food quality on celebrity

[scorben]

Ive heard the food quality on Celebrity has gone down the past year. I sailed Millenium to Mediterranean 3 years ago, and the food was very good. This summer I sailed on a brand new RCCL ship, liberty of the seas, to caribbean, and the food was TERRIBLE...even the alternative restaurants were bad, and the ship had a virus outbreak, so many times food was not even available.

 

Since RCCL owns Celebrity now, is the food quality the same? My husband and I are huge foodies and Celebrity used to be known for quality food in the main dining area...how is it now?

 

We are considering a Century cruise over the holidays, but dont want to go if the food is going to be bad.

[DaveFr]

Scorben,

 

There was a long, sometimes heated thread on Celbrity's food quality recently. See: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=620557.

 

Hope this helps.

[TeaBag]

I think RCCL bought Celebrity more than 3 years ago, so they would have owned it when you last sailed.

[hugsthecat]

Look at the threads posted about food..alot of people care about food.Celebrity is changing their menud fleet wide beginning in January. They have hired people with a very good reputation to develop new menus etc. Some people are afraid of change as you will see from the postings.

A cruise line like Celebrity cannot afford to serve "bad" food...But remember everybody has a different idea about food and what they like.If you read some of the postings you will see comments by people who were on the same cruise. One loved the food..the other hated it..

Go and have a good time..

 

Michael

[evoni]

I just returned from the 9/29 Infinity Panama Canal cruise and the food was good. We ate in the main dining room 10 nights and had no complaints and the last formal night I was surprised to discover the lobster tails were really good and not overcooked. While I have read complaints about not enough veggies, there was certainly enough on my plate, and the plate was full, not sure where they would put more, though if not enough for some, just ask for more. A few people were not in love with the desserts but just request your favorite 24 hours ahead and you will likely be served it more nights then you wish. ;)

 

Our other 5 nights we were served food from the SS United States restaurant (once in a friend's penthouse stateroom) which was wonderful and the equal of the many fine restaurants we have dined at in Napa, San Francisco, Manhattan, Las Vegas, etc....not to mention the service was terrific and I adore Angel, Sammy and the rest of the staff there.

 

Room service food was not as exciting, at least not for breakfast unless you were in a suite or CC class (we were in a corner FV). We did have breakfast the day of the Panama Canal on the deck of our friend's penthouse and that was a fantastic breakfast.

 

Buffet food for breakfast and lunch was also good. I suggest making a full circle from the Aqua Spa to the ends of the buffets and one is sure to find among all the food something delicious to their taste.

 

Diana

[evoni]

Duplicate post, sorry.

[Brad1185]

RCI purchased Celebrity in 1997 I believe.

[wave master]

Scorben,

 

There was a long, sometimes heated thread on Celbrity's food quality recently. See: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=620557.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Dave for the pointer. That was a very informative thread about the food. It is very difficult to believe that a thread discussing could become heated, but I guess anything is possible.

[sondrad]

IMHO, I think the perceived quality of the food depends, in part, on what you're used to. The cruise food is going to seem completely different if you're used to eating at Chile's versus at a 4/5 star restaurant.

 

DH and I weren't wowed on our recent HAL cruise, but in defense of the cruiselines, I can't imagine making food for that many people at once (especially the amount that some people eat). I believe there's only so much you can do with the volume of food they must have to produce each night.

[Texed]

The quality of the waffles have definitely faltered. So, make sure you don't eat any. :cool:

[Donnaluv2cruise]

Avoid the croissants too. ;)

[d&a Delaware]

We sailed Century this past April, and found the food and service in the main dining room excellent. We also ate in Murano one night, and while the food there was also excellent, IMHO it was not so much better than the main dining room that we would pay the extra fee to do it again. And, being seated at a fun, welcoming table for 8 contributes a lot to the total dining experience. It's not the food alone that makes a dinner memorable.

 

David

[Nancynurse]

We were on the Century in June and found that the food was better that what we had experienced on the Summit the previous March. We will be back on Century in December which is only 2 months away...but who's counting??:)

 

To be perfectly honest, any food that I don't have to cook for two teenage boys is heaven though.:p

 

Another point...we didn't lose any weight on the Summit either...so it couldn't have too bad!

 

Nancy

 

P.S. The waffles and the omlette bar have gone way downhill...might want to look for other selections.;)

[SailAway78]

I just returned from the 9/29 Infinity Panama Canal cruise and the food was good. We ate in the main dining room 10 nights and had no complaints and the last formal night I was surprised to discover the lobster tails were really good and not overcooked. While I have read complaints about not enough veggies, there was certainly enough on my plate, and the plate was full, not sure where they would put more, though if not enough for some, just ask for more. A few people were not in love with the desserts but just request your favorite 24 hours ahead and you will likely be served it more nights then you wish. ;)

 

Our other 5 nights we were served food from the SS United States restaurant (once in a friend's penthouse stateroom) which was wonderful and the equal of the many fine restaurants we have dined at in Napa, San Francisco, Manhattan, Las Vegas, etc....not to mention the service was terrific and I adore Angel, Sammy and the rest of the staff there.

 

Room service food was not as exciting, at least not for breakfast unless you were in a suite or CC class (we were in a corner FV). We did have breakfast the day of the Panama Canal on the deck of our friend's penthouse and that was a fantastic breakfast.

 

Buffet food for breakfast and lunch was also good. I suggest making a full circle from the Aqua Spa to the ends of the buffets and one is sure to find among all the food something delicious to their taste.

 

Diana

 

We were on the same cruise with Diana and her review above is accurate. The Dining Room service was excellent and the staff will assist all special requests if you order in advance.

 

Diana mentioned the Aqua Spa grill which is run by the excellent specialty restaurant (SSUS) staff. (Can't say enough good things about them.) Be sure to check above the display case to see the daily menu of grilled, sauteed &/or poached specials. Place your order, select a beverage, soup &/or salad, find a table (they will likely take your tray for you) and someone will bring the order from the grill to you when it's ready. (Grilled and poached fish, grilled chicken and chicken brochette were excellent.)

 

Before we left the staff told us that many Celebrity officials would be onboard on the current Infinity cruise and additional new menus will be revealed in the main dining room. I'm sure we will see more dining room reviews from those passengers in a few weeks.

 

Bonnie

[C 2 C]

We just returned from two weeks on Summit. I noticed no deterioration of food quality over the last year which includes 6 cruises on Century, two on Infinity and 1 on Mercury.

 

There have been changes in menu items but there is always something to satisfy your taste buds. If you don't like something ask for another menu item. Your waiter wants to see you enjoy your food. The service still can't be beat.

[woodofpine]

All things considered, X and the rest of the cruise industry do a pretty amazing job with quality given cost escalation.

 

Consider the task of serving 1000 pax at a time in a single class dining structure. Sure when the SS France and its heirs were sailing way back when food may have been better but the first class dining room was a lot smaller and oil was $10 a barrel.

 

Given low cruise fares, large ships that have to sail at capacity to pay for them, high fuel costs etc. I'm sort of amazed they can offer menues that aren't a selection of 'ski area chili', hamburger helper, or our specialty this evening 'mystery meat hot dogs', and for desert 'Tootsie Pops'! :D

[wave master]

 

P.S. The waffles and the omlette bar have gone way downhill...might want to look for other selections.;)

 

Nancy, I agree about what you said about the waffles. The waffles on our last Celebrity cruise were just not what they should be. They were undercooked and gooey. Tried them three different days and gave up on the waffles. Most people that we talked to felt the waffles were way over hyped.

 

The croissants however, were very good and they more than made up for the poor waffles and there was plenty of other things to eat.

[raudacruise]

All things considered, X and the rest of the cruise industry do a pretty amazing job with quality given cost escalation.

 

Consider the task of serving 1000 pax at a time in a single class dining structure. Sure when the SS France and its heirs were sailing way back when food may have been better but the first class dining room was a lot smaller and oil was $10 a barrel.

 

Given low cruise fares, large ships that have to sail at capacity to pay for them, high fuel costs etc. I'm sort of amazed they can offer menues that aren't a selection of 'ski area chili', hamburger helper, or our specialty this evening 'mystery meat hot dogs', and for desert 'Tootsie Pops'! :D

Hey, some of the best chili I've had has been at mid-mountain ski restaraunts. Of course, lack of oxygen inhances your taste buds or decreases your sense of taste, something like that ;). Actually, anything warm followed by a cold one tastes good after a good amount of exercise.

 

I will say that I've never tried chili on any cruise ship - sounds like a new topic to me.

[Cruisenouvelle]

The creme brulee'... it's so smooth and decadent, you probably won't like it - so why chance a disappointing culinary experience ? (Said w/ tongue in cheek) :rolleyes:

 

All the more for me Bwaahhhaaahhhhaaa

[npb]

:D

Wave master,

 

It was a joke so that they could get ALL the waffles without sharing.

 

 

 

Nancy, I agree about what you said about the waffles. The waffles on our last Celebrity cruise were just not what they should be. They were undercooked and gooey. Tried them three different days and gave up on the waffles. Most people that we talked to felt the waffles were way over hyped.

 

The croissants however, were very good and they more than made up for the poor waffles and there was plenty of other things to eat.

[npb]

Avoid the breadsticks and sticky buns because they have also gone down hill. :rolleyes:

[Dale Jr]

It would be interesting to find out if those of you who give such high praise to the food on Celebrity have tried any other cruise line food lately?

 

Here we go again!! How long will this one last?

 

Food four years ago on Constellation was fine. Food two years ago on Galaxy was not to our liking. That was the first cruise we have ever both lost weight on.

 

We have since tried both Oceania and Regent and have discovered what cruise food can really be like. There is no going back to the large mass market ships for us. Fresh prepared to order food on the small ships beats the pants off of all the previously prepared sitting under warmers food that Celebrity and the others are putting out.

 

I would imagine the quality is going to suffer even more when the Solstice comes on line with a passenger count in excess of 3000.

[C 2 C]

Princess and Hal food is absolutely the same as Celebrity and as I mentioned before Oceania is now far superior. Celebrity is just not staying ahead of the competition as they once used to.

 

But if you paid to eat in Celebrity's specialty restaurant every night, the cruise price would still be cheaper on Celebrity rather than Oceania for most sailings...

just a suggestion for those who want a superior culinary experience to the ordinary fare offered in the main dining room.

 

Every time that I compared prices for similar sailings, Oceania seemed to charge a very high premium for that superior food.

[C 2 C]

Here we go again!! How long will this one last?

 

I would imagine the quality is going to suffer even more when the Solstice comes on line with a passenger count in excess of 3000.

 

Ship Facts

Occupancy: 2850

Tonnage: 122000

Length: 1033 ft

Beam: 121 ft

Draught: 22 ft

Cruisespeed: 24 kts

Inaugural Date: Dec 01, 2008

Just the facts.

According to your reasoning, the perfect ships size for dining would seat 1.:D

[FRUSSSNAK]

I just returned from the 9/29 Infinity Panama Canal cruise and the food was good. We ate in the main dining room 10 nights and had no complaints and the last formal night I was surprised to discover the lobster tails were really good and not overcooked. While I have read complaints about not enough veggies, there was certainly enough on my plate, and the plate was full, not sure where they would put more, though if not enough for some, just ask for more. A few people were not in love with the desserts but just request your favorite 24 hours ahead and you will likely be served it more nights then you wish. ;)

 

Our other 5 nights we were served food from the SS United States restaurant (once in a friend's penthouse stateroom) which was wonderful and the equal of the many fine restaurants we have dined at in Napa, San Francisco, Manhattan, Las Vegas, etc....not to mention the service was terrific and I adore Angel, Sammy and the rest of the staff there.

 

Room service food was not as exciting, at least not for breakfast unless you were in a suite or CC class (we were in a corner FV). We did have breakfast the day of the Panama Canal on the deck of our friend's penthouse and that was a fantastic breakfast.

 

Buffet food for breakfast and lunch was also good. I suggest making a full circle from the Aqua Spa to the ends of the buffets and one is sure to find among all the food something delicious to their taste.

 

Diana

We also were on this cruise we sail Celebrity many times we tried all the new items on the menu and we thought the food was not up to Celebrity standards some where really bad, seems like RCL has change this brand .