Equinox Menu - Main Dining Upcharges Showing on App

[Alsmez]

10 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

IF Virgin had a decent drink package

Yeah, I'm a little worried about this. Their drink prices are much more reasonable than X, but it is still WAY easy for us to run up those tabs on vacation. They do let you buy bar credit at a discount pre-cruise (I think you pay $300 for $400 in credit), but still. We happen to be traveling with friends who will have a suite that comes with an included bar set up, so that will help some, but I still anticipate drinks will raise our pppd price by at least $50-60, maybe more. 

[Mark_T]

27 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

What about someone who doesn't want an astronomical bar bill at cruise end?

You prepay your bar tab and some cabin grades also come with a bar tab credit so you will not just get hit at the end of the cruise, but yes it is a different way of doing things for sure.

[g8rchick]

3 hours 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.

So it's sounding like we are paying celebrity prices for a royal carribean experience. We have been loyal to RCL for a very long time but wanted to try a more upscale experience. Doesn't sound like we might get one but I'm interested to see. We sailed HAL last August but stayed in a suite, which we never have before, so it's hard to compare. I was not impressed with HAL's food though. It was just fine (main dining room / club orange)

[Loracpin2]

RCI owns Celebrity!!!! Since they day they were bought out (learned this while on Galaxy Europe cruise in 1997) it's no surprise that Celebrity's brand will continue to decline little by little until it is as bad as RIC's.  

[bikerunner]

3 hours 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.

How would you know its not carrying the debt load, I believe they are privately held so there books are not open to public. 

[aloanldy]

How do I see the menus on the app?  

[NMTraveller]

Choose Dining Left Hand Bottom

Choose Main Dining Middle Top

Choose restaurant on the Left

Choose Menu on Middle Left

 

[kruzerci]

4 hours ago, bikerunner said:

How would you know its not carrying the debt load, I believe they are privately held so there books are not open to public. 

Cruising is a very small portion of their business. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

5 hours ago, Loracpin2 said:

RCI owns Celebrity!!!! Since they day they were bought out (learned this while on Galaxy Europe cruise in 1997) it's no surprise that Celebrity's brand will continue to decline little by little until it is as bad as RIC's.  

 

RCG, G = Group, is the parent company for both RCI and X, the only thing they have in common are some fees.  Otherwise, they're polar opposites, even the complimentary lobster tails as X has the lesser Spiny while RCI has the Maine variety.  RCI has kids, a water park, aqua theater, ice skating rink, flow rider, branded Broadway shows (like Cats), loud rock and roll bands, a comedian lounge often with nightly comedians, Johnny Rockets, pool side BBQ, etc 

[Baron Barracuda]

On 6/19/2023 at 1:55 PM, kruzerci said:

It has been rumored that was a reason Lisa stepped down- she wasn’t willing to cut the Celebrity brand the way RCCL execs were pressuring her to. 

Excuse me, but LLP has done nothing but cut for quite a few years, even before covid.  Most recently she's the one who implemented the charge for room service and gutted the Ocean View dinner service.  A few years ago she tried to switch the Mast Grill to extra charge.  Now we have the degradation in the MDR.  She significantly reduced staff, most noticeably in housekeeping where stewards went from working in teams to solo.  She took production of the main theater shows in house. Most are now very similar and hard to  watch.  She implemented the suite program which is wonderful for the 12% of passengers who sail in suites but the rest of us must contend with less common space and are shoehorned into a smaller MDR.  All in all it's been death by 1,000 cuts.   I began sailing with X in '93 but now am more drawn to Viking.  It's a little pricier but they have held the line on service quality. 

[HMR74]

On 6/19/2023 at 11:54 AM, Silkroad said:

For those ready to abandon Celebrity, I am curious about one thing. Which cruise line do you believe has a product similar to Celebrity’s pre-pandemic product? We haven’t sailed any other line, and based on complaints about other lines, we don’t see an obvious choice. We are not interested in larger vessels, and we’re unsure about smaller vessels (like Azamara) with minuscule cabins combined with higher prices. We’re looking at HAL and Princess for some of their interesting itineraries, but we see complaints there too. 

we just completed a 35 day land tour which was sensational. At a much lower cost.

Canned a 32 night b2b2b on Beyond, and spent time in Greece and Italy and immersed ourselves in local custom and tradition and nightlife and local cuisine, and seeing teh got to do sightseeing at our liesure.

 

When I see the postings about the food, all I can think of was the family owned and operated restaurants where meal choices were too plentiful. Drinks were a fraction of the price than a ship and even cokes were far less expensive. We did not come close to spending. 90 a day on premium drinks

Only thing really expensive was gelato at 4-5 euro per very small cup.

Had sushi for lunch in Rome one day and Chinese 2 days later. All meals outside. Hooked on Lemoncello and Aperol.

 

Was it more difficult than cruising, In some ways yes.  8 stops, 8 airbnbs, and all 8 the host helped us take luggage to apartments. 5 of the 8 had elevators, and we lived out of suitcases for 5 weeks  and did not care.

Why the change?

 

the per day cost of X has gone way up and I figured we got more bang for our bucks with a land tour and did.

In Florence one day at lumch, a tour from a Viking ship came to the  same restaurant--they had two choices off a menu,  we had that menu and 30 choices.

 

And of course the meals on board have no local flavor.

 

We will be on board X in the not too distant future-we will see how we view it then. We kind of like the Ensemble lounge on S class. Our speed. We were on Oasis in November and the MDR was fine, but that was before the January decline.We wil see but in January, we just want to get away from cold weather.

 

If X no longer serves us to our liking its a simple decision. LIke others I do not like the much higher prices with a decline in service level and quality and choices of food. I could live with the higher prices but at those new prices I want to be a happy camper.

 

There are alternatives and choices for our vacation dollars,  and just today I received an Oceania booklet as well as a Regent booklet. The current price spreads over X are not as bad as before. IMHO, X's business strategy, whatever it is,  is not going to work for the current and recent past cruisers.

 

BTW--the super fast trains in Italy were fantastic, a lot of folks doing the same thing as we did.

Edited June 22, 2023 by HMR74

[Mark_T]

9 hours ago, bikerunner said:

How would you know its not carrying the debt load, I believe they are privately held so there books are not open to public. 

Bit of a rash assumption there...

 

https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/Annual-Reports.aspx

 

MSC are also part of the worlds largest container shipping company, they are certainly not hurting in the same way as the cruise companies...

[poffles]

On 6/19/2023 at 1:27 PM, jelayne said:

Maybe this opens the door for a new Captains Club benefit:

 

Elite 1 free lobster tail on a night of your choice

 

Elite Plus - Choice of 1 free filet mignon or lobster tail on a night of your choice

 

Zenith - 1 free surf & turf on a night of your choice.

 

 

More likely discount ... 10%, 15%, 20%

.

[Silkroad]

9 hours ago, aloanldy said:

How do I see the menus on the app?  

See post #133

Edited June 22, 2023 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

6 hours ago, HMR74 said:

we just completed a 35 day land tour which was sensational. At a much lower cost.

Canned a 32 night b2b2b on Beyond, and spent time in Greece and Italy and immersed ourselves in local custom and tradition and nightlife and local cuisine, and seeing teh got to do sightseeing at our liesure.

Thanks for this, but we are already well aware of the pros and cons of land trips. We’ve taken many 3-4 week land trips in Europe and North America. I would guess that many experienced cruisers do both cruises and land trips. We ourselves like appending land segments to cruises when feasible. We like both land travel and sea travel. For those of us who love sea days, land travel can never be a replacement.
 

What I would find most valuable is a comprehensive, well written comparison (such as your own comparison of a land trip to a cruise) of Celebrity and a cruise line that most approximates the pre-pandemic Celebrity experience. Not just food, but everything, including the things they still do very well. I have seen many protests against changes to Celebrity’s product. I have also seen many posts suggesting other lines to try. I rarely see a comprehensive comparison of Celebrity to one or more competitors that was written by someone having recent experience on all lines compared.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Silkroad

[Mark_T]

17 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

I rarely see a comprehensive comparison of Celebrity to one or more competitors that was written by someone having recent experience on all lines compared.

GenerationX did a great side-by-side review a few months ago...

 

This was not a veranda vs veranda review but still may provide some useful material for you...

 

 

 

[HMR74]

9 hours ago, HMR74 said:

we just completed a 35 day land tour which was sensational. At a much lower cost.

Canned a 32 night b2b2b on Beyond, and spent time in Greece and Italy and immersed ourselves in local custom and tradition and nightlife and local cuisine, and seeing teh got to do sightseeing at our liesure.

 

When I see the postings about the food, all I can think of was the family owned and operated restaurants where meal choices were too plentiful. Drinks were a fraction of the price than a ship and even cokes were far less expensive. We did not come close to spending. 90 a day on premium drinks

Only thing really expensive was gelato at 4-5 euro per very small cup.

Had sushi for lunch in Rome one day and Chinese 2 days later. All meals outside. Hooked on Lemoncello and Aperol.

 

Was it more difficult than cruising, In some ways yes.  8 stops, 8 airbnbs, and all 8 the host helped us take luggage to apartments. 5 of the 8 had elevators, and we lived out of suitcases for 5 weeks  and did not care.

Why the change?

 

the per day cost of X has gone way up and I figured we got more bang for our bucks with a land tour and did.

In Florence one day at lumch, a tour from a Viking ship came to the  same restaurant--they had two choices off a menu,  we had that menu and 30 choices.

 

And of course the meals on board have no local flavor.

 

We will be on board X in the not too distant future-we will see how we view it then. We kind of like the Ensemble lounge on S class. Our speed. We were on Oasis in November and the MDR was fine, but that was before the January decline.We wil see but in January, we just want to get away from cold weather.

 

If X no longer serves us to our liking its a simple decision. LIke others I do not like the much higher prices with a decline in service level and quality and choices of food. I could live with the higher prices but at those new prices I want to be a happy camper.

 

There are alternatives and choices for our vacation dollars,  and just today I received an Oceania booklet as well as a Regent booklet. The current price spreads over X are not as bad as before. IMHO, X's business strategy, whatever it is,  is not going to work for the current and recent past cruisers.

 

BTW--the super fast trains in Italy were fantastic, a lot of folks doing the same thing as we did.

I will add one issue for specialty dining upcharges.

this includes Le Voyage.

 

X and RCCL provision ships  at major ports (eg Rome and Barcleona for the Med) . So a 10 day cruise only gets provisiosn when they run out of something. Not iron clad but thats the general operation policy.

also the reason logistically why when the restart was being planned, it was difficult to do cruises starting and ending in the Caribbean as food storage facilities were not availabe for any of the cruise lines)

So food wise, cruise lines already have a handicap because of provisioning constraints. X  and others making it worse by cheapening the food quality (chocie vs prime beef for example) and then downgrading by making a hamburger a dinner menus item.

 

Also, to be honest, we do not need the quantity of food but sometiems we woudl like soup and sandwich or soup and salad , but really good soup and sandwich and soup and salad.

The MDR  burgers at lunch were disappointing on X yet the royal burger at lunch on Royal  MDR was pretty darn good.

 

So when you drop 150 for Le Voyage on night 10 of a 12 day cruise, or 75 PP for one of the "lesser" specialties, you get the main course and sides that were provisioend 10 days earlier.

This is unlike the true 5 star places where the chef goes to the local  market on a daily basis to make sure he or she gets freshness but the best of the best including specials for that night which get determined at the market that morning. Not only beef or fish or seafood, but all the sides. 

 

I chalk this up to poor management. Top noch hands in management sees things before things implode. And do not insult the customers by raising prices and cutting quality, and for the record, treat  the premium customers differently than the non premium. and I understand the concept  that when you pay more you get more and vice versa, when you pay less you get less, but the stadards that were just a few years ago in place havebeen lowered.

 

And that affects my spendng habits going forward.

 

 

 

[C 2 C]

I just read this menu change on Carnival:

Carnival Debuts New Dinner Menu Onboard Carnival Dream - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News

[Silkroad]

2 hours ago, Mark_T said:

3 hours ago, Silkroad said:

 

GenerationX did a great side-by-side review a few months ago...

Thanks. I had seen this. We book both Verandas and Sky Suites, and I don’t have the bias against reviewers who book suites that some people have. Even when staying in a suite, we spend most of our time in the areas of the ship open to everyone. I’ve read all reviews by @GenerationX  I actually met her on our last cruise and she was as lovely, witty and fun as her reviews would indicate.

 

I have also found reviews by @Ken the cruiser and @Bimmer09 very useful in the past. Since Ken has written many Celebrity reviews, I know we share some of the same requirements or tastes. When he recently wrote a review about his NCL cruise, I paid attention because I trust him to be a reasonable reviewer. Ditto for Norris, who wrote a wonderful comparison between Celebrity & Princess in the before times. There are other great reviewers, but they’re too numerous to list. Reviews are a lot of work. I’ve written only two, neither of them live, so I have great appreciation for anyone who posts a review here.

[bjahil47]

I talked to Executive Office today.  She said the menu change is a test on the Equinox only.  Based on feedback they receive they will either go back to the previous menu or implement the new menu.  She said that they are trying to compete with other cruise lines in their category.  I told her offering hamburgers and talipia and upcharging steaks/lobster they are not competing they are lowering their class!  She told me lobster will still be offered free (one) on chic night. 
 

I also asked her that since I am in a RS in September, and if I wanted any of the “premium” entrees would I be charged?  She said, yes I would be charged!

 

We also discussed gluten free offerings as I have a gluten sensitivity.  She said she is in contact with Retreat and Luminae and will get back to me in a few days with answers to those questions I asked.

 

she was very nice, kept reiterating that it was a test.  And the more people voice their concerns the less likely it will become permanent.  

[mjschutte]

6 minutes ago, bjahil47 said:

I talked to Executive Office today.  She said the menu change is a test on the Equinox only.  

 Any idea if that is all Equinox sailings,  or has been suggested, only sailings under 7 nights?

[Altamar]

Our equinox sailing this Saturday is for 8 nights.

[thebutlerdidit]

30 minutes ago, bjahil47 said:

 

I also asked her that since I am in a RS in September, and if I wanted any of the “premium” entrees would I be charged?  She said, yes I would be charged!

 

This can’t be true. In a Royal Suite you have access to complimentary specialty dining. 
 

Lowering standards and expectations in order to “compete” with other brands does not make sense at all! 

[Octavias]

48 minutes ago, bjahil47 said:

 

I also asked her that since I am in a RS in September, and if I wanted any of the “premium” entrees would I be charged?  She said, yes I would be charged!

 

We also discussed gluten free offerings as I have a gluten sensitivity.  She said she is in contact with Retreat and Luminae and will get back to me in a few days with answers to those questions I asked.

.  

This is my worst fear.  I have several serious food allergies and was relying on the filet as my back up if I can’t have anything else offered.  I’m in the retreat, but filet is not offered there every night correct?  Or am I mistaken?

 

I just don’t want to end up with pb&j for my entree’.  And it would be really unfair for me to have to pay on top of what I’ve already paid.  
 

in the RS you get specialty dining too right?  If I were you, I’d just go specialty every night.  Ridiculous that they would charge you!  

[RichYak]

58 minutes ago, bjahil47 said:

I also asked her that since I am in a RS in September, and if I wanted any of the “premium” entrees would I be charged?

Why would you be dining in the MDR if you were in a RS?