there are others): https://whiskeyreviewer.com/2018/01/seven-peat-free-single-malts-to-try-012931/

What I find interesting is the concept that anything other than resort casual is 'anachronistic'. Looking back through some decades, and even centuries, it's been a very slow devolution to the minimalist in attire, corresponding to other changes in social norms over the same period. I suppose our great-grandchildren will all think we were crazy for not taking time to enjoy Bliss cruises when we had the chance, rather than wasting so much time on laundry and packing.

I got the impression that Zitsky was hoping for something 'on the house' with the inbuilt premium package. Not that you can readily even get Quest now, but at last count, it was running something along the lines of $120 for a 700ml. Might be over the free pour limit unless the bartender has an arm twist moment (see post #176). What few bottles of Quest are left seem to be on auction these days. Retail almost 100% dried up.

That might take some additional "working with" 😄 If you'd be willing to throttle back from their Harmony Collection to something more along the lines of Macallan 12 Yr Double Cask, there's always a chance that might happen.

Hadn't thought of that trade as well, but will certainly do so this next time. Thanks for the 'reminder'.

We've 'worked with' Retreat bartenders to locate and hold a bottle of what little better scotch is available elsewhere on the ship (e.g., World Class or perhaps Rendezvous. You might want to give it a try next time.

On our 'restart' cruise back in 2021, we were B2B, and there was no way we could even begin to go through 4L of booze. To my surprise, I successfully negotiated a trade with the shoreside concierge for all 4 bottles for a very nice Michele Chiarlo Barolo, thinking I'd get the typical Tortoniano. Surprised to discover two of the Cerequio (about $115 per 750ml at home) on the wet bar when we arrived! Perhaps a mistake? And these were replenished for the second leg of the B2B, so we wound up with four bottles of it in the end. I'm pretty sure we got a lot more $ value than had we been drinking spirits. Much seems to be down to what you can negotiate with the shoreside concierge and how generous everyone is feeling.

Celebrity considers all of the following to be "Premium Suites" per their own literature: Iconic, Edge Villa, Reflection, Signature, Penthouse, Royal.

The rotation is set before the cruise begins. No assurance that the lobster has been scheduled to occur on a chic night - seems to be a bit hit and miss ... not that the lobster is really that good these days on X. Would swear some of them have been Langostinos.

The MDR Menu follows a standard 14 day rotation and is not impacted by which nights are designated as chic nights.

Yes, that's new. Used to be offered to Aqua Class only.

I'm afraid you've made a bad assumption about Celebrity's policies regarding underage drinking. I kid you not. I found this in the "Drinks" section when working with the "Manage my cruise" this evening. Note that they discourage children from drinking by pricing the practice prohibitively, but do advertise availability 😄 Really, we need to restart an old thread pointing out the dumbest things X's IT group has placed online.

Sadly, my favorite T-pools were back on Century class. One could actually receive a bit of a shoulder / upper back massage from those high volume high velocity downpours. They've gotten really tame over the years.

I guess we can call off our raid on pool deck loungers in November, then? 😁

I've seen it said here that who the Captain of the ship happens to be makes no difference to their cruise. Each time I've argued that the Captain, by way of the Staff Captain, sets the tone of the ship as regards the working (and playing) environment of the crew. With any knowledge of the service industry, one would know how that work environment can impact service quality and employee retention (even if through am agency). Unhappy employees don't typically provide exemplary service. So throw into the mix whom crew prefer to work with/for in the decision making process.

Verandas were added to M-Class CS cabins after the fact, so nice but not huge.

Wouldn't know the difference since they will hear neither the music nor the conversation ... Earpods ...

Certain perks always come with each suite cabin class no matter how you got there, e.g., free laundry in the RS that the OP has scored. Best way to know is to look at the suite in question on Celebrity's site and see which perks come with a particular suite class.

It's not just the fact that there's music in the dining area, it's the kind of music that finds its way there from elsewhere. Fine music, wrong venue. For most people, Bacio isn't an appropriate venue for LOUD Martini bar music, either.

Can you point me to this article? I don't seem to have mastered the concept of searching cruisecritic articles. Thanks in advance.

@Alcairns Great detail there. Where did you find that document? Would love to see all of it.

Can confirm that your 2nd number was what we used a couple of months ago.

Agreed. We haven't taken a cruise (including river cruises) or B2B with different ports shorter than 14 days in many years ... especially if we have to fly to and/or from Europe where we started that practice even earlier.