Can I tempt your tastebuds?

As you know I have just been on board Celebrity Inifinity, we joined the cruise half way through and did 6 nights. We flew out to Bilbao on 6th October from Heathrow on Vueling Airlines, I don’t like flying but it wasn’t a bad

flight.

Heston Blumenthal was on our flight, shame he wasn’t going on our cruise but he was off to Santiago to do some food programme with a friend of his, I did get his autograph and a photo with him at the top of the aircraft stairs – he even carried my bag from the flight for me, what a lovely man he is and it was great to meet him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cruise left Harwich on 30th September and was called ‘Immersive Wine Cruise’ specially for those wine buffs – overnight stops in Le Harve (for Paris/Normandy), Bordeaux & Bilbao – great regions for wine. On these cruises they offer excursions that take you wine tasting. The ship even carries over 350 selections of wine. Wine talks also held onboard by local wine experts.

We transferred to the ship which took approx 20 minutes, it was quite late as we didn’t land till 8.30pm.  We boarded the ship and headed straight to the buffet restaurant known as ‘Oceanview Cafe’ for a bite to eat. We then went to one of the bars for a drink and watched people ballroom dancing – it was lovely, I used to do a bit of ballroom and was raring to give it a go but had no-one to dance with so just had to watch. Then to bed for an early night ready for training at 10am the following morning.

Monday 7th October was my birthday so Leon the trainer started the day by getting the whole group to sing to me – it was great! What a great way to celebrate your birthday on board – I even got a cake at dinner – yum yum!

I had a great birthday on board & felt like I had got a new family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did quite a lot on the destinations as Celebrity are known for their great itineraries.  Celebrity are offereing 7 night cruises next summer to different itineries so you can add them together to make a longer cruise e.g 14, 21 & 28 nights.

The itineraries are:-

Venice to Istanbul visiting:- Dubrovnik, Corfu, Katakolon, Santorini, Kusadasi & overnight in Instanbul – departure dates – 14 June & 12 July 2014 for 7 nights.
Istanbul to Rome visiting:- Mykonos, Athens, Malta, Catania, Capri & Rome – departure dates 20 June & 18 July for 8 nights.
Rome to Barcelona visiting:- Florence/Pisa, Nice, Ajaccio, Porto Torres, Palma & Barcelona – departure dates 28 June & 26 July for 7 nights.
Barcelona to Venice visiting:- Cannes, Genoa, Rome, Kotor, Zadar & Venice – departure dates 5 July for 7 nights.

So a great way to package together for a longer holiday with no repeat stops.
These cruises are on board the Celebrity Equinox – this is a great ship and I have been on it!

The overnight stays available on Celebrity are a great way to see more of the destination as you can eat on board, you have your bed for the night but can experience the day & the evening on shore without the added expense of a hotel – there are a few overnight ports available on the Mediterranean itineraries including:- Venice & Istanbul.

I did love the Infinity which is a Millenium Class ship but I do prefer the Solstice class as larger, more modern and designed by women so have those little touches that would be overlooked. No offence gents but had to be said!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had an inside cabin on deck 3 mid ship – number 3075 which is was great – I usually have a balcony cabin for my own holiday but it is good to stay in various cabins to experience the difference. The beds were comfortable enough but I’m fussy about pillows, the cabin steward Domingo was fantastic and sorted me out with the correct pillow eventually. There was plenty of storage space and suitcases fit under the bed which is always a bonus. Plenty of wardrobe space & drawers for 2 people, maybe a bit of a squeeze if there was a family of 3/4 in there as this particular cabin could sleep 4 as it had 2 Pullman beds which come down from the ceiling not the wall which was another feature I liked. The beds can be put together also to make a double.  Overall I was very happy with the cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During our training we did a lot on the dining available on Celebrity ships – we were split into 4 groups and had to go around the ship and find out as much as we could about the different dining options – this was a great exercise as we then had to do a presentation to the rest of the group all about the area of dining we covered. This will make it so much easier when customers ask us about the dining available on board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate dinner in the main restaurant which was called ‘Trellis’ – the food was amazing and the service the best I have had so far! The waiters & sommeliers were very attentative and couldn’t do enough for us, our waiter was called ‘Marlon’ (made me think of Emmerdale) he was lovely and always got our order correct. I don’t like meat that is pink or has blood in it, he soon got used to this and knew to order mine well done – it was always just how I liked it. The food was so good in ‘Trellis’ – you can have as much or as little as you wish so if you want 2 starters you can – I know my colleague did as couldn’t decide which one to have. I don’t eat sweets as haven’t got a sweet tooth really but I had to order one every night so the rest of my Cruise.co.uk buddies could try a different one.

Here are some of the dining options available:-

We ate in Qsine one night which is a specialty restaurant but I will do a whole blog on that night so watch out for that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Trellis is the main restaurant on board Infinity – this is included in your cruise fare.  There are 2 tiers, the bottom tier is for set dining so if you have chosen 1st or 2nd seating then you will be allocated a table on the main floor. The top tier is for select dining, this is where you have pre-paid your gratuities and choose to dine at the time that suits you. For select dining you can either reserve a time on board for that evening or just turn up at the time you wish to eat, if there is no table suitable available the waiters take your name & cabin number & ask you to take a seat by the Martini bar and maybe have a drink while you wait then when your table is ready they will come & advise you and take you to your table.  This works very well as we chatted to various guests who had this option and eveyone said how well it works.

There are a number of speciality restaurants onboard Infinity:-

Qsine – a querky little restaurant with a difference but more on that in my next post.
Bistro on Five – this has a small cover charge of $5 per person and serves light snacks, great if you don’t fancy the buffett.

 

SS United States – this has a cover charge of $49 but is equivalent to a michelin star restaurant – they cook the food at the side of your table depending what is is and also have an open view to the kitchen so you can see what is being cooked. This restaurant can hold upto 100 guests so advisable to pre-book if you wish to eat here.  There is also a seperate area that sits upto 8 so if you have a special occassion and wish for a bit of privacy you can book this room. Some of the decor in this restaurant is actually from the SS United States ship itself. One of the most popular dishes is ‘ A cognac-flambéed lobster tail with fresh basil, applewood smoked bacon and Dijon cream, is finished right in front of you at your table.’

 

 

 

Blu restaurant – this restaurant is purely for Aqua Class guests and is included in the cruise fare – this is the main dining for Aqua class guests and they can eat breakfast, lunch & dinner here. The food is cooked with a more heathly living view but is still very tasty but good for you for those keen gym goers & healthy living people out there.  I love this restaurant as it is intimite, light & airy and love the decor. Aqua Class guests can dine in the speciality restaurants and receive seating preferences. Also subject to availability can eat in the main restaurant by checking with the Matre d if there is a table available.

This is one of my favourite restaurants. I would always go Aqua Class on Celebrity so I can eat in here…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Included in your cruise fare is also the Oceanview Cafe – this is the buffet restaurant located on deck 10 at the aft of the ship. Here you can choose from a variety of dishes to suit every pallet.  I must admit I wasn’t keen on the buffet as didn’t always have anything I fancied but do a great pizza for an afternoon snack. I don’t like onions and lots of the dishes are pre-prepared and contain onions so it was pizza & salad most days for me. This was the only downfall of the whole ship for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is also an outdoor dining area which is a lovely area to eat your lunch or just have a drink. It is called the Sunset Bar & can be reached through Oceanview Cafe – we loved it here and ate here most days – weather permitting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were lucky enough to have a ‘Galley Tour’ so we saw behind the scenes and where all the delicious food is prepared, chefs work on shift basis so they are cooking 24/7 to ensure the food is fresh and plentiful. Each restaurant has a team of chefs who just prepare the food for that particular restaurant – it was all very interesting. Some chefs just do pastry, some just do bread etc.  The kitchens are huge and extremely clean and tidy considering they cook for thousands of guests every day. The process for washing the dishes was amazing and ensures the plates are cleaned thoroughly and steam dried. This is a large machine as too mnay to do by hand I’m sure!

One of the Head Chefs gave us the guided tour – he has a black neck tie on, each chef wears a different colour which states what level he is at.

 

 

 

 

For those coffee lovers amongst you – there is a specialist coffee bar on board called Cafe al Bacio which serves fantastic speciality coffees from just a plain latte to something a little special like an Irish coffee or a brandy coffee – I didn’t realise so many different coffees were available, it even has it’s own menu – these coffees range from $4 upto $9 depending what you have in it! Also next to Cafe al Bacio you have Galetaria for those of you who love a bit of cake – lots of different cakes available to go with your coffee & well worth a visit.

Sample menus for these restaurants are available on our website www.cruise.co.uk – click on Celebrity Cruises from the left hand menu then select Menus.

So I hope I have tempted your tastebuds with all this talk of food – I know I’m hungry myself now.

There are plenty of bars & entertainment venues on board to keep you occupied in the evenings but I will tell you about these in a future blog – especially ‘The Martini Bar’ – this was the best bar on board. There is also the ‘Aqua Spa’ – I will also tell you all about this.

So if you fancy going on Celebrity to wine & dine in ‘Modern Luxury’ then give me a call on 0800 408 6108 or email me at [email protected] & I will be happy to assist you and give you personal advise on the dining available.

Until next time……….