Celebrity's Main Dining Room

[Sky Sweet]

Why do you think the main dining room experience on Celebrity is superior to other mass market cruise lines?

 

Please check all that apply.

[richsea]

Contrary to what I thought just a few years ago, Celebrity's MDR is not too special anymore. I've only sailed Princess (twice) other that Celebrity, so I can only use them as a comparison. After our 1st Princess cruise I said that the food was good on Princess, but nothing jumped out at me as it did on X. After our most recent Princess in November, I would say that the food in the MDR of each line is comparable. I think that this is more due to Celebrity's decline rather than Princess' improvement, although Princess buffet food is better, IMO

[Sky Sweet]

More formal service has the most votes so far, which is what I would have expected.

[Sky Sweet]

More formal service still has the most votes, with five courses instead of starters, entrees, and desserts a close second.

[Sky Sweet]

Another interesting statistic is that 42 percent of the people who responded to this poll think that the food is either better on another mass market cruise line or Celebrity's food is very similar to other mass market cruise lines.

 

Since this is the Celebrity board, which attracts people who love Celebrity, and Celebrity is known for its food, that number is much higher than I expected it to be.

[greeneg]

Having just gotten off of the Constellation yesterday and finished a 711mi drive last night, I haven't had a chance to write my review yet, but the one thing that I can say is that there have been some significant changes in the Main Dining Room Experience (San Marco Restaurant on the Connie) which move the Experience away from what has characterized Celebrity historically and much more towards the typical mass market line. Hence my vote to that extent.

 

I'll go into much more detail when I write my review, but brief examples of the changes that I am talking about are things like, poor menu creativity and construction, hot food not hot, cold food not cold, stale rolls served the last night, etc. The one thing that HAS held up, IMHO, is the quality of the service during the meal; our waiter and his assistant performed perfectly, and for a change, we had an excellent wine steward who was knowledgeable and did not "push" anything.

 

More details to come in a few days....

[Sky Sweet]

Having just gotten off of the Constellation yesterday and finished a 711mi drive last night, I haven't had a chance to write my review yet, but the one thing that I can say is that there have been some significant changes in the Main Dining Room Experience (San Marco Restaurant on the Connie) which move the Experience away from what has characterized Celebrity historically and much more towards the typical mass market line. Hence my vote to that extent.

 

I'll go into much more detail when I write my review, but brief examples of the changes that I am talking about are things like, poor menu creativity and construction, hot food not hot, cold food not cold, stale rolls served the last night, etc. The one thing that HAS held up, IMHO, is the quality of the service during the meal; our waiter and his assistant performed perfectly, and for a change, we had an excellent wine steward who was knowledgeable and did not "push" anything.

 

More details to come in a few days....

 

Hi greeneg :)

 

I noticed that your two cruises prior to this one were on Azamara and Quest, which are a step above Celebrity. Do you think that might be part of the reason why you were disappointed in the food on your recent Constellation cruise?

[Sky Sweet]

Having just gotten off of the Constellation yesterday and finished a 711mi drive last night, I haven't had a chance to write my review yet, but the one thing that I can say is that there have been some significant changes in the Main Dining Room Experience (San Marco Restaurant on the Connie) which move the Experience away from what has characterized Celebrity historically and much more towards the typical mass market line. Hence my vote to that extent.

 

I'll go into much more detail when I write my review, but brief examples of the changes that I am talking about are things like, poor menu creativity and construction, hot food not hot, cold food not cold, stale rolls served the last night, etc. The one thing that HAS held up, IMHO, is the quality of the service during the meal; our waiter and his assistant performed perfectly, and for a change, we had an excellent wine steward who was knowledgeable and did not "push" anything.

 

More details to come in a few days....

 

Hi greeneg :)

 

I noticed that your two cruises prior to this one were on Azamara' Journey and Quest, which are a step above Celebrity. Do you think that might be part of the reason why you were disappointed in the food on your recent Constellation cruise?

[greeneg]

Hi greeneg :)

 

I noticed that your two cruises prior to this one were on Azamara' Journey and Quest, which are a step above Celebrity. Do you think that might be part of the reason why you were disappointed in the food on your recent Constellation cruise?

 

Truth be told, I asked myself that question several times during the cruise. Every time, I came up with the same answer: no, the differences between our last Celebrity Cruise ( which was actually on the Mercury in early 2007) and our last Constellation (2006) were real and not influenced by Azamara. Had I been asked before this last X cruise, I would have said that there was no practical difference between the quality and creativity of the cuisine on Azamara and Celebrity; different atmosphere, yes, but essentially the same in quality, creativity, and level of service. There really has been, IMHO, a decline in Celebrity's Main Dining room, at least on this cruise. Not to say that the food was "bad", just not up to expectations based on prior experience with both the Line in general, and the Constellation in particular.

 

To perhaps repeat myself, it was a very nice cruise, I had a very good time and certainly didn't lose any weight: but, the menu and the cuisine were not up to what I would consider Celebrity's Previously Experienced High Standards.

 

We'll be back on the Quest in May and will be interested to see what if anything has changed there.

 

Ed