Dinner then the show? How about dinner and the show at Le Petit Chef?

While most non buffet dining options on ships are all about the food, the presentation, and the ambience for you to enjoy perhaps before heading to a show, Le Petit Chef combines the dinner with the show. Le Petit Chef is an upcharge specialty restaurant currently priced around $129 for two people including gratuities. Disclaimer: Our dinner was included since we sailed in an upper suite level cabin. Due to the show aspect, there are only two dinner seatings you can reserve per night, 6PM and 8PM. As the show is done for everyone dining in the restaurant at once, you may have to sit for a few minutes until the presentation starts. You will also only be served at the pace that fits the story so this is not a dinner to book if you're worried about getting out fast to make it to another activity. 

Since Le Petit Chef is such a limited experience, it often will share the space with another restaurant onboard. The restaurant will serve a lunch menu as the true name of the restaurant and then put on Le Petit Chef shows at dinnertime. Some ships use the space in Qsine while the Beyond shared Le Petit Chef with Le Grand Bistro. 

Le Petit Chef combines the use of lights and overhead cameras to project an animated scene onto your table top. There is always two menu options presented. One will match the dishes your animated chef prepares and one will have alternative choices. You are welcome to stick with one or the other through all the courses or mix and match. Those with food allergies should inform their waiter who can offer to bring something else that will be safe to eat. There are a handful of different animation storylines so you may find that one day's menu is different than the next or it might switch halfway through the cruise. If you really want a specific menu, make sure to inquire with the restaurant on board as to which menu is scheduled during your desired reservation. 

Our particular animation storyline focused on the double meaning of "seasons." The story went through all the four seasons of the year offering courses that featured ingredients common for that time of year. It also told the story of a couple's relationship a.k.a the seasons of life - courtship in the spring, marriage in the summer, raising children in the fall, and playing in the snow with the grandchildren in the winter.

Here are the menu options that matched the animation storyline:

The alternative options for each course:

After our waiter explained the menu and noted our choices, he instructed us to keep this large white plate centered in the lighted circle being projected on our table. This is where the images of the little chef (Le Petit Chef) will appear to be assembling his dish directly onto the plate in front of you. The rest of the scene plays out on the tabletop. 

The same white plate and tabletop after the animation starts:

The young chef meets a girl while walking through the garden.

Together they build the Spring Pea Soup - Creme Fraiche, Lemon, and Smoked Bacon onto our white plates in animation form. 

The animation's action is paused while our first course served in a white bowl is placed on top of our white plates. This dish tasted okay but I wasn't fond of what seemed like dried onion strings that seemed to be balled up like croutons. The difference in texture between the soup and these "croutons" you had to stop and chew wasn't appealing to me.

Then we moved on to the Summer course and the animation changed to the couple enjoying time at the beach playing in the waves.

The chef surprises his girlfriend by drawing a heart in the sand and getting down on one knee to propose:

After a humorous scene where they have to save themselves from a giant crab attack, the story time jumps four years later. The now married couple have two children and live on a farm.

The family of four work together to use our white plate as a grill to prepare the Crab Farfalle Pasta - Sweet Corn, Basil, Cherry Tomatoes, Aged Parmesan (take that giant crab!) 

The hot tub becomes the perfect place to boil those pasta noodles:

Once the pasta is done, the hot tub is reused to cook the sweet corn. The kids are hoisted up onto the cob to help shear off the kernels.

The whole family cheers after working as a team to shave off the parmesan:

The finished real life product was really tasty with a good balance of light flavors and many colors that fit perfectly when you think of a summer dish.

Our next course - Fall - shows the man with his now older son being taught by dad how to work the farm. How pretty a china pattern would this be?

The preparation for the Grilled Beef Filet Mignon - Short Rib Croustillant, Warm Spice Pumpkin Puree, Baby Vegetables, Glazed Cippolini Onions starts off with harvesting, dicing, and pureeing the pumpkin.

Together they plate the puree, filet, and start to add the vegetables when the family dog tries to make a play for our main course. He ends up getting catapulted into the air off the fork and flies over the plate.

No worries as our animated furry friend lands safely on the other side of the table albeit disappointed at having missed out on that filet. The family comes together to finish the dish on your plate.

The real life version - I don't recall whether we got asked to choose a doneness for our filet but the meat was tasty and tender. I felt like the short rib croustillant could have used more meat as it was mostly the crusty shell. 

A brief interlude to point out how much fun we thought it was to have the animation display on Dad's hand like a tattoo. 

Our final course is upon us. A winter scene plays out with the farm now covered in snow.

The now older couple enjoy ice skating across your plate:

When they stop to warm up by a campfire, their grown children and grandchildren sneak up to surprise them with a snowball fight and a big gift box.

The now multi generational family gather on your plate to unwrap the gift revealing a chocolate brownie. 

Vanilla gelato is added on top before they use the campfire to toast some marshmallows to add to the dish.

The entire family gathers around your dessert for a bow and cheer!

Our Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie with Vanilla Gelato and Caramelized Marshmallow in real life was definitely one for the chocolate lovers and those with a sweet tooth. 

We had initially thought of stopping for more to eat after this because we expected not to like the dishes as much as we did or feel as full as we did. Would I have paid extra for this dinner and a show experience? Maybe, if anything for the novelty of it. Would I bother booking it a second time? Probably not. This is more about the cute and playful animation than the dining so we both agree that this was a one and done experience for us.

Luminae dining - was it above or Beyond?

I was really looking forward to dining a lot more in Luminae, the suite passenger only restaurant on Celebrity Cruises ships. While a good portion of our missed time in Luminae on Celebrity Equinox was due to having repeated visits to the medical center to treat a wound that occurred onboard, there was also a lot of service issues and delays that made me take notice of how certain passengers were repeatedly fawned over (most likely those in the upper suites) and how much more than in the past we were ignored. To be fair, this was our first time in a lower level suite and our first Celebrity cruise post COVID but the different treatment while we were in a lower suite versus a higher level suite this past year was obvious.

While our time in Luminae on Celebrity Beyond was more frequent, there was still some service issues. However, the crew serving in Luminae on Beyond was a lot more cordial, social, and more willing to offer alternatives, suggest things, answer questions, and honor our needs to change or alter what a dish included. To be fair, we did visit often for breakfast within the last 20-30 minutes of closing time since we literally could roll out of bed and reach the restaurant. Why get up with the sun when you intentionally had no early morning excursion to rush off to? I did mention in my post cruise survey and during my live reports on social media during the cruise how much we loved having I Kadek as our server. We also shared our appreciation personally with him on the last evening. We learned that he is about to become a father for the second time soon as of this writing and I am hopeful that he is able to get back home to see his family sooner than the expected end of his current contract.

What follows in no particular order is a basic rundown of what we tried both in Luminae and of the options on the Suite Sundeck. For lunchtime, the Luminae burger and the Cobb Salad are always available to order. For dinnertime, while not printed on the menus anymore, there is an "always available" list of dishes that consist of basic standards like salmon, steak, chicken, caesar salad, and escargot. Some waiters mentioned the always available options while others didn't so it's helpful to share so future cruisers know that there's always something if you don't like the current day's options.

Luminae Burger - single beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and carmelized onions to your requested level of doneness. Served with fries. Had this a few times and it was always my go to if I wasn't loving the regular options.

Dad's customary order of a Toasted Bagel with Lox and Cream Cheese. Dad said the bagel was a little over toasted but otherwise enjoyed the dish.





Buttermilk Pancakes with Banana - Neither of us were really sure what this sauce was on top. It was not maple syrup because they came around after to offer that as well. Dad was not fond of the banana mixture on top and vowed to get only plain pancakes with maple syrup next time.





Of course I had to try the Eggs Benedict - Canadian Bacon, Hollandaise Sauce, and Chive. I remember the server asking which eggs benedict I wanted which confused me because there's only one on the menu. This dish was considered the "traditional" version and tasted pretty good. My only critique besides the overtoasting of the English Muffin slightly is that every piece of this dish seemed so much smaller than it should have been. I'm pretty sure the English Muffins in the buffet were not dollhouse sized like this looked on the plate.





Strawberry yogurt - Luminae is too fancy to just bring you the cup of Dannon and a spoon. Personally I think this was more like 1 1/2 cups of Dannon as I couldn't finish it all.




Plain (with butter and powdered sugar dusting) pancakes with an interactive pour your own maple syrup boat on the side. This is what I got after asking for no fruit or toppings besides maple syrup so if you really don't want butter, you should mention that as well. This was a good option for a breakfast go to if you wanted something simple and tasty but filling.





I am not usually a fan of ordering bacon because it's usually overly crispy but the first couple days it was a great level of doneness that pleased both of our preferences. That wasn't always the case but the sausage I prefer was always available. Several times any bacon or sausage we ordered individually would come as a "plate for the table" as the server would call it. Sometimes we'd get this arrangement of tons of bacon and just a couple sausage when both of us asked for sausage and only one asked for bacon.




A new item on the Luminae breakfast menu I don't remember being around on the Equinox is the Savory Potato Waffle - Sunny Side Egg, Melted Cheddar, and Applewood Bacon.






Both of us tried this dish on different days. Dad loved his (top picture) but my waffle ended up being burnt. Might have to try recreating this at home one day.




Two Fresh Eggs or Omelette - Prepared Your Way - which in this case is a cheese omelette. I've read how past cruisers have made special requests like crab and lobster meat for omelette ingredients but I kept it simple. Note the sausage arriving on my personal plate this time.




Dad ordered the Peach Cobbler French Toast sans Peach Cobbler. And no, he didn't eat the strawberry garnish either.




Seasonal Fruit Plate - I love getting a fruit plate of any sort as a snack or starter for my meal. Dad loves this option as well though he'll usually specify "just melon." He did ask me what that green circular fruit was so maybe he'll branch out to some kiwi in his future. This is also a great alternative if you don't like any of the appetizer choices at lunch or dinner.





The offerings in The Retreat Lounge at breakfast time - cold deli meats and cheeses, lox, sliced fruit, yogurt parfaits with fruit and granola, pastries along with toast and bagels, and warm cinnamon rolls on the end. The crew serving in the Retreat Lounge were super prompt and attentive offering to grab whatever drink you preferred when they saw you walk up to the counter. I was impressed at how crew members I hadn't talked to yet would remember my preference for Vitamin Water Zero Orange even when I said orange juice to make it easy.





Chilled Shrimp Cocktail from The Retreat Sun Deck Menu with Horseradish Cocktail Sauce




Roasted Turkey BLT Wrap from The Retreat Sun Deck Menu - Roasted Garlic Aioli, Whole Wheat Wrap, Crisps (or potato chips for us on this side of the pond). It can get super windy on this deck. We had to keep our napkins over the chips on our plates to keep them from flying away. Thankfully the fries (or chips for my British friends) had a little more weight to them so we could eat them without feeling like we were sneaking snacks around a toddler. Also, kudos to Celebrity for having regular potato chips and not kettle chips.


Not pictured is the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad - Herb Croutons and Aged Parmesan. I'd seen a woman at the table across from us enjoying this large bowl of salad and I thought it was the caesar salad from the menu. My caesar salad instead came as a plate with what looked like the last remnants of the last romaine heart left on the ship and dry chicken strips that were bigger than the amount of lettuce provided. The small side cup of caesar dressing (no dressing was on the salad when presented) looked like, smelled like, and was the consistency of mayo. I tried dipping some of the lettuce and some of the chicken pieces because there was no way this dressing was going to come out of the cup by pouring. It would have made Dairy Queen Blizzards jealous with its staying power. There was just no caesar dressing flavor to it so I seriously thought someone had mistakenly grabbed the wrong small cup as these were also the ones at the Mast Grill for ketchup etc. I politely mentioned to our server about the potential mixup and she quickly rushed it back to the kitchen to check. When she returned a long while later, it was the manager/host that accompanied her to our table. The manager's explanation was that this really was caesar dressing and what I didn't understand was that it was just made this way to be really thick. She then told me that they'd added more lemon juice to my same cup so that it might thin out for me. I tried the "thinned out" version and it honestly still seemed the same. I asked to have the Luminae burger instead which became a consistent go to for lunch both in the restaurant and on the Sun Deck.




I don't recall the exact name of this dish but it was an appetizer for our last night's dinner in Luminae that was described as a spicy lamb quesadilla wrap. Dad was willing to try it once assured that it wasn't really all that spicy and enjoyed it even though he mostly just ate the meat with a knife and fork versus mixing everything together.




I may have gotten a second order of this escargot appetizer from the always available menu later in the meal as well. It doesn't automatically come with a piece of bread to dip but I Kadek was right on top of offering to grab me some from the bread tray. Still can't get Dad to try some though.




Now you know I wasn't going to miss spaghetti carbonara night at Luminae, right? Pluses - was actually spaghetti and not some pasta like rigatoni that doesn't hold the cream sauce as well. The smoky flavor and the creamy texture were spot on. Minuses - small amount served in this large bowl shaped plate for an entree portion. Noodles were somewhat cut up making it difficult to twirl with your fork. Overall, I'd rank this either 4th or 5th place overall in my favorite carbonaras I've tried on cruises.






Rounded out the night with Luminae's version of cheesecake a la mode. I get that it's meant to be a pretty presentation but why do so many of Luminae's desserts come out as if they took the cake or pie, whipped it, and then stuck it in a piping bag to create this worm like stripe that then resembles a stegosaurus after the little pieces of whatever got whipped together get stuck straight up in the worm? Or is this the new way of doing low carb?

We mentioned to the shoreside concierge that Dad wanted to celebrate his birthday on this cruise. We came back to the cabin one afternoon to find a birthday cake slice on the table and balloons taped to the ceiling.