food/meals - Celebration questions/info before booking

[fragilek]

No sure if we should try Thomson cruises or not. My main reservations are about the food . Meals are a big part of cruising for us, we are not fussy (other than me needing to eat gluten free we eat everything and like trying unusual local food when abroad). However, the standard, quality and presentation of food makes or breaks holidays for us- so much so we do not go to "all in" hotels unless they offer waiter service restaurants).

 

On a cruise we do not eat at the buffet except for breakfast if going on an early tour or picking up the odd snack (we don't really do lunch if having a 2/3 course dinner). So the main issue for us is the standard in the MDR. We have cruised before a few times on 2 x carnival food was fine, on RCL the first time it was poor and the 2nd (only went due to have been given future cruise vouchers) it was very good. The first royal cruise the food was over cooked food- dry meat/ soggy veg and also food was served luke warm and looked like it and been thrown at the plate then gravy (meant to be juie or sauce) poured over. Worst of all it was pretty tastless.

 

 

How does Celebration do wrt food - I know what to expect wrt other aspects

so I am OK with older ship and no room service included and no proper theater. The cruise for us is about the ports, the meals and shows. The celebrity is going to Petra - Its on my bucket list and I have mobility issues so it may be now or never (even now using the cart guys is going to kill me lol)

 

 

Does anyone have menus or photos of MDR food and can anyone comment on the extra charge restaurants (is it in part of the buffet and if so it noisy)

[SausPud]

No sure if we should try Thomson cruises or not. My main reservations are about the food .

 

How does Celebration do wrt food - I know what to expect wrt other aspects

so I am OK with older ship and no room service included and no proper theater. The cruise for us is about the ports, the meals and shows. The celebrity is going to Petra - Its on my bucket list and I have mobility issues so it may be now or never (even now using the cart guys is going to kill me lol)

 

Does anyone have menus or photos of MDR food and can anyone comment on the extra charge restaurants (is it in part of the buffet and if so it noisy)

 

Here is a short video of the MDR in action

 

The food was excellent as with the case with 95% of cruises. This was our 13th Cruise and 4th time with Thomson.

Agreed, that I don't like Buffet service but MDR service is great and the new food I tried was "Beer & Cheese Soup", very nice.

 

There is a proper Theatre on the Celebration, it's just that it is in the middle of the ship so lazy people will walk through instead of going around (up/down stairs)

 

The special restaurants are 2 in the corners of the MDR, and the outside grill where you are near the buffet. I didn't eat in any of these as you can see the menu before booking/eating (outside MDR on a board) and there was nothing on there that took my fancy to do extra treat service, but those who went enjoyed it very much.

 

ANything else, just ask.

[Pensioncruiser]

Hi fragilek

Like you the dinning is a big part of our holiday experience we only ever eat in the MDR for evenings and sometimes for breakfast because it is sometimes nice to have breakfast outside particularly when in the Caribbean, which may be the same for Dubai.

We have only ever traveled with Thomson (many times) so cannot give a comparison with other lines but when we eat out at home we always use a good restaurant, not just the local pub, and find the food of a similar standard which may not be everyone's choice.

For us its a good variety with quality, its usually four courses with plenty of choice for each, you can however make it as many as you like we sometimes finish off with blue cheese and a port:p.

You can ask for extra veg or anything if that's what you want or to have something left off its something you don't fancy. We try to stay with the same waiters as they soon get to know you and what you like.

They will sort out your special eating requirements without any problems.

The menu in addition will also have three or four main dishes that are repeated each day one is usually fish of the day, or you can pay £10 extra and have a lovely steak or lamb chops at your table.

We do use the speciality restaurants but not the Hot stone on Celebration as its by the pool and passengers are still swimming and sunbathing whilst you are eating;) our favourite is the Kora La which just has to be tried IMO also love Mistrals but only go in if you are hungry.

We usually do the speciality on change over day. The MDR is closed lunch time on change over so when you arrive you will have to use the Lido.

I hope this in someway helps but can confirm that we find it OK.:)

[elmsliebev]

we were on Celebration in July and were very pleasantly surprised by the food. We ate at Mistral one night & it was excellent (lobster bisque, caesar salad made at the table, rack of lamb, cheese and a couple of extras thrown in as well - be hungry when you go there). We have cruised with P&O & Cunard as well as eating out A LOT! And the Mistral experience was up there with the best.

 

We used the Lido for breakfast each day as we enjoyed eating outside. Great omelet station.

 

Afternoon tea was lovely, and I seem to remember GF bread, scones & cakes.

 

The MDR was usually very good (Mum had one dry piece of fish & one steak wasn't brilliant), good choice and well presented. Dad is a very fussy eater and he enjoyed everything, always something for him to choose, even if he had it adapted slightly.

And the late night buffet is still the best I've found - everyone needs a midnight curry ;)

[dorothy09]

The Celebration is a small ship and the two main restaurants get busy at meal times. The self service Lido area seems packed at all times and a member of the medical staff told us to avoid it, sadly after we both suffered stomach bugs.

The main restaurant is good and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, but on a couple of occasions it was shut and unless you pay the excess for the speciality restaurants the Lido is the only outlet.

The main restaurant gets extremely busy in the evening and you will be asked if you will sit at a table with other guests We met dome lovely people but it will not be to everybody's taste. Service is often slow and if you have the all inclusive drinks package you will probably need to ask if you want a top up as we found.

We rated the food here okay if unmemorable and they will hand you a menu card with several choices with each course. They will ask for starter, mail meahel and sweet from the start.

We did not try the speciality restaurants, these looked overpriced and underused.

Personally we would probably not book the Celebration again and hope the Discovery is better in January

[Broughton]

We have sailed 3 times on Celebration and always found the food to be good. I would not claim to be an expert on food quality but on the Celebration cruises that we have been on we have always shared a table when in the MDR. I have never heard anyone complain about the standard of the food being served there. The menus, if I remember correctly, mark dishes as gluten free or vegetarian.

The MDR opens at 6.30. This year we usually arrived around 6.45 and always got a table straight away. That allowed us to have eaten and out again in time for the first show at 8.30. There are definitely queues after 7ish. Found service normally to be quite quick although there have been a couple of times when there has been a long wait between the main course and the sweet course. Been on AI each time and very rarely have had to ask for a refill. Rather the wine waiters are there asking before our glasses are empty.

Can't speak for the MDR at breakfast and lunch as we always have these in the Lido. Never had any problem with the food in there either and where appropriate food is hot. Was on Majesty one year and a lot of the cooked breakfast was not very warm. It is always busy especially on popular port days.

Have always found the ship to be kept clean and plenty hand cleaning dispensers around.

[dorothy09]

You probably have the answer, get to the restaurant early and food and drink service is no problem. However, we went on excursions and these do not generally get back to the ship until 3pm so if you have a late lunch 6.45 is too early. We like to eat at the earliest 7.30 and I can assure you it's busy then and the wine does not flow. As for the shows we preferred the late one but watched a couple and found them disappointing. We preferred the music in the bars. When we are at home we go to bed reasonably early but when we are on holiday there's no way we will be in bed by 10pm and we are both in our seventies.

[red212fire212]

can I leap in and ask a question please? is it just come whenever you fancy to the MDR for meals? is there no set times? We are a party of 10 and could have done with a set time each night. Thank you in advance

[dorothy09]

The main restaurant has set times. I cannot remember what they are but certainly in the evening I seem to remember 6.30 -9.30. It does get crowded and I guess with a party of ten you would need to liaise with the chap who runs the restaurant and an extremely nice and helpful guy as to the best time for you. We found when we went on excursions we had to use the self service, partly for time reasons as service can be slow at times. Also the main restaurant was closed a couple of times - once in the evening for the dressing up night and once during the day for I know not what. And we also found when we got back from excursions it had closed, I think that was about 2,30. We hated the self service, crowded and people loathe to vacate tables and after our stomach bugs the doctor advised us not to eat there. We may have been unlucky but I hope I have been of some help. The main restaurant is excellent when available and generally we were satisfied with the ship though the all inclusive drinks menu Is severely limited and water is excluded by the dreaded asterisk. Enjoy your trip.

[Pensioncruiser]

You could perhaps ask for the Captain's table, in September a group had it most nights apart , obviously on the formal night

 

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[elmsliebev]

can I leap in and ask a question please? is it just come whenever you fancy to the MDR for meals? is there no set times? We are a party of 10 and could have done with a set time each night. Thank you in advance

 

We were a party of 6 and had the same table every night. I think it helped that we were happy to eat a bit earlier (6.30 - 7.00) but after the first night we headed back to the same table, as it was a round one for 6 which was perfect for us, and got it every night. It was great to get a real rapport with the waiters and wine waiter, who all looked after us so well.

I'm sure, as has been mentioned, if you have a word with the maitre d' he will try to sort it for you.

[Broughton]

That's a bit like what happened to us this year. There were only 2 of us but as things turned out on the 3rd night we ended up at a table with a couple we had shared with on 1st night and another that we had shared with on the 2nd night. We had a good laugh and at the end of the meal the waiter said if we came back at around 6,45 the following evening we could have the same table. We did this for the rest of the week.

 

It is probably a tactic to try and get some people to eat earlier and therefore lessen the queue at the peak times. It worked for us this year but can quite understand that people want to eat later. Previously we have not stuck to eating early as we like to be on deck as the ship leaves port which usually has meant we have been later.

[red212fire212]

Thank you for your replies, a great help.