markeb

I didn't suggest wines only from Livermore and Lodi. But there are great wines from both locations, typically at better price points than Napa. Define "better"? More expensive? Older? Single varietal? Price is at best a very imperfect indicator of quality. It's a reasonable indicator of perceived provenance of the wine (a Grand Cru Burgundy is going to be much more expensive than a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir). But I know plenty of wine drinkers, including some wine snobs (and I can be one) that prefer an Oregon Pinot to a Burgundy. so to them, Burgundy isn't "better", just more expensive. Age? Good indicator for traditional reds and some whites, but again, there is a huge group of wine drinkers who buy and drink young wines (see for instance, the popularity of Caymus for it's year to year consistency, not its ability to lay down and age). But wine changes as it ages, and there are people who don't like those changes (I do, at least for most better reds). Single varietals? Many if not most of the world's greatest wines are and have always been blends. The concentration on varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon) versus location (Bordeaux) is a relatively recent, New World thing. And even there it's inconsistent. Opus One is a blend. Many Napa Valley cabs are actually blends, but they meet the requirement (75% cab, BTW) to be marketed as a Cabernet Sauvignon. Actually, Opus One in most years could probably be marketed at a Cabernet, but they don't do that. At $60 a bottle (allowing for regional price differences) you should be able to find a really good wine. They can get better as price increases, but for many (most?) people there's a point of diminishing returns. I have bottles of Opus. I also have bottles that I consider as good or better than Opus that were about half the price. Most of those go into the basement for 8-10 years or more. They're not good candidates to go on a cruise ship wine list. I mean they have Opus listed in the app, but no vintage. It's probably 2019, which would be criminal to open! But $60/bottle at retail is probably $25-30/glass in a restaurant, give or take. The old rule of thumb was to pay off the bottle in about 2 1/2 glasses if memory serves but looks like most folks now recommend charging the wholesale cost of the bottle for a glass. There's a good argument that Celebrity's wine list is really best described as inexpensive and slightly more expensive, not classic and "premium". But it's almost unheard of outside of true wine bars and high end (Michelin starred or similar) restaurants to have a truly premium by the glass program. And those locations aren't trying to curate a wine list that can be drunk at the pool or with a steak au poivre and white table clothes. DaKahuna's original post and my reply had as much to do with our experience at the smaller, fun wineries in Lodi and Livermore (and Amadore County, etc.) as it had to do with the wine. A really crappy Chianti in a basket bottle is amazing when you're drinking it in Florence! A Lodi zin is incredible when you're tasting it with the winemaker in a old warehouse where his tasting bar is a 2 X 12 over two wine barrels...

I don’t know. Were you a renowned member of the French wine press in Paris in 1976? Did you select an unknown Chardonnay from Chateau Monteleone (winemaker Mike Grgich) as the best example of a white Burgundy over actual Burgundy wines and change the course of the French and California wine industries? To your real question, you certainly should taste a difference between a $12 bottle of Chateau Soverain and a $55 or so (retail) Freemark Abbey or Grgich Hills. Even more so their good stuff. But many won’t, or won’t care for the difference. One of the wines was made to drink now and offend no one. The others will have significant year to year variations. There are no vintages listed on Celebrity’s wine lists, but they’re probably young, no older than 21 in all likelihood. Still very tannic. Or worse, they’re 2020 and taste of wildfires (I’d hope neither of those would release those wines). Paso Robles makes some great wines. Some of them are “hotter” in fruit and ABV than I’d like. But Daou and Justin are nice. Oh, and some of my favorite cabs these days are from Washington, not Napa…

I guess I’m not surprised Grgich Hills and Celebrity would part ways. Not sure what was in it for Grgich Hills. Unfortunate though. We lived in the Central Valley for a couple of years twenty years ago. Really liked Wente, and honestly Livermore and Lodi both for the wines and the (not Napa) atmosphere!

I do that on land all the time with great success. I haven’t found it to be a great strategy on the ship. Night one for my Equinox cruise in Luminae has one beef dish listed. The red wines by the glass are two California cabs, a Primitivo, a California Zin, a Merlot, a “California” Pinot Noir, a Chianti (Classico, not Reserva), etc. The entire red selection appears to revolve around the one red meat dish! Hard to get a Somm to pair something if those are your choices… I typically don’t do cabs onboard and go for alternate reds. Don’t care for most of the cabs they offer and would rather do a Bordeaux or Super Tuscan. But that’s looking more difficult for the cruise in 2 weeks!

I see them by the bottle in Murano for Equinox. The Chardonnay is available, also by the bottle, in Luminae but the cab isn’t listed. Were they offered by the glass before? I just don’t remember. My memory is that the chard was in the premium package and the cab was an up charge.

You keep saying this. This was NEVER the case. Many butlers replenished the mini fridge, but it was always specifically excluded. In reality, there are other threads on this board where people report the butler/cabin steward doing the same today. Which would be no change from before. I suspect there is a class of Celebrity cruisers in the demographic they’re targeting that would be bored to death on that ship you’re describing and actually like the dichotomy of a private area and the features of a larger ship. I think we might be at the point where we’d enjoy the true luxury lines, but if we were 15-20 years younger we’d likely pay more to have both options. Maybe not as much as the current rates, but we would have been beyond bored on those small luxury ships. As you say, it depends on what one wants in a cruise.

FWIW, I think we’re agreeing? You’re choosing the lower absolute price without considering what the “discount” is, and getting the benefit of a greater value to you. In those circumstances that’s exactly what I’d do and what I wrote above. I’d buy a sweater if I thought the price was right, not because the sales price was half off.

Menswear company. Notorious because everything is always on sale. Essentially nothing is ever even offered for sale at the price printed on the price tag. An illusion of always getting a deal. Some of their stuff is actually OK, just don’t believe you’re actually saving 50%.

Why does the size of the discount matter? Serious question. What would matter to me is absolute cost, not the cost relative to some arbitrary starting point. A $5000 cruise is a 50% discount off of a $10,000 "book value", whatever the book is. It's a 20% discount off of a $6250 book. I'm paying $5000 either way. That's the number that actually seems to matter since that's what's coming out of my bank account. The "heavily discounted" metric is how Joseph A. Bank (for instance) stays in business... I really don't play this game, but I'd find it much more relevant to search for the absolute fare and where that number intersects my willingness to pay, I'd buy. Getting a 50% discount is just about bragging about how well I did on the price. To me.

The app is fine, at least on iOS. It does run on Android phones, but not Android tablets apparently. I suspect the note is more akin to the airline telling you to download their app before boarding because you can't download it on their Wi-Fi in flight. I've never tried to download an app on the ship's Wi-Fi; I'd think you could reach your app store, but I don't know. If you're going to carry your phone for its camera, but app will give you some functionality on the ship. I've had a package when traveling with, but I believe you can use it without paid Wi-Fi and it includes a limited native messaging capability.

Times are in the app. Looks like something from 6:30-2:30 pm, then dinner from 6:00-9:30. I "think" there's something available from early until 1:00 am. We're on her in about 3 weeks as well.

We’re going to have to agree to disagree. If there’s one buyer, they’re at market. Period.

No. Charging market is the old and new normal.

What's not "normal" about it? I agree the prices are absurd, but it's a publicly traded company with shareholders who haven't seen an ROE in years. "Normal" is pricing where the market will support it. "Abnormal" would be not doing that. If they can get it, they should. No, I'm not about to even dream of paying those prices for ANY cruise line. And yes, the true luxury/near luxury lines may be less expensive. But if there are people out there who'll pay those prices, are you saying they should be too proud to take their money?

One of each for next month? I’m not surprised. Someone may even pay it. Have you ever seen First/Business class international fares 2-5 days out? Forget walk up fares. $10K+ for a 7 hour flight. Much more to Asia from the US. That’s what dynamic pricing models do. Rare commodity in a dynamic market. If they don’t sell, they’ll come down. If they don’t sell before they have to lock the passenger list, they’ll upgrade someone.

Items with Heating Elements or Open Flames Certain items that generate heat or produce an open flame are not permitted onboard. This includes clothing irons, hotplates, candles, incense, and any other item that may create a fire hazard. Curling irons and hair dryers are allowed.

From Lauderdale to Orlando?

Assuming you're leaving your autogratuities in place, there's no "need" to tip every night. The food service tips appear to be pooled, so everyone shares. That is "probably" true of cash tips, although there are reports in this and other threads of people getting to keep cash handed directly to them, and by name gratuities on the additional gratuity form. If you want to give more, that's fine, but I wouldn't worry too much.

How long are you in Brussels and what do you plan on doing? My last trip to Brussels is now well pre-pandemic. Just looked up a couple of places that appear to be closed at least for now. Across the Grand Place and about 10-12 minutes walking (lots of cobblestones in Brussels, so dragging a rolling bag can be fun) is the Marriott Grand Place. I've stayed there several times and it's a very nice hotel, close to but not in the Grand Place. There are a number of hotels close to the train station but I have never stayed in them. The Warwick has a nice location, but so does the Novatel. It's probably going to be hard to get first hand recommendations on this board; I don't really think of Brussels as a cruise destination.

I tend to stick with the auto tips. I've given extra to our cabin attendant and our butler. I've never asked enough of the Retreat concierge to tip extra. And I've never asked a Maître 'd do anything above and beyond. (The places on land where the Maître 'd COULD do that I know I'm not even in the bidding pool...) I'm now really curious about something that will be unanswerable. In the US, managers cannot participate in a tip pool. In some states they can accept a tip if and only if they alone provided the service (and even then I'd hope they'd drop it in the tip jar anyway). And I realize it's different, but 30 years in a military uniform as a commissioned officer make me psychologically incapable of tipping an officer. You eat last... Since much of the shipboard tipping culture seems to be a direct derivation of US customs and law, does anyone know for sure that the Maître 'd or Retreat concierges are part of the automatic tip pool? I think of the Maître 'd as more management than direct service; the Retreat concierge is a bit of both so I would tend to tip them (like I would at a hotel) if they did something special. The Retreat functions largely as an extension of guest services, and does anyone try to tip them? Giving me an MTA map and circling the subway stops is just doing their job. Getting me last minute good seats to Hamilton is tippable at a percentage of what the tickets cost (never did that, but...). I just haven't had that kind of experience on any cruise on any cruise line. I generally assume tips are pooled and think it's appropriate. It's pretty rare that only one individual helps me. It is a little different on the ship as there's something of a culture of one server/one assistant covering a single table, but not universally. In most nicer restaurants where I've eaten there's a team, and clearly there's an agreed to structure for distributing tips. And I have to think that even if the person in Luminae accepts your cash tip, they'll be tipping out (sharing the tip with) others who help them. The sommelier seems to always be the outlier. In nicer restaurants on land the sommelier typically takes over all drink service (at least once you invoke the sommelier) and I assume receives a share of the gratuity proportionate to the wine and alcohol charges. Harder to figure on the ship, especially with drink packages. What I've normally seen (three Celebrity cruises so far, so a limited set of observations) is the server may bring a cocktail, but the sommelier usually handles the wine. And given the variety of experiences and opinions (polite, I might add!) on this thread from a group who all live in a tip obsessed country, is it any wonder our friends from cultures that don't normally tip are confused?

That would be a loin roast. They're using an OK but lesser cut of beef, cooking it as a roast, and slicing it after cooking. Roasting it (cooking in the oven) probably also breaks down more connective tissue. This is effectively a prime rib, but not from the prime cut, and probably choice grade (hopefully not select) instead of prime grade. Which also points out that the word "prime" gets used too much in the meat industry with totally different meanings...

Depends on the age and grade of the beef. Also depends on the location of the cut in the carcass. The muscle itself has little flavor. The flavor comes from the marbling (fat withing the muscle, not around it). I've never heard marbling referred to as veining; you tend to cut the veins out of retail cuts of meat. But they all come from the rib primal cut. Some are better than others.

This was a new one to me... A little hard to find a definitive source, but a "roasted ribeye steak" is a ribeye roast that's roasted intact, like a prime rib, then sliced. But prime rib comes from a specific rib range (6-12 apparently) which is the least used and typically best marbled part of the animal; there apparently is no industry requirement for location to call it a roasted ribeye steak. It's not the same as the ribeye in Blu because it's not cooked as a steak but roasted and sliced (assuming that's how they're preparing it, but that's how the process is described in recipes on the 'net). Good cuts of beef have gone way up in price (and to some extent availability), but I'd have just done something different (not beef) on the menu, especially in Luminae...

Benefits are here https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/staterooms/suite-class/royal-suite Twice per cruise, apparently.

The minibar would have been included in the RS. I don't believe the perks have changed since 2018 (in this case) so it would not have been included in the CS in 2018; it's not now. People, including you, keep bringing this up as a loss of benefit on Celebrity's part. It's not. "What happened" was your butler and probably the suite manager on Eclipse decided to replenish your minibar with things you could get for free anyway. A nice service gesture, but a bonus. Big bad corporate RCG in Miami did NOT take away this "perk"; it never officially existed. When I stay at a Marriott property I can grab as many Diet Pepsi's as I want out of the M-Lounge for my room for free. But if I take one from the minibar, I'm paying for it. Lest I be accused of being a cheerleader, I think it's a pennywise and pound foolish policy (both for Marriott and Celebrity) and they should restock the minibars with items available in the Retreat Lounge, but this isn't a policy change.