May B

Lois, I’ve been at Embassy Suites breakfasts over three-day weekends. They’re always packed, and many families with kids.

It isn’t I, but I’ll pass along that email address, for sure. Thank you! Was the prayer book a holiday prayer book? I think they have Gates of Heaven, and perhaps it’s Shabbat and holiday in the same book. Unknowingly, I can understand. On purpose, was more surprising to me. That must’ve been quite nice, when you had already met the cruisers at a Friday night. Challah and wine and safe candles are on every cruise line, I think. For a special treat, Crystal also has gefilte fish. On Viking, who made our tenth for minyan? The captain of the vessel!

And with many choices of bread. Believe me, I was truly surprised that my friend who attends a.m. minyan twice a week and a Shabbat service, pretty much always, has purchased a cruise over Rosh Hashanah.

You should have been invited to the Elite breakfast, where you would go for complimentary specialty coffees. It sounds like you might’ve missed that? But it starts at 8 am. I can’t remember if it’s on disembarkation day or not. I agree, I love the Diamond Lounge and the drinks posted to sea pass card on Royal.

Thanks for finding this for me!

Do Royal ships have a rabbi onboard for Rosh Hashanah?

Bon voyage, Lois! Were you amazed at how crowded breakfast was? Did you find some Eclipse cruisers to sit with? Or did you get to enjoy a nice table by yourself?

Is there an email address for asking a question about a future cruise, and whether I can expect something specific?

Bon voyage! I think you’ll have the Schuetts in the bridge room. I hope they’ll still be on from San Diego to Vancouver on June 24th.

Bon voyage!

Sorry for the loss of both your husbands, and kudos to you for planning to cruise alone together. I hope you have a lovely time … while commenting to each other what the men might have done, if they were still able to be with you.

The included wine is barely drinkable. The SS inclusions are … drinkable. I’m not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s my opinion. On a cruise line like Crystal, the included wines are very drinkable, for me. They’re available whenever a bar is open, not just at lunch on dinner. It’s important to know how many NIGHTS, so you’ll know when you’ll be getting home! I believe AAA is a travel agency, similar to any other.

That’s interesting. I’ve always felt that, if what post #10 says is true, I still definitely think their supervisor keeps track of which crew got how much. Then I absolutely think it counts towards their evaluations and promotions.

No, or anyway, not up until my most recent Connie in December. Anytime is on deck four; fixed is on deck five.

Hi there. I don’t recall that you’ve popped into our roll call thread to say hi. Here it is, if you’d like it.

You may have to wait even WITH a reservation! I prefer making a reservation, b/c in theory and often in practice, that line is shorter. And the first night is often a bit of a mess. Don’t expect that every night, thank goodness. You can show up earlier or later than you reservation, if the time doesn’t suit you that day. They aren’t holding a specific table for you. In your stateroom, regardless of whether you booked reservations or not, you’ll most likely find a note suggesting that you dine very early or very late. I just sort of roll my eyes and ignore that suggestion. On our last two cruises, we actually “dined” at OceanView one or two nights. Sometimes it’s adequate, sometimes quite satisfying. If you’re on a warm weather cruise, you get the bonus of being able to dine alfresco. Have a great cruise.

You are absolutely young enough looking to be carded! Probably inherited from the Queen! Sweet description of Mr., and beautiful view from your own home sweet home. Great ways to keep your readers happy!

I’ve often thought that inconsistencies between ships reflect the captain, or possibly the head chef. When only one out of, say, eight or ten or twelve ships doesn’t match the service we love on the rest of them, there has to be a reason. I’m glad you remembered it was Saturn, not Mars, that failed to match the expected appropriate level of service you’d found on your previous two Viking cruises. Of course, staff moves around, plus sometimes it’s something temporary going on. Meantime, you've been politely patient when so many here just aren’t listening to you. I commend you.

Are the Molsons bridge players?

I want to hit the love button!

Oh, for heaven’s sake! Now I have to put a reminder in my phone for June 24th to read the Lagunitas label! Thank you, FlyerTalker.

NorwayLady, thank you for your wonderful live trip report! I must mention that, on tonight’s dinner menu, where neither you nor the Queen were tempted by any of the mains, in my house, Mr B and I found almost every main appealing! Different strokes for different folks, for sure. Keep enjoying!

I had no idea John Grantham is still with Celebrity! We so enjoyed having him as CD on the Connie around 2009.

Since I only have a non-stop to YYZ, but not YUL, I have changed more than once in YYZ. Last time, I was sad to see the state of the airport. My one and only time into YUL was fine, through either IAD or EWR, I don’t even remember which. In December, we will be cruising in and out of BCN. I think we’ll just take whatever they give us, or what we find that’s fairly comparable, price-wise. Flying home from Stockholm was not wonderful, last June, but we survived just fine. It was certainly the earliest I ever woke up or departed a ship!

I’ve never been on Viking River. When I first looked for a river cruise, I chose AMA. Out of seven nights, I believe we ate with one couple, whom we actually liked very much, twice. Once we ate with one other couple and they were fine. Three of the other nights we dined alone. One night we dined at the special restaurant, special menu, all 12 guests, iirc, at the same table. It was a nice experience … private room. We liked the couple we dined with, twice, so much that we saw them once when they were in our neck of the woods with some extra time before their flight home. Did another AMA for the tulip cruise, great fun. I don’t remember dining with anybody! We did a Uniworld with two friends, but actually dined at a table of eight most nights. It was ok, but we generally prefer dining alone, or with our own travel companions. Last night we dined, just the four of us. Heck, I never thought I’d opt to dine at a buffet for dinner, but Octantis broke me of that opinion. If we take a Viking River, we’ll just deal with it. The most important part is we’ll be together, and if we have to laugh about the experience, later, so be it.