markeb

I've probably had both, but not on my most recent cruises. Are Forbes readers defining the fruit baskets we got before the pandemic as a gift basket? No one here thinks that, but are the folks commenting on Forbes frequent cruisers? We all did get welcome aboard drinks at one time. Yes, it was crap sparkling wine, but we did get it. What's the date on the Forbes' content? I'm guessing their production schedule is much longer than the post immediately schedule on CC. If the Forbes population and the CC population is significantly different, which seems possible if not likely, then it's not hard to believe they'd have different impressions. Forbes readers "might" actually understand that decreasing inflation doesn't mean prices drop...

I guess I don't find it that hard to believe. Has anyone on this thread really followed Forbes for travel information? Do you actually send messages to Forbes "advocacy team"? Is it so hard to believe their audience is different from Cruise Critic? Basically the same as following the Money Guy, Dave Ramsey, or Azul (or various others) on YouTube for retirement planning considerations (not to be confused with financial advice...). Different populations follow different people. I have no data on the size or demographics of Cruise Critic subscribers, nor do I have that information for Forbes. I'm sure if I approached either of them wanting to spend $1M in advertising, I'd have that information in about 5 minutes...

Sounds like no data on S or M Class... Honestly wasn't something I was paying attention to on Equinox in November. It was an 11 night cruise, so it did seem older, but I do remember quite a few "younger" passengers on our excursions. But I'm a horrible judge of age.

You are correct. It’s never been included.

Some of us Yanks are quite fascinated by the history of Ypres! 😀 But I do agree you need a greater than average interest in the battles AND someone who knows where they’re going to make it worthwhile. It’s probably more than I’d attempt for a cruise port of call. And you wouldn’t be there long enough for the Last Post.

Just to be clear, I believe they’re talking about one of these… Or something similar. I don’t think they’ll allow that on board. Odds are if you call and ask about a scooter, the person on the other end will think mobility scooter. These are the things they rent as dockless scooters and end up left on a sidewalk somewhere for the company to come collect.

Agree. I’d still probably go for 2 out of 3 to be sure and all bets are off with actual port security! I’d leave them at home.

They specifically prohibit skateboards and surfboards. I suspect they would extend that to powered scooters and one wheels. I thought they’d prohibited Hoverboards in the past. The current list is “incomplete” to put it mildly.

Not always. I’ve seen plenty of times where the Acela was cheaper than the NE Regional. It really depends. Business Class on the NE Regional is a strange bird. It’s not the quiet car. Unless something has changed, you’ve got to walk through the quiet car to get your free baby Pepsi or coffee, and it still makes all the stops. And every car on the Acela is reserved seating. But I agree you have to compare.

I’d also compare transportation to Union Station and the Acela. All seats are reserved now. Most Acelas no longer stop at New Carrollton. But the Acela can be a good deal if purchased early. You just have to get to Union Station. (BWI is skipped a lot.)

I don't remember the cured tuna. On the current sailing I'm following that's offered with the ginger crabcakes which is probably what I had. The salmon sashimi was beyond excellent, as was the carpaccio. Too much of my life in food safety to do beef tartare. Poke, sure, just not beef. I've always found the meals in Luminae to be excellent. The least excellent have generally been the more everyday dishes. The beef was generally average. Seared black bass was outstanding. It was designed to be an adventurous restaurant, although they've had to dial that back, which is a real pity. But it's also the primary dining room for Retreat guests. Maybe there's not as much adventure in that population as they thought?

You're already booked on a non-refundable deposit? I'd be very careful. The All Included is likely a fare basis not an add-on. If that's the case, I don't believe you can sever it from the booking once made. You could effectively be cancelling your booking and having to pay a change fee for this. Check your terms and conditions carefully before making any changes and ask a lot of questions. If the difference is as close as you're describing, the change fee would probably eat it. And that assumes the fare you're looking at is available for changes. Some are only good for new bookings.

Confirmation/validation of what I'm sure is MUCH more extensive data from actual behavior. Do the people who participate in a power up survey, a convenience sample, behave the same as what our data shows? They already know how frequently a RCI Diamond books Celebrity, and whether a RCI D+ is more likely or less to book Celebrity. And vice versa. The programs are customer retention programs disguised as rewards programs. I suspect they're incredibly effective as designed to encourage customers to chase status in two different programs with RCG benefitting from the chase. The simple fact that you can match status but at 0 points is brilliant. Some folks (that would be me) will simply enjoy our Elite benefits and our Celebrity cruises with no real need to go from 0 to 750 cruise points for Elite +. Others will turn right around and start cruising to get to E+. They already know if that's more likely for someone who began as D+; the survey would just confirm current attitudes towards matching. I suspect Silversea is a different animal entirely. If they feel they need to capture current Celebrity travelers, there are likely other means than some kind of status match. One time invitation, for instance. The goal would be to keep them in the RCG family at the lowest cost to their retention programs. And, again, they know how many D/E and above travelers book Silversea, currently with NO loyalty incentives. If that meets their needs, they're not going to change. The credit card thing is interesting. Is credit card points applying to frequent traveler status a uniquely US thing? The airlines and hotel chains keep playing with that in the US. You could theoretically spend your way to 1K on United this year just by using your credit card and taking the required 4 flights.

My brain is telling me I've seen promotions onboard, but in general they're probably less expensive to pre-book. You just may not have a date or time until you're on the ship. They're unlikely to be at the same time, but they could be back-to-back...

I'm biased (Marriott Lifetime Titanium...), but the Renaissance on 17th is nice and it's convenient to Walgreens, CVS, I think Publix, etc. But we're also normally only there for well less than 24 hours and not looking to do a lot of exploring.

Don't disagree, but the OP's signature says they live in the DC 'burbs on the MD side. Pretty sure they're very familiar with I 95 traffic. It pretty much rules our life around here...

The person they were tipping now has to count their money, probably have it verified by someone in charge, and then turn it in to someone, somewhere. Who will then distribute the tips to the pool. Probably electronically to their payroll account. Instead of simply going on break when their shift is over. Real helpful to them. But I also don't get how they get to keep cash tips when autograts are kept in place but not if they're removed either. You can pull the autograts up until something like 10:00 pm on the last night (or maybe until they close your account?). Do you have to account for cash or put it "in escrow" until the cruise actually ends? Because if the way people believe they understand the system is correct, the tip is only the individual's if at the end of the cruise the daily gratuities are actually charged to the card on file (or closed out with cash)...

Your cruise is about 8 weeks away. If this is a “recent change” it will be all over the board, probably with pictures, by Sunday. Look at the footstool thread. Any perceived bad news or benefit cut will spread like wildfire. Right now you’re reacting to classic RUMINT (rumor intelligence). The fact that it’s from an official source is not verification. The 10 posts between 11:59 am Saturday and 3:00 pm Sunday would be verification. Relax and expect to carry a bag. If they started enforcing this on Saturday, you’ve got 7 weeks for them to walk back a really dumb idea. Unless it’s the port, in which case it will be on EVERY board.

I like what Regent shows for wine service. The variety approaches a really high end land-based restaurant. The wine lists I've seen do a great job of hitting nice wines at what's really not a high price point (to them). But they're also not needing the volume that Celebrity (or RCG as a whole, possibly less Silversea) needs. And honestly I wouldn't pick (or drop) a cruiseline over their wine program. It's just one data point. The original cost question was because there's such variation on the boards these days on what's "costly". There's a thread about the Chef's Table, which is certainly not inexpensive, and probably overpriced given that it's not in one of Daniel Boulud's restaurants and you've already paid a base price for dinner. But it's really not that high compared to what they want to project, and significantly lower than one of Boulud's actual restaurants. It becomes very relative. If you're going to do that on a cruise, especially more than once, and it's included on a line like Regent, it alters the cost calculation.

I found some for Seven Seas Voyager and Splendor. Sample menus. I'm assuming the listed wines are the included wines. Very heavy on French wines for the samples I found. Nice wines. Assuming current vintage not a dramatically higher price point than on Celebrity. Just a different selection. And not listed for all venues (really same as Celebrity). The ones I found were for Chartreuse and Compass Rose, which might explain the heavy Bordeaux/Burgundy/Rhone influence. And they've done the unforgiveable and listed the varietals! (One of the jokes about French wine is you should simply know the grapes once you know the source. They're not listed on the label in general.) I'd be fine, but I kind of wonder how popular they'd be around here... There's at least one undated bar menu out there, based from the UK. If I'm interpreting it correctly (above the line = included (no price given) below the line upcharge as listed) the liquor offerings at least were better than Celebrity is now, with the same sort of headshakers. On the other hand, their web page says "all" over and over again, without footnotes or asterisks, for beverages and open bars. Interesting. Actually, before I hit post, I found this on CC from 2022: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2872037-wine-lists-from-splendor/ Similar to Celebrity in quality and price, just more variety and different wines. No prices to divide the wines into categories. And I assume available.

Meaning? I mean some people find a $50/bottle Napa cab very costly. Are we talking $150/bottle retail, which is a lot of good wine on the market, or Opus at $400/bottle? $50/bottle retail would still be over the Premium package on Celebrity today, but it's hardly very costly in the market. I've never looked. Does Regent have wine lists online?

Don't know of a reason why you can't. Of course, it would probably be simpler to bring a refillable bottle and the powder...

Have you eaten at any of the higher end places in Manhattan? I wouldn't do it often, and haven't done it often. But yes, I've eaten at Le Bernardin. More than once. No, we're not made of money, but we're comfortable. Which is one reason I probably wouldn't pay that on the cruise ship. The food and ambiance will be much better on land... And I don't do wine pairings at those types of places. Too much wine, no matter how good the pairing may be.

Are you a AAA member? Or any other affiliation? Element New York Times Square West. Marriott Property. Studio King, AAA rate, all in (taxes included, and I believe breakfast) for $355/night. Cancellable. You'll need a AAA number to book that rate. That's the only Marriott property I see in Manhattan for that time period anywhere near that price. It "suggests" you might be better off than most of us think, and you should also check Hilton, for instance. But if you are AAA and can book that, do it and then keep looking and thinking.

The chicken tagine is gone and has been for months. It's now a Duck Leg Confit "Char Siu" which is excellent. Neither are on the menu at either Daniel or Cafe Boulud so they were presumably created just for Celebrity. Dinner at Daniel is $188/person plus tax and tip. Wine pairings are $125 or $195. It's consistently had 2 Michelin stars for years. One of these days we'll have to eat there. The pricing on the ship wouldn't be insane if the food and surroundings were comparable to Daniel. That seems unlikely. If I did pay for the chef's table I'd do the wine pairing as presumably it was curated for the meal. But I'm a wine and food geek. Unfortunately most meals I've had with a wine pairing they decided to do full (or near full) pours, so you've suddenly had 4-5 glasses of wine with your meal! When we did a chef's table years ago on Royal there was no tie-in to a celebrity chef. I believe the chef was actually free to pick the best menu for the ingredients he or she had available, not tied to some preset selection. Which was wonderful, and honestly I'm sure what Daniel Boulud would actually do if he were planning a restaurant week menu, for instance, in Manhattan. The artificiality of the ship makes things more difficult.