Gastropub

[chamima]

I agree Orator. It's all speculation at this point. What's really odd, is that all ships (other than Century) will require a dedicated MDR venue for Suite guests. I cant see how that can possibly be accomplished while the ship is in service. From what Cle-guy posted, it seems 1/2 the fleet wont have a Drydock before the deadline. So, I'm not buying the list as it stands, and I suspect that other Drydocks (perhaps short ones ?) will be added to the ships that have nothing scheduled before April 2015.

 

As for Gastrobar, I look forward to additional comments to those who've experienced the venue on Equinox.

 

We'll see how it all plays out. Hopefully, we'll hear from Celebrity soon.

 

 

I agree.

Since April 15 is less than a year away, many people have already purchased their airfare.

Celebrity should be making announcements of schedule changes sooner rather than later to minimize impact on passengers!

[cle-guy]

I agree.

Since April 15 is less than a year away, many people have already purchased their airfare.

Celebrity should be making announcements of schedule changes sooner rather than later to minimize impact on passengers!

 

You guys have little faith on how relatively simple this task is.

 

As I said, I'm from the world of exhibit and tradeshow installation. If it'a all designed properly, it installs in 24 hours with a crew of 20 people, 24 more hours to do the design and finishing touches, and trade show, er, uh, dining room is done.

 

Really all they need to do is reduce the ship's capacity for a sailing to not overload the dining room and have sleeping berths for the installation crew, and have them go at it. Close some areas off for a couple days, like they did during that Celebrity staff meeting type cruise that caused a bunch of hoopla with closed venues during a cruise a few months back, and "soft" open it when done and work the kinks out then open to its dedicated audience the next cruise.

 

Cellar Masters to Gastro on S class ships, simple to block that entire hallway off and curtain it off the grand foyer area to make it look nice. On M class, a little more difficult, but they also don't have to rebuild an entire bar either, it's already in place so that pass through area can still work. Honestly in that space, I thought it looked a little redone on Connie and Summit already, the floor tile looked new anyway, so probably more of a new carpet and furniture deal there.

 

On my Eclipse TA this spring, they replaced much of the carpet in SkyLounge while underway over a couple days.

 

Suite dining room, likely is taking over part of upper level of MDR on both M and S, so simply bolt some walls up overnight where the railing is and make an enclosed room, them make a mess inside for the entire week if needed to outfit it.

[Orator]

You guys have little faith on how relatively simple this task is.

 

As I said, I'm from the world of exhibit and tradeshow installation. If it'a all designed properly, it installs in 24 hours with a crew of 20 people, 24 more hours to do the design and finishing touches, and trade show, er, uh, dining room is done.

 

Really all they need to do is reduce the ship's capacity for a sailing to not overload the dining room and have sleeping berths for the installation crew, and have them go at it. Close some areas off for a couple days, like they did during that Celebrity staff meeting type cruise that caused a bunch of hoopla with closed venues during a cruise a few months back, and "soft" open it when done and work the kinks out then open to its dedicated audience the next cruise.

 

Cellar Masters to Gastro on S class ships, simple to block that entire hallway off and curtain it off the grand foyer area to make it look nice. On M class, a little more difficult, but they also don't have to rebuild an entire bar either, it's already in place so that pass through area can still work. Honestly in that space, I thought it looked a little redone on Connie and Summit already, the floor tile looked new anyway, so probably more of a new carpet and furniture deal there.

 

On my Eclipse TA this spring, they replaced much of the carpet in SkyLounge while underway over a couple days.

 

Suite dining room, likely is taking over part of upper level of MDR on both M and S, so simply bolt some walls up overnight where the railing is and make an enclosed room, them make a mess inside for the entire week if needed to outfit it.

 

What you are saying seems reasonable and I hope you are correct. I also hope that I'm not on a ship if they are converting during a cruise. They should warn passengers if they plan a change during a cruise and give them an opportunity to rebook another cruise without penalty. Perhaps give some discount for the trouble. They still have not announced if GastroPub is going fleet wide. Any announcement should be made ASAP.

[need2bespoiled]

It looks to me like they could do the changes in dry dock for 5 ships but

Reflection, Silhouette, Solstice and of course Equinox don't have time scheduled down before April 2015. So 5 could be done in dry dock and only 4 that would need to be done underway if they don't change something in their schedules. The start date for those 4 to have the suite dining room "officially" are:

 

 

SL- 4/3/15

RF- 4/4/15 (3 ships including Reflection actually go live on this day)

SI- 4/5/15

EQ - 4/6/15

 

It's interesting they are going live all so closely in a row. You'd think they would have the same crew go from ship to ship to do the changes so they learned from their challenges on the others change overs. It still may be possible do use the same "construction crew". They could do the installs in March to allow training and set-up time to go live on the above cruise dates (based on sailing dates). It has me thinking that the first "live" sailings could be either very special, or a bit rocky (I'm not thinking rocky). The certainly can't have the same chef/staff on board to launch all them, one at a time. We'll get to experience it first hand as we're onboard for one of the inaugural sailings with the new benefits but if it was me, I would launch them consecutively and not simultaneously.

 

Only time will tell but I'll side with Cle-Guy on this one and bet they do something in the dark of night during a cruise with a lighter load.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Edited June 21, 2014 by need2bespoiled

[Rubo87]

In what ship is the gastropub? Going on Silhouette on july 3rd and the menu seems delicious ☺️

 

 

Enviado desde mi iPhone con Forums

[need2bespoiled]

In what ship is the gastropub? Going on Silhouette on july 3rd and the menu seems delicious ☺️

 

 

Enviado desde mi iPhone con Forums

 

Currently only on Equinox.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Cruising89143]

I very much doubt that they would do the conversion while ships were in service. I can just imagine the complaints from passengers about the noise, dirt and non available of the venue.

 

I agree. Too much work to do with the ship in service. With the installation of the bar itself there has to be plumbing placed in this area. Not an easy thing to do with a ship in service.

[cle-guy]

I agree. Too much work to do with the ship in service. With the installation of the bar itself there has to be plumbing placed in this area. Not an easy thing to do with a ship in service.

 

On the M class ships, bar is already in place...

 

S class, not sure where it was placed on Equinox specifically, but the ceilings on the ships are all fake, ceilings, taken down with a couple of screws to get into the mechanical area that hides in the ceiling itself., zip zip zip with screw gun, access to the space from the ares underneath cellar masters, run 1 drain and 1 hot and 1 cold water to the bar, plumbing done. zip zip zip, screwgun the ceiling panels back to the ceiling, done. that'a an afternoon DIY project for a hack carpenter like myself, for the pros, nothing.

 

Actually looking at deck plans, it shares a wall with ladies' room, so pending bar placement, that makes it even easier. Below is Passport bar and Shore Excursions, both spaces easily closed off for a brief period of time to do that task overnight.

 

I'm an operations guy at heart - so love problem solving and getting things done in the shortest amount of time possible with the littlest bit of interruption to the daily business. Also went through 3 hotel renovations while working with Marriott in college days, closing spaces, building fake walls etc., to redo spaces all without actually closing down.

[cle-guy]

It looks to me like they could do the changes in dry dock for 5 ships but

Reflection, Silhouette, Solstice and of course Equinox don't have time scheduled down before April 2015. So 5 could be done in dry dock and only 4 that would need to be done underway if they don't change something in their schedules. The start date for those 4 to have the suite dining room "officially" are:

 

 

SL- 4/3/15

RF- 4/4/15 (3 ships including Reflection actually go live on this day)

SI- 4/5/15

EQ - 4/6/15

 

It's interesting they are going live all so closely in a row. You'd think they would have the same crew go from ship to ship to do the changes so they learned from their challenges on the others change overs. It still may be possible do use the same "construction crew". They could do the installs in March to allow training and set-up time to go live on the above cruise dates (based on sailing dates). It has me thinking that the first "live" sailings could be either very special, or a bit rocky (I'm not thinking rocky). The certainly can't have the same chef/staff on board to launch all them, one at a time. We'll get to experience it first hand as we're onboard for one of the inaugural sailings with the new benefits but if it was me, I would launch them consecutively and not simultaneously.

 

Only time will tell but I'll side with Cle-Guy on this one and bet they do something in the dark of night during a cruise with a lighter load.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

I think that BECAUSE they are going live so close in a row they plan on "task forcing this" All ships will be in Caribbean market at that time (correct me here, if necessary, but my general observation is all X ships find their way to Caribbean for the winters, maybe some stay in Asia markets?), they can have the facilities complete BEFROE they go live date if they want to, and have crews muster in whatever ports the ships will all tend to embark and knock it out, and actually do as you say, go ship to ship learning from prior issues. I'd even say they will have 2 sets of crews, 1 for M class and another for S class, since each installation will be same within a class but vary dramatically between the classes.

 

So long as they have loaded on all the materials tools and equipment needed, they can then just have staff move around the caribbean while under sail and do the ships, perhaps even doing 3 ships in a 7 day period - disembarking the workers in ports along the way coordinated to have easy access to the next ship at the same port, or with a small inter-island flight to the next ship at alternate ports.

 

I'd even go so far as to stay that the ships that DO get dry-docks before, WON'T get these changes implemented during that time - at least not Suite Dining with its tight implementation timeline, GastroBar and Slush, if rolled out fleet wide, they MAY just do those in dry-docks, not doing the whole fleet until the whole fleet gets thorough its dry dock schedule. But then again, they may want GastroBar open ASAP as its now a revenue generator...if it's working on EQ.

 

Look how they did Canyon Ranch change in a 2 week period fleet-wide this year with no dry dock time or interruption. Sure, not much physical change there, but changes nonetheless. It takes a long time to move in and out a whole retail store and supplies and such. Especially when you have in effect "booted" the prior tenant out, and its staff, they aren't really too into helping with the expeditions removal of their belongings and staff....

 

Doing an unplanned even short dry dock would cost them soooooo much revenue, they would be nuts to do that, that loss in revenue/profit would take a lot of $7 GastroBurgers to make up....But closing the cellar masters space off for a few days while underway, hardly anything...they may even save money not paying the staff that is in that location with the few people that seem to actually spend actually money there! And it's not like someone who wants a wine is just gonna say, oh well, i'll drink tap water - they will find wine someplace else.

[wallie5446]

 

S class, not sure where it was placed on Equinox specifically.

 

The Cellar Masters area.

[cle-guy]

They could do the installs in March to allow training and set-up time to go live on the above cruise dates (based on sailing dates). It has me thinking that the first "live" sailings could be either very special, or a bit rocky (I'm not thinking rocky). The certainly can't have the same chef/staff on board to launch all them, one at a time. We'll get to experience it first hand as we're onboard for one of the inaugural sailings with the new benefits but if it was me, I would launch them consecutively and not simultaneously.

 

Only time will tell but I'll side with Cle-Guy on this one and bet they do something in the dark of night during a cruise with a lighter load.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

This gets at something I observed on Summit on May. While being escorted from Celalr Masters to Normandie for our Wine pairing dinner, we passed thru multiple kitchens along the way, even using the fun escalators in the MDR to the kitchens :D .

 

We noticed that had sample dishes for all meal placed for staff to know what they should look like. Them we came across an entire tray of perhaps 7 differently presented hamburgers, some double deckers, with various fix in's etc. There is no restaurant that offers a selection of burgers, so I imagined they may be testing for GastroBar theore to get them right, then be able to train staff in advance of how the food is to be prepared and presented....perhaps in the month leading up to the roll out they will bring staff to a central ship or kitchen form all ships to do that, then send a rep (not necessarily a chef) from the "test kitchen" staff to each ship to oversee during the rollout. This is how Marriott rolled out new hotels (I also Task Forced new hotel openings, training front desk staff...more of my operational love...!)

[cle-guy]

The Cellar Masters area.

 

I meant exactly where was the pub bar, the actual bar, placed. What was in its place prior, trying to determine where it may "draw" it's plumbing needs from....

[Cruising89143]

On the M class ships, bar is already in place...

 

S class, not sure where it was placed on Equinox specifically, but the ceilings on the ships are all fake, ceilings, taken down with a couple of screws to get into the mechanical area that hides in the ceiling itself., zip zip zip with screw gun, access to the space from the ares underneath cellar masters, run 1 drain and 1 hot and 1 cold water to the bar, plumbing done. zip zip zip, screwgun the ceiling panels back to the ceiling, done. that'a an afternoon DIY project for a hack carpenter like myself, for the pros, nothing.

 

Actually looking at deck plans, it shares a wall with ladies' room, so pending bar placement, that makes it even easier. Below is Passport bar and Shore Excursions, both spaces easily closed off for a brief period of time to do that task overnight.

 

I'm an operations guy at heart - so love problem solving and getting things done in the shortest amount of time possible with the littlest bit of interruption to the daily business. Also went through 3 hotel renovations while working with Marriott in college days, closing spaces, building fake walls etc., to redo spaces all without actually closing down.

 

I guess we will see but I don't see it happening until dry dock. Also the bar is not located on the wall backed up to the ladies room. It's on the opposite end.

[cle-guy]

I guess we will see but I don't see it happening until dry dock. Also the bar is not located on the wall backed up to the ladies room. It's on the opposite end.

 

That makes it probably even simpler, theres a large room there that is not public space that probably has very simple access to necessary utilities. Is that the wall the Enomatics are on? they would most likely have drains of some sort plumbed in in case they overran, like a beer tap system uses.

 

That space may even be a kitchen type area for facilitating the Casino bar and cellar masters needs as well already.

[wallie5446]

I meant exactly where was the pub bar, the actual bar, placed. What was in its place prior, trying to determine where it may "draw" it's plumbing needs from....

 

If you look back at the pictures in post #95, the new bar area is to the left when you enter. By the stair case, just across from the Martini bar. It is where all the old wine machine thingies used to be:D and the door to the back storage area was.

[WestLakeGirl]

Any more reports from diners who have been there? How was the food? How comfortable is it to eat there (some of the tables look quite small and low, not a comfortable place to have a meal)

[Christine Frances]

Any more reports from diners who have been there? How was the food? How comfortable is it to eat there (some of the tables look quite small and low, not a comfortable place to have a meal)

 

I think we would sit in the comfy sofas for a drink and/or small plate but if we wanted a meal we would move to the bar chairs or the high tops. Works for us:D I think we would use it mainly as a bar but might try it for lunch. We usually don't eat much after that as we have early seating.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Christine Frances

[NCruiser2012]

We ate at the GastroBar on the Equinox. We wanted something casual, so we decided to eat there for dinner one night. The World Cup was on TV, so the the pub was pretty crowded, which gave it a nice vibe. The day before, when we walked by, it was empty.

 

I thought the portions were huge. The hamburgers were way over half a pound each. The burgers come with french fries by the way. The flat bread was very generous. I wish I had shared it with someone. I thought the food was good and well worth the money.

 

This venue is really not set up for dining. There are not a lot of tables. We made due with using the ottomans as tables for our food. As I said, the World Cup was showing on TV, so the there were way more people than normal.

[cle-guy]

My take is the GastroBar is not intended as a place to get a full meal, it's more a place to drink a bunch of beers and get something to soak up the booze on your tummy when you get to that point. I think it's a-la-carte pricing model also tends to prove this out as well as the space not having proper dining tables for eating.

[NCruiser2012]

I thought this was a nice venue for when you are tired, don't want to dress up and want something besides the buffet.

[cruzin4sun]

We stopped by each day so DH could try a new beer and once, late in the cruise, we ordered food. I had the burger and DH had the bone marrow. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. Wish I had tried the burger earlier, it was delicious.

[latjr]

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/14037410_CEL_Suites_FAQs.pdf

 

Where will the dedicated private restaurant be located?

The restaurant exclusively for Suite Class guests will be located in a newly created space just off the Main restaurant. On Millennium Class ships, the restaurant will be located on Deck 5 Port side. On Solstice Class ships, it will be located on Deck 4 Port side.

 

 

Isn't Summit's Blu on deck 5 port side carved out of the main dining room? I'm trying to envision where the suite restaurant will be.

[cle-guy]

Isn't Summit's Blu on deck 5 port side carved out of the main dining room? I'm trying to envision where the suite restaurant will be.

 

It is, but if you look at current deck plan, you can see there is still a bit of select dining space back behind it fully in the port/aft corner.

 

Some have speculated this will be the space, though if you read the description X says a "newly created space" but it's hard to find any unused space in the area to be made into a restaurant so I do believe this aft/corner space will be the restaurant.

[noggy1980]

As someone in a wheelchair who needs a table for eating there is no way I'm able to eat in that venue, disappointing this was an addition I was looking forward to.:(

[NCruiser2012]

As someone in a wheelchair who needs a table for eating there is no way I'm able to eat in that venue, disappointing this was an addition I was looking forward to.:(

 

Most of the tables do seem to be bar height, but there are lots of little end tables that can be pulled up to your wheelchair. These tables are a decent height. At least you could put your drink and snacks to the side where you can reach then.