Celebrity's New Menu: I'm just the messenger.

We just returned from millennium just prior to the release of new menus that were released fleet wide:

From Century:

Did they change the menus on the Millennium?

They changed here several days ago.

New font (looks like we are sailing on a different line),

reduced selections for everyday and reduced number of appetizers & soups.

Probably a cost cutting move since it is easier and cheaper to produce more of a smaller selection of items.

I just met with the F&B manager Simon about some serious changes which took place at the beginning of this cruise... Gone are: chilled soups, lobster bisque, caprese salad, crostini appetizer, baked potato and choice of vegetable (all but the first are from the left side of the menu, as you know).

 

Also gone are escargot but he says that they will return when their supplier problem clears up, and they have been replaced for the time being with crab-stuffed mushrooms.

 

This is a significant reduction in my opinion. I sent an attention to detail after seeing these changes on the first night, and have had two or three phone calls from Guest Relations, culminating in this meeting just now. Apparently the changes are systemwide.

 

In the course of the conversation he alluded to the increase in the number of specialty restaurants as a factor in pulling attention away from the MDR. This has also been discussed on Cruise Critic....how the extra charge charge restaurants are responsible for diminishing the MDR experience.

 

I'll be rating the MDR food the lowest possible rating, as will others. It's all we can do.

 

Should any of my comments about the food be relevant to any discussions on Cruise Critic feel free to quote me....

By the way, the service at the Captain's Table on a recent voyage was so bad that the captain got up to pour the wine for his guests. The service on the following voyage was much improved! The number of waiters in the MDR has been reduced by 10% to 15% over the last year or so. This might account for some reports on slower than normal service.

Oh WOW. This makes me VERY unhappy. Celebrity usually has the edge when I book, but if this is the case, Princess will be my "first go to" from here out.

The Executive Chef on MIL told me that some items will be added. These include lamb Shank on bone, a full lobster, osso buco and chateaubriand. I'm in AQ for my next two cruises so won't experience MDR until I return to MIL. Just hope that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The Executive Chefs have been called to a meeting on March 17th on the Eclipse. Let's seewhat results.

Not happy to hear this. The cold soups have always been my favorite--have never had a bad one yet. Afraid I can't say the same for the hot soups.

I find it strange that they would eliminate something that has been a strong point for them.

Arno,

Thanks for the info re the menus.

I have sailed almost exclusively with Celebrity since they started business in the early 90's....don't have as many cruise credits as you - I'm only at a meager 67 as I work full time and can't cruise as much as I'd like to ....I have seen a steady decline in "everything" in the past few years. In my opinion, Celebrity should beg Michel Roux to come back! I am now very, very seriously considering moving to another cruise line. I sent a letter to Celebrity expressing my dissatisfaction with my recent Silhouette sailing - mostly service related inssues - got the "standard" letter back which shows me that Celebrity truly does not care. Celebrity is now no better or worse than NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, etc. etc.

Janice

This is not good news...my daughter lives on the cold soup and caesar salad for dinner....and I'm an escargot girl every night. I am truly disappointed in Celebrity product the last few cruises. Summit last 2 cruises...the MDR was slow as molasses ....and food sub par.

Oh man is my brother going to be mad. He has escargot every night when we cruise Celebrity even got Princess to serve him it daily by telling the head waiter he was always able to get it on Celebrity:). We leave in two weeks I'm not telling him!

I LOVE LOVE the escargot. And LINDA I thought maybe I was the only one that liked the cold soups, but they are amongst my favorite items.

I am concerned too. I just sent an email to Jacques VanStaden; he is out of the office until April 2, but I will resend it when he getsw back if I have not heard.

(Email addresses are first initial last name at rccl dot com (no spaces).

Arno,

Why did you have to dampen our excitement for our upcoming Silhouette Med cruise. Escargot every night for me and cold soups for Carol are our normal choice. I hope the escargot supply issue is cleared up soon. Now that I have that said, I am still excited about our upcoming cruise.:)

On my recent 4-night Millie cruise, three of the six people sitting with us had the escargot every single night....:mad:

Arno,

Why did you have to dampen our excitement for our upcoming Silhouette Med cruise. Escargot every night for me and cold soups for Carol are our normal choice. I hope the escargot supply issue is cleared up soon. Now that I have that said, I am still excited about our upcoming cruise.:)

I was also looking forward to eating escargot almost every night when we go on our first Celebrity cruise :(.

Mike... I love your vacation review website. Thank you for sharing your reviews and wonderful photos.

I LOVE LOVE the escargot. And LINDA I thought maybe I was the only one that liked the cold soups, but they are amongst my favorite items.

I have 3 Celebrity cruises booked now. When I think of Celebrity, I think of cold soups and escargot. These 2 items are reasons I have not booked Aquaclass yet, just not sure of Blu and if I can get these 2 items. We mostly book Concierge Class. I'll see what things are like on our June cruise. I'm now getting ready to book airfare for our Sept cruise. These changes make me stop and think. Are these 2 items the only reason that I cruise on Celebrity, No. But with the jeans allowed in the MDR and my last cruise with Celebrity on Connie 14 day Southern Caribbean cruise will make be think twice before booking another cruise with Celebrity. Richard

The Executive Chef on MIL told me that some items will be added. These include lamb Shank on bone, a full lobster, osso buco and chateaubriand. I'm in AQ for my next two cruises so won't experience MDR until I return to MIL. Just hope that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The Executive Chefs have been called to a meeting on March 17th on the Eclipse. Let's seewhat results.

Orator - a real full lobster? In the past they only had lobster tails.

I was also looking forward to eating escargot almost every night when we go on our first Celebrity cruise :(.

 

Mike... I love your vacation review website. Thank you for sharing your reviews and wonderful photos.

Thanks, I'm glad you have enjoyed them. I sure hope I will be able to get escargot pics for my Silhouette review. :D

I am surprised to hear that they are eliminating cold soups because that is something special about a cruise, since most restaurants don't have them.

How the heck (and why) would you get rid of baked potatoes? They are cheap! And what does it mean they got rid of "choice of vegetable" does that mean there will be 1 vegetable, like it or leave it?

Not sure who the genius is behind this but this will push customers to HAL and Princess if it's truly the case. HAL has wonderful cold soups.

Hi Everyone,

Could it just be possible this is a good thing ? Yes, we enjoy the chilled Soups, and some of the other items mentioned... but it's not going to stop us from sailing with Celebrity. Orator's description of the new menu items seem very positive. I'm hoping they prove to be accurate.

I'd rather learn of the details, and actually taste the food, before I begin to worry about it. I'm glad we are sailing on Eclipse in April, so whatever is in the works, should be settled by then. FYI - earlier today, I asked Celebrity if new MDR menus are forthcoming. I hope to have additional information shortly. Stay Tuned !

The Executive Chef on MIL told me that some items will be added. These include lamb Shank on bone, a full lobster, osso buco and chateaubriand. I'm in AQ for my next two cruises so won't experience MDR until I return to MIL. Just hope that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The Executive Chefs have been called to a meeting on March 17th on the Eclipse. Let's seewhat results.

What kind of full lobster, I doubt very much it will be of the cold water variety but who knows. I can't believe X will add a tank to keep a cold water lobster alive

I just returned from sailing the Solstice on Sunday. We had the escargot every night, the cold soup did turn out to be hot but it was still wonderful. The food in the MDR was very good and we saw no reason to pay extra for the specialty restaurants. We did go to Bistro on Five, but I was actually disappointed and didn't think it held up to all the hype. All in all I would not complain about the food or the service we received in the MDR.:)

I have 3 Celebrity cruises booked now. When I think of Celebrity, I think of cold soups and escargot. These 2 items are reasons I have not booked Aquaclass yet, just not sure of Blu and if I can get these 2 items. We mostly book Concierge Class. I'll see what things are like on our June cruise. I'm now getting ready to book airfare for our Sept cruise. These changes make me stop and think. Are these 2 items the only reason that I cruise on Celebrity, No. But with the jeans allowed in the MDR and my last cruise with Celebrity on Connie 14 day Southern Caribbean cruise will make be think twice before booking another cruise with Celebrity. Richard

I've done AQ and I particularly liked the MDR for being able to order certain cold soups, and the escargot and lobster bisque from the every day menu, so I've gone back to CC or 1A.

Not my only reason for booking CELEBRITY but certainly some of the things that gave the edge to Celebrity over Princess (especially now that Princess has tightened their smoking policy.

I'll be on the Equinox in a few weeks and I'll look for the Osso bucco and chateaubriand, as those were some of my favorites from the past. I hope the information of the additions, that Orator received was spot on.

I'm not going to cry or anything but I'll (sniff sniff) miss my cold soups and snails!! :(

(please pass me my hankie). :D

I can't say there is much for us to like about the new additions that were mentioned above since we eat neither meat nor shellfish. We loved the chilled soups! I'll try to be positive until we see what the new menus look like but...

Linda

attached are the new menus with the new font and reduced choice from Solstice, as posted by "CAVOK" on another thread.

This is in my opinion a cost cutting exercise combined with an attempt to lighten the workload on the galley and thus improving overall quality of the remaining choices. Some Celebrity veteran dishes seem to have reappeared, eg. Chateaubriant and lamb shank, which is good.:)

Shame though about the lobster bisque and strawberry soup, which I loved:(

Before making conclusions, I will try all 14 menus on my upcoming Connie cruise on 24/03/12. with an open mind.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=222759&d=1329874696

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=222760&d=1329874696

I am concerned too. I just sent an email to Jacques VanStaden; he is out of the office until April 2, but I will resend it when he getsw back if I have not heard.

 

(Email addresses are first initial last name at rccl dot com (no spaces).

Time to get rid of that useless chef who in my opinion is more interested in selling the celebrity cook book, also known as "Stimulate the Wallet" sorry "Stimulate the taste buds".

Bring in Gordon Ramsay

It's good to see the addition of fresh fruit to the classic ( left hand side) appetizers as the majority of the new menus seem to be something with salad or goats cheese. Disappointing as there is already a salad course. We do like a warm starter.

We will miss the warm mushroom tarts and of course the cold soups which are unfortunately our families favourities. We as a family will struggle with the new choices

Another welcome addition seems to be a fish choice on every menu and I am glad to see they have kept steak/beef choices as Celebrity do these so well.

Does anyone know wheither there will be a second set of menus for cruises up to 14 days. We have never been on a cruise of less than 10 days as Celebrity doesn't really do shorter cruises in Europe. We really wouldn't want to go through the same menus twice.