pcrum

16 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Hark, are those tablecloths I see? Hoping that Venezia is different enough from other Carnival ships to entice us back. Have not sailed on Carnival since 2013; we literally turned platinum and decided we preferred other lines. 
 

Would love to see the return of tablecloths and a kabosh on dancing waiters. As I said to my daughter, “I don’t need to see how low the Carnival waiters can go during ‘Low, Low, Low.”  Don’t know if they even do that anymore…. She was ok with the dancing waiters but has left Carnival for other reasons having to do with food allergies. 
 

Looking forward to your take on the ports. We did many of the same ports during a TA on NCL Epic.  Gibraltar was my fave, although we had to take an excursion from Malaga to get there. So nice that you get to do both!!  The monkeys are so fun; I could have watched them all day!
 

Wishing you a wonderful trip. Enjoy Hamilton; it’s truly amazing! I will be in NYC in July, first time since 2015, so will enjoy that part of your report too!,

You had me at cats. 

Such an entertaining review. I’m also following Sid’s live review and it seems drink prices might have increased since January. We are definitely curious about Virgin. My only hesitation is no drinks package. 
 

Will follow your Med review on VV also.

Thanks again. 

That dinner did not look appetizing in the least except for the lamb chop. How did it all taste? Was the salmon smoked? 

3 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

That second drink was better, but not $18.36 better...

Geez, that $600 bar tab offer will go pretty quickly with those drink prices. I wish VV had a beverage package. 

Really enjoyed your take on Celebrity. My DD, aged 27, and I did Summit the end of last year. This was our first Celebrity sailing. My daughter has a gluten allergy and Celebrity was very accommodating.  In the MDR, during dinner, they went over the next night’s menu with her so they could make substitutions for items she wanted to order that contained gluten. She was also given gluten free bread each night. This Easter, my daughter and her boyfriend sailed on Carnival Paradise and she indicated they were not nearly as accommodating. Her boyfriend is allergic to garlic, which is used in so many dishes, but Carnival would not substitute side dishes cooked with garlic for other sides without garlic. My DD grew up on Carnival cruises, but said after the last experience, she is done.  She had a girls cruise booked with friends on Carnival, but after her last experience, they changed to a land trip.  I have not been on Carnival since 2013. Once the kids graduated high school, we did other types of vacations and never got back on Carnival. We turned platinum and then stopped sailing them.
 

For me, the big draw to Celebrity, MSC, and NCL is the included beverage package. We would love to try Virgin, but my DH likes the good scotches and I like the real champagne, so we are not sure how far a $600 bar tab will go. We were looking at the Virgin TA in 4/24, but for a 2 week sailing, we figured $600 might get us 2 drinks each per day. 

I’m pretty sure we had your same cruise director. We really enjoyed her. I loved the Zumba classes!! Our sailing also had the Abba singalong which we loved.

For us, the food was ok.  We did the steakhouse one night and enjoyed it. There were always gluten free desserts in the buffet, which my DD appreciated. I did find the buffet pizza really lacking in toppings. And the late night buffet offerings were very scarce!   We had an aft balcony and being concierge class, we could order a full breakfast to be delivered, which was lovely to enjoy on the balcony. 

Would love to try the retreat, but not sure the extra cost is worth it for us.  Concierge class was just right and we loved the helipad sail away from Miami. I guess it’s a crap shoot as to who gets invited, but Celebrity is smart to invite first time cruisers with their line, because it made a great first impression for me!

I’m off to read your VV review now.  Am following Sid’s review too. I hope to try them someday, just for the hammock. We live in Orlando so with the Brightline train starting service, we hope to do more sailings from Miami. Maybe a short VV cruise is in order to see if it’s our thing. 
 

Thanks again for a great review!

On 4/16/2023 at 3:47 PM, MeganGC1983 said:

Bought a hat at the port. Chased some iguanas but my phone died. DH took pics I’ll have to get those from him. Got back to our cabin and guess what?! We are invited. 

We were invited to this on our Summit sailing and loved it. Do you know how they choose whom to invite? We were in a concierge class cabin, so figured that’s how we received an invitation. Maybe they know you are doing a review? 

On 4/15/2023 at 7:49 PM, MeganGC1983 said:

I had to run out of dinner because of a flight cancelation. Found a quiet area by boarding to make a call. Still boarding ish deck 4

Can I just say how impressed I am with your work ethic! Thinking I need to use you as my travel agent!!  I have not had the best luck with others I’ve used!  Loving the review. We did our first Celebrity cruise on Summit last year and fell in love with the M class ship!! 

11 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I use my Ninja air fryer/pressure cooker.  From the Ninja Foodi Deluxe cookbook:

Pour 1/2 cup water into pot.  Place frozen wings in Cook & Crisp basket and place in pot.

Secure pressure cooker lid. Select Pressure and set on High for 5 minutes.  Start.

When pressure is done, release steam valve and Vent.  Carefully remove lid.  Pat wings dry and toss with 2 tablespoons oil in basket.  Secure Air Crisp lid.  Set temp to 390, time for 15 minutes. Start.

Halfway through stir or shake wings then resume for rest of time.  Make Buffalo sauce if wanted and toss wings in sauce.  Super yummy!

If you are using fresh not frozen wings just follow the recipe from tossing wings with oil then using Air Crisp.

Thank you. I just have an air fryer without the pressure cooker feature. 

On 5/19/2023 at 7:01 AM, sid_9169 said:

It's cloudy, but at least it's not raining... Getting ready to tackle my final day of work before the fun begins! Something tells me that today's work day most assuredly won't be fun. We're still trying to dig out from the mess we made there yesterday. 

 

I didn't end up doing any packing last night, so basically everything is left for today. Also still in my "to do" list: cutting my hair and shaving... Gathering all the "little things" like q tips, toothpaste and toothbrush, ear plugs, and prescription meds... 

 

I also realized that I forgot to wash one of the pairs of shorts I was planning on bringing, so now I have to try and find enough stuff to make a load of laundry... Again, I really feel like I'm losing my mind.........

 

 

Such a pretty view from your apartment. Those chicken wings looked delicious. I’m still trying to make friends with my air fryer. How long do you cook them for and at what temperature? 

I wish I knew the answer to this.  Our PPC calls me with cruise offers (the last call was 11 pm--that went straight to voicemail), but when we have a cruise booked and e-mail or call with a question, he is no where to be found.  I went the TA route twice with two different TAs who were recommended to me by people I met on a cruise, but did not have any better luck.  What do you do when a TA travels all the time and cannot be reached?  Shouldn't they have backup?  I'd love to find a TA who really advocates for the clients, but sadly, I have not had that experience.  Often I know more than the TA just by reading Cruise Critic.  Would love to know where the good ones are!!

Thanks so much for the review.  There are not many non-Yacht Club reviews of MSC out there.  For your pizza lunch, did you order from room service?

The photos of Ocean Cay are so pretty.  Glad the weather cleared up for you.

On 3/19/2023 at 9:46 PM, APDMOM said:

 

We stayed in a 3-bedroom older home relatively close to Aventura mall.  It was very clean and the neighborhood, though older, felt safe enough.  We paid $280 for the night. Everything seemed newly renovated, except the kitchen cabinets.  The home is great for an overnight stay.  The hostess was very friendly and provided extras like instant oatmeal, bottled water, coffee, etc. I would stay there again if we opt for Miami.  

 

https://abnb.me/tcAhvqJgjyb

Thank you!

Please share information regarding the Air B and B in Miami. Hotel prices in Miami have gone up so much!

Looking forward to your review. 

I believe that Frontier has recently discontinued their call center, so there is no option to speak to an agent in case of issues. 

I flew them once in 2019 roundtrip from  MCO to LAS and had no issues.  Booked again for a flight in 2020 and had an absolute nightmare using the flight credit when the flight was cancelled.  At that time, they had a telephone call center, but I literally spent 4 hours on the telephone.  They would intentionally cut me off at a certain point.  I still have a small credit with them, but do not have any intention of using it, which is what they bank on.  They make using any type of credit an absolute nightmare.  My recommendation is to use them only if you are 100% certain your plans won't change (or that there is not another pandemic that shuts the world down).  If you have to try to access their customer service for any reason, it's a nightmare.  

Neither my husband or I are beer drinkers.  As long as they have a decent cab for my husband and a decent champagne for me (last cruise on Divina it was Nicholas Feuillatte), we will be set! 

Thanks for your review.  We are doing Seaside in Sept.  Seaside reviews seem very scarce!

18 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 " 2 hours ago, @PistolPete13said: 

You know, Celebrity is one of the lines I’d definitely consider trying but the fact that they don’t sail out of NYC squashes that thought."

 

 

The Summit is indeed an older ship, but she was basically gutted and beautifully updated from the inside out in 2019 (unlike anything NCL has done to the Jewel class ships).  We loved our NE/Canada cruise on her in September 2019 from Cape Liberty.   (She no longer does that run from NJ.)

 

 @PistolPete13 no reason for you to remember, but from your perch on Staten Island, you got a photo of us on our balcony on the Summit as we sailed away, just as we approached the Verrazzano.  🙂 

 

 

 

 

Another plug for the Celebrity Summit.  We sailed this ship from Miami last December and loved it.  Wonderful crew and service. 

22 hours ago, mkcurran said:

Any one here try MSC yet?

The boards are a little light on non-yacht club reviews.

We did a 3 night on Divina last Sept. to try it out. Liked it so much that while onboard we booked a 10 night cruise for this September on Seaside.  We go with the Wi-Fi, drinks package included. We also book Fantastica package, balcony cabin.  Upgraded to the premium drinks package onboard for $20/ person per day. A fantastic deal. We also went to the maitre d upon embarkation to request a table for 2 in the MDR for dinner. They tend to do a lot of shared tables, which we don’t like. If you need Kleenex, bring your own, as they are not in the cabins. Other than that oddity, we found the staff to be very kind and efficient.  I am platinum on Carnival so did the status match to gold on MSC. That got us a dedicated line at guest services and a free hour in their thermal spa area. Also, at gold status, we received a discount on photos. The private island is gorgeous and the drinks package and included Wi-Fi works on the island. MSC is now one of my favorite lines. 

As others have indicted, there are kiosks set up on the ship to take care of entering your credit card information.  We did it shortly after embarkation just to get it out of the way.  There were staff around to assist and no line at the kiosk.

On 12/17/2022 at 3:35 PM, BirdTravels said:

But the Epic is a much bigger ship than the Prima, so you would expect things to be bigger.

 

And, as NCL's first attempt at a megaship, and a lot of oversized spaces including Spice H20, Thermal Suite (with both unisex and coed facilities), 2-story Haven lounge, Posh Club, private gym in the Haven, private steam room in the Haven, the Bliss ultra lounge (originally with a full size bowling alley),,, all never duplicated on any other ship. 

@PistolPete13Loved the review and your unique perspective.  Your photos are gorgeous!!  Besides the stunning photos of the ship, your photos of the NYC skyline are amazing. I have a love for NYC, having attended grad school there in the mid-1980s and then visiting my son during his college years in NYC from 2013-2016.  NYC will always have a piece of my heart!

I hope to sail Prima and am sad that she is leaving my home port of Port Canaveral so soon.  

@BirdTravelsWe love the Epic; I know that people seem to have strong feelings about this ship, but after spending 15 nights on a TA on the Epic in 2019, we loved it!!  I'd sail Epic again anytime!

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Wow! That sounds fabulous. Our’s has the classic drink package, wifi and grats included, along with $200 OBC. We are in a basic interior, which is never my favorite but we should be fine. It’s a repositioning cruise, so we are embarking in San Juan and returning to Ft. Lauderdale. It’s really just to get our Celebrity feet wet. Excited to return to St. Thomas and St. Kitts, haven’t been to those since 2018. And of course, my favorite island, St. Maarten… once I get a Carib in hand, I might not leave. Flight prices, weren’t as bad as I thought… one way to SJU $128 pp. one way back from FLL, $85 pp. Trying to shift through everything to find deals is the new frequent cruiser game. 😆

Great deal on the flights.

There are some good cruise deals out there now.  I was looking at a transatlantic in June on NCL Getaway, Port Canaveral to Lisbon.  That one keeps coming down in price and a major online travel agency is offering pre-paid gratuities for two with a balcony booking.  I even found reasonable airfare back to Orlando after the cruise.  Alas, we cannot be gone for that length of time due to being a caregiver for my mother.  It's a great deal though!  We did our first and only transatlantic cruise in 2019 and loved it.  Had others booked in 2020 and 2021, but we all know what happened.  Now, our life circumstances have changed and we can only get away for short trips for the immediate future. But, if anyone is looking for a transatlantic cruise deal, this looks to be a good one!

22 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Morning Tribe! Life kicked up and the 3/19 Ruby Princess sailing we booked needs to be postponed. However, that schedule changed allowed for a fantastic option to open up. My next cruise will be on the Celebrity Millennium 4/15-4/21 from San Juan. Very basic… no Aqua class, but I’m excited to try out Celebrity and see how it is. 

Tried Celebrity for the first time in Dec. on the Summit, also a millennium class ship.  We absolutely loved it.  Loved that the tips, wifi and premium beverage package were included in the fare (a promotion at the time we booked) and we also received some on board credit.  We had a concierge cabin and were invited to the helipad to watch sailaway out of Miami, which was such a treat!  Enjoy!!

1 minute ago, Saint Greg said:

We have them. I have a vendor a work that brings them to me. Not really what I’m looking for though.

 

I’m jealous you have them.  Now, the only one in Orlando is at the airport. We had one by the Millenia Mall, but it’s gone now. I believe they tore the building down and put in a Chick Fil A. Like we needed another fast food chicken place; and one that closes on Sunday at that! I miss the cappuccino from La Madeleine. 

La Madeleine is my fav. Great French pastries and cappuccino. 

17 minutes ago, AmyJA said:

Have you heard any chatter about the new Reservation Line? https://reserve.clearme.com

From what I understand, you can make a reservation online for security. I believe you have 20 minutes past your reservation time to make it through. You enter in the date of your flight, flight no. and destination city. I have not personally used the service.