sbt518

15 hours ago, Twinkletoes20355 said:

taxi isn't an option unless it has wheelchair accessibility because he's in a 400 lb power chair. I've seen companies that can accommodate if booked ahead of time. Thanks so much for the feedback though. 

Did you look at this website?

https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/about/accessible-dispatch.page

They do have a way to order a wheelchair taxi that you can roll/drive the wheelchair into. I'm not sure the size limitations of the chairs though, so it would probably be best to book ahead of time.

Unfortunately the subways here in NYC are so far from being accessible, it's shameful.

If you do come into Penn Station, I would recommend taking a taxi to the Port.  Just be sure you get an actual yellow cab, or Uber or Lyft. There will be signs showing you where to go and if you get red cap assistance, they should take you to the curb to get a taxi.

We do have some wheelchair taxis that your son could stay in his wheelchair but I am not sure how you get one of those except for random luck? I did just google it and got this website with instructions, I've never tried it though. https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/about/accessible-dispatch.page

If your son can get out of his wheelchair and into a car, then any taxi should have room for luggage and the wheelchair.

I've lived in the city for 30 years and never used an actual car service like Dial 7 or Carmel but I still see the ads on TV so I know they do still exist.

On 2/3/2024 at 1:57 PM, GenerationX said:

 

 

 

That was about as long as I could resist the siren song of shakers rattling a deck above at the martini bar and went to grab my absolute favorite: the French 75 martini (also not a thing at martini bar on E class, boo).

 

 

Have you ever tried the Bitter French cocktail?

I, like you, adore all things bubbly and drink a lot of sparkling wine, champagne, prosecco, cava, basically whatever I can get!  And I adore a French 75 but the Bitter French is delicious too and if you make friends with any of the bartenders around the ship (which, of course, being your effervescent self, of course you will) they will make you one assuming they have the ingredients.

Bitter French

Ingredients

1 ounce Plymouth gin

1⁄4 ounce Campari

1⁄2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1⁄2 ounce simple syrup (1:1 sugar:water)

Champagne

Garnish: 1 grapefruit twist

Basically mix all the ingredients and top with champagne serve as a French 75 or other champagne cocktail.

Again, thanks for sharing your trip with us and I had to laugh at GenZ's breakfast with your mom, because as an overindulgent aunt myself, I've definitely fed my niece ice cream multiple times a day when she visited.  But as my sister said, that's why it's called vacation and you don't do it every day!

I am so sorry for your loss.

Also sad to see that Jeremy could not make it on the cruise but so many bonus points to him as the husband of the year for sacrificing his vacation for you.

I'm looking forward to your review.  We had to reschedule our spring cruise due to some family events so I have to occupy myself with something until May.

@Robert de Beaumont I can't speak for the others but we plan to.  We just got home from London yesterday and have not done it yet.

We just got off the Silhouette on Friday August 25th and were also very disappointed in the MDR. We normally cruise aqua class but that has gotten so expensive we went with a veranda instead.

We did do the TajX Indian dinner, Lawn Club Grill, Tuscan and Murano so only ate in the MDR 3 times. And on each night, our meals were well below the quality we expected.

Some of the problems we encountered were, very fatty cuts of meat, to the point of being inedible, overdone meat, long wait times for wine (well into the main course before wine was brought), cauliflower and cheese side dish had very little cheese and was burnt.  My husband does not drink wine so he ordered a very simple 2 ingredient drink of liquor plus mixer and the mixer was wrong, it took so long to get the server's attention, he wound up going out to craft social to get his own drink. 

We also spoke to people at the tables next to us and they said they were disappointed with the food too.

As I said, we normally cruise in Aqua so we were not really aware of the menu changes, there was always one thing on the menu we were willing to eat but the quality was really disappointing.

We decided after this trip that if Aqua is still too expensive, we will book verandas and just do specialty dining every night because the MDR was really not enjoyable for us.

How far in advance are the train strikes announced? I just looked at the national rail website and they have events listed through August 12th.  Is that it for August or could there still be more announced for later in the month?

I hope you are enjoying your cruise! Thanks for taking us along.

I do love an orange cat from the Tri-State area so shout out to Fozzie the bear cat!

Our cruise in March was our first cruise as Elite and we walked into Tuscan one morning to check it out and we just stood there near the entrance and no server spoke to us or told us we were welcome to sit anywhere or offered to seat us so after about 5 awkward minutes we just gave up and went to Blu.  We did want to try it and I think we'll try again in August because we are not in Aqua class and will want a smaller venue for breakfast than the buffet or MDR on some mornings.

Is it a seat yourself kind of thing? We'll be on Silhouette if that matters.

There is a lot of information on how to get to/from Southampton on the British Isles board. We are cruising out ofSouthampton inAugust and we are taking a bus tour that picks us up at our London hotel the morning of the cruise and stops at Stonehenge on the way to the ship. 

On 7/12/2023 at 2:15 PM, Globaliser said:

 

But if sbt518 would like to try an inbound deep line Tube near central London at about 8.30 am on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, we Londoners will still be happy to make them feel completely at home!

🤣 That is what I worry about, knowing how I feel about tourists and their luggage on my morning commute in NYC (which is also only TWTh)

But maybe the train to WAT and then a taxi or uber to our hotel would be OK.

On 7/10/2023 at 12:27 PM, gumshoe958 said:

 

I’d use either National Express direct to Victoria coach station or the half hourly train to London Waterloo, then jump in a taxi or Uber from there to Holborn (which should cost around £15-25 depending on traffic).

 

 

Is the train from Southampton to Waterloo a commuter train? We will be traveling on a Friday morning if that matters for crowding.  I just don't love the idea of being in the midst of the morning commute with our luggage, given that I commute every day on the train in NYC and worry London will be just as crowded.

Hello, seeking some input on getting from Southampton Cruise port to the Holborn area of London after a cruise.

For the way TO the cruise we are taking the International Friends Bus that stops at Stonehenge and then drops us at the ship.

On the way back, we don't really want to spend all day on a bus tour, we'd like to go directly back to London.

We are balking at the cost of a private car service, although it is a long ride so it makes sense, it's just a lot.

And as native New Yorkers, we understand the challenges and annoyance of taking luggage on the subway (tube) during rush hour and up and down stairs etc.  It's not something we would do at home to get to the airport or ship.  So why would we consider doing it on vacation? This would be a Friday morning, probably right during rush hour and I hate to be that super annoying tourist in everyone's way while I lug my stuff around the stations and on the train.

On other trips, we've shared a van with other couples from our cruise critic roll call after the cruise (from Civitaveccia to Rome for example) but our role call for this cruise is really quiet.

Are there any shared vans or anything like that back to London? I have looked online but not seen anything.

Or should we do the National Express bus?

Or spend the money on a private car?

Secondary question, when we land at LHR (Virgin terminal) can we just go to the taxi stand and get a taxi into London or should we pre-book one?

2 hours ago, richele said:

Hi,

 I am booked on the Apex for a seven night cruise in the Caribbean 

December 2-9.  The ship appears to be completely booked. I have sailed 

this itinerary before in December with a moderate size passenger capacity.

Does anyone know if there is a large group booked for this cruise?

I really enjoy sailing when the ship is not at capacity.

 I read that Celebrity will not give out details about who is booked so I have not called.

Any idea what I might do? Hate to cancel since I have my air and hotels booked.

I just googled your cruise date and found something called post thanksgiving cruise

if you eliminate the spaces and add .com to the end of that you will see a travel agency that has a group on the Apex on Dec 2, 2023.

Congratulations to you both!

Have a fantastic and well deserved trip.

We did the ABC islands on Equinox in March and it was great.

We just walked around Curacao, over the bridge and went to the Jewish museum and synagogue (oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere) it was really interesting.  Then we stopped and got our obligatory blue drinks as we wandered back to the ship.  It was a nice, relaxing day.

Have a fantastic trip with the Queen!

I'm excited to follow along on your mother/daughter adventures.  These are two great itineraries you are on, should be so much fun.

Hello, we just booked a cruise this August going to the Norwegian fjords and one of our stops is in Olden.

We are there from 8am-5pm and I am trying to decide if we should do the Loen Sky Lift or a bus trip to Briksdal glacier.

I don't think we have time to do both.

The Skylift website says it opens at 9am so we could be there right at opening.  How much time does one need there? I guess it would depend on how much hiking we wanted to do at the top?

And then the trip to the glacier leaves at 12pm so we'd have less than 3 hours to do the whole sky lift experience and get the shuttle bus back to the port area to be picked up to go to the glacier.

I've read a few posts here that say the best thing to do in Olden is the sky lift, can someone provide more info as to why? Or maybe there's a third option in Olden I haven't found yet? We do have an aft balcony so we plan on viewing the sail in and out of Olden from there.

Oh and if it would affect your decision, below are our other port stops and our tentative plans

Bergen - probably wander around town a bit and then do the roundtrip fjord cruise to Mostraumen

Stavenger - another fjord cruise on the Lysefjord to view the pulpit rock from the bottom

Kristiansand - maybe a cruise ship excursion called Mircobrewery and Fish Market or we'd try to just do that on our own because ship tours are so overpriced and we already know enough to know we like beer and can eat fish!

Thanks!

@NorthStarStateCruiser I got an additional $150 in OBC

OK, I wound up paying $400 more total to get the big balcony in AQ so that is totally worth it to us.  When we booked, AQ was over $1000 more per person and that is just crazy.  But we really prefer the smaller environment and food in Blu.

THANK YOU! I am on hold now, going to move up to Aqua class for basically what we paid for our deluxe veranda.  We will sacrifice the big balcony for Blu.

On 4/24/2023 at 10:37 AM, Jim_Iain said:

It really surprises me as all meals in Luminae are supposed to be cooked to order.  All the fish I have had have been incredibly good. 

When we were in a suite on Edge a year or two ago, our waiter told us that the Daniel Bouloud entrees come on board pre-cooked in bags and then are heated up sous vide.  I could see how that could lead to over cooked chicken for that particular entree.  But not for all the others.  Glad they fixed the poultry issue.

Also, we declined to try any of the Bouloud entrees but my husband had the dessert and enjoyed it.

18 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

The martini bar on Beyond is another improvement upon her older sister E class ships. It’s positioned in the center of the grand foyer rather than against the back wall, so there’s much more seating at the bar.  On the flip side, as an avid espresso martini drinker, I don’t really like that on E class, the espresso martinis are poured “on tap” from a kettle one martini machine rather than made and shaken for you from scratch like on S and M class.  The machine martinis come out just a little sweeter than I like.  

 

 

 

 

Was just on Equinox and they had the on tap espresso martini's also.  Did not care for them but discovered that Cafe Al Bacio makes an outstanding espresso martini!

Oh fantastic! Another Jim and Iian live review to keep me entertained instead of working.

I hope you do post pictures of the tulips, that is one of my bucket list trips, Holland in spring for the tulips.

Have a great trip and thanks for bringing us all along.

2 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Dear readers please forgive me as I flip the script momentarily and ask a question of the audience.

 

In true best life style as I’m eating and drinking my lunch, I’m perusing the Luminae menu in the app to decide what I want to eat and drink for dinner.

 

Has anyone tried the Daniel Boulud signature duck leg confit entree?

 

It sounds intriguing but I’m a bit nervous on it.  A few cruises back I tried the Boulud signature chicken tangine and it was, how can I put this nicely?  Nah, forget it, there’s no way to put it nicely, it was one of the biggest Luminae let downs I’ve ever experienced.

 

I may have just caught the kitchen on a tough night, but I’m so scared to have Chef Boulud break my heart again.

 

If anyone has first hand experience they can share it would be much appreciated!

 

 

I have never tried any of the Daniel Bouloud meals on Celebrity because when we asked about them in Luminae on the Edge, we were told they came onto the ship, pre-cooked in bags and then were just warmed up on the ship.  We decided no matter whose recipe it is, we'd rather have freshly made food.

 

I’m dying! Where is she? Did they make it? Fingers crossed!! 😬