I returned last Monday from a seven day getaway on Century and I was so happy to find that the food was fantastic. After two bad food cruises on Royal Caribbean this cruise is what I needed.
Nothing, I repeat nothing, was bad and almost everything was excellent. The lamb shanks were delicious, wonderful braised beef ribs, great buffet selection, especially the nightly sushi and fresh made omelette's every morning.
Murano's was also a highlight and it delivered the level of food and service I expect in a Celebrity alternative dining venue. The fillet of sole could feed a third world country. They didn't skimp on quality to deliver the quantity. It was perfectly prepared and finished table side.
Now I'm back to the normal routine but I am longing for some tuna nigiri.
Take care,
Mike
__________________ Cruisemates Community Leader/Moderator
"There is a great difference between being well traveled and just having been to many places." ~Me
I have allways enjoyed the food on Celebrity, and the lamb shank is my favorite. However on our recent Oasis cruise the food was much better than on our previous Royal cruises.
TM
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CRUISES
Century 4/1998
Mercury 4/2000+4/2006+7/2007
Sensation 4/2002
Infinity 4/2003
Summit 4/2004+4/2005
Carnival Liberty New Year's Eve 2007
Liberty of the Seas 5/2008+11/2009
Solstice 4/2009
Oasis 4/2010+4/13/2013
Allure 1/16/ 2011
Equinox 4/11/2011
I'm glad you were happy with your dining experiences...remember the last time we were on the Celebrity..there were some who had food /service issues..I was one of them, but things did get better....
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Chat Hostess & Board Moderator
On my April 2010 cruise on Solstice I found the food to be on par with HAL and Royal Caribbean. It was good but not great in the main dining room and I did not eat in any of the specialty restrauants.
Going back on Solstice in July in Aqua Class so will eat in Blu and will try the other specialty veneues. Hope to report back that the food was outstanding
Splendour of the Seas 97
Veendam 05
Westerdam 06
Serenade of the Seas 07
Liberty of the Seas 07
Jewel of the Seas 08
Westerdam 09
Volendam 09
Solstice 10
Solstice 10
Caribbean Princess 11
Nieuw Amsterdam 11
Oasis of the Seas 12
Queen Elizabeth 12
Eurodam 13
Carnival Valor 13
On my April 2010 cruise on Solstice I found the food to be on par with HAL and Royal Caribbean. It was good but not great in the main dining room and I did not eat in any of the specialty restrauants.
Going back on Solstice in July in Aqua Class so will eat in Blu and will try the other specialty veneues. Hope to report back that the food was outstanding
As I have written on my review (not posted yet) I was disappointed in the MDR food, not to mention the service or lack of it. it lacked that WOW factor..that we have always experienced..Tuscany Grill...don't bother..but Murano... oh Murano, to die for. Yes, we were in Aqua Class and there were many healthy alternatives.. The meats were wonderful..osso bucca, rack of lamb (Muranos), lamb shank, black angus steak (only thing decent in Tuscany)..didn't try the oriental or any other place.. What I have said is that I wish instead of parading the Chefs around on the Soltice they stayed to taste the food. Hopefully when we go on the Equinox, regular class..lol..the food will have that special WOW factor in the main dining room at night. I guess it depends on the Chefs how they interpret a recipe. Blu was a lovely experience and presentations were to die for
We were on Eclipse recently & went to all the restaurants except Blu as we weren't Aqua class. Food was super in all of them, our favourite was Tuscan Grill, Qsine will be down to individual taste, I liked it my wife didn't at all.
I just want to point out that Celebrity's cuisine has always drawn mixed reactions, even in the era of Michel Roux when those who love French cuisine raved about it while those who don't care for all the rich sauces, etc., tolerated it. Food is very much a matter of taste and personal preference. Personally, I wish Celebrity would serve the themed menus that I remember from my days cruising Princess on the "casual" evenings because they provided a much broader variety of styles of cuisine over the course of a cruise. I have no complaint over the quality of ingredients in Celebrity's menus, but I find that they have a sameness that grows old very quickly if it's not one's personal preference in style of cuisine.
Of course, there are always a few conformists in the crowd -- those who, taken by the "political correctness" of the situation, would invariably say that Celebrity's cuisine was best, no matter what came out of the galley. Perhaps, now that he is no longer there, this "political correctness" has subsided?
I just want to point out that Celebrity's cuisine has always drawn mixed reactions, even in the era of Michel Roux when those who love French cuisine raved about it while those who don't care for all the rich sauces, etc., tolerated it. Food is very much a matter of taste and personal preference. Personally, I wish Celebrity would serve the themed menus that I remember from my days cruising Princess on the "casual" evenings because they provided a much broader variety of styles of cuisine over the course of a cruise. I have no complaint over the quality of ingredients in Celebrity's menus, but I find that they have a sameness that grows old very quickly if it's not one's personal preference in style of cuisine.
Of course, there are always a few conformists in the crowd -- those who, taken by the "political correctness" of the situation, would invariably say that Celebrity's cuisine was best, no matter what came out of the galley. Perhaps, now that he is no longer there, this "political correctness" has subsided?
Norm.
Norm makes excellent points and his comments are true regarding Michel Roux. Many prefer their meat and potatoes over the French sauces. I think Celebrity has really hit a home run with the variety of the restaurants on the S class ships. There is something there for everyone. Blu adds to the mix and reminds me of Celebrity dining back in the early 90s in terms of the food and service....
I, too, was on the Century May 3rd. I would concur that the food in the MDR was great, in fact, the fish was awesome. Had fish most nights.
However, the buffet was boring. Too repetitive. I think Holland America does a better job with the buffet. Celebrity needs to get a little more inventive and diverse with the buffet, breakast and lunch.
Had a nice cruise though. I thought the beaches in Playa del Carmen were beautiful.
....Blu adds to the mix and reminds me of Celebrity dining back in the early 90s in terms of the food and service....
Hi Don. That's interesting to hear you say that. I thought that Blu offered mostly lighter, healthier choices more in the vein of AquaSpa Cafe. I try to eat healthy at home & use my cruises to indulge in the foods that, shall we say, are less heart healthy. As a result, I haven't planned to considered Aqua class when sailing an S class ship, which we haven't done as yet. Maybe I should rethink!
I thought that Celebrity food had been slipping, but felt that on our last 2 sailings, the food has made a rebound, not to what it was when we first started in the mid 90s, but close enough.
Hi Don. That's interesting to hear you say that. I thought that Blu offered mostly lighter, healthier choices more in the vein of AquaSpa Cafe. I try to eat healthy at home & use my cruises to indulge in the foods that, shall we say, are less heart healthy. As a result, I haven't planned to considered Aqua class when sailing an S class ship, which we haven't done as yet. Maybe I should rethink!
I thought that Celebrity food had been slipping, but felt that on our last 2 sailings, the food has made a rebound, not to what it was when we first started in the mid 90s, but close enough.
They do offer lighter, healthier choices especially when comparing it to MDR. Don't get me wrong, MDR is still excellent. Blu also has three everynight items which I think are for the meat and potatoes crowd..
Being that food is very subjective and highly personal.. I enjoy very fresh and highly flavored food with no sauces
I completed a 2 week Panama on Connie in March.
The food was just OK. It was sufficiently uninspiring to make my husband and I pay the considerable extra $ to try Oceania in September. I would say the food was similiar to what you would get at Olive Garden, maybe The Keg in a few instances. Given the volume of meals, can't expect much better.
1) The food in the MDR was just satisfactory. Many misses; some type of white fish in very soggy puff pastry, braised short ribs that were dry, with the same braised short ribs showing up the next night in "braised short rib lasagna" whatever the heck that is. The food most often had 0 taste. There were occasional winners like apple tart etc.
I personally ordered off the "standing menu" at least 1/3 the time because the daily menu seemed to have alot of "retreds" from the previous day
2) The pool deck buffet was very good - no complaints at all.
3) The Acqua Spa menu was very limited and generally not appealing. The fancy little breads were dry and we avoided them. Gone was the cold poached salmon
4) Ocean Liners - OK. Was not impressed with many entrees, very heavy on the meat and the lobster bisque was totally awful and I promptly returned it to the kitchen
5) The breads on Connie. The breads were outstanding and I was addicted to the choc croissants
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In the end it was a great cruise (especially Perry Grant) but the food did not meet my requirements, so we are moving to other lines to see if we can get a better fit just for us
We wre on the Solstice last week. Gorgeous ship but the food in the MDR - not good at all. One of the worst we've ever had in fact. It was lukewarm at best. Not one night had roast beef. Shrimp cocktail is number one with me and I did have a double every night. The bread was good. Other than that, nothing to write home about for sure.
Now, the Murano, wonderful. We so thoroughly enjoyed our one evening there and, if we could have got in earlier in the week, probably would have eaten there every night.
We also had one dinner in Silk Harvest. It was OK but not the type of food we usually eat.
We tried dinner in the buffett one night - ended up walking out after barely touching it. It was terrible.
Back to the MDR, service was terrible. It took forever to get our order taken, I was only able to order a drink on the first night then the waiter never showed again. I tried asking our regular waiter to send the drink waiter over but that was a waste of breathe.
As you can see, we were awfully disappointed in the food on the Solstice.
__________________ More than 300 days at sea so far with many more to come. (Actually more - one of these days I'll count them properly.)
January 12/13 - Celebrity Reflection
41 cruises - too many to list however cruiselines are in no particular order:
Azamara
Uniworld
RCL
Princess
NCL
HAL
Cunard
Celebrity
and some unknown tub
Went on Eclipse recently & all the food was great, we dined in every restaurant other than Blu.
PS..Just noticed I already posted this, will add though we enjoyed the Tuscan most.
Last edited by johnthed0g; June 2nd, 2010 at 06:16 PM.
Guess my review says the same thing (it hasn't been posted yet)...something is wrong in the kitchen of the MDR..not to mention shortage of staff and boring food. B ut, in talking to another cruiser.. she tells me the food quality has gone DOWN on all lines. Yes, Murano was to die for..the Italian restaurant wasn't worth half the price..There must be only one bakery for breads and those were outstanding...everywhere.
Last year I traveled in Celebrity with my kids. The food were really wonderful,my kids were very happy to take food. Chat items, Lunch, Dinner delicious. Celebrity is the best food cruise.
On my April 2010 cruise on Solstice I found the food to be on par with HAL and Royal Caribbean. It was good but not great in the main dining room and I did not eat in any of the specialty restrauants.
Going back on Solstice in July in Aqua Class so will eat in Blu and will try the other specialty veneues. Hope to report back that the food was outstanding
Can you report on Blu. We are set for Aqua on Sept 12.
Can you report on Blu. We are set for Aqua on Sept 12.
The food in Blu is wonderful, I was in AQ last year and will be on the Solstice in AQ three weeks before your cruise. Blu has their own kitchen, menu is totally different than MDR and there are three everynight items. Breakfast is a definite plus if you want to go somewhere other than the Buffet.
However, the buffet was boring. Too repetitive. I think Holland America does a better job with the buffet. Celebrity needs to get a little more inventive and diverse with the buffet, breakast and lunch.
Had a nice cruise though. I thought the beaches in Playa del Carmen were beautiful.
I agree whole-heartedly, Suse. I really thought HAL's buffet food was much more varied and interesting than Celebrity's. Celebrity still edges HAL out in the main diningroom, and blows them right out of the water with their specialty restaurants.
Sailed Aqua Class with dining in Blu. Food was outstanding every night but one. Also ate in Silk Harvest and the Tuscan Grill....food in Blu was just as good and I could have saved some money.
Splendour of the Seas 97
Veendam 05
Westerdam 06
Serenade of the Seas 07
Liberty of the Seas 07
Jewel of the Seas 08
Westerdam 09
Volendam 09
Solstice 10
Solstice 10
Caribbean Princess 11
Nieuw Amsterdam 11
Oasis of the Seas 12
Queen Elizabeth 12
Eurodam 13
Carnival Valor 13
Reports back from several cruisers on other boards are indicating the casual dining setup on M and C class ships is in the process of being eliminated. I thought they would eliminate it once the ships got the S class treatment but the reports indicate this has occurred on Summit. The casual dining is not available on the S class ships. Also, this is new news within the last couple of weeks..
I've just looked at Cunard's TA site. Are you referring to the $10 for the specialties? I haven't seen anything about charging a la carte - only that they will be serving a la carte.
__________________ More than 300 days at sea so far with many more to come. (Actually more - one of these days I'll count them properly.)
January 12/13 - Celebrity Reflection
41 cruises - too many to list however cruiselines are in no particular order:
Azamara
Uniworld
RCL
Princess
NCL
HAL
Cunard
Celebrity
and some unknown tub
We were on the Celebrity Summit in August and the food was probably the worst we've ever had on a cruise.. Have also been on Princess and RCL.
All the food was bland and needed salt..
On the first night, the Apple Pie came out literally half baked, with an applesauce like filling.. It was so bad that I complained to the Executive Chef about it the next day.
Ironically, the food got worse as the week went on.. The worst dish was the "Veal Cordon Bleu Our way" on the last night..an overcooked sorry looking rollup of veal with tough veal with some dry fillings inside. I would be embarrassed to serve these to someone.. We actually sent these back..
Everyone of the sample dishes from the Normandie Restaurant that we tried were poor..
The best place to eat on the boat was the lite dood cafe inthe spa for lunch - they can make you a nice grilled chicken breast.. Nothing fancy, but good.
Also at the buffet the dishes to get were the chinese and the indian food, both not bad.. The sushi was abominable if you're used to good quality sushi..
The only dish that I would consider very good is their Creme Brulee
Interesting in that I have two friends right this moment who are doing a two week back to back on the Summit and we met up when they came to Boston and they are raving about the food, albeit smaller portions. One of a very fussy eater and cook too..As for the salt.. I would rather salt the food myself rather than it being oversalted for me.. Yes, I did find on the Soltice the food was lacking, but I also feel that every cook/chef can make the same recipe... and it's never comes out the same way..talking from my own experience in cooking and baking
"Would I pay a reasonable amount for this in a restaurant?"
If it's not something that I would be happy with in a restaurant, the answer is no.
For just about all the meals on the Celebrity Summit the answer was NO.
I'm not talking about high end restaurants like Per Se, The French Laundry, or Alinea, either, just good "comfort food" style restaurants in the $30-40 range per person for dinner, $15-20 pp for lunch, $10 pp for breakfast.
As for the salt, all the food was *bland*. It's not a question of being salty or not, but rather was it seasoned correctly..
The only dish that I would consider very good is their Creme Brulee
I had to laugh at this.. when we cruised Celebrity the food was ok, but nothing to rave about however it was the creme brulee that most people at our table attempted to spit out - it was awful. One bite and everyone left it. So yours was obviously better than ours, maybe they learnt to cook it?
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I've had Creme Brulee in Michelin three star restaurants in the US and in Europe and the example on the Summit was not bad, especially considering the rest of the food..
One one occasion when someone at the table ordered it they actually forgot to caramelize the sugar.. It's amazing that the waitstaff or the supervising chefs dont pick this up, but you get wait you pay for and my understanding is that they pay their staff very little..
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