A Suite Review w/Photos - Celebrity Equinox - Western Caribbean 7/14-21/18

[tml]

Amazing review! We are foodies too, and we are loving your descriptions and the picture that accompany it. We are looking forward to your next post. Thank you for all your efforts in writing this review. We sail in November and reading your review, has increased our excitement for our upcoming vacation. :D

[pnsnkr]

July 18th: Cozumel Sailaway

We did a little bit of shopping at the port and bought a couple bottles of Xtabentun. In Cozumel, they had heightened security procedures in place due to the crude bomb that was set off on a ferry boat in Playa del Carmen earlier in spring; and so, the lines were fairly long. There were separate lines for each cruise line docked at the pier. There was no special line for suites and Zenith passengers and it took a while to clear security. We were promptly asked to deposit the two bottles of liquor immediately after, at the nearby Celebrity desk. On this note, I forgot to mention that Celebrity didn't confiscate the two bottles of rum that we'd bought in Key West when we returned to the ship there.

After obligatory selfies and pics of the boat, we headed straight to our room to enjoy sailaway from our aft balcony.

 

We took in the scene of the Cozumel skyline with an alien amphibious flying saucer docked at the ferry port.

 

We waved final goodbye to Cozumel. We shall be back.

 

Tonight would be strictly-cocktails, no mixing with wine after our bar hop. Thankfully due to the really spacious suite, we didn't feel crowded when simultaneously getting ready for the evening. Typically in a regular stateroom, getting ready for evening dinner was always an adventure of trying to avoid stepping on each other or stubbing our toes on the bed post. The bathroom also had heated mirrors - they were really warm to the touch as I accidentally found out one time - and this was a welcome touch. The rain showers were soothing while affording a decent water pressure and consistent water temperature. We always set the thermostat at the lowest temperature setting and this time the room stayed quite cool with very good air circulation. Yea, we could get used to this suite life.

 

After respective refreshing showers and changing to evening smart casual attire, we head out to the World Class Bar. No rum-and-coke in sight and so settled for a couple of drinks from the menu.

 

I ordered the Zacapa Old Fashioned. I don't drink cocktails other than on a cruise or on a visit to the tropics. I don't know what an old fashioned is, let alone the WCB's twist on it. All I know is that a lot of care and attention goes into the preparation that is quite elaborate and measured as demonstrated by the mixologist. It is also served on-the-rocks with one huge hunk of an ice cube that is quite cool all by itself. The aroma is spicy, and the drink is smooth on the palate with a nice afterburn from the rum. This is a sipping drink, alright.

 

 

DW ordered the Ciroc Sailor's crush, which is WCB's rendition of the mojito. We are no strangers to mojito as this is usually our go-to refreshing drink in the tropics. WCB adds muddled pineapple and vanilla syrup to an otherwise staple ingredients and this somehow does the trick. DW really enjoyed it.

 

 

We made our way to Luminae a couple decks below with high level of anticipation. What does Jayesh have cooking in the kitchen?

[pnsnkr]

July 18th: Special Dinner at Luminae

Our lucky streak continued and we were promptly escorted to an open window seat in the main dining area as soon as we checked in with the hostess. It was quite hard for us to contain our anticipation of another round of Indian food, this time a smack-your-face spicy hot rendition with a south Indian flair. We were also just a tad bit concerned if we ended up daring the chef a bit too much with our spicy heat level request. Never dare an asian cook if you are not prepared to handle the heat. The last - and pretty much the only - time this happened to us was at a Thai restaurant in one of the Maldives resorts. Wait, Thai in Maldives? So, we had to check it out. As usual, we ordered every dish with 5-star heat rating. The chef's response, 'you sure...?' and that's about it. We found out the hard and painfully enjoyable way that 5-star in Maldives equates to about a 17-star heat rating in the USA. Of course, we ate there again the next evening.

We were still nursing our WCB cocktails and so no wine, just sparkling water tonight.

Edwin brought us our amuse bouche. While I'd like to say that it was good, it wasn't quite memorable; as in, I don't remember much about it.

 

 

Shortly after, we were served our appetizers. It was a combination of pakoras (same as last night) and stuffed bonda(!!) Bonda is a uniquely south Indian snack, typically savory but sometimes sweet, that is seldom seen on the menu of the garden-variety Indian restaurant in the US. The pakoras were rich in flavor similar to last night. However, the bonda was a bit of a disappointment. It lacked aroma or flavor and was a bit too bland. The red sauce had a bit of bite to it and was pretty much the only redeeming part of the dish. Bummer.

 

Following that, Edwin brought us the main courses. One was vindaloo with a twist - squid! Hm..this is going to be interesting. We tasted a little bit of the sauce and took a bite of the squid. Wow. It's been a while since we've tasted vindaloo this good. The squid was cooked to perfection. And then we felt a bit of heat. By the time we had a few mouthfuls, the heat had built up and blended quite well with the flavors to complete the experience. I felt a bead of sweat form and dribble down to my neck. Damn. This is what we are talking about.

 

 

 

And the other dish with a stealthily simple moniker: beef, south Indian style. We paused a bit from our vindaloo frenzy to try a little bit of the beef. This one was a lot more heat-forward, watering our eyes. The beef was in chunks with a very good bite but not chewy. The curry paste was rich in chili peppers and mix of south Indian spicies. Were those tears of joy?

 

 

Oh yea, we were also served papads and chapatis. The papads were crispy and peppery. However, the chapatis were a bit hard and tough. Who needs them anyway? The main dishes were that good ala carte.

 

 

For dessert, DW ordered a dark chocolate mousse cake and gelato. Luminae does chocolate really well.

 

 

I ordered the cherries jubilee from the MDR. It was a bit blah after such an amazing dinner, except for the ice cream. I stopped after a couple of bites.

 

 

Another delightful dining experience at the Luminae. We thanked the staff for accommodating our special request and headed back to our room.

 

[pnsnkr]

Amazing review! We are foodies too, and we are loving your descriptions and the picture that accompany it. We are looking forward to your next post. Thank you for all your efforts in writing this review. We sail in November and reading your review, has increased our excitement for our upcoming vacation. :D

 

Thank you, and you are most welcome! I know the feeling, we were hungry for information prior to our cruise and scoured the forum for every bit of detail about our itinerary, ship, cabin, and onboard experience. Glad to be of help.

[paphoslady]

Loving your report, just about to book this itinerary for Feb 19.

[pnsnkr]

Loving your report, just about to book this itinerary for Feb 19.

 

Thank you.

[Silkroad]

Oh man, I want that South Indian beef! We’ve had a suite only once, shortly before Luminae existed. We’ve had mixed reports about Luminae from both friends and CC reviews, but your descriptions and photos are inspiring me to give it another look. Thanks for the great review:)

[MisterMet]

July 18th: Cozumel Sailaway

 

We did a little bit of shopping at the port and bought a couple bottles of Xtabentun. In Cozumel, they had heightened security procedures in place due to the crude bomb that was set off on a ferry boat in Playa del Carmen earlier in spring; and so, the lines were fairly long. There were separate lines for each cruise line docked at the pier. There was no special line for suites and Zenith passengers and it took a while to clear security. We were promptly asked to deposit the two bottles of liquor immediately after, at the nearby Celebrity desk. On this note, I forgot to mention that Celebrity didn't confiscate the two bottles of rum that we'd bought in Key West when we returned to the ship there.

 

 

 

After obligatory selfies and pics of the boat, we headed straight to our room to enjoy sailaway from our aft balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took in the scene of the Cozumel skyline with an alien amphibious flying saucer docked at the ferry port.

 

 

 

 

We waved final goodbye to Cozumel. We shall be back.

 

 

 

 

Tonight would be strictly-cocktails, no mixing with wine after our bar hop. Thankfully due to the really spacious suite, we didn't feel crowded when simultaneously getting ready for the evening. Typically in a regular stateroom, getting ready for evening dinner was always an adventure of trying to avoid stepping on each other or stubbing our toes on the bed post. The bathroom also had heated mirrors - they were really warm to the touch as I accidentally found out one time - and this was a welcome touch. The rain showers were soothing while affording a decent water pressure and consistent water temperature. We always set the thermostat at the lowest temperature setting and this time the room stayed quite cool with very good air circulation. Yea, we could get used to this suite life.

 

 

 

After respective refreshing showers and changing to evening smart casual attire, we head out to the World Class Bar. No rum-and-coke in sight and so settled for a couple of drinks from the menu.

 

 

 

I ordered the Zacapa Old Fashioned. I don't drink cocktails other than on a cruise or on a visit to the tropics. I don't know what an old fashioned is, let alone the WCB's twist on it. All I know is that a lot of care and attention goes into the preparation that is quite elaborate and measured as demonstrated by the mixologist. It is also served on-the-rocks with one huge hunk of an ice cube that is quite cool all by itself. The aroma is spicy, and the drink is smooth on the palate with a nice afterburn from the rum. This is a sipping drink, alright.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DW ordered the Ciroc Sailor's crush, which is WCB's rendition of the mojito. We are no strangers to mojito as this is usually our go-to refreshing drink in the tropics. WCB adds muddled pineapple and vanilla syrup to an otherwise staple ingredients and this somehow does the trick. DW really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way to Luminae a couple decks below with high level of anticipation. What does Jayesh have cooking in the kitchen?

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the cabin info. My wife and I are pretty short so he rain fall shower head should be extra soothing! LOL. Loving everything about this review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[pnsnkr]

July 19th: Grand Cayman

Gangway down: 10:30a. Heck ya, our (I mean my) kind of port. Of course, we set the alarm to 10a and slept-in. By the time we woke up and got ready, we heard over the PA system that the ship was ready to deboard. We went down to Deck 5 to grab our morning cup of coffee from the Cafe when we were presented with this scene on the Grand Foyer.

 

Michael's Club, here we come. While drinking our coffee, we were working on creative ways to profusely apologize to our fellow passengers when they glared at us for cutting the line to board the tender, thanks to our suites perks.

 

There is one downside to arriving at a tendered port at 10:30a. Pretty much everyone onboard is wide awake by this time and extra hyper from post-breakfast high, rearing to get off the boat before it gets too hot. I'd rather we arrived at 5:30a at such ports because the more enthusiastic of our fellow passengers would have already long departed by the time we hit the gangway - we (I) would probably still set our alarm to 10a.

We visited the Michael's Club and waited for a short while until the Concierge returned from escorting the previous batch of suites passengers to the gangway. One more couple joined us and it was our turn to cut the lines. We nervously followed the Concierge but were delightfully impressed with her deft move to surreptitiously slip us amongst the rest of the passengers walking down the stairwell to deck 2. No glares! By far, this was the best benefit of priority-anything that we were able to garner as suites passengers on this trip. A quick glance to the back confirmed that the lines were still quite long but moving briskly, thanks to multiple tenders in service.

Our fellow tendered neighbor was the Peace Boat, with its own Peace pipe (er...stack.) We would later learn that this was a Japanese-based cruise and that this was their first visit to Grand Cayman. The wonderful hosts of GC wanted to really create the best first impressions but this task was made difficult due to the language barrier and lack of organized translation services. The Peace Boat still had a few kinks to work out but this sounded like a wonderful concept - to spread peace through world voyages.

 

OK, let's get this party started.

 

The last time we visited GC on RCCL Liberty out of Galveston, we booked the Stingray city and snorkeling trip through the cruise line. This involved a tender followed by a bus ride to another pier; then, a boat ride to Stingray city where we got to swim with a million tourists and a few stingrays; followed by an hour of snorkeling at a nearby reef; and a return ride to the pier only to wait for a really long time for our bus to pick us up. Not really our definition of fun.

 

So this time, it's beach day instead. We took a short cab ride ($4pp) to the nearby Royal Palms Beach Club. They collected a $2pp entry fee and stamped our hands, as if this mattered since we had no intentions of making a quick trip to the nearby KFC to grab a bucket of fried chicken to bring back to the beach. We walked by the open-air bar and swimming pool and beelined our way to the set of chairs on the beach. While the place was crowded during this time of the day, a quick scan yielded a pair of chairs on the very first row - beachfront property. We dropped our bags and tracked the wonderful wait person to pay for the umbrellas with cash (everything else can be charged to the credit card) and ordered our drinks. Before long, with drinks in hand, we hit the water. OK, so the drink wasn't the best cocktail, but Wow!

 

 

The water was fabulous! This is where we would spend the lion's share of our time - blissfully floating in the Caribbean with all our day-to-day worries and mundane thoughts locked up and stowed away, with the only distant thought reminding us to order something better for our next drink.

 

The service at this place is top-notch. But seriously, whoever thought of donning the wait staff with black attire in the middle of summer! The staff checked on us for drinks refill while we were still floating in the Caribbean, and this time we went with Margaritas instead of our usual Mojitos. We took this opportunity to also order lunch. They have a very extensive menu, and of course, jerk and seafood playing a very prominent part. A quick check confirmed that the fresh fish of the day is Mahi Mahi and so I ordered this with jerk seasoning - extra spicy. DW ordered the Mahi-Mahi fish tacos.

 

Jerk Mahi-Mahi

 

Mahi-Mahi fish tacos

 

Ho-hum. While the fish was quite fresh and flaky, there was hardly any flavor to the jerk, let alone any bite. Speaking of jerk, cliched as it may sound, the best jerk chicken in the world was served to us from a beach-side shack on the seven-mile beach in Negril, Jamaica. This was a very down-to-earth joint with a line of benches that faced a wood-fired grill, thick with strong aromas of jerk sauce; and all they cooked was chicken. Boy was it delicious and extremely spicy hot, thanks to the locally grown scotch bonnet peppers! We have yet to find a jerk place that rivaled this experience.

 

RPBC redeemed themselves with their wickedly strong Margaritas and this would be our drink for the rest of our time here - we managed to gulp a couple more of these.

 

At around 5:15p, it was time for us to wrap up our time here and we caught our cab ride back to the port. One word of caution: the cabs are usually van shuttles and they wait until they can pack with full complement before they leave for the port. So, please plan for an additional 15-20min in your schedule.

 

We were expecting long lines to catch the tender back, but surprisingly, we casually strolled our way onto the waiting tender and were headed back to the boat. No suites perks needed.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2018 by pnsnkr

[pnsnkr]

July 19th: Sailaway

Unlike our tender into port, the trip back was quite leisurely and sparse. We found a spot at the very back of top deck so we could enjoy the views. And what a welcome view it was - our floating sanctuary.

 

On our way back, we caught a closer glimpse of the pirate boat that did a run past us on the RPBC to a distant point up north.

 

 

The sun was lower down in the horizon but still packed a punch and we could feel it even on the breezy top open-deck of the tender. We turned around the corner and were afforded a gorgeous view of our boat, still anchored but emotionally preparing for the long journey back to Miami.

 

 

I wonder what goes on in the bridge at this time. We take quite a few things for granted. We joke around during muster drill - granted, more nervously lately due to incidents such as Costa Concordia; and, far fewer stand-up jokes about flotation devices ever since the Miracle on the Hudson. There are a bunch of professionals with really thankless jobs whose primary purpose is to ensure the safety and well-being of the passengers while still striving to provide maximal entertainment. A salute to the crew as we head back to the gangway.

 

We head back to our suite after a quick round of elevator roulette as we plan to watch the sailaway from our balcony and bid farewell to GC. We'd brought two bottles of wine with us and now is as good a time as any to pop that cork and enjoy a sip.

 

 

After we turned around, the thrusters were fully engaged as we felt the ship tug us away in a hurry from GC. It's a long way to Miami, we've been informed in the Dailies.

 

 

We waved our final goodbyes to the Peace Boat. More like Party Boat since their final tender was a full hour after ours.

 

 

 

[pnsnkr]

July 19th: Chic night at Luminae

Return from a Caribbean resort in summer requires a refreshing shower. Chic night makes it extra special. We are fully bought into formal nights. We'd packed to the gills for the two formal nights on our first ever Celebrity cruise - a 7-day north bound Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Seward. And, we thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for the occasion; twice. Celebrity has since replaced formal nights with Chic nights and we were a bit thankful for that this time around since we had no inclination of packing our full dress clothes for a Caribbean vacation in the middle of summer. There were still quite a few of true believers on our cruise who were decked out for the occasion. This is the best night of a 7-day cruise; so why not indulge. The atmosphere was quite festive and it was quite evident that the night was young. Oh, did we party. More on that later.

We headed over to Luminae for dinner. We knew that this was lobster night and had previously discerned the difference between MDR and Luminae versions of lobsters - one is grilled but with a smaller portion vs the other is poached but with a full portion. We were really stoked and looking forward to our Chic dinner at a Chic specialty restaurant.

We were greeted and promptly directed to yet another vacant window seat in the main dining room of Luminae. After the customary water preference and wine order, Edwin came over to get our orders. The menu had both a herb-crusted lamb chops as well as lobster and I wanted to go with the surf-and-turf option. DW was partial to lobsters and sheepishly inquired if she could get two of them. Edwin was more than courteous in taking our orders and then brought us Amuse-Bouche. It was a lone shirmp but with no cocktail sauce. However, it was exquisitely well cooked and the accompaniments made it wholesome. We really enjoyed this one.

 

 

DW ordered the truffelled risottos. Once again, Luminae delivered a mouth-watering dish. The rice was cooked just right without being mushy and sticky while the cheese and truffles rounded off the taste profile. DW totally enjoyed this dish.

 

 

I ordered the seafood stew. I wasn't prepared for what was presented since this looked like anything but. I took a sip of the soupy broth and was instantly electrified. Wow, how is it possible to pack so much of complex seafood flavors in an ordinary looking broth. It was way better than even the lobster bisque that I'd order a few days earlier. The seafood consisted of shrimp, calamari and scallop, all of them perfectly cooked and seeped in the delicious broth.

 

 

Edwin brought us our main and totally surprised DW - why get two lobster tails when you can get three...! Wow! You know, you try really hard to write a review without resorting to cliche, but O...M...G...!

 

 

Edwin presented the herb-crusted lamb chop and lobster tail for my surf-and-turf dinner. I've had lamb chops before on Celebrity, on multiple venues and ships. One thing is for certain, Celebrity knows lamb. This quickly turned into an exquisite dinner of well-poached lobster tails and one of the finest cuts of medium-rare herb-crusted lamb. I was relishing this until the plate was clean.

 

 

Once we were done cleaning up our dishes, we ordered dessert. DW went with the chocolate dessert of the day, while Edwin had me at macaroons as soon as he mentioned them.

 

There were a few varieties of them on display while we entered the restaurant that I remembered and I requested Edwin to get me a sample plate. And sure he did.

 

 

Luminae knows how do to Chic nights. This dinner pretty much cinched it for us. We became true believers of Luminae, well at least on Equinox on this cruise. There, all disclaimers have been stated.

The night is still young. We thanked the staff and left the premise in search of entertainment.

Edited July 28, 2018 by pnsnkr

[LIMPIT]

Loving the review, especially as we appear to share similar itinerary plans (We have RPBC) planned on our visit, and were going to book either a Cabana on the beach or around the pool.

Look like you had a great time, using the beach beds/umbrella.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[shirazcruiser]

Macaroon fond memories. Chic nights in Luminea are my favorite dinners because of the macaroon/chocolate cart. We're sailing again on Equinox in Sept and the photos are making me excited!

[newdestination]

Wonderful review. Thank you for doing it!

[pnsnkr]

Oh man, I want that South Indian beef! We’ve had a suite only once, shortly before Luminae existed. We’ve had mixed reports about Luminae from both friends and CC reviews, but your descriptions and photos are inspiring me to give it another look. Thanks for the great review:)

 

You are welcome. We totally enjoyed our Luminae experience on the Equinox

Thanks for the cabin info. My wife and I are pretty short so he rain fall shower head should be extra soothing! LOL. Loving everything about this review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

It takes a little bit getting used to stepping into the bathtub. Also, the rain shower is a bit too close to the wall. It would have been better were it half-a-foot more away from it

[pnsnkr]

Macaroon fond memories. Chic nights in Luminea are my favorite dinners because of the macaroon/chocolate cart. We're sailing again on Equinox in Sept and the photos are making me excited!

 

Oops, I see that I made a typo: wrote macaroon instead of macaron. We enjoyed both the Chic nights at Luminae. Wishing you a wonderful cruise!

Wonderful review. Thank you for doing it!

 

You are welcome.

[Essiesmom]

For anyone curious about the Peace Boat, here is what Wikipedia has to say:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Boat

 

The current Peace Boat, Ocean Dream, started life as the first even newbuild for Carnival, the Tropicale. EM

[pnsnkr]

Loving the review, especially as we appear to share similar itinerary plans (We have RPBC) planned on our visit, and were going to book either a Cabana on the beach or around the pool.

Look like you had a great time, using the beach beds/umbrella.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

DW was looking into the cabanas but we were more interested in staying on the beach than by the pool. We saw only one on the beach and it was more to the back and so didn't get one. We got front row seats with umbrella and so were quite happy with it.

[txtechmk]

Loved reading your report. Even though we have not booked this ship, I loved looking at your photos, especially your food photos. Everything looked fabulous!

[pnsnkr]

July 19th: Post-Dinner Partying & Room Service

Earlier that evening prior to our dinner, we realized that we hadn't been on the front-half of the ship, save for catching the show on the 1st night and the visits to the casino and boulevard on the 1st sea-day. So made a note to visit the Sky Observation Lounge. A quick check in the Dailies confirmed that there would be live music by a Quartet

It was the night before the last sea-day and the air was quite festive when the entire ship became lively. Live music from the Grand Foyer permeated through the entire Atrium including the elevator banks. While the music was good, we actually preferred Espresso, the house band, that was slated to perform next. We headed over to the Sky Lounge to kill time till then as well as to catch the music by the Quartet. The Sky Lounges on S-class ships that aren't named Reflection are quite expansive covering the entire width of the ship and providing an amazing panoramic view of the ocean ahead. They have similar lounges on the M-class ships as well. We still fondly recollect the numerous hours spent at the Cosmos Lounge on Millennium, whale-watching in the Inside Passage, on our Northbound Alaskan Cruise from a few years ago.

The Sky Lounge now sports a Zodiac-themed menu, one cocktail per constellation, but their order of presentation is quite jumbled; neither chronological nor alphabetical. DW ordered the Aries and I ordered the Leo, not particularly in the mood for a Rose-flavored drink of Aquarius. The drinks were surprisingly really good; worthy of the 'Signature Bar' title for the Lounge. However, the furniture leave a lot to be desired, being some of the most uncomfortable chairs while looking very pretty and color-coordinated.

We had just caught the tail-end of the Latin-inspired Quartet and they were already on their final song. The next music schedule at the Lounge wouldn't start until midnight. We headed down to the Grand Foyer to catch Espresso, to listen to some well-performed covers. When the wrapped up, we then visited Quasar for some good old-fashioned Karaoke. Surprisingly, the songs were well-performed by our fellow guests and we enjoyed our time there. By midnight, we headed up to the Sky Lounge for some DJ-spun dance tunes. The place was quite vibrant with the dance floor beginning to fill. However, we didn't quite recognize any of the songs; obviously we'd not kept in touch with the latest music scene. It was quite the letdown and so we headed out to catch some fresh air on the Lido deck.

 

We were shortly after joined by Sean, a fellow guest who we had the pleasure of meeting earlier in the cruise. He had a small bluetooth speaker with him and his cellphone was loaded with eclectic covers and outtakes of classic rock as well as 90's grunge music. We got lost in the wonderful music and before long it was almost 2a.

We were getting hungry again and I then remembered from another thread here that this was also last-call for pizza at the OCV and so we all literally ran over to the pizza parlor at the OCV only to find out that they were closed and cleaning up for the night. Apparently, the ship had already changed to Miami time right after our sailaway and so we were about an hour too late. At this point, we called it a night and headed over to our room, still quite hungry.

 

We first tried to order room service off the TV but it didn't get through and so we called the room service line that was promptly answered. We ordered chicken tenders, pizza, and a burger with fries. We drank cider and beer, courtesy of Singh filling up our mini-bar earlier.

 

 

Chicken. Really dry and tough. Couldn't even get one bite through.

 

The burger was well-done, dry, and devoid of any redeeming quality.

 

The pizza was our last resort. Thankfully, it was half-way decent that we were able to finish after drowning it in copious quantities of beer and cider. By the time we were done, it was almost 4a ship time. Time to hit the bed.

[charleysmom]

We are on the ship now and Luminae is living up the the expectations that this review generated. So good!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pnsnkr]

July 20th: Sea Day; Luminae Lunch

We woke up at the crack of noon, the thought of lunch at Luminae the only thing that was keeping us from going right back to bed. With considerable effort, we managed to freshen up and get ready for the day. The strong coffee at the Cafe finally woke us up and we made our way to Luminae for lunch.

The venue was unsurprisingly quite busy for lunch during this time but the hostess was still able to find recently-vacated window seat. Our window seat luck continued.

After last night's fun times and partying, we were both craving something on the lighter, healthier side and so Tuna Tartare and Filet Cobb sounded good.

 

Tuna Tartare. It was very fresh and citrusy. We really enjoyed it.

 

The Filet Cobb was quite light on the Cobb salad, which was a bit of a disappointment, but the Filet really made up for it. It was perfectly cooked to medium-rare and was very juicy. This definitely rivaled the filet that we had at the Tuscan Grille.

 

 

 

For dessert, DW had the dark chocolate with banana and coffee gelato. Delicious! I ordered just a couple scoops of coffee gelato. We both weren't able to finish our desserts. Another satisfying and memorable experience at Luminae.

 

 

[pnsnkr]

July 20th: Sea Day; High-Tea

We had plans for wine tasting, another round of poker, and spend the rest of the $20 in credit at the casino. However, we were still quite tired from last night's partying and so headed straight back to our room after lunch to watch a movie. After a couple of hours, we headed out to Michael's Club for high-tea that would start at 3:30p. We also wanted to check on the suites perks during debarkation and so wanted to chat with the Concierge about it.

Celebrity used to offer Champagne High-Tea specialty event for purchase on one of the sea days and this was included in the Ultimate Dining Package. The only time we tried to attend, we were denied entry due to non-conformance to dress code. We didn't feel like returning to the cabin to change into "smart casual" in midday and so passed the opportunity.

However, MC on this cruise was a little bit laid back with no rigid dress code. We saw guests in jeans, sandals, and even shorts.

During the afternoon tea, they serve sandwiches, scones, and pastries. We ordered the scone; and chai tea for me and Champagne for DW. The scones were very soft, flaky and went quite well with the jam and amazing cream. We were saving up for the highly anticipated dinner at the Silk Harvest and so didn't partake in sandwich or pastry. Overall, we were very impressed with the high-tea experience.

[pnsnkr]

July 20th: Specialty dinner at Silk Harvest

We wanted to end our dining experience in style and so saved the last night for specialty dinner at Silk Harvest. This would be a first-time experience since none of the other Celebrity ships we've been on had this venue, being replaced by Qsine. The menu also sounded quite interesting with Chinese, Japanese, and Thai influence. So, we were really looking forward to the experience.

We arrived a few minutes earlier than our 6:30p appt. to a very busy and lively restaurant. However, the host did manage to find us a window seat. We were presented with the menu and our drinks orders were taken.

 

We were informed that it was family-style dining where guests would be able to share the dishes. We wanted to try as many dishes as possible and so requested if we could order half-portions and this request was gladly accommodated.

 

For appetizers, we ordered Pot Stickers, Chicken and Beef combo satay, and Tempura shrimp. Within a few minutes, we received our appetizers.

 

Pot Stickers. The dough was, for lack of a better word, very floppy; and there was no crust at the bottom. This was definitely one weird take on Pot Stickers. We took only a couple of bites and moved on to the next appetizer

 

 

Chicken & Beef combo satay. Wow, I can't believe how this got past the expediter - assuming they even have such a position here. This was by far the most horrible satay that we've ever had. The meat was completely dry and hard as a rock. The sauce was a watery hot mess. This did not bode well. We quickly moved on to our third appetizer

 

 

Tempura Shrimp. This one had potential and had the right taste profile. However, they had dumped a lot of sauce on it making it very soggy, completely drowning out the defining quality of the dish's texture.

 

 

We'd already ordered our main dishes along with the appetizers and we were getting seriously worried at this point. The wait staff took away the mostly untouched appetizers and brought us our main dishes. We had ordered half-portions of Hunan Beef, Pad Thai, Chinese Pepper Steak, Lemongrass Shrimp, and Char Siu Pork.

 

Lemongrass shrimp. The shrimp was overcooked and there was no Lemongrass flavor to speak of.

 

 

Char Siu Pork. Holy smokes! It was a complete strike out. The meat was cooked to a leathery hide. There was not a single protein that was cooked properly. We felt really sad, staring at the huge spread of a feast laid out in front but nothing was edible. What a waste! We left our customary tips on the table and were as discreet as possible in our quick exit from the venue.

 

 

We were quite hungry at this point and so headed straight to Luminae.

 

[pnsnkr]

July 20th: Dinner redux

Ah, back to the sanctuary. We were still shaking our heads thinking back on the recent experience at the Silk Harvest when we were seated at our customary window seat.

For appetizer, I ordered the Chicken Liver Custard. DW thought that it was too livery while I really enjoyed he flavor. It had a nice smooth consistency that could be easily spread over the sourdough for a tasty bite.

 

DW ordered the appetizer portion of the Ricotta Cavatelli w/ Duck Bolognese. Luminae was 2-for-2 on delicious pasta. DW was quite happy.

 

 

For the main, I ordered Peppered Tuna. Edwin had remembered my previous Tuna encounter and recommended that I go blue/rare for the heat. It was perfect and the thin peppery crust was complemented quite well by the sweet Pinot Noir sauce.

 

 

DW ordered the Braised Short rib. It was nice and tender.

 

 

For desserts, DW ordered the souffle. I was still on a macaron fix and Edwin obliged.

 

 

 

 

While we hadn't planned on a dinner here tonight, we were very glad that we came so we could end dinner on a memorable note.

 

We visited the casino after dinner and turned our $20 to $52 and departed from there on that positive note. We still had a little bit of packing to do before it was time to deposit the bags, so we headed back to our room for the night.