Is afternoon tea recommended?

[Hlitner]

DW is a lifelong tea drinker and has never been impressed by the so-called high-end teas served on cruise lines at special tea events. In some cases she thinks you are paying for a silk tea bag....which has about the same quality of tea found in a Bigalow. She also mentions that Da-Hong Pao can cost about $1,250,000 per kilo. But we do not think that X is serving Da-Hong Pao :). And then there is the "Champagne" part of the equation. If they were serving a glass of Cristal or Dom Perignon we might be tempted to pay $25 for the tea. But we might venture a wild guess that they are serving the standard Celebrity house Champagne which is probably worth no more then $5 a bottle.

 

One might do better going to the free afternoon tea and perhaps buying themselves a glass of decent Champagne :)

 

Hank

Edited November 17, 2013 by Hlitner

[Go-Bucks!]

"Common" tea items, scones, cream, and jam will be available in the buffet starting around 4:00 p.m. Self service.

 

 

You've got to be kidding??!! Afternoon tea in a buffet where you go get the items yourself??? :rolleyes:

 

On Princess they serve tea everyday in the MDR with white table cloths, china, silverware, waiters serving scones, pastries, finger sandwiches, and tea poured from china pots. Sometimes they have piped in relaxing music or live music. Really classy and makes for a lovely break in the day. I'm really disappointed to hear how Celebrity puts this on. Obviously it's not very important to them or their passengers. On Princess, tea is very well attended by both men and women.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

You've got to be kidding??!! Afternoon tea in a buffet where you go get the items yourself??? :rolleyes:

 

On Princess they serve tea everyday in the MDR with white table cloths, china, silverware, waiters serving scones, pastries, finger sandwiches, and tea poured from china pots. Sometimes they have piped in relaxing music or live music. Really classy and makes for a lovely break in the day. I'm really disappointed to hear how Celebrity puts this on. Obviously it's not very important to them or their passengers. On Princess, tea is very well attended by both men and women.

 

Well, if it's that important to you, perhaps you should stick to Princess. Celebrity does not offer this experience. Not even if you pay $25.

[Lois R]

Well, I am confused because I have paid 25.00 for a Champagne Tea

held in Murano before. There were waiters and yes, they were even

wearing white gloves. And you drank the tea from real cups and had

tea sandwiches and scones and pastries for dessert too.

I know I was on an S class ship.....I want to say Eclipse but I am not

100% sure about that part:eek:

 

So yes, they have had it before....... oh and they served bubbly

in champagne flutes too....

Edited November 18, 2013 by Lois R

[shoreham01]

I wish they served tea in the buffet at 3.30 instead of 4pm. If you are on first sitting in MDR it is really too late to enjoy a nice tea of scones and clotted cream........yes.....we did have clotted cream on our last Eclipse cruise in July. It was rather hidden away on a different counter to the scones and soap, sorry I mean cream, unfortunately I cannot remember which counter it was on. You need to ask for it.

[Huxley'sCruisers]

Sorry, but it's not "clotted cream"...:D It isn't real strawberry jam, either...;)

It's regular whipped cream and some kind of preserves, but quite nice, and the scones are not bad.

They also have a very nice ( complimentary) selection of sandwiches and cakes in the buffet as well - it's from 16.00 - 17.00 every day.

Actually we just got off the Silhouette and the absolutely had REAL clotted cream (giant jar from The Devon Cream Company) to go with the scones. I didn't try the jam so I can't comment on that, and they also had whipped cream, but there was definitely clotted cream too. The scones with it were delicious!

[shofer]

Actually we just got off the Silhouette and the absolutely had REAL clotted cream (giant jar from The Devon Cream Company) to go with the scones. I didn't try the jam so I can't comment on that' date=' and they also had whipped cream, but there was definitely clotted cream too. The scones with it were delicious![/quote']

 

 

What is clotted cream?

 

Sue

[shofer]

I thought I might also mention that Celebrity has tea every afternoon at 4 in the Oceanview Cafe. The scones are warm and they also have jam and clotted cream. Small sandwiches and other sweets are available too.

 

It will be 7 years since my last X cruise when we go in February. One of the things I always enjoyed was tea in the OC. We are late risers and with a big breakfast are not really hungry again until about 4 PM. With late dinner, this fills our needs perfectly. So glad that they still offer it.

 

Sue

[shoreham01]

What is clotted cream?

 

Sue

Clotted cream is much thicker than normal cream. It is very rich and of course very fattening. It originated in Devon, Cornwall I believe. Once you have enjoyed clotted cream you will not want double cream anymore.

 

Oh no, I have just put on 2 lbs thinking about it.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream

[Hlitner]

For the benefit of some readers we would note that many cruise lines have daily "teas" and they really do vary from line to line. For example, Holland America offers a free "tea" every day and they will often have various themes for that function (i.e. Indonesian Tea). Probably the most interesting Teas we have seen on cruises is the daily Tea Time on Cunard's Queen Mary 2. This is quite a production and is normally held in their expansive Ball Room with the waiters all formally dressed down to their white gloves. They also provide live entertainment at those teas such as a harp player, piano, etc.

 

Hank

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Well, I am confused because I have paid 25.00 for a Champagne Tea

held in Murano before. There were waiters and yes, they were even

wearing white gloves. And you drank the tea from real cups and had

tea sandwiches and scones and pastries for dessert too.

I know I was on an S class ship.....I want to say Eclipse but I am not

100% sure about that part:eek:

 

So yes, they have had it before....... oh and they served bubbly

in champagne flutes too....

 

Lois, I've never been to a champagne tea. I'm referring to the regular allegedly high tea. Offered free to Elite members once/cruise and to the rest for $25. I've been twice. Service was terrible. Tea was the same tea bags you can get in the buffet. I absolutely agree with Larry's earlier assessment and have never been back. In fact, I left the second one I went to after we waited 45 minutes for the scone cart to think about coming to our table and went up to the buffet and got my own scone!