Equinox Menu - Main Dining Upcharges Showing on App

[CHEZMARYLOU]

10 minutes ago, Octavias said:

This is the issue we have with this.  They seem to be eroding the quality, but not matching the price point of other cruise lines.  Tbh, we feel a little ripped off.  When I booked, I paid more for our Celebrity cruise, in a large part, for the better food.  This feels like a continuation of them taking that away.  I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before the cuts and nickel and dimming find their way to the retreat as well. 

This is our fear as well, that it is indicative of cuts across all areas of the cruise. We have 3 cruises booked, one on Equinox in September that is well past final payment date and 2 on Beyond next year. Our decision on the Beyond sailings will be influenced by the service and experience on Equinox.

We sail in the retreat but do enjoy an occasional appetizer or entre from the MDR when available, especially the escargot and shrimp.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Interesting article on CC:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/carnival-dishes-new-main-dining-room-menu-enhancements?

 

[Alsmez]

1 minute ago, C4HCG said:

And is there any line that’s cheaper and comparable?

 

That's what we're trying to figure out as well. Or rather, whether we're willing to pay a bit more for a (hopefully) much better experience. Our most recent X sailing (Eclipse to AK in May) was $290 pppd with a dining package and AI; we're paying $295 pppd for an upcoming Virgin cruise to the Caribbean without drinks (so will probably be $350 pppd after paying our bar tab). I'm hoping that Virgin will be an upgrade in terms of food and entertainment (plus the kid-free guarantee, which has value), but we'll see.

[Mark_T]

2 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

And is there any line that’s cheaper and comparable?

Comparable to the old product, no, I don't think so, but every time they make cuts to the non-suite experience they edge closer to other cheaper lines.

 

They are walking a thin line now where they are banking on the entertainment and general ship experience to carry enough weight that a greatly reduced MDR experience will not put people off...

[cw2go]

8 minutes ago, Octavias said:

This is the issue we have with this.  They seem to be eroding the quality, but not matching the price point of other cruise lines.  Tbh, we feel a little ripped off.  When I booked, I paid more for our Celebrity cruise, in a large part, for the better food.  This feels like a continuation of them taking that away.  I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before the cuts and nickel and dimming find their way to the retreat as well. 

This is how many felt including myself at the beginning of the year. I booked with a full buffet offering which was not available on my sailing and with a no fee room service menu. I understand the economics behind some of his but to what end? Cruisers book and pay deposits based on a product that no longer exists once they set sail. 

 

I'm at a loss.... Enjoy many aspects of the new Celebrity, am becoming agitated by so many changes but I love being on the water! I have to decide if these changes will bother me once on board or only now from home. 

 

Patty 

[Mark_T]

1 minute ago, cw2go said:

I'm at a loss.... Enjoy many aspects of the new Celebrity, am becoming agitated by so many changes but I love being on the water! I have to decide if these changes will bother me once on board or only now from home. 

 

From a non-suite perspective , where I'm feeling a little pressured is that I can see the E class experience carrying sentiment even with these cuts and the range of speciality dining would still make it enjoyable, but only if you can get past the 'infinite veranda' issue, which we cannot. 

 

S class could still work with Murano, and the World Class bar adding some necessary 'style' to the experience, but M class is going to be a very poor experience outside of the Retreat, and our next Celebrity reservation is on Millennium...

[prmssk]

10 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

Comparable to the old product, no, I don't think so, but every time they make cuts to the non-suite experience they edge closer to other cheaper lines.

Except at the same time, those lines are making their own cuts.  As someone who has sailed on some of those other lines in recent months, I don't think the gap is closing as much as people on this thread think it is.

[kruzerci]

12 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Interesting article on CC:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/carnival-dishes-new-main-dining-room-menu-enhancements?

 

I don’t know how I feel about this. History has shown that these cruise lines always pitch their changes as improvements even though they rarely if ever are. 
 

Larger portion sizes… but of what? Pasta? Bread? Time will tell. 

[cw2go]

Just now, Mark_T said:

From a non-suite perspective , where I'm feeling a little pressured is that I can see the E class experience carrying sentiment even with these cuts and the range of speciality dining would still make it enjoyable, but only if you can get past the 'infinite veranda' issue, which we cannot. 

 

S class could still work with Murano, and the World Class bar adding some necessary 'style' to the experience, but M class is going to be a very poor experience outside of the Retreat, and our next Celebrity reservation is on Millennium...

100% agree, I actually like the IV so that wasn't ever an issue 

I sail Beyond again this Aug so you can see why I say I enjoy the "New Celebrity" we are kinda like their new market ~ Book specialties and don't mind the lack of true balcony BUT I do like good food and do prefer a nice MDR meal at times and at least the option of a decent room service menu. 

 

Patty

[cw2go]

5 minutes ago, prmssk said:

Except at the same time, those lines are making their own cuts.  As someone who has sailed on some of those other lines in recent months, I don't think the gap is closing as much as people on this thread think it is.

 

I've been paying attention to your posts, I appreciate your first hand knowledge/input. 

I'm beginning to see your point of view, have done some reading on the other boards and they're being clobbered as well for the "cut backs" 

 

Patty 

Edited June 21, 2023 by cw2go

[Mark_T]

3 minutes ago, prmssk said:

Except at the same time, those lines are making their own cuts.  As someone who has sailed on some of those other lines in recent months, I don't think the gap is closing as much as people on this thread think it is.

That's a very fair point, and one reason why we experimented recently with a short MSC cruise as they are not carrying the debt load that has to be at the root of a lot of these recent changes.

[Alsmez]

1 minute ago, Mark_T said:

and one reason why we experimented recently with a short MSC cruise as they are not carrying the debt load that has to be at the root of a lot of these recent changes.

 

We're planning to do the same. In fact, we had a YC inside booked for 2021 but of course that was canceled. Even more curious to see how the experience stacks up now.

[Accessor]

14 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

 

 I'm hoping that Virgin will be an upgrade in terms of food and entertainment (plus the kid-free guarantee, which has value), but we'll see.

we sailed the Edge March 2023 and Virgin Valiant Jan & June 2023...Virgin's food is on a different planet. It's like comparing a school cafeteria (X) to a high quality land based restaurant (Virgin). You will never return to X after sailing on Virgin if you are a foodie...

[prmssk]

12 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

That's a very fair point, and one reason why we experimented recently with a short MSC cruise as they are not carrying the debt load that has to be at the root of a lot of these recent changes.

 

We have two MSC cruises on the books and I am really looking forward to trying them to see how they compare.

[basil1]

46 minutes ago, cw2go said:

I booked with a full buffet offering which was not available on my sailing and with a no fee room service menu. I understand the economics behind some of his but to what end? Cruisers book and pay deposits based on a product that no longer exists once they set sail. 

This exactly. It happened to us on the Constellation in February.

[Silkroad]

45 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

That's a very fair point, and one reason why we experimented recently with a short MSC cruise as they are not carrying the debt load that has to be at the root of a lot of these recent changes.

I hope you’ll post a review comparing the two lines. I’ve read posts by Celebrity cruisers saying Yacht Club is fabulous, but I’d like to know if the rest of the ship is equally appealing.

[keysey222]

On 6/20/2023 at 11:09 AM, prmssk said:

The MDR menus from HAL I have seen include an uncharge section with things like lobster and at least one type of steak (quite similar to what is being discussed in this thread) but maybe that doesn't extend to Club Orange.

It extends to Club Orange/suites as well. Club Orange gets one extra entree option each night and that's it. HAL has been doing the upcharge thing for awhile now across all dining rooms. Part of the reason we started to prefer Celebrity was we didn't like feeling nickel and dimed by HAL. Now it's getting to be a toss-up. 

[Silkroad]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

They are walking a thin line now where they are banking on the entertainment and general ship experience to carry enough weight that a greatly reduced MDR experience will not put people off..

And general ship experience is very much a factor for us. In our experience, Celebrity has kept the public areas of their ships scrupulously clean. They have possibly the most restrictive smoking policy of any cruise line, in that smoking is restricted to three or four outdoor areas only. The staff & crew have been largely pleasant, helpful and professional, even during times when they were stretched quite thin. These qualities are important to us. The quality of the live music is also important to us. The production shows are fun, but they don’t make or break a cruise for us. For Broadway shows, we can drive to BWI, hop on a train and head to NYC for a few days.
 

Food and beverage quality is also important to us, so I would say our summer b2b and December cruise should give us plenty of time to assess how Celebrity meets our requirements on an E class ship in Europe and an S class ship in the Caribbean.

[C4HCG]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

Comparable to the old product, no, I don't think so, but every time they make cuts to the non-suite experience they edge closer to other cheaper lines.

 

They are walking a thin line now where they are banking on the entertainment and general ship experience to carry enough weight that a greatly reduced MDR experience will not put people off...

The other experiences carry enough weight for us.  Relaxing at cafe el baccio, the grand foyer, live music, the theatre for the odd tribute band that appears, the sunset bar, the brilliant crew, the rooms kept impeccably clean. All part of the overall experience. And I genuinely believe we will be fine with the food offerings, we will always find something to our taste. We travel a long way for our cruises, food is not going to spoil them.

[Keys Kathy]

2 hours ago, Silkroad said:

I agree with you, though I realize that some posts on this thread (including a couple of my own) are meant to be humorous rather than hyper critical. Information about changes is useful for us as well, as we sail in late July.

 

Though I find a couple of the recent menu changes annoying, we wouldn’t cancel our upcoming b2b or any of our five future cruises solely because of these changes. However, depending upon our experiences (food, beverages, and everything else) during our 21 nights aboard Apex this summer, we may decide not to take advantage of booking a future cruise onboard. 
 

 

 

Be careful when booking the Future Cruise if you use the Sail Later option. It used to be they gave you a year to book. When we last sailed, it was down to 6 months. If you didn’t book in the six months, they return your deposit and you lose the extra OBC.

Someone posted a couple of weeks after that that they had changed it to 90 days. I am not sure why they would do that. They have had my deposits for 18 months, just earning interest on it until I found a trip I wanted to take. I had the security of knowing I would get the OBC.

Can someone ‘spain it to me?

[Alsmez]

1 hour ago, Accessor said:

Virgin's food is on a different planet. It's like comparing a school cafeteria (X) to a high quality land based restaurant (Virgin).

 

So I'm told. I am very into food so I'm looking forward to the comparison. The only negative I can see with Virgin at the moment is the limited itineraries, but I assume those will improve as the company gains a foothold. 

[kruzerci]

1 hour ago, Accessor said:

we sailed the Edge March 2023 and Virgin Valiant Jan & June 2023...Virgin's food is on a different planet. It's like comparing a school cafeteria (X) to a high quality land based restaurant (Virgin). You will never return to X after sailing on Virgin if you are a foodie...

I didn’t find that to be the case at all. I thought Virgin was aesthetically pleasing but not necessarily high quality or comparable to restaurants we frequent at home. I thought Celebrity and Virgin were similar in terms of quality but preferred the more traditional cruise venues of X. 

[Silkroad]

20 minutes ago, Keys Kathy said:

Be careful when booking the Future Cruise if you use the Sail Later option.

Thanks for the warning, but I’ve never purchased a Future Cruise certificate or Sail Later option. I’ve never trusted it, partly because nobody has been able to explain how these options affect travel insurance. Since I live in a state that prohibits the sale of annual travel policies, I must be very aware of potential pitfalls. I book onboard for the reduced deposit along with any other benefits on offer at the time.

[PTC DAWG]

41 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

 

So I'm told. I am very into food so I'm looking forward to the comparison. The only negative I can see with Virgin at the moment is the limited itineraries, but I assume those will improve as the company gains a foothold. 

IF Virgin had a decent drink package, and some decent longer cruises...(can it kill them to do a 7-10 nighter every now and then?) I would consider them, until then, it's a hard NO for me.  

Edited June 21, 2023 by PTC DAWG

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, Accessor said:

we sailed the Edge March 2023 and Virgin Valiant Jan & June 2023...Virgin's food is on a different planet. It's like comparing a school cafeteria (X) to a high quality land based restaurant (Virgin). You will never return to X after sailing on Virgin if you are a foodie...

What about someone who doesn't want an astronomical bar bill at cruise end?  I can get on X for around an extra $50 or so per night drinks and grats included...can't touch that on Virgin..we all have out likes and dislikes for sure.  Plus Virgin seems to love 4-5 night cruises.