I guess Celebrity isn't the only cruise line whose food quality is going downhill.

[Stockjock]

4 hours ago, Baggy178 said:

 

" I have to say the food and displays in Oceanview Cafe were impressive. However I do not want to go on a cruise holiday and serve myself! "

 

It is quite remarkable how many posters on here go to the MDR every night and complain about the food while at the same time praising the OVC but holding their nose up at eating there.

One of the golden rules of being a Ninja Cruiser™ is knowing the buffet is that best friend who never lets you down.

The grub is hot, plentiful and generally very tasty. It's food without the faff. And the serving staff are great because they've often cooked the food as well so they're delighted when you praise them.

Generally Mrs Baggy and I share wait duties.

" Can I interest Madam in another helping of tempura-battered chicken wings with a crescent of deep-fried potatoes lightly drizzled with Heinz jus ? "

Don't knock it till you've tried it !

 

 

 

 

 

 

We really enjoy dressing up (a bit) and having a relaxing sit-down dinner in the MDR.  On Infinity, the lunch buffet was pretty good to excellent, but it's just not the same experience.  Unless we're really short on time, we prefer to do dinner in the MDR and we would hope for food of a relatively high quality, particularly since Celebrity seems to spend a lot of time bragging about their "Michelin starred chefs".  What they are serving isn't in the same galaxy as what one might expect from a Michelin starred chef.  Closer to Golden Corral, actually, imo.

[TeaBag]

Interesting thread SJ.  Thanks for starting it.

I sympathise with cruises, restaurants etc trying to keep their meals as they were years ago.  I was cleaning out my freezer the other day and came across a pkg of flank steak (one of 2 left) with a price of $48 on it from late last year.  The other day in Costco, I saw the same package with 2 steaks in it for $95!!!!!  How can companies cope with this inflation?  That being said we have started cruising lines other than our favoured Celebrity.  We board Eurodam on Sun, a first with HAL  We always avoided HAL as we thought it was a cruise for old f*rts, then we looked in the mirror one day!🤣

Keep cruising everyone even if you have to select a cheaper cabin.

[mnocket]

3 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I think people are going to have to vote with their wallets to get things to change. 

 

And therein lies the conundrum. Sure all the recent changes have driven some loyal customers away, but;

1. . There seems to be an ample supply of new customers to take their place.  Ships are traveling at near capacity and cruise line revenues are setting records.
2. Some may have stopped cruising, but others just moved up to more premium/luxury lines - most of which are owned by the same corporations as the cruise lines they left behind. 

 

All in all is seems this is working out quite well for the cruise industry, if not for the loyal customer base.  We have quickly moved from a buyer's market to a seller's market. 

[Spif Barwunkel]

If one has cruised for any length of time, no matter the number of cruise lines, more likely than not you will have encountered the occasional unsavory dining experience. Whether one or more of your senses is offended, the overall act of eating can be adversely affected.

 

DW and I just experienced our first cruise aboard an MSC ship, 7 nights on Seaside. Obviously, with no previous MSC dining experience, determining an uphill or downhill food drift is not possible. The MDR is where we dined every night and the food was very good to excellent each time. The buffet for breakfast and/or lunch was good to very good each time, especially the pizza which was excellent.

 

In February of this year, we cruised aboard Celebrity Infinity for 14 nights, Aqua class. Food wise, it was an off trip for her. Blu food, buffet food and specialty food were all fair fare, at best, palatable but disappointing. A downhill drift.

 

In May of this year, we cruised aboard Celebrity Beyond for 12 nights, Aqua class. Food wise, it could not have been any better in all dining venues that we experienced. An uphill drift.  

 

Later this month, we will cruise aboard Carnival Mardi Gras. Following her introduction, we were on her 4th sailing and found the food to be very good. There are so many dining venues from which to choose, and none were disappointing. Interested to see what this sailing brings.

 

In December of this year, we will be on the 7- night Maiden Voyage of Ascent. Will all the hoopla affect the food? For better or for worse, that is yet TBD

[foodsvcmgr]

Spif - I would bet the maiden voyage food will be frequently upgraded from the normal fare and also that some new menu items will be offered.

[Whinenowine]

33 minutes ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Later this month, we will cruise aboard Carnival Mardi Gras. Following her introduction, we were on her 4th sailing and found the food to be very good. There are so many dining venues from which to choose, and none were disappointing. Interested to see what this sailing brings.

 

Hmmm....I recall cruising on a Carnival Mardi Gras when I was a "wee lad" in the late 1970s.  Is this new Mardi Gras the second of that name?

[Whinenowine]

3 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

Hmmm....I recall cruising on a Carnival Mardi Gras when I was a "wee lad" in the late 1970s.  Is this new Mardi Gras the second of that name?

Actually I just googled it (which I SHOULD have done in the first place, sorry).  I had no idea that was the first Carnival cruise ship.  I recall cruising on that one and on the Festivale in the early '80s.  Wow I remember them being so big and modern looking....but they're basically tender-sized compared to the new behemoths (I jest.....sort of).  😇

[C 2 C]

We just returned from a HAL B2B cruise on Zuiderdam, and the food was fantastic, both in the Lido and the MDR.  We can't remember a better culinary experience outside of specialty restaurants in more than a decade.  Unfortunately, I am now suffering from dessert withdrawal.

[Spif Barwunkel]

1 hour ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Spif - I would bet the maiden voyage food will be frequently upgraded from the normal fare and also that some new menu items will be offered.

One would certainly think so. We will eat the majority of our dinners in the MDR(s) as well as a couple of specialty restaurants. Breakfasts and lunches at the buffet. If the food is as good as on Beyond in May and Seaside in September, we will very happy.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Spif Barwunkel

[Jammu2]

So weird.

 

I was on Caribbean Princess in August for that same cruise. I had totally the opposite experience in the main dining room. The food and service were the best we've had since the restart. And we've sailed on Princess, HAL, and Celebrity.

 

The ship? Ok yes it needs work. Really, Princess? You are ok with the smell in the spa?  The buffet was meh. But overall it was our favorite of 7 cruises since the restart, with the itinerary being a big part of that.

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

DW and I just experienced our first cruise aboard an MSC ship, 7 nights on Seaside.

So glad you enjoyed the food.  What were your impressions of the ship?  Did you notice a few of her quirks?

[Dolebludger]

We had experience on MSC a few years ago, both in the Yacht Club and in the regular ship. Then, the YC food was up to lux line standards.the food in the MDR was not.

[Maya_C]

27 minutes ago, C 2 C said:

We just returned from a HAL B2B cruise on Zuiderdam, and the food was fantastic, both in the Lido and the MDR.  We can't remember a better culinary experience outside of specialty restaurants in more than a decade.  Unfortunately, I am now suffering from dessert withdrawal.

 

We had the same good experience with food on the Zaandam in May. Over the years we've mostly cruised Celebrity and HAL, deciding between them based on itinerary. Before our May cruise, I'd rarely eaten fish that hadn't been overcooked on either line. The Zaandam MDR offered a different fish every night (grouper, mahi, snapper, halibut), not just the usual salmon. The fish was cooked in a variety of ways and came with different sides every night. None of the fish was overcooked. (HAL has a new program whereby it locally sources fish for its ships across the globe.) The menus included real appetizers, not just salads and soup, and side dishes that varied from day to day. After seeing Celebrity's new menus, I've lowered my expectations for my cruises on Infinity in October and on Silhouette in January, and given similar itineraries, I'll go with HAL for future cruises unless Celebrity's MDR menus change for the better. 

 

[ymncruise]

9 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

Charged $1 a portion if asked for extra veg. 

Wow! Never heard of this before. If people stop booking they will have to make changes if they want to stay in business.

[Smmessineo]

3 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

If one has cruised for any length of time, no matter the number of cruise lines, more likely than not you will have encountered the occasional unsavory dining experience. Whether one or more of your senses is offended, the overall act of eating can be adversely affected.

 

DW and I just experienced our first cruise aboard an MSC ship, 7 nights on Seaside. Obviously, with no previous MSC dining experience, determining an uphill or downhill food drift is not possible. The MDR is where we dined every night and the food was very good to excellent each time. The buffet for breakfast and/or lunch was good to very good each time, especially the pizza which was excellent.

 

In February of this year, we cruised aboard Celebrity Infinity for 14 nights, Aqua class. Food wise, it was an off trip for her. Blu food, buffet food and specialty food were all fair fare, at best, palatable but disappointing. A downhill drift.

 

In May of this year, we cruised aboard Celebrity Beyond for 12 nights, Aqua class. Food wise, it could not have been any better in all dining venues that we experienced. An uphill drift.  

 

Later this month, we will cruise aboard Carnival Mardi Gras. Following her introduction, we were on her 4th sailing and found the food to be very good. There are so many dining venues from which to choose, and none were disappointing. Interested to see what this sailing brings.

 

In December of this year, we will be on the 7- night Maiden Voyage of Ascent. Will all the hoopla affect the food? For better or for worse, that is yet TBD

Thanks for your comparisons. We will be on the Equinox in a few weeks and I'm interested in comparing it to our cruise on  the Equinox last December, a fantastic b2b  before the food complaints and menu changes began. Then we are on Ascent in January, followed by HAL Rotterdam in March ( first time we're not cruising  on Celebrity in 7 years . Booked it this week so we can decide if HAL is a good backup plan if X keeps sliding ). 

I think I'll be experiencing three entirely different food experiences!

[Smmessineo]

3 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Interesting thread SJ.  Thanks for starting it.

I sympathise with cruises, restaurants etc trying to keep their meals as they were years ago.  I was cleaning out my freezer the other day and came across a pkg of flank steak (one of 2 left) with a price of $48 on it from late last year.  The other day in Costco, I saw the same package with 2 steaks in it for $95!!!!!  How can companies cope with this inflation?  That being said we have started cruising lines other than our favoured Celebrity.  We board Eurodam on Sun, a first with HAL  We always avoided HAL as we thought it was a cruise for old f*rts, then we looked in the mirror one day!🤣

Keep cruising everyone even if you have to select a cheaper cabin.

Steak prices are insane, and the quality available has gone down. Now my husband doesn't even want me to bother buying them, he says "I'll eat plenty of steaks on.our cruises". Well, from what people are saying, that strategy may not work on Celebrity any more😕. 

Like you, we just booked HAL( for the first time in 18 years).

[Stockjock]

4 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

DW and I just experienced our first cruise aboard an MSC ship, 7 nights on Seaside. Obviously, with no previous MSC dining experience, determining an uphill or downhill food drift is not possible. The MDR is where we dined every night and the food was very good to excellent each time. The buffet for breakfast and/or lunch was good to very good each time, especially the pizza which was excellent.

 

In February of this year, we cruised aboard Celebrity Infinity for 14 nights, Aqua class. Food wise, it was an off trip for her. Blu food, buffet food and specialty food were all fair fare, at best, palatable but disappointing. A downhill drift.

 

I've written plenty about service issues on MSC, mostly shoreside (Google for the thread entitled MSC Comedy of Errors).  That said, while there are things to gripe about, one area where I've always felt MSC unfairly got a bad rap was their food quality.

When I did my first MSC cruise in 2015, I read review after review about the horrible food in the buffet which basically consisted of "hot dogs and hamburgers", and a number of reviews mentioned this.  I found that to be 100% false and had a hard time figuring why so many kept piling on w/that theme.  Sure, they had hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza (the best pizza at sea, imo), but if one bothered to go for a walk (the buffet area is quite large), then there were a ton of other excellent options, during normal buffet hours, of course.  And different selections on different sides of the buffet too, if they'd bothered to walk around the buffet area to check out what was actually available.

The same goes for MSC's MDR.  The GF & I find the vast majority of entrees, appetizers and desserts to be in the good to very good category, at a minimum.  Yet, I've read so many reviews telling us the food is "terrible", which I strongly disagree with.  And I can't recall being served a cold entree that was supposed to be hot on MSC.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but last year, we got 4 specialty restaurants for $70 each (1 was free, diamond member, which is pretty easy to achieve via status match).  I'll be on MSC on NYE and this time we'll be doing 4 specialty restaurants for $100 each (again, 1 of them is free), which I still find to be a good value, even though the price has increased.

In my view, MSC is the only major cruise line I know of where their MDR food quality has held steady or improved.

For those who might one day try MSC, let me leave you with the MSC Golden Rule.  Once your reservation is more or less in good order, for God's sake, don't call MSC customer service to change anything unless you want your reservation screwed up.  It's not the employees, it's the system.  Sometimes, things go fine, but you are taking a chance.  Don't call unless it's something fairly major.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Stockjock

[Lena11033]

30 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

In my view, MSC is the only major cruise line I know of where their MDR food quality has held steady or improved.

 

Like you I didn't have an issue with the food, I did stick with Italian meals mostly though.

When I had the lobster on MSC it was far better than Celebrity's lobster meal.

 

[doghog]

13 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

Charged $1 a portion if asked for extra veg.

Were you advised there would be a charge for the extra vegetables? If so I would have declined. If not I would have contacted GS and advised them the extra charge wasn't disclosed and requested the charge be removed. 

Edited October 4, 2023 by doghog

[hankandteri]

2 hours ago, Smmessineo said:

Like you, we just booked HAL( for the first time in 18 years).

Conversations like this one caused us to book HAL for the first time ever (two week cruise out of Athens next October in an aft balcony).

 

Celebrity could have had our business, but all the depressing talk about the MDR along with all of the other recent shenanigans were enough to make us give HAL a shot next year and Princess a try in February on a Panama Canal cruise.

 

The MDR service and cuisine are so integral to the cruise experience for us that we won’t consider booking a cruise that intentionally aims for mediocrity. 
 

I’m just a little fish and I’m sure X will do just fine without us.  I wish them well with their newly reimagined cruise line.
 

We sail on Silhoutte in less than three weeks on a cruise booked before the recent changes were sprung on Celebrity’s unsuspecting customers. First time in 20 or so sailings with various lines that I haven’t been super excited about going on a cruise. 
 

If I’m wrong and the food and overall experience on Silhouette are better than I anticipate, I will be thrilled and will rush to report it here. 

[SusieAV8R]

13 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Have you thought the crew may not want your hugs but are told to do what ever makes the passengers happy 🤔

 

Actually, I am very careful not to put any crew member in that situation.  Body language is very important in my career so I take that skillset with me on vacation.  😄  (In fact, I have had crew members ask if he/she can hug me😄.)

[calicakes]

Just back from an Oceania Insignia cruise( Bermuda).  The food was worse than our first O cruise in 2022.  Each night, they served the same overcooked steamed veggies( broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) and then on the last night, they shoved them all between noodles( no ricotta or cheese) and called it lasagna.  Inedible.  The pastries were amazing in 2022, this time much smaller and not as good.  The lobster was overcooked.  The eggs on the buffet were either powdered or liquid.  Oceania is supposed to be " The finest cuisine at sea".  We paid close to 6k for a week cruise that missed on stop in Bermuda because of wind.  We were docked in Hamilton for 3 nights.  I was looking forward to the food.   After this cruise, I cancelled the other O cruise we had booked.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

38 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Just back from an Oceania Insignia cruise( Bermuda).  The food was worse than our first O cruise in 2022.  Each night, they served the same overcooked steamed veggies( broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) and then on the last night, they shoved them all between noodles( no ricotta or cheese) and called it lasagna.  Inedible.  The pastries were amazing in 2022, this time much smaller and not as good.  The lobster was overcooked.  The eggs on the buffet were either powdered or liquid.  Oceania is supposed to be " The finest cuisine at sea".  We paid close to 6k for a week cruise that missed on stop in Bermuda because of wind.  We were docked in Hamilton for 3 nights.  I was looking forward to the food.   After this cruise, I cancelled the other O cruise we had booked.  

Reading this with the belief that Oceania had something over Celebrity. Now all I can say is WOW… certainly not the food review I would have expected. Thanks for posting!

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, calicakes said:

Just back from an Oceania Insignia cruise( Bermuda).  The food was worse than our first O cruise in 2022.  Each night, they served the same overcooked steamed veggies( broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) and then on the last night, they shoved them all between noodles( no ricotta or cheese) and called it lasagna.  Inedible.  The pastries were amazing in 2022, this time much smaller and not as good.  The lobster was overcooked.  The eggs on the buffet were either powdered or liquid.  Oceania is supposed to be " The finest cuisine at sea".  We paid close to 6k for a week cruise that missed on stop in Bermuda because of wind.  We were docked in Hamilton for 3 nights.  I was looking forward to the food.   After this cruise, I cancelled the other O cruise we had booked.  

Sorry to hear that.  I'm taking the GF on Oceania for a milestone birthday in 2024.  I'll probably decide for myself, but reports like yours aren't encouraging.

[OysterD]

21 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

 

Charged $1 a portion if asked for extra veg. Hardly luxury cruising: once upon a time this type of holiday was all about great cuisine (and probably excess). 
 

 

Really?! We just got off Beyond last week, ate in Blu 6 nights and every night we ordered an extra starter and an extra main course for the table, we weren't charged anything. One night I asked for fries with my main course, it wasn't on the menu but they still brought me some out (I'd seen another table have some and thought good idea).

 

Also the food quality was excellent each and every night, no different to how it was in Blu a year earlier on Reflection.