Why do you eat dinner in the Oceanview Cafe?

[davy jones]

27 minutes ago, chuckroast1 said:

Viva la diffe'rence

Some only eat dinner in specialty restaurants and skip the MDR.  Others prefer the buffet.

 

That's one of the things that make cruising popular with so many.  

[Fly and Sail]

The food at Oceanview Cafe during lunch and Dinner has been light years better than the food served in the MDR on both Millennium (July 2021) and Edge December 2021, January 2022).

 

I find that the Oceanview Buffet is one of the few areas where Celebrity really excels in terms of quality.

[Vlgg731]

Do they have creme brulee on the buffet in the evenings?  It is the main reason I eat in the dining room but if I can get it on the buffet I am not going to dress for dinner.

[Hawkstar33]

Fresh grilled fish for dinner.  Several choices.  Pretty sure it was on both Eclipse and Equinox..Quiet, plenty of good seating, and no dress up.   

[hrhdhd]

2 hours ago, Vlgg731 said:

Do they have creme brulee on the buffet in the evenings?  It is the main reason I eat in the dining room but if I can get it on the buffet I am not going to dress for dinner.

They have a "dessert of the day" (or did on Constellation in Dec.), and one night was a bunch of crème brulees in different flavors. Other than that night, I didn't see it.

[Vlgg731]

31 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

They have a "dessert of the day" (or did on Constellation in Dec.), and one night was a bunch of crème brulees in different flavors. Other than that night, I didn't see it.

Thanks

[gold1953]

10 hours ago, Vlgg731 said:

Do they have creme brulee on the buffet in the evenings?  It is the main reason I eat in the dining room but if I can get it on the buffet I am not going to dress for dinner.

rarely but you can order it from room service  during dining hours . We have done this .. eat at OVC and dessert in cabin

[gold1953]

9 hours ago, Hawkstar33 said:

Fresh grilled fish for dinner.  Several choices.  Pretty sure it was on both Eclipse and Equinox..Quiet, plenty of good seating, and no dress up.   

Farr better than any fish in the MDR where it is mass cooked and set out on assembly line plates. There is usually a fish night at OVC and I would not miss it!!

[blueskadoo]

I'm intrigued where and how you get the fresh fish or steaks to order. We frequented the OVC on our Equinox trip, but we missed the actual dinner hours often, so I didn't see which station would have done it. Where would we find it on Edge? And do you have to request it, or is it like the eggs benedict and omelet station where they're standing at the ready?  We're (hopefully) on Edge soon, and the sun sets a little earlier now so maybe we'll actually make it! 

[jerrib]

embarrassed

13 hours ago, Vlgg731 said:

Do they have creme brulee on the buffet in the evenings?  It is the main reason I eat in the dining room but if I can get it on the buffet I am not going to dress for dinner.

A little embarrassed to admit this:  I spotted a sign "creme brulee" in front of little dishes of what appeared to be just the custard filling (no burnt sugar topping) and thought to myself that that is not creme brulee.  It wasn't until another night that I realized that they sugared and flamed each dish to order. 

[dateacher]

I was a little hesitant to make the original post thinking it was a bit lame and yet I love the responses and have learned some insider tricks along the way.

[CruisnDeb]

6 minutes ago, dateacher said:

I was a little hesitant to make the original post thinking it was a bit lame and yet I love the responses and have learned some insider tricks along the way.

I'm really glad you did.  My husband doesn't really enjoy dressing up and going to the MDR, especially since it takes so long for dinner.  This post has made me see the buffett in a whole new way and I'm thinking on our upcoming cruise I may let us try the buffet for dinner the majority of nights.

[Wanderlost]

We usually only eat in the MDR twice during a seven day cruise, the first night for the Prime Rib and another when we see something that looks interesting. We prefer the privacy of the Oceanview Cafe along with the view from the outside dining area. 

[kearney]

okay okay..next cruise we are going to try OV for dinner. Usually I like to have dinner at sunset in the Tuscan Grill on the first night after sailing out of Ft Lauderdale.... Perhaps next cruise we will try that sitting outside the OV... great idea...now don't tell anyone...

[hrhdhd]

1 hour ago, kearney said:

okay okay..next cruise we are going to try OV for dinner. Usually I like to have dinner at sunset in the Tuscan Grill on the first night after sailing out of Ft Lauderdale.... Perhaps next cruise we will try that sitting outside the OV... great idea...now don't tell anyone...

Do Tuscan with the first-night discount and then another night in the OV.

[Scottishclover]

Loving all the positive comments about the buffet. Life would be boring if we all had similar food preferences. It will be our first time sailing with Celebrity in the summer on Apex. Have looked at the MDR menus and not much choice if you don’t eat red meat so nice to know OVC is a viable optionn( there is one vegetarian and 2 vegans in our party.) Definitely planning on having dinner in OVC on the night  we sail through the Stockholm Archipelago on our Baltic cruise. Wouldn’t have thought to do that if hadn’t been for this thread. Thanks 😀

[D C]

We also like to fabricate our own pre-dinner charcuterie board if the appropriate offerings are in Ocean View.  On a Summit sailing (pre-covid, post-revolutionizing) they had a nice spread right at the back of the buffet area with crackers, cheeses, and some meats.  Add a little pepperoni from the pizza station and have a seat outside with some wine from the Sunset Bar. 🙂

Edited February 16, 2022 by D C

[JamieLogical]

32 minutes ago, D C said:

We also like to fabricate our own pre-dinner charcuterie board if the appropriate offerings are in Ocean View.  On a Summit sailing (pre-covid, post-revolutionizing) they had a nice spread right at the back of the buffet area with crackers, cheeses, and some meats.  Add a little pepperoni from the pizza station and have a seat outside with some wine from the Sunset Bar. 🙂

 

They had that still on my Summit sailings in November. I loved it because I am a big fan of just cheese and cold cuts for meals sometimes.....

[kearney]

1 hour ago, hrhdhd said:

Do Tuscan with the first-night discount and then another night in the OV.

now your talking

[LGW59]

20 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

They had that still on my Summit sailings in November. I loved it because I am a big fan of just cheese and cold cuts for meals sometimes.....

with good bread and a bottle of vino to go along with it of course

[lola2013]

I have two solo sailings planned.  I am looking forward to dinner at OVC...grabbing a meal and enjoying it out on the deck is what it's all about for me.  I may go into the main dining room once or twice (and definitely Lawn Club Grill on Reflection), but will be happy to go for a casual dinner after a long day relaxing by the pool!!!

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

with good bread and a bottle of vino to go along with it of course

 

Unfortunately, I can't eat much bread. 🙁

[dateacher]

5 hours ago, D C said:

We also like to fabricate our own pre-dinner charcuterie board if the appropriate offerings are in Ocean View.  On a Summit sailing (pre-covid, post-revolutionizing) they had a nice spread right at the back of the buffet area with crackers, cheeses, and some meats.  Add a little pepperoni from the pizza station and have a seat outside with some wine from the Sunset Bar. 🙂

We do the exact thing many nights.  

[shipshape sam]

13 hours ago, dateacher said:

We do the exact thing many nights.  

Stilll had it on Summit in December 2021.  Displayed with bottles of wine which was nice.  We had the premium drink package, so did enjoy a couple of glasses.  We asked for one of the bottles displayed and it turned out that was the last one they had, so they were nice enough to change the display out so we could enjoy the Decoy Duck bottle that was displayed with the bread and cheeses.

 

 

[Kristal Blade]

Nobody has mentioned that it can be a great escape from unwelcome partners at a shared table! We have told people at a large table that we are not going to have dessert with them because we want to see what is on offer at OV. That only happened once, when we had freedom dining and had no control of who we were sharing with.

 

Other times we eat in OV with new friends we have made on board because you can sit together at your table for as long as you like, chatting, having a round of cheeses post dinner, scooping up on a fresh presentation of a specific item you love.

 

Enjoying this thread, it’s fun to hear all these great reasons and realise that we aren’t the only eat, bathe, drink passengers on board.