We board Infinity in about an hour. Let me know if you have any questions.

[comfy_critters]

On 9/7/2023 at 6:04 PM, kwokpot said:

Interesting I was on the Solstice Feb. 18-25 and don't remember those particular carb sides you're mentioning. 

The hasselbach potatoes were a side to the Steak Diane. My aunt asked for Baked potatoes a few times and was given them, but they might not have been on the menu.  Oh and I think we also asked for mac n cheese or French fries off the children's menu. One night there was some kind of rice with the main dish, I'm pretty sure, but I could be wrong.  🙂

[hcat]

Just now, hcat said:

On 9/9/2023 at 12:45 PM, Stockjock said:

I did do a video that I have uploaded to YouTube when we first checked in, but since then the power has gone off, maybe 30 or 35 times and we also had an issue in the bathroom where the water pressure caused the showerhead to drop down about 3 inches from the ceiling.
 

The hotel has gotten good reviews, so maybe we are cursed. But it’s starting off pretty bad even though the location is terrific. There is no one at the front desk after 4 PM and they said something along the lines of, “there is nothing I can do about it“.

 

I sent them a message and told them I want the electricity situation fixed promptly in the morning. Knock on wood, it’s been on for an hour or so now, but it was resetting the circuit breaker continuously, which is not what we’re after. Based upon our initial experience, I can’t recommend this place even though I love the location and the pricing is very good.

 

i’m going to go ahead and link to my video and you will see some good things about the hotel in the room, but do you understand that this was recorded before the power started turning on and off continuously.

 

CityZoe Suites Hotel Athens Greece 
https://youtu.be/yIFpZJGnzc0

Expand  

Great Finale photos and Commentary!

Looks like you are very well.in ATHENS  and had a happy time! Very cute couple!

 

thanks for sharing!

[kwokpot]

3 hours ago, comfy_critters said:

The hasselbach potatoes were a side to the Steak Diane. My aunt asked for Baked potatoes a few times and was given them, but they might not have been on the menu.  Oh and I think we also asked for mac n cheese or French fries off the children's menu. One night there was some kind of rice with the main dish, I'm pretty sure, but I could be wrong.  🙂

Ok, that makes sense. Having said that as you did we regularly ask for entree sides that are part of a published entree to pair for a different protein. 

[ladylemondrop]

Loved your review and especially the photos! Thank you and I hope you enjoyed your holiday. 

[chemmo]

12 hours ago, Stockjock said:

 

Be aware that taxi service can be tricky at times in Athens, and they may refuse fares where they feel like they’re not getting enough money or it’s not far enough away. Also, if you use Uber, Uber and the yellow taxis are basically one in the same. And we did have a situation where they were either too busy or were not picking up because the fare was too low.  So one bit of advice I would generally give is to try to find restaurants fairly close to where you’re staying aka walkable. In this case, it looked close as the crow flies, but in reality it was a fair amount farther, but we did have a hard time getting a cab. The restaurant ordered a cab to take us back to the hotel, but otherwise it might’ve been nearly impossible to get a return taxi on Saturday night. 

 

there are a lot of good restaurants in every neighborhood, and while we did look at Tripadvisor in such, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just going for a walk and looking at some menus and stopping at a cute place that looks interesting.

 

 

The taxi situation can be similar in most cities in Europe. We have found asking the hotel to get us one when going out and the restaurant when returning has had better results.

 

In a city we don’t know in addition to looking at trip advisor we ask the staff at the hotel we are staying at for recommendations as to where to dine. We will describe what is important to us (local, fresh, view…) and go from there…Failing that we will stroll around and look where the locals are dining…

 

Re speed of dining…We have found more of a “manana” approach in Greece and it’s islands than in Spain…I do think it is a cultural thing…you are guests in their restaurant…you are welcome to sit there for as long as you like…there is no rush to finish your food…if you are literally there tomorrow morning it doesn’t matter…After spending many happy holidays in Greece and the islands once we got our heads around the ‘No rush’ mentality we enjoyed our dining experiences…

[TeeRick]

@Stockjock

Thank you so much for your review and photo's.  It seems like you had a great trip!

[MikeMary4449]

@Stockjock We have been following along and have truly enjoyed all that you have shared.

Thanks for providing all of us with so many great photos and information for future cruises.

Safe travels back home.

Mike and Mary

[Truepeacenik]

@stockjock, I was on that same flight.

 

It was odd to hear “call 911!” on a plane. 
A woman in our row, center area, was a doctor and went to help. She was back in less than 20 minutes, and crew dug out a sharps container from above us. The joy of the last row!

 

We only went to MDR for chic nights, and there was some LOUD weird dance the entire staff did 3/4 of the way through service second chic night.

they marched through the dining room and everyone was doing “rally towels” with napkins.

 

Our group of several tables has half of us holding our ears as the speaker was just above my table.

 

Most of us have lost hearing to music over the years.

 

I have no idea what it was all about.

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Truepeacenik

[LizikinsLivesToCruise]

13 hours ago, chemmo said:

The taxi situation can be similar in most cities in Europe. We have found asking the hotel to get us one when going out and the restaurant when returning has had better results.

 

 

 

This was the best solution for us last year July when we spent a couple of days in Athens before our cruise, after experiencing two instances of aggression by cab drivers and extortionate fares.

[Stockjock]

1 hour ago, Truepeacenik said:

@stockjock, I was on that same flight.

 

It was odd to hear “call 911!” on a plane. 
A woman in our row, center area, was a doctor and went to help. She was back in less than 20 minutes, and crew dug out a sharps container from above us. The joy of the last row!

 

We only went to MDR for chic nights, and there was some LOUD weird dance the entire staff did 3/4 of the way through service second chic night.

they marched through the dining room and everyone was doing “rally towels” with napkins.

 

Our group of several tables has half of us holding our ears as the speaker was just above my table.

 

Most of us have lost hearing to music over the years.

 

I have no idea what it was all about.

 

Quality of the overhead speakers in the main dining room was horrendous, and they were trying to play them way too loud. They were not designed for that.

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks for your review and all the helpful info!

[CruiseCrew123]

@Stockjock did they still have the world class bar set up in the geletaria area in the evening ? 

Edited September 13, 2023 by CruiseCrew123

[Truepeacenik]

11 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Quality of the overhead speakers in the main dining room was horrendous, and they were trying to play them way too loud. They were not designed for that.

My issue was the interruption of late dining for… a parade? 
 

 

[Captain-John]

46 minutes ago, Truepeacenik said:

My issue was the interruption of late dining for… a parade? 
 

 

 

You're kidding? I thought that kind of thing was relegated to Carnival, Costa etc. I want to slip away (from this earth) whenever they do a parade in a dining room and did not expect this on Celebrity at all.

[Truepeacenik]

2 hours ago, Captain-John said:

 

You're kidding? I thought that kind of thing was relegated to Carnival, Costa etc. I want to slip away (from this earth) whenever they do a parade in a dining room and did not expect this on Celebrity at all.

So this is common? I was a newbie. No way to tell what’s normal. 

[Stockjock]

9 hours ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

@Stockjock did they still have the world class bar set up in the geletaria area in the evening ? 

If they did, we didn’t see it or use it. I did do some really good martinis at the martini bar.

[Stockjock]

4 hours ago, Captain-John said:

 

You're kidding? I thought that kind of thing was relegated to Carnival, Costa etc. I want to slip away (from this earth) whenever they do a parade in a dining room and did not expect this on Celebrity at all.

Just to confirm that they did do that, and it seemed kind of forced, odd, and awkward.
 

We had an extraordinarily drunk couple of ladies from England next to us, and they were bragging about how many shots they had done and freely admitting to the staff that they we’re basically drunk out of their minds. I thought that they were super loud and obnoxious, and certainly Celebrity kept the alcohol coming.  I’m sure the employees did not want to be confrontational, but there does come a certain point where someone is so obviously drunk off their backsides, especially when they are freely admitting it, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep pouring them drinks, right?

But in any event, they enjoyed the hell out of this parade, but we thought it was a little silly.
 

But what made it especially bad was that the speakers on Celebrity Infinity, in the main dining room, were designed for something like the year 2000 and for voice only sound. So they were playing music through these old brittle speakers, and not only music, but music at an extremely loud volume that was not only  painful to your ears because of the volume, but especially painful to listen to because those speakers are apparently so old are seemingly weren’t designed to reproduce music.
 

So the previously described music thing in the dining room in general was just really strange and annoying, and that the napkin-waving parade thing, in particular, was irritating and awkward on several fronts

[Stockjock]

From a health perspective, one of the few bad things about traveling, and probably even more so with cruising, is that you come into contact with a lot of different people.

 

Late Thursday or early Friday, I started coming down with mild cold-like symptoms.  I felt crummy over the course of the next two to three days or so, but it did not affect my appetite, taste or smell, and I don’t think I had a fever, or if I did, it wasn’t much of one.  

 

I feel pretty close to normal today, which is Wednesday, although I do have some congestion still, but that is clearing out.

 

As soon as I got off the flight and home last night, I took a Covid test just to be sure, and fortunately, it came back negative. 

 

My girlfriend had some similar symptoms that developed very late in the trip, just before we returned home. She tested herself and got a positive result, although I’m going to suggest that she do a re-test and I will do the same. 

 

I wonder if it’s possible that I got Covid but I’m just not testing positive anymore? Or could it be that we each caught something different and I didn’t get Covid but she did. For what it’s worth, I’ve already had Covid once, along with three jabs, so maybe my body has a different response to this thing? 

 

In any event, her result is the two bar positive test and my result is the one bar negative result. 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Stockjock

[Stockjock]

Here's a video from the dock of our hotel in Venice (All'Angelo Art Hotel).  I thought it was a great place to stay and our room (Santomaso Junior Suite) was really large, gorgeous, and had a great view.
 

 

[Nebr.cruiser]

False negatives and positives are possible, especially negative.  At the end of a cruise in New Zealand, my husband and sister started feeling sick, me a little.  (There were a lot of obviously sick people, hacking, etc.on the cruise. ).  Ship tested us, all negative.  

 

Once off the ship, tested ourselves.  Negative.  Went on our tour to Uluru, they still felt terible, me not as bad but not right.  Tested again.  All negative. They were sick enough to miss some of our events.

 

After our flight home, we all got tested at the dr. and she tested positive, hubs and I negative.  Several days later, since we were still sick, we tested at the dr. again.  Both positive.   I was also positive for two types of influenza, even though I was the least sick. So, I don't know how you can ever tell for sure.  At least none of us needed extra meds or hospitalization, but it was a while before we felt right..

[Truepeacenik]

6 hours ago, Stockjock said:

From a health perspective, one of the few bad things about traveling, and probably even more so with cruising, is that you come into contact with a lot of different people.

 

Late Thursday or early Friday, I started coming down with mild cold-like symptoms.  I felt crummy over the course of the next two to three days or so, but it did not affect my appetite, taste or smell, and I don’t think I had a fever, or if I did, it wasn’t much of one.  

 

I feel pretty close to normal today, which is Wednesday, although I do have some congestion still, but that is clearing out.

 

As soon as I got off the flight and home last night, I took a Covid test just to be sure, and fortunately, it came back negative. 

 

My girlfriend had some similar symptoms that developed very late in the trip, just before we returned home. She tested herself and got a positive result, although I’m going to suggest that she do a re-test and I will do the same. 

 

I wonder if it’s possible that I got Covid but I’m just not testing positive anymore? Or could it be that we each caught something different and I didn’t get Covid but she did. For what it’s worth, I’ve already had Covid once, along with three jabs, so maybe my body has a different response to this thing? 

 

In any event, her result is the two bar positive test and my result is the one bar negative result. 

Oh, bummer!

[Stockjock]

For anyone interested, here was a part of our water ride from Venice to the spot (Isola Nova del Tronchetto - People Mover Ground Floor), where Celebrity and RCCL provides the bus option to take you to the port at Ravenna.
 

 

[Stockjock]

My apologies, but the video above is the Water Taxi ride from the Venice Airport (VCE) into Venice.  

Here's the video I meant to share, from central Venice to Isola Nova del Tronchetto, aka the pickup point for Celebrity's optional bus transportation to the port of Ravenna.  You might still enjoy the video shared though.

 

[Baggy178]

On 9/12/2023 at 9:13 AM, chemmo said:

 

 

Re speed of dining…We have found more of a “manana” approach in Greece and it’s islands than in Spain…I do think it is a cultural thing…you are guests in their restaurant…you are welcome to sit there for as long as you like…there is no rush to finish your food…if you are literally there tomorrow morning it doesn’t matter…After spending many happy holidays in Greece and the islands once we got our heads around the ‘No rush’ mentality we enjoyed our dining experiences…

 

The idea of fast eating is anathema to many Greeks. From nibbles with their pre-dinner ouzo to sweet sticky cake with their post-dinner expressos and tsipouro they don't like to be rushed.

My wife and I enjoyed a five hour lunch on the island of Syros recently and then went out for a late supper at about 10pm when entire Greek families were still arriving for dinner. The taverna owners didn't hassle us - just said give us a wave if you want some more food and drink so we lingered and tarried with the best of them.

Outside and often illegally inside the Greeks also smoke like chimneys between courses.

The interesting thing to note is that Greeks of all ages meet over food - even young adults get together with friends over a meal rather than chugging down a load of suds.

It's a very civilized society.

 

Lamb chops and kalamares formed a couple of courses.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Baggy178

[Oceansaway17]

well after reading this post I will definitely change my trip next year from this ship to another even if I have to go to another cruise line.

Been trying to get to Greece for many years and things always pop up or go wrong.

 

Sounds to me like this ship is just not meant for me.  As for MDR, more and more folks just go to Buffet so that you can see the food and pick out things you like.