Celebrity's New Menu: I'm just the messenger.

[Dunmore2]

we are fight next to the captains table and the service at that table is sloooooow. Ours is just fine. I feel sorry for the poor waiters hustling so.

 

Thanks for the update. I would appreciate seeing additional menus, if you can get copies from your head waiter. Someone generously posted 6-7 here earlier but we're missing a few of the NEW ones.

Thank you.

[clipper110A]

Our perception is that regrettably there has been a gradual but marked decline in food quality at X. We would LOVE to have the Michel Roux days back. Probably X is still tops in its category in food, but no where near as good as it once was. And while the new dining venues are interesting, and can be exceptional in many instances, we find ourselves wistfully considering that the single dining room with Roux menus may have for us been superior to the current experience.

Of course in Roux days at X, oil prices were not where they are now and cruise fares were comparatively higher. So perhaps a trade off.

[Giorgi-one]

Hi All,

 

Re - STEAKS

 

When we were on the Solstice, the first night, Mr Sloop ordered a steak... even though I had tried to flag him off that idea... having read the CC CELEBRITY BOARD postings.

 

Beyond the cuts of beef served in the MDR (that is a whole other issue)... you are not going to find a steak onboard a ship that is comparable to one on land, because, they just don't flame broil them on an open grill (due to the issues involved with FIRE) they have to prepare them "french style" in a saute pan.

 

HUGE DIFFERENCE !!

 

Done right they can be good, but for most of us will never come close to a grilled steak !!

 

Cheers!

 

Steaks are flame broiled in the Lawn Grill on Silhouette!

[Spf12]

Steaks are flame broiled in the Lawn Grill on Silhouette!

Not with Gas

[sarafinadh]

Not with Gas

 

What? are they using matches?

 

; -)

[kdcruiser]

Just got off the Eclipse this morning (March 3, 2012). MDR had all those things and endless cold soups. Lobster was very disappointing.....cut in half and had to search for the lobster meat....some stuffed dish took up most of the room. Service was extremely slow but not due to our waiter/assistant waiter....seemed the kitchen had no idea what they were doing. Everything seemed 'preplated' so if you ordered a baked potato, you got the mashed that came with the original dish AND the baked one.....a waste if you ask me. On other cruise lines you are able to order a main course in appetizer size, but not so on Celebrity...it is all or nothing. Not sure if this is due to staff cutbacks or what but I wasn't impressed. The ship was gorgeous, but with food and dining being such a big part of a cruise, it was not what I had anticipated.

[can'tcatchup]

Oh YES! I love the Celebrity dressing! Last cruise we mentioned that it wasn't always offered much anymore and the Maitre'd said, for us, it would be available every night and it was! Love that dressing. Even got the recipe and have made it at home, but it's not quite the same as on the ship.

 

Please tell, what is "Celebrity dressing" and what makes it so special?

 

Thanks in advance.

[middlehaitch]

oops, asked and answered

[Technobob]

Just got off the Eclipse this morning (March 3, 2012). MDR had all those things and endless cold soups. Lobster was very disappointing.....cut in half and had to search for the lobster meat....some stuffed dish took up most of the room. Service was extremely slow but not due to our waiter/assistant waiter....seemed the kitchen had no idea what they were doing. Everything seemed 'preplated' so if you ordered a baked potato, you got the mashed that came with the original dish AND the baked one.....a waste if you ask me. On other cruise lines you are able to order a main course in appetizer size, but not so on Celebrity...it is all or nothing. Not sure if this is due to staff cutbacks or what but I wasn't impressed. The ship was gorgeous, but with food and dining being such a big part of a cruise, it was not what I had anticipated.

 

Hey, we just got off the same cruise. I agree with your comments, especially the lobster. Total disappointment. However, I WAS able to order a half-portion of a main course pasta as a side dish. It did show up on my plate. Our waiter, "Worly," was hesitant, but he came through.

 

Overall, we loved the Eclipse, but the food was bit disappointing, even Tuscan Grill and Qsine. Murano was a highlight though, but not sure I'd pay that again. We were just trying the premium restaurants out as it was our first time on Solstice class.

[jondy25]

Completed 7 day on Summit March 3. Cold soup, escargot, Caprese salad on menu every night. half rock lobster 2nd formal night. We were on Select (flexible time) dining. Waiters somewhat harried but service mostly prompt enough. Exception was night we walked in at same time as Late fixed dining opened was pretty slow. Quality of food very good but you have to insist steaks and fish are cooked the way you want them (mine were but some other folk's weren't).

[Iamthesea]

Just got off the Eclipse this morning (March 3, 2012). MDR had all those things and endless cold soups. Lobster was very disappointing.....cut in half and had to search for the lobster meat....some stuffed dish took up most of the room. Service was extremely slow but not due to our waiter/assistant waiter....seemed the kitchen had no idea what they were doing. Everything seemed 'preplated' so if you ordered a baked potato, you got the mashed that came with the original dish AND the baked one.....a waste if you ask me. On other cruise lines you are able to order a main course in appetizer size, but not so on Celebrity...it is all or nothing. Not sure if this is due to staff cutbacks or what but I wasn't impressed. The ship was gorgeous, but with food and dining being such a big part of a cruise, it was not what I had anticipated.

 

Hey, we just got off the same cruise. I agree with your comments, especially the lobster. Total disappointment. However, I WAS able to order a half-portion of a main course pasta as a side dish. It did show up on my plate. Our waiter, "Worly," was hesitant, but he came through.

 

Overall, we loved the Eclipse, but the food was bit disappointing, even Tuscan Grill and Qsine. Murano was a highlight though, but not sure I'd pay that again. We were just trying the premium restaurants out as it was our first time on Solstice class.

 

 

Just off the Eclipse as well, however, we dined in Blu. See my review on Blu http://http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=32726084&postcount=48

 

Interesting to hear about the dining room experiences. We felt the same way about our Equinox cruise last May. Although, we prefer a lag time between courses, and dishes were served way too fast for us because the servers seemed rushed to get it out. We had the same problem in Blu until we spoke to the Maitre D and asked for slower service.

 

Our experience in the Tuscan Grill was fine, but not outstanding. We had an $80 specialty credit and decided to treat ourselves to an expensive bottle of wine. That helped the experience. :D

[shiphappy]

Just got off the Eclipse this morning (March 3, 2012). MDR had all those things and endless cold soups. Lobster was very disappointing.....cut in half and had to search for the lobster meat....some stuffed dish took up most of the room. Service was extremely slow but not due to our waiter/assistant waiter....seemed the kitchen had no idea what they were doing. Everything seemed 'preplated' so if you ordered a baked potato, you got the mashed that came with the original dish AND the baked one.....a waste if you ask me. On other cruise lines you are able to order a main course in appetizer size, but not so on Celebrity...it is all or nothing. Not sure if this is due to staff cutbacks or what but I wasn't impressed. The ship was gorgeous, but with food and dining being such a big part of a cruise, it was not what I had anticipated.

 

I had no trouble finding the meat on the lobster tail and mine was quite good. Different strokes for different folks but this was on the equinox not the eclipse. And our waiter and assistant waiter were timely as well as good. Two people can look at the same thing and see it differently. Imagine trying to please 2800 people - totally impossible. There always will be those who will not like this or that. And then there will be those who you can never please no matter what. As long as celebrity pleases the majority of people, that is the best they can hope to achieve. If you are not happy with the menues you have other cruiselines to choose from. As for us - we love and will continue to sail celebrity ships in the future as we have in the past - recognizing that nothing in life stays the same.

[big boog]

We had the same disappointing experience with the lobster, not much there and what was there was mushy. We just returned yesterday from the Summit, which we also sailed last year at the same time, and agree that they are definitely cutting costs in the area of food quality. Having said that, some of the dishes were still very good, especially the desserts.

[mom23guys]

Just got off Millie,at the airport. We loved the new menu. The main courses are much improved. I really am not a fan of most of the cold soups, they are too sweet for me. I really loved having the veal osso bucco back. There was also the lamb shank and rack of lamb. Our service was great. I felt the MDR. Was much improved over our experience on the Solstice last month and on theMillie five months ago.

[mom23guys]

Btw, the lobster was a large tail not the ridiculous half tail that we had last month. it was beautifully done and served with just butter, no heavy cream sauce to cover up a dry piece of lobster.

[sarafinadh]

If you are not happy with the menues you have other cruiselines to choose from.

 

Reviews, to be useful, need to reflect both the positive and negative experiences guests have.

 

Dismissing someone's experience with "we like it. If you don't, go sail another line" is not helpful or pleasant.

 

I appreciate all the information, the pluses and the minuses, and take responsibility for judging for myself what I think my experience will be.

[sjb.illinois]

Does "familiarity breed contempt" here to use a phrase

 

If you did not know you could previously get x or y how happy would you be with these menus?

 

Just a thought, wonder what a first time cruiser who has never seen the previous menus would make of these - maybe the economics are focussing attention on starting to grow a new market; maybe the reported demographics of some of the cruises is causing a forward think to target a younger audience?

 

And we all know the only person who likes change is a baby ..........

 

UKTOG, to your point: my husband and I are about to book our first cruise on Celebrity (as soon as they roll out schedules for June '13 Reflection in a few weeks), and as serious foodies I was worried when I saw this thread. But as I just read over the new menus linked above (thanks for posting, by the way) - I honestly can say I would happily order every single thing on there (except maybe the veal, but my husband would likely order two portions to balance me out). I have loved the cold soups on Princess, but I can't say I would avoid Celebrity for the lack of them. I understand others' feelings, but as a new Celebrity cruiser looking on, the menus look lovely :)

[TravelerThom]

Just got off the Eclipse this morning (March 3, 2012). MDR had all those things and endless cold soups. Lobster was very disappointing.....cut in half and had to search for the lobster meat....some stuffed dish took up most of the room. Service was extremely slow but not due to our waiter/assistant waiter....seemed the kitchen had no idea what they were doing. Everything seemed 'preplated' so if you ordered a baked potato, you got the mashed that came with the original dish AND the baked one.....a waste if you ask me. On other cruise lines you are able to order a main course in appetizer size, but not so on Celebrity...it is all or nothing. Not sure if this is due to staff cutbacks or what but I wasn't impressed. The ship was gorgeous, but with food and dining being such a big part of a cruise, it was not what I had anticipated.

We got off the Solstice 4 Mar. I personally have enjoyed the cold soups in the past and looked for them unsuccessfully on the new menu [they did serve gazpacho during the one time Brunch]. Escargot were on the new written menu, but were not on-board. On the plus side, I thought the full lobster tail was considerably better than the dried out half tails that I had gotten the last couple of years. So it sounds like Eclipse is still "old style". I hope they bring back at least some of the cold soups. I will say that the quality of what they did have seemed as good or better than in the recent past, and I enjoyed myself and did not go hungry:rolleyes:

 

Thom

[tuggers]

I, too, LOVE the cold soups and hope they bring some of them back. I always thought X did them better than most of the other lines. What a shame to lose them!:(

[ariawoman]

I agree! ;) Especially the HAL chilled 'three-berry' soup! :)

 

Agreed, I enjoyed that one too, as well as a Pepper Strawberry one that was awesome!

[tuggers]

Ok now, you guys are making me hungry!:)

[jondy25]

We had the same disappointing experience with the lobster, not much there and what was there was mushy. We just returned yesterday from the Summit, which we also sailed last year at the same time, and agree that they are definitely cutting costs in the area of food quality. Having said that, some of the dishes were still very good, especially the desserts.

 

Hello B B,

 

Wife and I on same Summit cruise. Enjoyed the 1/2 of a whole lobster; decent meat, tail and in body. Of course, I wouldn't expect to get our firmer sweeter New England "bugs" in the Caribbean.

 

Haven't been on Celeb in 11 years so can't judge by what isn't there anymore, but menu was way more varied and imaginative than last cruise on RCL "Voyager". All in all, very happy with meals; esp. lamb, veal and "aged" steak. Cold soups not a biggee to us.

 

Fellow cruisers were the nicest bunch of people I've spent a week with anywhere. And where else do you get 5 ports in 7 days?

[Compass Rose Monica]

Phew! I just read all 14 pages. I think the menus look very good (assuming the menus are for all ships with Celebrity and not just Solstice class?). I am in Blu for my next two cruises (Summit and Silhouette) but will keep an eye out on the MDR.

It would be nice if they separated the rack of lamb and chateaubriand. I guess if I'm in the MDR I could order both! LOL! :eek:

I won't miss the cold soups, nor the baked potatoes.

Overall, I think Celebrity still does a better job than the other cruise lines. Let's just hope it stays that way.

Monica

[21405]

Just off the Equinox yesterday. There were no cold soups, and they were missed. We did have escargot every night, very good. The menues seems to have some changes, but were outstanding. We loved every meal more than the last. We have been on the Equinox the last 3 years and this years food was better than than ever! The full lobster tail was a nice change. I did not check if Blu had cold soups.

[Andy]

Just off the Equinox yesterday. There were no cold soups, and they were missed. We did have escargot every night, very good. The menues seems to have some changes, but were outstanding. We loved every meal more than the last. We have been on the Equinox the last 3 years and this years food was better than than ever! The full lobster tail was a nice change. I did not check if Blu had cold soups.

 

Hello,

 

Thanks for sharing your observations with us. Great to hear. Welcome Home !