MDR dinner menus displayed and steak questions

[ChucktownSteve]

Those are actually reasonable prices for dry aged prime. Ordering such at a steakhouse in an urban area is going to cost about $65 to $70 - and that is just for the steak, no sides, no appetizers, no salad, no dessert, no gratuity or tax. Celebrity would not be able to offer the option of dry aged prime without a surcharge beyond the normal specialty restaurant fee. The wholesale price for dry aged prime is high, so they would be losing money on it otherwise. The problem I had was when I ordered the prime dry aged porterhouse on Summit they overcooked it. If steak is cooked much past medium rare it loses the special characteristics a properly cooked prime dry aged steak has and one might as well have just ordered a lower grade cut of beef.

 

When we ate in Tuscan on the Summit to NE/CA, our steaks were way over cooked even though we ordered them MR. Good thing we didn't get the prime dry aged. That was our last time we tried that restaurant.

[cherburt]

Im glad we are not picky eaters. My husband and I love the fact we dont have to cook for ourselves and are happy with the buffet.

 

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[shipshape sam]

Those are actually reasonable prices for dry aged prime. Ordering such at a steakhouse in an urban area is going to cost about $65 to $70 - and that is just for the steak, no sides, no appetizers, no salad, no dessert, no gratuity or tax. Celebrity would not be able to offer the option of dry aged prime without a surcharge beyond the normal specialty restaurant fee. The wholesale price for dry aged prime is high, so they would be losing money on it otherwise. The problem I had was when I ordered the prime dry aged porterhouse on Summit they overcooked it. If steak is cooked much past medium rare it loses the special characteristics a properly cooked prime dry aged steak has and one might as well have just ordered a lower grade cut of beef.

 

Like I said, Not for me. It is a value judgement and in my judgement, it is not reasonable. For you, good.

[shipshape sam]

Why do people upgrade their cabin? Because they believe it will enhance their holiday. Why upgrade to premium economy when flying, same reason. The same applies to choosing to dine in Murano or Tuscan. Glad we have the choice but it does not explain why Celebrity continue to downgrade the MDR, to me their have cut the standards to an unacceptable level.

 

They downgraded the MDR, IMHO, so as to help create the value proposition for the fee based alternative. I can tell you at least I would not be as inclined to try a speciality restaurant if the quality and service that used to be in the MDR was still in the MDR, but is now, for a fee, in the speciality restaurants. It is a matter of personal value judgement and they love that we are willing to pay more. Basically, they have created the MDR experience as a fee based Speciality Dining experience. Is this absolute, no, but much of the level of service and quality of food in Speciality Dining used to be the standard in MDR.

 

There is an album title by the Doobie Brothers that I am reminded of "What were once vices are now habits". We accept over time, many things that if done all at once would not be acceptable and at the end of the day(over time), we accept less and/or pay more.

 

I did some consulting for a company and they had a 'scorched earth' algorithm of how many customers would leave the company once they implemented higher fees and discontinued services of the competitor they were taking over. The % was just over 5% and they would actually be more profitable after the acquisition and customer attribution with the new fee schedule and less services for the 95% would would not leave or stop using companies products and services with the higher fees and less services.

Edited June 5, 2017 by shipshape sam

[funship freddy]

When we ate in Tuscan on the Summit to NE/CA, our steaks were way over cooked even though we ordered them MR. Good thing we didn't get the prime dry aged. That was our last time we tried that restaurant.

 

 

If your steak was not served as ordered you should have politely requested that it be replaced. One of the best qualities of a good server is to "observe".

 

 

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[ChucktownSteve]

If your steak was not served as ordered you should have politely requested that it be replaced. One of the best qualities of a good server is to "observe".

 

 

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We would have but it took so long to get, we didn't feel like wasting any more of our evening. We did get it for BOGO so we just cut our losses and left politely.

 

 

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[PRH]

Based our last three experiences of Tuscan, we will not be returning. At least all three visits were heavily discounted or we would have complained beyond letting the manager know.

 

 

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[Gonzo70]

We would have but it took so long to get, we didn't feel like wasting any more of our evening. We did get it for BOGO so we just cut our losses and left politely.

 

 

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Same with us; took forever to receive the steak (and the server disappeared long before I cut in to check the temperature). We had free specialty dining, so were only paying the porterhouse upcharge. If it had been massively overcooked I would have sent it back; it was only somewhat overcooked - still edible and fairly enjoyable, but definitely not as juicy or beefy as dry aged prime should be. Service in general was atrocious in Tuscan Grille that evening. After finishing my first glass of wine I had an empty wine glass on the table for approximately fifteen minutes with no service staff coming near our table. I finally flagged down someone down; they poured the glass from a nearly empty bottle (resulting in only about a 2-3 ounce pour); I assumed they were coming back with a fresh bottle to complete the pour, but never returned. Fortunately a nice couple was at the table next to us, so we salvaged the evening by having a pleasant conversation with them, but man, the service was the worst I've had in a specialty restaurant on Celebrity (and sadly Qsine was no better - fortunately Luminae had vastly superior service so we took the rest of our dinners there).

[DYKWIA]

If sailing on Celebrity Ecliose ex UK the everyday items in the MDR are mostly every other day as they add other popular dishes (such as Chicken Tikka Masala, Irish stew and (IIRC) liver and onions) to roster.

 

Last year we found that the everyday steak was pretty poor - very thin and tasted of brine (others we met noted this as well). Other steak on the MDR menu - Steak Diane and the Chataubriand (last chic night) was much better.

[SeasideMemories]

This thread from last spring has a link to fairly recent photos of MDR menus (as well as other menus) for a 7 day Silhouette Carribean cruise.... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2337209

 

We used them to plan for our Dec 2016 Silhouette cruise and they were still correct at that time. Menus and days served are subject to change, of course, and not sure how 9 days vs 7 will impact things but the photos should at least give you an idea of what types of things were served.

 

Funny but I never noticed that there wasn't a filet mignon night but then I'm not a big beef eater. Pretty sure my husband had the filet the night that we went to Lawn Club so that probably kept him happy...lol

 

Hope this helps!

Edited June 5, 2017 by SeasideMemories

[SeasideMemories]

Not sure I would try the extra fee steak in the extra fee restaurant on the cruise I have already paid for my dinner in theory.

 

My husband said the same thing almost verbatim!

[wrk2cruise]

I believe on the first Chic night they serve Tournedos of Beef which I always thought was a small filet. Usually very good. Haven't been in the MDR for awhile so I'm not sure that's still on the menu.

[SeasideMemories]

I believe on the first Chic night they serve Tournedos of Beef which I always thought was a small filet. Usually very good. Haven't been in the MDR for awhile so I'm not sure that's still on the menu.

I stand corrected! I see that was on the menu on our December cruise.

[tbugstwo]

I was on the Equinox in mid May. One night in the MDR, one of the menu choices was a filet mignon. I would guess a 5 or 6 ounce steak. It was perfectly cooked and delicious.

 

We also went to the Tuscan Grill one night for my birthday. It was comped by the Captain which made it even better! I had a huge ribeye steak and DH thoroughly enjoyed his filet mignon. Both were delicious. Service was perfect from the starter through to dessert and the Lemoncello. Our premium beverage package took care of the wines, so it was a great dining experience.

 

The only real disappointment in the MDR was the lobster tail but one disappointment in the entire cruise is nothing to dwell upon, is it?