Buffet on Celebrity Eclipse - The Good and the Bad

[mrsafety]

Can someone tell me what to expect on the Celebrity Eclipse Buffet. We have sailed on other lines and do not know what to expect. We sail on March 9th.

 

Thanks Karen and Jamie:)

[pete_coach]

Just got off the Equinox and the buffets are the same.

It is a buffet with many different stations. Lunch offerings are more diverse than dinner. Most people go to the main of other dining rooms for dinner.

There are sandwich stations, salad stations, grille stations, pizza stations, sushi stations, pasta stations. There is Indian food, Italian food, Chinese food as well as the hams, roasts, pork chops etc.

Breakfast buffet is just as varied.

[cwayne]

We were just on the Eclipse from Jan 12-26 and we loved the buffet. We were very impressed with the layout.....no long single lines. It's like several different pods that you can go around, except for the areas that are cooking. You can get many different things, It's almost impossible to list everthing. There is a carving station, pastries, breads, sushi, fruits, ice cream, stir-fry, meats, fish,........vegetables, etc. The quality was VERY good! To be honest, we enjoyed it more then we did the food in the dining room. My husband even got a steak cooked to order in the buffet along with baked potato, salad, etc. Breakfast and lunch are equally good and you can get eggs, omlettes, etc. There is a link that shows you pictures of the buffet and someone else may be able to recall and post it. Hope this helps

[shelbird]

Recently off the 1/12/ 13 sailing. Many items at breakfast such as made to order eggs as well as eggs bendict in a variety of flavors. Delicious waffles!! (a second waffle station is located next to the ice cream bar and was unoticed for most of the cruise. I found it though!) :D

 

 

Breakfast meats such as bacon, sausage, bangers, turkey sausage and English bacon. Also sliced ham, beef pork leg. Not all every day. It varies. Various cereals English breakfast items.

 

 

Lunch offered a large variety of delicious freshly baked breads, not so great coldcuts, tuna and chicken salads. Also at this station they make paninis.

 

 

My favorite lunch item was the made to order stir fry. You hand the cook a plate, pick from a large variety of sliced and diced veggies say with or without garlic and choose a meat. (I always asked for Saracha sauce and sesame oil too) and it is cooked in a wok with or without delicious rice noodles.

 

 

As mentioned you'll find pizza pasta and a variety of hot items. Loved the fish and chips. Indian food seemed much the same daily, but very good. Don't miss the yummy burgers and hot dogs at the mast grill.

 

 

Don't remember much about the dinner buffet as I hit the Martini Bar first.:o

[gelo7]

We were just on the Eclipse from Jan 12-26 and we loved the buffet. We were very impressed with the layout.....no long single lines. It's like several different pods that you can go around, except for the areas that are cooking. You can get many different things, It's almost impossible to list everthing. There is a carving station, pastries, breads, sushi, fruits, ice cream, stir-fry, meats, fish,........vegetables, etc. The quality was VERY good! To be honest, we enjoyed it more then we did the food in the dining room. My husband even got a steak cooked to order in the buffet along with baked potato, salad, etc. Breakfast and lunch are equally good and you can get eggs, omlettes, etc. There is a link that shows you pictures of the buffet and someone else may be able to recall and post it. Hope this helps

Ditto..

[ischeer]

Re

 

 

 

 

As mentioned you'll find pizza pasta and a variety of hot items. Loved the fish and chips. Indian food seemed much the same daily, but very good. Don't miss the yummy burgers and hot dogs at the mast grill.

 

 

 

While I love the burgers/dogs/fries at the Mast Grill(TA's on Eclipse, Equinox, Silhouette)

1) There are often loooong lines for service

2) There is very limited seating there

3) The seating is in open sun. I usually end up carrying my food elsewhere to eat.

[dln929]

Don't miss the ice cream that's at one of the entrances! It's excellent and you can get either a cup or a cone, complimentary.

[stag]

There are so many items at Oceanview Café, I don't think we sampled everything during our 14-day cruise last month. My strategy for a buffet restaurant is to pick a few items per meal. Then we never had a repeat meal.

 

Other cruise lines have assembly line concept that everyone line up from the beginning to end. Celebrity uses food station concept that eliminates the line up. The pizza station not only has the tradition pizzas but also has exotic kind, for example Thai chicken. I don't like soup and sandwich much thus skip that station completely.

[wednesday]

I really liked the pasta station, where you pick your pasta, sauce and toppings and they make it for you. I also loved the cheese blintzes served at breakfast (with the waffles and pancakes) they are something I had never had before and were great eaten with syrup.

 

Don't know if anyone mentioned this but there is also a bar located at the (port I believe) entrance where you can get fresh squeezed juice in the morning as well as soda and various other drinks (for a charge or with a beverage package)

[cwayne]

I really liked the pasta station, where you pick your pasta, sauce and toppings and they make it for you. I also loved the cheese blintzes served at breakfast (with the waffles and pancakes) they are something I had never had before and were great eaten with syrup.

 

Don't know if anyone mentioned this but there is also a bar located at the (port I believe) entrance where you can get fresh squeezed juice in the morning as well as soda and various other drinks (for a charge or with a beverage package)

 

Cheese Blintzes!!!! I never saw those!!! I would have loved to try them because my mother used to make them.........;)

[wednesday]

Cheese Blintzes!!!! I never saw those!!! I would have loved to try them because my mother used to make them.........;)

 

They had them on the buffet every morning of our 2 week Baltic cruise. They were in a tray beside the waffles and pancakes so be on the lookout next time :D

 

Hoping this wasn't itinerary specific and that they have them on my upcoming cruise. Maybe someone in the know will chime in on the subject!

[JanineM]

Just to add ... there is not a full dinner buffet on Celebrity. They will have dinner selections (made-to-order pasta bar, salad bar, pizza, usually another item or two), but not an enormous array of different items.

 

I think most ships have an Asian/sushi selection beginning late afternoon, and they also have afternoon tea from about 4 through 7 pm - sandwiches, sweets, a few other items.

[Tennant]

We loved the buffet on our equinox cruise so much that we are planning to skip formal dress nights and hit the buffet so we can reduce some space In the luggage. After all that heavy eating it is nice to grab some pizza or a salad at night. It is amazing for bfast and lunch as everyone has mentioned. Really doesn't feel like a buffet in the traditional cafeteria lines, more like a food court.

[Lsimon]

I think Celebrity has a really great buffet selection for breakfast and lunch. There are way too many items to begin to list them all.

 

Some of my favorites for breakfast (beyond the basics like certial yoguret and toast) are the eggs Benedict/Poached egg station and the English back bacon if its cooked slightly crispy.

 

At lunch I usually just try to make a nice salad from the salad bar, but when I'm going beyond that some of my favorites are the pizza, pasta station, and Indian and Asian foot stations. There are a lot of other choices. I find the burgers at the mast grill (a short walk from the buffet so you can bring one back to sit with others) just great as well.

 

Afternoon snacks are pretty good but not as well.

 

The dinner buffet is pretty limited. We don't eat there often but it seems there is a small but nice selection.

 

I know this thread was about the Eclipse but: If anyone going on an M class ship is reading this thread then I have some great advice for first time M class cruisers. Do not get in line immediately when entering the buffet! It looks like that is the thing to do but it is a mistake for most. The lines are longest in front as that is what people tend to think they have to do. Also, there is a wide selection of great choices around the sides and back of the buffet you'll miss if you fill your plates at the front. Instead take a walk to see what's available in front, along one side, all the way around the back and up the other side before deciding what you'll get. This isn't an issue on the S class ships, like the Eclipse, where there are more discreet serving stations and a layout where it is more intuitive to look around first.

[Kevnzworld]

As LSimon mentioned M class ships, I'll offer this opinion .

I really like the Oceanview Cafe buffet on the S class ships. I was on the Eclipse holiday Caribbean cruise a month ago and I thought the lunch buffet was great. Add chicken/ tuna/ shrimp salad from the sandwich station to your your mixed green salad from the sandwich bar!

That's time consuming and difficult on M class ships because of the lines. I sailed on the millennium in October and disliked the buffet experience. The Asian delight station was lame. The lines were long and the seating sparse.

If I could pick just one major benefit of S class over M , it would be the buffet.

[Lois R]

There is also a station at lunch with all sorts of marinated veggies

(if you like that....which I do:)). Asparagus, mushrooms, eggplant,

just to give an example....they are served cold and are fresh and

delicious. I will take them, some cheeses, fruit and some bread

...that is one of my favorite lunches:) along with a cold

beer or glass of wine.....:D

[fishycomics]

As the Buffet is a great place to eat. just a shot, :)

 

 

 

 

[Texed]

Delicious waffles!! (a second waffle station is located next to the ice cream bar and was unoticed for most of the cruise. I found it though!) :D

 

I agree the waffles are great. I found the "hidden" waffle station rather quickly. ;)

[ClaudiaB]

Don't forget the Aqua Spa Cafe - available to all passengers. Great grilled items, but you have to ask for them and they'll grill a nice piece of salmon or chicken for you and fix a fresh salad. Great fruit choices and vegetables, and yogurt/granola/fruit parfaits at breakfast that are so good!!

 

I will do salads a lot at lunchtime. I typically grab a combination of the caesar salad minus the dressing - and some spinach somewhere else - and some other lettuce somewhere else - and mix it all myself with the dressing I prefer. Go to the mast grill or Aqua Spa Cafe and get something grilled for the top. It's a bit of moving around but it's a great custom salad.

[fishycomics]

no blueberries

[thephillykid]

Lox and Bagels for breakfast????

[pacheco18]

Here is a contrary view.

 

We are just off Solstice and the buffet was awful (we had sailed on Eclipse in 2011 where we thought the buffet was quite good)

 

Menu repetitive -- no blintzes, no fish and chips -- boring - same pasta sauces every day

Food not proper temperature (eg cold eggs)

Food not properly prepared (oatmeal was liquid -- I complained 3 times and it was ultimately made a bit thicker)

Salads LOADED with mayonnaise

Service was poor -- too few people to clear off tables - we bussed our own tables all the time

Coffee really undrinkable

Coffee, iced tea machines almost always empty and no one on board seemed to know it until a passenger alerted staff

I found the supervisors harried and unresponsive.

 

The upside - I barely ate breakfast or lunch because it was all so unappetizing and I did not gain a pound.

 

OTOH - the MDR was the best I have ever experienced on any ship. I don't know why they do one so well and one so poorly.

[wednesday]

Here is a contrary view.

 

We are just off Solstice and the buffet was awful (we had sailed on Eclipse in 2011 where we thought the buffet was quite good)

 

Menu repetitive -- no blintzes, no fish and chips -- boring - same pasta sauces every day

Food not proper temperature (eg cold eggs)

Food not properly prepared (oatmeal was liquid -- I complained 3 times and it was ultimately made a bit thicker)

Salads LOADED with mayonnaise

Service was poor -- too few people to clear off tables - we bussed our own tables all the time

Coffee really undrinkable

Coffee, iced tea machines almost always empty and no one on board seemed to know it until a passenger alerted staff

I found the supervisors harried and unresponsive.

 

The upside - I barely ate breakfast or lunch because it was all so unappetizing and I did not gain a pound.

 

OTOH - the MDR was the best I have ever experienced on any ship. I don't know why they do one so well and one so poorly.

 

No blintzes!! :( We had some difficulty with service at Breakfast on the Eclipse last summer, it was mainly inconsistency with the coffee service they offer, some mornings they would be there for the breakfast rush but most mornings they hadn't even started when we were finished eating. At least it was better than the MDR for breakfast, that was a complete train wreck! It was handled very poorly unlike the RCCL Mariner OTS we sailed the year before where we were able to have breakfast in the MDR every morning, even port days.

[miched]

I expect it to be better than Golden Coral, or the Old Country Buffet. Also expect to gain weight if I eat there because it is sometimes very tempting to try a little of everything especially at the grand brunch buffet. :D

 

 

 

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[Redtravel]

I do not like buffets. On my recent Silhouette cruise, I was not happy with the buffet. Too big. Food was okay. Lots of choices. Coffee was awful. Service was poor. No trays. I only can use one hand. It was a struggle to get food on to my dish and then carry it to a table. Often had to struggle to find an empty table. If you left the table to get something else, often the original food was taken away. Not nice. I prefer eating in the MDR with waiter service. I also enjoy the elite breakfast...excellent coffee. I miss having the MDR open for lunch. I prefer the Millenium class ships where the buffet has trays that slide. At least there I can get my meal and then get somebody to help carry it to a table.