B2B2B on Royal Princess, MSC Seaside and Celebrity Equinox. A comparison review.

[MikeyA53]

We ate at the Symphony Anytime Dining room 3 times during the week. The food was very good overall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first meal

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

Our second meal. No photos of our entrees, we love our deserts and many times throughout our three cruises we would share 3 and a couple of times 4 desserts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our third meal time 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second lobster 

 

 

 

He was preparing cherry jubilee and it was fun to watch him. He would leave at times to get ingredients and someone else would come along and add something to the bowl. When he would return he would get annoyed with them for messing with his recipe.

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

We dined at the Crown Grill twice and once at Sabatini’s. The cover charge was $29 per person and well worth it. The cost is the same if you pre-book before the cruise or wait until you are on the cruise. In addition we did the Super Tuscan Wine Dinner in Sabatini’s. Cover charge was $60 per person. Overall it was a good experience with nice wines and delicious food. We wanted to do the Chef’s Table Lumière but could not get reservations. The only thing missing on Royal Princess was an Asian restaurant.

 

 

Crown Grill 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lounge where you can sit and relax with a drink before your reservation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our meal at Crown Grill 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AF-1]

Wow your pictures our great.  Thank you for taking the time to post this review.  Each ship has its own little niche. I don't know if I would sail Celebrity. To boring.  I just switched to Princess last year.  Again,  thanks for sharing your great review

[MikeyA53]

Sabatini’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super Tuscan Wine Dinner at Sabatini’s 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

The International Café was also a great spot for specialty coffees, gourmet sandwiches and sweets. They had different sandwiches each day and you could get it grilled. Across from the International Café was Gelato which served ice cream and gelato. I indulged myself several times during the week with ice cream sundaes made to my specifications (lots of different topping and sauces to choose from) for only $3. The only places we didn’t try was Alfredo’s Pizzeria and Trident Grill.

 

International Café 

 

 

 

Morning menu, the sandwiches are display starting at lunch

 

 

 

 

Gelato

 

 

 

 

 

Alfredo’s 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trident Grill

 

[MikeyA53]

MSC Seaside

 

The ship has 2 buffet restaurants, the larger one on deck 8 and the smaller on deck 16. We usually had breakfast and lunch in the larger one. Overall the food was good but they practically had the same menu all week. I had difficulty finding something new to try each day. We had the Mealtime Restaurant Drink Package included in our cruise fare. This meant unlimited beer, wine, bottled water and soft drinks in the buffet and dining room during lunch and dinner but not in the specialty restaurants. I believe they had 2 types of beer, two red wines, two white wines and one rosé wine to pick from. They had coke products for soft drinks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

They had self serve machines in the buffet for all three types of drinks, however the machines only had one type of beer ( Heineken), one red and white wine (no rosé) which was convenient. They also had a bar in the buffet where you could also get your drinks and they had waiters serving at tables. Whenever I needed a beer or soda outside meal time I would bring a empty coke bottle and fill it up for takeout. They had self serve machines in the buffet for all three types of drinks, however the machines only had one type of beer ( Heineken), one red and white wine (no rosé) which was convenient. They also had a bar in the buffet where you could also get your drinks and they had waiters serving at tables. Whenever I needed a beer or soda outside meal time I would bring a empty coke bottle and fill it up for takeout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

We ate in the dining room twice, the food was good. The portions were a bit smaller than on Princess and Celebrity so big eaters like us had to order multiple dishes. When Tracy ordered a glass of wine on our drink plan they brought the bottle and kept it near our table. The waiter kept re-filling her glass throughout the meal.

 

Ipanema Restaurant 

 

 

 

 

Our first meal, forgot the entrees

 

 

 

 

Our second meal, Thanksgiving dinner 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 3:35 PM, AF-1 said:

Wow your pictures our great.  Thank you for taking the time to post this review.  Each ship has its own little niche. I don't know if I would sail Celebrity. To boring.  I just switched to Princess last year.  Again,  thanks for sharing your great review

 

Glad you like it. 😄

[MaryBethV]

This is the best comparison review I've read. Thank you for all the great info!

[MikeyA53]

We had pre-purchased the Trio Specialty Dining plan for $89 per person. The three restaurants included in this plan were Ocean Cay, Asian Market and Butcher’s Cut. The price onboard for the Trio package was higher than the pre-purchase cost. They had a fourth specialty restaurant called Teppanyaki which could only be booked onboard. If you booked Teppanyaki you had three different choices of a 3 course meal to pick from and if I remember correctly, the cost of a three course meal ranged between $30 and $60 per person.

The trio package purchased before or during the cruise had a smaller menu of items to pick from. I found the choices were not much better than what you can get in the regular dining room. If you did not like the choices offered on this smaller menu you could trade your appetizer, entrée or dessert for an a la carte choice on a larger menu for half its price. The prices seemed inflated on this menu. I ended up choosing a dry-aged porterhouse 22oz steak which was $50 and got it for half price. It was very good but I ended up paying a total of $30 for the package plus $25 for the steak for a total of $55. On Princess everything is included in the menu except the surf and turf which I paid an extra $10 for a lobster tail.

 

 

I also made a change at the Asian Market restaurant that cost me an additional $21.85. Then at Ocean Cay I made the mistake of ordering a second appetizer thinking I would pay half price for it but since it was not an exchange but rather a second appetizer I paid the full $16 for an appetizer not worth more than $12 in most land base restaurants. In addition with the dining plan you can only have one appetizer, one entrée and one dessert. On Princess and Celebrity you can have several appetizers and desserts. All the food was very good but I don’t like how they had this two menu system.

All 4 restaurants are conveniently located together on deck 16.

 

Butcher’s Cut

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our meal at Butcher’s cut  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

3 hours ago, MaryBethV said:

This is the best comparison review I've read. Thank you for all the great info!

 

 

Thank you

[MikeyA53]

Ocean Cay 

 

 

 

Our meal at Ocean Cay 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asian Market 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our meal at Asian Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bar amongst the restaurants

 

 

[MikeyA53]

Teppanyaki 

 

 

 

 

We were engaged in a conversation with people we met at our meal and I forgot to take photos of our meal.

 

 

 

One other dining venue we tried was Venchi Cioccogelateria-Coffee Bar which had specialty coffees, chocolates and ice cream. The ice cream sundaes where smaller and more expensive than on Princess. I think I paid between $6 and $7.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for sharing great review & photos. I know a Mountie always catches his man. It looks like you caught the girl to. 

Tony

[MikeyA53]

5 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Thanks for sharing great review & photos. I know a Mountie always catches his man. It looks like you caught the girl to. 

Tony

 

 

 

I sure did, she was in the musical ride for two years touring Canada, the US and the Britain.

 

 

 

[AF-1]

Which cruiseline had the best creme brulee?

[moresun]

Thanks for this review, grew info!

[MikeyA53]

1 hour ago, AF-1 said:

Which cruiseline had the best creme brulee?

 

As you can probably tell I love crème brulee, I really don't know which cruise line has the best. Most of the ones I've tried are really good.

[MikeyA53]

Celebrity Equinox

The buffet was very good overall with lots of different items to choose from each day. I believe they had a different theme each day such as British, Mexican, American, etc. They even had an ice cream station with a nice variety of gourmet ice cream flavours. One complaint I had was the difficulty of finding a table some of the times. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bar service

 

 

 

Desserts on last sea day 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

We had Select Dining and ate at the Silhouette restaurant 3 nights. The food was also very good, definitely better than Seaside and slightly better than Princess for both the buffet and restaurant.

 

 

Silhouette Dining Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first Chic Dinner 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our second Chic Dinner

 

Tonight menu

 

 

 

Scallops Rockefeller

 

 

 

 

Double Baked Blue Cheese Soufflé

 

 

 

Slow Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beef Wellington

 

 

 

Tracy’s two desserts 

 

 

 

 

My two desserts 

 

[MikeyA53]

We had pre-purchased a 4 meal package for $125 per person, saving some money compared to buying them individually. We ate at Tuscan Grill (Italian) Silk Harvest (Asian), Murano (French) and Sushi on Five. We also had a lunch at Murano for $25 per person. Again we really enjoyed all the restaurants. At one sitting I had ordered a steak for my entrée and asked the waiter a question about the lobster tail entrée and he asked me if I would to have one on the side at no cost. Quite a contrast to how we were treated on Seaside. I only wish Equinox had a steakhouse restaurant with a variety of steak cuts to choose from. 

 

Silk Restaurant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our waiter at Silk suggested we order several entrees and share them 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

Murano 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our dinner at Murano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm Goat Cheese Soufflé 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diver Scallop Wellington Style 

 

 

 

 

Our waiter cutting our Chateaubriand for Two 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our lunch at Murano 

 

 

 

Seared Scallops

 

 

 

Roasted Filet Mignon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ivory Caramel Tart

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gianduja Soufflé 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by MikeyA53

[nimiq]

Very good comparesion so far can’t wait for the rest. We’ve done the 3 lines as well and similar ship and so far we pretty much agree with lots of your opinios. 

 

 

Thanks in advance 

sea ya

Eric