Random musings Equinox June 18 sailing

[miched]

 

The MDR was OK on the second Chic night, but otherwise the menu really showed little imagination. They don't even have to spend more, just maybe add a bit different selections instead of chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots. It was just VERY boring. Basic American comfort food but not a whole lot more. Other than buffet and MDR, options were slim. They had a grill that was open occasionally, and a place with limited "Spa" food, otherwise you are going to pay extra.

 

I mostly like Celebrity, but the food may mean no Celebrity again.

 

Sometimes they do show a little imagination.

 

A few years ago in Blu they had a everyday item called "Air Line Chicken". Asked the server why they would serve something like that as the food on the airlines isn't that fantastic. Was told that it was called that because it was a breast with the the wing attached.

 

Another night they served as a main entree "Pork and Beans". Was told that is wasn't from a can of Campbell's. It was supposed to be some kind of pork that I think was popular with the people in the British Isles.

 

When reading the menu we always laugh at how they try to enhance the discription with the adjectives used.

 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[4cats4me]

I was on the same cruise, my first Celebrity cruise. I thought service across the ship was very good, and everyone seemed happy to be on board, which isn't always the case. I also agree, the food was pretty average or worse. In the buffet day-after-day you'd be hard-pressed to see any food options that changed. Breakfast was good, but it went down from there. Excellent layout of the buffet, but the quality of the food reminded my of those "budget" cafeterias on land. The MDR was OK on the second Chic night, but otherwise the menu really showed little imagination. They don't even have to spend more, just maybe add a bit different selections instead of chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots. It was just VERY boring. Basic American comfort food but not a whole lot more. Other than buffet and MDR, options were slim. They had a grill that was open occasionally, and a place with limited "Spa" food, otherwise you are going to pay extra.

 

I mostly like Celebrity, but the food may mean no Celebrity again.

 

 

 

Reading this makes me feel better that we have splurged for Aqua and will have our dinners in Blu. Am disappointed to hear that the buffet has tanked. We loved their buffet in 2013/2014.

Sounds like maybe X has dumbed down the MDR food in an attempt to drive people into the high priced specialty restaurants.

 

 

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[LynnVB]

We were on this cruise in Aqua class. We had a wonderful experience in Blu for all dinners and several breakfasts.

We also found the Oceanview Cafe to be just fine for lunch or on the mornings we slept too late for Blu. We tend to lean more towards healthy food, so we had many choices of salads, fruits, and just about anything we wanted. The manager was visible and "on it" everyday. One complaint was the difficulty of finding a seat, but that is to be expected.

 

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[4cats4me]

We were on this cruise in Aqua class. We had a wonderful experience in Blu for all dinners and several breakfasts.

 

We also found the Oceanview Cafe to be just fine for lunch or on the mornings we slept too late for Blu. We tend to lean more towards healthy food, so we had many choices of salads, fruits, and just about anything we wanted. The manager was visible and "on it" everyday. One complaint was the difficulty of finding a seat, but that is to be expected.

 

 

 

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How was the pasta bar in the buffet? When we were last on in 2014 they had a very good selection of pastas and sauces and would make fresh pasta dishes.

Give me some salad, pasta and bread and cheese and I will be a happy camper.

 

 

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[Mattingly23]

How was the pasta bar in the buffet? When we were last on in 2014 they had a very good selection of pastas and sauces and would make fresh pasta dishes.

Give me some salad, pasta and bread and cheese and I will be a happy camper.

 

 

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They still have the pasta bar. I feel the same about pasta as you do, but unfortunately the pasta bar did not make me a happy camper.

 

Others may feel differently, but I was very unimpressed with the offerings, especially any of the red sauces.

 

I had a pappardelle dish at Tuscan Grill as well, and sad to report no happiness with that one either.

[Mr&MrsBee]

MDR Food: Chicken Mashed potatoes and carrots. Really?? Never saw it once on our cruise May 26 to June 4. We had many different choices and some nights a couple of our favorites were on the menu making it difficult to choose.

[helen haywood]

On our past three cruises on Equinox, Eclipse and Reflection, most of the MDR entrees were accompanied by mashed potatoes and carrots. On one sailing the mashed potatoes were scooped up and plated as though from an ice cream scoop. Very school cafeteria. On another sailing the mashed potatoes were at least a free-form serving.

 

I always try to see the glass as half full. In this case I thought "Great! I won't gain as much weight on this cruise!"

 

 

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[ChucktownSteve]

On our past three cruises on Equinox, Eclipse and Reflection, most of the MDR entrees were accompanied by mashed potatoes and carrots. On one sailing the mashed potatoes were scooped up and plated as though from an ice cream scoop. Very school cafeteria. On another sailing the mashed potatoes were at least a free-form serving.

 

I always try to see the glass as half full. In this case I thought "Great! I won't gain as much weight on this cruise!"

 

Do these look familiar? That's how I cut my carrots at home when cooking.

 

 

Half scoop of Mashed and carrots?

[helen haywood]

I can't see the pictures.

 

 

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[ChucktownSteve]

I can't see the pictures.

 

Do you have a real computer you can view the thread on? I suspect the iPhone app you're using doesn't show pics to save bandwidth/data.

[helen haywood]

I'll go to the computer. But I have no trouble seeing pictures elsewhere on CC on my phone.

 

 

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[LynnVB]

We refer to The Ensemble Lounge as The Tomb. The windows are totally covered with seemingly black-out curtains. The only way you could read in there would be with a back-lit Kindle.

 

It was dim in the evenings, but we liked the contrast from some of the other areas on the ship. Ensemble Lounge has the best wine selection-it was the only place we could order the same wine we had in Blu.

[ChucktownSteve]

I can't see the pictures.

 

Thankx for letting me know. It seems the photo hosting service didn't like so much 3rd party hosting without charging so they blocked em.

 

Try these. Do they look they could have used more carrots or mashed potatoes?

 

 

[helen haywood]

Well, the first one looks better than the ice cream scoop on the bottom picture! Celebrity must have cornered the Carrot Market.

[ChucktownSteve]

Well, the first one looks better than the ice cream scoop on the bottom picture! Celebrity must have cornered the Carrot Market.

 

 

 

Yeah. More dishes like that on the 10 day cruise. I didn't want any carrots for awhile when I got home. They had lots of low cost meat dishes and hardly any seafood. None of any of my previous celebrity cruises ever served food like that. However the next one did.

[higgens]

With the exception of one night at Murano, and one at Blu, we ate all of our dinners at Luminae and thought the food was fantastic and got great service. Definitely a whole different experience. We had room service for breakfast almost every day - the two scheduled sea days we slept in a bit and our only option was the buffet for breakfast. It was overcrowded and the food was only so-so. We did eat lunch on the first day and breakfast on the last day in Luminae and enjoyed both of those meals. Our other lunches were either at the ports or burgers by the pool on board.

[ChucktownSteve]

With the exception of one night at Murano, and one at Blu, we ate all of our dinners at Luminae and thought the food was fantastic and got great service. Definitely a whole different experience. We had room service for breakfast almost every day - the two scheduled sea days we slept in a bit and our only option was the buffet for breakfast. It was overcrowded and the food was only so-so. We did eat lunch on the first day and breakfast on the last day in Luminae and enjoyed both of those meals. Our other lunches were either at the ports or burgers by the pool on board.

 

 

 

Oh yeah, comparison of Luminae and Blu to the MDR food makes sense. Speaking of great service, wasn't your butler wonderful?

[helen haywood]

Forgot to mention that you can always order a baked potato in the MDR instead of those mashed potatoes....

 

 

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[Host Jazzbeau]

Oh yeah, comparison of Luminae and Blu to the MDR food makes sense...

 

It does, actually. From reading many recent threads on the Celebrity and Princess forums, I'm getting a strong indication that MDR food on Celebrity has slipped way below Princess levels. Celebrity is now all about AquaClass and Suites – they offer a much better experience at those levels than any other non-luxury cruise line. But for regular passengers?—not so much.