When room service delivery is our only option

We usually like to try out room service on a cruise at least once per sailing but this time when an onboard injury resulted in making several trips daily to the medical center for IV medication and bandage changes, we found ourselves eating more often in the cabin. The timing of our medical visits and the wait involved often coincided with the serving hours of Luminae. Several meals were made also from the late night section of the buffet which was mostly pizza and a make your own pasta bar. While our butler did offer to bring any item from Luminae's menu to the cabin, that offer was only doable while Luminae was open. If it was a time that Luminae was open, we would have gone down to the restaurant. Our butler Mary did deliver all of our room service orders so it was nice that she rushed them to us.

One of the small perks of being in any suite or The Retreat is the slightly enhanced room service menu - something I didn't realize was tucked in with the regular room service booklet all cabins receive. It mostly offered dishes that resembled the regular room service menu like instead of just caesar salad you could order chicken topped caesar salad. I liked the fact that we could ask for things to be swapped or left off any dish and room service accommodated all requests fully. For those traveling with kids, picky eaters, or kids at heart, there is a  kids menu side of the room service menu offering Roasted Chicken Sandwich with Fries, Grilled Hot Dog with Fries, and Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza. If you're sailing in a suite, the charge per room service order is waived. We still tip the crew member bringing the order however.

A good tip for any room service order is to make sure you mention when you want extra items like ketchup or sugar. Will always remember wandering the ship on my first cruise with my room service hot dog late one evening desperately trying to find some ketchup. Thankfully a kind crew member cleaning the closed buffet took pity on me and ducked behind the ropes to fill a little cup with ketchup.

We often made the best of the experience and had our room service meal al fresco. We did take the time afterwards to bring in and restack the dishes when done so there was less work for our steward and no chance of something blowing overboard. Not all the dishes featured in this post were ordered on the same day. We also repeated dishes a few times.

From the Desserts section:

Dark Chocolate Ganache Cake with Caramel Sauce - the caramel is in between the cake layers. Pretty ample slice provided. I've seen some that look like someone used cookie cutter shapes meant for those kids toys where they have to fit the wooden blocks into the holes. 

Assorted Cookies and Milk (Warm or Cold): We chose not to get the milk. I'm pretty sure all of these were chocolate chip. Dad said they were a little chewier than he prefers but otherwise tasty. This from the guy who finished off my bag of Chewy Chips Ahoy I picked up from the grocery store last week. Guess the picky eater personality doesn't interact with the not so hidden Cookie Monster personality.

Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce - I requested no sauce. On the smaller slide for slices but I wasn't hungry for much once I got to dessert this day:

Soups and Starters and Salads section:

Chicken Skewers with Yogurt Sauce - Average grilled chicken that was a little dry. I picked this out for myself the first order and Dad ordered it for himself on the next order so he could top his Mixed Green Salad with chicken.

Mixed Green Salad (Dressing choices of Balsamic, Blue Cheese, Caesar, Italian Vinaigrette, or Ranch)

From The Retreat menu - Chicken Caesar Salad. Wished I had some of that yogurt sauce back from the chicken skewers to take away some of the dryness of the chicken. Otherwise the Caesar salad flavors were all there. 

From The Retreat menu - Shrimp Cocktail. Pretty decently sized shrimp and tasted fresh.

From The Retreat menu - Antipasti Platter. Probably our least liked dish we ordered.

Main Courses section:

Turkey Club Sandwich (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato with Fries) - nothing like a club sandwich when you need some comfort food.

Celebrity Hamburger with Fries - Dad had the idea to ask if bacon could be added and room service granted our wish. It had some sort of orange/red spread on the underside of the top bun. Didn't really have a strong flavor to it so thankfully it didn't dissuade Mr. Picky Eater. He also appreciated that they left the pickles in the lettuce/tomato stack provided on the plate and not in contact with his burger. No worries - no pickle was wasted in the making of this blog post.

If you can only pick one specialty restaurant on Equinox...

Everyone always asks, "What is the one specialty restaurant you'd choose if you could only do one?" When it comes to Celebrity Equinox, the answer is hands down, Murano! And I'm basing this answer on how our experience was great both pre and post pandemic sailings. 

Celebrity Cruises describes Murano as classic French dishes with a contemporary twist. But don't worry, you won't have to dine on snails and frog legs unless you want to. As a result of having to make up two more meals to satisfy our dining package, we ended up trying both the dinner and lunch service. Lunch can be a great alternative if your schedule doesn't fit a lengthy dinner. Be forewarned, when we tried to call and change to lunch the first time a day before we had already reserved dinner there, we were told they didn't know yet if they'd be open for lunch the following day yet. We kept our dinner reservation until we called the next morning and confirmed that they did decide to open for lunch. We're glad it's a lot easier to get a lunch reservation at the last minute. 

First up - dinner. Started off with an amuse-bouche of mango soup with goat cheese. I only discovered a love of goat cheese on a cruise but I don't think I'll ever be a fan of mango. Still, as the saying goes, I tried it for the blog!

My appetizer was the Warm Goat Cheese Souffle described as Smoked Tomato Coulis, Parmesan Cream, and Basil Pesto. Can't beat a bowl of cheese surrounded by hot melty cheese. I tried this appetizer on the previous cruise and it was a winner then as well!

Back when we dined in Bistro Sur La Mer on Princess, Dad said he'd considered getting the lobster bisque (this coming from Mr. Seafood shall never touch my plate) but wanted to see what it looked like first. I pointed out the multiple people at nearby tables who were enjoying it. "No, that can't be the lobster bisque! It looks like pot pie!" he insists. Bistro Sur La Mer chose to serve it in a pastry shell and include a tableside presentation of cutting off the top layer for each person. So to Dad, seeing that pastry shell bowl equated to the classic French dish - chicken pot pie.

But this time as he perused the menu in Murano, a little nudging got him to try their Creamy Maine Lobster Bisque appetizer! In Murano, while not in a pastry shell that needs cutting open, there is a tableside presentation. The waiter brings over a bowl with the Leek and Shallot Flan, Crispy Sweet Yellow Corn Beignets, and small pieces of lobster meat before pouring the Cognac Cream Bisque overtop. 

A little dish of sour cream and a small crusty roll are served alongside for you to add as you desire. Dad declared the soup a winner but claims he couldn't tell there was any lobster in it. Something tells me we've got more work to do before I can get him to order the surf and turf.

Dad's favorite entree from Murano to the point that it was demanded that we try it on our first visit, is the Chateaubriand for Two. This entree also includes a tableside presentation but more so for the visual of watching the large beef tenderloin be sliced up into two portions and then plated for each person with Fricassee of Baby Vegetables, Bernaise, and Cabernet Sauce. The size of the tenderloin on our first visit was large enough to resemble a wrapped around neck pillow. This one was definitely smaller but was still plenty to eat. Another visit to Murano during that last cruise enabled us to order our own entree choices of Murano Lobster (the tail is cooked tableside and tossed in the pan with the sauce) and the Five-Spice Crusted Cervena Venison Loin. Bet you can guess whose entree was whose among those choices! If you try the venison, take our waiter's advice of ordering it cooked medium so it doesn't get too dried out.

This Chateaubriand is also cooked medium. I didn't use to be a fan of seeing any pink in my meat but it really does make the meat more tender and juicy. Medium is as far down as I go though - I don't want my dinner still mooing on my plate.

For dessert, Dad relished in a bowl of gelato while I enjoyed another previous favorite - the Grand Marnier Souffle. They come over and poke a hole in the top to pour the creamy sauce down inside the cup. The taste reminds me of a bitter n blanc bread pudding. 

Chocolate and Pistachio gelato with chocolate syrup

While our dinner service in Tuscan Grille (and unfortunately food quality as well) was superbly bad compared to the past visits, the service in Murano has always been top notch! And I'm not just saying that because the waiter made me feel bougie putting my Sprite can in the champagne bucket. I appreciated that even the host and managers stepped in to help so there was no wait time. We welcomed the chance to share our Tuscan Grille letdown with one of the restaurant managers during this dinner. He was appreciative of our praise for Murano and thanked us for telling him about Tuscan Grille which he promised to pass along with the manager there. Hopefully it doesn't take the entire wait staff there to screw in some new light bulbs.

Lunch at Murano is perhaps a loosely kept secret because there was only a couple other tables in use by the time we finished our lunch. The lunch menu is scaled down to just one page but I believe you still had the option of doing the Five Senses upcharge experience at lunch as well.

For my first course, I went with the Seared Scallops with Fennel Puree and Nicoise Vinaigrette. Scallops were cooked well and were a good size. I would have preferred a little more to the dish however. 

Dad continued to branch out into the land (or should I say sea) of seafood and ordered the Crab Salad with Avocado, Cilantro, and Citrus Emulsion. The fact that the crab was cold threw him off and it took some convincing that the green layer on top was the same food he likes in guacamole. I tried a bite as well and didn't care for it either but kudos to him for trying something new.

Dad's entree restored his faith in the meat and potatoes lifestyle as he loved the Roasted Filet Mignon.  And yes, it does seem like the good fingerling potatoes were being saved for use in Murano.

And here was my chance to have that Butter Poached Lobster Tail though no tableside presentation at lunch it seems. It looks like in my picture that I was served the great contortionist lobster tail but no, it really was about as big as 1 1/2 of those scallops from the first course. Whether that was a supply issue, a portion size shrinkage affecting so many post pandemic, or the simple fact that we were having this lunch on the last full day of the cruise, I can't say.

Dad asked to have a repeat of his gelato combination but this waitress seemed unsure about getting ice cream at all. Dad assured her that he'd take all chocolate if she couldn't get pistachio. She came through in the end with both flavors. I branched out and tried the Tulipe Croustillante described as frozen yogurt and fresh berries. I had hoped that the frozen yogurt wouldn't be as icy as the ice cream I'd tried in the various restaurants onboard but it was all the same. I regret not having the chance to grab some proper gelato from the upcharge counter before the cruise was over. The berries were okay though a little tough being next to the cold frozen yogurt. The crust thing on the bottom for lack of a better description was hard as a rock. I didn't feel like giving the dentist a new sports car for the sake of trying to chew it.

Despite the lack of tables in use, service was a little slower than our dinner experience. The food, while some menu items were available on both menus, was less satisfying at least for me. Dad enjoyed everything but his appetizer. Truth be told, if I'd chosen something like his filet mignon, I'd have had a much more filling entree than I did. Moral of the story of lunch at Murano - if you're not really hungry, order the lobster. 

Travel to Tuscany with us for some specialty dining

Perhaps we have been too spoiled with the suite life priority perks or our experience was simply a case of increased demand creating limited supply. When we last sailed on Celebrity Equinox, we had a suite category that included all specialty dining. We took advantage of it all eating at least once if not twice in each restaurant. Back then, we had been contacted pre-cruise by a concierge and gave them all of our desired reservations. Got on board day one and found out that nothing had been relayed to the ship. Our butler took care of making all the same reservations we'd requested pre-cruise without any issue getting the times and dates we wanted. 

So this time, while we earmarked the remainder of our OBC to be spent on specialty dining, we did not bother to make any reservations pre-cruise. Coupled with the fact that tons of passengers booked under the latest sales offering OBC and some discounts pre-cruise, that meant that we had very slim pickings when we tried to schedule three dinners after purchasing the three night dining package (using up the last of our OBC and charging the remainder to our onboard account) when propositioned by the Luminae hostess at embarkation lunch. We ended up having to tweak the reservations with our Retreat Concierge Janelle throughout the cruise. Our hopes hinged on people choosing to cancel but even Janelle using her position to call restaurants got nowhere. We were even making changes on our last full day of the cruise in order to fit in a 3rd meal reservation since the package was non refundable. 

The first specialty dinner we were able to reserve was for the Italian themed restaurant on board, Tuscan Grille. I preface this review by saying that while I love Italian food (pasta, bread, and seafood are their own food groups right?), even on our first sailing Tuscan Grille was my least favorite of the three options. That's not to say that the food wasn't good or we didn't have an enjoyable experience. It just wasn't exemplaray enough that I'd choose it if it came down to only being able to book one specialty restaurant per cruise. Disclaimer: One of those three options that I would rank #2 in the list was Silk Harvest, the Asian themed restaurant, which is no longer on board. 

The night we dined, having settled for a later time slot than we'd normally prefer, the Tuscan Grille was moderately busy but not full. We were seated by the host quickly at a table for two along the back wall and butted up against the corner. While this wouldn't normally be an issue, the area of our table lended itself to lighting issues. We already were dining around sunset and soon the restaurant staff were putting down everyone's window shades. Our shade that was the width of our table proceeded to get stuck in the down position. At one point, the assistant waiter stopped by our table and asked why only our shade was down as if we had chosen to have it that way. We answered that it was stuck and would rather have it open but he shrugged and walked away. 

At this point, you may be asking - why don't you just use the lights in the restaurant to see by since the shade is preventing dinner by moonlight? Because, my smart and clever reader, the two to three recessed light fixtures above our table in front of the shade were all burnt out. Add to that being literally backed into a corner with our table placement, it left us feeling like we were dining in a power outage. I'm pretty sure I caught our servers jump in surprise a few times when they came around the wall and suddenly realized there was someone sitting there in this dark corner. I'm amazed that our main waitress didn't return to our table holding out her arms to feel for contact calling out Marco! Marco?

One side effect of good technology is that any picture I took in an attempt to show how hard it was to see our food in the dark, my phone's camera made all of my food pictures look much brighter and clearer than it was. It's a good thing that the menus on the Celebrity app were current because a backlit screen was the only way we could read a menu. 

Above: Our stuck shade and not working lights

Below: The half wall our table butted up against separating the diners from the galley area. Best picture I could get to show how dark it was in our corner.

On to the food - you know I had to order the calamari starter. It is described on the menu as Crispy Calamari with Lemon Caper Dipping Sauce. While the breading was well seasoned and only a little bit on the too extra crispy side of the spectrum, I found the squid pieces to be super tough to chew and rubbery. I did mention this to our server but declined her offer to bring something else. 

Dad's appetizer of House Meatballs with San Marzano Mariana. Dad considers meatballs with anything to be a food group and is at the top of his list with steak and potatoes. While a decent size for an appetizer presentation, he said they tasted like they were overcooked or dried out from sitting too long. Again mentioned to the server and got a "Well, thanks for telling me" response. It really is tough for a server to figure out how to respond other than offering to get a different dish. It isn't like a land restaurant where you pay by the dish and can get that item taken off your bill. Neither of us finished eating our starters.

My next dish came from the salad course - Classic Caesar with Romaine, Pecorino Cheese, Focaccia Crouton, and Caesar Dressing. I've never really been a fan of hard croutons and these were like someone had torn off a wad of bread, dehydrated them, and then ran over them with a steamroller before bringing them back to life only to dehydrate again. I'm pretty sure my salad came topped with hockey pucks because getting one of these near your mouth could cause you to lose some teeth too. The dressing was light and it was enjoyable to have romaine pieces that weren't all corner cuts.

Never one to choose a salad if he can help it, Dad's next course came from the Flatbread Pizzas section. I seem to recall that last time we had more choices for flatbread pizza flavors. He chose the Pizzetta Caprese - (Classic Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil) once I assured him it would be like Margherita pizza. He is also a fan of thin crust so this was right up his alley. He enjoyed the entire thing. I do recall that on our last visit it was more of a square cut that when reassembled could fill the whole plank. 

Now it should come as no surprise to my returning readers what I chose to order from the Homemade Pastas section for my main entree. In case you are a new visitor to my little corner of the interwebs, first off welcome! Secondly, if there's anything on a menu with the word Carbonara in the name, I've got to try it! I've tried it with all types of pastas and all ways they make bacon. Some choose to mix it all together before presentation while others leave the poached egg sitting on top so you can break it and mix together for yourself. I've seen some choose cream while others use the more traditional egg to coat the noodles. 

Strozzapreti Carbonara described as Pancetta, Peas, and Parmesan was a bit of a let down. The sauce (mixed in prior) was good and the pasta was tender but the pancetta seemed a bit too tough. After several bites, I began to find little hard pieces that I thought maybe were overcooked peas but when I ran my fork through the dish, I wasn't seeing any peas. Granted I wasn't seeing much of anything given our dining in the dark experience but I no longer desired to try and eat the rest. At this point, I was actively taking extra pictures to try and have my phone's camera show me what I was eating. Only now that I look back at the below picture do I see there were peas mixed in. Probably the first ever time I've walked away from carbonara.

Dad also went the pasta route for an entree and chose his go to at any Italian restaurant - Spaghetti and Meatballs (San Marzano Tomato Sauce, Basil, and Parmigiano Reggiano). Same preparation of meatballs and same sauce as the starter. Only difference was that this was the same two meatballs placed on top of spaghetti. This time though, he said the meatballs tasted much better like they were freshly made.

The uncomfortable surroundings and the more misses than hits from the menu combined with the slow service that seemed to transition to a one magician vanishing act as our meal went on, we chose to leave without dessert. Our server of course took notice only when we stood up to leave rushing over to encourage us to have dessert. We declined her offer to have dessert sent to the cabin.

A disappointing experience dining in a restaurant themed with my favorite foods. I know comparing pre-pandemic Tuscan Grille with tonight's experience isn't truly a fair comparison but I certainly wouldn't choose to dine here again if this was my first experience.