Questions about specialty restaurants, inclusions/exclusions, and wine

[Leejnd4]

I'm considering booking a cruise on Equinox for late 2009. I haven't been on a Celebrity ship in many years - all of my cruises in recent years have been on Regent, which is an all-inclusive line, and Windstar, which is a very small ship with open-seated dining. (So I acknowledge that I've been rather spoiled!) I have a few questions, and I'm hoping that you experienced Celebrity cruisers can answer them for me...primarily so I'll know what to expect and how to budget for this cruise for the items I will have to pay extra for.

 

First, about the specialty restaurants. We're going to book an AquaClass stateroom, so our main seating will actually be in Blu, rather than the main dining room. I've been reading on this board that many regular Celebrity cruisers feel that the food quality in the main dining rooms has slipped, and is no longer up to previous standards. What about the specialty restaurants? What is the general consensus on those dining experiences?

 

We'll also want to try the other specialty restaurants besides Blu. I'll be cruising with my Mom, and one of the things we've enjoyed about Regent's open seating policy is that we can ask to be seated at a larger table, so that we can meet other cruisers. I know that you have to make reservations at the specialty restaurants -- when we do so, can we similarly ask to be seated at a larger table, so we can dine with others? Or must we know in advance who we want to dine with, and make reservations with them? (As you can imagine, Mom and I are NOT looking for romantic tables for two - that's why we go on cruises, so we're not stuck just talking to each other for the whole trip!) ;)

 

What is the current rate for specialty restaurants? Is the consensus that the rate will be about the same on the Solstice class ships, or are you expecting it to be higher?

 

Now, about other costs - I know that soft drinks are not included. I don't drink sodas myself, but Mom does, so she'll need a soda card. What do they run these days?

 

What is the usual charge for bottled water? Will they serve regular "ice water" (not bottled - tap I guess) in the restaurant, or must I buy bottled water if I want to drink water? Any concerns with the tap water on Celebrity ships?

 

What other "extra" costs might I encounter?

 

Please note that I'm not complaining about these additional charges. No I don't like being nickel-&-dimed any more than anyone else - but the fact is that the fare difference between this cruise and similar itineraries on the luxury lines is so steep, it would take a LOT of nickel-&-diming to make it up! I'm just trying to get an idea of what other things I should expect to have to pony up for.

 

And finally, I'm going step into what I know is a controverial arena, but hey I just gotta know! So...here goes: this cruise starts in Italy, and as a wine lover (ESPECIALLY Italian wines) I will want to do some serious wine shopping pre-cruise - some for home, some for enjoying on the cruise. I know what the policy says on the website, and I know there are lots of folks on these boards who look askance at "booze smuggling", but what I want to know is the reality: if I want to drink the wines that I buy pre-cruise, how would I go about doing that? In your experience do they truly enforce the "2 bottles per stateroom" rule? Will they really rifle through my luggage and confiscate my bottles? I see they have a $25 corkage fee. What is your experience in being charged this fee? Are they pretty consistent about it? (Regent didn't have one...and on Windstar, we learned that if we brought an un-opened bottle to the dining room they'd charge us, but if we opened the bottle and drank a bit in our room first, they didn't - go figure!.)

 

I appreciate any input all you Celebrity experts can give me. Thanks!

[kman48]

I believe, generally, that each X ship has only one specialty restaurant. In the last 3+ years we have cruised 3 times on

Constellation and have enjoyed some wonderful meals and excellent service. We've not cruised Regent but I would say food in Ocean Liners on Connie surpassed the regular dining room on Crystal and on Seabourne.

 

Tables were available by reservation and I seriously doubt that there is any mingling of groups...8 people at a table were a party of 8, not 2 parties of 4, each, who were willing to share a table. The standard charge is $30 pp; it may not be esay to find but I have seen in some of the X "materials", that this represents gratuities for the staff in the restaurant. A lot of people tip another $20-30 per couple but some might see that as overdoing it.

 

Ocean Liners has its own wine list and of course, cost and tip are extra.

There is a wine pairing offerred with one of the meals, I think that was an extra $27 pp and a good value at that, and a good experience. I think some people see O. L. as so special, they wouldn't want to "share" the experience with "strangers", but it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask on your roll call, whether there might be people who would want to share a table,

once or twice.

 

Last Fall, we ate 3 times in O. L.; we'll try to do that again, in two weeks.

 

The literature says, you can bring 2 bottles onboard, per stateroom. Lots of people say they routinely bring a case or more, with them. I have never seen any indication that they were trying to figure out whether any 2 pax, each carrying-on 2 bottles, were in the same cabin. I do believe they are pretty stiff about collection the corkage fee....it could be that if you brought 2 bottles to table at once, they might charge only one fee. On occasion, when we have bought a bottle or 2 each night, then we bring 1-2 special bottles, the som. has given us a pass. Once on HAL, we bought so much wine that our som. gave us a bottle on our last night!

 

Afraid I can't help with other questions.

 

Kman

[LustforLife]

I'm not sure about the soda card but I can tell you that they do serve ice water in the dining room. It is "tap" but it's purified. Iced tea is free in the dining room, as is lemonade and fruit juices.

 

We brought the allowed two bottles of wine for our stateroom, so don't know if extras would have been "stored" for us or not. That being said, if they do remove any wine or liquor taken aboard or bought on shore, they do return it at the end of the cruise.

 

My husband and I dined in the Olympic on Millie (Murano on Equinox will be similar as we dined in Murano on Century and the menu was about the same) and it was worth the 30 for the meal and I believe 27 for the wine pairing to go with it. I figured I would have spent at least 30. on a bottle had I ordered one separately, so I found it to be a great value...and nice to have it paired so lovely with each course. I remember it being a bit more on Century, so that may be the case with Equinox. As to the other specialty restaurants on the Solstice class, it's anyone's guess at this point.

 

Hope that helps a bit...and have a great cruise with your Mom! I'm trying to convince my Dad to cruise Solstice with me next spring...we'll see.

 

Cheers,

Tammy

[TRadle]

The soda card is $40 and you'd need to drink 6 sodas a day to break even on a 7 day cruise. It is more for the longer cruise. We bought one in March but decided against it for our upcoming cruise in December. We found we just didn't drink enough soda to make it worth while. The biggest plus was not having to sign something every time we wanted a Ginger Ale.

 

We sailed on March 23 and found the food to be much better than on RCL. We were at a table with new cruisers and everyone felt that the food was very good.

[SusieV]

The soda card is $40 and you'd need to drink 6 sodas a day to break even on a 7 day cruise. It is more for the longer cruise.

 

TRadle, I think you may be confused. The soda card is priced on the number of days in the cruise. It is not a fixed price for any cruise.

 

Also, you do not need to drink 6 sodas a day to break even! The card is roughly $5 per day, so you need to drink about 3 sodas a day to break even.

[hajekfam]

I'm considering booking a cruise on Equinox for late 2009. I haven't been on a Celebrity ship in many years - all of my cruises in recent years have been on Regent, which is an all-inclusive line, and Windstar, which is a very small ship with open-seated dining. (So I acknowledge that I've been rather spoiled!) I have a few questions, and I'm hoping that you experienced Celebrity cruisers can answer them for me...primarily so I'll know what to expect and how to budget for this cruise for the items I will have to pay extra for.

 

First, about the specialty restaurants. We're going to book an AquaClass stateroom, so our main seating will actually be in Blu, rather than the main dining room. I've been reading on this board that many regular Celebrity cruisers feel that the food quality in the main dining rooms has slipped, and is no longer up to previous standards. What about the specialty restaurants? What is the general consensus on those dining experiences?

 

We'll also want to try the other specialty restaurants besides Blu. I'll be cruising with my Mom, and one of the things we've enjoyed about Regent's open seating policy is that we can ask to be seated at a larger table, so that we can meet other cruisers. I know that you have to make reservations at the specialty restaurants -- when we do so, can we similarly ask to be seated at a larger table, so we can dine with others? Or must we know in advance who we want to dine with, and make reservations with them? (As you can imagine, Mom and I are NOT looking for romantic tables for two - that's why we go on cruises, so we're not stuck just talking to each other for the whole trip!) ;)

 

What is the current rate for specialty restaurants? Is the consensus that the rate will be about the same on the Solstice class ships, or are you expecting it to be higher?

 

Now, about other costs - I know that soft drinks are not included. I don't drink sodas myself, but Mom does, so she'll need a soda card. What do they run these days?

 

What is the usual charge for bottled water? Will they serve regular "ice water" (not bottled - tap I guess) in the restaurant, or must I buy bottled water if I want to drink water? Any concerns with the tap water on Celebrity ships?

 

What other "extra" costs might I encounter?

 

Please note that I'm not complaining about these additional charges. No I don't like being nickel-&-dimed any more than anyone else - but the fact is that the fare difference between this cruise and similar itineraries on the luxury lines is so steep, it would take a LOT of nickel-&-diming to make it up! I'm just trying to get an idea of what other things I should expect to have to pony up for.

 

And finally, I'm going step into what I know is a controverial arena, but hey I just gotta know! So...here goes: this cruise starts in Italy, and as a wine lover (ESPECIALLY Italian wines) I will want to do some serious wine shopping pre-cruise - some for home, some for enjoying on the cruise. I know what the policy says on the website, and I know there are lots of folks on these boards who look askance at "booze smuggling", but what I want to know is the reality: if I want to drink the wines that I buy pre-cruise, how would I go about doing that? In your experience do they truly enforce the "2 bottles per stateroom" rule? Will they really rifle through my luggage and confiscate my bottles? I see they have a $25 corkage fee. What is your experience in being charged this fee? Are they pretty consistent about it? (Regent didn't have one...and on Windstar, we learned that if we brought an un-opened bottle to the dining room they'd charge us, but if we opened the bottle and drank a bit in our room first, they didn't - go figure!.)

 

I appreciate any input all you Celebrity experts can give me. Thanks!

Not too much is known about the specialty restaurants as far as fees if any for the Solstice and Equinox. The names and cuisine has been announced, but that is all. The Solstice class will have several specialty restaurants unlike other Celebrity ships.

Bottled water has a charge, however the regular water is very good. Your asst. waiter makes sure that your water glasses are always full of ice water. Also, there is a carafe of ice water in your cabin which your cabin steward will keep full.

The corkage fee is only if you bring your own bottles of wine to the dining room - there is no charge for opening your bottles in your stateroom for drinking in the stateroom. We have found that we were able to bring wine on board at all our port stops in the Med.

The wine list on Celebrity is quite extensive.

[TRadle]

TRadle, I think you may be confused. The soda card is priced on the number of days in the cruise. It is not a fixed price for any cruise.

 

Also, you do not need to drink 6 sodas a day to break even! The card is roughly $5 per day, so you need to drink about 3 sodas a day to break even.

 

No, I'm not confused. It is how I'm doing the math. We got about 6 oz of soda with ice when we got a soda with our card. If you buy a soda you get a 12 oz can. So, I'm thinking in terms of volume. And I did say that the card cost more for the longer cruises. It is $40 for a 7 day cruise. The card cost $5.72 a day and we didn't feel that it was a good value for us. When we sailed with the kids it was worth the money; they were always getting a drink somewhere.