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Some lady just won $2,400~ playing slots. It's the first time I have ever seen anyone win that much playing slots in cruise casino 🤷‍♂️

1 hour ago, riredsox said:

What ship are you on?  The most expensive dink is the good zacapa rum that is smoked and that is $22.  Most drinks are $17 and $19. 

Currently on Silhouette

Old Fashioned was $25 + tip. Drinks are way more expensive than I remember

1 hour ago, riredsox said:

Are these all the drinks at the WCB?

Pretty much. Some are even higher, closer to $30s

Not going to lie. I thought this was about Grey Goose

I can tell you right now that no one has asked me for my seapass or surcharge at the Retreat Lounge. It's been free.

However, the drinks at the World Class Bar is now anywhere from $20-$25

Companies care less and less about loyalty these days. It's all about profit and loss. Sooner or later, cruise line loyalty program will become similar to airline loyalty programs (e.g. status and benefits reset each calendar year rather than based on cumulative sailings). Unfortunately, that's how these executives make their big salary and bonuses. Not based on long time customer satisfaction or loyalty

You can check in anytime as a suite guest. They don't even look at your assigned time, only that you have a Silver Seapass in the app

I was on Beyond last December when the World Cup was on and every game was televised throughout the ship, including the Retreat Sun Deck bar, Craft Social, and the big outdoor screen on the top deck

I am baffled that soda is part of Premium Package but not Classic

Not only is it confusing, it makes zero sense. 

There was a notable difference in the Retreat Sundeck area of the ship from Apex to Beyond (bigger, more shades, two TVs at the Retreat Sundeck bar, etc). Haven't been on Ascent yet but my understanding is that every new ship in the same class will get small improvements. So if you have already experienced the Retreat on Apex, my recommendation is to try Ascent.

However, I have soft spot for Apex. I have been on three sailings on Apex since Sept 2021. I will never forget the first sailing in Greece not long after they started sailing again in 2021. 30-50% capacity and superb service/experience. I don't think we will ever get back to that level of service unless you are staying in the upper suites

Basic WiFi will be frustrating to use. Email might be do-able but slow. Facebook might take long time to load or pages might not load properly depending on how much media/photos are displayed

@thefunresearcher

I just want to say, it's amazing how much time and effort you are putting into this for your daughter's boyfriend. You are a great parent and your daughter is lucky to have you as her parent

I dont think they have cold brew at Al Bacio. In my experience, whenever I asked for Ice coffee, they pour shots of espresso on top of ice and melt the ice down and then add more ice. Still good though

1 hour ago, Bead Pirate said:

 

I will also say that I was more than a little peeved about the lack of menu items across the board (drinks and food). For example, in the Craft bar they proudly advertise about 10 small bite items and a very nice menu of about 2 dozen bourbons. After trying to order a snack was told that the first three choices I asked for were "not available" I simply asked "what do you have available?". I finally just gave up as I tried to order from the Bourbon Menu (less than 50% of the items listed were actually available. Nice plan but poor execution.

 

I think this is common on new X ships. When Apex was launched in 2021, we sailed twice the first year and experienced same situation at the Craft Social Bar. When we revisited Apex in 2022, they finally had some snacks that you can order at the bar. I don't remember what the situation was at Beyond last year since I spent most of the time in the Retreat

When I sailed Apex back in Sept 2021, we started disembarkation at Piraeus between 7AM-7:15AM. I had my driver pick us up at 7:30AM

Drive from Piraeus to the Airport varies depending on traffic. Budget an hour. Then add another 2-3 hours to get through the security before boarding the flight. In my opinion, you shouldn't book flight before noon just to be safe

Looking at my itinerary from that trip, it looks like my flight back to US was around 2:30pm. So we hired a driver and he drove us around in Athens before dropping us off at the airport with plenty of time.

1 hour ago, twins_to_alaska said:

I went ashore for an hour and looked around the shops but didn't purchase anything. For lunch The Grand Bistro (upcharge) had appetizers calling my name. I wasn't hungry enough for an entree. They kindly packed to go. The Retreat Sundeck Bar area was much busier as serving lunch but I was able to get an empty table, thankfully with cutlery as The Grand Bistro hadn't supplied. The mussels in tomato sauce, garlic bread, toasted bread, pate and even the fries were all delicious!

 

Woah, I didn't realize you can take food to go from Grand Bistro. When I first saw your picture, I thought those dishes were from the Retreat Sundeck lunch menu and went "Woah, they upgraded that lunch menu. It was always the same and limited" 😆

YMMV depends on availability of the ingredients elsewhere, but I wouldn't hold my hopes up.

A lot of the bartenders on the Retreat Sun Deck or the Lounge work elsewhere at different times of the day (i.e. Martini Bar), so they are trained to know how to make different drinks around the ship.

However, my favorite drink from Luminae is "Fresh from Tokyo". When I was on Retreat Sun Deck, I asked the bartenders if they can make that drink and they told me the ingredients for that drink was only available in the Luminae, so they were very apologetic.

So, it's really YMMV

This can vary greatly depending on the port, and the weather (as well as time for the ship to clear customs, etc)

In my experience, a ship docked and cleared customs as early as 6:45AM-7AM~ish but sometimes, various factors would cause delays. So to be on the safe side, I would tell the driver to pick you up around 9AM (if you are not in any rush). As a retreat guest, you can head over to the Retreat Lounge and have coffee/pastries there, and then leave at your leisure

2 hours ago, truckswain said:

The Retreat Sun Deck and pool where nice.  There were still chair hogs reserving the prime loungers with the difference being these were entitled chair hogs who actually had tipped the retreat attendants to save their loungers so they did not need to make an appearance until they were good and ready. 

 

They are not supposed to help chair hogs reserve loungers. If you talk to someone at the Retreat Lounge below the deck, they will address that immediately. At least they did last December on Beyond

14 hours ago, miched said:

 

Just got off of the Silhouette and Blanton was a $4 up charge over the premium package, Basil Hayden was about a  $10 up charge ???? 
 

I will pay that $4 upcharge on Blanton's. Any upcharge on Hayden is hilarious imo

LOL Jameson is premium? 

Come on now.

I was on Thanksgiving cruise on Apex last year. Tree was out right after Thanksgiving Day

18 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Ok the obligatory Hotel photos. Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Beach Road

 

Jim, I stayed at that same hotel for 4-5 months last year while on business trip. The Andaz across the street is part of a complex where many multi-national corporations have an office in that same building and for short stays, my colleagues stay at the Andaz and for long term stays, they book us at the Pan Pacific.

There is a great Japanese spot (sushi, izakaya, etc) down the street called Omu Nomu Craft Sake and Raw Bar. They serve lunch and dinner and amazing list of craft sake bottles they import from Japan every week. You should try that place out if you have time.

Also, I highly recommend lunch at the SKAI (top floor of the Swissotel), which is 15-20 minute walk from the Pan Pacific. Amazing panoramic view (higher than Marina Bay Sands) and really great pre-fixe lunch menu and cocktails

If the ship is sailing full or close to its capacity, higher chances that they will enforce your check in time for embarkation (excluding Retreat guests)

August will be unbearably hot and super crowded with summer vacation crowd