We board Infinity in about an hour. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Stockjock]

Here are today’s main dining room selections. Unfortunately, we had such a massive Greek lunch for two in Rhodes that I don’t think we’re going to make it there tonight, but perhaps we will drop by the buffet a little bit later.

[chemmo]

“I really like Rhodes, Greece so far. It’s really beautiful and there’s nice shopping, great food, it’s definitely a place that I didn’t expect that much from, but I’m glad we visited”…

 

Stockjock, so glad you have have enjoyed your first taste of Greece.
 

We love Greece! Over the years we have enjoyed spending full holidays on some of the islands. Enjoying their history, beauty and wonderful hospitality. Crete and Rhodes being two of our favourites. In the evening they really become special…
 

 

[hcat]

as to the menu posted..salads,soups and apps look fine..and flank steak steak Diane seem new for OP cruise..

 

hope  buffet is good!

[Stockjock]

Current view out of our window. I do like the double sized windows, and while we like a balcony, we usually don’t spend too much time out there. If the price is close, I will typically book the balcony, but if it’s a pretty big price spread, which it was in this case, then an ocean view is fine.
 

We booked Ascent for 2024, and I got one of the so-called ultra premium ocean view rooms that is a bigger cabin than this one and has even more glass.  There is a minor obstruction, but I don’t think it will be a big deal.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Stockjock

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

as to the menu posted..salads,soups and apps look fine..

Funny how two people could look at the same menu and have completely different opinions. I see no apps, besides the everyday shrimp cocktail and escargot, just soups and salads.

 

Steak Dianne sounds good though.

[Stockjock]

For anyone wondering, apparently, there has been more rain in parts of Greece, including Athens, then at any point in recorded history during a short window of time.
 

We’re not getting any of that bad weather. It’s all around us, and we did see a little bit of lightning one day at sea, but otherwise it’s been sunny and hot.

So I think we’ve been super lucky weather-wise, and I feel bad that other areas, including Greece, are getting walloped right now. 
 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/torrential-rain-follows-summer-wildfires-greece-one-dead-2023-09-05/

[hcat]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

Funny how two people could look at the same menu and have completely different opinions. I see no apps, besides the everyday shrimp cocktail and escargot, just soups and salads.

 

Steak Dianne sounds good though.

We like soups, salads and shrimp cocktail...

 

Can and often do make a  filling

meal from just those items...

 

hoping for incremental changes and improvements!

[RichYak]

27 minutes ago, hcat said:

We like soups, salads and shrimp cocktail...

 

Can and often do make a  filling

meal from just those items...

Well, at some point, if things continue in the direction they're heading, you may have to 😂

[hcat]

2 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Well, at some point, if things continue in the direction they're heading, you may have to 😂

oh my ..raw carrots and foraged buffet veggies for lunch..

[doghog]

We would have no problem assembling a five course meal from the different menus @Stockjock has posted so far. They appear to be similar to our MDR menus from our March Apex cruise. 

[RichYak]

2 minutes ago, hcat said:

oh my ..raw carrots and foraged buffet veggies for lunch..

Give me some hummus and I'm ok with that!

[Tyler414]

Just read through all of this, I truly hope you are enjoying your vacation even with ALL the missteps from Celebrity.  I kind of wish I didn't read through it, a lot of the issues seem minor, but that makes an expensive vacation not so good IMO.   I have a Celebrity Ultimate Caribbean in March and if I have the same minor problems and school lunch looking food, it will be my last for a while.

Thanks again for the post and ENJOY your vacation!!!

Edited September 6, 2023 by Tyler414
misspelling

[Stockjock]

16 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

Just read through all of this, I truly hope you are enjoying your vacation even with ALL the missteps from Celebrity.  I kind of wish I didn't read through it, a lot of the issues seem minor, but that makes an expensive vacation not so good IMO.   I have a Celebrity Ultimate Caribbean in March and if I have the same minor problems and school lunch looking food, it will be my last for a while.

Thanks again for the post and ENJOY your vacation!!!

As I mentioned, when you add a lot of little things together, it starts getting on your nerves.  But I did have some pretty extensive preflight issues related to Flights by Celebrity that I wrote about in a separate thread.
 

I guess the good news is that they did give me a decent chunk of onboard credit to help make up for the problems, but the bad news is that it took something like 42 messages, countless phone calls, and innumerable hours on hold to resolve things. In fact, it still wasn’t resolved less than a week before our vacation, as they had duplicate flights scheduled that were going to create a conflict and would have resulted in the cancellation of our flights. 

But relating to the dining changes, they did make the GF cry on the 3rd night of our cruise, as mentioned.  She rarely cries and it was certainly not how I wanted to start off our vacation.  Fortunately, things improved on day 4.

 

The trip has been more positive than negative, but there have been some areas for potential improvement.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Stockjock

[vjmatty]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post about your experience on the Infinity. I’m sure you have lots of busy port days and plenty to do, so this is very kind on your part. 

 

I must say all of this is a little concerning…. we’re sailing Infinity to the Holy Land and Egypt from Athens in February 2024. I suppose having three overnight ports (Ashdod, Alexandria and Athens) as well as very late sailaways every night (10pm) where we could have dinner in port might help alleviate the MDR issues, but I feel like we shouldn’t have to do that.  I guess the buffet is always an easy option, as is pizza on the lido, especially considering the lateness of some of the tours. 
 

Like you, I too am Greek and fussy about food, in fact both of my parents were born in Greece (Chios and Sparta).  Right now I have us booked for anytime dining at 6:30 every night so we’ll see if that actually happens, with or without the 40 minute wait. 

Again, thank you for this live report 🙂

[Stockjock]

1 minute ago, vjmatty said:

Thank you so much for taking the time to post about your experience on the Infinity. I’m sure you have lots of busy port days and plenty to do, so this is very kind on your part. 

 

I must say all of this is a little concerning…. we’re sailing Infinity to the Holy Land and Egypt from Athens in February 2024. I suppose having three overnight ports (Ashdod, Alexandria and Athens) as well as very late sailaways every night (10pm) where we could have dinner in port might help alleviate the MDR issues, but I feel like we shouldn’t have to do that.  I guess the buffet is always an easy option, as is pizza on the lido, especially considering the lateness of some of the tours. 
 

Like you, I too am Greek and fussy about food, in fact both of my parents were born in Greece (Chios and Sparta).  Right now I have us booked for anytime dining at 6:30 every night so we’ll see if that actually happens, with or without the 40 minute wait. 

Again, thank you for this live report 🙂

You are more than welcome.  Mom’s family is from Mani.  Her dad also from outside of Sparta and her mom from close to Corinth/Korinthias.

 

based on what I’ve seen, I don’t think I would recommend any time dining, but could work out OK for you on your sailing.

[vjmatty]

1 minute ago, Stockjock said:

You are more than welcome.  Mom’s family is from Mani.  Her dad also from outside of Sparta and her mom from close to Corinth/Korinthias.

 

based on what I’ve seen, I don’t think I would recommend any time dining, but could work out OK for you on your sailing.

My mother is from Klatha which is one of the outer villages outside Sparta. 
 

Yeah I’m not thrilled with anytime dining but I don’t think hubby can manage the 8:30 traditional set dining time. There’s no earlier time available. He’s a ξένος (as in not Greek) and will probably faint if he doesn’t eat by 7 lol. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 hours ago, RichYak said:

Give me some hummus and I'm ok with that!

The first time I read this I thought it said, give me some humans and I'm ok with that...  and I thought poor RichYack has finally gone off his rocker 🤣!

[hcat]

3 hours ago, RichYak said:

Give me some hummus and I'm ok with that!

yup..thats a great lunch!  

dinner may be diff?

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

The first time I read this I thought it said, give me some humans and I'm ok with that...  and I thought poor RichYack has finally gone off his rocker 🤣!

too funny

[81Zoomie]

Thanks so much for your candid review.  We are not big potatoes eaters, and certainly not mashed potatoes every night.  Could you request rice instead, especially if you have a dietary restriction?  It looks like you had an amazing meal on shore!

[Jim_Iain]

On 9/4/2023 at 11:43 AM, Stockjock said:

It’s actually leg of lamb.

LOL--- I was just going to ask.   Thought that was the weirdest leg of lamb I've seen.  Looks good.

[RichYak]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

The first time I read this I thought it said, give me some humans and I'm ok with that...  and I thought poor RichYack has finally gone off his rocker 🤣!

Oh my! Well if it makes you feel any better, just because I wrote hummus and not humans doesn't mean I'm NOT off my rocker 😝

[Jim_Iain]

8 hours ago, RichYak said:

Funny how two people could look at the same menu and have completely different opinions. I see no apps, besides the everyday shrimp cocktail and escargot, just soups and salads.

 

Steak Dianne sounds good though.

 

I seem to agree.     It looks like they combined the every day menu with the regular.   In doing so they probably eliminated 3 or 4 items beyond soups and salads as appetizers.   On a longer cruise that could get old fast. 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[RichYak]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I seem to agree.     It looks like they combined the every day menu with the regular.   In doing so they probably eliminated 3 or 4 items beyond soups and salads as appetizers.   On a longer cruise that could get old fast. 

 

 

A couple days ago, I watched an episode of Mighty Cruise Ships or something like that. I'm sure we've all heard of it. The episode I watched featured Celebrity Solstice. I don't know how old it was, but the kitchen/dining room scenes showed plates of food that reminded me of what Celebrity used to serve. The difference is stunning.

[bjahil47]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

A couple days ago, I watched an episode of Mighty Cruise Ships or something like that. I'm sure we've all heard of it. The episode I watched featured Celebrity Solstice. I don't know how old it was, but the kitchen/dining room scenes showed plates of food that reminded me of what Celebrity used to serve. The difference is stunning.

We watched it, too!  The dinners and desserts looked amazing.  The chef was so proud of the food that was made.  Not sure about now, but I will find out in two weeks!