rincewind

Does anyone have experience with changing ships, particularly HAL, in San Diego?  We have a cruise coming up that will arrive on the Zaandam and depart the same day on the Koningsdam.  Just wondering what to expect.  Does HAL help with transferring luggage or do we have to depart one ship and haul everything to wherever the baggage drop is for the second one?

Keep in mind that you can call into a phone number for Zoom/WebEx and not have to rely on the IP audio stream associated with the video stream.  It would mean a very expensive phone call but it might help.  I've used this approach in low bandwidth settings.  The video may freeze and be a little spotty, but the audio stream is usually pretty good.

Maybe I missed them on the list, but these are on my list:

Rum - Brothers Osborne

Toes - Zac Brown Band

Where the Boat Leaves From - Zac Brown Band

It Ain't My Fault - Brothers Osborne

We just got back from a 6 night sailing on 11/14-11/20/2021.  The ship was clean, but is starting to show its age in some of the little spots - nothing significant.  We couldn't get over the décor/color scheme.  I kind of reminded me of the kitchen with all the avocado appliances.  Food in the MDR was good and the service was very attentive.  We actually ended up eating in the Steakhouse 3 nights and had wonderful service and great food.  From what I have heard you want to try for earlier seatings before they get too busy.   We ended up missing a couple of ports because of weather but that is not a reflection on the ship.  There has been a lot of talk on the board about not having bacon everyday in the buffet.  I don't know what the schedule is but we did notice that it was absent a couple of days. I like the design with the Alchemy bar midship near a music venue.  Two of my favorite things in one place!

The staff were great.  I understand we were sailing at about 49% capacity but I don't know if they have scaled the staffing back to match that.  With a reduced passenger count the ship felt nice and open.  Enough room to get a lounger on deck, but no so quiet that there wasn't any night life.  Overall we had a great cruise.  It was great to get back to cruising.

If you have any specific questions I'll be glad to answer what I can.

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.

DW and I always do the Chef's table on both Carnival and on Celebrity.  I'm glad to say that there is a Chef's table dinner on Celebrity and it is amazing.  The bad news is that it is sometimes hard to find.  On the last cruise we just kept asking everyone we could find until we got an answer.  It looks like they were not going to do it, but had enough interest that they scheduled on near the end of the cruise.  On our cruise coming up in August I called Celebrity and asked and they said that there was one and took our reservation.  I'm not completely convinced that it will actually be happening since they told me it was on the first night (which seems very strange) and I have not seen anything show up on our booking.  Needless to say the first thing I check on when we board will be this dinner.

My advice is to keep asking until you get someone that can sign you up for it.  It is worth the effort.

We did this on our last trip and it worked well.  DW plays the slots and I play the tables.  When we purchased it asked if we were purchasing for table play or for slots.  When we got on the ship we went to the cashier's cage and they gave me a stack of restricted chips and loaded the slot credit on DW's card.  As long as you are careful to make sure you are always collecting your winnings (regular chips) and making your bets with the restricted chips it shouldn't take long to be holding only regular chips.  For us it was an easy way to get some extra money to play with.  I would definitely do it again.

We didn't spend much time at Cellar Masters.  They didn't seem to have much of a selection.  Most of our interaction was with the Sommelier in Lumine - Gokhan (not sure of the spelling) and the Sommelier in Tuscan - Carlos.  Carlos handled our chef's table dinner and had a different selection for each of the courses.

I know some of us are always looking to see what wines are on board before we cruise.  I managed to snap shots of the wine list on our last cruise.

Infinity Wine List.pdf

We are sailing on the Infinity this December and we are making our final plans.  We always try and do the Chef's table dinner and have always enjoyed them.  We have also done the Chef's Market event in the past and enjoyed that as well, but it is really an all day commitment and we were hoping to do some other things in Cozumel.  Does anyone know if they have the plain Chef's Table on Infinity or if the only option is the full Chef's Market outing.

DW and I always love the Chef's table dinners. On one occasion when the chef came by prior to the dinner to ask about allergies or special requests we told them that we had done the Chef's table recently on another ship. It turns out that it was going to be the same menu, but the chef created alternate dishes for us for most of the courses. I don't know if we just got lucky with an especially nice chef, but it was a great evening.

DW and I did this on our last Equinox cruise and enjoyed it. My bit of advice is to schedule as early in the morning as possible. Dealing with the hot glass is a warm activity and doing it in the heat of the day would only add to things.

We did this on Equinox this spring and had a good time. The comments are correct that they do a lot of the work, but I was blowing thru the pipe, holding the pipe in the furnace, and rolling it to maintain the shape. I was a lot of fun and I would recommend it. My suggestion would be to sign up for an early time slot, since you are working with a lot of hot things and the cooler the weather the better.

As far as I know it is on all bottles. I'm not sure what will be on the list for your cruise, but we have gotten the discount on some very nice bottles including Cyamus Special Select, Far Niente and others.

I normally carry a color copy of the photo page of our passports and leave the actual passport book in the safe on board. Of course I also have my sign and sail card and photo ID. I also do this when I am traveling on business to areas that have an issue with pickpockets/street crime to reduce that chance of losing the actual passport.

We've done the Chef's Table on every cruise and it is always a great evening. A day or two before the dinner they will ask if you have any allergies or anything that you don't eat. On one cruise the chef figured out that we were going to have the same menu as our last cruise and prepared a different menu for us. I don't know if they would all do that, but they will do everything they can to make it a special night.

We don't get the chance to break out the formal wear very often, so when we cruise I like to wear my Tux, especially since my wife always looks so great in her gowns. If I was still wearing suits for work every day I might feel differently, but since the work place has gone to business casual, or in the case of my office jeans and a polo, it's fun to dress up a couple of evenings.

36 on Triumph. Can't wait!

We have done this on multiple ships and it is always a great eveing. The chef will usually come by your table one evening before the event and ask if there are any diet restrictions or special requests. One cruise the chef changed a couple of items on our menu because he knew that we had seen them on a previous Chef's Table and wanted to make sure we got to try something different.