Blu was disappointing

[misha1]

Well...now I am bummed. We are AQ for the first time this January and I decided to book it because of the raves of BLU by CC folks. Does Blu have the same menu every breakfast and every dinner? Maybe we will be dining in the other restaurants more if BLU does not deliver.

[ghstudio]

Well...now I am bummed. We are AQ for the first time this January and I decided to book it because of the raves of BLU by CC folks. Does Blu have the same menu every breakfast and every dinner? Maybe we will be dining in the other restaurants more if BLU does not deliver.

 

You shouldn't feel bummed...in fact you are going to have a great experience in Blu. First off, they have 14 different dinner menus and while the breakfast menu doesn't change, it has everything from musli to omelettes (your choice), to pancakes plus bacon, ham, etc. It's a very full breakfast menu.

 

One of the big differences between blu and the MDR is the ambience, the quiet, the lack of bus boys and waiters carrying very full trays around...you can actually talk in a normal voice. Try that in the MDR. The food arrives hot in blu...they aren't bringing 10 dinners at once...they bring yours. The food is certainly as good as, IMHO, it's better prepared and seasoned than the MDR.

 

Eat one dinner in Blu and one in the MDR....I bet you much prefer Blu.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Edited June 10, 2015 by ghstudio

[keesar]

Well...now I am bummed. We are AQ for the first time this January and I decided to book it because of the raves of BLU by CC folks. Does Blu have the same menu every breakfast and every dinner? Maybe we will be dining in the other restaurants more if BLU does not deliver.

 

There is the same breakfast menu every day. Breakfast is very good. As for dinner, you will find fewer choices than if you dined in the MDR. There are a couple of nights that not much appeals to us and we will eat elsewhere.

 

We have also found that we have enjoyed Blu more on some ships than others primarily due to the number of passengers dining in Blu.

[ozark74]

Well...now I am bummed. We are AQ for the first time this January and I decided to book it because of the raves of BLU by CC folks. Does Blu have the same menu every breakfast and every dinner? Maybe we will be dining in the other restaurants more if BLU does not deliver.

 

We love Aqua and Blu. We have done the last 9 cruises in Aqua. The fact you do not have to wear a coat and tie on formal nights is a big plus. The fact that Blu is like eating a restaurant instead of the big dining room. Personalized service instead of a table for 8. You also can eat when you want to. No assigned dining time. Depending on the chief sometimes every night is very good sometimes so-so. There are a lot of choices for dinner. Some night they had a whole pig, turkey, and lamb in the Oceanview. Those were very good. That was on S class ships. Aqua is all we book because of Blu.

Edited June 10, 2015 by ozark74

[Miss SeaBee]

I agree with thumbs down for Blu. I have always cruised suite, but I love Persian Gardens, and had never gotten around to trying Blu, so last cruise, March 2015, we went Aqua suite on Reflection. The first dinner in Blu was awful and service rude, restaurant crowded. Never again! Luckily Luminae had just opened, so we switched to that. I would choose MDR over Blu!

[dkjretired]

I agree with thumbs down for Blu. I have always cruised suite, but I love Persian Gardens, and had never gotten around to trying Blu, so last cruise, March 2015, we went Aqua suite on Reflection. The first dinner in Blu was awful and service rude, restaurant crowded. Never again! Luckily Luminae had just opened, so we switched to that. I would choose MDR over Blu!

 

Lot of complaints about Blu on Reflection because of the overcrowding. You should try it on one of the other S class ships if you booked a suite.

[BosoxI]

We once waited for about 50 minutes and still couldn't place our order in Blu. We left and ate in the buffet that night. Clearly, it was an anomaly, as we have enjoyed the service and ambiance there. The food is not markedly better than in the MDR, as far as I'm concerned, but Celebrity's MDRs are cavernous barns, making Blu much more pleasant. Princess' MDRs are more restaurant-like with head waiters in abundance to assist. Personally, I would be happy with X's MDR at a table for two, but DW likes to spend money, so Aqua it usually is. :( We can't wait to try Luminae but that won't happen until January. Hope it's worth it.

[grandpaiscruising]

I was on the Constellation in a Sky suite for two weeks from mid February to early March on a B/B/B cruise to escape winter. We ate breakfast and dinner in Blu most nights and I cannot recall a bad meal. We were happy enough that I booked an Aqua class cabin on my next two cruises and a suite on the third as I want to give them time to work out the kinks in the suite restaurant. I have recently read as many disappointments with the suite restaurant as I have seen with Blu.:)

 

Silhouette, 3/26/17, Summit, 5/8/16 Equinox 2/22/16 HAL 56 days, RCCL 104 points, NCL 28 days, Princess Elite 228 days, Royal 14 days, Cunard 49 days, Celebrity Elite+ 757 points

[jenniebnyc]

BLU used to be good. Not so much anymore...at all. On Reflection, I really do think that the food was sitting in hot plates behind closed doors. Everything we ate was cold. Unless you ordered a made to order omlette, the food was disappointing. Service so so so slow. The waitstaff loves to chat and be friendly, but at the end of the day please SERVE and smile. That's all I need. If the diningroom is slow then by all mean stop and chat.

 

At dinner, we always sat in the back away from the main area and windows. This was the quietest section with the best wait staff. The food was still not great. We would make things up for special order and that worked out sometimes. The soups which used to be very good were disappointing as were the desserts. The apps and mains were hit or miss. Nothing that I recall as memorable. That said, we started going to the MDR in lieu of BLU (suite guests) and it was by far worse down there.

 

At least in BLU there is a smaller dining room, quieter more intimate. As for the food, they need to step it up.

[sonvoltken6]

Interesting. My wife and I took our first Celebrity cruise in April on the Summit. We chose Aqua because of the perks. But we absolutely love it and especially Blu. We had the same waiter each night, the food and service were wonderful and it was part of why we are now converts!

 

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[HS2BS]

Blu needs to have the entire memu revamped! On our recent Transaltantic for 14 days on the Silhouette we were in aqua, and found the food boring as the menu has not changed. Of the 14 mornings we only ate in Blu twice, and had four night in other venues. The entire theme in Blu does not change, even from ship to ship. Same little dishes of raw veggies and dips, bread and bread sticks and the usually on the menu.

While we have done Aqua on at least 7 prior cruise we found the Silhouette this past cruise had beepers because of the wait times and was understaffed when crowed. Staff was brought in from the other speciality restaurants as they were not that busy. That might be better now that the suites have there own dining venue, but still need to serve hot, enjoyable products. Our next cruise this fall on the Silhouette will be in the MDR and then in February will return to Aqua with hopes that the menu has been updated. Just a small note about the use of the Persian Garden- Hard to get any use because of the number of passes being sold, poor monitoring of occupancy times and less than caring staff.

 

Hal

[jmfdr]

We LOVED Blu on the Eclipse--two week Caribbean cruise a couple months ago. After many Celebrity cruises this was our first time in Aqua and now it will be difficult to go back to Concierge or Veranda. The dinner choices were fine with plenty of options for us including the option to order vegetarian or standard items such as shrimp cocktail, onion soup etc every night. What we liked best was that the noise level was much lower than the MDR, having the same waiters and sommolier every night ,and having the same table of our preference. Our service was immediate and efficient. The whole dining experience was much more relaxed than in select dining or the MDR.

 

We did eat at a fairly early hour--6:15 to 6:30 finding that the tables began to fill if we waited unitl 7 PM. I did notice that by the time we left folks were lined up to be seated.

 

I can't comment on Blu's breakfast since we prefer room service or the continental choices at the Elite breakfast.

 

Obviously from the comments of this thread some experiences in Blu have not been so positive. I hope we are lucky again on our next two cruises. We thought it was wonderful!

[jenniebnyc]

Food and dining experiences are also VERY subjective.

 

Some folks don't mind room temp food that should be served hot. Some folks don't cook, aren't great cooks and/or eat simply when they are off the ship making the food on the ship a gourmet treast. Any of these could make the food in BLU seem terrific.

 

I am a good cook if I do say so myself and have a high standard when dining. Not to say I need fine dining all the time. I am perfectly happy with a burger, mac and cheese or pizza too, but food must be prepared from fresh ingredients by trained chefs and served to me at the correct temperature.

 

One example is how many love the crepes in Bistro on 5. Granted I have only tried them once, but what I had was a gloppy mess of food piled into a crepe. To me, crepes are delicate, should not be stuffed to the gills with things like buffalo chicken. So you see, "subjective", bc others on this board would say it's the best thing since sliced bread.

 

When I am dining out, I expect people to cook for me as I know how to cook, especially if I am paying top dollar to do so.

 

I will say it again, simple---quality---fresh---served at the right temperature---with a smile. If you get these right you are more than half way there.

 

BLU is not there. Neither is the MDR. Looking forward to Luminae in January.

[Kevnzworld]

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In my way of thinking there is a vast difference between being a BLU fan and a true BLU diner. We enjoy Gourmet dining and possibly they really don't. Will try anything once and the more exotic the better.

 

Blu isn't gourmet dining.

[Kevnzworld]

Blu needs to have the entire memu revamped! On our recent Transaltantic for 14 days on the Silhouette we were in aqua, and found the food boring as the menu has not changed. Of the 14 mornings we only ate in Blu twice, and had four night in other venues. The entire theme in Blu does not change, even from ship to ship. Same little dishes of raw veggies and dips, bread and bread sticks and the usually on the menu.

Hal

 

The menu in Blu hasn't changed in over five years! maybe more. There have been some minor alterations related to ingredient availability or price, but nothing significant.

I'm hoping to try Luminae , once I can determine if Celebrity has figured out lunch...and if so, what it is,

[ghstudio]

[quote name='HS2BS']Blu needs to have the entire memu revamped! On our recent Transaltantic for 14 days on the Silhouette we were in aqua, and found the food boring as the menu has not changed. Of the 14 mornings we only ate in Blu twice, and had four night in other venues. The entire theme in Blu does not change, even from ship to ship. Same little dishes of raw veggies and dips, bread and bread sticks and the usually on the menu.
While we have done Aqua on at least 7 prior cruise we found the Silhouette this past cruise had beepers because of the wait times and was understaffed when crowed. Staff was brought in from the other speciality restaurants as they were not that busy. That might be better now that the suites have there own dining venue, but still need to serve hot, enjoyable products. Our next cruise this fall on the Silhouette will be in the MDR and then in February will return to Aqua with hopes that the menu has been updated. Just a small note about the use of the Persian Garden- Hard to get any use because of the number of passes being sold, poor monitoring of occupancy times and less than caring staff.

Hal[/QUOTE]

I had to read your post twice to realize I hadn't written it. We too are in a 1A on the next cruise instead of an A1....if I see those three little dishes of humus, whatever and carrot sticks/celery stick again, I may throw them on the floor. I just don't understand why they can't open a jar of olives one night...just one night for a refreshing change. We too had a wait on the infinity with the blinking red light thing....and we took them up on the 50% off any specialty restaurant offer which was attached to that red blinky thing. Yes, it was due to suite guests who were encouraged to dine in blu. Hopefully that's changed.

We have always had good service once we get seated...and our meals have been as good as, if not better than the MDR and served hot, not warm. Maybe we've been lucky on our 6+ cruises in aqua on 4 ships. We like blu more for the quiet and lack of mayhem with waiters and bus boys carrying huge trays of stuff around. We also very much like the served hot breakfast in blu. But yes, the menu doesn't change....it does get boring.

[keesar]

[quote name='dkjretired']Lot of complaints about Blu on Reflection because of the overcrowding. You should try it on one of the other S class ships if you booked a suite.[/QUOTE]

This is real good advice. We have been disappointed with Blu on the Reflection. Service was real slow and it was over-crowded. On two nights, it was so slow that we left before dessert to make a show. Bread at dinner was stale and the filet mignon portions were real small. However we do like the ambiance in Blu.

We really enjoyed Blu on the other S-class ships.

[jmfdr]

[quote name='jenniebnyc']Food and dining experiences are also VERY subjective.

Some folks don't mind room temp food that should be served hot. Some folks don't cook, aren't great cooks and/or eat simply when they are off the ship making the food on the ship a gourmet treast. Any of these could make the food in BLU seem terrific.

I am a good cook if I do say so myself and have a high standard when dining. Not to say I need fine dining all the time. I am perfectly happy with a burger, mac and cheese or pizza too, but food must be prepared from fresh ingredients by trained chefs and served to me at the correct temperature.

One example is how many love the crepes in Bistro on 5. Granted I have only tried them once, but what I had was a gloppy mess of food piled into a crepe. To me, crepes are delicate, should not be stuffed to the gills with things like buffalo chicken. So you see, "subjective", bc others on this board would say it's the best thing since sliced bread.

When I am dining out, I expect people to cook for me as I know how to cook, especially if I am paying top dollar to do so.

I will say it again, simple---quality---fresh---served at the right temperature---with a smile. If you get these right you are more than half way there.

BLU is not there. Neither is the MDR. Looking forward to Luminae in January.[/QUOTE]

I feel as though you wrote your note in response to the one I just posted about being very happy with Blu's menu and service. I too, am an excellent cook and actually a pretty fussy eater. At home we are very critical and selective about where we dine. That said, we definitely felt that our dining experience in Blu was excellent. Our food was appropriately served hot, not at room temp, fresh and served with a smile. I hope our next experience in Blu will meet the same standards.

[nordski]

[quote name='jenniebnyc']Food and dining experiences are also VERY subjective.



Some folks don't mind room temp food that should be served hot. Some folks don't cook, aren't great cooks and/or eat simply when they are off the ship making the food on the ship a gourmet treast. Any of these could make the food in BLU seem terrific.



I am a good cook if I do say so myself and have a high standard when dining. .[/QUOTE]


Sadly, I guess, we must therefore fit under your "some folks" category.

[flames9]

[quote name='nordski']Sadly, I guess, we must therefore fit under your "some folks" category.[/QUOTE]

lol....We loved BLU..only reason we sail Celebrity..of course have only sailed it once in 2013 on the Silhouette, but the food and service was very good! Good food is very subjective, doesnt really matter if ur a food expert or not..what one thinks is great..may be lacking to others.

[Jetswdo]

When we ate in Blu, it was between 6:00 and 6:30. Food was served pretty quickly. I think that in order to avoid a long wait, it is preferable to eat either early or late. There were just a few meals that I liked: Beef fillet, basic steak, and short ribs. Lobster was awful, and that is my being polite. My dh loved their salmon. I actually prefer eating chicken, but was advised that Blu doesn't do chicken very well. So we had two great meals at Lawn Club, 1 fun meal at Qzine, and excelent lobster at Murano. We also had a perfectly pleasant dinner at the buffet. We ate two times in Blu for breakfast. The first time, the famous? french toast was served frozen. The waiter was very emabarrased and then brought me back a perfectly good heated serving. Basically, breakfast was pleasant there, but most of the mornings we just used room service or went to the buffet, which was quite good. I will say though that I prefer the atmosphere at Blu over main dining rooms- but plan on eating at other offered venues. If I was limited to Blu, I don't think then I would book aqua cabins, unless sailing during school vacations, as I discussed in other post.

[bryanjaync]

Okay, I usually read these post with a grain of salt, but I am worried now. My husband and I are taking my parent ages 88/84 on the Reflection in Nov. We booked two AQ cabins, the reason being BLU. I thought my folks would do much better in BLU than then MDR. Dad has two hearing aids and the noise of the MDR can be overwhelming. Also, I think breakfast at a sit-down BLU atmosphere would be better than the buffet.

But all these reports of the bad experiences at Reflection's BLU has me concerned. The food, the crowding,the slow service (God forbid the parents miss a show!) and possible waiting with beeper for table. I hope i have not made a mistake.

[willieg]

Don't worry. The atmosphere in Blu is so much better. If you want something extra just ask the waiter. If you want to try a small portion of an entree ask for a small size as an appetizer. Enjoy your glass of wine with dinner. Ask the waiter for advice on the items on the menu. There are many choices on the breakfast menu. They bring around a tray of pastries so you don't have to fight someone in the buffet for what you want.

I have waited a short time, but never had a beeper. The first night is always a little hectic, but the filet that is served that night is good. That night you will be offered a discount for another restaurant.

[Cruise a holic]

[quote name='Hapytocruise']My DH and I has been huge fans of Blu for many past cruises with the thought in mind we were treating ourselves with an Aqua class cabin for the privilege of dining in Blu. Not so much anymore, our recent Millennium Alaska cruise has us booking a regular balcony on our next X cruise. 3 out of 7 menu nights were not enough regular sort of options as I do not like lamb, duck or squab. One night salmon was featured (not the always available) I had one taste and knew if I continued to eat it, I would be ill...it was off. I requested a med steak to have it arrive well done so next time requested med rare steak to have it arrive next to raw. I know they are very accommodating to replace a meal, but waiting for a replacement while my husbands meal gets cold as he won't start his until I get mine is just not how I want to do dinner. The mat'd and hostess were great, the staff good but not as excellent as past cruises (perhaps because it was a 7 day cruise and we usually do longer). We did not complain (I do not want to piss off anyone in the care of my meal...for a number of reasons) For the price diff on the next cries we can dine a number of times at specialty restaurants and still have significant savings....so long Aqua class.[/QUOTE]
When AQ first came out- if a suite wasn't in our budget, we booked it. We definately prefer the atmospher- a restaurant style vs. catering hall dining. But the food isn't great IMO. People are nice. Sometimes we get AQ for the same price as CC and book it. Now however, we book a balcony or CC class for a few dollars more (if available at a good rate)- and the unlimited speciality restaurant package with the money saved. We are guaranteed a great dining experience in speciality restaurants only. Even though we have less choice on the M class ships, we prefer dining in speciality restaurants each evening. Anxious to try the new suite only restaurant in the future. But my expecations aren't high for it.

Also not fans of the persian garden- A good gimmick for those who sail in AQ and could pay hundreds more for the cruise. We are Elite Plus members and get perks regardless of our cabin/suite Edited June 12, 2015 by Cruise a holic