Ok, i've been reading some reviews on some other web sites from people who have just returned from the Connie. They are saying the food was horrible. Anybody been lately? Please tell me I just got a hold of some picky people.
I have NEVER had a horrible meal on this cruiseline. Some folks are never pleased.....they love to complain. If you do happen to order something you don't enjoy, you can order another item with no problem. You can also order a shrimp cocktail everynight, even if it is not on the menu. I doubt that you will be disappointed with the food or the menu selections.
I've had bad food at times on the Zenith and the Mercury. Although Celebrity does a fair job most of the time, they are not the notch above that they tout themselves to be, I.M.H.O.
I preface this by saying I am booked on the Connie next Thanksgiving but do not expect excellent food for the most part. But I do hope that by some fluke it will be of good quality.
You will find perfection in Heaven...but not here on earth...with Celebrity...sometimes!!
I got reports from the pax on Constellation in October...and they said the food was not up to X standards. We were on the Summit in October and found the food to be very good. Yes, we have had better on Celebrity but all things considered...it was fine.
You get ups and downs with every ship...The chef changes...the crew changes...the attitude and morale go up and down...the suppliers send low quality goods...the list goes on. When you think of it...what they do "out there" is incredible. I have had some great meals and some not so great...but I have never had a bad meal with Celebrity.
People have different tastes and different standards and different expectations.
Combine the three and someone is bound to come up with an opinion that the food was "horrible".
I can recall sailing on Zenith to Bermuda a few years back. I ended up speaking to a guy near the end of the trip. He told me that he was going to write a letter of complaint to Celebrity about the food in the main dining room at breakfast time. After getting into it a little, it turned out that he had only eaten breakfast in the main dining room on the first day and his whole complaint was based on being served toast that was cold, One time.
For that one experience he was going to write off an entire meal and staff .
Conde Nast Traveller magazine recently published it's cruise ship survey. Of the larger ships, Celebrity captured seven out of the top 10 spots. Go with the overall opinion of Conde Nast's readers, not some crank on a chat board.
I certainly have had a meal or two on Celebrity that I did not wholly enjoy, but , I continue to rank their food higher than the other 4 cruise lines I have tried and have booked my next cruise with Celebrity (5th time).
If you get something served to you that does not suit your taste, let someone know. I am sure they will do all they can do make you happy. The main thing is, no matter what, you will not go hungry!!
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Bermuda.... Crown Dynasty 6/2000
Cozumel.... Carnival Fascination 2/2002
Bermuda....Celebrity Horizon 5/2004
Looking forward to my next cruise.... 6/2005
Being part of the food industry I must say that considering approximately 1000 people sit down to dinner at the same time... Celebrity's food is outstanding. Are there items here and there that could be better? I suppose so. I personally have never had a steak delivered cooked too much or too little and the pastry department is incredible.
Mel...
I agree with your overall view on the quality of food served on Celebrity. However (isn't there always a however), when you reference steak in particular, this to me was an area of great disappointment. Any of the red meat offerings on the menu were always quite acceptable. There are certain items, even though not listed on the menu, which are almost orderable. Two of these are shrimp cocktail and steak. And to be quite honest, these items have almost always been a big disappointment. Here's why. The shrimp cocktail aren't that big and the cocktail sauces (they offer one or two I believe) aren't that exciting. And the steaks are too thin to be tasty, and they are usually tough (we were even warned by our waiter to avoid the steaks on one cruise). We did have steak in the specialty restaurant and that was very good, but it cost us $25 extra per person.
I'm pretty sure the chateau-briand in the Summit main dining room was the same cut as in the specialty restaurant just sans the fois gras. All of our steaks were tender. The filet and strip superb. The only tough dish we had was a pork chop one evening.
WE were quite satisfied with the food on the Connie especially the dining room lunches. Was it a step above like some say and the line claims, I don't think so, but we never had anything that was satisfactory. The buffets were a bit dull like most buffets. I think other lines do a little better job though the presentation was outstanding. The one thing we all need to remember is the food on all major cruise lines is mass produced. Much is made ahead of time. Anyone who rates the Celebrity food as awful has a very particular pallet. That's all I can say.
I sailed on Constellation over 1.5 years ago now, and the food was among the best I have ever had at sea. The service was also outstanding. I think that it was up there with Crystal and Radisson. Again, the ship was brand new then. I did hear reports as well that the food onboard Constellation was not up to standard last fall.
You won't be dissapointed with Celebirty, I promise
hello my food experience on the mercury was not fabulous but not bad either the alternative dining on the mercury is far better and you get good portions
By the way I just reread my own message: I said we never had anything that was satisfactory< I meant to say that was not satisfactory. One more thing, I had so looked forward to the Frog Legs: they were an appetizer the 3rd or 4th night I think. After eating them all I could think was "is this all there is?" They were the most tasteless frog legs I have ever had. Guess we did have something that was not satisfactory.
I had sailed on the Constellation before and the food was outstanding. After reading all these posts from people talking about cutbacks and deterioration, I was concerned because we are sailing her again this May. Especially since I've convinced some others to join me because it was so good. So I sent a letter to Celebrity with my concerns.
I received a response, dated 2/17/04 from Corporate Guest Relations One of the statements in the letter was "Celebrity Cruises offers top notch service and continues to adapt new ways to pamper our guest on every cruise. By no means are we to reduce the quality of our meals prepared onboard to increase services. As we wish to continue to be an award-winning cruise line that serves award-winning cuisine, we have no plans to reduce the quality of our food."
They also mentioned their rating from Bon Appetit magazine.
I'd expect them to respond positively and, contrary to what others have said, they did answer my letter. I trust that it is not PR prattle and will find out for sure in May. But I do feel better from receiving this.
Frank-in-CA
In contrast to Frank when I sailed on the Constellation much of the food quality was poor, some of it not representative of the description in the menu. I sailed a few months after Frank's sailing on, I think, a different itinerary.
Since then I've read on practically all of Celebrity ships quite contrasting reports of food quality, from veteran Celebrity cruisers to newbies, horrible to wonderful. And no particular ship stands out as particularly positive or negative, they all have a range of comments. However, I get a sense that some feel food is better on pre-Millennium class ships.
For some reason, at least to me, the comments on food quality, or deterioration of such, seems to come in spurts.
The last couple of months I've been watching returning cruisers posts pretty intensely because of the talk in cut backs etc. Interestingly, the vast majority of returning Celebrity posters comments in the last 2 months have been very positive in their comments on food and service.
Perhaps the "gaps" we see, where posts are less positive, occur when then there's changes in exec chefs or dining room managers, for holiday periods etc.
It'd be interesting to find a way to track that, I think.
We just returned from the Mercury on Feb 20th. The food and service were just great. Those who complain about the food or other services are the ones who are always complaining about what ever is on their small minds.
But the best part of living in America is that they can!
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