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22 hours ago, Poconolady said:

Looking for some feedback from cruisers who have sailed the Galapagos with Celebrity. Things like which  ship, how were the cabins, food, ease of shore excursions, etc. are the shore excursions included in the fare or are they additional like on standard ships? Would you recommend this as a trip with teenagers? Any advise would be helpful.

Thanks in advance!

If mobility is an issue definitely go with flora.  Those zodiacs with stairs and ramps are like cheating.

Depends on maturity level of teenagers.  Both for their enjoyment and the quiet enjoyment of your fellow passengers.

12 minutes ago, Cruise5life said:

Why would the casino have hundreds of them in stacks banded to give out to people as change if they were difficult to deal with.  ???    
I carry 2’s because it’s much easier than carrying twice as many 1’s.  
it’s a matter of preference for me.  Not status.   

Because, surprisingly, there are many people like you want to give $2 bills.  Of course if it makes you feel better so you will tip more, they will accommodate you and provide you with $2 to tip to make that money.  Would they rather have 2 $1 bills? probably.  Would they prefer to have a $2 bill over nothing? most definitely. 

On 1/16/2023 at 10:51 AM, PATRLR said:

This thread is very weird, IMO.  On the one hand some folks that seem very proud to be handing out $2 bills and on the other hand folks with their shorts in a bunch because people are handing out $2 bills.  

strange...

It's because American tipping culture is very strange.  You have to think of it from a wider view of the tipping system and why people tip.

For example, in many cultures, tipping is considered rude.  The view is, I'm a professional doing my job, I take pride in the quality of my work from my own professionalism, tipping for it diminishes that aspect of my work.

In an area where tips may be more infrequent, it can be more of a polite gesture for extraordinary service that leaves both parties happier.

However, in the US, where tipping is more or less mandatory, it feels a little degrading and turns service workers into like, performing monkeys dancing and singing at the whims of their customers , and the tradeoff is you get paid MUCH much better than similar non-customer facing jobs.

On the other hand, it's why do American's feel like they must tip? I'm betting the majority do it because it is culturally mandatory, and its factored already into worker's compensation, so to deny it is like stiffing the worker, but many would be more than willing to give up the whole system if it were feasible.

But then there are the others who enjoy and are for some reason emotionally attached to tipping and get angry at the though of it going away.  It feel like they are wanting to feel like patricians or the petty nobility, doling out their largess to the unwashed masses, huddling at their generous feet.

So getting back to the crux of the matter, it's to answer truthfully "why do you want to give a $2 instead of 2 $1 bills?"  It's not for the benefit of the workers, since it's slightly inconvenient and it's probably better for them to just give them 2 $1 bills.

People are attached to it because it's for THEM.  It makes them feel important and 'quirky'.  And tipping because of how it makes you feel, in spite of the preferences of the workers, from an outside perspective, seems awful degrading.  Of course workers are going to say they don't mind the $2 bills, money is money. Tip a bunch of workers generously with $1 and $5's and ask at the end of the cruise if they would have preferred $2. 

7 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

"We dine first with our eyes"?  Isn't a beautifully plated and presented meal served on fine china more appealing than a sloppy pile of food on a paper plate? 

Forget about type of clothes, that doesn't have that much effect.

There should be a dining room for all the hot young skinny people, the ones that look like the brochures,

and then a dining room for all the rest of us ogres.

1 hour ago, Keys Kathy said:

I agree! We were on a Princess Ship in Brazil and these "ladies" showed up showing their Huchi Kuchi's.... on Formal night. The Matre D said "There are Brazilian." Yes, I was uncomfortable with DH looking at all that skin. It certainly put a pall on my dinner which the waiter really tried to make up. 

 

FYI, I have not booked Princess again

 

This is exactly to the point. Follow the rules.

Why is your culture superior?

On 1/3/2023 at 3:09 AM, Jorg_ said:

We will be on the same cruise. Where can I find info about which berth the ship will leave from? (I know you said berth 46, but can I actually see that somewhere in my booking or elsewhere?)

Will be taking a taxi to the port - do we need to specify to the driver what berth our ship will leave from? Or is there only one drop off area?

Can look up your ship's berth here:

https://www.portsamerica.com/operations/cruise-los-angeles-terminal-schedule

Why is everyone perseverating over this Bailey's issue? It seems pretty straightforward to me. 

Maloney's is probably a heck of a lot cheaper than Bailey's and 99% of cruisers probably can't tell the difference and/or don't care.  Norwegian wants to move everyone to non-bailey's instead for cost cutting with minimal passenger impact.

Like seriously, if it were like $10 a shot of Bailey's, how many people without a alcohol package would order it on a cruise? like 50? per year?

Everyone has a drink package, the easiest way to move everyone over is is to create this nominal interference in having bailey's in having to go through the trouble of requesting, extra dollar, gratuity, etc etc.  Most people aren't going to go through the effort, and will be perfectly happy, and those Bailey's die-hards will just have to pay like $1 and change.

For those 10 people that like to order only Bailey's and not have a drink package, well, how about considering Maloney's instead?  For those 2 people that only order Bailey's a few time and don't have a drink package where Maloney's is unacceptable... I guess you are out of luck.

9 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I usually have it in a French 77, which is St. Germain, Lemon Juice, and Prosecco.

Would that make it an Italian 77? ...

1 hour ago, SeaShark said:

...

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

...

Can you 2 lovebirds take it to DMs and leave the rest of the thread alone.

2 hours ago, Mike07 said:

The Edge class (Apex) is the nicest and probably most expensive ship I've ever been on, but I would never do a trip on one again unless the price was even more competitive than an M or S class ship and/or the itinerary were unbeatable.

 

While a wonderful ship, it almost felt like the ship was trying to hard to be upscale for a clientele that does not really appreciate or get into that sort of stuff. Great ships but not my cup of tea.

So it was expensive, and you are surrounded by people happy to pay the price, but you think only you appreciate the ambiance and not your surrounding cruise passengers that paid the same good money that you did?

You realize cruise companies use dynamic cabin pricing right? Why do you think the E-class ships can demand such a price premium? 

1 hour ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Do you think most of the passengers routinely buy Breitlings or Mont Blanc pens? Or, do you think passengers are more likely to read books?  Yet, what shops does the ship have and where was the library?

 

If Celebrity sent me a Casino, taxes only fare for an Edge class, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But in terms of booking a cruise and paying whatever the going rate was for the week. Heck no.

Who carries physical books in the day of kindles and e-readers.  

Geez, maybe the ship isn't for you.  Is it wrong for ships to be for other people?

.

12 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

So did we run out of E class cheerleaders? 🙂

 

For all of the numerous posts on this topic I have never heard a reasonable response to this topic:

 

"If X think IV verandahs are so special why do they not put their suite guests in them?"

 

As from Post #101.  In most threads, but not a good answer yet. 

 

It's mostly because for celebrity, positives outweigh the negative.  I bet their market research shows that most people who are purchasing balcony level staterooms don't mind the difference too much between iv and traditional balcony.  The plus for celebrity is the significant fuel savings in having a more aerodynamic ship.

There are less suites, and they can take up the part of the ship where the effect the drag the least, so don't have as big of an effect.

So for celebrity it's basically, which makes more money:

Cost of fuel for traditional balcony + price people willing to pay for traditional balcony vs.

Cost of fuel for IV + price people are willing to pay for IV.

I am sure they have thoroughly done the market research, and it seems to have been correct, looking at the direction of future cruise ships.  More and more companies are moving towards at least having partial IV type cabins in their new builds.

I don't understand why this board perseverates so much over the IVs (well, I have my hypothesis but it's not the most generous so maybe i'll keep it to myself).  If it's not your thing, it's not your thing.  Evidently plenty of people don't mind it. 

In-ear canal earbuds have better noise cancelling, but they can be annoying to wear, especially if you don't use them frequently.  They can cause pain and discomfort after a while.

Over ear may be more comfortable, I have and like the sony wh-1000xm4.  They are one model old so there are frequently good sales for them, and they are more travel convenient than the new xm5 model.  The noise cancelling was class leading at the time, now the xm5 is slightly better.

probably about time to lock this thread...

Clearly "class" only refers to what type of items you wear, not behavior and speech.

15 hours ago, OysterD said:

If you can't possibly bring yourself to wear smart looking clothes when eating in a nice restaurant in the evening then maybe find another cruise line or go on holiday in Benidorm or somewhere like that. 

I feel like a person wearing nice fitting trendy shorts is dressed a lot 'smarter' than overweight people wearing ill-fitting suits that were unfashionable 30 years ago.

The day and age where "category of clothes" defined fashion and class stratification has ended decades ago.  A lot of people just haven't accepted it yet.

My personal conspiracy theory is that celebrity has done the market research, and the purpose of leaving the outdated dress code in is so that people who get offended at seeing knees can feel morally superior, and the rebels can get their cheap thrills at defying the rules, all the while celebrity takes money from both of them to the bank.

edit: in many of the modern metropolises around the world, no one at the nicest of the nice restaurants would give a second thought to someone wearing shorts.  The class stratification is by the fact you can get a reservation and afford the food.

2 hours ago, ISABELLA said:

Jeans used to be a work clothes, never an elegant clothes till now.  You are entitled to your opinion. I will stay with mine. 

In favor of what? trousers? Those working class clothes?  Real class is breeches.

11 hours ago, hcat said:

Our upcoming roll call group may do a dress up gatsby party  on BEYOND!

Sounds like fun..we will be chic!

Hah, the irony of the situation amuses me.

A dress up party based on a book whose major themes include the emptiness and meaninglessness of hedonistic chic conspicuous consumption, and class permanence and the exclusion of Nouveau riche from real society, by I am guessing nouveau riche/upper middle class looking down on others in their own social strata while everyone is partaking in conspicuous consumption.

1 hour ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Yea, they do need to have people really like IV balconies because there are other cruise lines.  Instead of becoming repeat customers, people will leave and sail a ship with real balconies.

 

If fuel savings was really such a big deal, why didn't they integrate IV's into the suite cabins?  Don't you think many suite passengers want to be green?

Lol, being green is just marketing.  The fuel savings is $$$

Right, so if people disliked IV cabins, there would be less demand. Cruise lines all use dynamic pricing, to keep ships sailing full, so if demand is down, that means price would go down.

So it comes down to something like this:

which is more: (Price you can charge as IV + fuel savings) vs (price you can charge as traditional balcony). 

As fuel costs go up, the price "premium" for traditional balcony would have to be larger and larger to make up for the benefit in fuel savings.

There was one celebrity quarterly investor meeting before the pandemic, where they said they were pleasantly surprised that the IV's were selling actually as a premium vs traditional balcony (don't know how their internal data showed it).  That's just icing on the cake for them, double win.   Don't know what their data shows now, but looking at all the cruise lines following them...  There might actually people who don't post on this forum that prefer IV, or it might be a novelty thing and eventually people will decide they like traditional balconies, or it might end up most people don't really even care. who knows.

3 hours ago, Pinboy said:

( Everyone is on a "Team" these days so they don't have to take personal responsibility for goof-ups like IV Balcony's ).

Why do you say it's a goof-up?  Pretty sure the team responsible got a hefty bonus.  Why do you think other cruise lines are following suit?

They don't need people to like IV.  They just need people to not hate it enough that it's worth the significant fuel savings.

1 hour ago, JJRP said:

I very much enjoy the experience of dining in the MDR.  It is not just about getting dinner; they will deliver the MDR menu to my room if I only want the food.  There are many elements to the experience; decor, attentive service, china, flat ware, food, wine, coffee, conversation, how the staff dress, and even the design of the room itself.  Another part of the experience of dining, for me, is how the other guests dress and their behavior.   Kinda like Rockey Horor Picture Show, or Japanese Kabuki theater, audience participation is part of the experience.  

 

It has nothing to do with judging someone else about how they like to dress or what they like to do on their vacation.  By all means, you do you.  But when someone else decides to ignore the clearly written direction on how to dress, you deny me my experience.  Please let me be me.

 

I will be taking my first Celebrity cruise this August.  I changed from NCL specifically because I hoped Celebrity would be somewhat more traditional and calmer.  One of my top hopes for Celebrity specifically was that the MDR dining would a more traditional, full dining experience.  I think it is great that people want to have a crazy silly time with their kids on vacation, or that 20-somethings want to be up drinking and dancing until 2am.  I think it is great that people want to wear flip-flops and shorts to their dinner (on NCL anywhere or Celebrity at the buffet dinner).  I chose Celebrity because I am looking for a somewhat different experience.  It is  discouraging to see I may not find it because someone else has decided that because dressing "to code" does not matter to them, and they are going to make that decision for me.

 

Finally, I see lots of people on this thread who say they like to wear shorts and flip-flops on their vacation dinner, but that they either eat at the buffet or put on pants and shoes anyway for the MDR.  Thank you for your consideration, and there will be at least one passenger in August who appreciates it.  

Well, if you want something in particular, maybe you should find a company that actually offers it?  Why complain to about a company marketing towards a different type of crowd?

In any event, the though of MDR food as "fine dining" is pretty laughable these days.  For land based restaurants, the quality of food that warrants dressing up is increasingly getting higher and higher.

It is a cultural thing, so why do you feel your culture is so superior it needs to be foisted on unwilling participants that disagree?

2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

The child is 12 months old. I don’t think there’s a vaccine available for one so young

Are you in the US? Both moderna and pfizer have pediatric shots approved for 6 months and older.

2 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

I got an email and saw X's announcement about this sale and another email yesterday that the sale had started. Can anyone please explain what X's selling clearly to someone who understands that NFT stands for non fungible token, but not the meaning those words? 

This NFT like many others seems to be basically you own a token(a number) that points to a piece of data on a large open collective digital ledger.  The piece of data in this case is a hyperlink to a website containing a hyperlink to the image along with a few other bits of information.

some q/a:

Q: do you have ownership of the copyright of the image in the link

A: no.  You can sign a sperate off-blockchain contract to obtain the copyright, but there is no legal mechanism for the copyright to follow the token.  Each subsequent purchaser would have to sign an off-ledger contract to obtain the copyright.

Q: is there anything preventing the owner of the image from making more nft's of the same work

A: no

Q: is there any guarantee the hyperlink will still show the same data any point in the future

A: no

Q: Is there any proof that any given NFT is actually made by the owner of the copyright of the image in the link

A: not inherently 

Here's a youtube video of some of the legal aspects:

On 4/12/2022 at 6:01 AM, 5waldos said:

Designer jeans, these days, tend to be highly ripped and skin tight. The very sort that (I think) Celebrity is trying to keep out.  I mean- it isn't cheap to get the rips in just the right places. 

Skinny jeans are well on the way out. Ageing Millenial pants.  So uncool now. Straight leg and "mom jeans" are in.

Millenials are aging out of pushing cultural trends.  You guys should start railing against genZ now.

Couldn't you have chosen 4% or 2% instead? Or are you purposefully trying to tie yourself to a certain let's say "highly controversial" organization.

33 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

My test results still haven't come back. I have a home test I can take, but I would prefer to save it for a few days from now. At-home tests are getting hard to come by around here.

Don't take your home test unless you have symptoms.  The sensitivity of lateral flow in asymptomatic people is horrible.  People are wasting the home test by using it incorrectly.  The point of home test is to see if symptoms are caused by COVID(sars-cov2).