MikeyA53 Posted January 16, 2019 Author #26 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Celebrity Equinox Compared to Royal Princess and especially Seaside, the production shows on Equinox were boring. We saw two of them throughout the week, during the first one I was falling asleep and I couldn’t wait for the second show to end, vowing I would not return. However the comedians were good and we also attended the game show Majority Rules and several trivia games which was fun. One new form of entertainment recommended by our friends who came with us on this cruise was ‘Silent Disco’. Everyone is given a pair of headphones and you can switch between 4 different channels for your music preference. As a consequence not everybody in the crowd is grooving and dancing to the same songs. It’s fun to see other people moving to a different beat than yourself and others. We also took part in Karaoke since Tracy and her friend love to sing. The headphone glow different colours depending on what channel you have it on. Karaoke We found that the ship did not have much in term of activities. They did have Bocce Ball and Lawn Bowling on deck 15 which was mostly covered with real grass and a basketball court also on deck 15 . One unusual activity was the Hot Glass Show where one passenger at a time could make their own glass art piece for a fee. I believe the prices started at $45. Our cabin had a good size TV and we had 6 free recently released movies at our disposal, all other movies cost $15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokare Posted January 16, 2019 #27 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Keep it coming, excellent job. I didn't realize MSC had so much going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterBill99 Posted January 16, 2019 #28 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Looking forward to seeing your food comments, especially about MSC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicstress Posted January 17, 2019 #29 Share Posted January 17, 2019 We boarded the MSC Seaside in Miami in October. How did you get on in Fort Lauderdale? I think you must have gone to Miami for Seaside and Equinox. 🤔 We had an aft South Beach Condo suite on the Seaside. Highly recommend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #30 Share Posted January 17, 2019 21 hours ago, hcat said: Enjoying the review and photos.Thank you for doing it. Hope to hear about the gyms, spas and pools. So far however, it confirms we will stick with Celebrity as it best fits our style and we have good loyalty perks The ..new EDGE may be very different but we look forward to Celebrity's newest ! Glad you are enjoying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #31 Share Posted January 17, 2019 19 hours ago, Jokare said: Keep it coming, excellent job. I didn't realize MSC had so much going on. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #32 Share Posted January 17, 2019 13 hours ago, nicstress said: We boarded the MSC Seaside in Miami in October. How did you get on in Fort Lauderdale? I think you must have gone to Miami for Seaside and Equinox. 🤔 We had an aft South Beach Condo suite on the Seaside. Highly recommend! You are right, stupid mistake. Too bad I can't go back and correct it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #33 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Dining Royal Princess The buffet food was good overall, we usually had breakfast and lunch at the Horizon Court. Many of the selections were repeated each day but we always found new dishes to try out. It was easy to get a table and I liked that they had the utensils at the table rather than collecting them at the food stations. Pastry area which includes a speciality coffee bar. The plates have been decorated but the desserts are not on the plates yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #34 Share Posted January 17, 2019 They did have a chocolate buffet toward the end of the week which we unfortunately missed and on the last sea day they had all you can eat lobster tails, shrimps and mussels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #35 Share Posted January 17, 2019 In addition they had cake fest, 10 different cakes of which we tried 5 of them. Yummy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #36 Share Posted January 17, 2019 We ate at the Symphony Anytime Dining room 3 times during the week. The food was very good overall. Our first meal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #37 Share Posted January 17, 2019 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 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fogfog Posted January 17, 2019 #38 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Nice to read the head to head comparisons. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healthworker Posted January 17, 2019 #39 Share Posted January 17, 2019 this is a fabulous comparison. One thing I found on princess was that the dining rooms did not look "fancy". your pictures confirm this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #40 Share Posted January 17, 2019 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 An area you can relax and have a drink before your reservation Our meal at Crown Grill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #41 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Sabatini’s Our meal at Super Tuscan Wine Dinner in Sabatini’s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 17, 2019 Author #42 Share Posted January 17, 2019 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 The morning display, the sandwiches are displayed starting at lunch Gelato Alfredo’s Trident Grill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swigso Posted January 18, 2019 #43 Share Posted January 18, 2019 This is a fantastic review thanks very much you have a great style of putting things down. Can you give an indication as to the smoking policy on the non Celebrity ships please. the one thing that keeps us loyal to Celebrity is their smoking policy which as you know does not allow smoking anywhere inside the ship thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterBill99 Posted January 18, 2019 #44 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, swigso said: This is a fantastic review thanks very much you have a great style of putting things down. Can you give an indication as to the smoking policy on the non Celebrity ships please. the one thing that keeps us loyal to Celebrity is their smoking policy which as you know does not allow smoking anywhere inside the ship thanks MSC has much more smoking because they get a lot of European travelers. In fact, half of the South Beach pool in the back of the ship on Seaside (deck 7) was smoking, making it pretty useless for anyone who did not smoke. Edited January 18, 2019 by MisterBill99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 18, 2019 Author #45 Share Posted January 18, 2019 9 hours ago, swigso said: This is a fantastic review thanks very much you have a great style of putting things down. Can you give an indication as to the smoking policy on the non Celebrity ships please. the one thing that keeps us loyal to Celebrity is their smoking policy which as you know does not allow smoking anywhere inside the ship thanks I don't know their policies but I did notice that Royal Princess had the Churchill's room, the door appeared to be closed all the time and you could only smell the smoke if you went inside. Besides that we did not noticed any area or were affected by smoke while inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 18, 2019 Author #46 Share Posted January 18, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 18, 2019 Author #47 Share Posted January 18, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 18, 2019 Author #48 Share Posted January 18, 2019 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micheleata Posted January 18, 2019 #49 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Loving this review! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyA53 Posted January 18, 2019 Author #50 Share Posted January 18, 2019 17 minutes ago, micheleata said: Loving this review! Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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