Starting to think booking on Equinox was a mistake

[Travrat]

2 minutes ago, tamara01 said:

We cruised a 9 night last year over Christmas.  We did a 5 night specialty dining package.  The only night that was more was Christmas Eve/ Day.  They must have changed things.  We didn't mind since we had plenty of dining options.  I understand everyone would want to do a specialty restaurant on a holiday so I guess they have to raise the prices.  I loved being on the ship on the holidays, so much fun, music/food, etc.  made it all special.  I loved the Christmas singing on Christmas Eve. 

They are not offering a dining package on our cruise. They did originally offer 2 dinners and a lunch but it is gone. I have never sailed a holiday cruise and had the price of a restaurant increase all week for the same menu they serve all year. If they have a special menu and want to charge more then so be it but this is only the case on Christmas Eve. I go on a Christmas cruise every year. Yes, it is fun and ships are beautifully decorated, etc, etc. Actually, other lines have special Christmas Day brunch, Christmas Day dinner in MDR. Hope Celebrity will do that too.

[chemmo]

12 minutes ago, Travrat said:

They are not offering a dining package on our cruise. They did originally offer 2 dinners and a lunch but it is gone. I have never sailed a holiday cruise and had the price of a restaurant increase all week for the same menu they serve all year. If they have a special menu and want to charge more then so be it but this is only the case on Christmas Eve. I go on a Christmas cruise every year. Yes, it is fun and ships are beautifully decorated, etc, etc. Actually, other lines have special Christmas Day brunch, Christmas Day dinner in MDR. Hope Celebrity will do that too.

 

‘Let it go...’ board and enjoy.

[Travrat]

7 minutes ago, chemmo said:

 

‘Let it go...’ board and enjoy.

 

7 minutes ago, chemmo said:

 

‘Let it go...’ board and enjoy.

I will enjoy! Just trying to make people aware for the future.

[chemmo]

11 minutes ago, Travrat said:

 

I will enjoy! Just trying to make people aware for the future.

 

Thanks for doing that...but think of yourself and family now...

 

Start planning all the good things you are going to do.

[villauk]

2 hours ago, Travrat said:

They are not offering a dining package on our cruise. They did originally offer 2 dinners and a lunch but it is gone. I have never sailed a holiday cruise and had the price of a restaurant increase all week for the same menu they serve all year. If they have a special menu and want to charge more then so be it but this is only the case on Christmas Eve. I go on a Christmas cruise every year. Yes, it is fun and ships are beautifully decorated, etc, etc. Actually, other lines have special Christmas Day brunch, Christmas Day dinner in MDR. Hope Celebrity will do that too.

 

 

In our experience, X tend to make more of New Year’s Eve than they do Christmas Day. They do have a visit from Santa though.

[Icon901]

17 hours ago, chemmo said:

 

‘Let it go...’ board and enjoy.

 

Eeeexactlyyyyy 😄 

Well said chemmo

[volk904]

On 10/20/2019 at 11:25 AM, Travrat said:

I am currently booked on the Dec 21 sailing on the Equinox. This will be my 4th Celebrity cruise but I have not sailed with them in at least 4 years. We cruise often but recently have sailed on HAL, Oceania and Crystal. Reading all the reviews and changes that are taking place makes me think that Celebrity is underhanded and nickel and diming it's guests. We decided not to do Aqua Class this trip as we prefer to get a cabin with a larger balcony and dine in the specialty restaurants for the same price as Aqua class. The Celebrity website gives very little info on Specialty restaurants on Equinox including not mentioning the cost of them. I tried to find prices on the web and it seemed that there was a $35-$50 up charge for Tuscan Grill and Murano. In fact until I was booked I could not see the price and nearly flipped out to see that it would be 

$119/pp to dine on Christmas Eve and 

$70/pp to dine on any other night during this cruise. I am sorry but there is no way that Murano or Tuscan Grill is worth that up charge! That's $1080 extra for the week. For that price I could have stayed in a suite or sailed on Oceania where the food is far superior to anything I have ever had on a Celebrity ship! Then there is the Classic Beverage Package "perk" which only allows you to have $9 drinks of which there are very few choices. Now I am reading that you can't have a martini at the Martini Bar if you have that package even though my vodka of choice is Tito's which is included in that package. This is pure absurdity and total discrimination! I read about upcharging $1 for Bailey's in a drink- talk about nickel and diming!!! Then they advertise about the "Revolutionizing" of the Equinox and I read that this was in fact not completed. This is all very upsetting to learn about and quite frankly falls into the category of non- disclosure and false advertising. Also, I was very disappointed to see they turned Qsine into a restaurant that may appeal to an 8 year old child but hardly to someone who is looking for an upscale dining venue that Celebrity used to be known for. I am trying to be positive about my upcoming cruise but all of these things have certainly dampened my enthusiasm

At the Martini Bar if you have the Classic drink package you can just pay the difference.  It was about $3.50 back in Feb.  

Also saying there is few drink choices is the classic deal is not accurate.  You can get just about anything just not super fancy drinks or some brands.  You can get a regular martini at any bar except the high end Martini bar.  

[Travrat]

53 minutes ago, volk904 said:

At the Martini Bar if you have the Classic drink package you can just pay the difference.  It was about $3.50 back in Feb.  

Also saying there is few drink choices is the classic deal is not accurate.  You can get just about anything just not super fancy drinks or some brands.  You can get a regular martini at any bar except the high end Martini bar.  

Thanks for letting me know. I only drink one martini a day. I am more upset about the huge raise in the specialty dining surcharge on this cruise and the nickel and diming in general than the martini issue.

[british lady]

Today I got email from Celebrity about Dinning Trio Package for the Equinox Christmas Cruise at 9.25am tried to book no luck

so I rang at 9.30am SOLD OUT!!!!!!!

 

[Travrat]

34 minutes ago, british lady said:

Today I got email from Celebrity about Dinning Trio Package for the Equinox Christmas Cruise at 9.25am tried to book no luck

so I rang at 9.30am SOLD OUT!!!!!!!

 

 

34 minutes ago, british lady said:

Today I got email from Celebrity about Dinning Trio Package for the Equinox Christmas Cruise at 9.25am tried to book no luck

so I rang at 9.30am SOLD OUT!!!!!!!

 

Yes, it was sold out before they even sent the email. It is a generic email that lumps all packages together. The best was when I asked the chat person a question today about booking dining they said if I didn't make the reservation directly with Celebrity they can't help and you have to call. So what is the "chat" person good for?

[Travrat]

Just now, Travrat said:

 

Yes, it was sold out before they even sent the email. It is a generic email that lumps all packages together. The best was when I asked the chat person a question today about booking dining they said if I didn't make the reservation directly with Celebrity they can't help and you have to call. So what is the "chat" person good for?

I also called to talk to someone about dining and asked for a supervisor. They took my name and # and said someone would call me in the next 48 hours. They called the following day but it was not a good time for me as I was at work. They gave me their name and #. I called back yesterday when I could talk and left a message. Still waiting for them to call back

[british lady]

55 minutes ago, Travrat said:

I also called to talk to someone about dining and asked for a supervisor. They took my name and # and said someone would call me in the next 48 hours. They called the following day but it was not a good time for me as I was at work. They gave me their name and #. I called back yesterday when I could talk and left a message. Still waiting for them to call back

Murano and Tuscan still able to book on the cruise planner At $70pp.

We all love love Murano, hope it all works out for you.

Sara

[clskinsfan]

On 10/21/2019 at 9:12 PM, 6fan said:

I have cruised on Carnival to the point I am platinum. leaving Friday on Equinox. Never had speciality dining ever and prob wont this time.I can honestly say I have never had a bad meal in MDR and I I were to I would tell the waiter to bring something else. I have always felt the worst day on a cruise is still a great  day.

This. I had my first Celeb cruise on Eclipse last May in Alaska. I pre purchased a 4 night dining package and while Murano was outstanding. It wasnt worth the extra money over the MDR in our opinion. I have an 11 nighter booked on Equinox for October and we wont eat at any specialty restaurant the entire cruise. We may do lunch in Sushi on 5 one or two days because we both loved it on Eclipse. But the MDR dinners are outstanding.

 

And as far as value goes. Celebrity is damn good IMO. We are drinkers and with the Classic package we always found something on our plan to enjoy. The rare occasion that something was not covered on the plan the bartenders were excellent at pointing it out and giving us another option that was covered. Or of course we could pay the difference. Celebrity overall is a FAR superior product in our opinion to the other lines we have sailed including HAL, Royal, Carnival and NCL. In fact we have found our new line.

[drakes2]

On 10/24/2019 at 7:28 PM, Travrat said:

 

Yes, it was sold out before they even sent the email. It is a generic email that lumps all packages together. The best was when I asked the chat person a question today about booking dining they said if I didn't make the reservation directly with Celebrity they can't help and you have to call. So what is the "chat" person good for?

They're good for nothing so are most of their reps. Trying to get the correct information out of them is like pulling teeth.