markeb

I don't believe I've seen a bourbon shelf like that on an X cruise! I know they had some interesting product on the first day on Equinox back in August, but I guess I never made it back to Craft Social after that. I'd definitely remember Four Roses and Angel Envy...

Only if there are no beans. I think beans in chili is still a criminal offense in Texas... 😁

Pretty sure Florida charges a sales tax at the consumer level, so if there's no sale, there's no transaction to tax. Hence the advise to not buy a package or upgrade while in port. Texas taxes the liquor served, so departures from Galveston have to use alcohol with Texas tax stamps while in port, as well as collect sales tax (I believe the latter is true). It almost sounds like Cayman is doing something similar to Texas. It's likely they're requiring a before and after inventory and then tax booze consumed (not just sold). So one bar would theoretically be easier to inventory. But that's a truly wild a** WAG...

From cheesecake to lobster in four pages or less... And I don't get it either. If I just wanted to eat lobster (which I don't) I'd just go to Lobsterfest® at Red Lobster and save my money...

Did you finally find it? When this first came out, I spent hours (curiosity, not necessity!) trying to find a reference with no luck. Honestly, this is no different than every homeport in the US. It's actually more amazing that other ports in the Caribbean don't charge taxes than that GC does. I don't understand why the single open bar is a work around, but again I could never find the law.

Aaaah. The great whiskey debate... (They'll argue to the grave that it's not bourbon. They're happy to call it a bourbon for export purposes.) Does Royal have any Buffalo Trace products? I know they're separate companies, but if Royal doesn't, makes you wonder about any exclusivity agreements. I can take or leave Blantons for the most part, but it is odd that there are no Sazerac/BT products listed on Celebrity. Could be some of the lesser brands; Sazerac owns a lot of brands!

When you first asked the question, I went through every bar on the Equinox (my next sailing) and like you found no prices for spirits. Just lists of what was in each package. Definitely wouldn't be worth the upgrade for something just over the Classic limit (which it sounds like JD probably is) but might be if you were looking at something at the high end of the Premium package. But with no prices, who knows!

The old Penn Station is "gone" as far as Amtrak is concerned. Just commuter trains. There's been a major initiative to renovate the Penn Station and the neighborhood, but it's run into money problems last I heard. Moynihan is anything but dreary and ugly.

I guess it's been October, but yes I have. I'm not talking about hiking up 8th Ave to the PABT at 9:00 pm, although that's probably better than the side streets. I'm talking about going out a glass door onto 33rd Street after calling for an Uber. And I have hauled bags up 8th Ave to 34th/35th, and walked from 8th Ave to Madison and beyond. Yeah, there are more homeless people and you need to be aware. And, yeah, the whole city can be a little weirder than just a few years ago. But nothing like Times Square on my first trip in the late 80's.

When was this? Amtrak now goes to the Moynihan Train Hall. Bright, open, and airy. Uber picks up right outside the door. You can stand inside and watch for your Uber. Ride share is pretty well marked. I’ve not seen any issues at Moynihan. Nothing at all like the old Penn Station. Forget Yellow Cabs…

Probably no. The two desserts are almost certainly frozen and require time to thaw. Probably 8 hours or more (the provider will have a protocol). You’re only going to pull it out when it’s on the menu. Which by the way is the reality of the food waste thing. Once they thaw it, they’ll have a set time to serve or discard. I assume the pie is hot with cold ice cream. They can heat that from frozen to order. No waste. And a sustainable initiative that doesn’t make business sense rarely survives. Wasted food is lost money as well.

That would seem the most likely. I'd assume a lot of those products are custom made onshore by a supplier to Celebrity's specs. They're not just pick list items from Sysco. So if they've lost a supplier, or the supplier(s) are having issues it would impact the shipboard product. Might or might not be cost. Stuff like that happens in the food service industry.

I agree with previous posters that your TA should be doing this for you. That's what their commission is paying for! You're in Ireland. The people answering your question are all in the US. Generally speaking, different terms and conditions. In the US, going to AI is essentially changing your fare basis; it's a fare class. You can add the components, and in the past TAs have been able to get them all together. Or your TA can essentially rebook at the new fare basis subject to whatever limitations are on the existing fare for a price adjustment. That could involve a change fee, for instance, in addition to the fare change. But what I (or other respondents) can do on a US booking may or may not have anything to do with what you can do on an EU booking. In the US, once a TA is involved, they "own" the booking and Celebrity as the provider will only deal with the booking "owner". I don't know but assume the same terms and conditions apply to an EU booking. Your TA has to do this, or you need to find a TA who can. Good luck!

Blantons? That's pretty funny. As allocated as pretty much all Buffalo Trace products have become... I've not seen it on a Celebrity cruise. The packages don't list ANY Buffalo Trace products. I suppose it's possible any given ship could have it as a one off, but if Celebrity doesn't have an export contract with Buffalo Trace, it's going to be pretty unlikely.

I can't find a current price list online or in the app; they just list what's in each package. The high end of the classic package is $10 (US sailings) and the high end of premium is $17 (also US sailings; the limits are higher for UK and AUS where gratuities are included). So at the extreme for liquor costing $17, the upcharge would be $8.40 ($7 + 20% gratuity). I "assume" that for true top shelf that it's the same formula: cost of the drink - $10 times 1.2. I'd have to really dig into the rules to understand if they charge full price on true premium drinks. I don't think so, but I could be wrong. And sorry, I'd consider JD a "call" liquor, not top shelf. In some bars it's in the well, but not on a cruise ship.

I don't know that I've ever had Whispering Angel, but it's described almost as the exemplar of a dry, light colored, Provence rosé. Those tend to be bone dry, and delicious. I don't think I've ever had a sweet French rosé (they apparently exist). That's mostly a US thing...

Assuming you have an iPhone (and the app is in the Canadian app store...), download the Heathrow Express App. You can book discounted HEX tickets (fixed date, no refunds or exchanges) 90 days before travel for as little as £5.50. Check all the booking rules But that can actually be the cheapest way into London! You can also book online, but if you get the tickets in your app, everything is paperless. Paddington also gives you the option of the new Elizabeth Line (30 minutes instead of 15 minutes). So you have a lot of options to and from Heathrow from the Paddington area.

I'm assuming you're looking at the cruise whether or not you do the Oahu tour at the beginning? Ditto to this. I don't know how much time you have, but adding more time in Oahu on your own would also be my recommendation. You're going to spend a lot of time sitting on and getting on and off a bus and it's super simple to rent a car for the day and head to the North Shore. If you want to go on a tour, you should be able to find a small bus tour of Oahu, probably through Roberts Hawaii (who likely or not is the actual tour operator on this anyway). Looks like they still offer a circle island tour. Long day, and wouldn't go to the Polynesian Cultural Center, but you'll see (briefly) a lot of the island and you can buy tickets and transportation to the PCC all over Waikiki (or online before you arrive) if you decide to go.

Has RCG filed an 8K? If not, they don't expect it to be late (that would definitely be a significant event). Otherwise, wait until mid July when they file their next 10-Q with the SEC, but if there was any indication of an issue in the current market environment, they'd be crazy not to have given notice to stockholders...

Thanks Anne. You're scaring me a bit. Maybe because we've met and you don't strike me as an alarmist. We have two cruises booked in the next 12 months. Equinox (again, go figure) in November and Alaska on Summit in 2024. November is going to happen, and Alaska is a bucket list. We were already thinking of taking a break and enjoying other travel options. We don't cruise for food. We do sometimes travel "for food". We'll have to see what it's like in November.

Which fortunately on a package is no harm no foul!

Celebrity has actually won Wine Spectator awards for apparently 10 years straight, including 15 in 2022 (2023 will presumably be announced in July). I have to assume that's on the strength of their bottle list, which at least was pretty impressive. I'm generally not inclined to pile onto food threads (and haven't cruised since last August), but I don't know about the current wine experience. My normal Wine Spectator reaction is that anything Robert Parker would give 100 points to is something I know I won't like, but he just did it to one of my favorite wineries (and I have three bottles from the wine club; they sold out of stock in three days so that's my wine), which gives me pause on Wine Spectator awards, but... I don't envy a cruise line trying to manage a by the glass wine menu. A lot of it is going to get drunk outside the dining room, and you need wines for that purpose. Unfortunately, I don't know how you can curate your by the glass offerings to your food menu since unlike a Michelin restaurant, the menu changes every night. Well away from the OPs question! It is kind of hard to screw up Prosecco. Although there is Prosecco and then there's really good Prosecco...

Yeah. There are a LOT of Provence rosé wines on the classic package...

Define decent? Looking at Equinox MDR in the app. There's a $9/bottle retail Pinot Grigio from Italy, a $7/bottle retail CK Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc, and a ~$10-11/bottle retail Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. All listed at $9/glass in the app. Haven't had any of them and they're all at price points where there are no reviews. They all look inoffensive...

I'd really suggest asking this in a separate thread as you really have multiple questions. The good news is your dates are after the UN General Assembly opening and New York Fashion Week. So that's two big hotel room eating events you're not competing with. I'll split the difference between GTJ and njhorseman that it's not urgent to figure this out, but don't linger too long. But anywhere in Manhattan is close enough to the terminal. After that it's what do you want to do and how much do you want to spend. And PLEASE once you find a hotel, price the total cost of transportation, ground and air, to Manhattan. Saving a couple of bucks into EWR with a large car service bill doesn't save money. Saving a couple of hundred into EWR could be a good deal even with the car service bill! Direct flights from Atlanta into LGA or JFK could be priceless...