MDR - 7 to 3

[Cruising Princess]

I just saw the MDR menus for our upcoming cruise on the app.  I compared them to previous ones.  In past years there were 7 options plus the 4 “timeless starters”.

During my March 2023 cruise they were down to 5 appetizers plus the 4 “timeless appetizers“.

 

The current menus have only 2 soups and one salad plus the “timeless” ones lumped in to appear as having 7 choices. 

 

Gone are the “appetizers” and left only with “soup & salad” choices - obviously cheaper options. 
Did Celebrity actually think their loyal customers wouldn’t notice their tactics to cut costs?

 

Here is a menu from 2018.

 

Menu from App during March 2023 cruise.

 

 

 

[Tierun]

The app pre sailing isn’t fully detailed. It generally changes once on board.

[micruiser2002]

17 minutes ago, Tierun said:

The app pre sailing isn’t fully detailed. It generally changes once on board.

No the problem is they started new menus in August.  The menus are more limited in selections and options are downgraded.  You can also see the same menu on a current sailing on the app.

[hankandteri]

The current menus are beyond disappointing. Celebrity is likely the worst cuisine at sea at the moment. The liquids and leaves starter section just makes me sad.

 

I hope management felt a small pang of embarrassment when they saw Carnival’s recent menu upgrades and realized even the massiest of mass market lines was running circles around them when it comes to dining. 
 

I’m a bit surprised this wasn’t addressed in the president’s recent Q&A session, but that tells me management is feeling pretty good about August’s menu shift. The thinking must be that the savings are worth the minimal loss in revenue from disappointed passengers who will not return due to the degradation of the dining experience. 
 

I will get to experience the liquids and leaves extravaganza for myself in just over three weeks. If I could easily swap my booking to another line that still offered decent food in the MDR, I would. But, alas, it’s much too late at this point, so I will make the best of 12 days of hospital food on a lovely ship. 

[1Virgo]

and pretty sure Laura Beth said there were no menu changes.   😂

[Mark_T]

32 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

and pretty sure Laura Beth said there were no menu changes.   😂

That was for Luminae, they diverted other food questions to a separate future event, yet to be scheduled...

[helen haywood]

I posted about the abbreviated menu awhile back from menu pictures taken by someone sailing at that time.  I was jumped on by many posters who claimed that was not so and posted menus from their past and present sailings showing Celebrity’s usual full menu.  I tried to explain it apparently was going to rolled out fleet wide but again no one believed me.  (Said Cassandra…)

[micruiser2002]

1 minute ago, helen haywood said:

I posted about the abbreviated menu awhile back from menu pictures taken by someone sailing at that time.  I was jumped on by many posters who claimed that was not so and posted menus from their past and present sailings showing Celebrity’s usual full menu.  I tried to explain it apparently was going to rolled out fleet wide but again no one believed me.  (Said Cassandra…)

I agree, everyone seems to think because they cruised months or years ago this is happening.  Yet all they have to do is look at some of the current sailings menus.  I think there is an issue that not all ships have rolled out the new menus yet.  So that will also probably cause some disagreements.  

[SoloAlaska]

The smaller menu makes sense especially since celebrity cooks to order each ticket. Not sure when the change happened of prepping dishes ahead of a service to made to order but if having less options makes a speedier service I have no problem with it. Now my problem is the quality has gone done, presentation has gone down, and service is still slow. 
 

The menu being smaller is not new news but having cruised a year apart on the same ship I can say the changes go beyond the smaller menu.

[micruiser2002]

22 minutes ago, SoloAlaska said:

The smaller menu makes sense especially since celebrity cooks to order each ticket. Not sure when the change happened of prepping dishes ahead of a service to made to order but if having less options makes a speedier service I have no problem with it. Now my problem is the quality has gone done, presentation has gone down, and service is still slow. 
 

The menu being smaller is not new news but having cruised a year apart on the same ship I can say the changes go beyond the smaller menu.

The issue is the smaller menu also has very downgraded options.  They are serving the cheaper types of products.  

[SoloAlaska]

3 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

The issue is the smaller menu also has very downgraded options.  They are serving the cheaper types of products.  

That’s part of what I meant by the “quality has gone down”. My problem is with the menu and it’s execution instead of number of options.

[Pennstatedj]

Yes, the menus have changed in MDR. Yes, they have lower priced items. The E class menus have less choices, but marketed well.  But if you look at sailing capacity and that is the measure that is most important she must be happy. Also the surveys must be showing positive results. Until there is less bookings they will continue to test what they can put on the menus. 

For us we have noticed a decline but still enjoy X food vs others at same cruise price point. We have several more cruises booked so we must be happy not a 10 like five years ago. 

[helen haywood]

The only good thing I can say is I’m less likely to gain weight on my cruises these days! 😜

[RTShaker]

2 hours ago, SoloAlaska said:

The smaller menu makes sense especially since celebrity cooks to order each ticket. ...

Plated to order I might agree with, but cooked to order for the MDR?

[nanamobo]

The last time we cruise with Celebrity was in 2022 on Eclipse. The food and service was excellent. We have also cruised on Viking river and ocean in the last year. Food was also excellent with no downgrade of quality. We just booked a 4 night out of Fort Lauderdale on the Reflection in for April 2024. We shall see how the food is and if not up to par we will cross Celebrity off our cruising list. We did Carnival this past July out of NY (was a few years since we cruised them) and we crossed them off our list. Food was terrible. Service was good. 
I know the cruise lines lost so much revenue for two years but cutting back on food quality will make customers turn to another cruise line. I do agree you don’t need a menu with 10 different line items. Keep it simple (as Viking does) and passengers will be happy with good quality food.

[SoloAlaska]

4 minutes ago, RTShaker said:

Plated to order I might agree with, but cooked to order for the MDR?

That’s what I was told by a friend who is staff. They use to have midnight buffets for staff of the food that didn’t sell that night but that no longer happens. She said there is a lot less food waste since the change.

 

also confirmed by someone who went on the galley tour 2 weeks ago.

[Cruise till you drop]

6 hours ago, Cruising Princess said:

I just saw the MDR menus for our upcoming cruise on the app.  I compared them to previous ones.  In past years there were 7 options plus the 4 “timeless starters”.

During my March 2023 cruise they were down to 5 appetizers plus the 4 “timeless appetizers“.

 

The current menus have only 2 soups and one salad plus the “timeless” ones lumped in to appear as having 7 choices. 

 

Gone are the “appetizers” and left only with “soup & salad” choices - obviously cheaper options. 
Did Celebrity actually think their loyal customers wouldn’t notice their tactics to cut costs?

 

Here is a menu from 2018.

 

Menu from App during March 2023 cruise.

 

 

 

The March 2023 menu is basically what we had on our Edge March 2023 Panama Canal cruise and we were just fine with the selections. I thought they were quite nice

[Cruising Princess]

Here is menu for this upcoming cruise.  I’m all for less options if quantity is stellar….but not just soups and salad.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

Don't worry, there's still plenty of time for X to remove some more menu items 🙃

[micruiser2002]

1 hour ago, Cruising Princess said:

Here is menu for this upcoming cruise.  I’m all for less options if quantity is stellar….but not just soups and salad.  

This is exactly my issue.  They have no "real appetizers" anymore.  I sometimes prefer to make a meal out of a few apps, but not with these menus.

 

[goofysmom99]

I emailed my TA today, a Zenith who is currently on 2nd leg of Equinox B3B, "what do you think of the menus and the food?"  Her reply:  "Terrible.  The buffet isn't good either.  I just filled out the survey from last cruise and it wasn't good."

 

I'll be speaking with her about a booking after she gets home in 10 days.  BTW, she always books a regular veranda cabin so she'll have endured 3 weeks of the new MDR "cuisine."  I'm sure she'll have a lot to tell.

[cricketlover]

We got off The Silhouette last Friday and the choice in the MDR was much smaller than when we were on the ship in June. Lots of chicken and pork, what we had was fine but as we were on a 13 day cruise it was very repetitive. Choice of appetisers was shocking unless you liked salads or soups.

[weregoingcruising]

22 hours ago, 1Virgo said:

and pretty sure Laura Beth said there were no menu changes.   😂

I think I heard her say the classic side menu is back. A week ago and it wasn't on the Summit.

[Cruising Princess]

On board the Equinox and have eaten in the MDR 3 times so far.  Food is very basic with same carrots and beans every night. Still only had 3 appetizer options plus the classics.  I’ve never seen so many people ordering the French Onion soup!  
Mashed potatoes were rather good but did get onto the plate with what must of been an ice cream scooper.

Last night they offered one additional dessert than what was on the menu. They added a soufflé.  
 

[Salt Lifer]

We purposely didn't book a future cruise during our last cruise in April because we were so disappointed with the food choices and quality.  And we made that well known on our post cruise survey.  

 

And yet things seem to have gone from bad to worse.

 

Fast forward, and we just booked a cruise for Ascent for next April.  The only reason we booked is because friends will be on that ship and we wanted to see them.  I am hoping with a new ship and rumored changes that six months from now the food situation will be at least slightly improved from what it is today.  But have to admit I am not excited about this cruise at the moment and it will likely be our last with Celebrity if the food options are not at least better than what they are currently offering.

 

If they are trying to push customers towards specialty dining, then fine. But two things have to happen: 1.) The cost of the overall cruise needs to come down to reflect the very basic cafeteria style food that is included for free, and 2.) The added cost of the specialty restaurants has to make sense, especially considering they have already charged substantially for included dining.