Picturesof Dinner on the Edge and video Magic Carpet from S3

[[g]cruiserke]

We were on the Edge for the second time this week. Our first cruise in December was in an IV and we tried most of the specialty restaurants on that cruise, with the exception of Dinner on the Edge. The menu at that time (Mexican food served buffet style) didn't really appeal to us for the price ($65). 

 

So we were happy to learn here on Cruisecritic.com that the menu of Dinner on the Edge had been completely overhauled - one of the many changes on the Edge in the past few months, all positive in our opinion. 

 

This time we were in an S3 suite (situated on deck 8 on the forward corner between the Magic Carpet rails and have mainly dined in Luminae (excellent service, some good meals, some so-so meals and a bit too limited a menu for us) but having Dinner on the Edge was on our must-do list for this cruise. 

 

As this is a one-time per cruise, one seating only dining experience, which can not be reserved before boarding, getting a reservation can be tricky. Being in a suite certainly helps, not  because Celebrity gives preference to suite passengers who want to book (as far as I know it's "first come, first served") but suite passengers generally can board the ship early. 

 

We were among the first to board in Sunday, getting on the ship at around 10h30 am. We were so early that they had the Sunset Bar roped off because there still was a camera crew there taking publicity pictures. So instead we went to the Retreat Lounge and asked one of the concierges to make our Dinner on the Edge reservation. 

 

Turns out, being first in this case was not an advantage but caused us problems. 

 

At that time (just before 11 am) the Celebrity app and the restaurant reservation system had Dinner on the Edge listed for day 4 so we were booked for that day.  We grew concerned when by about 6 pm that night, we still didn't see our booking in the app and, furthermore, the description of Dinner on the Edge in the app now said it would take place in day 5, not day 4.

 

We immediately went back to the Retreat Lounge to enquire about the status of our booking. The concierge on duty (a different one from earlier) confirmed that the dinner would be on day 5, we did NOT have a confirmed booking and that that by now the dinner was fully booked out. 

 

Turned out that our booking earlier was made before the reservation system was reset for the new cruise (apparently the dinner is on day 4 on Eastern Caribbean sailings and day 5 for Western) and they'd lost our booking with that reset. 

 

Obviously we were rather upset, as we felt that this was an error on Celebrity's part, not ours. Unfortunately the concierge could not offer an immediate solution. Over the next few days we talked to the Luminae Maitre d', our butler and the original Retreat Lounge concierge who'd made the early booking, each time voicing our disappointment but remaining courteous. 

 

By day two in the evening, our butler came by our suite to share the good news that somehow they'd managed to get us a table after all. He was surprised, because in his experience, of trying to get a booking for dinner on the Edge, once it's full, it's full and unless you're in one of the larger suites, getting a table is almost impossible. 

 

In any case, we were thrilled to be able to fulfill our bucket list item. 

 

We were expected on day 4 (Cozumel) at 6h20 pm. Sail away and sunset were around 7 pm that evening. I don't know if the dinner timing is planned specifically to coincide with sunset and sail away, but this timing made the experience extra magical. 

 

At 6h20 pm when we arrived about five tables were already seated and we saw other people join until about 7 pm. Not sure if they deliberately stagger arrivals to ease the service or if this was a coincidence. 

 

Our two-top table was next to the outer railing of the Magic Carpet, so we really were on the edge of the Edge. .

 

Celebrity seems to have a marketing promotion with Veuve Clicquot champagne at the moment. There were promotions in the casino to win bottles of champagne and on the Magic Carpet Veuve is heavily promoted, with nice champagne displays everywhere. So we decided to make our dining experience as decadent as possible and we had Veuve Clicquot throughout the evening. We had the Premium package but had to pay an additional $5 per glass - well worth it, Veuve is is one of our favorite mainstream champagnes. 

 

The menu was laying on the table and this was indeed the much improved menu we'd seen on cruisecritic.com

 

To us, having been to all the other specialty restaurants, it seemed as if this was a menu sampling some of the nicer items from those other restaurants: excellent seafood from Raw on 5, great steaks from Fine Cut Steakhouse, imaginative dessert from Eden and a few locally inspired Mexican dishes. 

 

You get EVERYTHING on the menu you don't need to choose and dinner is served family style, sharing everything. 

 

We felt that there was a bit too much food, and the main course (chateaubriand steak, lobster and snapper) was served all on one plate, with different sauces running into each other so that was a bit unfortunate, but easily fixed if Celebrity wants to improve Dinner on the Edge even more. 

 

But everything was very delicious, excellent quality and service was faultlessly great.

 

There was hardly any wind though towards the end of the evening when we hit open seas and picked up speed, it did get a bit windier. It did not become bothersome at our table, next to the glass railing but tables toward the middle of the Magic Carpet did have their table cloth blowing up and around a bit - though again, only toward the end of the evening (and the people at that particular table had arrived very fashionably later around 7h30 so they missed sunset and sail away).

 

For us, this what really made the night priceless though, were the views. We had an amazing sunset and sail away from Cozumel. It really gave me goosebumps and that rare feeling of utter contentment that you (well, we) can only get on a perfect day on a perfect cruise.

 

In our opinion at $65 each, this experience is a steal.  But don't tell Celebrity about that 😉. 

 

Below are some pictures of our evening. Once the sun had set, there was led orange lighting which unfortunately made our pictures look worse than during the earlier daylight. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited April 20, 2019 by [g]cruiserke

[[g]cruiserke]

Oh, I almost forgot; from our S3 we saw the Magic Carpet pass by our balcony several times. It's pretty fast, it blocks the view about one minute and it's a fascinating view. I made a time lapse video one time it passed by.

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by [g]cruiserke

[vtcruising]

Thanks so much for reporting and getting great pictures. This looks more like the original concept that I pictured. It took them a while to get there, but it looks great! It does seem like too much food and a good price. Did your food get cold quickly? That is why they said they didn't want to do it anymore in January. Maybe timing is everything - eating early before you get too far into the open seas as you did?

 

I'm happy that you had one of those special moments of contentment during Dinner on the Edge. We had some of those special moments on the Edge too (one was watching the sun set during dinner on the MC when it was on 5). I'm sure the lovely tiny bubbles of the Veuve Clicquot helped as well! 🥂

 

 

[vtcruising]

23 minutes ago, [g]cruiserke said:

Oh, I almost forgot; from our S3 we saw the Magic Carpet pass by our balcony several times. It's pretty fast, it blocks the view about one minute and it's a fascinating view. I made a time lapse video one time it passed by.

Cool video!!

[[g]cruiserke]

20 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

Did your food get cold quickly? That is why they said they didn't want to do it anymore in January. Maybe timing is everything - eating early before you get too far into the open seas as you did?

 

 

The timing indeed helped with the wind issue, as well as the staggered arrival of guests so food could be delivered to each table direct from the preparation area, which was the Mast Grill directly next to the Magic Carpet.  If I remember correctly, originally there were two seatings (early and late) with all guests having to be served simultaneously. 

 

The menu tweaks probably also have been made to remedy the temperature issue. Two of the first courses were cold dishes: the charcuterie board and the seafood platter. 

Edited April 20, 2019 by [g]cruiserke

[hcat]

Thanks for a great mini review.

What was the charge?

 

Not sure we could do the shared  food plating as dh is very allergic to lobster.

 

We hope to spend more time out there on our return later this yr .  In January   we just sat out early in the day with drinks..great views..

[vtcruising]

38 minutes ago, [g]cruiserke said:

 

The timing indeed helped with the wind issue, as well as the staggered arrival of guests so food could be delivered to each table direct from the preparation area, which was the Mast Grill directly next to the Magic Carpet.  If I remember correctly, originally there were two seatings (early and late) with all guests having to be served simultaneously. 

 

The menu tweaks probably also have been made to remedy the temperature issue. Two of the first courses were cold dishes: the charcuterie board and the seafood platter. 

I would bet that the difference is using the Mast Grill for prep. Brilliant idea! They said they were bringing the food up and it was getting cold, so I assumed it was coming from one of the main galleys (I may have misunderstood). They also were doing it as a buffet, so I can see how it would get cold. They had the cold and hot items at the buffet.

 

Ours was on 5 so the food was prepared at Raw on 5 and served perfectly. We tried to sit at the rail (we were the first ones there and could choose), but it was windier than next to the hull, so we sat near the hull. We still had a wonderful view of the sunset and a magical night. The staff was great too!!

 

Happy to see that it is working!

Edited April 20, 2019 by vtcruising

[[g]cruiserke]

9 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thanks for a great mini review.

What was the charge?

 

Not sure we could do the shared  food plating as dh is very allergic to lobster.

 

 

It was $65 a person.

 

There was seafood and specifically lobster for both one of the appetisers and for the main course and as mentioned the main course lobster was served in the same plage as the other main course items so for people with a severe allergy this could be problematic. 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, [g]cruiserke said:

 

It was $65 a person.

 

There was seafood and specifically lobster for both one of the appetisers and for the main course and as mentioned the main course lobster was served in the same plage as the other main course items so for people with a severe allergy this could be problematic. 

Thanks.. price seems reasonable for the menu but I .guess that  it won't work for dh...but we still hope to enjoy the MC area...maybe another time when it is not the special dinner!  Thanks again for all the info and great photos

Edited April 21, 2019 by hcat

[Gonzo70]

Thanks for posting this; we were actually on the Cozumel Chef tour with you that day (didn’t realize you were on Cruise Critic at the time); such a fun tour and was nice meeting you. We encountered the same issue with the Dinner on the Edge. Also boarded at 10:30, went directly to the Retreat Lounge and requested to book the Magic Carpet dinner with Cali.  Followed up with her a couple of times, and she gave some wishy washy excuse as to it being full (despite us being among the first few people to try and book).  We didn’t press the issue once we learned it was the same day as Cozumel since we figured we’d be pretty full from the food tour in port. Am curious if you also booked with her day 1 (we have unfortunately had a couple different issues with her making mistakes and not following through or attempting to make them right - but instead making excuses).  Had been a pretty good cruise overall, but how the Dinner on the Edge bookings were handled were definitely a blemish. 

[[g]cruiserke]

8 minutes ago, Gonzo70 said:

Thanks for posting this; we were actually on the Cozumel Chef tour with you that day (didn’t realize you were on Cruise Critic at the time); such a fun tour and was nice meeting you. We encountered the same issue with the Dinner on the Edge. Also boarded at 10:30, went directly to the Retreat Lounge and requested to book the Magic Carpet dinner with Cali.  Followed up with her a couple of times, and she gave some wishy washy excuse as to it being full (despite us being among the first few people to try and book).  We didn’t press the issue once we learned it was the same day as Cozumel since we figured we’d be pretty full from the food tour in port. Am curious if you also booked with her day 1 (we have unfortunately had a couple different issues with her making mistakes and not following through or attempting to make them right - but instead making excuses).  Had been a pretty good cruise overall, but how the Dinner on the Edge bookings were handled were definitely a blemish. 

 

Yeah, it was Cali who made the initial booking which was lost in the system, we went back to her, to one of her colleagues, to the Luminae maitre, to our butler and to the restaurant manager to find a solution. I don't want to point fingers or assign blame but somebody definitely dropped the ball somewhere. We're happy it worked out for us, sorry to hear you guys didn't make it in the end. Oh well, great excuse to book a next Edge class cruise so you can experience Dinner on the Edge a next time.

 

It was great meeting you guys as well, that was a really great tour of cozumel and Mexican cuisine, wasn't it! 

[DebInAntigua]

I wonder on the 9 night Edge in November (Southern Caribbean) if it will still be on Day 5?

Edited April 21, 2019 by DebInAntigua
Typo

[lmklimmek]

21 hours ago, Gonzo70 said:

Also boarded at 10:30, went directly to the Retreat Lounge and requested to book the Magic Carpet dinner with Cali.  Followed up with her a couple of times, and she gave some wishy washy excuse as to it being full (despite us being among the first few people to try and book).  

 

A bit off topic but worth noting... unfortunately, we've also had disappointing experiences with Cali (but on a different ship). There was a lack of follow through and she would tend to make excuses for things (or get defensive) instead of attempting to resolve them.  

[lmklimmek]

Thank you for the review and pictures.  The dinner looks like a fabulous time!!!