fabby50

2 hours ago, rbtan said:

What if the dessert has dairy? Will you still eat it?

I am a vegetarian, not a vegan, I eat dairy, mostly on vacation, but have some types of yogurt and cottage cheese at home.  I don't eat eggs.  I am a work in progress, maybe I'll make it to veganism before they put me in a box 🙂  Usually, by the time I've eaten a roll, a salad, a baked potato with vegetables, I am full and am satisfied with a spoon of my husband's dessert or just coffee.  I sometimes ask for berries, they seem to accommodate that, you can also ask for anything to go.

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Exactly right.

For a couple,  spending $80 in the CG is silly, if one diner is a vegetarian.  

Go to the MDR of your choice, and your partner can have a steak for $20.

We never eat in the MDR, gave that up years ago when they started reducing the staffing.  Everything seems rushed, servers overworked, tables crowded, etc.  What is "silly" to some people makes sense to others.  We go to the specialty restaurants more for the service, the staff, the atmosphere.

I am a vegetarian and we usually eat at the Crown Grill twice during a week as my husband likes his filet.  When I have asked about vegetarian entrees, I am usually offered an entree from whatever restaurant is closest to the Crown Grill, if it's the Italian restaurant, I end up getting the eggplant.  If I don't ask for anything special, I will order a salad, asking for the items I won't eat to be left off, a baked potato with no toppings and the asparagus.  It/s fine for me, I don't have a big appetite and it leaves room for bread and dessert if I want it.  I don't know if that would do for your daughter or not.

42 minutes ago, pompeii said:

We took Vias on our recent TA on the Enchanted. Our steward gave us a kettle and I either ordered milk from room service or picked up a glass of milk from the buffet the afternoon before. Frankly, it worked out better than waiting for room service coffee in the morning or getting dressed enough to venture down to the IC to get it. 

I understand you can get kettles on European cruises, but I haven't heard of anyone getting one in the US.  I am in California and go on a lot of Coastal and Mexico cruises and haven't been able to get one.  Its probably a stocking problem rather than a safety issue.  

I am usually up by 4:30 or 5, so room service at 6 to 6:30 is a little late.

I tried an experiment on my last cruise.  I took Via Instant coffee (Starbucks).  I've found the water on cruise ships to be exceptionally hot, so I made myself a cup of instant first thing in the morning.  It was fine as long as you didn't cool it down with milk, next time, I will take non fat milk powder.  It wasn't super hot, but it got me going in the morning until I could get room service delivered from between 6 and 6:30.  I also ended up liking the Via better than the room service coffee (it was stronger).

Yes, went last month.  Tenders through the night.

Muster station, drop off stuff in the room/safe, lunch, where depends on the ship and what status for a particular cruise I have, if I haven't been on the ship before, after lunch, I start at the top and do a common deck tour, and then the gym.  The first day is a great day to hit the gym, there's usually no one or only one or two people working out and it gets my cruise off right.

Just got off her this morning, hope you have a great time!

I saw a couple of free casino drink postings on the daily planner.

14 hours ago, amevola said:

Hi, fabby50,

Did you see the menus on the website or just the other items?  I cannot find the menus, however, it's not a big deal if they aren't there.  I just like to be as familiar as possible with the website.

Thanks!

Yes, go to the dining section, select the restaurant and there is a link to the menu for that particular restaurant.

Just look at it all on the website. works fine.  I have the same problem on the app and I'm leaving 4/1.

As a vegan leaning vegetarian (I occasionally eat dairy products), what I get tired of is the chefs seem to think all we eat are pasta dishes.  We are going on our first RCCL cruise in a few years since they have now returned to California, and I sure hope I can get something other than vegetarian pasta or other Italian food.  I have not had much luck on Celebrity, NCL, Princess, etc.  Of all the main stream lines, I've found Carnival to be the most accommodating.  I find it most frustrating in the specialty restaurants where they put on their menus they'll make a vegetarian choice, all you have to do is ask, you do, and they say they can make you pasta.  I usually end up with a plain baked potato and whatever vegetable they have instead, for an extra specialty restaurant charge.  My husband is a confirmed meat eater, which is why I end up there, he wants his filet mignon.  First world problems are the worst 🙂 

I cruise twice a year solo.  I am not single, but I find going alone is good for all kinds of things (sense of independence, etc.) and I picked cruising because I feel it's a safe way to travel by myself.  I used to go to a health spa, but for the price, I can go on two or three cruises.  Look for single supplement discount sales.   The first time I did this, I did it because Celebrity had a sale and I got a week in a spa balcony cabin with a drinks packages, tips, etc. for $1,500.  What I do now is reserve the cabin I want when I want to go if I think the price is right for even two people and then keep an eye on discounts and sales.  If you go off season, something usually comes up as the cruise gets closer.  I am going on a Celebrity week long coastal cruise on 4/1 and have gotten two discounts and an additional $500 cruise credit since I booked about 8 months ago.  Its running me around $2,500, but with drinks, tips, and $500 cruise cash included.

Our problem has usually been that everything is green before we reach port, then it all disappears when we try to board and we board the old way, showing all our paperwork.  I still print out everything, it has saved our bacon on numerous occasions and not just on cruises.  Recently had a pricy pre-paid stay at a hotel in Honolulu, got ready to check in and they had NOTHING.  If I wouldn't have had my printouts, I am sure they wouldn't have spent as much time trying to find us within their system.  Turned out they had put the reservation in my middle name, which I never gave them (just initial), so I am still baffled by that.

We usually give $20 for the two of us, especially if we are visiting an underdeveloped country.  Since the pandemic, so many people were out of work and we feel they need the money even more these days.  Have seen many people not tip at all or just give a dollar or two.

I have found the tip about writing I'm not interested in hearing about or purchasing any products on the slip to be the most effective method.  Trying to stop them mid-stream has never worked for me.

Just signed up for a November 2023 cruise and part of the package is a number of "premium desserts"  Looked on the website, couldn't find out what this was, except a statement about ice cream not being included.  This is new to me, anyone know what they are?

Thank you in advance - 

There is a lounge area, but everything has been so quick the last 18 months or so, you check in and board.  Haven't had to use the lounge.

The only thing in my Aqua class cabin was the yoga mat.  I did use it.  I was able to do a yoga/stretching workout and a lower body workout in my cabin, but used the gym for my other work (upper body, etc.).  I had to move the coffee table.  It helped that I was traveling solo.

27 minutes ago, NikiPinkston said:

Aloha, my CC friends! Just wanted to let you know that we have family here for a few days so I'll continue my review after the holiday. Thank you for all of your kind comments. Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

And you too!  I really appreiciate you doing this - we will be on the Pride in two weeks, having the dailies is most helpful.

Thank you!  We are on her on 12/10, it will be our third one of these cruises.  I do have a question.  I don't usually worry about phone service, but this trip, we have an elder dog that I might get phone calls about.  I am wondering if on the overnight port nights, if we can leave our phone on without it roaming.  I know we can turn it on when we get off the ship, which we'll do to check messages, but I wasn't sure if we could keep it on when docked since we will be in the USA.  Thank you and have a wonderful time, it is a great way to see lots of islands in a week.

2 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

How is Silk Harvest Restaurant  for food quality ,taste  & cost ? 

 

 TIA

They have a stir fry station on the buffet, you pick your veg, protein and sauce and they stir fry it.  There's usually a noodle dish and fried rice too.  Its American Asian food, not really Asian food, if that makes sense.  

23 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Dh and I have been taking ballroom dance lessons.  Did you notice any dancing opportunities in the evenings...like in the main atrium?  We are doing this cruise in March...

 

Thank you for the info.

We were on this route for the 11/5 cruise.  I saw ballroom dancing class listed once, might have been on their more and I just didn't notice.

17 hours ago, teamwanderer said:

Fabby50,  see this is your 3rd POA cruise.  Any suggestion for 2nd day in Maui.  We've completed many cruises, but this is our 1st to Hawaii and 1st on NCL.  Our sail date is December 3rd. 

I can tell you what we're doing this trip - taking the local bus over to the aquarium.  Excursions are expensive on any of the islands and if you find something you'd like to do using local transport, it significantly reduces the cost as does pre-purchasing tickets through the websites.  We go to Kauai frequently, for example, and never do excursions through the ship there as we're most familiar with that island.

We are going in December and it will be our third time doing this cruise.  With all the port time, we kind of thought of the ship as a floating hotel rather than a cruising experience.  The best cruising part was the Napoli coast.  I'm looking forward to a great time, thanks for the updates!

55 minutes ago, thebutlerdidit said:

I am sailing AquaClass with my niece next month on Equinox. She received an email from Celebrity asking her to select up to 3 in-room amenities from their list of fitness accessories. It was received about 4-5 weeks out. 
 

Here are the choices we were offered.

 

We checked three choices and saw this.

 

Thanks for this!  I asked about Goop when I was looking to book, because from their commercials and on line reading, they were going to offer special content on the TV plus fitness gear.  No one seemed to know anything about it and I got a political comment about G. Paltrow 🙂