markeb

NO!!!!!!!!! That is not correct. So far, that menu is only for the Equinox. And it's apparently a trial. This has been addressed. Within the last few days. In a very long thread. If it's a 7 day or longer cruise, there will be a free lobster night. You can ALSO buy lobster, if you so desire, every night. Including buying an extra on the free night.

In all honesty, the "where" probably is relevant. "Generally" the hotel deals, with or without transfers, aren't going to be a good deal. There are probably some exceptions were it's just hard to research things on your own. But if you go to the port of calls board there are very few places that cruise ships go where someone can't give you hotel and transfer advice. I think your other questions have been addressed.

Actual data! And I bet they have surveys, interviews, and focus group data as well... People on this board may not be in love with the changes, but this looks like a very well thought out strategic move on the part of Celebrity. The data above says 2/3 of cruisers on short cruises are new to cruising or new to Celebrity, statistically younger than on long cruises, and more likely to travel with families. In other words, the cruisers they need to grow in the future. And ideally not simply cannibalized from RCI. Celebrity becoming too much RCI doesn't help RCG. Reflection has the most suites of the S-Class. The shorter cruises are more likely to attract young professionals, probably with children. Celebrity offers something other than "water slides and zip lines". If you can get more of your first timers in a suite, they're going to be more likely to look at a suite for their next cruise. Or at a minimum they may be more likely to pay for a drink package. And they'll probably view CocoCay as a plus (surveys, focus groups, interviews...). I would expect the shorter cruises to also offer more opportunities for first day or one-time revenue (package upgrades, dining packages, photo packages, etc.) over longer cruises (twice as many first days). We'll see if it works. But it's something more than simply cutting costs and raising prices.

So do I. Who said anything about a double whopper? Ruth’s Chris has a burger (at the bar, admittedly, but their bar is several levels upscale from a cruise ship MDR). EDIT: Don’t care for Whoppers either. So do I was a bit unclear.

For September 16, the menu in the app ends with breakfast on Day 7. It’s a 6 day menu. Day 7 is the second sea day. Lobster would be that night (it is on this week’s cruise). It’s not there because the menu you’re seeing is last week’s 6 day cruise.

If people would look at the menus, there is a free lobster night on the current 9 day cruise. You can ALSO elect to purchase lobster any night. Including shorter cruises. Pretty sure the filet has been gone since the beginning of the year as well, and there have been numerous threads where people have actually expressed their willingness to pay for filet mignon in the MDR rather than going to a specialty restaurant. I'm just waiting for Thursday. What will happen if people actually on the ship actually like the double cheeseburger...

I guess that answers that! Probably summer of 2012, then. I do recall the terminal being under construction at the time. It was a very different terminal and club in 2015 and since.

I don't know the last time I flew United into anything other than T2... If you go to United.com, travel info, Airport and Aircraft info, you'll find info on United at Heathrow. The maps are T2. I'm pretty sure the entire Star Alliance goes out of T2 for connections and lounges.

The September 16 menu in the app is last week's 6 night menu. It's not your sailing. It ends with breakfast on the 7th day. The changes may or may not be there in September since this appears to be a test, but what you're seeing is a repeat from last week. Just like this week's menu ended early in the app until it finally changed on Saturday. Further out, the menus go to only dessert (my next cruise in November for sure), so that's certainly not representative of the actual menu onboard. The post above yours has the email address to write.

Never been to Le Havre so I can't help there. Brugges is Flemish, so Flemish stews. Carbonnade Flamande (beef stew) or Waterzooi (chicken or fish stew) are going to be big. Beef stew is delicious, and usually served with frites (as is almost everything in Belgium...). There are apparently a number of local breweries in Brugges but I'm much more familiar with the beers of Brussels. There is apparently a beer museum in Brugges (pretty sure there's one in Brussels as well). There are several styles of Belgian beer; many are very high alcohol! I could look up a couple of places in Brussels, but you're not going to be there! I'm a fan of the various darker, stronger beers such as Delirium, Duvel, and of course, Chimay, mostly the Dubbels. Lower alcohol I've always liked Leffe Brune. Not really a fan of Lambic beers, or fruited beers, but other than that, I don't know that I've ever had a bad beer in Belgium. I've also never had a Stella. Ever. Anywhere... Chocolates, of course. There are a lot of local chocolatiers on Google; I've not been to them. Buy Leonidas to take to friends in Nebraska. Skip Godiva, Neuhaus, etc. Of the shops I see on the map (there will be others, I'm sure) got to Mary Chocolates. Katelijnestraat 21. One of the best chocolatiers in Brussels with a shop in Brugges, and also holds a royal warrant in Belgium. Hopefully you have enough time in port to see Brugges and enjoy the food and beer!

Way back at the beginning of this thread I think I recommended the visitor Oyster card. We found ours, and will take them in a couple of weeks, but I'm honestly planning to just use my iPhone once I burn off whatever balance is on the card. TFL supports express transit pay, I have multiple cards that have no foreign transaction fees, and I know my phone will be handy versus having to dig out the Oyster. And I travelled all over Singapore this time last year using Apple Pay. I have I think three contactless Visa cards and a contactless AMEX that I'll carry on this trip. The wife will probably use the Oyster, and I'll have to check her balance before boarding the Elizabeth Line. From everything I've read and every YouTube video I've watched, TFL has made this way too simple. And London in 2019 made me fall in love with contactless... Next time this comes up, I'll not recommend a visitor card!

One interpretation from this calculation is that Celebrity was actually at least 3% underpriced compared to inflation. Would that extra 3% (or so) have potentially decreased cuts? Don't know. One challenge with cruises, especially among CC'ers, is they're frequently booked so far in advance. With a 100 year average rate of inflation around 3% and well established supply chains, you can sell those cruises adjusted for inflation assumptions and be OK. It takes $1,178.92 in May 2023 to have the same buying power as $1000 in January of 2020, almost an 18% increase. From January 2016 to May 2019 the increase was only 8% ($1080.94). That's a pretty massive difference in budget assumptions! And to answer your question, I really don't have a magic PPPD number. The last couple of years have been crazy for everything. Try flying or booking a hotel! I've been through an adult lifetime where inflation was mostly low so I have the same emotional reaction as everyone else when things jump like they have. Even though I can pretty easily adjust for inflation with an online calculator and see that it's often pretty close to what it "should" be.

Chianti Classico is probably on the premium package (ironically)... 🍷

The only real menus the app shows for Equinox main dining are for this week. Next week's menu's show the venues closed for days 7 and beyond; it's a 9 day cruise. For my cruise in November, there are only desserts. No appetizers or entrees. Blu and Luminae are there. I looked out of sheer boredom at half the fleet for this week; Equinox is the only ship with the upcharges. It's also on a 6 day cruise where lobster wouldn't normally be on the menu, and I really don't know about filet mignon. Oddly enough after all the gnashing of teeth a couple of months ago, prime rib was on the day one menu. No upcharge. This could be the beginning of a roll out of a major change. It could also be a really dumb marketing decision to "offer" upcharge items that normally wouldn't be on a 6 day cruise. There are no follow on menus to provide a hint one way or another (and may not be until the next group boards on the 24th). Either notion is crappy marketing. Not giving them a pass for that! Check the app on Saturday.

Yeah. Probably giving too much credit there and being kind. I keep forgetting it's Decoy they carry by the glass and want to think it's an actual Duckhorn labeled product. Decoy cab is $17.97 at Total Wine here in Virginia. Duckhorn (the better product) is $59.97 for the 2019 Napa and $119.99 for the '18 Howell Mountain. I was going to go $7-10, maybe as low as $5. Less than that for the classic package wines...

I remember they had gone back to 1 bottle per person (the OP's question), but I still find it an interesting decision. I'm sure there would be challenges screening those with drink packages from those without at boarding, but every bottle someone with a package brings on board is 4-5 glasses of wine Celebrity isn't giving away in the drink package. Although almost everything in the packages is probably $10-15 wholesale max (likely less), so it probably doesn't make much real difference. We usually end up flying, and I'm not flying with the type of wine I'd want to take on board, so we live with the available wines. There could be a long thread discussing wine on cruise ships that doesn't belong here, but I'm glad I'm not trying to plan the wine service onboard. Complicated by availability of better wines these days...

Thanks! Looks like our best bet will be off-peak or super off-peak (GWR does show super off-peak on that route...). That would give us a good balance of price and flexibility. Bath for sure, and we'll see about also going to Oxford separately. Unless the train just happens to sell out, I assume we can book the off-peak type tickets up to (or on) the day of travel? And am I correct that we want to book through GWR or their app?

I don't have experience in Southampton, but when we sailed out of Harwich in the past the porters grabbed our bags and moved on so fast we couldn't have tipped them if we'd tried! Have a couple of pounds handy, but if you have to reach into your pocket or a purse, they're likely not going to be there any more to tip anyway...

We'll be in London in a couple of weeks for a week. We have a couple of fixed events, but are pretty flexible beyond those. We've never been to Bath, or Oxford. A few years back we did day return tickets for the train to Salisbury and were looking for something similar to go to Bath (Oxford is "sort of" on the way, but might complicate the train). The better priced tickets I see on GWR are advanced purchase for specific times rather than the same day open return we've done in the past. I need to play a little more on putting together a diversion to Oxford, but I'm also wondering if this is the best way to go. We generally dislike (hate might not be too strong a word) set tours, but we're open to options. Day return to Bath (assuming it exists) one day and a separate day return to Oxford? Other options? Very comfortable with the train in the UK, but I suspect I don't know what to look for on this one! Appreciate suggestions! Thanks.

What are you overall plans? One night in the UK before the cruise or two? I tend to agree with gnome12 that you're using up a lot of time going to Southampton and then coming back to London. I'd be much more inclined to go into London on your arrival day, take that day to see what you can, explore more the next day, then take a bus or train to Southampton for your cruise. But I'd need some idea of your overall itinerary to really give any options. You'll be jetlagged the first day, but if you're in Waterloo, for instance, you can wander many of the historic sites of London on your arrival day. You won't have those options in Southampton... United uses Terminal 2 at Heathrow.

Actually early disembarkation at a different US port for an emergency is still illegal. In the cases I've read about CBP used enforcement discretion and waived the fine. And somewhere in the 80 pages of contractual terms and conditions you agreed to when you bought your cruise I'm pretty sure you agreed to pay the fine as a pass through from the cruise line, since the fine is to the ship's operator.

For the OP: The (abbreviated) version of the answer, which is "NO", from CBP. I believe the fine mentioned is now around $875. https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-23?language=en_US The situation you're describing is exactly the situation prohibited in 46 U.S.C. § 55103 (b). If you do a global search for PVSA on Cruise Critic, you should find multiple threads where the CSRs of multiple cruise lines really didn't know that answer. And the booking systems will generally allow you to book an illegal cruise (Back to Back from one US port to another where the individual legs were legal) but it gets caught later on some sort of compliance audit (also numerous threads). And the crew onboard will definitely know the rules.

I'll wait for one of my British friends to correct me, but bubble and squeak is cabbage and potatoes. Black pudding is a blood pudding. I've never seen bubble and squeak on a full English; black pudding is kind of hit and miss. A typical full English would be eggs, baked beans, tomato, sausage, mushrooms, and toast. Thick English bacon is also common. As Mark_T said, there are variations. The most common I've seen is swapping sausage for bacon (and maybe occasionally getting both).

Why not?

You've got a lot on your list! Agree with GTJ and Nitemare that the HOHO is best for a single loop overview rather than as transportation. And things that are almost on top of each other may be an hour away on the loop, depending on the loop. And some things loop back for no real benefit. Since you're staying near Times Square you would walk through it and past Rockefeller Center to get to St Patrick's. With crosstown traffic, it could take longer to drive back to Times Square and get through heading downtown towards the ESB than it took you to walk over in the first place. You do want to pick sites that are close together and do them together. Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, St Patrick's, the Empire State Building, and the Flatiron Building are very close to each other. You can see them all walking down Fifth Avenue (with a slight detour to Radio City Music Hall). The Chrysler Building is a bit of a detour, but doable. Grand Central back to Times Square/42d Street is one of the best crosstown subway routes and could save you a lot of walking from the Chrysler Building. Consider going to Top of the Rock for your view of the ESB. Lump the downtown/Financial District sites together on one of your days. For Central Park, look at what you really want to see. It's a pretty nice walk from the southeast corner of the park (Fifth Avenue and 59th) past the rink to the Carousel, down the Mall to the Bethesda Terrace, and the Lake. That's a nice taste of the Park that won't take all day, but it does require some walking. Manhattan is huge. Edit your list. Allow time to sit down and relax!