Celebrity Reflection - Nov 1, 2013

[Schplinky]

I am a little jealous. You get your luggage tags by dogsled, Pony Express, Acela, Amtrak and various other means. We have to print ours, fold 9 times (or so) then staple or scotch-tape them around the handle. Clearly I am being discriminated! :-) Let alone eDocs. I tried to do the online check-in, but after the first page the website rejects my efforts with the message: "your country of citizenship is invalid". Has Germany finally been moved to the list of undesirable countries? Can I become Lithuanian real quick? Or Polish (that would be closer).

As for packing: This little Eastern Med cruise pushed itself into my schedule 10 days from now, so I guess I should at least start packing for that one.

Safe travels for everybody. Hope to meet some/all of you in November.

Herbert

 

Safe travels to you, also. We will be in your country on the way to Rome, but only for four hours in Frankfurt Airport. We will aim to have a beer, although at in the morning, that may not be a good plan.

[Klettberg]

Safe travels to you, also. We will be in your country on the way to Rome, but only for four hours in Frankfurt Airport. We will aim to have a beer, although at in the morning, that may not be a good plan.

 

Though it certainly will be available! And it will make crossing the Alps much more pleasant for you than, -let's say-, for Hannibal, who had to use elephants and most likely had no beer dispensary available to him.

[Schplinky]

Though it certainly will be available! And it will make crossing the Alps much more pleasant for you than, -let's say-, for Hannibal, who had to use elephants and most likely had no beer dispensary available to him.

 

We trust Lufthansa to make our passage over the alps as giddy as possible.

[sdbart]

I am a little jealous. You get your luggage tags by dogsled, Pony Express, Acela, Amtrak and various other means. We have to print ours, fold 9 times (or so) then staple or scotch-tape them around the handle. Clearly I am being discriminated! :-) Let alone eDocs. I tried to do the online check-in, but after the first page the website rejects my efforts with the message: "your country of citizenship is invalid". Has Germany finally been moved to the list of undesirable countries? Can I become Lithuanian real quick? Or Polish (that would be closer).

As for packing: This little Eastern Med cruise pushed itself into my schedule 10 days from now, so I guess I should at least start packing for that one.

Safe travels for everybody. Hope to meet some/all of you in November.

Herbert

 

Sorry that RCCl/Celebrity thinks you are a stateless person, Herbert. ;) Hopefully the cruise experience will be better. Hope to meet you in November, too. Be sure to come to Sailaway at the Sunset Bar after muster drill.

[Klettberg]

Thanks sdbart. I am not really worried. They will grant me some sort of citizenship eventually. And so far Celebrity has always made me more than happy. I'll try to drag my better half to the sailaway after the drill.

Schplinky: After almost 30 years as a flight attendant for Lufthansa I crossed the Alps numerous times with all the beer going to the passengers and not me, so I am sure your trust in LH is well founded. Hello again from "Italy's northermost city" (some of Munich's architecture is Italian inspired).

[Schplinky]

Thanks sdbart. I am not really worried. They will grant me some sort of citizenship eventually. And so far Celebrity has always made me more than happy. I'll try to drag my better half to the sailaway after the drill.

Schplinky: After almost 30 years as a flight attendant for Lufthansa I crossed the Alps numerous times with all the beer going to the passengers and not me, so I am sure your trust in LH is well founded. Hello again from "Italy's northermost city" (some of Munich's architecture is Italian inspired).

 

Wonderful. We are in first class for a lunch flight. We will enjoy the beer (me) and Riesling (for mike) and hopefully a sampling of German food.

[vulcan1971]

Wonderful. We are in first class for a lunch flight. We will enjoy the beer (me) and Riesling (for mike) and hopefully a sampling of German food.

 

Just one month from today, Iain and I will be on our way to New York to fly out of JFK with a direct flight to Rome. We depart JFK at 9:40 PM (EST); a night flight that lands in Rome at 12:05 pm on 26-Oct-2013. I haven't said anything to Iain, but I upgraded our tickets as well. I will be consuming wine, but Iain does not drink. Not sure what to expect food- or service-wise as we are flying a Delta flight using Alitalia equipment (a Boeing 777-300). I've heard great things about them. Mostly, I am happy we have a direct flight listed at 8.5 hours, plus we have chairs that will recline to allow us to sleep during the flight. We should arrive well rested, at least that is my goal. :D

 

P.S. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we have no hurricanes in late October.

 

 

 

Walter

[vulcan1971]

I noticed a post on the main TA cruise thread that was organizing large party for dinner at Qsine. I know several of us expressed an interest in specialty restaurant dining. Apparently a larger group in this venue makes more sense than tables of two or four. I would be willing to organize a group of us from this board on one of the sea days prior to Tenerife. Reply to this post if interested and I'll start looking into the logistics to set up a reservation.

 

 

Walter

 

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[Schplinky]

Our Eclipse cruise was delayed by one. It meant missing a port. I'd be sad to lose our Caribbean stops.

[vulcan1971]

Our Eclipse cruise was delayed by one. It meant missing a port. I'd be sad to lose our Caribbean stops.

 

I think you were referring to my comment on hurricanes? I mention this because Iain and myself were due to fly out from JFK to Malaga, Spain on 01-NOV-2012 and Sandy nearly impacted out outbound flight to get to the cruise ship departing on 03-NOV. I'd much rather miss a single port stop than an entire cruise.

 

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[Schplinky]

I think you were referring to my comment on hurricanes? I mention this because Iain and myself were due to fly out from JFK to Malaga, Spain on 01-NOV-2012 and Sandy nearly impacted out outbound flight to get to the cruise ship departing on 03-NOV. I'd much rather miss a single port stop than an entire cruise.

 

Sent from my Samsung Note II on the T-Mobile 4G LTE network using Tapatalk Beta 4

 

 

Agreed!

 

I'm not We had a wild ride across the Bay of Biscay (the rolling waters actually moved you in bed that night) and then our one Spanish stop was cancelled and replaced by two others. Then, we beat a hasty path across the Atlantic and missed the Azores.

[sdbart]

Just one month from today, Iain and I will be on our way to New York to fly out of JFK with a direct flight to Rome. We depart JFK at 9:40 PM (EST); a night flight that lands in Rome at 12:05 pm on 26-Oct-2013. I haven't said anything to Iain, but I upgraded our tickets as well. I will be consuming wine, but Iain does not drink. Not sure what to expect food- or service-wise as we are flying a Delta flight using Alitalia equipment (a Boeing 777-300). I've heard great things about them. Mostly, I am happy we have a direct flight listed at 8.5 hours, plus we have chairs that will recline to allow us to sleep during the flight. We should arrive well rested, at least that is my goal. :D

 

P.S. Let's keep our fingers crossed that we have no hurricanes in late October.

 

 

 

Walter

 

We've flown across the pond from both EWR and JFK many times at the end of October and beginning of November and never had any weather related delays. Sandy was a pretty unique storm. We HAVE had delays at IAH and DFW due to weather-related issues, though.

[sdbart]

Agreed!

 

I'm not We had a wild ride across the Bay of Biscay (the rolling waters actually moved you in bed that night) and then our one Spanish stop was cancelled and replaced by two others. Then, we beat a hasty path across the Atlantic and missed the Azores.

 

The Bay of Biscay is almost always rough, Lee. Check out all the YouTube videos of ships being tossed about there. Lots of maritime history books talk about the terrible weather in the Bay of Biscay. When Brits used to travel out to India and Australia by ship, many people went by train to Mediterranean ports so as to avoid the passage through Biscay. We ran into very high winds two years ago between Lisbon and the Azores causing the outer decks to be closed. We docked in Ponta Delgada very late (causing havoc with tours). Many of us wondered why the lost time wasn't made up (the high winds didn't last the entire time). We found out later that one of the Solstice's azipods had gone south and we were essentially running on one propeller. When we reached FLL, the ship had to go into drydock in the Bahamas.

 

We will be much farther south this cruise, so hopefully better weather. I've been told that the ocean is warmer in the fall than in spring, so that will have an effect, too. Good news: this has been a very calm and quiet hurricane season.

[TunaPiano]

I noticed a post on the main TA cruise thread that was organizing large party for dinner at Qsine. I know several of us expressed an interest in specialty restaurant dining. Apparently a larger group in this venue makes more sense than tables of two or four. I would be willing to organize a group of us from this board on one of the sea days prior to Tenerife. Reply to this post if interested and I'll start looking into the logistics to set up a reservation.

 

 

Walter

 

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Walter,

 

I think a group dinner at Qsine is a great idea! Count me in if others are interested.

 

Craig

[sdbart]

I noticed a post on the main TA cruise thread that was organizing large party for dinner at Qsine. I know several of us expressed an interest in specialty restaurant dining. Apparently a larger group in this venue makes more sense than tables of two or four. I would be willing to organize a group of us from this board on one of the sea days prior to Tenerife. Reply to this post if interested and I'll start looking into the logistics to set up a reservation.

 

 

Walter

 

Sent from my Samsung Note II on the T-Mobile 4G LTE network using Tapatalk Beta 4

 

I may be having another senior moment, Walter, but i could swear Lee suggested this here a while back. I know he and I discussed it. In any case, we got discounts to any and all specialty restaurants from our TA, but can't make reservations until on board. So until then, we can't commit to a date...

[vulcan1971]

I may be having another senior moment, Walter, but i could swear Lee suggested this here a while back. I know he and I discussed it. In any case, we got discounts to any and all specialty restaurants from our TA, but can't make reservations until on board. So until then, we can't commit to a date...

 

Bart -

 

I don't have the time right now to go back through this cruise thread to see who initiated the discussion, but I do think you are right that you probably had a discussion with Lee. :)

 

The point of my post was to identify which individuals among us would be interested in attending a group dining event in Qsine. I wanted to start the ball rolling now so that when it came time to make a reservation to accomodate 6, 8, 10, or more individuals, that it could be done without too much hassle.

 

I realize that some of us have purchased a dining package that includes Qsine for one of your choices, others of us have received complimentary dining certificates to be used in any dining venue during the cruise and yet others have different perks or discounts or OBC to apply toward a dining venue.

 

So, with all that said, at the current time I am only looking for people to respond with "yes, I am interested". That will make it easier for me to reach out to those people and narrow down options for which night to choose to have the dinner. Personally, I think it would be great if it could happen on one of the "at sea" evenings before we arrive in Tenerife.

 

Bart, as you know there have been discussions on the main cruise thread about this same topic from KMR. I am willing to do all the legwork and be the person that is organizing this event. I don't think it really matters how you pay for the cost of the dinner, but I will make sure I can pass along this information so that all people that are interested to go will know what they need to do.

 

With that said, I need to settle on a date/time. Based on the discussions I had already been keeping up with, it sounded as though a larger group could be accomodated around 6:00 PM or at 8:30 PM. I'm going to give people on this thread a week or two to think this over and respond with their interest. When you do respond, please include a couple of options for which day would work best for you and what time (6 or 8:30).

 

Sound like a plan? So, start letting me know who would be interested. :D

 

 

 

Walter

[Schplinky]

Lee and Mike are interested. Thanks for organising. I'm running between the barber and the liquor store to prepare for our out-of-towner's party.

[vulcan1971]

Lee and Mike are interested. Thanks for organising. I'm running between the barber and the liquor store to prepare for our out-of-towner's party.

 

I hope you have the best weekend ever! :-D

 

Sent from my Samsung Note II on the T-Mobile 4G LTE network using Tapatalk Beta 4

[sdbart]

Bart -

 

I don't have the time right now to go back through this cruise thread to see who initiated the discussion, but I do think you are right that you probably had a discussion with Lee. :)

 

The point of my post was to identify which individuals among us would be interested in attending a group dining event in Qsine. I wanted to start the ball rolling now so that when it came time to make a reservation to accomodate 6, 8, 10, or more individuals, that it could be done without too much hassle.

 

I realize that some of us have purchased a dining package that includes Qsine for one of your choices, others of us have received complimentary dining certificates to be used in any dining venue during the cruise and yet others have different perks or discounts or OBC to apply toward a dining venue.

 

So, with all that said, at the current time I am only looking for people to respond with "yes, I am interested". That will make it easier for me to reach out to those people and narrow down options for which night to choose to have the dinner. Personally, I think it would be great if it could happen on one of the "at sea" evenings before we arrive in Tenerife.

 

Bart, as you know there have been discussions on the main cruise thread about this same topic from KMR. I am willing to do all the legwork and be the person that is organizing this event. I don't think it really matters how you pay for the cost of the dinner, but I will make sure I can pass along this information so that all people that are interested to go will know what they need to do.

 

With that said, I need to settle on a date/time. Based on the discussions I had already been keeping up with, it sounded as though a larger group could be accomodated around 6:00 PM or at 8:30 PM. I'm going to give people on this thread a week or two to think this over and respond with their interest. When you do respond, please include a couple of options for which day would work best for you and what time (6 or 8:30).

 

Sound like a plan? So, start letting me know who would be interested. :D

 

 

 

Walter

 

I wasn't criticizing, Walter, and appreciate your efforts. I meant to say that the interest was there. Please take my words in an informational way. That said, people have posted that dinner in Qsine runs over three hours at a minimum, so plan your time taking that into account.

[reload]

Bart -

 

I don't have the time right now to go back through this cruise thread to see who initiated the discussion, but I do think you are right that you probably had a discussion with Lee. :)

 

The point of my post was to identify which individuals among us would be interested in attending a group dining event in Qsine. I wanted to start the ball rolling now so that when it came time to make a reservation to accomodate 6, 8, 10, or more individuals, that it could be done without too much hassle.

 

I realize that some of us have purchased a dining package that includes Qsine for one of your choices, others of us have received complimentary dining certificates to be used in any dining venue during the cruise and yet others have different perks or discounts or OBC to apply toward a dining venue.

 

So, with all that said, at the current time I am only looking for people to respond with "yes, I am interested". That will make it easier for me to reach out to those people and narrow down options for which night to choose to have the dinner. Personally, I think it would be great if it could happen on one of the "at sea" evenings before we arrive in Tenerife.

 

Bart, as you know there have been discussions on the main cruise thread about this same topic from KMR. I am willing to do all the legwork and be the person that is organizing this event. I don't think it really matters how you pay for the cost of the dinner, but I will make sure I can pass along this information so that all people that are interested to go will know what they need to do.

 

With that said, I need to settle on a date/time. Based on the discussions I had already been keeping up with, it sounded as though a larger group could be accomodated around 6:00 PM or at 8:30 PM. I'm going to give people on this thread a week or two to think this over and respond with their interest. When you do respond, please include a couple of options for which day would work best for you and what time (6 or 8:30).

 

Sound like a plan? So, start letting me know who would be interested. :D

 

 

 

Walter

 

 

Hey there Walter

ian & franz here we would like to join if you get a group going, as for time? reckon 7:30 is good for us as will be socialising EVERY evening wherever they hold the elite cocktail hour, from previous experience am usually the last to leave or be thrown out and qsine is way the back of the ship giving me enough time to torkel over.

Mmmmm we don't do late dining and since it is a drawn out affair and if seated by 7:30 the first course would only appear around 8 which is do able.

Thnx for organising

[reload]

Lee and Mike are interested. Thanks for organising. I'm running between the barber and the liquor store to prepare for our out-of-towner's party.

 

Hey Lee en Mike

 

Just got round to speed reading this thread and see you are to be wed TODAY

Congratulations when you get around to reading this, hopefully not on your wedding night .

ian & franz

[reload]

Hi guys

have not been following the boards and no posts as we have been experiencing a hectic year and can only hope that we have all our ducks in row before we leave.

 

Am so looking forward to this trip, no plotting and planing or logistics around work and home, it's going to be heavenly just to sit out with my feet up listening to the ocean, 2 wks of vegging .

 

Snow forecast for tomorrow in our hills :eek: omg its not even fall.

 

We fly from Vienna to Rome on the 31st would have been fun to hook up with you all in Trastevere but since we are staying over at my brothers and they are out of the centre will have to make your acquaintance on board.

 

With the talk of chits for drinks as opposed to cocktails in the sky lounge, what next ? it so cheapens the perk its not primarily about free drinks but the socialising with people that have something in common and gives one the feeling that there is reward for loyalty and thousands of dollars spent.

Contemplating a bar setup for the stateroom to compensate for the Elite ;)gathering.

 

ian

[jdr93]

Hi guys

have not been following the boards -- snip --

-- snip --

 

With the talk of chits for drinks as opposed to cocktails in the sky lounge, what next ? it so cheapens -- snip --

no worries, there are still many many people in the lounge enjoying the atmosphere and fellow guests. there was even a good jazz ensemble in the lounge during the cocktail hours on last spring's reflection transat. the "chits", so called, are just a courtesy to those who might feel crowded crushed or claustrophobic if everyone was in the lounge.

 

john

Edited September 27, 2013 by jdr93

[reload]

no worries, there are still many many people in the lounge enjoying the atmosphere and fellow guests. there was even a good jazz ensemble in the lounge during the cocktail hours on last spring's reflection transat. the "chits", so called, are just a courtesy to those who might feel crowded crushed or claustrophobic if everyone was in the lounge.

 

john

 

Thnx for info John

Nothing like rubbing shoulders;) guess will have to wait en see no sense in speculating, as that is all it is

 

ian

[rockmartian]

I noticed a post on the main TA cruise thread that was organizing large party for dinner at Qsine. I know several of us expressed an interest in specialty restaurant dining. Apparently a larger group in this venue makes more sense than tables of two or four. I would be willing to organize a group of us from this board on one of the sea days prior to Tenerife. Reply to this post if interested and I'll start looking into the logistics to set up a reservation.

 

 

Walter

 

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Hi Walter, Kim and I would be interested in the tentative Group dinner at Qsine. Please put us on the list! We also have a discount if we book a restaurant after we get on board, so keep us up to date with the date and time.

Thanks and cant wait to meet everyone.....Ted and Kim