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

[modes]

Thanks for the great review and your comparisons and we totally agree MSC has the best shows at sea.

[shukapaw]

We've sailed all three of those ships. Last summer we did a B2B on Seaside and Equinox.

 

This was our first (and last) sailing with Celebrity. We did not care for the product... it really left us feeling unimpressed. The shows were terrible. As many others have stated, "there really is no such thing as a bad cruise". However, we will be spending our hard-earned dollars on something other that Celebrity in the future. I guess that certain people are just a better "fit" for certain cruise lines. We'll be back on the Seaside for a B2B again this summer. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.

 

~Brian

[floridian1]

Wow the times the arcade area is open is terrible! Doesn't open at night until 1030?? That's crazy ...they must not want familys to play together at night because 1030 is too late for many kids.  That line is also ridiculous by the bowling alley. 

 

Thank you for the review..looking forward to our cruise.

[MikeyA53]

23 hours ago, Krickett said:

Thank you, great review so far, we are going on Seaside in a few weeks and did Equinox last fall, so am really looking forward to the rest of your review from a fellow Canuck!

One question please, did you require tie up shoes for the zip line? I have looked but cannot seem to find the answer any where.

 

 

Thank you. In regards to the zip line, I don't know since we did not try it. Sorry

[MikeyA53]

19 hours ago, Captain Canuck said:

Mikey...glad to see you are back.  We did the Royal Princess from Quebec to Ft Lauderdale in the fall.  Had been on it once before. They decorated it with photos from a contest they ran prior to launch.  Winner got a free cruise.  Runner ups got to provide free photos for the ship..and like me would probably book a cruise to check out their prints.  My best friend on that ship was the girl at the ice cream booth by the pool.  

 

 

 

Hi Captain, nice to hear from you again. 

[MikeyA53]

17 hours ago, shukapaw said:

We've sailed all three of those ships. Last summer we did a B2B on Seaside and Equinox.

 

This was our first (and last) sailing with Celebrity. We did not care for the product... it really left us feeling unimpressed. The shows were terrible. As many others have stated, "there really is no such thing as a bad cruise". However, we will be spending our hard-earned dollars on something other that Celebrity in the future. I guess that certain people are just a better "fit" for certain cruise lines. We'll be back on the Seaside for a B2B again this summer. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. 

 

~Brian

 

 

You are right there is no such thing as a bad cruise in my experience. 

[MikeyA53]

 

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 was 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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

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.

 

 

[MikeyA53]

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

In addition they had cake fest, 10 different cakes of which we tried 5 of them. Yummy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

An area you can relax and have a drink before your reservation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our meal at Crown Grill 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

Sabatini’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our meal at  Super Tuscan Wine Dinner in 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 

 

 

 

 

The morning display, the sandwiches are displayed starting at lunch

 

 

 

 

 

Gelato 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alfredo’s 

 

 

 

 

 

Trident Grill 

 

 

[mexico8]

What a great trip report.   Love all the pictures of the ships and food.   Thanks so much for taking the time to do it.  We have been on the Poesia one time and taking a second MSC cruise on the Armonia at the end of April.   Our Poesia food was not nearly as good as your food on MSC Seaside.

[mexico8]

BTW - we are neighbours of yours - we live in Gatineau.

[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]

1 hour ago, mexico8 said:

What a great trip report.   Love all the pictures of the ships and food.   Thanks so much for taking the time to do it.  We have been on the Poesia one time and taking a second MSC cruise on the Armonia at the end of April.   Our Poesia food was not nearly as good as your food on MSC Seaside.

 

1 hour ago, mexico8 said:

BTW - we are neighbours of yours - we live in Gatineau.

 

 

Thanks neighbor.

[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]

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[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