what is your favorite organized activity on Celebrity cruises

[alenushka]

I see a few posts about Riedel glasses and how they are better than regular glasses. What makes them special? what difference do they make? does wine taste different?

[alenushka]

alenuska, is Disney worth the extra money? My husband and I will be taking our first Disney Cruise, which is about three times as expensive as what we usually pay for a Celebrity cruise. However, we are doing it to cruise with our daughter's family, who think Disney Cruises are the best.

 

For me - YES!

Disney is a MAGIC and HAPPY land for me; it just makes me happy: seeing little kids believing they are meeting REAL princesses, ever cheerful Mickey, all crew following the theme, attention to detail everywhere....Some people don't like sailing with Disney bs there are SO MANY kids on board; i work with kids, and it does not bother me if a little kid gets a bit cranky at the dining room and cries a little. I also like their smoking policy (similar to X), and all drinks/water you want to bring on board policy. Also, so far, safety and comfort of passengers have been their number one priority; hope it will stay this way (if you remember, they stayed an extra day on their private island due to the storm, taking lots of expenses assisting people on board changing their travel plans and placing people on land in their hotels plus giving them 20% discount; all other cruise companies sailed through the storm and had very rough times). Hope it helps. :)

P.S. last week we booked Disney Fantasy cruise :p

[islandgirlejfan]

I see a few posts about Riedel glasses and how they are better than regular glasses. What makes them special? what difference do they make? does wine taste different?

 

You have to do the tasting to believe it....my hubby and I collect wines and there were many reds that I just didn't like. I thought they were horribly bitter to my palate and many times all I could taste was the barrel they were fermented in. The shape of the bowl and how it angles the wine over you palate is what makes the wine better (for lack of a better word). I highly recommend going to the wine tasting! :)

[alenushka]

You have to do the tasting to believe it....my hubby and I collect wines and there were many reds that I just didn't like. I thought they were horribly bitter to my palate and many times all I could taste was the barrel they were fermented in. The shape of the bowl and how it angles the wine over you palate is what makes the wine better (for lack of a better word). I highly recommend going to the wine tasting! :)

 

Thank you! I put it on "must do" list, especially for DH bs he LOVEs wine :)

[Bridge Maven]

For me - YES!

Disney is a MAGIC and HAPPY land for me; it just makes me happy: seeing little kids believing they are meeting REAL princesses, ever cheerful Mickey, all crew following the theme, attention to detail everywhere....Some people don't like sailing with Disney bs there are SO MANY kids on board; i work with kids, and it does not bother me if a little kid gets a bit cranky at the dining room and cries a little. I also like their smoking policy (similar to X), and all drinks/water you want to bring on board policy. Also, so far, safety and comfort of passengers have been their number one priority; hope it will stay this way (if you remember, they stayed an extra day on their private island due to the storm, taking lots of expenses assisting people on board changing their travel plans and placing people on land in their hotels plus giving them 20% discount; all other cruise companies sailed through the storm and had very rough times). Hope it helps. :)

P.S. last week we booked Disney Fantasy cruise :p

 

Alenuska, thanks for responding to my question. My husband and I are looking forward to our three generation Disney cruise with our daughter, son in law, and three grandchildren :)

[Kellie Poodle]

My DH and I have tasted wines pretty much all over the world. We have found that there is no distinct correlation between price and taste when it comes to wines. One could get a great wine for under $10 a bottle and a pretty awful wine for $50 a bottle and I'm not referring to the insane markup on the cruise ships :).

 

We joke about my favorite wines being aged in stainless steel with a vintage of "Tuesday" but truthfully, my 12 glasses for $9.99 from Target for red and for white do the trick for us.

 

In my thinking, if a wine has quality, that is a good nose, clear miniscus (sp) and palate(tastes good), it doesn't need an expensive glass to enhance it. It would taste just as good from a Dollar Tree glass as it would from Baccarat.

 

In my humble and very subjective opinion the Riedel glass business is just another way to make money. People have been enjoying delicious wines for years without having to buy special glasses, but capitalism is inventive.

 

I have red wine glasses and white wine glasses. They work. I know this because I have never had a guest complain about the wine I've offered in my inexpensive glasses. (Some of my guests are wine afficionados)

 

My very best wine tasting experience was at a small vineyard on a ridge overlooking the Mississippi River in Missouri. We were traveling through the area while living in our RV. The owner ran the tasting bar and asked us to come back the next day and harvest grapes. We did and we had a fabulous time. We got paid in cash as "casual labor" and bought some wine with our earnings. I made DH take me out to dinner that evening as I had labored in the vineyards and was not about to cook.

 

We lived and traveled in and RV for 9 years. Yes. They make wine in Kansas! We could not believe the places we found wineries. Most of them trucked in tankers of grape juice.

 

Having just returned from Buenos Aires, I'm now having a love affair with Malbec.

[bighairtexan]

KELLIE, before taking the Riedel class I'd be 100% in agreement with you. To make it even more amazing to me is, I lost my sense of smell completely (due to use of Zicam) and haven't smelled ANYTHING for several years now. So I REALLY thought the Riedel "hype" was going to be completely lost on me. I merely signed up to "hang out" w/ my friends, since they were all doing it. I know when my adult kids asked for Riedel glasses I thought "I'm NOT paying $50+ for a couple of wine glasses."

 

All I can say now, is if a wine tastes good out of a cheaper glass, it will taste EXTRAORDINARY out of a Riedel.

[islandgirlejfan]

My DH and I have tasted wines pretty much all over the world. We have found that there is no distinct correlation between price and taste when it comes to wines. One could get a great wine for under $10 a bottle and a pretty awful wine for $50 a bottle and I'm not referring to the insane markup on the cruise ships :).

 

We joke about my favorite wines being aged in stainless steel with a vintage of "Tuesday" but truthfully, my 12 glasses for $9.99 from Target for red and for white do the trick for us.

 

In my thinking, if a wine has quality, that is a good nose, clear miniscus (sp) and palate(tastes good), it doesn't need an expensive glass to enhance it. It would taste just as good from a Dollar Tree glass as it would from Baccarat.

 

In my humble and very subjective opinion the Riedel glass business is just another way to make money. People have been enjoying delicious wines for years without having to buy special glasses, but capitalism is inventive.

 

I have red wine glasses and white wine glasses. They work. I know this because I have never had a guest complain about the wine I've offered in my inexpensive glasses. (Some of my guests are wine afficionados)

 

My very best wine tasting experience was at a small vineyard on a ridge overlooking the Mississippi River in Missouri. We were traveling through the area while living in our RV. The owner ran the tasting bar and asked us to come back the next day and harvest grapes. We did and we had a fabulous time. We got paid in cash as "casual labor" and bought some wine with our earnings. I made DH take me out to dinner that evening as I had labored in the vineyards and was not about to cook.

 

We lived and traveled in and RV for 9 years. Yes. They make wine in Kansas! We could not believe the places we found wineries. Most of them trucked in tankers of grape juice.

 

Having just returned from Buenos Aires, I'm now having a love affair with Malbec.

 

Well I had no love affair with Malbec, Syrah and especially Merlot. Having lived in Europe, I have beautiful crystal....definitely MORE beautiful than what I consider the Riedel and more durable for sure. There really IS a difference in the taste....it has to do the control of the flow of fruit over your tongue. Wine can be ANYWHERE....I just bought a beautiful Scuppernogg from a winery on the way to Myrtle Beach. We led a ride through the mountains of North Carolina last year to two out of the way wineries in the middle of nowhere. I too have had $50 wine that sucked....my favorite wine is a Sangria that is made locally (more of a robust, sweeter red....not sangria in the traditional sense) that's about $9. I was the biggest skeptic ever and I can tell you I used to pass the above wines I posted because all I could taste was the oak barrel they were aged in. We went to many wineries in Napa and I was totally turned off by most of the reds. When I went to the tasting on Celebrity, the glasses were unavailable so it wasn't like I was getting a coupon for them...so I was gaining nothing. Believe me, if I didn't think there wasn't something special about them, I would NOT have purchased them. They offer several varieties of them from a line that is sold at Target to a ridiculously expensive set that makes no sense whatsoever to have when you can get the same bowl on the inexpensive sets. This weekend, I purchased a Malbec/Syrah blend and for the first time I tasted something other than the bitterness and oak that I would have otherwise tasted in just my run of the mill glasses we used from wine tastings we have been to. I intend to expand my horizons and give the reds some more palate time....whereas previously I would not have given them a second look in my local liquor store.

 

Curious Kellie, have you done the tasting? If you haven't, maybe you can pay for just the tasting minus the glasses and see how you feel about them yourself. :)

 

I added a picture of some of my present collection...the Riedel *O* is the one far left (I selected the non stemmed because I wanted something different, btw), followed by the second and fourth ones that I brought home from Bavaria and a wedding gift of shell crystal with the rose on it. I personally like the looks of my other glasses better than the any of the Riedel...and my old glasses from the wineries will go in the dishwasher.

[Solstice23]

Dancing with the Stripes, Officers Volley Ball

[Us Two]

:D It wasso funny I and i laughed so loud, We hade never played beforand when were finished my team had 4-5 strikes,......YES.

Now that I now how to do it ,well be threre all the time playing

with the loudest laughs.we played 10 pin. do try it, for a gigle. Never know ,you might win a pen!!!!!!

[alenushka]

:D It wasso funny I and i laughed so loud, We hade never played beforand when were finished my team had 4-5 strikes,......YES.

Now that I now how to do it ,well be threre all the time playing

with the loudest laughs.we played 10 pin. do try it, for a gigle. Never know ,you might win a pen!!!!!!

 

Adding it to my "must try" list! :) Thank you!

 

Must try list:

e-konnect box

 

FOR DH (especially :):

-- cook in the MurNo galley with Chef Dena Marino.

-- The International Wine Tasting

--The Celebrity Chef Challenge

--Riedel Wine tasting.

 

Trivia of any kind

Watercolor painting

backstage tour and/or bridge tour (if offered)

Find a nice spot on the ship to relax

 

Great list! keep it going, please!

[OutofNJ!]

For me - YES!

Disney is a MAGIC and HAPPY land for me; it just makes me happy: seeing little kids believing they are meeting REAL princesses, ever cheerful Mickey, all crew following the theme, attention to detail everywhere....Some people don't like sailing with Disney bs there are SO MANY kids on board; i work with kids, and it does not bother me if a little kid gets a bit cranky at the dining room and cries a little. I also like their smoking policy (similar to X), and all drinks/water you want to bring on board policy. Also, so far, safety and comfort of passengers have been their number one priority; hope it will stay this way (if you remember, they stayed an extra day on their private island due to the storm, taking lots of expenses assisting people on board changing their travel plans and placing people on land in their hotels plus giving them 20% discount; all other cruise companies sailed through the storm and had very rough times). Hope it helps. :)

P.S. last week we booked Disney Fantasy cruise :p

 

I agree! We did the Disney Dream this fall with our adult kids (youngest is 23 yrs) and had a blast! The adult area of the ship is WONDERFUL! Don't go with high hopes for the food quality though if you're used to higher end cruising, but it does the trick! Service is spectacular and the concept of travelling from DR to DR is pretty neat. The theming of the ship; dining rooms, beautiful public areas, etc. is what you'd expect of Disney- top notch. Watch for 2 for one drink specials in the afternoon- they're a steal! The cabin was one of the nicest I've ever sailed in (Deluxe Balcony). Hope your family is slated to go to Castaway Cay- nicest private island ever!! Your family will have a wonderful time!

 

Marybeth.

 

PS (We had a horrible storm as well and sailed away a full day later than planned and still completed our itinerary! Yey Disney!!)

[twosit]

When Celebrity had a bridge program I didn't mind their lack of organized activities because we attended the bridge lesson in the morning and played bridge during the afternoon. However, now that Celebrity no longer has a bridge program, I prefer NCL and Royal Caribbean for cruises with a lot of sea days.

 

I miss the bridge program a lot. I assumed they would have it-but found out they did not. I really appreciated the lesson and then bridge because I was learning at the time. It helped me build confidence and also find a partner who played the same conventions as me. On our Constellation cruise there was unofficial bridge twice a day on sea days. I never went--partly because as a relatively new player, being paired up with strangers is intimidating. I don't play the "old" way--only know the newer basic conventions--it scared me.

[Kellie Poodle]

Okay. I'll go to the Riedel tasting on my Century cruise in April.

 

I have wine glasses from many wineries, not just from the US, but Europe, too. and they are treasured souvenirs.

[Bridge Maven]

I miss the bridge program a lot. I assumed they would have it-but found out they did not. I really appreciated the lesson and then bridge because I was learning at the time. It helped me build confidence and also find a partner who played the same conventions as me. On our Constellation cruise there was unofficial bridge twice a day on sea days. I never went--partly because as a relatively new player, being paired up with strangers is intimidating. I don't play the "old" way--only know the newer basic conventions--it scared me.

 

 

twosit, one of the problems with Celebrity's unofficial bridge is that they assign a time and room for people who want to play bridge informally. However, every time we have tried it, the room was filled with people playing other games, making it too noisy for bridge, and since it was unofficial bridge anyone on the cruise had the right to use that room for other purposes. On a few occasions, though, we would meet another couple who wanted to play bridge, and then try to find another place on the ship that was quiet enough to play.

[Bridge Maven]

I agree! We did the Disney Dream this fall with our adult kids (youngest is 23 yrs) and had a blast! The adult area of the ship is WONDERFUL! Don't go with high hopes for the food quality though if you're used to higher end cruising, but it does the trick! Service is spectacular and the concept of travelling from DR to DR is pretty neat. The theming of the ship; dining rooms, beautiful public areas, etc. is what you'd expect of Disney- top notch. Watch for 2 for one drink specials in the afternoon- they're a steal! The cabin was one of the nicest I've ever sailed in (Deluxe Balcony). Hope your family is slated to go to Castaway Cay- nicest private island ever!! Your family will have a wonderful time!

 

Marybeth.

 

PS (We had a horrible storm as well and sailed away a full day later than planned and still completed our itinerary! Yey Disney!!)

 

Out of NJ, thanks for your response. Our ship is slated to go to Castaway Cay twice during the cruise.

[alenushka]

I agree! We did the Disney Dream this fall with our adult kids (youngest is 23 yrs) and had a blast!

Marybeth.

 

PS (We had a horrible storm as well and sailed away a full day later than planned and still completed our itinerary! Yey Disney!!)

 

I did not read about this one....Yey Disney!!!:)

 

Out of NJ, thanks for your response. Our ship is slated to go to Castaway Cay twice during the cruise.

 

Last spring break we cruised b2b on Disney Dream; they had to do some repairs for their new waterslide...and we lucked out and spent TWO days on Castaway Cay!!! it was fantastic! :rolleyes: Enjoy your cruise!

[OutofNJ!]

Out of NJ, thanks for your response. Our ship is slated to go to Castaway Cay twice during the cruise.

 

 

Lucky, lucky you!!! BTW... some of the best food we enjoyed on that cruise was the BBQ on Castaway. Enjoy!

 

Marybeth.

[Blue Lagoon]

On our transPacific in November from Ensenada to Hawaii, we had Hawaiian ambassadors onboard. There were hula lessons, ukulele lessons and Hawaiian craftmaking. I would love to know if these activities are typically available on Celebrity when doing a trip to or from Hawaii. They were the highlight of my trip - even more so than the food!:D

 

On our transAtlantic in December, the a capella group (Full Tilt) organized a choir (passengers) with practises and a performance (with choreography) for our fellow guests. This was a great way to spend at sea days. A very large group showed up to participate and we had loads of fun. Laughing is a good way to warm up the vocal cords!:rolleyes:

[alenushka]

 

On our transAtlantic in December, the a capella group (Full Tilt) organized a choir (passengers) with practises and a performance (with choreography) for our fellow guests. This was a great way to spend at sea days. A very large group showed up to participate and we had loads of fun. Laughing is a good way to warm up the vocal cords!:rolleyes:

 

Do they only do it on Transatlantic bs of many sea days?

[jdvmd]

On our transPacific in November from Ensenada to Hawaii, we had Hawaiian ambassadors onboard. There were hula lessons, ukulele lessons and Hawaiian craftmaking. I would love to know if these activities are typically available on Celebrity when doing a trip to or from Hawaii. They were the highlight of my trip - even more so than the food!:D

 

On our transAtlantic in December, the a capella group (Full Tilt) organized a choir (passengers) with practises and a performance (with choreography) for our fellow guests. This was a great way to spend at sea days. A very large group showed up to participate and we had loads of fun. Laughing is a good way to warm up the vocal cords!:rolleyes:

 

Do they only do it on Transatlantic bs of many sea days?

 

If you ever sail on Princess, this has been a regular feature on their weekly Caribbean cruises.

[davwen81]

I agree the Musical Trivia is fun and a great way of meeting people. On Eclipse we also had a gals versus guys trivia which was great fun. They also did wonderful informal dance classes on the dance floor on Sky Deck and they were great for girls as well as the few guys who joined us. A good 1/2 hour work out!!! The wine pairing was also very good.

[Bridge Maven]

On one of our cruises, the cruise director hosted a game that I thought was fun. He said three words that most people never heard of and we had to guess which ones were real and which one he made up. There were about ten sets of these words in the game.

[bob brown]

On one of our cruises, the cruise director hosted a game that I thought was fun. He said three words that most people never heard of and we had to guess which ones were real and which one he made up. There were about ten sets of these words in the game.

That game is a regular staple on every NCL cruise I have been on...they call it "Liar's Club" and hold it in the Spinnaker lounge late night. Usually, they have three or four randy sounding words, and the 'panel', usually of four, consisting of the cruise director, a ship's comedian, another member of the cruise staff, and some other entertainer or officer. Each will give their long and humorous definition of the word, and the audience will vote on who they believe is telling the truthful definition. Very humourous...:)

[twosit]

twosit, one of the problems with Celebrity's unofficial bridge is that they assign a time and room for people who want to play bridge informally. However, every time we have tried it, the room was filled with people playing other games, making it too noisy for bridge, and since it was unofficial bridge anyone on the cruise had the right to use that room for other purposes. On a few occasions, though, we would meet another couple who wanted to play bridge, and then try to find another place on the ship that was quiet enough to play.

There were a couple of our table mates who agreed to organize it on our transatlantic. I am pretty sure I heard that they moved the group to a larger area.