Two foodie Oceania Loyalists coming to X for the first time

[aardogfsu]

Sailing with Millenium end of the month to Alaska...will we be disappointed (with the food)?

[FlorenceItaly]

What class of cabin are you in? This determines where you will be dining.

[wendychloecruiser]

With all due respect...how on earth could anyone answer this?

[Miaminice]

With all due respect...how on earth could anyone answer this?

 

:'):'):') Exactly what I thought when I read it...

[Bo1953]

Well, we all know someone might give it a go.... regardless and on authority at that.

 

Like recent posts on food abounding here, it will be quite 'refreshing' to see who does not offer up their expert foodie opine.

 

bon voyage

[villauk]

Previous Oceania pax have posted on the thread below - should keep you busy for a while :D.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2624329

[Gonzo70]

Depends on your expectations. Celebrity does a very good job considering the significant restraints (low per/day per/passenger budget for included food - so cheap ingredients, corporate menu - so minimal local, seasonal or fresh ingredients and no playing to the onboard chefs’ strengths, need to produce food for thousands of passengers and make the food appealing to a vast range of palates etc.). If you expect the food (even at Luminae - the suite restaurant, or the specialty restaurants) to be on par with a good land-based venue you will be disappointed. If you expect the food to be as good as a luxury line such as Oceania you will probably be disappointed. If you are flexible and have reasonable expectations you should be able to find dishes you enjoy, but are highly unlikely to be blown away.

[lais]

You won’t be disappointed if you don’t expect lobster every night or the fabulous buffet. I had food on Oceania that I didn’t think was the best and same on Celebrity. We love Oceania but looking forward to our next cruise on Celebrity.

No, it won’t be the same just enjoy your cruise.

[keithm]

Sailing with Millenium end of the month to Alaska...will we be disappointed (with the food)?

 

We're in the food industry, (own large food service bus.)We switched to Oceania this year as our Jan. 2017 trip on Eclipse saw an amazing decline in food quality from the trip prior. If you are in a suite paired with Luminae Rest. The food should be quite good. If you're in a regular cabin, the food might really disappoint you. Not sure what ship you were on Oceania. We were on the Riviera. We enjoyed it so much, we booked next Jan. for a 14 day voyage again on Riviera. The specialty rest. on the Eclipse were always excellent, but then you had to pay for what used to be standard food from 10 years ago. Most lines are doing cutbacks, but when they cutback quality that much on food(which IS very important to us) It becomes time to try something else. Princess is trying out items from their specialty rest. in the MDR. You pay extra, but not the "full" charge. That I find "somewhat" acceptable. Sounds like you're booked & ready to go. Please let us know the results on either the Celebrity board or Oceania board.

[CRZR58]

If you expect 'Olive Garden At Sea', you should be happy. If you expect high quality dining, you won't.

[cruisestitch]

Having never met the OP, I could not guess what might please them or disappoint them.

[ghstudio]

Foodie is pretty relative. We are foodies, but likely we differ in the types of food we like, the seasonings we like, etc. I would characterize the celebrity dining experience in the free venues to be olive garden, pf chang, longhorn steak house equivalent. The specialty restaurants are either more interesting (Qsine) or more ambiance (Tuscan Grill) and some feel, better quality or better prepared dishes. Overall, you are moving to a mass market cruise line so it's reasonable to expect that you will get mass market food. Before anyone jumps on me for that statement...there's nothing wrong with eating at olive garden, etc and enjoying it.....as I said, we are foodies, and we enjoy most meals on Celebrity (and we rarely eat at the specialty restaurants). No, it's not like eating at our club or a $50 meal in our home city, but we know what to expect and we cruise Celebrity fairly often. We also don't book suites...for Luminae which is purported to be "better food"...we'd rather take private tours....that's our money decision (and we cruise 3/4 times a year). We've booked aqua/Blu 4 or 5 cruises and yes, the service is often better, the food served a bit hotter but for us, it's not worth what Celebrity asks ($'s) and the location of the cabins is actually not as good as "lesser" balcony cabins. As a foodie, I wouldn't really rate Blu above the MDR these days (we're just off the infinity in a 1A cabin).

 

Celebrity does a very good cruise....I've always viewed them as the best of the "mass market" cruise lines....but set your expectations, especially your food expectations, accordingly.

[chemmo]

Sailing with Millenium end of the month to Alaska...will we be disappointed (with the food)?

 

It depends what your expectations are....

 

We cruised on Celebrity Eclipse, October last year with four Oceania regulars....They had booked their Celebrity cruise owing to some personal issues which had resulted in changed plans. They were in Sky Suites and very pleasantly surprised by Michael’s Club, Luminae and their ‘included’ drinks package. In contrast 2 regular P&O cruisers found the suite package on Celebrity ‘over rated’ whilst four more booked another cruise whilst on board!

 

Having never cruised on Oceania or P&O I have no idea where the rationale comes from.

 

Personally, if we book something different than we are used to we board looking for strengths rather than looking for weaknesses or why would we book something different than our usual choice? The strength could be itinerary, convenience, cost or other parameters...

 

If you are doing an Alaskan cruise you can enhance your foodie options in some ports by booking into local speciality fish restaurants and see if there are any foodie excursions (Chefs Market).

 

Sincere best wishes for a great Alaskan cruise! Board with a positive attitude and I am sure you will enjoy!

[cangelmd]

Agree with Gonzo.

 

Don't pay extra for the Chef's Table, unless you have never done a Chef's Table and want to see the galley and learn about how they feed thousands of people every day - that to me is fascinating. The Chef's Table food was only a little bit better than Murano, and sometimes the ambiance of the actual dinner came across as a prolonged commercial for Celebrity. I'm saying this as opposed to a Chef's Table on a Princess cruise - on that occasion, the galley tour on Princess was not as in depth and informative, but the dinner in general was better - larger group with an opportunity to meet and talk to some interesting folk and the food itself was 2 cuts above the normal onboard fare, more noticeably "special". Just saying because Chef's table is something foodies like to do.

 

On some cruises, possibly not Alaska, they do a dinner with a guest "celebrity" chef, where you go on an all day excursion to pick out local ingredients - like fish from a fish market - then come back have a dinner based on those ingredients, cooked by the cruise staff, not the "celebrity". We signed up for that on our last trip. but it was cancelled when that port was dropped.

 

Be sure to have the reindeer sausage in Alaska, and eat plenty of salmon. You will have a great trip, Alaska is amaziing if this is your first time.

 

Oh, and another foodie thing - the Around the World wine tasting is a good thing to do, gets all the sommeliers in one space, and they will remember you. You get to taste most of the standard by the glass wines back to back, helps knowing what to ask for later.

[Lois R]

Aren't the Oceania ships much smaller in size? So the galley is cooking for way less the amount of passengers?

I agree with "expectations" factor.........If you are used to having food "prepared" then the main dining room may disappoint....they are cooking for 1,000's of passengers. If you are in a suite or in AQ you will have your own dining room which have a galley for their own guests.........less amount, more detailed in ingredients, etc.....

 

 

Post #3 was asking a good question.......how would we know if the Original poster will be disappointed in the food? The honest answer is we would not know. It really depends on the person.

[keithm]

Aren't the Oceania ships much smaller in size? So the galley is cooking for way less the amount of passengers?

I agree with "expectations" factor.........If you are used to having food "prepared" then the main dining room may disappoint....they are cooking for 1,000's of passengers. If you are in a suite or in AQ you will have your own dining room which have a galley for their own guests.........less amount, more detailed in ingredients, etc.....

 

 

Post #3 was asking a good question.......how would we know if the Original poster will be disappointed in the food? The honest answer is we would not know. It really depends on the person.

Overall, we found the food(On Riviera) to be leaps & bounds over the Eclipse. The Grand Dining room (as it's called on Riviera)is like eating on Eclipse from the "formal" night times. The specialty rest. on Riviera: Red Ginger/Tuscany/ Polo Grill/Jacques were generally better than the specialty rest. on Eclipse..mostly more choices. La Reserve is the only extra cost rest. on Oceania, as it pairs wines with your tastings. The cost per cruise on Oceania, is generally about

$1000PP more. With that you get better food & complimentary soft drinks & some beer as well. Entertainment, however on Eclipse was far better. Pretty obvious to see where Oceania allocates it's budgets. Enrichment speakers were better on Oceania as well. These are Oceania's perks over Celebrity(most mass lines for that fact): Free soft drinks/ NO & I mean NO annoying photographers/Amazingly comfy loungers with NO chair hogs(Oceania really enforces their NO chair hog rules, same in the theater)The "sidewalk sales" are tasteful with quite expensive offerings/ good enrichment offerings/Outstanding tea service daily. It's the reason it's more pricey..you get what you pay for. For a mass market line, however Celebrity is very good. Just wish the cutbacks weren't so dramatic in the last few years. If not for that, we would not have cancelled our two Celebrity trips(this year & next)

[Captain100]

My DW and I have been on 3 cruises so far, all Celebrity (Infinity, Constellation, Equinox). After our first trip in a suite with access to the Luminae Restaurant we decided to only book suites simply because of the food. We checked out the MDR 1 time, but if you are a real "foodie" you may be a little disappointed. The Blu Restaurant for Aqua Class guests is also a good choice, but if you have been to Luminae you certainly want to stay there.

Food in the Luminae is not the same like a 1* Michelin Restaurant, but has "BiB Gourmand" level (or about 13-14 points Gault Millau).

The service in the Luminae however is absolutely great!

Speciality Restaurants: Sushi on 5 is great if you love asian, the Tuscan Grill was a little disapointing.

Late October we will sail on the Insigia to check out what Oceania has to offer ;).

P.S.: If you are not in a suite you can only get access to Luminae when invited by a suite guest, plus paying a fee of $ 30 p.P.

 

I would be interested to get your feedback of Celebrity Food compared to Oceania after your trip.

 

Enjoy!

[TeeRick]

Well, we all know someone might give it a go.... regardless and on authority at that.

 

Like recent posts on food abounding here, it will be quite 'refreshing' to see who does not offer up their expert foodie opine.

 

bon voyage

 

Hi Bo,

Here we go again. Another ominous food thread.........

[cynbar]

If the OP will be dining in the MDR, he/she will likely be disappointed in the food. If he is in a suite and eating in Luminae, the experience is much better. Celebrity's food is pretty good most of the time, but it doesn't rival fine dining on land. I would keep my expectations low and concentrate on other parts of the cruise that Celebrity does very well --- service, itinerary come to mind.

[TrulyBlonde]

My DW and I have been on 3 cruises so far, all Celebrity (Infinity, Constellation, Equinox). After our first trip in a suite with access to the Luminae Restaurant we decided to only book suites simply because of the food. We checked out the MDR 1 time, but if you are a real "foodie" you may be a little disappointed. The Blu Restaurant for Aqua Class guests is also a good choice, but if you have been to Luminae you certainly want to stay there.

Food in the Luminae is not the same like a 1* Michelin Restaurant, but has "BiB Gourmand" level (or about 13-14 points Gault Millau).

The service in the Luminae however is absolutely great!

Speciality Restaurants: Sushi on 5 is great if you love asian, the Tuscan Grill was a little disapointing.

 

 

Late October we will sail on the Insigia to check out what Oceania has to offer ;).

P.S.: If you are not in a suite you can only get access to Luminae when invited by a suite guest, plus paying a fee of $ 30 p.P.

 

I would be interested to get your feedback of Celebrity Food compared to Oceania after your trip.

 

Enjoy!

 

I enjoy Celebrity and the occasional large ship experience. We also stay in a suite and our dining is mainly in Luminae and specialty restaurants. When in ports, we choose to dine locally and that breaks up the monotony of dining only on board the ship. We spent close to a month on Solstice for Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji Islands so know the dining well.

 

As an Oceania fan, we spent almost a month on board Insignia cruising S. America. It obviously is much smaller and does not offer as many dining choices as the O ships of Oceania. Food quality is very good and many times we chose to just be casual after a long day of touring and have grilled lobster, shrimp, lamb chops, sushi etc. in the Terrace Cafe. I am not a foodie, but enjoy fresh, healthy cuisine and can always depend on O for that.

 

However, I just recently booked a CS on Millennium for an Asia cruise and the cost difference compared to Regent (which I cancelled) is amazing. X included premium bev, gratuities, internet, and OBC. I prefer to pay for my own tours and airfare and the substantial savings will make it even more delightful.

 

Enjoy Insignia.

[Bo1953]

Hi Bo,

Here we go again. Another ominous food thread.........

 

t - what did you think of the MDR itself, physical space only?

 

Any one sommelier/waiter in Select Dining we should be on the look out for?

 

We will be on Summit in August this year.

 

 

bon voyage

[maggie.1008]

I like the two O class ( larger ) ships on Oceania. The Riviera has IMHO the best food at sea.

We have cruised all the premium and luxury lines. While I feel Celebrity is by far the best Mass cruise line they can`t compete with the more upscale lines. I prefer Blu menu over Luminae on X.

[Captain100]

Thank you for this info, I am sure we will like the "O" experience...and as we sail along the New England states and Canada we should have opportunities to get also good sea-food while at land.

Agree with the separate booking of tours and flights, as tours are mostly overprized and at least here in Germany you are obliged to take the economy-flight which is included and cannot upgrade to business...

 

Save travels!

[Gonzo70]

Food in the Luminae is not the same like a 1* Michelin Restaurant, but has "BiB Gourmand" level (or about 13-14 points Gault Millau).

Enjoy!

 

I would not say Luminae is at Bib Gourmand level. Luminae is essentially akin to a national chain restaurant. There is a corporate menu and the head chef on the ship has no say or control over the menu. The menu does not change with the seasons or based on what is fresh or what high quality ingredients are available (the same ingredients are used year-round, resulting in inferior quality). Most ingredients are flown in from far away (though it was nice that the pastas were made in house); while the cuts of meat are higher quality than the MDR, they are still not as good quality as at a nice land-based restaurant (i.e. in Luminae all the meats and seafood dishes were heavily sauced and the sauces were relied upon as the primary source of flavor, rather than the meat/seafood itself - in Bib Gourmand restaurants generally the featured ingredient itself is the star of the dish and if sauces exist they are to compliment rather than overpower the protein). The menu is not specialized into a certain type or style of cuisine, but is a bit all-over-the-place (unlike Bib Gourmand venues which tend to be far more focused). Execution (though better than the MDR where most everything is pre-plated rather than cooked-to-rder) is hit-and-miss; I had a really difficult time receiving meats cooked to a proper medium rare on most occasions (there were other execution issues as well, such as using pastry tarts for savory dishes served in a tart). Ingredients are often mislabeled; Luminae uses a lot of luxury terms for their ingredients, but often serves cheap substitute (i.e. truffle = truffle oil, caviar = salmon roe, venison ragu = braised beef ragu, morel mushrooms = button mushrooms). This is not a knock on Luminae; I really enjoyed Luminae my past couple of cruises, but as someone with a lot of experience in this area it is just not at the same level as a good land based restaurant for the reasons I outlined.

[dodger1964]

I can guarantee that if you take a poll after your cruise someone will say your cruise had the best food and service they have ever had...and someone else will say the food was inedible and the service was terrible.