terrydtx

We had the streaming Wi-Fi last year on the Equinox and it worked great for me. I was able to make Wi-Fi calls and steam Netflix on my laptop.

We will be in GC in June on the Equinox. Hopefully the Retreat Lounge will be open. I wonder if the restrictions have to do with GC requiring collection of taxes on drinks served while in their waters? I know while in a Spanish port we had to pay a VAT tax for drinks and any items bought in the ship's stores. That happened to us in Barcelona and it showed up on our sail pass account.

I already admitted I was wrong I had it confused with the other "ock" fish, Pollock.

You are correct it is Pollock I was thinking about.

any pork and beans?

Isn't Haddock another cheap fish that is used in making imitation crab legs?

Someone suggested giving Tilapia a French name to disguise it. The French translation for Tilapia is Linquee, so if you see this on the menu stay away.😁

Fourth night it's fish sticks from the waste leftovers.😁

Doesn't matter if CCL does, it is proven and seen that Celebrity does now.

Salmon Croquets? Captain D's fish sticks?

Our Apex cruise in September only has a couple of Edge Villa suites still available, all others are now sold out. That may change some as people cancel before final payment. Our June Equinox cruise is sold out in Sky and Celebrity class suites.

We are one of those who have booked Oceania for the future.

This is so true, our Butler on the Reflection last year said if butlers get too many negative comments on the comment cards after a cruise, they can get demoted.

Specially when the premium lines are getting closer in price when Celebrity is raising prices of future cruises to the point of being outrageous.

We have close friends who love Oceania and have been trying to get us to book with them for years, they did one Celebrity cruise with us and will not do another. We are also looking at Oceania for a Boston to Montreal cruise one way in 2025, for 11 nights with 11 ports. Celebrity in 2024 is only doing round trip from Boston for 11 nights with 5 ports and has not released their 2025 NE schedule yet. I am believing our 2024 Edge cruise may be our last with Celebrity. We booked the 2024 Edge cruise to NZ a year ago in a Sky Suite, which today is priced $2000pp more for a SS than we booked at. If we hadn't booked the Edge cruise at the lower price we would be doing Oceania too.

This is one of the reasons we are now booking only suites as we have found the Luminae food to be a step above Blu and the MDR. However, Luminae on the Reflection last year had many more misses than hits compared to the past and if this continues on our cruises this year in the Apex and Equinox we will be looking for alternatives like Oceania and Viking ocean much more. We have already booked an Oceania cruise for 2025.

Our local grocery chain HEB, sells prime 24-day dry aged beef ribeye's and NY strip for about $29/lb that are better than most fine steak houses. They age them is special coolers behind the meat counter and cut them to order. Never had a bad one yet.

I have said for years that the lobsters served on cruise ships are a joke and I can get better lobster at Red Lobster at home.

When we are in a land steak house I will order the prime rib if its available, because I can make great steaks at home that are either graded prime or dry aged. A standing rib roast is not so easy for just the two of us.

We have been looking at Oceania as an alternative to Celebrity as well. Their future pricing of Sky Suites (our preference) has gotten outrageous. Oceania and Viking are similar in pricing but O does have a casino and everything except shore excursions and alcohol is included. We just booked our first O cruise on the Marina for January 2025 for 18 nights around South America. The Marina has a 1250 passenger capacity and 5 specialty restaurants that are all included, and this year they are including Wi-Fi. Our 18 night cruise is less than the 14 night one on the Equinox with 5 more ports stops.

With the tips included in AI and when in the Retreat we do give extra to our butler and room attendants at the end of the cruise and anyone else who went beyond and above our expectations. Last year we had a bartender in our favorite bar that we got to know really well and when we were stopping at a port in Turkey, he told us to look for and try some Turkish Delights while on shore. We did that and brought back a box of them that night for him. He talked about how much he enjoyed the Turkish Delights every time we saw him for the rest of the cruise. That box cost 10 Euros and I think he liked it much more than giving him a $10 tip. We also gave him a 20 Euro tip at the end of the cruise.

Last year we used a private transfer company we found on Trip Adviser. We had a group of 4 and it cost us 433 Euros for the 4 of us in a minivan, this was less than what Celebrity charged for transfers. I remember our driver was Daniel and I think his company was Tours by Daniel?

It is not only the MDR menu that is being cheapened down, Blu and Luminae are doing the same. The app shows the "surf and Turf" for day 6 in Luminae as being Broiled scallops and pork belly for our June Equinox cruise. BTW the "prime" rib served in the MDR was not really graded "prime" quality, it is in reality just a standing Rib Roast. What Is Prime Rib? (thespruceeats.com)

I will never eat Tilapia, read about how most foreign countries farm raise it and what they use for feed, it should gross out anyone. It is also about the cheapest fish you can buy.

On the Reflection last August, we had it opened between our two Sky suites. Our butler opened it up for us when we boarded. My sister and BIL were in the cabin next to us. We have adjoining Sky Suites again this year on the Apex and I have seen pictures of them open on social media posts in E class ships. So unless the policy has REALLY changed we plan to open them again. I know IV cabins do not have partitions that can be opened.