Hlitner

I will answer your questions with advice, which we have offered for years. Why anyone would deal directly with HAL (or one of their clerks called PCCs) is beyond my reasoning. Not only do you let yourself in for frustration (i.e. your post) but you are also paying 7-10% more for each and every cruise. You can some issues by simply finding yourself a decent high volume discount cruise agency where you will get a professional to deal with HAL (and other lines) and save and also save a chunk of money. So when you say "here we go again" that is simply an unforced error (on your part) because you choose to deal direct. That also goes to the old saying about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Hank

ROFL. Even though I am also a senior, even I would not do any kind of comparison to a cruise that happened 50 years ago! Perhaps if you went further back to the White Star Line you would have found even better cuisine :). And you might consider that since 1998, Cunard has been part of the CCL empire and is a completely different product than what it was in the ole days. Hank

My goodness, the thought of eating "healthy" on a cruise would make me sick 🙂 But. we have seen a trend on luxury lines to include more healthy options. I have managed a few long cruises without gaining weight, but it was usually because the cuisine was not worth the calories! On our recent Explora 1 cruise they had a healthy vegan gelato called "spirulina" which is made from an algae base. They had it for a few days and the server told me they did not have a single order (on that line everything is included so no extra fee). Even the server told us there was no way she would eat that stuff. DW did taste it and thought the texture was good, but it tasted like sweet algae...which is to say awful. We both opted for the very unhealthy (and amazing) peanut butter gelato which tasted like Reese's Peanut Butter cups. Hank

Not surprised that a Danny Meyer restaurant worked its way into this thread :). Even Shake Shack is decent. As to the Gramercy Tavern, a couple could easily spend over $800 on dinner. Argh! We recently had dinner on Explora 1 which was cooked by Emma Bengtsson (Chef at Aquavit in NYC). There were only 7 diners at that dinner and having our meal prepared by a Michelin 2* Chef was quite an experience. Much of the tasting menu was right off her menu at Aquavit. To explain, the Explora 1 ship has a special small restaurant (Anthology) where meals are curated (and often cooked by) various guest chefs (generally holding Michelin stars. Chef Emma had come aboard for a few weeks to cook, and it was a real treat. We are not aware of any cruise ship that uses high end Guest Chefs (many use famous chef names and menus they helped curate). Hank

DW and I really enjoy dining and prefer to share tables with 4-6 other folks (friends or strangers). For us, the ideal meal time would be at least 2 hours. When we happen on a really fun group, our dining time has been known to go over 2 1/2 hours. When we see younger folks, sitting at a table with everyone looking at their phones and texting we are somewhat amused. Just recently a young couple told us that they really do not even know how to "socialize" face to face since most of their conversations are via texting. Even in our own home we do not use phones at the dinner table. Hank

A Belgium friend calls Duvel...."the Devil" because of the high abv (in some of the bottlings). Hank

I think many chefs have recently been moving to fusion cuisine which combines the cooking techniques and styles of multiple ethnicities. While we were recently in Quebec City (while doing an overnight on the EJ1) we had the pleasure of going to Boreal Bistro, with several chefs from our ship. That venue is one of the two local restaurants owned by Chef Jean-Luc Boulay who is a French Master Chef (there are only about 400 in the world with that honor). I mention Chef Boulay, because his Boreal Bistro only uses ingrediants sourced in Quebec (primarily the Boreal Forrest). This means that such basics as Olive Oil must be replaced by other oils that can be derived from plants grown in Quebec. It is the same with citrus (there are no citrus fruits grown in Quebec) which must be replaced with products derived from the trees and plants of Quebec. The Chef-owner goes foraging several days a week to gather various items from the forrest. In order to work with regional items, he has developed menus which consist of many items (such as seal). They have also developed many spices from the local plants and trees. All quite amazing and his two restaurants (one of which is a very high end French venue) are always packed with customers. Even on the EJ1, we saw some fusion cuisine such as duck confit paired with watermelon, mint and feta. Just putting pineapple on pizza is a kind of fusion as you would not find that in Italy! We have also seen many examples of combining Italian and French. In Mexico we see lots of fusion between various regional Mexican cuisines and American styles. And a top French chef in Puerto Vallarta has been working with the fusion of Mexican and French cuisines. All good. Hank

What was more strange was that sometimes the Cosmos would go through with the $1 add-on and other times it would charge to full drink price (something like $14.16). And it often happened when it was input by the same bar tender. Go figure. One of the bar tenders became frustrated when we mentioned the problem and started to ring up her cosmo orders as lemon drops which were within the HIA price limit! At one point, Guest Services told us it was the fault of the bar tender until we pointed out that it had happened in several different bars with different bar tenders/waiters. Lots of excuses, but no solutions. DW provided the best solution, after the cruise, when she told me not to book anymore HAL cruises (the accounting issues were only a tiny part of her reasoning). Per her instructions, our booked future cruisers are with Princess, Oceania, Silverseas and Seabourn. We would also be happy to add more Explora Journeys and Viking Ocean to the mix if, and when, we find the right itinerary and price. Hank

We have also cruised on Cunard :). Since we have never dined in the "grills" so I do not have a basis of comparison to those venues. But when it comes to the normal MDR and Lido, Cunard is not even in the ball park. Just consider that simple items like lobster, oysters on the half shell, Sushi (made to order), crab claws, etc. are available every day on Explora Journeys. And this does not even consider that they have 6 separate dining venues (each with different menus) including caviar items, more lobster dishes, various steaks, etc. Hank

I had posted this in a blog, at the time, but will give you a short version. Many of the overcharges were simply because DW dared to order a Cosmopolitan. HAL, in their infinte wisdom, had decided that this very common cocktail exceeds the HIA limit by $1 + tip. But rather than just charging her that $1, they would keep charging her the full price of the drink. The bar tender told us he was imputting the drink properly and even the beverage manager had nothing to say. The Hotel Manager was missing in action (we think she hid in her office) for most of the cruise. Guest Relations had nothing to say other than "we have brought it to the attention of the beverage department." While this does not sound like a big deal, DW would often drink 2 or 3 cosmos a day and many were charged to our account at over $13 per drink. There was also the usual overcharges related to free meals in the PG (we are 5* Mariners and had 2 for that perk plus more from HIA). Folks have been posting about HAL's accounting issues for many years, but it seems to have become a lot worse with the HIA program. Nobody onboard wanted to take ownership (and fix the problem) and those folks who are in high management made themselves scarce. I would speculate that this is a system-wide software problem, and we all know that when it comes to software, HAL can take years to deal with "issues." Hank

We had posted that on our 6 week Westerdam cruise (March-May) we were overcharged for drinks (covered by the HIA package) ONLY 11 times! After the first few issues, we were able to resolve the issue by simply using the HAL App to msg Guest Services. After a few times they no longer bothered to all us to confirm the issue and simply removed the charge. But it kept happening and HAL seemed to have no interest in correcting their internal accounting problem. In fact, a few of us noticed that the errors always favored HAL. At the time we speculated that if they did this to a few hundred passengers (on every cruise) there would likely be a significant number of folks who did not check their accounts and notice the overcharges. More than one other poster questioned whether these HAL overcharges (which have been an issue for many years) were deliberate. They correct the errors when they are reported and pocket the overcharges when not reported? Hank

We just completed a cruise on a brand-new cruise ship (and line) called Explora 1 (Explora Journeys). Having been blessed to have cruised on 17 different lines (probably over 80 different ships), both DW and I came to the similar conclusion that EJ1 has the best overall cuisine (by far) of any ship or line! While the line is far from perfect, the cuisine reached new heights we have never experienced. There were a few specific products (such as grilled dover sole and the pizza) that are done better on at least one other line, but overall no other line (that we have cruised) comes close to what we experienced during 18 days on Explora 1. Hank

You are harsh :). Considering there are probably over 600 known cocktails, and few bars have the product to make all of them, mixology is an art (we have an excellent mixologist in our family which makes for some interesting discussion). Personally, I would not want to ruin decent scotch by adding anything (other than a dram of water or perhaps an ice cube). But my recipe for a Rusty Nail would be 2 parts scotch to 1 part Drambuie...and I would alter that recipe depending on the chosen scotch (a little less scotch if it came from Islay). Over 50 years of extensive cruising, I have only had one margarita (a favorite cocktail) that met my own standards, and that was from one particular bar tender (who hails from Mexico City) on Seabourn. I told him that he was the only bar tender that ever made a better margarita than yours truly (I call my concoction "Killer Margaritas"). And, it is impossible to make my recipe without "Controy" (Mexican Cointreau) which is difficult to find outside of Mexico. I am not a big fan of strict company recopies since that takes the "art" out of cocktail making. And when using fresh lime (or lemon) the drink varies depending on the particular lime (or lemon) and one should tweak the mixture for the specific fruit. So, a good bar tender will add a little simple syrup (I prefer Agave Nector) to a margarita made with an overly sour lime..and perhaps no sweetener if the lime is less sour. What I liked about our favorite bar tender on EJ (he comes from Bali) is that he ignored the company recipe (which calls for some simple syrup) because he said, "the lime is not very sour." On the other hand, with a different bar tender when I ordered a Vodka Gimlet (a very simple drink) he gave me a "lemon drop," which I attributed to a language barrier misunderstanding (most EJ staff are not native English speaking). And I like my gimlets with about 4 parts vodka to 1 part Rose's, which is not going to be the normal recipe in most venues. We could have a lot of fun with the "drink topic" but probably should start a new thread under a more appropriate topic (perhaps the mods need to add a "how to make your favorite cocktail" under Cruise Conversations." {hint to the Mods}. Hank P.S. Have a good one 🙂

One of our favorite bar tenders (at the Lobby Bar) suggested I try a "Paper Plane." Never heard of that drink and he explained that when he started working on EJ1, he noticed they had a liquor called Amoro. Since he had never worked with that product he did some research and found the "Paper Place" cocktail. It was OK, but probably would have been better appreciated by folks that like to drink an Aperol Spritz. But I really enjoyed his friendly banter and insistence I try this drink :). Hank

They had a large bin of pepperoni at the panini station. We simply wanted him to take a few of those (which we would have handed to him), put it on a margarita, and pop it in the oven for a minute. "No" was the refrain. Not a big deal and certainly not worthy of complaining to the Emporium management. The cooks and chefs simply do as they were trained. The "customer is always right" is something often lost on EJ. On the plus side, they certainly do have a consistency of product. What you get one day will be exactly the same on another day. Speaking of pizza, it was interesting to watch the pizza chef making his dough (he often did this during breakfast). Each dough ball (later used to make one rectangular pizza at lunch or a round pizza at dinner) was carefully weighed to make sure that each pizza had exactly (we are talking to the gram) the same amount of dough :). The old Italian pizza shop owner (near our home) would probably fall down laughing at the thought of ever weighing his dough on a scale. The only place, on the ship, where there seemed to be some discretion was with the terrific bar tenders/mixologists who would vary drinks according to customer preferences. We regularly ate in Sakura (our favorite restaurant) and found that the handmade sushi was always exactly the same :). The two sushi chefs were obviously well trained the consistency was amazing. But if you wanted some kind of sushi not on the menu.....forget about it! Hank

It will be a normal day. Post Easter, the island is into it's season and a holiday has little to no impact. As to finding taxis, keep in mind that it is somewhat of a hike from the upper cable car station to the the main taxi parking area (located near the bus station). Hank

Marie, that route is not even close to 5 miles (it would be less then 1 1/2 miles). In fact, you can walk from the port to Los Muertos as it is only 4 miles :). Hank

Another passenger (onboard friend) also tried to get the pizza chef to modify his usual pizzas. Also got a "no," The pizza is excellent, and even the selection seemed OK...the first day. After a few days we realized they only have very few topping options and never vary. It is similar with the gelato where they change very few flavors. No problem with anything they have, but the lack of variety with some items. In some cases, such as with paninis and their wok offerings, they do allow passengers to make some choices (oh, the horror). Hank

You are comparing Apples to Oranges. Most would call O a premium line while SB is clearly a luxury line. Just the differences in things like space ratios. all inclusive (SB has no drink packages). No tender tickets, never a queue, etc. We also like that the SB staff do not have the word “no” in their vocabulary. Hank

We really do enjoy the TK Grill (Seabourn) and have dined, dozens of times, in those venues. It is not an extension of Keller's French Laundry, but rather a long-standing fixed menu curated by Thomas Keller. He does maintain some quality control (we actually met the person who moves between the Seabourn ships ensuring quality in those venues). The negative thing about TK is that the menu has not changed (except for a few tweaks) for as long as we have been cruising on Seabourn (2018). It is about fine dining, but not overly gourmet. So, for example, our favorite main of Dover Sole is finished, tableside, in a chaffing dish where it is also fileted. Some SB regulars have posted about the quality going downhill since COVID, but that has not been our expereince on our 3 post Covid (over 60 days) cruises. Overall, we think that the food prep and variety on EJ, is far superior to what is offered in the TK Grill. On the other hand, Seabourn shows a lot more flexibility in their other dining venues (the onboard chefs have some discretion) and do very innovative things that are a lot of fun. In fact, it is the flexibility on SB (and the willingness to have socialization between the passengers and crew) that is part of their charm and much of the reason why we still prefer Seabourn over EJ...despite EJ having the better cuisine. Consider my post when I mentioned that the pizza chef/cook in the Emporium simply refused to put some pepperoni (which was readily available) on a pizza. Something like that would never happen on Seabourn (where the word "No" is not in their vocabulary). On SB, if I asked them to put blue cheese on a burger, it would happen. On EJ they would say "no" because it is not a recipe endorsed by Geneva...even if the blue cheese was at arm's length. We became friendly enough with one of the top EJ chefs to bring up this lack of flexibility. He agreed that there was a downside to not allowing his chefs/cooks to have more flexibility but thought this might change "over time." Hank

This is nice touch that we should have previously mentioned. EJ spent a lot of money on high-end expresso machines and they are all over the ship (in every bar). They also use Illy beans, which are among the best on the market...anywhere! We had previously mentioned that North Americans who are addicted to the typical American kind of coffee (such as Starbucks, McDonalds, etc) might be disappointed. In the Euro-centric world of EJ, coffee is always expresso based. I am not sure if they even serve anything akin to the coffee many North Americans expect. The various expresso based items (i.e. espresso. cappuccino, lattes, macchiato, etc) are truly excellent! For Starbuck (and similar) fans, you can always order cafe americano...but keep in mind that is simply watered down espresso and may not be what many expect. Hank

During the 3 hour drive home, from NYC, DW and I spent some time chatting about EJ. There is one issue that really bothered DW, and I think she has a very good point. We were in an OT3 suite and this would apply to any OT cabin with a shower and even many of the higher category cabins with the normal walk-in shower. The showers are large, and quite nice. But they have a huge design fault. There is only one small grab bar and it is at the far end (under the valves). Since it is a large rectangular shower, that small grab bar is near-useless as an aid in getting out of the shower and is wholly inadequate if one has balance issues, or if the ship is rocking and rolling. We also viewed some other suite types that had full size tub, and I do not recall any grab bars (I might have missed it) that would help folks get in or out of that tub. The tub was pretty deep (i.e. a very high step to get over the rim) and it may also prove to be a real challenge for the "challenged" :). Folks who think they need some kind of easy access to a grab bar, might want to give this lots of consideration before choosing a suite. Since we only saw a few suites, we do not know if there are certain ones that have more handholds.. This goes to an issue that the designers seemed to sometimes put style over substance. The showers should have a long grab bar along the long shower wall, but the designers likely wanted to preserve the beautiful design without an ugly hand bar.

Not sure if the Haven came before the YC, but both are good products. The Retreat is somewhat of a hybrid since it is not self-contained like the other two. But, we should not minimize the impact of Cunard which has always maintained a higher class program. MSC reinvented the YC when they added some lower cost inside cabins on the newest ships. I cannot recall any other line offering such a high level of service to lower cost insides. Years ago the Crystal Harmony had a few insides but that is long gone. DW and I remain fans of the YC and have long suggested it is the best “value” in the cruise industry. Hank

We have long heralded MSC as an innovator and not a follower. This is best evidenced by their very popular Yacht Club concept. Now we have EJ where we were impressed by their onboard emphasis on cuisine. We are very curious to see how the current Oceania product compares. We also expect that EJ will drive some of their luxury line competitors to up their game. Hank

For us, the big surprise is the profit:revenue numbers. But about two years ago, I read an interesting article that talked about how they were able to fully pay for a container ship on a single voyage! This happened late in the COVID cycle when the cost to ship containers skyrocked to new highs. The revenue and profits of the shipping giants (i.e. MSC, Maersk, etc) hit levels never anticipated. The Apontes were in the right place at the right time. Simply amazing for a company owned by one couple. During the naming ceremony, the ship showed a video highlighting the family company and Mr. Aponte talked about their ability to make quick decisions without needing to deal with a Board of Directors. Will EJ dominate the luxury market? We think they will be a big player, but the size of their ships will create some limitations since many of us who cruise luxury lines still favor smaller ships (for us, 400 passenger is about ideal). By the way, the Aponte's also talked about cruising the world (not just Europe and the Americas). We asked a couple of senior staff (including one person from the Geneva office) if they were contemplating longer cruises, but that does not seem to be anything under discussion...at the moment. I would speculate that once EJ expands beyond 2 ships we might see some more ambitious (and exotic) itineraries. Hank