Frivolous question of the day:

I do remember stepping on board a HAL ship, hearing "Welcome on Board" from several officers in a receiving line, a woman in traditional Dutch garb holding tulips, and a white gloved steward taking our carry ons and escorting us to our stateroom. And yes, there was a glass of Champagne offered. That was in the early 80's when I first started cruising HAL.

I do remember stepping on board a HAL ship, hearing "Welcome on Board" from several officers in a receiving line, a woman in traditional Dutch garb holding tulips, and a white gloved steward taking our carry ons and escorting us to our stateroom. And yes, there was a glass of Champagne offered. That was in the early 80's when I first started cruising HAL.

Yes, my memory as well, but without the offered glass of bubbly. And, my HAL experience extends to 1970.

Only on Princess as far as I know

 

 

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Is that something new? I don't recall ever getting champagne on princess.

No, but you may get a squirt of complimentary hand sanitizer!

It doesn't taste as good.

Sandra

Only on Princess as far as I know

 

Not when I boarded on my first Princess cruise, a couple weeks ago.

Also,in addition to your hands potentially being full:not everyone drinks(I do but travel light so would be happy to get a free glass of champagne!

Yes, Celebrity hands you a glass of Champagne when you board the ship.

Champagne or some barely drinkable lousy bubbly champagne substitute. The free "champagne" is worth much less than you pay for it.

DON

I may be wrong but I seem to recall it being there for the taking when you board the world cruise.

Not when I boarded on my first Princess cruise, a couple weeks ago.

Must have stopped this as we received two glasses in our cabin when we were on the Royal in February [emoji17]

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I do remember stepping on board a HAL ship, hearing "Welcome on Board" from several officers in a receiving line, a woman in traditional Dutch garb holding tulips, and a white gloved steward taking our carry ons and escorting us to our stateroom. And yes, there was a glass of Champagne offered. That was in the early 80's when I first started cruising HAL.

That does bring back memories, I also seem to remember that.

Allan

Yes, my memory as well, but without the offered glass of bubbly. And, my HAL experience extends to 1970.

Has been a long time but as I recall the bubbly was available on a table.

Cunard had a half bottle in your cabin, a nice touch.

Cunard had a half bottle in your cabin, a nice touch.

So the champagne wasn't just for the 'Remastering' event, there is always a 'small' bottle in your room; I wondered. I don't drink, I gave it away to the couple next door to me.

Champagne or some barely drinkable lousy bubbly champagne substitute. The free "champagne" is worth much less than you pay for it.

 

DON

And with the on-going cost cutting, does anyone really expect anything properly referred to as "champagne"? Come on: we are talking carbonated wine here?

No. But who really cares.

Celebrity does this. We just walk past. A glass of watered down orange juice or 'two buck chuck' champagne does not do it for us.

Celebrity is one of our favourite cruise lines but their practice of doing this does not even hit the radar for us. If anything, it creates a bit of a crowd in the entryway and in from the the elevators and stairs that we need to get through in order to get to our cabin. It is reminiscent of the crowds that gather at Costco to get a free tidbit of a food sample.

We know that some people think this is wonderful. We just don't see it. For us it is akin to medallions on HAL. Entirely meaningless to us.

Cunard had a half bottle in your cabin, a nice touch.

So the champagne wasn't just for the 'Remastering' event, there is always a 'small' bottle in your room; I wondered. I don't drink, I gave it away to the couple next door to me.

It's French, it's fizzy but Cunard's Pol Acker isn't champagne per se.

For some reason we've gotten a full bottle rather than a half since our second Cunard cruise. We save it for mimosas later on.

wHAT IS a re-mastering" to celebrate? You mean th e Captain finished

his contract and his replacement joined the ship to replace him while he wnent home for his vacATION? tHAT IS A CELEbration? Maybe he retired?

wHAT IS a re-mastering" to celebrate? You mean th e Captain finished

 

 

his contract and his replacement joined the ship to replace him while he wnent home for his vacATION? tHAT IS A CELEbration? Maybe he retired?

The QM2 underwent a huge renovation in June of 2016, a lot of re-configuring of spaces. All 3 Queens were in Southampton for the event which also including a VIP event, a military band send-off and fireworks. It was called a 'Remastering', all to do with the ship nothing to do with the captain. They even gave us a couple of plastic British flags to wave at her departure. I didn't know if the champagne was part of the event or an every cruise benefit [which I now know it is, according to the other poster]..

QM2 remastering included a bottom up reconfiguration of the buffet (Kings Court) that even affected the atrium lobby (removal of glass elevators from there up to the buffet), remodeling of the underused Winter Garden Lounge into the much improved Carinthia Lounge, doubling the size of the kennels and the addition of a short 13th deck of staterooms forward of the enclosed pool.

Additionally, they removed and replaced acres of teak decking (and sold some of it in the form of $75 drink coaster sets). Plus new carpets, stateroom furniture, etc.

QM2 remastering included a bottom up reconfiguration of the buffet (Kings Court) that even affected the atrium lobby (removal of glass elevators from there up to the buffet), remodeling of the underused Winter Garden Lounge into the much improved Carinthia Lounge, doubling the size of the kennels and the addition of a short 13th deck of staterooms forward of the enclosed pool.

 

Additionally, they removed and replaced acres of teak decking (and sold some of it in the form of $75 drink coaster sets). Plus new carpets, stateroom furniture, etc.

If someone had told me what all the changes were [i only knew about the eating places] it wouldn't have meant anything; as that was my first time on the ship.

So,t i was about a major dry dock. :)

So,t i was about a major dry dock. :)

Right. Absolutely correct.