Luminae vs. Specialty Dining

[Vertigo1960]

All: First time Celebrity cruiser on the 2/27 voyage. First suite experience (Sky). We have pre-booked one evening at the Tuscan and have read the various threads to pre-booking the 4 or 5 night specialty packages; Luminae is wonderful enough; and, there are deals to be made as you board the ship.

 

I've been on 9 other cruises, various lines---and have always been satisfied with the food and service in the MDRs, I suspect Luminae will also be a good experience. This will be wife's second cruise and I want her to to have a great experience (I want her to cruise more).

 

We enjoy great food experiences like everyone else. Is there a MUST DO with respect to specialty dining? My thought is to explore a 3 or 4 night specialty package and hit Luminae on the remaining nights.

 

Hence, pre-book or wait to cut a deal once onboard?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

John

[az_tchr]

Luminae is really very good with service significantly above the MDR as to staffing and menu. There is no benefit to booking ahead for specialty restaurants and you might well find you are very happy in Luminae.

 

Is there a must do in specialty? If I was 20 years younger and could eat a lot more then I would say yes. Today trying to watch those pounds I would probably simply take the night in Tuscan and then eat in Luminae. I think having waiters who know you and simply bring thnigs after a night or two will make your DW happy. John - happy cruising.

[masonpips]

We're on Summit in 10 days (WOOT!) and in a Sky Suite as well. Our plan is to hit the 2 specialty restaurants once each and then probably eat in Luminae the other nights. We may order dinner on the balcony one night too, just because we can!

[Olive1950]

Loved, loved, loved Luminae on Equinox!!!!

 

In fact, I liked the ambience in Luminae more that in the specialty restaurants.... Food was excellent too.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

[jelayne]

You didn't say how long your cruise is but I'm guessing 7 days. I wouldn't book a 4-5 night dining package. The service we had in Luminae, at dinner particularly, was as excellent- better than most of our speciality dining experiences. The food was outstanding and on the occasions I didn't see something I liked they were very accommodating in getting me something from the MDR.

 

I would recommend sticking with Luminae for now. Once on the ship you can try Luminae for a Couple of days & check out the menus at the speciality restaurants. If you decide to try 1 or 2 either have the MaitreD in Luminae or your Butler book the reservation- you should be able to get a discount in the 20-30% range.

 

Our next cruise isn't in a suite and I sad I won't be dining in Luminae.

[TeaBag]

Which ship are you on? If it's Silhouette or Reflection, I would definitely go to Lawn Club Grill. I would also agree with the jelayne's advice not to get the 4 - 5 night dining package. I would ask for a discount for whatever Sp restaurant I wanted to dine in and see what happens.

[Vertigo1960]

All: Thank you very much for your detailed and extremely helpful suggestions. My initial thoughts follows everyone's advice and I plan to enjoy the experience aboard the Reflection.

 

As a smart man, I will ultimately defer to my wife----and enjoy it.

 

Again, thank you. Each of your points really helps.

 

John

[Gordoncruickshank]

We were in a RS in September and intended to make use of the free specialities over the 13 nights. We enjoyed Luminae so much that we only ate elsewhere once. If you don't like the menu they will give main dinning room selections as well.

 

If I had to pick a speciality it would be Murano.

[Mirage]

We found Luminae on Reflection to be quite good. Used our two included specialties on Lawn Club Grill, and Tuscan Grill.

 

Try Luminae on board and you decide, always time to book specialties on board.

 

Mirage

[cruiserone]

Yes, I have to agree with everyone regarding Luminae!! We cruise in Sky Suites and LOVE Luminae. The staff has been amazing on each ship, our next up is Equinox. Food is wonderful and you can order from the MDR if it pleases you. I do agree with Lawn Club Grill on the Reflection, great. If you are in a Sky Suite you should receive 1 free specialty restaurant extra for 7 nights and 2 for 10 nights or more. Your butler can make reservations for you so don't book anything till you board.

 

Have fun. Love Sky Suites and now you can go to Michael's Club also.

 

Happy Sailing!

[Chunky2219]

I'm so pleased that the reports about Luminae continue to be good. In the past the MDR experience hasn't matched up to what you pay for a suite and with the alternative being to shell out for specialty dining every evening it's been one of the reasons why we've not sailed X for over two years.

 

But next time out is in April and although I'm not expecting it to be all the way as good as the Cunard Grills, I'll be happy if it's as good as people are saying.

 

.

[bigreckster]

Luminae food is terrific but the only drawback for us was the "clostraphobic" closeness of the tables for two throughout the small room. We ate in the specialty restaurant every night on Summit because we like the ambience, the food and also the "privacy" of having our space at dinner. Also, we found the seats in luminae with the "lumbar pillow" to be sort of uncomfortable. Just our opinion and nothing that detracts from the fine cuisine that Luminae offers.

[4774Papa]

All: First time Celebrity cruiser on the 2/27 voyage. First suite experience (Sky). We have pre-booked one evening at the Tuscan and have read the various threads to pre-booking the 4 or 5 night specialty packages; Luminae is wonderful enough; and, there are deals to be made as you board the ship.

 

I've been on 9 other cruises, various lines---and have always been satisfied with the food and service in the MDRs, I suspect Luminae will also be a good experience. This will be wife's second cruise and I want her to to have a great experience (I want her to cruise more).

 

We enjoy great food experiences like everyone else. Is there a MUST DO with respect to specialty dining? My thought is to explore a 3 or 4 night specialty package and hit Luminae on the remaining nights.

 

Hence, pre-book or wait to cut a deal once onboard?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

John

 

John,

We have always been happy with the MDR except for one cruise when we were upgraded to Aqua (ate in BLU) and one cruise upgraded to a suite (ate in Luminae).

 

Lumina is great. The service and food is excellent. We did dine in Qsine twice, since in a suite we had two free meals each. Qsine was super, but we would not likely pay to dine there if we could dine in Luminae.

 

Next cruise we are back in a balcony and probably dine all our meals there.

[wdjpvaz]

Do these comments apply to restaurants on Millennium too?

[az_tchr]

Yes, applies to all the ships.

[cruiserone]

Bigreckstor, so sorry you missed the wonderful staff in Luminae on The Summit. Probably the best staff on any cruise we have been on (30). The closeness of the tables does not bother us and we have had some wonderful conversations with other diners.

 

Looking forward to Luminae on The Equinox, shortly :)

 

Happy Sailing !!

[russg140]

All: Thank you very much for your detailed and extremely helpful suggestions. My initial thoughts follows everyone's advice and I plan to enjoy the experience aboard the Reflection.

 

As a smart man, I will ultimately defer to my wife----and enjoy it.

 

Again, thank you. Each of your points really helps.

 

John

 

We were on the Reflection for the TA. Whether it was a Management issue (we think it was) or something else we had an AWFUL experience in Luminae. The first night was an unmitigated disaster, the only saving grace being our server who was wonderful. We reported back to the MC Concierge who apologized profusely and begged us to give it another try. The next night was only slightly better but still not we thought it would be, and we decided to have the rest of the dinners in Specialty Restaurants. One morning we thought we would take a chance and try Luminae for breakfast. We were seated promptly and got a coffee and tea in no time. Then we waited 20 minutes for our server to take our order - coffee cup empty. We walked out and had breakfast in Blu - fantastic.

 

We saw the problem began with Management - the Maitr' D was more interested in walking around smiling that actually doing anything. Waiters were triple and quadruple sat (meaning 3 or 4 tables sat down at once) without any spacing. The other problem is that the servers have been told not to say "no" to a request, so guests were allowed to order Cappucinos, Lattes, etc. which meant the server had to go up to decks to get it. Guests also ordered off the MDR menu (because they didn't like the Luminae menu?) and the server has to go to a completely different galley to get it. All that takes them away from the other tables for a long time, so guests wait and wait.

 

Hopefully this has all been corrected.

[cruzzzinma]

We will be in a Sky Suite for the first time in May. We have one specialty restaurant already included in our package. Our plan is to see what we think about Luminae. If we don't like it, we have plenty of OBC to spend in specialty restaurants. I wouldn't pre-book specialty restaurants. Wait and see.

Edited February 4, 2016 by cruzzzinma

[ehfl]

Luminae is really very good. Other restaurants are good as well, but I don't think you'll be disappointed with Luminae.

[jagoffee]

We were on the Reflection for the TA. Whether it was a Management issue (we think it was) or something else we had an AWFUL experience in Luminae. The first night was an unmitigated disaster, the only saving grace being our server who was wonderful. We reported back to the MC Concierge who apologized profusely and begged us to give it another try. The next night was only slightly better but still not we thought it would be, and we decided to have the rest of the dinners in Specialty Restaurants. One morning we thought we would take a chance and try Luminae for breakfast. We were seated promptly and got a coffee and tea in no time. Then we waited 20 minutes for our server to take our order - coffee cup empty. We walked out and had breakfast in Blu - fantastic.

 

We saw the problem began with Management - the Maitr' D was more interested in walking around smiling that actually doing anything. Waiters were triple and quadruple sat (meaning 3 or 4 tables sat down at once) without any spacing. The other problem is that the servers have been told not to say "no" to a request, so guests were allowed to order Cappucinos, Lattes, etc. which meant the server had to go up to decks to get it. Guests also ordered off the MDR menu (because they didn't like the Luminae menu?) and the server has to go to a completely different galley to get it. All that takes them away from the other tables for a long time, so guests wait and wait.

 

Hopefully this has all been corrected.

 

Next time you cruise go have a drink after dinner in the passport part which is on the same deck and very close to Luminae and you will see where the server gets the special coffee drinks. It is on the same deck on the Luminae.

 

I also do not believe the MDR items are located very far from the Liminae as it is just on the other side of the wall.

 

No excuse for the poor service that you received. There may have been a few times in our two cruises of 29 nights total that service was a little slow, but almost always the service was excellent. I suspect it relates more to the time when every decides to eat rather than special requests. It has never really been an issue for us. We find the Luminae experience amazing.

[MoyCoy]

Yes, I have to agree with everyone regarding Luminae!! We cruise in Sky Suites and LOVE Luminae. The staff has been amazing on each ship, our next up is Equinox. Food is wonderful and you can order from the MDR if it pleases you. I do agree with Lawn Club Grill on the Reflection, great. If you are in a Sky Suite you should receive 1 free specialty restaurant extra for 7 nights and 2 for 10 nights or more. Your butler can make reservations for you so don't book anything till you board.

 

Have fun. Love Sky Suites and now you can go to Michael's Club also.

 

Happy Sailing!

 

I sailed in a CS Dec 2015 on a 5 day on the Eclipse and received 1 free dinner in a Specialty restaurant. Was that an oversight, I wonder?

Edited February 5, 2016 by MoyCoy

[Gordoncruickshank]

We were on the Reflection for the TA. Whether it was a Management issue (we think it was) or something else we had an AWFUL experience in Luminae. The first night was an unmitigated disaster, the only saving grace being our server who was wonderful. We reported back to the MC Concierge who apologized profusely and begged us to give it another try. The next night was only slightly better but still not we thought it would be, and we decided to have the rest of the dinners in Specialty Restaurants. One morning we thought we would take a chance and try Luminae for breakfast. We were seated promptly and got a coffee and tea in no time. Then we waited 20 minutes for our server to take our order - coffee cup empty. We walked out and had breakfast in Blu - fantastic.

 

We saw the problem began with Management - the Maitr' D was more interested in walking around smiling that actually doing anything. Waiters were triple and quadruple sat (meaning 3 or 4 tables sat down at once) without any spacing. The other problem is that the servers have been told not to say "no" to a request, so guests were allowed to order Cappucinos, Lattes, etc. which meant the server had to go up to decks to get it. Guests also ordered off the MDR menu (because they didn't like the Luminae menu?) and the server has to go to a completely different galley to get it. All that takes them away from the other tables for a long time, so guests wait and wait.

 

Hopefully this has all been corrected.

They actually use the passport bar for coffee which is just outside Luminar

[Gordoncruickshank]

I sailed in a CS Dec 2015 on a 5 day on the Eclipse and received 1 free dinner in a Specialty restaurant. Was that an oversight, I wonder?

No that s what you were due. I free for cruise up to 7 nights.

[Vertigo1960]

Your well-balanced replies have been most helpful. Looking forward to our 7-night experience beginning in 22-days. I will post our thoughts after our return.

 

My wife has already hinted that she would like to take a cruise on the Celebrity Expedition in the near future----I can work with that. :)

 

Thank you again for taking time to answer my question.

 

John