Is Michel Roux menu gone?

[skandls]

I just talked to a friend off the Mercury Alaska. The second formal night was the same pitiful 'fisherman plate' as found on RCCL. Shrimp and lobster so close in size you couldn't tell the difference by size or taste.

 

I was still under the impression that X was committed to better food than its corporate owner. I expect cut price dining on most RCCL ships - edible but not top quality. We are booked on a 14 night Baltic - if formal night is 'fishermans plate' we may have to reconsider changing to another line.

 

I don't expect Michelin rated food. I will be happy with food that is good quality hotel banquet food. So is the Roux menu a thing of the past? Please do not 'flame' this - I like Celebrity a lot - and want to take our 'special' trips on one of the X ships. But if the differences between the RCCL ships and the X ships are diminishing - thats something we should all know.

[CAKER]

Unless I'm mistaken, Michel Roux's menus are only for the Specialty Restaurants on M Class ships, like Millennium, Constellation, etc.

[Cachecara]

Our Zenith food (Sept 2006) was very good. I am accostumed to dining in some very nice restaurants in the NYC area and had no complaints.

The shrimp cocktails did have jumbo shrimp, but 3 vs 4 per serving.

The lobster tails were not the ones I am accostumed to having on X or RCI--you know those mini tails that can be a bit rubbery? These were TAILS--deshelled and done nicely, even a bit bit better than I have had in some finer restaurants. I was pleasantly surprised.:)

I guess each ship is a bit different different.

[spearmint]

All the menus aboard Celebrity are still concocted by Michel Roux. They are a little newer, but they are essentially the same as they have been. (I like that, as some of my favorite appetizers, entrees and desserts are only on these menus, and I look forward to them each time we sail.:D The last time was a month ago, on Constellation in the Baltic.)

 

P.S. Do not forget to check out Ocean Liners ($30 US extra per person) the specialty restaurant onboard. :rolleyes:

[Betty4]

You are mistaken. Chef Roux oversees main dining as well on all Celebrity ships, according to the website.

[bububr]

I was just off the Merc also....9/8 - 9/15 and found the food to be extremely good and well prepared. The only thing I was dissapointed in is that the menu hasn't really changed all that much since RCCL bought out X, so I agree that the line between the two lines is becoming rather thin.

 

What I did to mix it up a bit was to order off the menu occasionally. They have some special daily indian curry dishes you can ask about the night before, as well as the vegetarian menu. You can also order steak, chicken , or salmon any night.

 

Dave:eek:

[tcocktail]

I was on the Summit in March and took the galley tour. The executive chef told us the Michel Roux still is involved in the menus and does take surprise trips on the ships. At that time the Summit was the top ship among the fleet with the rating of food. After taking to many, I think that food has dropped acroos the board in the industry. The fish on the Summit was terrible mostly poached and no taste. The best was the lamb it was outstanding. We talked to others that say the food on RCCL it much better. The food doesn't even compare to the old Celebrity. Possible Rccl has something to do with this? Or possible surveys has affected the food? The service is still oustanding

[Andy]

Chef Roux oversees main dining as well on all Celebrity ships, according to the website.

 

Hi Betty !

 

You are right about that. They make it well known in the Main Dining room that Mr. Roux oversees the food there as well.

 

While I have not been on a Celebrity Cruise in 6 months, we have found the food to be excellent on our previous sailings. I would not be very worried, as to reports that anything significant has changed in this area.

 

BTW, they did update the Celebrity menus earlier this year, but the changes were very slight.

[bobhesse]

what sort of updates are on the new menus? anyone have some copies? I am hoping for new changes over the past 2 years.

[tuggers]

Hey Andy!

 

I see we are sailing together again on the Connie 3/23! Cool!

 

I thought the lobster/shrimp combination on RCI was not very good. Didn't care for the shrimp and the lobster was 'chewy'/ On my recent RCI cruise, I did think the food was better on X.

[Kathie44]

Maybe the food quality varies from ship to ship. We were on RCI Jewel in June and the food was fantastic--every bit as good as on the two Celebrity cruises we've had. I'm not a lobster-lover, but everyone else at our table had the lobster and shrimp entre and raved about it. The tails and shrimp were large and, according to my tablemates, delicious and filling. Of course every meal we had was delicious and filling. We've always had great food on our RCI and Celebrity cruises.

We are sailing Mercury in Jan. and fully expect the food to be wonderful, as usual, on a Celebrity cruise. :D

 

1/02 Explorer E. Carib.

1/03 Explorer W. Carib.

8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour

2/04 Adventure S. Carib.

2/05 Galaxy Panama Canal

6/06 Jewel Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords + 3 days in London

1/07 Mercury Mexican Riviera

[skandls]

Thanks for the input. I guess the food on cruise ships now varies by the exec chef and the port where supplies are loaded. I'm very hopeful the Baltic cruise will have good food. Maybe if we are really lucky Chef Roux will be on our ship.....? He was on one of our cruises and the food was quite good. I talked our friends into the Constellation instead of a HAL ship. We have been on the Rotterdam with them and they liked the food on that cruise.

[CAKER]

We took the Constellation for the Baltic/St. Pete cruise in August, 2004, and S. Caribbean in Jan. 2006 (Actually N Y Eve). The food was fabulous on both.

[sailinglisa]

I truly believe the executive chef on board on highly impacts the quality of food on that ship - even if the recipes are the same ship to ship, there is a difference! I hope and pray that I have GREAT executive chefs on all my cruises and except for one out of 14 I have been very happy with the food on my cruises.

[Sparkle 123]

Have to agree with Cachera, the lobster on our recent Zenith cruise was tthe best we have ever had on a cruise, maybe the supplies they get in Cape Liberty are better than the Florida ports?

[Andy]

Have to agree with Cachera, the lobster on our recent Zenith cruise was tthe best we have ever had on a cruise, maybe the supplies they get in Cape Liberty are better than the Florida ports?

 

Hi Abbafan !

 

I would say that's very doubtful. We have sailed out of many Florida ports, and Celebrity's food (including the lobster) has been outstanding. I'd be very surprised if their food took a hit due to the region they were in.

 

I do agree, that the Executive Chef can and does make a difference. We can typcially spot subtle changes from ship to ship, even with the same menus. A good Executive Chef will keep the standards very high.

[negc]

I was just off the Merc also....9/8 - 9/15 and found the food to be extremely good and well prepared. The only thing I was dissapointed in is that the menu hasn't really changed all that much since RCCL bought out X, so I agree that the line between the two lines is becoming rather thin.

 

What I did to mix it up a bit was to order off the menu occasionally. They have some special daily indian curry dishes you can ask about the night before, as well as the vegetarian menu. You can also order steak, chicken , or salmon any night.

 

Dave:eek:

 

Your comment confuses me, since most complaints about Celebrity since its merger with RCI persistently claim that there have been many changes, all to the detriment of X. If the menu hasn't changed all that much, I would think that most X fans would be very pleased. From the start there were rampant rumors that Michel Roux would no longer be associated with Celebrity, but years later, he is still there doing his culinary magic. I do think that the chef onboard the ship can play a major role in how well prepared the food is during your cruise, but I also recognize that judgements about food on a cruise ship or anywhere are very subjective and will vary dramatically from person to person.:)