ghdool

In Jan. 2024, I was on my 1st CC since covid. We have travelled on CC several times since 2010. We were recently on the Equinox, destinations Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao. We were so impressed. The staff in MDR and buffet, bend over backwards for you. In the MDR we had exceptional service and food was brought out hot. If we had any issue, there were managers milling about regularly. They seem to watch over the operations very closely on the floor and get right in there, if there is a problem. The food was great and the menus provided plenty of great choices. There were many nights when I couldn't make up my mind which main course I wanted because there were several items that sounded so good, I didn't want to miss them. The staff were so accommodating and were happy to give me some of 1 item and some of the other. We would give CC 5 stars out of 5 for just about everything. Although we are accentuating the positive here, I would say that the bottled water, called True Life, was awful. There is a taste in it, which I did not enjoy. Also on the Classic drink package, they only provided wines from Chile, only 1 choice of red, white, sparkling- we tried them all. Not great. Decoy that others mentioned on this thread must be on the premium package, right? The other issue for me was that I remember desserts on CC cruises prior to covid that were amazing. I did not enjoy the desserts on this last voyage and they were not like I remember them on previous cruises. They used to have the best cheesecake, with mounds of berries on the top. That doesn't exist anymore the cheese cake doesn't have the same texture and no berries at all, just a sauce. I also found chocolate based desserts really lacking on our cruise .A chocolate eclair didn't even taste like a chocolate eclair. I asked about why the desserts are not at the same level as before and I was told they are dealing with budgets. The only other problem I encountered was the lack of blueberries at the buffet and in MDR for breakfast. None of these issues would be a deal breaker for us. We already have 3 more cruises booked on CC. We were recently on Oceania and considering it was double the price of CC, we found that it really went downhill. We were on 2 OC voyages prior to covid and remembered how impressed we were with the food. I really feel that CC is surpassing OC now, in my opinion. Pricewise, we have had good deals on our upcoming cruises. As someone else posted here, we got a group booking with our TA this week, with an all included package to the Italian Riviera and even fully refundable. This was similar to prices I used to get prior to covid. So that would be a huge plus for us. BTW we will not go back on OC- the menus, service, bad attitudes, lack of managers, etc were too much to deal with. Even the specialty restaurants were not like they used to be, except maybe in Polo.

Thanks for the advice, and Joanne G for the good wishes too. It's been 4 years since we've been on a cruise, so I did not remember if they had a microwave oven or not. The oatmeal station sounds like my best bet and easy when I'll be in the buffet. I will be on an ABC cruise and glad to get away from the snow and lousy weather at home.

I'm traveling on the Equinox shortly. Is there a microwave oven in the buffet anywhere? If not, is it possible to ask the staff to heat up something in a microwave oven in their kitchen at breakfast time? Is there somewhere on the buffet where I can get hot milk, the main thing I wanted to heat up in a microwave oven? I'll be in a Concierge cabin. Would they bring you hot milk with the free continental breakfast if I am not going to the buffet?