warmwinds

LOL I see a job in your future writing those blurbs on the backs of labels...wood chips, yum. Never heard of Ryder but I'll take your word for it. Thanks. If anyone else had something different let me know.

Can anyone name any of the brands of the lousy wine? Or are they house branded?

Do they have things like Rose's Lime Juice, we usually use Grand Marnier at home but maybe Triple Sec (or just Margarita Mix?). Trying to make Margaritas.

After 20 years exclusively with Celebrity, I've just booked a cruise with VV. We're older, much older than their target demo, but that's ok. We have been for the last dozen cruises Aqua on X, with one suite. We booked with VV in a Cheeky Corner Suite, and the difference in the square footage both in the cabin and and the veranda, compared to the Sky Suite we had, is huge. I mean huge. These cabins are at the back of the ship, which we like, since we always get the aft Aquas. I truly used to love Blu, but the last few cruises the quality has declined. I'm not sure I'm going to like making reservations for a different restaurant every night, but I'm willing to try. I'm also a little confused about the beverage package/dollar allotment, but I've got time to figure it out. They don't have a "butler" per se but they call him something else. It's not until next year. Oh, and the price....I compared a similar itinerary with X in a Sky Suite, and the X SS is $8K, and the VV Suite is $5K.

We were really disappointed in October. I've been looking at other cruise lines and they are either too expensive or not expensive enough. Celebrity has always been the sweet spot. I think we'll give it one more try this year, hoping that all the complaints won't fall on deaf ears.

Gosh I'm happy I saw this. Umpteenth time in Blu and never before have we eaten elsewhere. First night choices were so bad we went to Le Petit Chef (which we really enjoyed). And one night I ordered exclusively off the "greatest hits" of the MDR menu (escargot, French onion soup, salmon, the waiter even suggested adding a Caesar salad). I would not say that the "quality" of what they served was bad, but it certainly was "lower level" choices as I like to call them. It was so disappointing I've been searching out other cruise lines for this year....but it is so confusing. We know and love Celebrity, but the downgrade is really depressing. We go on a cruise to enjoy the food, and I have to tell you I'm not sure I want to go back.

A tomahawk steak, anywhere, is an extra thick rib eye on a huge long bone, so it looks like a tomahawk. If you like ribeyes you will love it. If you like filets you might not. I know this doesn't answer the question regarding Celebrity, but I've had them in several places all over the US and they are quite similar, so I stand by my comment. If you live near a Fleming's Prime steakhouse in the US, go on a Tuesday for a killer deal.

Whew. Will do that. Although have never had to before, times change.

Please enlighten me as to the "reservations" taken in Blu - never heard of that in all the times we have been in AQ. If it's true, I need to make some reservations ASAP!

We're dumb as rocks. Couldn't find any of the scenarios/pictures/links as shown above (thank you). Not important, I just like looking at menus, so I'll see them when we get there. Really, thank you all.

Thank you, I'll try that...but before I do, a question... Is it for your particular cruise, or do they always start with the same Day 1 menu? The reason I ask is that our cruise is only 4 days, so not sure if that changes anything?

I've seen this mentioned in a couple of threads, but we can't figure it out. Downloaded the App, got signed in to our account, but all I can find are Specialty Dining packages and making reservations for the MDR. We are in Aqua/Blu. Where can we find Blu menus for our particular cruise? Is that even possible? Thanks for any help.

Never heard of this. Any kind of bread on the bottom sucks the life out of beef - and what cut of beef is it? Filet? Unknown? Bordelaise sauce may be a fancier gravy, but I agree just a salty gravy. Sounds awful. All the other choices sound much better, I'd take any of them, although the potatoes, while I like Indian food, sound underwhelming. mmmm....trout.

That's a tough decision. The door doesn't slam ALL the time (and we can hear it from our cabin, too, just more muffled) - no different than being in a hotel with heavy slamming doors. However, you also have the smaller balcony so you're more "on top of" the people down below (there used to be a solid canvas barrier but in their brilliance they decided open slats would be better). The 3 center ones you can sit way back on the larger balcony. We just really like having the view over the wake. I would take 1130 if there were no other choice.

Now the schematic does not really indicate the differences between those 5 aft cabin balconies. The 2 on each end are smaller, the 3 in the center are much larger, the very center being the largest, but we prefer 1138 because it's angled and you have a nice panoramic view, the very center one, while the biggest, has more of a "tunnel vision" aspect.

Also, the cabin on the very end...I believe it is 1130, is subject to the slamming of the very heavy door that leads down to the bar. But this shortcut is also great, we use it all the time to bop down and get coffee, etc. Just be kind and hold the door so it doesn't slam.

They are our favorite cabins because we like watching the wake, but they do have some noise issues (but nothing we can't live with). You don't get much chatter from the people below, but when the guitar player is there you can hear him - if he's good we consider this a benefit. Now, we haven't sailed since before Covid, but they used to show movies ABOVE this deck, and they seemed to be all shoot-em-up, blow-em-up films, which we could also hear and we weren't fond of, but it was only while the movies were playing. We have been in these cabins at least half a dozen times and would not choose anything else. We love Blu, could care less about the "spa" perks.

How funny, you gave me flashbacks. I can remember when "designer jeans" became a thing in the 70's - Gloria Vanderbilt, Jordache IIRC - who are the "names" now? Before that Lee, Levis and Wranglers were the only jeans around.

Good to know.

I wouldn't pay for next day because we want those clothes for after we leave the ship, so as long as we get them back before disembarkation we're good. And like someone said, there shouldn't be a ton of people doing laundry so soon into a cruise.

Thanks for the reply - I really loved your outfits, but I'm so glad I don't have to go out and buy a new wardrobe! Enough stress with hurricanes and everything else without worrying about that, too!

We are only on a 4 night cruise, but we will have spent several days traveling before getting on the ship, and will travel for a couple of days after leaving the ship. Since we are Elite, we'd like to get laundry done right away - I recall on longer cruises it's "can't do it so many days before the end of cruise", but not sure how many days that is? Will there be time on a 4 nighter? When would we get the clothes back?

But they are still honoring the deal you booked under, right? (we're traveling in October). This is only for new bookings going forward?

Thank you. We wear "nice" clothes every night, just not cocktail dress and suit nice.

Have sailed AQ many times, but not since 2019. Back then Blu had "changed" to an all (I think it's called) Smart Casual every night, no "Chic" nights like in the MDR. Is that still the case?