vadell

Out of curiosity I looked at a a comparison against my Reflection cruise booked for next year the closest comparison was a twelve night on RCI as opposed to a the 10 night on Celebrity and RCI was £800 more expensive for the balcony cabin than we have paid for Aqua cabin. So in our case not cheaper at all. It really must depend on what they are selling at the time both dates are in the school summer holidays for England.

I loved the mango smoothie. it did alter in flavour depending on where you picked up from. Available on the classic package when we were on board.

We did not get this or the bag last year, when I asked at guest services about the bag as I did not have a bag to take to the pool I was told they were only issuing for suites, several people around the ship had a bag more than the amount of suites I would have thought, but it did not seem worth the hassle asking again. These were listed as and still were when we returned as being provided with the concierge cabins. Not much to complain about but I would have taken my own had I known.

Last year the price went down considerably after we had booked and I cancelled and re-booked, we forfeited our deposit £300 but ended up in a higher grade cabin for less money, we booked direct with Celebrity.

I am interested in a cruise for next year but at the moment it is priced higher than I am prepared to pay, last year the price went down the week I booked by £800 so I cancelled and lost £300 deposit ( it was around a year before the cruise). Because I had looked at the cruise for next year an e -mail was sent to encourage me to book, I was actually abroad at the time so having read the e-mail I logged in on my phone to see what the price was it was cheaper plus there were several extras included, on board spend, internet and the drinks package the saving was around £1200 after conversion as the price came out in euros obviously because the phone was connected to a Spanish network. When I got home I looked to book and found the price here in the UK was actually slightly more than before I went away and the extras were not included. So it is not just the US that gets the cruises at a lower cost to the UK they do in Spain as well! Maybe they do not have the same laws as us either. I do not necessary expect to get a refund but Easyjet do a price promise and if the airfare goes down you can claim the difference back for use on another occasion, even by doing this it would not be so bad rather than just losing the money it might even encourage people to book again.

I would love opinions on which of the specialty restaurants on Equinox are worth the splurge and missing the main dining room. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. Hate to pay extra if the quality and experience are not that far above the already-included main dining room option but will to pay extra if they are!

Prior to this year would have said Muranos or Tuscan grill, we enjoyed the Silk Harvest this year but I was disappointed in the new menu at Tuscan grill so it would have to be Muranos for service and the food.

Murano's, Tuscan grill, Silk harvest and Sushi on 5. On previous cruise we really liked Tuscan grill but not so much on this cruise as did not think the new menu was as good as before. Otherwise we really enjoyed all of the specialty restaurants we preferred Silk harvest to Qsine.

I was told when I booked my cruise by the agent that if we were considering ultimate dining (which we were) that the gratuities would be included in the price and that we would therefore not need to prepay, as we would be paying the gratuities twice. On this basis I changed UK pounds to dollars to leave in envelopes for the room staff and we also added extra tips to the bill in specialty restaurants. We went to guest services and asked if we could just pay some of the gratuities ie 5 nights worth, they said that it was okay to do this, but we then received a large bill for all the gratuities, including those we had added to the bills ourselves. We went back to customer services again and they then removed all of them which left us feeling that we might have somehow not covered everyone. It transpires that you cannot part pay, it is all or nothing,so they ended up putting gratuities on my bill and not my husbands to sort of equal it out. The whole thing was a total mess, I would rather just pay what I wanted to who I wanted and not be told how much to who and where. IMO it should be an increased price on cruise to cover a decent wage and if you want to you can tip further, not somehow end up with a very large bill just for tips. If they posted details of who had prepaid and who had had them removed, how can that be correct I could have left far more in my envelope than they would have actually received otherwise and we should not get substandard service either way.

On Equinox we still had the sheet in the cabin saying which coupons we were entitled to but a note said they were loaded onto our sea pass and we did not need to take the vouchers. I only used the gelato credit, she just swiped my card and gave me a gelato easy done.

It must depend on where you are visiting on our Med cruise this year there was only one offer of discount and that was Silk Harvest. We had booked a three night package and arranged times when we first boarded, when we decided to take further meals we struggled to get times we wanted around 8pm and could not get in to Muranos or Tuscan grill at all on one of the nights we wanted.

I did not take a bag for the pool this year, we received one in our cabin on previous cruise and I was going to guest services anyway as my key card would not work, I asked about the fact that although we were concierge class we had not received a bag. The reply was they are for suite only now, I queried that I had seen lots of people with them and she said they must have bought them in the shop. So although they are listed as a perk for concierge not sure if they are actually included! We never received one.

On our August cruise (Equinox) we struggled to get tables in specialty restaurants at our preferred time as they were booked for the most popular times, we were only being offered 6.30 pm or 9pm. So to be honest I would book package ahead and not leave until we arrive. It was a complete contrast to our previous cruise when we could pretty much go where we liked when we liked (Silhouette).

It is already Sushi on five, we tried in August. It was very good, although it is a la carte our bill for lunch only came to 40$.

We had a fantastic Med cruise on the Equinox in August.

We were on Equinox in August and previously we have had the ultimate dining package we were the first cruise after the conversion of Bistro on 5 to Sushi, when we checked in we went straight to the desk to book our package but we were told we could only go to Silk Harvest, Murano's and Tuscan Grille. We decided not to go ahead and just went with two dinner packages as we had hoped to try the Sushi and we were also considering dining out on our overnight port. We also asked the food and beverage manager who was standing outside sushi on 5 and he confirmed that what we had been told downstairs was correct it was not included. We then received a telephone call whilst we were eating in Silk Harvest a couple of says later to say that we could go to Sushi on 5 after all it would be included. It was still 29$. Not much help but I am not sure if they even know!

We were in exactly the same situation the same week I booked our cruise it went down £700, I was told basically they could upgrade us or cancel and re-book. We decided to cancel and book again but it still meant we were better off and we also went from a regular veranda to concierge cabin. I was particularly upset at the fact that it was only a matter of days later the price dropped but still it was worth cancelling and losing the deposit.

We had the new menu on our Equinox cruise in August and Tuscan has gone down in my estimation the favorites of mine were no longer available. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of new menu but it seemed to focus more on pasta, I had chicken on our first visit which I did not like, I like chicken alot but not on this occasion and also had polenta coated chips which were in fact just like cheese filled potato croquets. We did give Tuscan a further try and the second meal, fish was better but still not as good as before. So for the equinox I would probably choose Muranos.

We have recently returned and struggled with getting times and dates we wanted, we booked a three night package on-line and then added a further package whilst on board. A couple of times we wanted to book for Murano's they were full and for Silk Harvest we were offered 6.30pm or 9pm although this was a few days into the cruise. This is in complete contrast to our previous cruise when we could pretty much go when we liked and they were never full.

If you were on the same cruise Andrea and I were on last week the only way you would not have been asked to upgrade would have been if you had hibernated in your cabin or had a premium package already.

We seem to have had a very different experience on this cruise and no we did not hibernate in the cabin, we were asked only once if we wanted to upgrade the drinks package and never the dining package. There were table set up at various points for the restaurants, we had already purchased the 3 dinner package & when we decided to purchase a further package we actually had problems getting the times we wanted as the restaurants were pretty much booked we approached them. With regards to the OP we only had a problem at the buffet on two occasions, otherwise we were fine there was plenty of choice and we could always find somewhere to sit without it being too busy (maybe the times we visited were less popular, plus we always sit outside), we did also eat in main dining room for breakfast on three occasions and we were pleased with the service there. I agree that an alternative lunch option would be good on port days, we tend not to eat chips and burgers so never visited the mast grill so if we were back in time for lunch we went to the buffet. An alternative venue where we could be served would be good.

We did not tip the bartenders at the Martini bar on Equinox yet they were outstanding, we returned yesterday.

I have tried to purchase on board credit on the telephone and was not able to as I was told they were too busy. Might just go ahead and but on website after all.

I have telephoned twice this week and both times been told no vat, but I am sure we were charged when we cruised out of Barcelona. We are cruising from Rome to Barcelona with no non-eu ports, I have pre-purchased drinks packages but wanted to find out about the speciality dining. The first person I spoke to said, I have never heard such a thing! I booked the premium alcohol drinks package for my husband on one of the calls and then found it had been applied to me a non drinker. So I do not hold out much hope of my questions being answered correctly. I was also told that I could pre-purchase the ultimate dining package on line yet we could not before and it does not appear on my booking as available, the person I spoke to said just keep looking when I said I thought we could only get on board. If the dining packages do occur additional vat on board or at check in I would have just pre-booked the dining as a three and five night package.

We requested a table for two on our first cruise but when we went down to check where we were sitting we had been put on a large table, we requested to be moved and were given a table for two which was not particularly close to the next table but was near the serving station, it was no problem as we were served quickly and the food was always really hot. On our second cruise we were allocated the table for two we requested and we were really close to the next table. Not sure if it depends on the ship or if it is the location with in the dining room, but tables for two are available. We have always gone for late sitting.

I have to agree that a lot of the perks are not worth the upgrade but location and the footstools are good for me, we too have booked a C2 on the hump perfect location. Hardly any difference to the regular veranda price when we booked.

On our sailing the guarantee is more expensive than the other cabins in the concierge group, I did ask the question on this board as to why anyone would book a guarantee if it were more expensive and it seems that we in the UK see the prices different ! the guarantee is £2998 and the C3 £2698.