JL87

Looking in on this board because we are considering a trip. Our last two cruises were on Azamara and we had a great time on both. Love the destination focus. I understand Oceania is somewhat similar. When we visited Santorini we had a ship excursion around the island that started with a tender to the pier where the busses pick up and ended there also with a tender back to the ship. Never saw the cable car except from afar. Not sure if these exist on Oceania but if they do, it was a very easy day.

On 11/15/2023 at 8:38 PM, Mkdvmz said:

I think the Terrace Houses are somewhat difficult for anyone with mobility issues, even bad arthritis. The stairs leading out of it, are steep and not user friendly for those in the Medicare group

This. The stairs in the the Terrace Houses are pretty easy. The stairs leading out are old stone stairs with no consistency. Some very deep and difficult. We have no problem but with any mobility difficulties but this is where some may have a problem.

Having had this before, I think it's a rib roast without the cap or deckle. Then sliced as a "steak". I actually like that cut with good quality beef.

On 7/5/2023 at 2:53 PM, vlthom said:

Dinner was in Red Ginger tonight.  I must say, everything was delicious BUT…….there was no Miso Glazed Sea Bass on the menu!  Instead, it was Miso Glazed Black Cod.  I’ve never been a fan of cod so I didn’t order it.  But I’ve now googled it and it may be a decent fish.  I was just shocked that they messed with such a popular dish.

 

Tonight the swag for our “gold” level appeared on the bed - hats, pins and tote bags.  We don’t really care about that stuff but would like to have the extra OBC that is due, yet it still hasn’t appeared.  Maybe tomorrow?

Actually, miso black cod was the original Nobu preparation. It's sablefish. Similar to Chilean sea bass in texture but more difficult to source. It's the sea bass that's the substitute for the original, not the black cod.

20 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Does your palette reflect the colorful, seasoned flavors of a victual connoisseur? Or is your pallet laden with the cumbersome weight of a gluttonous gourmand? Could be that your palate is just not sophisticated enough to let you know the difference. Oh well! 

Well done! I don't mean cooked well done either.

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Luminae menu tonight on equinox.

 

 

The squab was excellent a couple of weeks on Beyond. Also the lamb.

21 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

It would smell like cooking pork. And prepared as a carpaccio you'd only have the meat. And yes, it's a delicacy in large parts of the world.

 

I had it a couple of weeks ago on Beyond. It was delicious. The texture was more like very thin pieces of pate. Very innovative.

I just returned from Beyond last weekend. The food in Luminae was very good to excellent. All of the classic dishes from the MDR were available as well. The Boulud chicken was replaced with duck confit which was very good. 

15 minutes ago, uktog said:

Must be a different rules now - we wanted to give our spirits to the crew bar but it was a no

Same with me in October. Asked the butler if he wanted the sparkling wine and he said he couldn't take it. Left it in the room. Hope someone else enjoyed it!

I was charged $10 per bottle on the Journey in October. No idea what the fee is now though.

5 hours ago, Pizzasteve said:

on Oceana I can bring my own for a very reasonable price, so the option to not buy or prepay for drinks but instead bring a case+corkage is very appealing to us.

We were recently on Journey in October. We found the included wines lacking though some were OK for lunch. We brought many wines on board at various ports including embarkation without an issue. Also spirits. We also found some great deals off the list. We went in thinking we would upgrade our drink package and instead, just kept the base one and supplemented on our own. It worked very well for us and it was a great cruise.

Just off the Journey a couple of weeks ago in Greece. We brought wine on board in several ports without a problem. Also brought on a bottle of Scotch at a port. The corkage fee was $10 but some things were said that made me think that may be increasing. Given the reports of $15 that seems likely.

1 hour ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Anyone a fan of the Gibson? Cocktail onions as the only garnish gives this martini its name. I do like this version, and it brings no tears to my eyes.

Yes, I find it interesting that when they changed the olive to an onion they also changed the name of the drink. Now everything in an up glass is a "Martini".

Just wondering, at what level of tips included would you not consider tipping extra for included services? $50 pp/pd? $100 pp/pd? I think it's clear that room service deliveries are an included service and they share in the tip pool. I assume the cruise line has figured out what tip level is required to provide a decent paycheck for the staff. When I was last in London I noticed a 12.5% service charge in most of the restaurants that we dined. I concluded that was the appropriate tip per the establishment and since we usually had a very nice bottle of wine with the meal we would leave it at that. BTW, we sail Retreat and always tip extra at the end for above and beyond service.  

Sleep study. Hopefully she needs a CPAP which would solve the problem.

1 hour ago, markeb said:

 

I do like Laphroaig, but I'd probably rather have a Lagavulin if I'm going to Islay. And you can get Caol Ila again, although it's mostly 12 year old (used to always be 18) but still nice.

I love Islay malts. Laphroaig is always good and it was the first I tried many years ago. The 10yo is a good value in todays market. I also like Lagavulin but actually prefer the 12yo cask strength to the 16yo. It's great but a little harder to find. I love Caol Ila and have a bottle of the 25yo I need to open up. 

I'm not a big fan of Johnny Walker but my favorite is the Green. I also think the Blue is overpriced. I like some of the older bottlings of Macallan but I'm more of an Islay drinker when it comes to whisky. Right now drinking a glass of Redbreast 15yo. I like the Irish stuff too.   

6 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

 I'm not ashamed to admit I'll still down a lawnmower beer or 3 in the summertime.

Exactly what the old, big name American beers are for in my experience. That and fishing, or anything where it's really hot. Kind of refreshing but that's about it. 

1 hour ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Actually Z, a Bluefish Martini is my creation. Guppy99 is nowhere close to the answer but a good try it was. The name has nothing to do with the Gin/Vodka/Dry Vermouth portions of liquor used and you do not bastardize those liquors with anything else. It's Gin or Vodka, and Vermouth if you use it. The name Bluefish Martini comes from the garnish I use. Typically, olives, lemon twist or cocktail onions are used. When onions are used, it becomes a Gibson. My garnish is two Queen olives with the pimento removed. I stuff one olive with fresh, good quality bleu cheese. Using pre-stuffed olives is disgusting and therefore immoral and illegal and you will go to hell. The other olive is stuffed with an anchovy, folded in half and un-rinsed. There will be 1/8" to 1/4" of tail hanging out. Both gorged olives are placed in a chilled Martini glass and the liquor is gradually poured over the olives. A light slick of oil and tiny remnants of bleu cheese will appear - dirty martini like - now you know that you are about to experience something special.

 

It is very much a unique drink, Z. You not only have to like Martinis you have to like bleu cheese and anchovies as well. My experience has been, not many folks do. But for those of us who enjoy all three, well, you know. Raise a glass if you do.

 

 

I'll raise a glass to that! I've had blue cheese stuffed olives and anchovy stuffed olives but never together. Excellent idea!

Almost no way to contact trace with omicron. Well, you may be able to do it a bit looking forward but not backward. Too infectious. 

2 hours ago, skatie said:

I just tried to move our Feb 12 Apex cruise to identical Apex cruise March 26 and our TA spoke with Celebrity and they said they can't just move it - they have to cancel it, refund Tax and create FCC which they told TA would be available in 30 days.

My TA was able to move a cruise for us earlier this week. He moved funds from a fully paid cruise in January to a new cruise next January. The funds basically functioned as a deposit and we didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. No FCC, just transfer of the booking. The new cruise is slightly more expensive so we will owe a small amount at final payment. The only difference I can see is that the cruise you are trying to move to is much closer than one we did, but I can't see why that would matter. I know this is possible because I just did it, but I'm not sure exactly what path my TA used.

1 hour ago, skatie said:

We'd like to move our Feb 12 Apex cruise to March 26 to hopefully give this current wave a little more time to get behind us -  Feb 12 and March 26 are identical ship and identical itinerary and very close in price to what I originally paid.   I'm already paid in full - will my TA be able to just move us to this March 26 cruise or will I have to cancel current Feb 12 cruise and wait for a FCC - which won't come in time for us to pay the March 26 cruise so we'd have to pay fully for that cruise without this FCC?   

Based on my experience, yes. Your TA should be able to move your cruise to the new date and and you would need to pay any difference in fare. I also think any perks would fall under the new booking and not be transferred from the old booking. For me this was a plus as I got more OBC. It's basically creating a new booking using any money paid on the previous booking as a deposit. That may mean the money is non-refundable. Maybe depending on the rules applied to the original amount paid.  

Had to cancel my fully paid cruise on 1/8/22 today. My TA managed to transfer the entire amount to a new cruise on 1/8/23. That represented the deposit and no FCC to deal with. I'll just need to pay the slight difference when final payment is due. Not sure how that happened but he's always been very responsive so I don't have to be. 

1 minute ago, LGW59 said:

Because I hate large jam packed shuttle buses and never use them 

How about a jam packed small van? You would have less chance of running into a person with Covid but a higher chance of transmission if one of the people is positive. The lack of contact tracing may be beneficial if that's a good thing. I totally get small groups on excursions and that along with private or self guided trips is pretty much all we do. It seems to me that transport from one place to another is mostly a commodity. If it's easier and more efficient to do a small van then I would do that.

Just now, LGW59 said:

The number of people 

Why does that matter for transportation from one place to another?