Quality of celebrity food - is it declining

[jaspersmommy]

We just came off the Eclipse yesterday. Overall, I was very pleased with the MDR food. It certainly isn't fine dining, but the quality and presentation was pretty good. We ate in the MDR 9 of 14 nights and I only had one meal there that I thought wasn't very good.

 

We also ate in Bistro on Five, Qsine, Murano, and in Tuscan Grill Twice. The Bistro on Five was a nice break and food was good. Qsine was excellent and a lot of fun. I was somewhat disappointed with my Murano meal. It was a lobster tail prepared tableside in a sauce. The sauce totally overpowered the lobster and wasn't very good. However, the presentation, service and appetizers were excellent. My favourite was by far Tuscan Grille. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was less stuffy than Murano.

 

BTW... The Chateaubriand was on the menu in Murano last week. I wish I had chosen it instead of the lobster tail.

[Germancruiser]

Hello Texed- I hope so too- let´s cross fingers!

Greetings

Michael

[rkacruiser]

The Veal Scalloppine at Tuscan Grill and the Potato Crusted Turbot at Murano on the Eclipse, along with excellent service at both restaurants, are stand-outs for any specialty restaurants on any of the ships I have been fortunate enough to sail. I must say that I have never had any better veal than what was served in the Tuscan Grill.

 

The only exceptions would be the Master Chef's Room on the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Chef's Table on Carnival Pride. But, these two experiences are designed to be a cut above the usual specialty restaurant experience. They even included a different wine with each course and much more personal attention/service by the entire staff, including the Chef.

[SAN]

We recently returned from a cruise on Infinity 15 nights. The food in the MDR was ok but nothing like we had on Millenium in September. The September cruise was a wine cruise, so maybe the kitchen served a better quality of food , no complaints.

 

We did enjoy the Aqua Spa lunch almost every day and the outside grill and the grill in the evening in the Oceanview Cafe.

 

I am curious about the new menus. Didn't they change menus not long ago? Maybe too many complaints about quality of food?

[skandls]

Food quality on all the mass market lines seem to have declined. I think between the cost cutting for food and staff and the large number of people to feed (add open dining) MDR food is a very hit or miss thing. I don't expect much eating in the MDR - the food is often not hot and often very bland. The cruise lines are keeping the cost of cruising pretty low when you consider the better cabins, entertainment and ship board amenities.

 

So I am willing to pay up to have dinner in the pay restaurants. You gets what you pay for - and cruises now have food 24/7 - entertainment in multiple venues (your show is not limited to Harry the Hypnotist) - I get a balcony cabin at a great price per day.

[Hestia]

I fear this may be a largely subjective topic. Just because I don't like something that Celebrity has changed with respect to the menu, someone else may love the changes (and vice versa). Overall, we enjoyed the majority of our meals aboard the Eclipse last month. My comments on our dining experience follows:

 

I am left to wonder if Celebrity has converted part of the upper grass level to a green bean farm? I could not believe how many times I was served up green beans. The only memorable difference to the green bean side was the night I had the most bitter "greens" I have ever tasted.

 

Many items are over-salted.

 

The nachos I have so loved on the lunch buffet on past cruises, this time around were horrible. They were made from what might have been left over pitas and were either not cooked in hot enough oil or simply not cooked enough. They were the opposite of crispy and bore little resemblance to the nachos of the past.

 

The waffles - the thing I loved most about the breakfast buffet - were still good but not "to die for" as they have been on past cruises with Celebrity. They lacked their usual crispness (even when freshly offered from waffle maker to plate).

 

I believe there are some cost cutting measures taking place. The changes are subtle but they are there. I'm hopeful that the increased prices will revert the food quality issues before the food on Celebrity becomes indistinguishable from all the other mainstream cruise lines.

 

The specialty restaurants have quickly become our favourite place to dine. Sadly, the experience usually consumes a minimum of two hours so we can't fit that in every night. Also, we'd need a wheelbarrow to disembark if we ate in Tuscan or QSine nightly...

[vermonter16]

OMG, it is lunch time right now and people are eating around me....I won't be eating for another few hours....y'all are making me hungry even with some of the food dislike comments... The coworker next to me just brought some food back from the cafeteria and said she wasn't quite sure what she was eating...it was either chicken or pork she thought. Never had that happen to me on a cruise :).

[USVI-4-me]

Eclipse 4/6 to 4/20

We noticed better quality of meatsin the MDR and buffet.

There were fewer choices in buffet but the food was better.

 

Pretzel rolls were gone. After Five ice cream served only once.

I didn't see bags of curry mix. Instead, curry meats.

 

The sushi bar expanded but the salt gave me puffy crescents under my eyes. The pad thai looked like a noodle chop-chop.

 

More carving stations in buffet. We had med-rare slices of roast beef.

I often selected the glass dishes of mixed salads: chicken, or cucumber, or rice, or shrimp.

 

Cherries jubilee in MDR had 6 cherries instead of 4.:)

 

-Marisa

[h20cruzer]

Well the only good thing, is at least we have those memories of when the food was better.

The desserts have really gone down hill. I can remember on the Zenith how beautifull they looked and tasted, now I just opt for the sorbet which sometimes leaves something to be desired. No longer do they present the dessert tray or really even describe the desserts.

Oh well at least I have my memories.

Norma