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Schlinger

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Everything posted by Schlinger

  1. Thanks a lot, Greg! That doesn't seem to be very different. I merely noticed scallops on the Elite menu... And lots of upcharge stuff on both menus. Dom Pérignon is a bit steep at 250 (under 200 on Carnival a year ago). And the "tomahawk" is fassona piemontese 😕 Overall, the benefits from member status or suite bookings seem to be on the light side, especially if the priority boarding remains theoretical.
  2. Maria, have you had a chance to look at the Bellavista menu? I'd be curious to know how different it is from the regular MDR.
  3. I didn't realize Chinese people like steak. Always thought they favored chicken feet and the like. But then again, I have never been to China, so that's probably a stereotype. You wouldn't happen to have (or know of) an image of the available upcharge steaks on the Toscana, would you? In any case, thanks again for the write-up. I found it especially interesting that you could by the required clothes for the mosque visit. A combination of western marketing and eastern tradition of sorts. Flexibility added on top of inflexibility. Made me smile
  4. Well, that's disappointing, isn't it? I only saw on Costa's website that they have a restaurant for suite guests; I didn't realize it is just a dedicated section of the MDR. I'd feel cheated if I had booked a suite and found the setup to be this. As for the lack of priority em- and debarkation, that's one of the things I'd book a suite for, especially if there are tender ports involved or lots of people on board. But then again, I try to avoid that type of cruise, especially during school holidays. Which makes that 3 week cruise from Europe to Dubai in November I'm looking at look better by the minute.
  5. I think most American foods are very good, even if they're usually high calorie. I always gain weight when going to the USA. What I don't like that much about their food is that often times, even dishes that are savory contain sugar, sometimes significant quantities. With pork meat, that's actually not bad taste wise, but I really don't like sugar in things like beef stew. Or sauces. Peanut butter and jelly is something that I wouldn't even try. Sugar, fat and starch. I'm fat enough as it is - why the hell would I eat something like this ? Something else I absolutely abhor about American food, or more precisely drinks, is the tendency to drink out of paper or plastic. I refuse to drink out of paper and plastic. On my first cruise, I learned that drinks on the pool deck are served in plastic or cardboard to avoid injuries from broken glass. While I applaud the precaution, I haven't been back to the pool deck for drinks, ever. Drinking out of plastic or cardboard is something so disgusting I keep wondering how people have come to accept it. The cup becomes slippery from the condensation or too hot to touch (don't even get me started on those flimsy handles they sometimes have or used to have) and has a distinct wet cardboard odor. Horrible stuff.
  6. Nice blog. Good to see you making up for your wife's veganism by getting that tomahawk steak! More seriously, do you remember where it came from ? When I sailed on the Firenze, most of the beef in the steakhouse came from Australia, which is usually a much leaner cut than I like. I suppose Costa have the same supplier for all their ships, so I'd assume the choice would be similar on the Toscana. Looking through the venues, I don't see a steakhouse on the Toscana. Is that correct ? This was an upcharge in the MDR if I remember correctly what you wrote on your blog. Much better than a steakhouse, I suppose, when your wife would rather eat the cow's food than the cow itself ;-)
  7. I sailed with Costa once and get promotion emails from them occasionally. Right now, they have a 75 year Costa promotion with discounts on 75 different cruises. Last month, they had a number of discounted cruises as well. The new promotion started right after the old one finished. Unfortunately, the cruises they discount are usually not the ones I'm interested in. What I like is warm weather and new ships (I don't really care how old they are, but the older Costa ships don't have enough dining options IMHO), so the Mediterranean in March of the fjords, even in June, is not for me. I'd freeze to death before reaching the buffet for the afternoon focaccia.
  8. Cruised on the Firenze last year. Great ship, too bad Carnival took it. In terms of recent ships, that leaves the Toscana and the Smeralda. Regarding the loyalty program, reading through the perks, the thing that immediately stands out to me is that there seems to be little incentive to get a higher status: the most significant perk, a 10-20% price discount, is available immediately after joining. "Exclusive" products and services with a 50% discount are also for every loyalty program category. As are birthday cakes and other minor perks. What silver, gold and diamond members get that the others don't get is a free bathrobe, a second towel, a free pizza and other insignificant things that your cabin steward will happily provide in exchange of a tip. The only things of significance for higher than bronze status I have seen in the program are a dedicated restaurant and priority em- and debarkation. Not worth the thousands you'd have to spend on cruises IMHO.
  9. That's an easy one: Mont Saint Michel is a world heritage site and Paris is a rat-infested city, with the garbage men on strike. When the strike eventually ends and the city gets (more or less) cleaned up, it's always easy to fly in if you insist on experiencing the "Paris syndrome".
  10. I saw that shop and you're right, you could take anything from there on the ship (Pride in May this year) as the security check took place before that. I didn't realize that you were allowed to do this, and neither did I know that this was also the case for other European ports. They did check my backpack in every other port, but never asked to see the bottles (of water) i was carrying in it. I guess this explains that. The problem I see with this is that you'd have to finish a whole bottle of liquor in one week as it's impossible to take back with you on the flight back. I'd drink a nightcap before bedtime, but drinking in the cabin alone sounds pretty sad to me (I'd probably buy bourbon and my wife only drinks wine and pre-dinner cocktails).
  11. I think Carnival took 2 of the newest ships from Costa because it allows them to increase capacity / compensate for the scrapped ships on the cheap and because they can make more money with American passengers who are both more willing and able to spend money. In addition to that, the cruise season is much longer in the Caribbean than in the Mediterranean. Regarding the brand positioning, I guess we'll have to see what pricing they will set: "Costa by Carnival" could mean Italian lifestyle made accessible to American consumers by ironing out some of the incompatibilities. Or it could be an attempt to extract more money out of the guests without much added perceived value, in which case it would fail. I'm curious to see how they will position this brand and what changes will be made.
  12. Often heard that about the lengthy announcements on MSC. What a turn off. That said, Costa didn't do that last month on the Firenze. They had 2 minute announcements in 3 languages about the ship having docked and then another to let people know they can get off. That's it.
  13. I cruised on the Costa Firenze last month and found it to be similar to the Carnival Horizon, even though the Horizon felt smaller. That said, when I was on the Horizon in late 2019, it was absolutely packed and all the pools were full of children. This was my first Costa Cruise and I only ever read bad things about it on (American) websites and (American) social media. Yet all my (European) friends and their families cruised on Costa and liked it, so I decided to try it. As a European myself, there were a few things that I disliked on "American" ships that I liked better on Costa, but there are also a few things that the "American" ships do better. What Carnival should do is keep the stuff Costa does better and change the stuff they don't do as well in order to give their customers a perfect cruise that exceeds all their expectations. I'd gladly point out the details to CCL in exchange for a few complimentary cruises where I could check that they were implemented correctly. 😁
  14. Yesterday after disembarkation, the taxi ride was roughly 25 minutes from the cruise terminal to the Saint Charles train station. Last month, the taxi hit a traffic jam and it took about 40 minutes. The taxi cost €20 and is available right there and then at the cruise terminal. I looked up an Uber while walking the gateway and it was €22 with a ten minute wait. There's also a bus that goes to the city center for free, but I'm not sure where exactly it goes.
  15. I watched a few YouTube videos about the luxury and "almost luxury" lines. IMHO fares close to (or even over) $1,000 per night are a little too optimistic. I do realize that I pay for a better cabin and better service and food as well as for the fact that there are less other guests on board, but in the post pandemic cruise world I have seen these past two months, this latter point is also true for the mainstream lines, so we're talking roughly 5 times the price of a regular cruise. That's a lot of lobster and champagne :-). It's probably something I'll try some day, during a sale, but right now I'm looking into the "almost luxury" lines like Azamara and Oceania. The "best cuisine at Sea" is a very appealing feature IMHO. The only thing I'm not so sure about is the smaller size if these ships in terms of stability.
  16. I agree with everything Hank said, except for the car rental for an American for a port day. A car gives you freedom to explore,and you need that. However, you don't need the hassle of having to drive and park it, especially in places like Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The roads are narrow, the parking lots (if you find one with availability) tiny to maneuver in. And if you drive, you'll miss a few sights. Use Uber or hire a driver for the day and enjoy the day rather than wasting hours with car rental "paperwork" or trying to park the damn car. And that's not even mentioning possible situations such as speed traps, paying for public parking, refilling the tank and what not. I'd definitely recommend renting a car if staying a few days like Hank did, but not for a port day.
  17. Marseilles is the second most dangerous area in France outside of the Parisian suburbs. While most of the crime is happening outside of the harbor area and is not tourism related, I'd still avoid it. The places Hank mentioned are beautiful towns and villages. Arles has the bullfighting arena, Avignon the famous bridge, Les Baux-de-Provence has a world famous restaurant. All of it has the medieval touch. I have no idea if your kids will like that, but the way I see it is that the whole point in traveling is to take in the places and people and form an opinion afterwards.
  18. I just got off the Nieuw Statendam after a week long Mediterranean cruise. To say it was boring would be an understatement. The musicians would only play a few minutes each, and not every night. The timing means that if you're not done eating dinner at 7:30pm, you'll miss out on a lot of it. But even if you did find a chair to sit on at Lincoln Center Stage at 8pm, the sound setup is so horrible you have to be ignorant to enjoy it. Who likes a lot of bass and infra bass with little mids ? Rappers, I suppose? And even if you do like the sound setup, the music stops at 10pm and the venues are relatively small and with very slow bar service. Regarding the rest of the activities, there's not much going on at all. They even had "paper rock scissors" as an "activity" listed on the daily ! They sail at (a little over) half capacity, but only half the buffet is open, so there is little advantage to be had from that reduced capacity, especially when factoring in the low crew numbers.
  19. Unlimited water (San Benedetto, still or sparkling) is included in the MDR. In the buffet, they once asked to see my card, but I did order a Pepsi in addition to a water iirc. If you go on a world cruise, hand out a few dollar bills and they'll soon stop asking to see your card ;)
  20. I did the Nieuw Statendam last month and am on the Costa Firenze right now, so I can give you a pretty current opinion, but what are you looking for? A whole review? The Nieuw Statendam review I wrote just came up on Cruisecritic.co.uk a week after I submitted it. I didn't even bother posting it on ***** / Shipmate as they seem to delete anything too critical. And I do point out all the shortcomings without hesitation. Going on a world cruise is certainly something to look forward to, but booking one with Costa before having tried them (assuming that's the case) is perhaps a little too optimistic even for experienced cruisers such as yourself? Why not give them a try before committing to such an extend? Please allow me to point out that Costa is not for early risers, although that may depend on what qualifies as "early". I go to bed around midnight and get up around 8 am. I heard there's lots of partying going on into the wee hours, but I haven't heard anything. The guy at the hamburger joint on the Lido deck told me that, adding that he's open until 5 am for burgers and focaccias. Breakfast opens at 7 am. Between 5 and 7, EVERYTHING IS CLOSED. Unlike on an American ship, you can get food and drinks at all other times. But if you wake up at 5am every day, it might not be your cup of tea.
  21. I'm on the Costa Firenze right now. Are you serious that the casino is "huge"? I think it's one of the smallest I have ever seen on a cruise ship. 40 or so slot machines and 4 tables and a bar. I'm also not sure what's limited about the music? They play hits, classics, lounge music, electric violin.. the usual. People seemed to like the ABBA night. Buffet was hit and miss (mostly hit), MDR was excellent, Teppanyaki was very good, steakhouse was good. VID_20220606_221739.mp4 VID_20220605_232156.mp4
  22. Could somebody please post the opening hours for the main dining room, the buffet and the specialty dining restaurants on the MSC Seaside? I searched but can't find the information.
  23. Probably not, I'd guess, since France has substandard beef. Mainly that big, tough Charolais breed. Bodybuilding Champions without any fat, and certainly no intramuscular fat at all. Furthermore, France has very few good restaurants as taxes on personnel are so high (100%) that they have to save on personnel wherever they can. Sending you a cook or waiter to your table with a cart with all the ingredients who would then cut your tartare with a knife (like they used to 30 or 40 years ago in the finer establishments) is a rare occurrence these days.
  24. At long last, people with some sense on this thread. You read so much nonsense as soon as an opinion is offered on food (or other subjects on cruises, but food is the one that I'm most interested in). It seems like every time someone has an opinion on something, they have to add that it's subjective, or someone else will say they liked it if it's a negative assessment. Bursting into someone's thread about food by saying somebody else liked or disliked it isn't helping the discussion; offering details about why the food is (or isn't) the way it was described adds to the discussion. A grey steak isn't a matter of taste, it's been cooked at too low a temperature. Whether you like orange better than cherry is a matter of taste. That fake, pretend "tolerance" that attempts to dilute every discussion into a "this is just your opinion and thus it might be right or wrong, some people will agree but most won't" is so annoying. As if I expected everyone to agree with what I say. Say WHY you agree (or disagree) or, even better, offer your opinion on the food I described rather than giving this useless, general opinion about an opinion. Food discussion should be about how well (or badly) a dish was prepared, about the unusual chilli flavor on your chocolate dessert, that Tamarind put too much fish sauce in the Tom Kha Gai, that type of thing.
  25. IKR... It's a real challenge to get food at or after 9pm on the "American" cruise ships. I wonder how Americans who come to Europe (especially France) for a land based vacation get food if they want to eat at 5 or 6pm. All the restaurants are closed that early. Except the fast-food joints...
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