sgmn

Really enjoying your trip report Greg. You gave a great way with words and your videos are excellent. 

Loved hearing about your beach days and your sushi and sake lunch 😋 

Glad you all got to meet up and are having such a good time 

Mine doesn't mention Halloween sale but the water package has change from 20% discount two days ago to 40% 

So £22.72 for 12 litre bottles of Evian. Still more than my Sept cruise but not a bad price . Nothing else has changed as far as I can see 

Thanks for posting, made me check it and I then saw the bigger discount 

5 hours ago, Tatka said:

 

So they are creating a lounge which they canceled some time ago completely?

I didn't start cruising wih Celebrity till 2021 so I wasn't aware that there use to be a lounge for Elites during HH,  I am now.

2 hours ago, tonygcharles said:

Independence is bookable on this sailing  now

Better price I guess 

3 hours ago, Teeara said:

Ouch!  Went to do a dummy booking on Allure and the prices weren't pretty.  

Ouch was exactly what I thought too !

Those standard 7 day  Oasis class sailings were  around £700 just a year or two ago 

7 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Found it, I think. From Father Day.  Since it was one of those "perfect 10"  summer days in NYC, it was mostly outdoor adventures, including The High Line.

 

------- 

 

While I did check in from time to time, it was hard to keep up with a very busy Dani thread this weekend as it was a busy family weekend for me as well.  Saturday was the baptism for my niece’s daughter (grand-niece? Niece once removed?) followed by a catered after party at a local volunteer firehouse, followed by an after-after party at my brother’s house.  It was great catching up with family that traveled up from Atlanta, GA and down from Canada. A very long day of over-indulging on food and drink but isn’t that the purpose of such events? 😁

 

After clearing the cobwebs out of my head Sunday morning, it was off to NYC where Little Miss HBE4 treated me for Father’s Day (part one).  Last minute decision so we decided to just wing it. Grabbed a couple of road sodas (beer for me, spiked seltzers for her) for the train ride in. Since it’s was a perfect June day weather-wise – plenty of sun, comfortable temps and no humidity – we headed over to The High Line Park. The High Line was an old, abandoned, elevated freight train line thru the lower west side Manhattan back when it was an industrial area. It has been converted into a park, complete with gardens, flowers, trees, art exhibits, food and drink vendors, plenty of benches & scenic overlooks with stairs down to street level every few blocks.  For those that are really interested, you can learn more about the High Line here.

 

https://www.thehighline.org/park-features/

 

https://www.thehighline.org/photos/at-a-glance/best-of/

 

Had a late lunch/early dinner (Linner? Dunch?)  at Death Ave Bar & Restaurant (https://www.deathave.com/).  The name refers to the nickname of 10^th Ave when freight trains ran down the middle of the street with no barriers between the trains and cars & pedestrians. Something like 450 people were killed in a span of 50+ year before the train was elevated. This was despite the WestSide Cowboys riding ahead of the train to warn people. You can read why it’s called Death Avenue here.

https://www.thehighline.org/blog/2021/10/28/the-history-of-death-avenue-2/

 

Then walked the 1.5 miles of the High Line from Hudson Yards to Greenwich Village. From there, we just kind of bounced around a few different places. Went to a jazz club but the band was a last minute no-show so they piped on 80’s pop music. Curious choice and while I love 80’s music, it wasn’t what we were looking for so we moved onto a Karaoke bar.  LOL. Last stop was a place called “Off the Wagon”, a local neighborhood type of place where we struck up conversations with a few others we met and stayed out waaayyyy tooo long before Lyft back to Grand Central Station and napping on the train ride back home.

 

A great way to end a great weekend. The one thing is that I did not take very many pictures, hence the web links. Since my step daughter very uncharacteristically stayed off her phone all day, I likewise kept my phone in my pocket to “stay in the moment” as they say. Wouldn’t want it any other way. So here are all 4 pictures I took. LOL

 

The High Line with some cool looking buildings.

 

 

 

One of the many pieces of Art along the walk.

 

 

 

Love the cobblestone streets that are still around in lower Manhattan

 

 

 

Back when we were having a pizza discussion on this thread, someone had mention John of Bleeker Street having the best pizza in the city.  I was still stuffed from Linner and besides, I don't wait on any line that goes out the door, much less one that goes down the block and around the corner and disappears over the horizon. No matter how good the food is.  Maybe some other time.

 

 

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention that Fathers Day Part 2 comes this August as my step daughter also got me tickets for "The Book of Mormon".

Thanks for this, I've forwarded details to my son and his partner . They are going on a much anticipated three day trip to Manhattan in mid Dec  

Thanks OP for posting. Booked dinner at Giovanni's for £32.76 pp

on Serenade,  25% off. 

2 hours ago, Softball20 said:

Curious about the boat portion of your trip.  We are thinking of taking the train to Monterosso and then working our way back to La Spezia through the villages.  When taking the boat, can you get off in each village (with the exception of Corniglia)?  Do you recall about how long it took to get between the villages?

Yes, it's like a water bus, stopping and picking up in each village. I guess 20 to 30 min between each village. The last village we had to change boats and had around an hour before the next boat. I'm not sure if this was normal or just for that particular service. 

If you look at this link it has info and a timetable for the boat 

https://www.cinqueterre.eu.com/en/boat-excursions

Celebrity seems to be going the other way. An email from them advises they are setting aside an exclusive lounge for Elite and above during HH twice on a seven day sailing and three times on 8 days and above, plus their existing senior officers party  and captains club welcome party. Of course HH drinks are available as normal in the other bars and lounges.

This starts from January 2024

11 hours ago, Etta1213 said:

You might like Dr Leo Galland's book (pretty old) Superimmunity for Kids. A friend of mine was able to help her grandson a great deal.

Thank you so much, I will definitely get it.

It's the constant reading of ingredients that it wearing.  For instance the egg white in vegetarian sausages or a potato snack I've got before changed their recipe to include pea protein. Luckily I saw the changed recipe sticker before giving to him.

Legumes, dairy and eggs are some of his allergies 

On 10/22/2023 at 9:00 PM, Luckynana said:

 

I have been meaning to post an update on Ryan for some time now.  Last year when Ryan was diagnosed and was in the ICU for 3 days, he was a frightened little kid who only weighed around 78 pounds, and was around 5ft. 4 inches, and was just about to start 8th Grade.  Today, Ryan weighs 125 pounds and has grown to be 5 ft. 7 iinches.  It was amazing how quickly he began to put weight on, once he was put on insulin.

 

At Ryan's school where he began his 8th Grade, he and my daughter were very fortunate that he had a wonderful and informative nurse at his school, who not only did an outstanding job, but she also gave my daughter her personal phone number if she had any questions, since this was so new (and frightening) for her.  The school Principal also had a daughter with T1 Diabetes, and was also very kind and helpful.  

 

Ryan has flourished in this past year!  His best friend was on the school Wrestling team;  Ryan wanted to join, and did so, and is doing quite well, if I do say so myself!   He goes to the gym with his friend and has been lifting weights for months now.  He's got some muscles now (and likes to show them off to us..lol)  He is in his second year with the High School Marching Band, and this year he's playing the Saxophone, as opposed to playing the Clarinet last year.  Okay, enough of my bragging!

 

I just so love all of you for all of the support and love that you all provide, that we all provide for each other, and I can't thank you enough!  💕

This is such great news, well done Ryan. Little ones can be very tough and resilient.

As a grandma with a grandson with multiple allergies and other aliments who always seems to be in and out of hospital it is heartening to  read such a positive outcome 👍 

3 hours ago, Arzeena said:

@sgmn

Hi Sue,

I asked J if he was doing some sort of Live, a review or log on the World Cruise on some platform. He said that he was still figuring it out and does not know yet. I told him to send me the info of wherever he does that.

All I will say is what a major loss to us Cruise Critic readers. That vlog (when he does it) belongs HERE!!!!!!!

Thank you so much. I've never met him,  though I feel I have through his great reviews and posts over the years. 

I do totally agree his blog belongs here on CC. I don't do fb but if that's where his review is I may have to join  .

The WC is going to so many amazing destinations, I can't wait to hear all about it

5 hours ago, grapau27 said:

 

What is happening now with the DL is something I suggested might be a solution to DL overcrowding a few years ago.

Our 5 vouchers each as D+ per day at any time including Sauvignon blanc is much better for us especially since unlimited drinks in the DL stopped.

Just my opinion but I think eventually the Suite lounge will be for Suite passengers only and the 

Crown lounge will be for Pinnacles only with possibly an extra voucher per day for a speciality coffee elsewhere on board for Diamond and Diamond+ member's.

 

Graham, on Symphony in May there were only a handful of passengers in the DL during happy hour, it certainly wasn't full. If it was restricted to just Pins I don't think there will be anyone in there. 

Serenade in the Caribbean was busier but we often found a seat during HH,  if not we just went next door to the lovely Viking Crown Lounge

8 hours ago, helen haywood said:

I, personally, don’t want to eat at the buffet at night.  I want to sit at a table with a cloth, be handed a menu and be served my dinner…accompanied by a sommelier.  Fine for those who do.

I agree, I was very disappointed with Windjammer the one time we had dinner there last cruise.

Unfortunately there isn’t a sommelier on RC now. But our asst. water on Serenade was absolutely fabulous and was very prompt in getting us drinks 

10 hours ago, helen haywood said:

This My Time Dining experience has me worried for Bella 2.  Are you saying there is only one line going into the MDR?  Not one for reservations and another for without?  We can’t all speak to the Host and get permission to bypass the line for a table…. (I certainly understand why you needed to…I’m just thinking this may be a deal breaker for us…)

On Serenade it was one queue for reservations and one queue without. We prebooked on the planner, usually around  7 to 7.30

Hardly any wait. Great servers and they said we could have the same table (for 4, but just us, so plenty of room to spread out ), and to just to go straight to our table each evening. There was hardly any queue that I noticed on any night 

14 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

We were on Adventure in Feb. and Oasis in March.  If not for Bella 02 on Wonder, we would stick with Freedom or Voyager class ships.

 

We're considering Jewel based on its itinerary.  We'll miss the ice show, Cafe PR.  

 

I'm anxious (not so much Jack) to experience a totally different ship than Voyager/Freedom class.

 

Goodness, I'm now veering toward keeping Voyager!  Jack is trying to put the guilt on me.  "Choose whichever you want", he says, which really means "don't consider what *I* really want".

 

 

We've been on Symphony and Serenade this year. Loved both. Nothing really negative to say except maybe the DL on Symphony, (positing, snacks and service) was not as good as Serenade. 

Love the VC lounge on Jewel class. Gym was good too. 

Shows were better on Symphony though OK on Serenade. 

Food was similar, maybe slightly better on Serenade. Nice salad bar with hot and cold sandwiches and cookies in the Solarium cafe for lunch. 

Outstanding service from our waiters in the MDR on Serenade 

I guess we've been on more Jewel class ships than Oasis 

1 hour ago, JamesEM said:

Would someone fill me in about this Diamonds not allowed letter, I'm a Diamond with about 400 points.  Thanks, 

There's a thread about RC changing the name of the Diamond Lounge to Crown Lounge and barring Diamonds during HH on busy sailings 

3 hours ago, doghog said:

 When I spoke to the shoreside CAS this morning I told her the whole thing stinks. Just because the numbers might be high on that cruise doesn't mean the CL is going to be maxed out. I suggested if this continues the CL should be first come, first serve, no matter if D, D+ or P. Let the CL concierge decide room capacity.   

Agree, capacity is capacity, it works like that anyway. On Serenade last month we would usually visit around 6.30 and most time there were no spare seats.  No big deal,  we would grab a few snacks and take them next door to the VC lounge. 

4 hours ago, doghog said:

Correct. My concern is where dose it stop. We lost the CL. Not a biggie for us. For some reason we felt out of place in the CLs and right at home in the DLs. Just hate to see the cuts. Fighting for the diamonds. 😉 BTW, I've expressed my concerns up the chain about this possible fleetwide change.  Even on Celebrity. As the great Buffalo Springfield sang, "For what it's worth". ✌️

Thanks Dave, it's nice that some on here don't have the 'I'm alright Jack' attitude .

Feel for those who are almost at Diamond and looking forward to ALL the full diamond perks.

Sue

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

I feel like I've posted this a dozen times already. Some of us really enjoy the happy hour snacks there. It has nothing to do with drinks or the room for me (which is usually the windowless basement but will actually be the nice one on Allure next week). I never order drinks there.

 

I won't complain (they have the right to change rules so there's no point) but I will be disappointed if I can't pop in for the snacks next week on Allure. Will it ruin my cruise? Of course not. But I will miss going there for maybe 30 mins to have some hors d'oeuvres that I can't get elsewhere before dinner.

I agree, we eat late-ish, ideally around 7 to 7.30, though on med cruises late dinning can be 8.30. Often skip lunch or just have a something light,  so a few snacks in the DL with a couple of drinks hits the spot. The hor d'oeuvres are different to anything in the Windjammer and the other bars don't have snacks. 

Especially like ships where the DL is next to the Viking Crown lounge so plenty of seating if the DL is full.

Oh well if we're kicked out of the DL as lowly Diamonds we'll just have to suck it up.

Wonder if by the time we get to D+ it will be just a Pin lounge

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

A few more sculptures that appealed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tamarama Beach below where the Sculpture Trail ended

 

 

We managed to grab the last table at the cafe at the beach for a casual lunch to refuel before retracing our walk back to Bondi Beach.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful pictures as always Aussie.  I think the Australian Tourist Board should employ you, you always make me want to visit Australian 

14 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

I Received the Old Style on Serenade last Month 

Me too

They regularly have water in the planner with a bigger discount (30% I think) when they have one of their cruise planner promotions

 If you have enough time wait till the next promotion

I didn't know you could buy water in Royal Gifts except for the deal with the cooler

2 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I'm inclined to agree.  Though I myself would rather have the drinks.  

Okay, but I personally am curious about the cost of free drinks vs. free internet.  

I don't think the cost to provide is much for either.

What the management may factor in is the money they are losing because D/D+/pins are not buying the DP and WiFi because of the perks provided at these levels 

28 minutes ago, sgmn said:

We're having a named storm go through at moment. Not too bad in the South,  lots of rain and wind mainly. But up north (where Graham is) and Scotland have had it pretty bad with flooding .

 

Out on the River doing housekeeping chores, pumping out and filling up, getting the boat ready to be taken out next week.  It's cold and cloudy here today 

Just after I took this photo the sun came out