Please share your S-Class MDR experience regarding QUALITY of food

[stickey_mouse]

How would you rate the quality of food in the MDR on the Solstice-Class ships? We will be dining almost exclusively in the MDR and are a little worried about recent quality. Please share your experiences.

[Aquahound]

I've only been on 2 Solstice cruises, but I'd say my experience was a cut above what I'm used to. I don't think any cruise line MDR is excellent, but I do think theirs is better than the others.

[teecee60]

Just got off the 15 night Silhouette transatlantic two weeks ago, and voted "above average" in the poll but wanted to ask...

 

...compared to what? Princess? HAL? Carnival? Crystal? Waffle House? Burger King? Taco Bell? Applebee's? Olive Garden? Outback? Ruth's Chris? Or some $200/meal place? :confused:

 

I guess the bottom line is...

 

...it was good enough that I have a couple of extra inches around my waist to work off, QUICKLY, because I just booked two weeks on Reflection for October. :eek: :D ;)

Edited May 20, 2014 by teecee60

[RDC1]

What are you comparing it to: Other Celebrity cruises, all cruise lines, a 5 star dining experience, your run of the Mill Golden Corral.

 

Compared to other cruise lines I would rank it Average. Compared to Golden Corral I would rank it Excellent, compared to a five star dining experience I would mark it poor.

[keithm]

How would you rate the quality of food in the MDR on the Solstice-Class ships? We will be dining almost exclusively in the MDR and are a little worried about recent quality. Please share your experiences.

Having always cruised with Cunard(until now)we found the food to be very good bordering excellent on the Eclipse.(better than Brittania on Cunard) We're both in the food industry, so we DO have some experince in good food. The Queens Grill on Cunard does rival some of the best land based restaurants. I do have to say that Murano was outstanding the 2 times we dined there. The MDR on Eclipse was about like a decent mid level land based restaurant. I don't mean like Applebees/TGI Fridays etc.

[ghstudio]

Food is subjective. It doesn't matter what others think. You have no idea of their frame of reference.

[stickey_mouse]

I'm very sorry, I should have been more specific. Everything is subjective, so I guess I am asking you to compare it with other cruise experiences.

 

If you can't do that, I think it's still possible to rate it in the general sense. For example, I have had "excellent" or "very good" experiences at fast food or deli-type places, meaning that I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Obviously, if I compared it to Filet Mignon at a four-star steakhouse, I would rate it poor, but I don't see the need to necessarily compare it to something else. I have had fantastic meals at greasy spoon joints and poor experiences at fine dining establishments.

[woodyren]

My only experience has been on our Trans Atlantic cruise on the Reflection last November. I gave an excellent rating in the poll. I do not and (have never) dined in a 5 star restaurant so I can't compare it to one.I do not know the quality of the USA chains that are often quoted as comparisons on here.

 

All I can say is that I really enjoyed the food and found the service outstanding. It exceeded my expectations and I doubt I would pay to visit one of the specialty restaurants unless I was invited by friends and did so for the company (or I had large OBC to dispose of).

 

As for comparison of other cruise experiences it was slightly better then RCCL Oasis of the Seas, noticeably better than Norwegian Star and far better than Carnival Glory. That's about the best I could do to quantify.

 

Service in the MDR and quality of the buffet went along similar lines on each of those ships although the gaps in the food quality, selection and organisation in the buffets probably larger between each. Carnival Glory buffet was terrible at breakfast with their one line (at each of 4 stations all with the same food) which required you to queue up for 10 minutes or so even if you only wanted a single item. No wonder some people piled their plates so high to save another trip.

 

I would go as far to say that I could get a better meal in the Reflection buffet than I could on most occasions in the Glory MDR.

Edited May 20, 2014 by woodyren

[Oxo]

What are you comparing it to: Other Celebrity cruises, all cruise lines, a 5 star dining experience, your run of the Mill Golden Corral.

 

Compared to other cruise lines I would rank it Average. Compared to Golden Corral I would rank it Excellent, compared to a five star dining experience I would mark it poor.

 

Excellent answer!!!!

[true45]

S class Quality vs

 

Princess - S- class better than Princess and better service except Princess pasta & gelato were wonderful

 

DIsney was a little better and they were masters at catering to your personal needs

 

Carnival - no comparison Definitely not as good as Celebrity. Won't go with them again

 

Oceania better than Celebrity but many more $

 

Next sailing is Silhouette

 

Happy sailing

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[dkjretired]

Food is subjective. It doesn't matter what others think. You have no idea of their frame of reference.

 

I agree, basically a meat and potatoes person. Enjoyed all my meals on S class ships. I did find service not up to previous standards due to elimination of some personnel. Couldn't figure out who to order a drink from at first. I am used to waiter, assistant. Drink guy and Sommelier.

[hawk/hornfan]

While I have not cruised Celebrity yet (Sept 22,2015 10day Hawaii): what some cruisers fail to realize is that on most mass market cruise lines (Celebrity, Carnival, RCCL, HAL, & Princess) when they are serving typically 2000-3000 guests in the MDR every night, you are getting upscale banquet food, think Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott. NOT gourmet dining.

 

 

I have never a terrible meal on any cruise, some things I did not care for, sure. But my mamma did not raise a picky eater either!

Edited May 21, 2014 by hawk/hornfan

[wyn_wyn1]

I just returned from a cruise on the Celebrity Reflection. I dined in the MDR for 4 nights. The food was very good. It arrived hot, there was a good variety and choice each night and the service staff was excellent. I have also cruised on the Solstice and Equinox. I would rate the food in the MDR of those ships and the Reflection as better than Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. The only cruise MDR food that I found to be better than Celebrity was on the Disney Magic.

[DavidYYC]

Just off the Eclipse TA.

 

The MDR food was very good. We ate there 11 out of 13 nights and enjoyed every mouthful. Service was fine. The lack of drink waiter is vaguely annoying but I always get a large bottle of sparkling water right at the start, and the sommelier topped up our wine glass as frequently as we needed him to.

[surebeatssailing]

While I have not cruised Celebrity yet (Sept 22,2015 10day Hawaii): what some cruisers fail to realize is that on most mass market cruise lines (Celebrity, Carnival, RCCL, HAL, & Princess) when they are serving typically 2000-3000 guests in the MDR every night, you are getting upscale banquet food, think Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott. NOT gourmet dining.

 

 

I have never a terrible meal on any cruise, some things I did not care for, sure. But my mamma did not raise a picky eater either!

 

Completely agree!

[RDC1]

On my Solstice cruise the food quality was good. The entree portion size was larger then I have experienced on other lines (too large of portion size in my opinion). Did not care for the soups in general. They seemed to be all blended in consistency.

[C 2 C]

We just returned from Solstice 8 day Alaska cruise together with our daughter and son in law.

For comparison purposes we have cruised, since January, on Eclipse, Oasis, Century, Constellation and Allure.

My wife and I would say that so far there has been a slight decline in overall quality and "contentment". I had one pasta dish (I'm not a real meat eater) that was worse than mediocre. I like the variety at lunch better than dinner offerings and I believe that my weight gain last week resulted from experimenting with the beverage package rather than dinner.

Our daughter and son in law who cruised on Princess and Carnival earlier this year, placed Celebrity between Princess (Thumbs down), Celebrity good but not as good as her Carnival cruise two months ago. She did not say that Carnival food is better but the food on her Carnival ship was wonderful, much better than one earlier Carnival cruise.

 

Food varies from ship to ship. We were much happier with food on Constellation last fall than on any of the ships in 2014, including Constellation in March.

 

I'm not a foodie. I don't eat waffles (sorry) love fried eggs in the morning especially in Blu, happy with stir fry or Mexican for lunch and would have a sandwich for dinner if it was available. My wife is a carnivore but we both pick the Sea Bass when eating in Murano. The whole Tuscan experience no longer appeals to us because of the decline in bread, appetizers (the former Crab Pot) and change in the onion soup formula over the last year. The beef there is great however but that choice does not interest me at all.

The one weakness that I have is the Cheese Course in Murano. I would pick that for my meal every night if my arteries allowed it.

 

Having said all that we don't cruise for the food and always find something that will keep us from shrinking.

Our daughter will accompany us on another Celebrity cruise this fall and we will not switch cruise lines for the food.

[rubydoobydoo]

Just returned from Elcipse and the service was excellent and the food was very good.

 

Not quite as good as Exquinox last year IMO but still You need to speak to peter about your holiday request form far better than P and O

 

Not a great deal of veg on offer and no silver service but what we had was lovely

Edited May 21, 2014 by rubydoobydoo

[RickT]

It's been a while since my last cruise (Aug 2013) but as always, the food was generally very good. Like any restaurant they can have off nights, bad quality of meat/fish or just a recipe that doesn't agree with my taste.

 

On the rare occasion when that happens I polite ask that my meal be replaced with something else on the menu. No big deal. I've even had this happy at 5 star restaurants. I've never had an issue with the wait staff when returning a meal and even had a visit by one of the chefs to get more info on why I returned something.

 

I'm not that picky but I know when a cut of meat is subpar, I also know when a dish isn't to my liking. I understand it when something doesn't meet with my expectations. It doesn't ruin my overall experience and I don't go on about it for weeks. Life is short.

 

Should this become a common occurrence I'd consider it a problem, given how rarely it happens I'm OK. Celebrity isn't that different from other lines. I've had questionable dishes on other lines.

 

As a side note, on a Princess med cruise the bacon was the worst I've even had in my life. It was tough and tasteless. When this was the case two days in a row I asked about it and they indicated it was from a new supplier and I would unfortunately have to live with it for the rest of the cruise... no more bacon for me on that cruise.

[The_Big_M]

Quality of food? Well, it wasn't bad. But given it's prepared in advance, with a limited menu compared to a regular restaurant yet the dishes are quite simple, I rate it below a regular restaurant. And the service was terribly slow.

 

Unfortunately, it's a long step down from the Celebrity MDR of old.

[webecruzin2]

I'm very sorry, I should have been more specific. Everything is subjective, so I guess I am asking you to compare it with other cruise experiences.

 

If you can't do that, I think it's still possible to rate it in the general sense. For example, I have had "excellent" or "very good" experiences at fast food or deli-type places, meaning that I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Obviously, if I compared it to Filet Mignon at a four-star steakhouse, I would rate it poor, but I don't see the need to necessarily compare it to something else. I have had fantastic meals at greasy spoon joints and poor experiences at fine dining establishments.

 

 

Just reading this thread as we'll be on the Silhouette this summer and I'm also interested to hear what others have to say, although I'm sure we'll enjoy the cruise no matter what:D.

It wasn't necessary for previous posters to ask "compared to what", then adding ridiculous comparisons .

 

The OP's first post didn't ask for comparisons, they just asked to rate the quality of the food.

[rubydoobydoo]

Just returned from Elcipse and the service was excellent and the food was very good.

 

Not quite as good as Exquinox last year IMO but still You need to speak to peter about your holiday request form far better than P and O

 

Not a great deal of veg on offer and no silver service but what we had was lovely

 

 

What has happened here have I been hi jacked lol, I didn't write that :confused::confused:

[gimletgal]

What has happened here have I been hi jacked lol, I didn't write that :confused::confused:

 

According to post #18, you did! :eek:

[Oxo]

Just reading this thread as we'll be on the Silhouette this summer and I'm also interested to hear what others have to say, although I'm sure we'll enjoy the cruise no matter what:D.

It wasn't necessary for previous posters to ask "compared to what", then adding ridiculous comparisons .

 

The OP's first post didn't ask for comparisons, they just asked to rate the quality of the food.

 

I think the comparison was justified as everyone has different tastes, ideas of what they like in food, etc. I have not found any cruise line to be Excellent in the way of food. Food is too subjective. Most cruise line food is Average to Above Average on some meals. Even Specialty Restaurants have Average to Above Average food now.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Oxo

[LilMsFoodie]

While I have not cruised Celebrity yet (Sept 22,2015 10day Hawaii): what some cruisers fail to realize is that on most mass market cruise lines (Celebrity, Carnival, RCCL, HAL, & Princess) when they are serving typically 2000-3000 guests in the MDR every night, you are getting upscale banquet food, think Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott. NOT gourmet dining.

 

Agreed. These are banquet chefs, not a chef in a fine restaurant. Prep is very different. There are some top level banquet companies, Design Cuisine in DC (if they are still around) is one that comes to mind. This is an entirely different skill set from a normal restaurant.