TFLG

I was on the Bliss a few weeks ago and didn't see any upcharges on any  items on the menu.  In fact I had the crabcake and the lobster and my bill was still zero at the end of the night.  Maybe I just got lucky or they didn't have the new menus printed. 

16 minutes ago, davencl said:

Anyone now what the "normal" rate would be among a population of 5000?  

No idea, but my wife works in an urgent care here in SoCal and she says lately she's been treating a lot of Noro cases. So it seems to be going around right now.

I can't even begin to decipher Celebrities invoices so I just took a picture of the sale terms on the website and will keep that on my phone just in case I have any issues once on board.

It also depends on where you are on the ship and what time of day.  In the evening after a port call it's usually really slow.  I found some areas had decent speed and others were terrible most of the time.  I never found it good enough to stream in our cabin when I was on Reflection in March.

1 hour ago, Islander500 said:

Looking for this one right now for my hubby!  Thanks TFLG! 😁

 

Preety sure I got that on amazon

Well, as usual on CC, the fun got sucked right out of this thread.

About the only thing I use is the laundry, sometimes the 90 minutes of internet.  Prioity tendering can be nice but I never do the eleite breakfast or cocktail hour since I'm never up early enough and usually have a bevy package. Even if I didn't have the bevy package I'd rather hang out at the Martini bar with the fun people.  The rest of the stuff they give is pretty useless to me.  Only 351 points to elite plus lol.....  It's certainly nice to have it but I would not go out of my way to spend a bunch of money to earn a few dollars worth of swag.

21 hours ago, zitsky said:

So do you pick your music or is it random?

On the Bliss there was 4 different channels you could listen to.  The way they did it on the Bliss was different than Celebrity (I find Celebrity far superior).  On the Bliss you could not manually change the channel.  They had the room sectioned off into 4 different areas and depending on where you stood you got different music.  So if you didn't like the music you had to walk across the room, or wander around until you found something you liked.  It was packed and moving around was difficult especially with all the younger folks jumping around with drinks.  And if you wanted to listed to one song and your partner another it got akward.  Celebrities method is far superior with a simple channel switch on the headphones.

We were also on this sailing and for the most part really enjoyed it.  It's a cruise after all and it beats working.  We also loved Six and thought it was one of the best shows we've seen on a ship if not the best. We enjoyed many of the other entertainers too. The beatles cover band was good. There was another band that was pretty good, don't recall the name though.  The DJs played pretty good tunes most of the time.  The late night tunes got a bit too techno/thump for this oldish party animal lol.  But there were also a few misses.  Siglo, when they let the keyboard player sing was horrific. I mean really, really bad. The other singers were fine,  I can't believe they let that guy sing.  The Silent Disco was dumb as a post.  What's with making people move around the room to listen to a different channel.  The place was wall to wall people and moving around wasn't much of an option.  Every other one I've done just has a switch on the headphones to change the channel. The Halloween party was a blast!  

Dining,

We did 5 of the specialties and for the most part they were pretty good.  Food Republic was a let down as we went in for sushi and it was pretty pathetic as sushi goes ( I called it gas station sushi). We are sushi snobs so our standards here are pretty high. On a tangent, does anyone actually pay for these specialties because the prices are stupid if you were actually paying (considering you've already paid for a decent meal in the MDR). I got a scallop appy at Le Bistro and the menu price was something like $14, it was 5 tiny bay scallops with a little sauce.  I got the exact same appy in the MDR the night before, they need to do better!  For comparison a REALLY good meal in Murano on Celebrity will cost you $50 and you can often get 20-30% off if you ask nice so say $35.  My meal in Cagneys would have been $77 if I had to pay for it. Trust me, Murano is WAY better than Cagneys. NCL's fantasy pricing is silly.

We ate quite a few times in the Buffet and it was pretty decent for a buffet. The Indian food was really good! I also liked that it was rarely busy when we went there so easy to find a nice table.   But our party of 6 had some nightmares in the main dining rooms for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Apparently much of the staff was new and it showed.  Our orders got messed up way too many times to laugh it off. And we found the service in the MDRs to be generally chaotic. The polar opposite of our cruise on the Bliss last year.  Hopefully they will get the MDR staff dialed in before we board the Bliss next November. 

I re-read this and it seems pretty negative but overall the cruise was pretty good. 

We also just got off the ship.  Overall we had another great Halloween cruise on the Bliss.  But there was a HUGE difference from last year in some areas.  Last year the only gripe I had was they could not seem to make a cup of coffee to save their lives.  This year much better at making coffee. However the service in the main dining rooms was horrible compared to last year.  They messed our orders up nearly 100% of the time.  It took 3 or 4 times asking people to get things before we got it. (creamer, refills on wine or coffee etc).  And the food is not what it was last year in the MDRs.  The specialty dining was fine, the local was good and the buffet was pretty good too.  Not sure what's going on in the MDRs.  I agree on Food Republic, ridiculous prices for basically gas station quality sushi rolls.

I also found it kinda funny that this year they couldn't seem to make a decent Moscow Mule (they were fine last year).  I tried several bars and they all screwed up a mule (how it's 2 ingredients and a splash of lime).  Everyone I got tasted like a glass of lime juice.  I finally started ordering them without the lime (problem solved).  

overall it was great cruise though and we are back on the Bliss for the Panama Canal next November 🙂

14 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

I should say I will be on Equinox.  Any idea of price for Select Oak?

I know it's included in the Premium package, so it's under $15.  Not sure what it costs if you buy one.

19 minutes ago, zitsky said:

So it sounds like no one has seen the Macallan on board?  I'm on Equinox and wonder where I can find it.

They should have Macallan Select Oak.  it's hard to find at the pool bars but the Sunset Bar should have it and you can usually get it at the Ensemble lounge and the Sky lounge.  If they don't have it tell them to go get some. I've had to ask them to fetch it a few times. As long as they are not super busy they will usually get a bottle. 

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 5:48 AM, amunhbuu said:

 

I haven't been terribly impressed by their scotch selection, but maybe I am missing something somewhere.

 

The current list has the following:

Aberfeldy 12
Bulleit Rye
Chivas Regal 12
Crown Royal
Dewar’s 12
Gentleman Jack
Glen Scotia Single Malt
Glenfiddich Reserve Cask
Glenfiddich Select
The Glenlivet
Haig Scotch
Highland Park scotches
Highland Park Einar
Jack Daniel’s Black
Jack Daniel’s Honey
Jack Daniel’s Rye
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel
Johnnie Walker Black
The Macallan
The Macallan Lumina
The Macallan Quest
Maker’s Mark
Rittenhouse Rye
Wild Turkey
Woodford Double Oaked
Woodford Reserve
Woodford Rye

 

 

I am not sure I have seen the Macallans, Alberfeldy, or Genfiddichs.  But I usually cruise the Summit and I think it gets ignored sometimes with the available drinks.

Yea, that's not a bad list,  if only they actually had the stuff.  They usually have one Macallan and it's typically the Select Oak. I've never seen Quest and I thought that was only available at Duty free shops.  It's the only place I've seen it and I bought a bottle on my last 2 trips down under. The World Class and Ensemble lounge usually have the best selection good luck getting anything decent at the other bars.

On ‎10‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 4:10 PM, ipeeinthepool said:

 

No, but those look like two really good cruises. I've got B2B Caribbean cruises booked in Feb 2020 and 2021 but nothing else right now. Maybe I'll need to look at your Iceland cruise.

Well, if you're on the Equinox you might get to see some of my shirts in person.  We are doing a B2B Feb 22nd and 29th next year.

5 hours ago, saphir said:

Is Catalina Island worth it? I'll be a Long Beach, so not far away.
 

thank you.

From Long beach it's about an hour on the Catalina Express and costs about $75.  There's not a lot on Catalina. Avalon is a tiny town with a few restaurants, bars and gift shops. There are tours of the island but again there's really not much to see. Of course there are glass bottom boat tours etc.  If you have nothing to do and you are stuck in Long Beach it's not a bad way to spend the day. But don't expect a fancy resort style experience, think quaint little seaside village.

10 hours ago, Mike981 said:

Interesting thread and where it has now gone. I know, I know, it's CC. 😉

What started out as a fun discussion of fun t-shirts, turned into a discussion of t-shirts that should not be worn. And, t-shirts should not be worn period.

Celebrity changed their offerings and lowerd their status from modern luxury, to a mass cruise line. They have no problem with these shirts, it's excepted.

You might hate it, unfortunately that won't change it

I say this as kindly as I can. If t-shirts truly bother you, a higher end line should be in your future.

Brings up another T-shirt I just got which is perfect for these whine bags.

12 minutes ago, Terre said:

You better hurry up and get  that copyrighted and start making those shirts!

I come up with gems when I have my thinking shirt on

I've gone in and just gotten drinks but usually we order an appetizer or two so we have something to munch on while we enjoy our drinks (edamame or wontons usually).  Some of the cocktails are quite good. The spicy mangotini, the pear smash and agave sunrise are our go to drinks  We love sushi and eat it at least once a week, but honestly the sushi in SO5 isnt great and on a couple of occasions it's been terrible. Which is why we just do appy's and drinks now (the lobster ramen is good too).

BTW, If the bartender at the World Class likes you (as in you've tipped him and you're a regular there) it's possible he/she will make you the drinks there.  I have about a 50/50 success rate getting the SO5 drinks at the world class bar.

17 minutes ago, Terre said:

Recently off the Equinox and I saw all kinds of tees, some offensive (which is subjective and differs from person to person) but most weren't.  The best one I saw was a picture of a cruise ship with the slogan, "It's NOT a boat!" I loved that because I want to scream every time I hear someone call it boat!

Yup, boats are what you get on when the ship is sinking!

I usually wear this one but my wife stole it this day.  This one gets a lot of comments

I have these two (and many others too) although many of those are not suitable for Cruise Critic moderators.

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 5:01 PM, Oville said:

Do you really believe Celebrity and NCL are even comparable, they’re not.

They are not as far apart as they used to be.  We took a NCL cruise last year, our first NCL in many years and with the "free perks" which gave us 5 out of 7 days in specialty restuarants the food and service were quite comparable.  The burger place (pub) was FAR superior to the mast grill. Those burgers, dogs, wings and other items were fantastic.  Now, the MDR and Buffet are much better on X, no question.  The many choices for dining was great and many of them have indoor and outdoor seating which was very nice.  We sure missed Cafe Al Baccio though, and even the regular coffee on NCL was terrible.

The entertainment was MUCH better on NCL and on that ship (the Bliss) the decor was beautiful.  A far cry from the old circus like ships NCL had.  Our cabin was also a little nicer than a comperable cabin on an S-class ship (possibly because it's a newer ship).  Yes, their booze package is a joke (both price and what's included, no water seriously...), but overall the cost was still a fair bit less than a comparable X cruise.  Bottom line, we booked 2 more NCL cruises, we are on the Bliss again in 3 weeks.  We still have 2 cruises booked on X, but at the rate they are raising prices we are rapidly losing interest in them.  And even my parents who are around 80 joined us and loved it. They typically cruise X as they are Elite+, or they cruise Princess and got straight off the Bliss and right onto a Princess ship docked next to us. They said the Bliss was far superior to the Princess ship too. They are joining us again this year and even brought some friends. 2 years ago they would have not looked twice at an NCL cruise.  So X is losing customers with these price hikes.

The reports may be incorrect in regards to how the child fell.

Furthermore, South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowsk told WSBT that the child wasn’t being held outside the window when the girl fell, contrary to previous reports about the case.

You wear headphones and there are 3 different stations you can listen too. You might have one playing modern hip-hip, one playing 80's and one playing 60's music.  The headphone light up either green, red, or blue depending on what station you are tuned into.  It sounds silly and looks ridiculous if you are walking past but trust me it's a lot of fun and they often run out of headphones.  No idea if they sanatize them but I would suspect they do.  If you are concerened you could take a sanatizing wipe with you to clean them.