Dom G

Thanks. NOW it makes sense.

Question answered.

We have a 5 night specialty dining package on the Escape, departing Dec 31.  I booked 3 nights and our friends booked the other 2 nights.  Below is an excerpt from my confirmation email. Why does Le Bistro say a la carte next to it? Isnt that part of the dining package?

It’s really an onboard app. Not much info if you’re not currently on a cruise, but full of info during your cruise. You can change the app from your cruise to see current cruises to see what I mean. 

One suggestion. Got to the Daily Planner page. In the upper right is a “filter” link. Click on it and change from “Recommended” to “Show All”. Then you will see everything that is on the printed planner. You can add things that you’re interested in to “My Calendar”. Anything you book with Celebrity- dinners, spa appointments, excursions, etc, will automatically be added to your “My Calendar”. 

2 hours ago, jdacombe said:

Not exactly dress code related, our son will be coming with us on our Norwegian Fjords cruise, he is aware of the dress code for evening meals and will dress appropriately ……. but at some stage during the day I'm sure he will wear shorts and tee shirts, which I'm getting a bit apprehensive about as he has a passion for tattoos and his arms and legs are covered with them.

 

I'm worried that he may get some unwarranted adverse comments about his tattoos.

Tattoos are very common today. You’ll see plenty of people with them. No big deal unless people are stuck in 1950. If so, who cares what they think?

6 hours ago, hcat said:

BtW,  vis a vis your recent post, where we live, teachers are highly respected  well paid professionals,  

I’d like to know where you live and/or what you believe that a “well paid” teachers salary is?

Teachers pay sucks for the education they are required to have, the amount of time they have to put in, and the unpaid expenses that they shell out for classroom supplies. I would never do that job. 

5 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

You always seemed like one of the good guys on here. I’m a bit disappointed to read you opinion on this subject. 

Nothing stirs the pot on this board nearly as much as the dress code threads. 

49 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

Not at all. I’m one of the “regular” passengers.  I see many things I would love to have but can’t afford so I buy what’s within my budget. 

 

If I’m out of place being myself then this will be not only our first, but also our last cruise with Celebrity. My husband and I don’t feel the need to try to impress others.  I was initially concerned about giving Celebrity a try after reading some of the comments from people on this board. However it was cheaper than other cruises we were looking at so we decided to go for it.  I was greatly relieved after chatting with people that will be on our cruise. It seems that vast majority are down to earth and friendly. Obviously all aren’t. If Celebrity doesn’t want people wearing ripped jeans on their ships, they can state that in their dress code. Or maybe they need to check with the snootiest of their passengers to get their approval first. 

We did our first cruise on Celebrity last month.  People onboard are WAY more easy going than people on the board who act like they own the ship.  

I wore pants to dinner every night and then changed into shorts for shows/bar afterwards. I also saw men wearing shorts in specialty dining, two teenagers wearing hats at specialty dining and a guy who wore shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt day and night (no idea where he ate).  What other people choose to wear had 0 impact on my enjoyment of the evening or the cruise. I choose to worry about myself. 

We had dinner at Murano a few weeks ago on the Equinox. There was ONE high end French white by the glass- Joseph Drouhun Chablis Premier Cru. It was $29 a glass. (we paid the $14 difference plus tip difference from our premium package to drink a wine that matched the food quality). When the wine arrived, we were told the Drouhin was out, but they would pour us the Faiveley Chablis Grand Cru for the same price. That's like ordering a Cadillac, but getting a Mercedes instead. GREAT wine!  Sometimes (not often) the many out of stocks works in your favor. 

On 7/26/2019 at 4:00 PM, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

Thanks for your help!  Hopefully we can use our certificates for the Bordeaux glasses. We don’t drink a lot of shiraz, but we do love Molly Dooker’s Two Left Feet and Carnival of Love. I’m looking forward to this class. I’ve always thought wine tasted better in our Riedel glasses, but my husband insists it’s all in my imagination. 🙄 Hopefully he will agree with me after this class.

 

I still don’t understand why they do it in the morning.  🤔 With so many having the beverage package included in their fare, you wouldn’t think they encourage starting so early!  

Proper stemware definitely makes a difference. The cheap glass will restrict the flavors of the wine. He’ll see right away how much better the wines will taste when he pours the wine from the cheap glass into the Riedel. The seminars I did with Riedel used the clunky Libby wine glasses that used to be prevalent as their control glass.  They were heavy and awkward and had a rolled lip, which makes you tilt your head further back to drink the wine. Riedel glasses are light and balanced and have a cut lip.  Riedel will amplify the wine’s flavor. While that is good for good wines, flaws in bad wines is also amplified.

Two special notes:

When washing Riedel do not hold the stem or base of the glass and wash or dry the bowl. It is very easy to torque the bowl off the stem, especially with the Bordeaux glass.  Instead, hold the bowl at its base with the stem between your two middle fingers to clean and dry the bowl. They should tell you this in the seminar. 

Also, for the seminar, either do not brush your teeth that morning or have something to eat before the tasting. Toothpaste will make the wine taste horrible. 

25 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

We primarily drink dry reds...Cab, Merlot,  Shiraz, Bordeaux.  I don’t have much use for white wine glasses. Which glass would be best for us?  We buy cab the most, followed by Merlot. I don’t like the stemless glasses either. Our son uses them for his Whisky. 

 

The red Bordeaux glass covers everything in your description (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are Bordeaux varietals), except the Shiraz. There is a Syrah glass that is similar to the Red Bordeaux glass, so go with the Red Bordeaux for all. I don’t have the Syrah or Brunello glass, but use the Bordeaux for those wines, since it is a similar shape- I only have so much room for wine glasses. The Vinum Bordeaux glass item is  6416/0. About $30 a glass, but sold in packs at several retailers, so you may find a discount if you buy a 6 or 8 pack.  This is the big Riedel glass you probably see the most. 

1 hour ago, rincewind said:

We have done this a couple of times and always enjoy it.  The times we have done it we didn't leave with the glasses - it would have been a problem traveling with them anyway - but we got a certificate to claim the glasses on the web site when we got home.  The other thing that has changed over the years is that instead of getting a set of four glasses you get a certificate for two two-packs of glasses meaning that you can only select two styles.  This hasn't been an issue for use since DW and I both attend we get 4 certificates and just get a two-pack of each style.

 

The other advantage to signing up for this with your waiter/sommelier is that you can usually talk them into providing the Riedel glasses for you at dinner for the week.

This makes sense on a cruise.  I was wondering how people would get their glasses. There is enough to pack on a ship already and crystal would be bulky and fragile. At the land based seminars, there is a box with a cutout of each size glass. People take their seminar glasses home.

Someone did tell me that they believe Riedel is doing the seminar with the Veritas series of glasses now.  

8 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

I dislike the "O" stemless as well!   I have small hands and find them awkward to hold and aren't the stems there so that you don't warm the wine with your hands on the bowl ???

EXACTLY.

Supposedly they were designed for people who live in apartments with little storage space.  

I am in the wine business and have participated in the Riedel seminar several times in the past (on land, not on a ship). They used our wines to do the tasting. It has been a few years since I have done one, but the seminar was of the Vinum line of glasses. You get one each glass: Red Bordeaux, Red Burgundy, Chardonnay (Chablis) and Sauvignon Blanc. The seminar also will use a cheap bar glass to start to show you how much better wine will show in the proper stemware. The premise of the tasting is to start with each wine in the cheap glass, swirl, sniff, taste and then pour it in the next glass. Repeat. Riedel stemware is designed to place the type of wine you are drinking on your tongue to hit the optimal taste buds for that wine- (sweet, salty, sour or bitter taste buds). So even though the Chardonnay will taste good in the other three Riedel glasses, it will taste best in the Chardonnay glass, etc. You leave with the set of 4, but not the cheap glass. The idea is that you then purchase more of each type to have a set of them.  After all, what good is one glass if you have guests? Price wise, the glasses are a relative deal, since they are about $25+ individually and you get education as to why they make a difference. And they do. I use Riedel at home and have a few different types on top of these four styles. 

FYI, if you want an all purpose Riedel Vinum glass, the Zinfandel/Chianti glass (model 6416/15) is the best all around for whites and reds. Not as good as having the proper glass for each, but VERY serviceable for all wines. We use those for large events when we will be serving different types of wines and having each type of glass isn’t feasible. 

I hate  the O series of stemless glasses from Riedel. But that’s another story. 

8 hours ago, helen haywood said:

They must have made that announcement either before or after we were in the terminal....  Good to know for future reference.  As the procedure has changed substantially since we last cruised Equinox I wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing...

 

Hope you had a great cruise!

They made the announcement one time (that I heard), right before boarding began at 11am. If you were just arriving at that time, you may have missed it. We were in and out of our room in 3 minutes, sea passes in hand, passports locked up in the safe and back packs dumped on the couch. 

We had a great time. My first time on Celebrity (Royal Caribbean a few times with our kids previously) and first cruise in over 10 years. We’ll definitely do more and on Celebrity. A cruise week seems to last a month. Other vacation weeks feel like 3 days. I did a full review on the review forum here. Waiting for them to post it. 

We were on the July 13th cruise also.  We arrived around 10:30am.  Also did all the online registration and had the express pass on our phones.  Breezed right through.  Boarding began at 11:00. They made an announcement before boarding began that you COULD go to your cabins and get your sea pass, drop off bags and then leave to explore the ship.  We did that and we're at the buffet before 11:30. Busy, but still plenty of seats at that time. This was our first Celebrity Cruise, so we had no status and were one of the last to board as we had a Deluxe Veranda cabin, but not Concierge or Aqua.

I was on the July 13th sailing. WiFi was SLOW in my cabin.  Worked better on the upper levels.  Since I was on vacation, I didn't need it, but for the price they charge, they should have more boosters throughout the ship.

On 7/13/2019 at 10:22 AM, jj6961 said:

I am interested in the new menu.  I spoke to a shoreside concierge she said first 3 nights original menu(single chef)last four nights new menu(chef and friends)

 

Just did Le Petite Chef last night on Day 3 on Equinox. It was the 4 chef competition- the Italian chef won.

VERY cool concept and the food was delicious. They said the menu will change for days 5-7. But we are already booked for sushi and Murano. 

13 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Thanks. I wouldn't expect to see any of them onboard, frankly, but I was a level off on responsibilities. I've had a couple of friends in the retail/wine bar business achieve certified status. And I've dined in at least one restaurant whose wine list was curated by a master sommelier, and clearly trained the sommelier staff on  the floor, all of whom I believe are at least certified (yes, one of those restaurants). That's a total pleasure for anyone who enjoys wine...

I used “Certified” sommelier in an all encompassing way for all levels of professional sommeliers under the Court of Master Sommeliers in my description of their duties. And those duties will vary from restaurant to restaurant.

But you are right on the money.  

I think the cruise ship sommeliers are invaluable to probably 90%+ of people who know little of wine. 

20 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

What does oxidized wine taste like?  Is that the same as corked?

Way different than corked. A corked wine gives the wine a musty odor- like wet newspaper and strips away the fruit and finish of the wine. It is detectable by humans at a very low amount. It literally ruins the flavor of the wine, but it is harmless to drink. Many people drink corked wines and have no idea if they don’t know what to look for. That’s why screw caps are becoming so popular- no chance of a corked wine and the screw cap is airtight and won’t dry out like a cork can. 

Oxidized wine is just simply a wine being open too long. The reaction when exposed to oxygen for a long time is that the wine gets old and loses flavor. It happens with all food products. If you save leftovers of dinner tonight, it will taste almost as good tomorrow, but three days from now, the flavor will be gone. Not harmful in wines and after long enough, it will actually be vinegar. Most people don’t recognize oxidized wine. They just think the wine has little or no flavor. It’s part of my job. I know what basic characteristics a Chardonnay should have, I’m familiar with wines from Puglia, and I know the producer’s products and their reputation. The glass I had, had none of the things I knew it should have for flavor. 

41 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

If it's allowed I would like to hear more about your wines. I am not impressed by the three you mentioned.  Too bad I'm not on NCL.

There are some good wines onboard here. And it’s not always about price. In Tuscan, they have Nozzole Chianti Classico for $11 or $12 a glass. Villa Antinori is $15, I believe.  Wine is very subjective. I know both wines and between the two, I prefer the Nozzole, so I drank that. I asked for it last night in the MDR because I had short rib gnocchi for dinner and our sommelier said that it is only available in Tuscan.  But she said she had another Chianti Classico, but didn’t know the name of it. She brought it to the table- it was the Nozzole that I asked for. 

Additionally, I had a glass of the Concha y Toro Reservado Chardonnay last night with my escargot appetizer. For an inexpensive Chardonnay, it was very good. In Tuscan, I also had a glass of the Tormaresca Chardonnay from Puglia (Antinori brand). The first glass was ice cold and completely oxidized. It was obviously opened a few days earlier. My wife thought it was a bad wine. I know this is a good wine and knew what was wrong, so I asked for two more glasses from a fresh bottle. Once that wine warmed up a little, it was the delicious wine I knew it should be. 

Also, the Decoy Cab (Duckhorn has a few wines on Celebrity too) is a very good wine for you to try on Equinox. 

From memory of the lists, there is a Ribera del Duero wine on the list. It’s a Tempranillo from Spain if you’re not familiar with the region. I don’t remember what winery it was from. $11 a glass. I love Ribera del Duero, so it’s worth a taste to see if this producer makes a good one. And if you like Sauvignon Blanc, there is a Villa Maria SB. It’s been years since I had anything from that winery, but also worth a taste if you have a drink package. 

Other than wines at dinner, I have had beer, Manhattans and Martinis onboard. I do have 2 bottles of a great champagne that we import in my cabin. We’ll open one of those those before we go to dinner at Quine tonight. 

On 7/14/2019 at 3:21 PM, markeb said:

 

In the real world, at least in North America, there's a pin on the lapel...

 

 

That's a certified sommelier. An advanced sommelier has one of these

 

 

That's the highest I'd ever expect to see on a ship, and it wouldn't be your basic wine steward.

 

If you see one of these

 

 

They probably designed the wine list. There have only been something like 236 Master Sommelier certificates awarded...

You won’t find these on ships because wine purchases are done by someone in the corporate office. Generally, the corporate lists are bid on by wine suppliers national accounts team (or a wine broker who specializes in cruises) and they will have annual contracts. So you’ll see a few parent brands that have many placements on one cruise line. I’m on the Equinox now and see a lot of Kendall-Jackson, Banfi and Antinori brands- both under their flagship label and umbrella brands. A certified sommelier would build their own list, run the restaurant wine program, train the staff, order and inventory the wines and several other duties. They wouldn’t want to work in a restaurant where they would have no input on the wines carried.  The ship “sommeliers” are there to steer people to something they will like, nothing more.  I’d call them more of a wine concierge for people with little wine knowledge.   

I say all this as a 25 year wine industry professional. I work for a Napa producer/fine wine importer. We have many of our wines on NCL now and have had a long running program with RC.  

I’m on Equinox now too. The two “sommeliers” I have met the last two nights have been very attentive, but both lacked basic wine knowledge and knew little about the wines they were serving. Same on other past cruises. They may be good for people with 0 wine knowledge, but not for regular wine drinkers.

On 7/14/2019 at 8:25 AM, Swampbabe said:

My daughter had one on the infinity in March and it was covered by the classic package.

I’m on the Equinox now. I was at the Sunset Bar yesterday and a lady with a classic drink package ordered an Aperol Spritz. $1. The bartender said a Campari Spritz would be included in her package.  

32 minutes ago, Paulras said:

And about half of the world's population follow a religion that doesn't allow pork to be eaten but you don't see people walking out of the dining room when there's bacon on the breakfast menu. 

And LGBTQX contains the letters, BLT. Coincidence? 😀

On 6/26/2019 at 1:57 PM, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 I’ve been reading a lot of threads in here recently and one common theme is that Celebrity has an older clientele. What is the average age?  We have booked our first Celebrity cruise so I’m not sure what to expect, other than few cruisers under 30 and far fewer children. Will most be 70+?

 

Is there live music in the bars at night?  A comedy club?

I’m looking forward to seeing Lawrence Welk and Don Rickles perform on our upcoming cruise.