The Free Coffee -- Is It Still Awful?

[el344]

Last time we were on Celebrity (May 2005) the coffee in the cafe and in the main dining room was awful -- the stuff made from concentrate rather than actual drip or brewed. Is that still the case?

[greeneg]

It was excellent in the buffet restaurant on the Equinox in March. Both regular and decaf.

[DHADEN]

The coffee in the Cafe and Room Service was really bad. I've heard that it's made from a concentrted syrup.

 

In the Dining Room, they have fresh brewed and it was good.

 

Hope This Helps.

[Gracie115]

On Solstice in January I commented to my husband about how good the coffee was compared to other times we'd cruised on X. Then suddenly 3 days into cruise it was horrid again for a few days and then last two days it was better again.....someone here tried to attribute the difference to the water being used...but I don't know...it was really very odd the difference in the taste from one day to the next....so I can't answer your question except to say, welll.....maybe!!!!:)

[Gonzo70]

Then suddenly 3 days into cruise it was horrid again for a few days and then last two days it was better again.....someone here tried to attribute the difference to the water being used...but I don't know...it was really very odd the difference in the taste from one day to the next....

 

Last year when the Celebrity executive in charge of their food (I am not going to try to type the name as it is hard to spell) did a Q&A on Cruise Critic, he was asked about the coffee. He indicated that changes in water pressure are frequent on ships and that this does cause difficulties in making consistently good coffee when made in large batches (as is the case in the buffet and dining rooms). The specialty coffee areas make coffees one at a time, so you are far more likely to get consistently good coffee there (though obviously at a cost).

 

On land I am a big Starbucks drinker. On my last Celebrity cruise I usually found the free coffee to be drinkable, but rarely what I would consider to be good. The coffee at Cafe al Bacio however was always very good (and I had quite a bit there)!

[bubbie617]

I drink a lot of coffee, albeit decaf always, and we found the brew on Mercury in January to be quite good. Sure, it was better in the Cova Cafe; making small batches can't compare to the huge batches they make elsewhere on the ship. I rarely indulged myself at Cova because we found the coffee to be quite acceptable everywhere else on the ship.

 

By the way, we saw them making real brewed coffee in the Oceanview buffet. They were not using syrup.

 

When we were on Princess last year, we had to buy a coffee card to get real brewed coffee. Everything else on the ship was made from syrup.

[Lsimon]

This topic always has a lot of differing opinions. I think this is both due to the inconsistency of the coffee on board and the different levels of preference among coffee drinkers.

 

Here is my take:

The good news is that Celebrity has revamped the way they make coffee at least once since you last sailed. But don't get too excited, I'd say that they improved it from about a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 to about a 3 on the scale, sometimes as high as a 5 but with any consistency. And I'd consider anything 5 or better to be drinkable.

 

I don't think it is made from syrup any longer. Most of the coffee in the buffet comes out in large thermal carafes which are sometimes made in the machines at the drink stations and sometimes made in the kitchen, out of sight.

 

Consistency is an issue both between locations and at different times. Your best bet is coffee in the dining room and at peak times. I've also read that the coffee at the Aqua Spa is sometimes better than other locations but can't vouch for this personally.

 

The espresso based coffees at the Cova or Cafe Al Bacio remain very good but are up in price to $4 plus 15% gratuity.

[el344]

Thanks for all the answers -- I may have to buy a beverage package just to get my coffee fix!

 

Elise

[JP1947]

Coffee was only bad one day on the solstice 04-25 thru 05-02 cruise.

Never awful

[Tiggertastic]

Celebrity Eclipse - the coffee was poor to fair at best- no matter if it was in the cafe, Moonlight Sonata or room service. Next time he's taking his Starbucks Via sachets.

 

Jan

[Lsimon]

Another interesting tidbit - on our Millennium last March cruise we noticed they also had Taster's Choice instant coffee, regular and decaf, in the buffet in addition to the brewed coffee. We never had any but it was there. Don't know if this is a new fleet-wide item or not.

[trustee55]

Hi!

 

Yes; it is still AWFUL.

It is the closest thing to drinking SLUDGE on the high seas.

We just got off the Mercury and it was so bad we couldn't drink it.

 

Cheers,

Carol Ann

[lymah]

Gosh, this coffee news is disappointing. Well this is a little off topic, but do they have hot water available in the buffet area if I bring my own tea bags?

[Lsimon]

Gosh, this coffee news is disappointing. Well this is a little off topic, but do they have hot water available in the buffet area if I bring my own tea bags?

 

Yes - and they have reasonably good tea available as well. Also have the instant coffee I mentioned above and instant Hot Coco too.

[Muushka]

It was excellent in the buffet restaurant on the Equinox in March. Both regular and decaf.

 

I wouldn't say excellent, but it was pretty good. As opposed to the MDR. :( Not so good.

[notl342]

I've heard of people taking a coffee press and ground coffee to ensure they get a decent cup! It's something that X should get right, though.

[Lsimon]

I've heard of people taking a coffee press and ground coffee to ensure they get a decent cup! It's something that X should get right, though.

 

We might try a coffee press one of these days. The Eclipse has hot pot/kettles in the rooms to accommodate the UK clientele's tea demands. I wish they'd put these on the other ships and maybe even the small hotel sized coffee pots. I think I've heard NCL has those.

[geojobes]

I also thought the worst coffee at sea was on US Navy ships until we cruised on Princess. Princess coffee isn't as good as vending machine coffee (you know the kind where they use the powered "creamer"), RCCL & Celebrity is a whole lot better. On Princess the "fresh brewed" coffee that you pay for is marginally better, but tasted like they ran out of filters & used paper towels to filter it. I thought that Celebrity, RCCl & Carnival all had drinkable coffee, Princess, not.

[packed&ready!]

I'm bringing my Cuisinart 2-to-go coffee maker on my next cruise! I will just give up the room from all the extra shoes or just carry the dang thing! Since 2004, all the cruises we have been on have horrid coffee. I sure get cranky w/o a decent cup of coffee. Even the expensive cappuchino from the Cova cafe was horrid!! I was really annoyed after paying about $3.60 for that swill. The last time I had a cappuchino on the Millenium, it was delicious! what happened? Celebrity??

[AAAAmerican]

So many factors do make what each considers great cup of JAVA, Joe...etc..

Water, type of bean, quality, and temperature...etc...

 

And ..

;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Podie]

I just bought a Thermos insulated coffee press to bring on Equinox just in case the coffee is really bad.