The ULTIMATE Luminae Review - 5/19/19 Summit to Bermuda

[Alsmez]

Just now, hcat said:

Thanks for this detailed review and the photos. Your style and approach were quite pleasant...and as non foodies we could follow along  easily

 

The pics you posted confirm Luminae would not be a good fit for us...other than the very generous  servings of veggies underneath or  on the side of the  mains.  Much of the meat looked very  rare...fish looked more appealing. Small poultry is often overdone on X. We usually skip desserts.

 

 For our next cruise, we are taking a break from BLU and will try the 4 mdr concept on EDGE.  Looking forward to something new!

 

Thank you! The meat was very rare because DH and I both prefer it that way - the chefs in Luminae were MASTERS at hitting just the right degree of doneness, so I'm sure they can cook it however you prefer. I personally felt there weren't ENOUGH vegetables on most of my plates, though - aside from the pureed ones. 🙂 I was so happy when they brought my scallops on Lobster Night because there were actual Brussels sprouts that I could chew!

 

The 4-MDR concept on Edge sounds interesting and should provide lots of variety. I hope you have a great cruise and I look forward to reading your review!

[hcat]

8 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

 

Thank you! The meat was very rare because DH and I both prefer it that way - the chefs in Luminae were MASTERS at hitting just the right degree of doneness, so I'm sure they can cook it however you prefer. I personally felt there weren't ENOUGH vegetables on most of my plates, though - aside from the pureed ones. 🙂 I was so happy when they brought my scallops on Lobster Night because there were actual Brussels sprouts that I could chew!

 

The 4-MDR concept on Edge sounds interesting and should provide lots of variety. I hope you have a great cruise and I look forward to reading your review!

 I  usually solve the small portion veggie issue by  requesting double veggies and no or half orders of   the carbs.

 

I do plan a review but  it wil be mostly focused on the EDGE  Sunset Veranda experience   (compared to AQ class on EDGE), but of course will include the 4 mdr concept. 

[scott45]

Thank you so much for your very illuminating review....

We travel in either Aqua or Suites.... and after many experiences in Luminae...

when in a suite we always request Blu.... if available.... we personally feel the quality and service is far superior....

We recently sailed in Crystal... cuisine and service very disappointing....

Out of consideration for Aqua guests... and not wanting to create a wait for guests

we will be sailing aqua  for the majority for our future sailings....

[Alsmez]

3 minutes ago, scott45 said:

Thank you so much for your very illuminating review....

We travel in either Aqua or Suites.... and after many experiences in Luminae...

when in a suite we always request Blu.... if available.... we personally feel the quality and service is far superior....

 

Interesting! As I mentioned we haven't been in Blu in several years, but we have an Alaskan cruise on Solstice booked in AQ next year so I will have another opportunity to dine there soon. It didn't occur to me to check the Blu menu when Luminae's didn't appeal on this sailing, but I certainly will on future suite cruises.

[tanzania2015]

Alsmec ,  

Thank you for the review. We normally book suites but rarely eat in the Laminae except for breakfast and lunch because of the limited menu selection and not knowing if the meal will be just average or below. Our last cruise was 19 days on the Solstice from Sydney to Honolulu with 12 sea days and we only ate in the Luminae three times. If you prebook the specialty dinners, the cost is reduced to about $24 and we prefer the Morano or Tuscan over the Luminae (both service, wine selection and food quality.) We have learned that you can mix and match items from different menu selections to create a meal to your liking. If you want whole vegetables, lobster or a fillet just order it 24 hour in advance. Breakfast is the best meal that the Luminae serves. My favorite breakfast is two poached eggs on a bed of salmon with hollandaise sauce no garnish (not on menu.)

 

By the way, I fully agree that the short ribs are outstanding. 

[Alsmez]

25 minutes ago, tanzania2015 said:

If you prebook the specialty dinners, the cost is reduced to about $24 and we prefer the Morano or Tuscan over the Luminae (both service, wine selection and food quality.) We have learned that you can mix and match items from different menu selections to create a meal to your liking. If you want whole vegetables, lobster or a fillet just order it 24 hour in advance. Breakfast is the best meal that the Luminae serves. My favorite breakfast is two poached eggs on a bed of salmon with hollandaise sauce no garnish (not on menu.)

 

GREAT tip on ordering whatever you'd like to have 24 hours in advance - I had no idea that was possible. We will definitely keep that in mind if we choose a suite again. On S-Class, we prefer Murano as well, but since M-Class did away with Normandie we didn't feel we could eat every night in Tuscan and/or Qsine without getting REALLY bored. 

 

As for breakfast, I wish we had gone earlier in the cruise because it really was a lovely experience. We actually didn't enjoy breakfast in Blu at all and I assumed Luminae would be similar, so I didn't think we were missing anything. We'll know better next time, but I do still feel the hours are too short/too early. I like to take my time waking up on vacation! 

[bermadu22]

Thank you for an excellent review. It is very thoughtful and descriptive. For instance the bucatini's sauce needing some pasta water to loosen it up - I totally get what you mean, so clear I can "see" what you're talking about before I see the pictures you included. Same with the shredded duck being passed off as confit. You're a good food writer.

I will try to remember your Luminae recommendations when we go on the Summit in September, mostly we will try not to have high hopes for the steaks. 

Edited May 31, 2019 by bermadu22
Clarify a thought

[Fredric22]

How sad is it that these suites are ranging from 3K to 6K+ per person for a week, and Celebrity can't manage to provide a decent cut of meat in Luminae? I know it is about profit in the end, but ca'mon.. for the price the steaks in Luminae should all be USDA Prime.  If I can get a USDA Prime strip steak at Sams Club for $10 a steak, you can't tell me that Celebrity can't do the same.  

[Alsmez]

28 minutes ago, Fredric22 said:

How sad is it that these suites are ranging from 3K to 6K+ per person for a week, and Celebrity can't manage to provide a decent cut of meat in Luminae? I know it is about profit in the end, but ca'mon.. for the price the steaks in Luminae should all be USDA Prime.  If I can get a USDA Prime strip steak at Sams Club for $10 a steak, you can't tell me that Celebrity can't do the same.  

 

Agreed - my husband said EXACTLY the same thing. I was surprised at the low quality of certain cuts of beef, especially given that all of the fish we had seemed to be of decent quality. 

 

As for the price of suites, they have gone CRAZY since the Revolution. There is no way we would pay $3K per person for a week on any Celebrity ship (we certainly didn't for this cruise), so I doubt we'll book a suite again unless prices come back down to earth! 

[misterkevin]

Thank you for sharing your keen insights and beautiful pictures of your complete Luminae experience. This was the best review of food I've ever read on CC.

 

Since I'll be experiencing Luminae for the first time on the revolutionized Equinox next month, I will use your insights to guide my plans for choosing vs. specialties or arranging an evening in Blu. Your post is bookmarked!

 

These comments have me wondering whether I should pre-plan the entire culinary itinerary by day and time? I've read repeatedly that the Luminae staff are more than willing to change preparations to order or take 24-hour advance special orders, so that complicates things. I've  also read that Celebrity is adding special Daniel Boulud entrees to the Luminae dinner menus, but it seems this hasn't happened yet on the Summit. I wonder what the rollout timeline is?

[Blazerboy]

 Being from San Francisco, we, too have very high expectations of food (no, we won't get into the East Coast/West Coast battle, other than to say "why don't you have decent burritos?😉)

 

That said, I think we automatically lower our expectations for food, whether in Blu, MDR or Luninae.  We've generally been satisfied(given lower expectations) in all three lately, but just sailed in Summit in April, and we miss the Murano-style restaurant. Seafood has improved.  I don't eat beef, and DH likes his well done (😲), so no clear picture there. Tuscan was fun, but not a favorite, and Q-zine is "Fun Food," not a gourmet experience.  What we really enjoy are the one-offs where the staff try to create something unique for us based on our conversations with them.  (Sometimes the flavors are better just for the extra effort).

 

In all, the food is not as good as Crystal, but the cost differential should mean the Crystal is miles ahead.  We like the food in the Grilles on Cunard, but there's that pesky price differential, again.

 

So, on the whole, with realistic expectations, we're fairly satisfied with the food experience on Celebrity.  But we also get REALLY creative with items from the buffet, whether blue cheese mushroom burgers, home made ice cream sandwiches, or custom ordered pizza with "supplies" we find elsewhere.

 

In all, we travel for the fun, the company of dear friends, and the relaxation, and find our gourmet needs met ashore where we get rather serious about seeking out experiences in port...if you're ever in St.Lucia, check out the private tour "Cook like a Lucian."  Most fun we've had in a long time.

 

Enjoyed reading your comments!

 

Andrew

[chemmo]

Thanks for your review!

 

We agree with many of your observations and a few things stand out...

 

Firstly, no issue with staffing or service. Always excellent.

 

Secondly, we agree with you, why are there so few vegetables? On some dishes they are merely a garnish! As until you see your plate you are unaware so it makes it difficult to pre order a side....

 

The menu description is generally poor...It is hard to work out what to expect. We found this especially so with pasta. The descriptions promised so much and the delivery was a let down. 

 

Why do they persevere with a menu that is so limited in choices it needs to be supplemented with the MDR menu? I know of no other restaurant  (land or sea) that needs a standby menu because their choices are not enough!! Just add a couple more entrees and remove a couple of other dishes that are not popular if necessary!

 

We haven’t cruised M class since they removed the Murano equivalent restaurants. We love the ambience as well as the food quality and service. Whilst we can enjoy a Tuscan Grill or even a LPC dinner we savour a Murano’s one...

 

Our solution for dining has been to book RS on S class. We ask for the Luminae menus for the cruise on boarding. We look for nights when we both can find things we like. However, most of the time we book Murano’s or Tuscan...

 

When the ‘suite life’ was first being advertised it indicated it would offer a menu ‘inspired by ports of call’...We have never understood why Luminae couldn’t once or twice per cruise offer a ‘daily special’...When we cruised Eclipse last year the buffet took on board sardines in Lisbon. A humble fish but sensational fresh! 

 

We board Equinox post Revolution in September. We are interested to see if the Luminae menu has been revised at all and also how the speciality restaurants look....

 

Sincere thanks again for your review!

 

 

Edited May 31, 2019 by chemmo

[GastroGnome]

Echo the others - thank you for a great review.  We're boarding Silhouette in a few weeks and so looking forward to it.   We've dined in Luminae every cruise since it was started and I must admit the menus are becoming terribly boring and repetitive now.  We were assured by the head of X catering (who happened to be on Silhouette last year to oversea the introduction of LPC) that the menus were due a revamp so here's hoping...

 

You did have some excellent suggestions on food pairing I hadn't thought of which is really welcome.  I would only add this to the mix for fellow cruisers...

 

Cheese on X ships is not great is you are really into European cheeses - and it is always cold as OP observes.  But every year I was able to get our Luminae waiter to put out a cheese plate for me every day as soon as we walked in so by the time I got that far the cheese was at least slightly warmer.  Bit embarrassing on nights I didn't fancy cheese - but a small price to pay!  (I usually can get them to raid the Murano's cheese plate a couple of nights too....we do have unlimited specialty dining so I could walk across and have my cheese course there which may have helped but I am none the less grateful!)

[groryjm]

Out of curiosity I put together this spread sheet listing all 56 starters and 70 mains........

 

Luminae menus

 

We're going on our first 14 day cruise in 71 days so I will endeavour to try all 126 offerings 😀 not forgetting to try the deserts aswell😎

[Cruise a holic]

Almez- just curious, did you and your partner gain weight on the cruise?  lol!!

[TeeRick]

14 hours ago, scott45 said:

Thank you so much for your very illuminating review....

We travel in either Aqua or Suites.... and after many experiences in Luminae...

when in a suite we always request Blu.... if available.... we personally feel the quality and service is far superior....

We recently sailed in Crystal... cuisine and service very disappointing....

Out of consideration for Aqua guests... and not wanting to create a wait for guests

we will be sailing aqua  for the majority for our future sailings....

scott45, Although I have never sailed Crystal most who have seem to report that the service and food are exceptional.  What was disappointing?

[Alsmez]

12 hours ago, misterkevin said:

Thank you for sharing your keen insights and beautiful pictures of your complete Luminae experience. This was the best review of food I've ever read on CC.

 

Since I'll be experiencing Luminae for the first time on the revolutionized Equinox next month, I will use your insights to guide my plans for choosing vs. specialties or arranging an evening in Blu. Your post is bookmarked!

 

These comments have me wondering whether I should pre-plan the entire culinary itinerary by day and time? I've read repeatedly that the Luminae staff are more than willing to change preparations to order or take 24-hour advance special orders, so that complicates things. I've  also read that Celebrity is adding special Daniel Boulud entrees to the Luminae dinner menus, but it seems this hasn't happened yet on the Summit. I wonder what the rollout timeline is?

 

Thank you Kevin! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope it's helpful as you plan your upcoming cruise. As for the Daniel Boulud question, we actually met Summit's Executive Chef (and by met, I mean drank with at the Retreat Lounge, LOL) and he mentioned that Summit would be getting the rollout on the next cruise. The Daniel Boulud entrees were actually listed on the menus on the app during our cruise, but not on our paper menus in the restaurant, so they must have started updating the app a little early. I don't know when Equinox will receive the rollout, though.

[Alsmez]

12 hours ago, Blazerboy said:

 Being from San Francisco, we, too have very high expectations of food (no, we won't get into the East Coast/West Coast battle, other than to say "why don't you have decent burritos?😉)

 

So, on the whole, with realistic expectations, we're fairly satisfied with the food experience on Celebrity.  But we also get REALLY creative with items from the buffet, whether blue cheese mushroom burgers, home made ice cream sandwiches, or custom ordered pizza with "supplies" we find elsewhere.

 

In all, we travel for the fun, the company of dear friends, and the relaxation, and find our gourmet needs met ashore where we get rather serious about seeking out experiences in port...if you're ever in St.Lucia, check out the private tour "Cook like a Lucian."  Most fun we've had in a long time.

 

Enjoyed reading your comments!

 

Trust me, we East Coasters say "why don't we have decent burritos?" ALL THE TIME. Or at least this one does! 🙂

 

I agree that keeping expectations in check is key to enjoying basically any aspect of a cruise, and honestly since we moved away from the MDR, we have been quite satisfied with the food on all of our cruises, whether in Blu, Specialty or now Luminae. You can even put together a pretty darn good meal in the buffet if you are willing to get creative, as you noted - on this cruise, I discovered the bowls of toppings for congee and created some marvelous spicy breakfast potatoes using garlic chips, caramelized shallots and sambal oelek!

 

Funny you should mention St. Lucia - we were there on a previous cruise and did an excursion we didn't particularly enjoy, but I thought the island itself was stunning and would really like to go back to hike the Pitons, etc. I will definitely keep that private tour in mind! Thanks!

[Alsmez]

9 hours ago, chemmo said:

Secondly, we agree with you, why are there so few vegetables? On some dishes they are merely a garnish! As until you see your plate you are unaware so it makes it difficult to pre order a side....

 

The menu description is generally poor...It is hard to work out what to expect. We found this especially so with pasta. The descriptions promised so much and the delivery was a let down. 

 

Why do they persevere with a menu that is so limited in choices it needs to be supplemented with the MDR menu? I know of no other restaurant  (land or sea) that needs a standby menu because their choices are not enough!! Just add a couple more entrees and remove a couple of other dishes that are not popular if necessary!

 

 

IME, lack of vegetables is a current trend in "modern American" restaurants in general. My brother is an executive chef at a restaurant in Chicago and I recently visited to try out his new menu - while his food is a bit more creative than Luminae's, his dishes also leaned heavily on the main protein+puree or other "saucy" underlay+vegetable garnish formula. I don't mind that at all for a night or two, but a whole week of it gets a little old. The menu descriptions also follow the currently popular format - a few high end places in NYC (and probably elsewhere) started doing those minimalist lists of ingredients instead of a proper description a while back and now everyone does it.

 

As for the limited menu, that is something Celebrity will need to fix before we'd consider a suite again. At the very least, Luminae should have its own version of "everyday favorites" with three or four additional choices, but I would like to see them go a step further and offer at least five options in each category along with everyday options. The new Daniel Boulud options will help. 

[Alsmez]

8 hours ago, GastroGnome said:

Echo the others - thank you for a great review.  We're boarding Silhouette in a few weeks and so looking forward to it.   We've dined in Luminae every cruise since it was started and I must admit the menus are becoming terribly boring and repetitive now.  We were assured by the head of X catering (who happened to be on Silhouette last year to oversea the introduction of LPC) that the menus were due a revamp so here's hoping...

 

You did have some excellent suggestions on food pairing I hadn't thought of which is really welcome.  I would only add this to the mix for fellow cruisers...

 

Cheese on X ships is not great is you are really into European cheeses - and it is always cold as OP observes.  But every year I was able to get our Luminae waiter to put out a cheese plate for me every day as soon as we walked in so by the time I got that far the cheese was at least slightly warmer.  Bit embarrassing on nights I didn't fancy cheese - but a small price to pay!  (I usually can get them to raid the Murano's cheese plate a couple of nights too....we do have unlimited specialty dining so I could walk across and have my cheese course there which may have helped but I am none the less grateful!)

 

Thank you for reading! You and I discussed cheese on another thread recently and I forgot about your trick of asking for your cheese plate to be prepared in advance and left out. I will absolutely remember that for next time! In Murano I have never found the cheese to be too cold, but I'm sure that's because we eat late and it has been sitting on the service cart for a while by that time. Very kind of Luminae to run to Murano to get your cheese, too! They are very eager to please. Gede made a special trip to the Gelateria for my husband's ice cream one night because he didn't feel the MDR product was up to snuff. Little things like that really do make for a special experience.

[Alsmez]

7 hours ago, groryjm said:

Out of curiosity I put together this spread sheet listing all 56 starters and 70 mains........

 

Luminae menus

 

We're going on our first 14 day cruise in 71 days so I will endeavour to try all 126 offerings 😀 not forgetting to try the deserts aswell😎

 

WOW! That was a labor of love - thank you on behalf of all suite cruisers!

[Alsmez]

4 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

Almez- just curious, did you and your partner gain weight on the cruise?  lol!!

 

LOL, I am afraid to check because I don't want to know! In all seriousness, though, I didn't feel that we overindulged too much on this cruise (unlike our last one, where we ate in Murano almost every night - that was kind of nuts!). We skipped breakfast most days and avoided the bread basket and starchy sides for the most part. I rarely eat more than a bite or two of any dessert, bread, pasta, potato, etc - most of these things went unfinished, and of course we didn't finish any of the meats that were subpar.

 

Regardless, we're doing a fitness challenge with some friends for the month of June, just in case. It's all about balance! 🥐🥓🍷🏋️‍♀️😁

[Fogfog]

@Alsmez

 

TY for your thoughtful and comprehensive review. Very helpful

We have found in BLU on a recent TA sailing that some nights were hits--others misses.

Wish that the corp exec chefs would look at whats working and remove what doesn;t

 

Re your comment ". I suspect it was cooked sous vide"   I did have a chance to visit with the Exec Chef onboard and asked about SV on the ship. I have a SV at home and it is an outstanding tool for the right purposes. He claims that they do not use a SV onboard at all...which surprises me

 

We were having a problem with overcooked fish in BLU... once we started ordering it "rare" as the exec chef suggested..that solve one problem.

 

One night we had a disaster of a lamb dinner..the frenched chops were perfect--BUT underseasoned overcooked shredded lamb rolled into phyllo dough was presented with it--and was inedible. We saw lam appear again not long after that..and I joked that the leftovers would be in the OVC as "biryani" for lunch.

Sure enough.. it was....

 

I would be fascinated to learn how they manage the menus-- as We'd read the Blu, Luminae and MDR menus daily and there were themes...

[Fogfog]

8 hours ago, groryjm said:

Out of curiosity I put together this spread sheet listing all 56 starters and 70 mains........

 

Luminae menus

 

We're going on our first 14 day cruise in 71 days so I will endeavour to try all 126 offerings 😀 not forgetting to try the deserts aswell😎

@groryjm

this is clever. The view I get only has 56 lines...

Is there a page for mains? 

TYIA

[groryjm]

7 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

 

WOW! That was a labor of love - thank you on behalf of all suite cruisers!

I've been thinking of doing it for a while and to be honest it really only took about 15 mins.

 

The real reason I knocked it together was curiosity. So many people say there is very little choice in Luminae and I was quite surprised how little repetition there is. 

 

By sorting column a into alpha order  it is very revealing. Yes some things are repeated over the 14 day cycle. For example the  Salmon Sashimi appears twice as a starter,   once on day 7 with Passion Fruit, Radish and Chili and again on day 14 with Avocado, Tangerine, Toasted Sesame Seeds and Yuzu. But I am really surprised how few semi repeats like this there are.

 

Looking closely at the menus I realise there are a couple in our many cruises with Luminae I have never seen so with our next two cruises booked at 14 days I hope to complete the set....

 

Luminae Menu spread sheet

 

luminaemenus.pdf