lousy dinners on the Summit...

well sisters can sure be different...

we have just returned from 10 days on the Summit ( NOv 21 - Dec 6) where we had the worst food for dinner, both quality and selection....this is our 15th cruise so we have something to compare to....last March on the Constellation it was the best dinner food we had experienced...so sisters can be very different...

unless of course things have changed since last March on all Celebrity ships...we will find out..we are on the Connie again in May....

Pls tell us more. I have a friend that is just off Summit and his 24th Celebrity cruise and he is raving about everthing. Raving in a good way.

well maybe it had something to do with second seating...but the food was dried out...not at all fresh....and really did not have taste...

we ate at Casual dining...it was quite good there and the Aqua spa cafe was very good as usual...

if we had sailed previously with other lines perhaps we would have thought it was good as well...but comparing it with the Constellation it was really bad....the dining room by the end of the cruise was always a quarter empty...I had never seen that before....and the casual dining was fully booked....

The dinner at the second seating was bad I had to whip the waiter to get the food rare and sent most of my food back the first two nights then my waiter just figured it was easier to send it out of the kitchen right the first time....I ordered everything then more of what ever was tasty....hit and miss ordering system with roasted garlic on the side helps alot with the blaw food....plus tabasco for kick....

"Roasted garlic on the side..tabasco." In a Celebrity dining room?

Next is A1 Sauce. Doesn't sound anything like my four Celebrity cruises.

We were on the Summit in Nov and I must say that the food was great. My wife and I have travelled the world and ate in famous top rated restaurants whether in Europe or North America and considering that food is prepared in such high volume it was impressive. Certainly a lot better than most of the hotel dining room food (regardless of the chain).

Perhaps, you should have informed your waiter or maître-D, I'm certain that they would have done something about it.

I've been on both Summit and Const and we were just slightly more impressed by the Summit but would certainly sail again on either.

Better luck next time.

Uncle Pete - we were on the same cruise (Nov 15 - 26) and I have to agree that the food was great. We had the main seating which may have made a difference but I can't see it being that much of a difference.

We sailed the Summit (Oct. 1 - Oct. 15) and had the best food of all our 30 something cruises.

S

well who knows maybe the main cook was off the days we sailed...oh I just dont know...our whole table ( 4 couples) different ages, from different places all were very unhappy...most of us missed two nights of dinners out of 10 and ate at the casual dining...

this was our 9th celebrity cruise...and the food has always been great...so maybe just an aberration....we are on the Summit again in Jan 06 to Hawaii....

Was it the quality of the food, or, the quality of the preparation?? Both??

No matter how tasteless is was....consider yourself lucky, we had the same experience on HAL...but on HAL the menu is designed to be bland and over-cooked...at least that's what I was told by the server when I asked why my veggies were cooked to the edge of paste. They were nice enough to bring me raw veggies...I love raw veggies!!

well maybe it had something to do with second seating...but the food was dried out...not at all fresh....and really did not have taste...

Had the *exact* same experience as you did on a previous cruise aboard Galaxy. I figured the quality on that one had suffered because it was a repositioning cruise, and they have a pretty nasty reputation sometimes when it comes to service/quality.

And, the same as your experience, we found food aboard Mercury to be night and day from what we had encountered with Galaxy. Mercury's cuisine was absolutely wonderful and definitely above average for the industry. Galaxy, overall, was barely average I'd say.

I think, to be honest, the quality of such things can vary *GREATLY* from week to week, ship to ship and crew to crew. There are SO many variables, even some outside of the chef's control, that go into food preperation for some 2,500+ passengers and crew.

Danno, We were on the Mercury in March and the Galaxy repositioning cruise in Nov, The Food??? samo- samo, and have been on several repo cruises and I can tell you that the poor qulity thing is a fable, propigated (SP) by people who probably have never been on a repo cruise.

The same thing goes for the late seating nonsense.

Phil

Hi Everyone !

Not that I am disagreeing with Amanda Blake, but I was on the same sailing on Summit (party of 8) and we all thought that overall, the food was excellent. I would say it was as good as ever, perhaps better.

About the only minor negative, was... for the first 2 days my waitress did not bring out the meat entrees as ordered, but when she saw that I was not shy about sending it back, by day 3, everything was coming out perfectly.

As with every cruise, there is always a meal or 2 that is less than perfect, but that is understandable when nearly 2,000 people have to be fed.

I truly wish that Amanda had a better dining experience, but there are so many variables that could have made her meals, not to her liking. I hope her next cruise will be much better for her !

Overall, I would give the dining room food about a 9 on a scale of 1-10. So, please try not to worry about it much !

Regards,

Andy

Andy,

I too was on the 11/26 cruise and we were very satisfied with our meals. Our waiter was fabulous and asked every person every night if the food was to their liking. If there was the slightest problem he was there to remedy it. I did ask if we were going to have souffles as I missed those. I was told that they were only available in the Normandie (drats!). The next evening the Maitre'D came over and said that although they could not make souffles for us they were going to make an alternative. They gave the whole table these special desserts the last evening and it was the best of the whole cruise!

Overall, I was very happy with the meals and the entire cruise was wonderful in my opinion!

Uncle Pete - we were on the same cruise (Nov 15 - 26) and I have to agree that the food was great. We had the main seating which may have made a difference but I can't see it being that much of a difference.

We took the late seating and we have no complaints.

Our sommelier picked a wine (turned bad), he didn't ask...he took it upon himself and took it back. First, he explained the reason for not wanting to serve it and showed us what he meant.

We travelled with a friend that is almost a chronic complainer and he never bitched throughout the cruise...he wants to do it again.

we have never experienced terrible food on all our X cruises,,,going on the Millie on Sunday(the12th) and looking forward to the same fine quality we are used to getting,,we also do the late seating dinner....:)

Parrotgirl - great so see your post.

My family along with Rhonda and Troy are on the Summit December 27 - January 7th.

Hope all is well with you. Too bad we were not on the Summit at the same time . . it would have been great to see you again.

Happy holidays,

Rita

well there you go....yes huge discrepancy in opinion....but one thing all that thought the food was great would have to agree with...there were no potato baskets...no veggies wrapped with bows...in fact the broccolli was just a big clump as were other vegetables...I dont care about potato veggies...and wrapped vegetables...but we did see that at every meal in March...our waiter was wonderful but there was nothing he could do....returning a meal meant getting something that was possibly worse...

I cant explain the differences in opinion...but Andy and I sat and talked, I had told him about how bad the food in the dining room at dinner was...we didnt eat any other meals there so I dont know....but hey...now I know there can be huge variations...2000 passengers...who knows how many different cooks prepare the food...I do know it will take me a long while to try and eat rack of lamb again...this was my favourite..well it was so gamey and tough the steak knife couldnt cut it...but had a fabulous time otherwise....and it is only food....the shopping was still great...lol...

OK people this is the deal....if your enjoying your life and the company you keep...friends,dysfunctional family,new cruise family,or even if your traveling with a call girl,and the conversation is new,fresh and alive.I feel that the food just helps highten the moment of bliss and pleasure while dinning.How did i sovle the food problem,well firstly you need to order rare,smile alot tell a few jokes and tip up front a little...hey this guy not the same as rest of the sheep on this boat,or do what you can to stand out,make bird noises if thats all you can do.Come on look at the numbers here,what would you do if these people showed up for dinner at your house... holy **** I would just fill the pool up with Jello and pass around spoons.The head chef comes from fine dining European trained background and you can only do so many tricks with this many people.....

I gained 10 pounds on the Summit 11/26 to 12/6 I ate like a piggy,plus Roderick my butler would show up with extra food between meals,it was a food blitz,I found shrimp in my pockets and sushi rice in my shoes....

Back in Los Angeles with a 20 pound turkey in the fridge and missing Roderick.

It's my ship in LA allllllllllll mine!!! Love you Summit you make me feel fine...

That's too bad Amanda. I was on the cruise before yours and the food was fantastic in every respect...quality, selection, presentation, and preparation. We were on 2nd seating as well. No disappointments!

Also, Markmoss mentioned not getting things prepared correctly - this could be a waiter factor and not the chef or kitchen. If a waiter either takes the order wrong, or maybe has a personal agenda for people not eating rare meats...maybe he is the reason it isn't being done correctly? I eat my red meats medium-rare to rare...and I order them that way (I usually say medium-rare, but closer to rare). The first night on Summit, my waiter made the effort to explain exactly what the kitchen's definition of 'medium rare' and 'rare' meant, and confirmed if that was indeed what I wanted (this is nice, because some people might not be used to more European preparation, where foods cooked 'rare' tend to be much moreso than U.S. versions). I never had an improperly prepared dish.

I hope we didn't eat all the good food off the Summit, and they couldn't restock in time for your cruise, Amanda! ;)

Had the *exact* same experience as you did on a previous cruise aboard Galaxy. I figured the quality on that one had suffered because it was a repositioning cruise, and they have a pretty nasty reputation sometimes when it comes to service/quality.

 

Guess what? I thought the food was just as good as it was on all 6 of my Celebrity cruises.

Maybe I made Gary lose his appetite?;)

Just kidding, but it does go to show you that perceptions are just perceptions. The food could be essentially the same, it's how you think about the food that can change. Maybe one's appetite changes for some reason unrelated to food (stress, depression, waitstaff attitude, the weather, dinner companions, or ingrown toenails, for example).:)

By the time I get on a cruise ship the food almost always is great.........just being away from snow, from work, from customers, from phones (oh well, 3 out of 4 :eek: )...X's food tastes very good.

But Amanda has made a good case....she obviously isn't condemning the whole cruise or the staff or the fleet because of the food quality...I give her full credit for report and see no reason to question her opinion...for what ever reason, I would say the food was not up to standards.

we had the same experience on HAL...but on HAL the menu is designed to be bland and over-cooked...at least that's what I was told by the server when I asked why my veggies were cooked to the edge of paste.

Well..non of our dishes on HAL were bland or overcooked...I actually liked HAL's food, (we even had black caviar one night ;) )

I liked deserts on X better though.:)

Tatka. You obviously didn't have the infamous HAL meatloaf with red wine sauce. It was served the last night of the cruise. Worst dish I've had on 15 cruises.