NutsAboutGolf

Dang! Hoped to beat you to the punch…How about you carryon aboard a bottle of wine for me? (JK)

The quality and selection of food continues to decline, I would recommend they partner with restaurants so they would have to adhere to both a specific recipe and certain quality of food; to put it another way, the food would be immune to budget cuts Why not a chain steak house like Ruth Chris, Flemings, Capt Grill, Morton’s, etc?

Eliminate any Corkage fee FOREVER (Preemptive strike) lol

1). Virgin launched a status match program and includes celebrity (and most other lines) for elite and above 2) It would appear you do need to have a sailing already booked 3) You’ll need to upload proof and they state they want your FULL name and CC status in an image; neither the app or website gives this info but your eDocs do 4) VV status match URL: https://vvprod.secure.force.com/SubmitLoyaltyProofOfStatusForm?_ga=2.236341633.1220451790.1673793496-454321569.1673793496&_gl=1*14j5fpm*_ga*NDU0MzIxNTY5LjE2NzM3OTM0OTY.*_gid*MTIyMDQ1MTc5MC4xNjczNzkzNDk2*_fplc*bUoyOEdaMDBFWDJQQlBERCUyRnE5dEgzSXJzSElVVmV5Wk04JTJGUnVScGpGd0hqdW4lMkZIOUxXOE1sTWFQdVJOSTh0Y1lyMm9pNEsxdGtlNjI4VnZobFU0TCUyQkV0NVc1MnVUaEM5TmxLVlFFZlNnOEVLUW1tTlk4YiUyQnlzd2lseU5HZyUzRCUzRA..*_ga_6QKCE3P4MF*MTY3Mzc5MzQ5NS4xLjEuMTY3Mzc5MzcxMC4wLjAuMA.. Once you’re awarded status, here’s what you get: Bar Tab bonus, for every $300 you spend, receive $100 Expedited boarding Premium WiFi (where applicable) Dedicated Sailor Services Support on board Exclusive cocktail event Laundry service $10 daily coffee credit

I'll ask the most important question; is there prime rib on the last night of the cruise? lol

I much prefer a Caribbean itinerary over the Mexican Rivera. I LOVE Cabo but it's much better to stay in a nice land resort

Fees are one thing as new/increased fees were inevitably going happen but the cheapening of things, mainly the food, is extremely disappointing

Their MDR is nothing to write home about, ChiBang and their Italian restaurant, which is only on newer ships is free and good. We only hit the MDR on lobster night

Thank goodness

I’m not a fan so never paid attention

All cruising is dominated by couples, so while the cruise line does is more “frisky” than others, the whole idea is many passengers as possible get frisk my on their sailing Many content creators have stated it’s the best food at sea (they admit they haven’t been on super-luxury lines like Regent or Ritz) as all food including the “food hall” are made to order. Also, Branson takes food seriously. He is friends with many chefs who’s restaurants that have earned Michelin stars and they state every food item on the ship, including the food hall, was developed by a chef who worked at restaurant awarded stars. FYI, Michelin stars are awarded to the restaurant, while some may call some chefs “Michelin star chefs” it’s incorrect because one has no idea if fuse chef developed the recipe and/or cooked the food and/or was an executive chef whose like a manager of the chef. Finally you get a lot more variety of entertainment. One thing I love about the big three is they many shows going on all night. I feel like X is stuck in stone ages with its 7pm show which is repeated at 9pm and then there a pax participation show at 8pm. Other likes have 3 comedians with multiple shows per night, a piano sing along, karaoke, the main show, etc

I have T-Mo and have used it on X’s ship Wi-Fi, no charges for me when airplane mode is on. Also, fyi, you need X’s premium Wi-Fi to make Wi-Fi calls

I have T-Mo but a different plan. As long as you’re connected to Wi-Fi with the airplane mode on, I don’t see how they could charge you. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding

I cruise the most on X and the second most on CCL. CCL’s specialty dining is cheaper and is on par with X’s specialty dining; CCL’s specialty dining blows away X’s complimentary dining but that shouldn’t be a big surprise. Also while I understand many don’t cruise for comfort food, on CCL they have Shaqs Big chicken, Guys BBQ and Guys burgers all complimentary…All of those are some of the best comfort food I’ve had on a ship. The big difference there is the cruise line is forced to follow a recipe and use a certain quality of ingredients (for guys burgers they can’t buy the cheapest patty’s) and are therefore immune to budget cuts

I think X got cocky as they have a lot of suite bookings

You were in airplane mode, made a Wi-Fi call and T-Mo gave you a $$$ warning?

It should be in the cruise planner. With X adding the voucher its confusing many as they now offer basic, premium and an upgrade voucher. My best guess is they added the voucher mainly for those who book AI, now they can upgrade online although miss out on the CC status discount assuming they have status

Good to know. Never been in an X suite, usually book a specialty dining package however. IMO Blu isn’t a step up in food quality although (assuming they still offer it in 2023) they’ll have filet mignon on at least two nights on a typical 7 night sailing. I do enjoy the Blu atmosphere and increased selection assuming the ship allows you to order off the MDR I think you’ll enjoy the food a lot more on the more premium lines. Virgin is also highly ranked. In those power up point presentations they used to tout “we are the foodie cruise line”, luckily they’re managing expectations by no longer mentioning that. We’ve gotten to the point where we seek out dinners in ports

Also remember that you can purchase/upgrade the Wi-Fi mid sailing and only pay the prorated per night amount May want to see if you can get by for a night or two with basic

Perfect. You can dry age yourself at home as well but obviously the downside is you have to wait. There are wraps that work without a vacuum sealer and bags that require a sealer; here are the wraps for example:

Absolutely; red lobster is just about as good as it gets with lobster because you pick out your Maine lobster from the tank and it’s freshly prepared, never frozen A lot of people don’t like when I say this, the majority of the time I find land based chain restaurants better than cruise ships food. Cruise food, specifically lately on X, seems to be serving dishes that are overcooked and extremely bland

Makes sense. We make steaks pretty regularly, Costco sells prime ribeyes for about $20/lb and American wagyu for about $28/lb. We put on a thick coat of one our favorite spice rubs, vacuum seal it for three days, sous vide it, then put it in a pan to butter baste it. We call it a “99%er” or a steak that’s better than 99% of the steaks we’ve had

In all fairness It’s yet to be proven that specifically the prime rib is gone. X often doesn’t have their final menu until a couple days before the sailing

The overall point is the cutbacks while X is raising the cruise fares Celebrity’s “aggressive” marketing dept surprisingly doesn’t even claim their food is gourmet or fine-dining. You can easily find better food a land based restaurant or at home if one knows how to cook

Correct, the “prime” in “prime rib” is a common adjective and NOT the USDA certified. It’s rare that a restaurant would serve prime USDA certified prime rib because selling it as a USDA prime ribeye sells better. Traditionally, prime rib is sliced from a standing rib roast which is why there isn’t a crust on its faces; I much prefer a ribeye with a crust