Equinox Dinner March 23, 2023

[C4HCG]

8 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We are booked on the HAL Konignsdam in November, one of their newer ships, and the Celebrity MDR menus are pitiful compared to HAL MDR. The OP posted the menu from last night on his cruise in the MDR and the starters are 2 salads and 2 soups, that is pitiful. After seeing what is being served in the MDR and what is not being served in the evening buffets, there is zero way I would book any future Celebrity cruise in less than a suite. My pitiful must be your acceptable way to dine if you find nothing wrong with the new menus this year.

We haven’t sailed this year so can’t offer an opinion. But in recent weeks there have been as many, if not more, positive reviews about the non-suite dining experience as negative. Not in the slightest bit worried that we won’t enjoy the food in MDR and OVC in September when we cruise and remind me to report back. Would never let one aspect of a cruise spoil the whole experience and absolutely certain we won’t starve. We feel lucky to be able to cruise Celebrity and if the food is pitiful then there are millions in this world who would love to be suffering with it. We count our blessings.

Edited March 25, 2023 by C4HCG

[southernbreezes]

Here is a recent review of the food just from the pictures I can not wait. My daughter was also on the Apex in January and she said the food was excellent so we all might want to wait before we say the food is not very good. Sure looks great to me.

https://thetravelsofmrsb.com/2023/02/08/dining-on-celebrity-apex/

[jean87510]

16 hours ago, giustot said:

I wouldn't get any.  Can't eat nuts or shellfish.  Not a fan of blue cheese.  Guess I'll be eating the bread.

[cluso]

9 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Tonight's entrees are Seared Branzino, which I'm a little cautious of because cruise ships tend to overcook fish, turkey parmesan that sounds cautiously interesting, Rigatoni Boscaiola that I'd probably order, if not for the Braised Lamb in phyllo that would be my first choice. 

 

We were on a Connie 11-night cruise in March.  Although it sounded very good, the Braised Lamb in phyllo wasn't good and was way too salty.  I couldn't eat it.  As I recall, my entrees were substandard for three evening meals in the MDR.

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, southernbreezes said:

Here is a recent review of the food just from the pictures I can not wait. My daughter was also on the Apex in January and she said the food was excellent so we all might want to wait before we say the food is not very good. Sure looks great to me.

https://thetravelsofmrsb.com/2023/02/08/dining-on-celebrity-apex/

So which appetizer on the OP's posted menu would you choose?

 

I would skip the appetizer.

[wwjd1947]

35 minutes ago, cluso said:

 

We were on a Connie 11-night cruise in March.  Although it sounded very good, the Braised Lamb in phyllo wasn't good and was way too salty.  I couldn't eat it.  As I recall, my entrees were substandard for three evening meals in the MDR.

We were on Connie's 11 night too on March 6 sailing.  We had a table for 8 and ate every night in the Main Dining Room.  None of my tablemates came away hungry but food selections were inconsistent.  One evening 4 people ordered the breaded pork chop.  Three were not edible and one was fine.

The beef selections were also inconsistent.  The evening we ordered Steak Diane rare and mine came well done and my husband's medium.  Most of us ordered prime rib the last night and it was sliced paper thin and even though we all ordered medium rare some got well done etc.  One night my husband and I ordered the beef toronedos and we could not cut into it as it was so tough and fatty.

Most every night someone at our table ordered the fish selection.  The portions were so small that everyone started ordering 2 fish entrees.  On a positive note, soups were always good and the desserts did not disappoint.  Midway though the cruise the maitre 'd came to our table with one of the chefs and asked our honest opinion of the food selections.  Everyone agreed that the beef selections were not acceptable and consistency was a problem.  Having been on 50+ cruises mostly on Royal or Celebrity we always looked forward to our evening meal in the main dining room but that is not the case anymore.  Instead of trying to decide between 2 entrees (as in previous cruises) we settle on one and hope it is acceptable. 

 

We have been on 4 Celebrity cruises since the shutdown and have a cruise on the Reflection transatlantic in October.  We will probably cancel. 

[markeb]

2 hours ago, cluso said:

 

We were on a Connie 11-night cruise in March.  Although it sounded very good, the Braised Lamb in phyllo wasn't good and was way too salty.  I couldn't eat it.  As I recall, my entrees were substandard for three evening meals in the MDR.

 

OK, but that's a separate question. The menu option was fine. The execution wasn't. Same end result, but not the same issue.

 

Hopefully you sent it back...

[cluso]

24 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

OK, but that's a separate question. The menu option was fine. The execution wasn't. Same end result, but not the same issue.

 

Hopefully you sent it back...

 

It was just a head's up for you....😝

[rmalbers]

I looked at the Apex food pictures in the link above, the only dish pictured that I had on EQ was the duck and the duck it was good.  I have had it before on X and it seemed the same as before.  Most of the dishes pictured were not on the MDR menu on EQ at the end of Jan 2023.  I have seen that before, it looks like the menus on E class ships have better selections than what is/was on EQ.  Another good dish I had was a spicy, thick fish that was really good (I think it was Cajun something maybe) and actually was a little spicy, real change for X on that one. 

[rmalbers]

14 hours ago, CTSandy said:

We laughed about the shrimp being the “Shrimpiest “ we’ve ever seen - they were the smallest ever!  I didn’t have the shrimp cocktail as escargot is my favorite - happy to report they were large and delicious!

Yes, I agree, the escargot I had were great and larger than what I had on the previous X cruise, they were so tiny it was funny.  I also used a tip I got here about dipping the bread in the escargot butter! 

[southernbreezes]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

So which appetizer on the OP's posted menu would you choose?

 

I would skip the appetizer.

there are also the standard everyday appetizers that he did not mention. I would have plenty to pick from but  I would do the escargot.

[mayleeman]

@rmalbers The Apex link also is typical of people who say all the food complaints are misguided because they had such great food. Most of the complaints since January have been about M and S class MDRs and OVC. Most of the "It's great' posts have been from E class or about dining in Luminae/Blu/specialty. 

[rmalbers]

22 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

@rmalbers The Apex link also is typical of people who say all the food complaints are misguided because they had such great food. Most of the complaints since January have been about M and S class MDRs and OVC. Most of the "It's great' posts have been from E class or about dining in Luminae/Blu/specialty. 

Yes, I've also noticed exactly what you are talking about.  I might try an E class ship if they start doing longer cruises somewhere I want to go.  

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, mayleeman said:

@rmalbers The Apex link also is typical of people who say all the food complaints are misguided because they had such great food. Most of the complaints since January have been about M and S class MDRs and OVC. Most of the "It's great' posts have been from E class or about dining in Luminae/Blu/specialty. 

I have noticed the same.

 

I do not view the menus on my M class cruise to be "great" by an wild stretch of the imagination.

Edited March 25, 2023 by NMTraveller

[NMTraveller]

2 hours ago, southernbreezes said:

there are also the standard everyday appetizers that he did not mention. I would have plenty to pick from but  I would do the escargot.

So you would not order anything from this menu.  Check.

 

The everday appetizers are the same,  and after a while you will get tired of them.  Especially on a 14 day cruise.

[southernbreezes]

2 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

So you would not order anything from this menu.  Check.

 

The everday appetizers are the same,  and after a while you will get tired of them.  Especially on a 14 day cruise.

I sometimes do not want an appetizer... lots of other items to order.  My upcoming cruise is 15 nights in a Celebrity Suite on the Apex we have 4 specialty restaurants booked to break things up a bit for dinner.  65 cruises and the food was very good on all of them even Carnival. My wife thinks Celebrity has the best food and she is an excellent cook so Celebrity is our cruise line. As for me, I like the E-Class ships so I am happy.

[C4HCG]

3 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

So you would not order anything from this menu.  Check.

 

The everday appetizers are the same,  and after a while you will get tired of them.  Especially on a 14 day cruise.

If the everday appetisers weren’t the same they wouldn’t be everyday appetisers 🤔

[Chardonnay Char]

19 hours ago, markeb said:

 

I'm honestly trying to understand. I'm looking at the day 6 Equinox menu in the app right now. The Grilled Asparagus salad is not something I would do at home, or have seen locally. It looks interesting. The wedge salad is pretty standard, and I'm hit or miss on the butternut squash soup. The Pasta Fagioli soup looks very good. It might not be, but there's nothing about it that's inherently bad. 

 

Tonight's entrees are Seared Branzino, which I'm a little cautious of because cruise ships tend to overcook fish, turkey parmesan that sounds cautiously interesting, Rigatoni Boscaiola that I'd probably order, if not for the Braised Lamb in phyllo that would be my first choice. Even the vegetarian couscous cake has my attention. None of them are things I'd have at home, and all could be very good.

 

I see nothing on the day 6 MDR menu that is pitiful. In fact I see several things that are intriguing because they're not something I've had before. And I find that interesting. Not pitiful.

If this is Day 6 of a 7 day cruise, would it not be one of the "up scale" nights?  

[NMTraveller]

2 hours ago, C4HCG said:

If the everday appetisers weren’t the same they wouldn’t be everyday appetisers 🤔

Just saying you would probably not eat the everday appetizers everday.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

 

 

[cruisinsusin]

On 3/25/2023 at 9:45 AM, wwjd1947 said:

We were on Connie's 11 night too on March 6 sailing.  We had a table for 8 and ate every night in the Main Dining Room.  None of my tablemates came away hungry but food selections were inconsistent.  One evening 4 people ordered the breaded pork chop.  Three were not edible and one was fine.

The beef selections were also inconsistent.  The evening we ordered Steak Diane rare and mine came well done and my husband's medium.  Most of us ordered prime rib the last night and it was sliced paper thin and even though we all ordered medium rare some got well done etc.  One night my husband and I ordered the beef toronedos and we could not cut into it as it was so tough and fatty.

Most every night someone at our table ordered the fish selection.  The portions were so small that everyone started ordering 2 fish entrees.  On a positive note, soups were always good and the desserts did not disappoint.  Midway though the cruise the maitre 'd came to our table with one of the chefs and asked our honest opinion of the food selections.  Everyone agreed that the beef selections were not acceptable and consistency was a problem.  Having been on 50+ cruises mostly on Royal or Celebrity we always looked forward to our evening meal in the main dining room but that is not the case anymore.  Instead of trying to decide between 2 entrees (as in previous cruises) we settle on one and hope it is acceptable. 

 

We have been on 4 Celebrity cruises since the shutdown and have a cruise on the Reflection transatlantic in October.  We will probably cancel. 

After following all the threads earlier in the year, we were a bit concerned before our Eclipse cruise as we would be dining in 

MDR. However, main dining food was overall very good/ excellent. One night did have the spring rolls and lobster ravioli included in the apps. The soups were good. Toronedos  were excellent as was steak Diane. There was not a beef choice every night except

for the everyday menu steak so did miss that. I was able to get the child’s filet on the non- beef offering nights. There was always a poultry choice and often a pork . Each fish option was really good ( different fish each night of the 10 and only one tilapia 😉).DH ate fish every night except

for the toronedos night. While not vegetarians, we enjoyed several of those options “ to share”. We would

not hesitate to dine in MDR for future cruises.

[NMTraveller]

After looking at the full menu for the full cruise I have concluded that there are only a couple of nights where you have the meh appetizers and a couple of nights where you have tilapia for dinner.  I can work around a couple of nights.  Hopefully those nights will be while in port and it will not even be an issue.

[terrydtx]

23 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

After looking at the full menu for the full cruise I have concluded that there are only a couple of nights where you have the meh appetizers and a couple of nights where you have tilapia for dinner.  I can work around a couple of nights.  Hopefully those nights will be while in port and it will not even be an issue.

Can't believe they still serve Tilapia for a fish entree. Tilapia is the cheapest trash fish you can buy and I will never eat any. Google how Tilapia is farm raised in 3rd world countries and you would not eat it either. You find Tilapia being served in places like Golden Coral and low end Mexican restaurants in "fish" Tacos. This is not what I would expect in the MDR of a cruise line that sells itself as Modern Luxury.

Edited March 26, 2023 by terrydtx

[NMTraveller]

29 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Can't believe they still serve Tilapia for a fish entree. Tilapia is the cheapest trash fish you can buy and I will never eat any. Google how Tilapia is farm raised in 3rd world countries and you would not eat it either. You find Tilapia being served in places like Golden Coral and low end Mexican restaurants in "fish" Tacos. This is not what I would expect in the MDR of a cruise line that sells itself as Modern Luxury.

LOL.

 

I am looking at this Oceania post.  

I will have to try them.  Instead of reducing my expectations with Celebrity I need to find a line that meets my expectations.

[terrydtx]

9 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

LOL.

 

I am looking at this Oceania post.  

I will have to try them.  Instead of reducing my expectations with Celebrity I need to find a line that meets my expectations.

We have our first Oceania cruise booked in 2025 and looking at some others. Luminae is the is the main reason we are not cancelling our upcoming Celebrity cruises. The other reason is we booked them at great rates and would not be booking at the current rates. Last year we found the MDR food in the HAL Oosterdam to be on equal with Luminae and far superior to Celebrity MDR. That HAL cruise followed our cruise on the Reflection in the Retreat so it gave us a great comparison and all 4 in our party agreed with my opinion above. We have 2 future cruises booked on HAL and with what we are saving over one on Celebrity we can eat in specialty restaurants every night and have money left over. Our Oceania cruise is 18 nights from Santiago to Buenos Ares and it is costing us $200pp less in a top concierge class Varanda than 14 nights on the Equinox in a Sky Suite with similar itinerary.

[teetoppz28]

I'm wondering if it was because of the port on that day?

 

My wife and I were on that cruise and docked in Curaçao that evening. We were off the ship for dinner and every place within walking distance was packed with people eating dinner. Possibly Celebrity planned for this and had scaled back their menu onboard? We've never seen so many people off ship for dinner in Curaçao!