cibumcupio

I have asked for a portion of the main, instead of the whole thing, but found the whole plate arrives, and your server has to replate it and then toss the rest - more work for theml (done quickly and they try to make it not noticeable to guests- done at their station)

Guess cheaper for the kit to send out full plates and servers change things up that a special order that requires extra manpower in the kitchen.

Good servers order extra plates of food to put out for you to try at the table if you order it or not.

I like my appetizer instead and often order it for dessert - not a sweet tooth - throws the whole ordering process, but they oblige!

I am sure they cook a % more of each plate offered at all servings and have tons leftover after all meals.

Just do not order so much food that the poor waiter cannot get you all away from the table on time. They are timed on how long it takes to seat/order/serve and clear!

And the others at your table may not want to wait while you gorge yourself!

I've noticed the same thing. Once my mom just wanted more asparagus from an entree, and they gave her the whole entree again. I'm pretty sure they just plates of all the food in the back, and your server just picks up the plate. Also, they do toss out all of the food from each service. So don't worry about people ordering extra and not finishing it, because it would have been tossed out anyway.

There's something else that I thought was weird, wondering if anyone else had this experience. We did the late seating and often times we weren't able to order extra of something because our server told us the kitchen throws out everything at 9:15pm, which I think is really early. I mean, by the time you get your entree it is at least 9pm, and then you think you want another serving of that shrimp or something but it's all gone. Especially for lobster night, we would have gladly eaten several, but after our second one, he said the kitchen is now closed. Some in our party even ordered several at the beginning, but later when they wanted more, the kitchen was closed. On our Celebrity cruise, this was never an issue. You could even order more appetizers after your entree if you wanted during second service.

Based on what you have written, Celebrity sounds like the best fit for you, EXCEPT for the fact that their hot tubs are not open 24/7. I know Royal Caribbean does have hot tubs and pools open 24/7.

I say Celebrity because:

1. They have a very beautiful and large adults only pool and hot tub area called the Solarium.

2. This is the only area where Celebrity doesn't fit your needs.

3. The live music on board tends to be a bit more "classic" and not just hits from the 70's and 80's. For example, a pianist that plays broadway and jazz, a barbershop quartet, string quartet, acoustic guitarist, etc.

4. For this one, it seems like Norwegian would fit well. Though on almost any cruise line, you can still choose My Time Dining for dinner. And there is always 24 hr room service on Celebrity, and of course the buffet. For a honeymoon, I found the 24 hr room service to be particularly useful.

5. Balcony rooms on Celebrity M and S class are beautiful. If you like the spa, you can even try Aqua Class, which gives you among other things access to the Persian Gardens, a unique shower, and a special restaurant called Blu.

6. I haven't had personal experience, but I have heard that Celebrity gets high marks for their spas.

7. I think this you will get on most of the cruise lines.

8. The passenger to space ratio on Celebrity is quite low, especially for the mass market cruise lines. From what I have heard from friends sailing on Carnival and Norwegian, they tend to cram a lot more people into those ships than the other cruise lines. Celebrity ships also have lots of public spaces and many areas with great ocean views. I have heard that Royal Caribbean Radiance Class also does this well.

9. Every cruise line except Norwegian will give you this. I feel like on Celebrity the dress code for dinner is followed quite well. Casual during the day and smart casual or formal on certain nights. People say that there are also less people in tuxes on formal nights than Carnival. More suits and cocktail dresses.

10. This is the main reason why I think Celebrity is the best fit for you. I would say hands down Celebrity has the best food on the mass market lines. You can look through the CruiseCritic rankings for which ships have the best food, and Celebrity takes almost all the top spots. And it definitely has the best specialty restaurants. And if you book Aqua Class, Blu I heard is spectacular. I would say Celebrity is food-lover's cruise. There are also many more sommeliers and at all of the dining venues, and I think either Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast gave them some award for an outstanding wine list, the only one given to a cruise line.

11. Celebrity is also known for having fewer activities. The ship is definitely not dead by any means, but it won't have belly flop contests, lots of dancing late at night, and all the craziness. Celebrity is also known for not having announcements during the day except for the Captain's report once a day. Most other cruise lines will bombard you constantly with reminders for bingo, some sale for watches, etc. For a honeymoon, I think this sounds ideal. The activities they do have are things like wine tastings, trivia, dance classes, crafts, lectures, and cooking demos.

So I guess I'm biased too. We had our honeymoon on Celebrity and we loved it. We tried other cruise lines and though they were fun, they were not as pampering as the Celebrity cruise. We also love to eat, and Celebrity's cuisine definitely did not disappoint. So far a relaxing time with good food and a serene atmosphere, I think you will find that Celebrity fits your bill.

I don't understand the objections either. There are bars all over the cruise ship. There are even several at the pools. Would children not be allowed at the pools then? I understand that there are certain areas that is designated for adults only, so children should not be in those areas. But if it's not designated as such, why can't children be there then? And what are people doing at the bars that is so terrible that children can't observe? Most of the time it just looks like people chatting, relaxing, and having a good time. Why do you need to keep children away from that? The bigger question is do the kids want to be at the bar.

I would also go with RCI, though not by much. I was just on the Explorer for the first time and extra things that kids would like, such as the rock wall, ice skating rink, inline skating, and things like that are actually not open for very much during the Bermuda cruise. The arcade is not cheap either. We never actually saw anyone on the kiddie water slide. I'm just saying that the difference for kids might not actually be that big. That plus RCI has more smoke in the common areas, and more "raunchy" activities and parties, would make me say that either cruise line would be good. It's not that obvious really.

The first post came off that way to me in the way it was written. If this wasn't that intent' date=' sorry, but it seems too much like posters who wonder why many of us bring our kids on cruises, etc.[/quote']

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to belittle anyone with my question. My husband tells me I might be a little Aspy or mildly autistic or something, so sometimes there are human behaviors that I really don't understand. And when I don't understand them, I usually just google my question. But in this case, google failed me so I turned to CC.

 

There are cruise things I love, there are cruise things that I don't enjoy but understand why other people do them, like gambling or buying photos. And then there are things that I just don't understand.

 

I'm female, but I really don't understand jewelry, shoes, bags, fashion, and shopping. Bags I kinda get because it's cool when there are lots of pockets. Shoes are just for wearing, and jewelry...well, I don't know what that's used for. Really don't get jewelry. But I especially don't get shopping, because it seems like lots of people devote a lot of time to it, even on vacation. I shop as a chore. Grocery shopping I like sometimes, but clothes shopping and shopping just to shop sounds like torture to me. But lots of people seem to love it so I was just wondering why. I have to say everyone's responses on here really has helped me understand this a lot better. For me, even if something was much cheaper in a certain place, I still wouldn't go buy it because it's my vacation and I would rather not do chores. So I guess if the activity is intrinsically enjoyable for you, something being cheaper or not available elsewhere will just give you that extra reason to shop. Not necessarily make you shop when you didn't want to before, right? I also don't get souvenirs because I feel like the memory you have of buying that souvenir is the time you spent buying that souvenir, and not necessarily of the port. I do like the idea of having Christmas ornaments from different ports, but again the thought of actually spending time to go get them is not for me. But still, I've had a lot of fun reading everyone's responses.

Another person chiming in here on a honeymoon cruise on Celebrity. We're also in our 20's and booked Celebrity for our honeymoon last year. Yes the crowd was older, and we felt like we were definitely the youngest couple there. But it's your honeymoon, the point is the spend time with each other, so who cares about the other passengers and their ages? We had a blast. It definitely got me hooked on cruising. The dining was fantastic, and you don't need all those activities since, well, you should be well entertained by each other. Not that there was a lack of activities either. All I'm sayin' is, I'm sure either cruise will be great because it's your honeymoon. But I don't think you'll regret choosing Celebrity for this one.

We loved Qsine. We went on Infinity and the space they have it in is worth it almost by itself. I've been wanting to go back ever since, and if they had Qsine on land I would definitely go. The food itself is delicious and fun. It's not Michelin star dining, but it's rather like that tapas place with just well-prepared food and interesting sauces. Our favorite was actually the soup and souffle. The soups in the test tubes really did pair well with the three different souffles.

Qsine is what made us want to book Celebrity again.

We just had to make the same decision. Though I would love love love to try Allure or Oasis someday for all the shows and the bazillion activities, we ended up with Celebrity this time because it was just going to be the two of us and we want to just relax and reconnect over some great dining. And the free drink package didn't hurt. We are excited to try the Solstice class ships, and will save Allure or Oasis for a cruise with friends and family someday.

Shoppers don't need to defend or explain "their side" any more than beach goers or museum visitors:rolleyes:

You're right, you don't need to. But it would be nice if you did. :) I'm not saying that it's wrong to shop, it's just not my preference and I would like to better understand people who do.

As for why people do any activity, they all have their reasons. Some I understand, like hiking (the view is unique to that area) or eating the local food. But others I don't, and I would like to. Been curious about it for a long time, so here I am to ask. I'm also guessing that people have different reasons for liking the same activity. Maybe some people like the memories of the particular item they bought. Or some just like the activity itself, period, and will want to do it wherever and whenever they can. I don't know. And maybe there are others that I haven't even considered. It just seems like it's a pretty big activity (or bigger than it seems, from all of the hard sells cruise lines put on about shopping in ports--also don't understand people using vacation time to listen to a shopping lecture).

On that note, I also like stop by grocery stores when I travel. I like to see what their prices are and what kind of things people eat. And sometimes I'll buy some foods there as gifts.

This is a question that I've been wondering about for a while. And in general too, not just for cruising. This board is pretty active so I thought I would post it here. Why do you go shopping when you are on vacation? I understand if you need to buy some gifts for people. Or you forgot to bring something and you need to go buy it. But I don't understand the shopping as an activity thing. If you have such limited time in port, why would you spend it shopping? You can shop anywhere. And often the things that you can buy are not even from that port. Like in Venice there are these glass trinkets everywhere, but they are all made in China. And even if there are things that are unique to that port, aren't there much more unique things to do there than shopping?

I was talking about this with my husband during our last cruise, and he had a theory that maybe some people see shopping as a way to remember a place. Like if you buy something, even something that you can buy anywhere, in this specific port, it will help you remember that port more when you see that item. And that will give you good memories.

Curious to see what responses people will have. :o If you are someone who does look for shopping opportunities when you travel, I would really like to hear your side.

I'm sure you would enjoy whatever beach you went to. But if you want a beautiful beach and more colorful fish when snorkeling, I'd suggest going to one of the other beaches. If you don't mind crowds, Coki has a lot of fish right at the beach. If you want more serenity, Megan's is beautiful and the largest bay but a different kind of snorkeling. Sapphire is definitely a favorite with many, but it can be somewhat rough---more open to the sea. I didn't get to give Secret Cove a proper review since it was rough the one day we went there. The taxi drivers might look at you funny if you say you want to go to the Elysian, but we love it there. Closer to town is Bluebeard's---another beautiful bay with good snorkeling. I don't think you can go wrong with any beach, at least not if it's sunny and the surf is down on that side of the island.

Sounds great. Is the best way to get to any of them by taxi? I guess we'll decide day of where we want to go. I'm usually a plan everything kind of person, but I'm trying to train myself to not do that and enjoy the freedom. Won't even look up pictures. At least not as many.

Thanks so much for all those pictures of beautiful fish. And that octopus. Bwahaha, he was funny.

We're going to St. Thomas for the first time in January. Well to be honest, it will be my first time in the Caribbean, or anywhere tropical, period. Everyone is recommending Magens Bay, but now I really want to do some good snorkeling and see those fish.

But if this is our first time there, what do you think? Magens Bay? Is the beauty worth the not much snorkeling?

I realize the ships offer a variety of pillows (from what I was told), but I have a "lousy" neck and I need a pillow that is much softer so I can almost roll it into a position that's comfortable. Most hotel and ship pillows seem to be really firm, I wonder if there is any way to find out if they have more "flexible" pillows for my cabin? I'll be on the Enchantment in a suite in January.

On Explorer, the pillows were very soft. I was surprised as well because as you said, pillows in hotels tend to be harder. I think you will be fine.

On a separate note, Celebrity Concierge Class gives you a pillow menu and you can pick what type of pillow you want.

This will be my first Celebrity cruise, and I'm SO excited that they have LavAzza onboard. Italian espresso is yummy!

Oh really? Where did you hear? Is it on all of the ships? That is exciting. There's one restaurant by us who just got a LavAzza machine, and the owner says he thinks it might be the only one in the US right now.

I think you'll have a great time, and the beverage package will be your excursion then :p. When we were on the Infinity, the martini bar was the most happening bar, and I believe (not sure) that those drinks will be more than the classic package. The bartenders there were amazing. DH stopped by every day just to watch.

It depends on which 6 items. Some of their items are small, and you could go through 6 of them as a couple definitely. But then there's things like M's favorite box. Of which you could go through one :p

My favorites for sharing for 2 were the lava crab, tresceviche, soup and souffle, lobster escargot, and Qsine greens. Can't wait to try some more next time we go!

I was on the 10.27 trip to Bermuda and to be honest I didn't think very highly of the food. On day 1 I had pork tenderloin or pork chop, cant remember but it was not good at all (apps were OK and I didn't have dessert). On the second formal night pretty much my entire meal was horrible. I ordered the mushroom pastry thing and it came out cold with the sauce completely gelatinated (not sure of spelling), main course was prime rib and it was grey looking and quite tough ( I asked for medium well and while I know it will not be the pinkish looking piece of meat most people get, it was not even close to other similar orders I have had at other restaurants so this is why I can say it was not good). On second formal night my meal was bread, soup and dessert, pretty sad IMO. Breakfast in main dining room on a couple of days was just too oily. I ate a few times in the windjammer but it was just salads as the rest of the food didn't look appetizing especially after seen how others grabbed the spoons and cross contaminated everything. For the record, my husbands choices in the main dining room were decent for the most part. He shares my opinion on the windjammer.

 

The one thing I can recommend in the main dining room that should be fool proof is the Tutti Salad on sea days for lunch.

 

I can't remember food been this inconsistent on previous Royal Caribbean cruises but EOS didn't measure up to other ships' dining experiences.

Love hearing others' opinions on the same cruise! Our mushroom thing came out quite hot and tasty, and I think it had something to do with how close we were to the galley. In fact, all of our food came out hot. It might have something to do with our waiter, Kumar, who was super efficient as well. Several times we had meat come out not at the right done-ness, but we just asked and he always brought out another one that was cooked perfectly. This happened with the prime rib, lamb chops, and several beef entrees.

Since I love talking about food, I'll say more. A lot more. :D Might write an actual review one of these days. There were four of us so we got to try almost everything off the menu in the MDR, with each of us ordering 2-4 starters, 1-2 entrees, and 1 dessert. Our waiter also tended to bring out whatever we didn't order. I would say about one dish in every round was excellent, another 60% was fine, and the rest were not worth a second bite.

For starters, I enjoyed almost all of the soups, with the consummes and broths being especially good. There was also this roasted poblano and corn soup one night that was really really good. Everything else was fun to try, and nothing was too memorable for being especially bad or especially good. The salads were always mesculin greens with some kind of other thing thrown in. Hmm, the prosciutto on board is not very good, so avoid that if you like prosciutto. They also tend to throw bay scallops in everything--I guess there's an escargot shortage and a bay scallop abundance. I've had pasta, salad, everything except dessert with bay scallops in it.

The entrees were always a protein with potato in some form with carrots/string beans/asparagus. The sauces were very basic, nothing very creative, and the meats were always cooked well, and if not they would bring you another that was. The fish was sometimes surprisingly good for not being day-of fresh, so it's worth ordering just to see. And the last thing they had was always some sort of very cheesy/creamy vegetarian thing. Even when it says something else like eggplant parm or penne in chardonnay sauce, it was always either baked with a pile of cheese on top, or in a very heavy alfredo-like sauce. So those were a bit disappointing. Oh, the lamb shank on the very last day was excellent. It makes sense that a cruise ship could cook something that needs to be slow-cooked well.

Desserts were also fine. I would say about half of them are tasty and half of them tasted like cafeteria desserts. Sherbet was great, ice cream was full of ice crystals. Creme Brulee didn't have that nice crust on top, but the flavor was interesting. They were all a bit too sweet for my taste, especially after that heavy meal. They seemed to sometimes make up for lack of flavor by adding sugar.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the lunches in the MDR. The lunch carpaccio was better than the dinner one (which was cooked? huh?), and pastas, salads, lamb skewer, and desserts were all delicious. Better than dinner, I would say. I had a orange white chocolate flan for lunch that was probably the best dessert I had all week.

We only went to the Windjammer a few times, and it seemed like a pretty sad sight to me. It was just more meat swimming in sauce, potatoes of all kinds. Tried to find something to eat there, but I actually went hungry in several instances. Was very disappointed in it, especially after the Celebrity buffets. The quality was much, much lower than the MDR, in my opinion.

Cafe Promenade had good sandwiches, terrible pizza (especially for someone coming from NYC area), and bad desserts.

Portofino was excellent. Service was amazing, we received many more starters than what we were supposed to get because of our excellent waiter, and we could not find fault with any dish. Well worth the $20. The last time I had restaurant Italian food this good was in Italy (I live in Jersey, we have lots of great little Italian osterias, cafes, and gelaterias, but haven't been to many restaurants).

I hope they haven't been discontinued :( I love Indian food!

Didn't see any Indian food in the MDR. There was only one tray of it in Windjammer, and it wasn't very good.

Just came off of the Explorer on the Oct 27 sailing. It was my first time on RCI, my first being on Celebrity. I have to say, I was very impressed by the food in the MDR. I was reading the boards as well before my sailing, and the comments ranged from "absolutely inedible" to "you'll not go hungry at least". That and knowing that Celebrity focused on food and RCI focused on entertainment made me feel like I shouldn't expect too much from the food.

All in all, I thought it was great. If Celebrity was a 10, then RCI was an 8. The food always came out hot and well seasoned. They didn't have as many high end ingredients (less lamb, duck, sea bass, and big scallops), and most meals were protein plus potato in some form, while Celebrity had more inventive sides. The steak was also not as thick, but my DH said the prime rib was one of the best he's had. Just like any large dining venue, some things were hits and some were misses. But we definitely had our fair share of very good meals. If this helps, my DH compared the MDR to Cheesecake Factory.

Thank you so much for mentioning the availability at Wegmans! I read this last night and went out today and bought a box for dinner. Yumm.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk, please excuse all the typos.

Haha, yeah. Sometimes I wonder if Wegmans makes all its escargot sales just from returning cruise folks.

Just got off Explorer 10/27 to Bermuda. No escargot on menu, asked the waiter for them and he said there is still a shortage so no escargot on board at all.

From my friends in the Theater Community, this is the rumor that is going around. It may be just that, but the talk is that Royal is looking to take the Vegas version (the 95 minute no intermission version) and adapt it to this ship

 

If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Avenue Q is set in NYC, so for a new ship making its debut there, it is a good tie-in. Obviously the show is not for young kids, but with the Dreamworks experience, Royal doesn't have to produce a show to appeal to all ages. Avenue Q definitely also appeals to people who are not typical musical theater goers. Avenue Q also has a relatively simple stage set and costumes which is something that the ship will definitely need to consider.

 

Anyway, I just thought I would throw that out there and see what others think.

When I was reading the criteria that someone put together of what would work on a ship, I immediately thought of Avenue Q as well. The main thing is that it has a very small cast, which would save RCI a lot of money. It's no longer on Broadway so getting the rights to it shouldn't be as expensive. It's not that long of a show to begin with, and some of the more objectionable songs they can cut without affecting the storyline very much. And you're right, the stage is very simple and compact. It's set in NYC, it's been popular for a decade, and it's just a smart show. Of course, the only thing would be that some people would be offended by it. But maybe RCI would be willing to risk that.

This looks cool, but that's not what I would call a tomato pie. I'm from New Jersey and a tomato pie is an awesome thin crust pizza.

Please try QLS. They start their shuttles at 10am. I booked them for my November 2012 cruise and they were great. They picked me up at my hotel (LaQuinta Airport, not sure where that is from your hotel). We ended up with booking a limo through them instead of the shuttle but I wouldn't hesitate to book with them again for either service, private or shared.

I called them as well and they said that they don't do shuttle pickups for our hotel. So no Sheraton Beach hotel. How much is the private service with them?

Thanks everyone; lots of responses here. I called Jiffy Jeff ($20 pp) and MJS ($30pp), and while they both do pick up from my hotel, they don't leave until 12PM or later, which is not what we'd prefer. I would love to get onto the ship as soon as possible. They said it would be about an hour from pick up to the Port of Miami, and then with the time it takes to embark, we probably wouldn't get on until way past lunchtime. My husband doesn't like the thought of that.

Also called my hotel and they don't have any recommendations for me. They contacted Go Airport shuttle for me and they said they don't do pick ups from my hotel.

The taxi-ing to another hotel on their list sounds interesting. The shuttle services are fine with that, right?

Also BlueHerons, how does the trolley work? How often does it come?