Eating on a Cruise

[TeaBag]

The pastries in Al Baccio are free even if you don't purchase coffee.

[MamaFej]

The Aqua Spa Cafe is another place to get food throughout the day. I tend to grab a couple plates of caprese to munch on whist lounging and reading in the solarium.

[anniedave]

When we came back from excursions if we had missed lunch we would grab a plate of the 'afternoon tea' food from the buffett - sandwiches, cakes, pizza, salad , a couple drinks from a bar and take it back to the cabin and have a late lunch sat on our balcony . One evening after an exhausting day out we fell asleep for a nap and woke up at 9.30! But it didnt matter ...we went out watched the late night show in the theatre and then had some food about midnight from the buffett! Pizza, pasta, salad, cheese & biscuits, cake and cookies, fruit . It was our first cruise and we loved it. We did get a drinks package and enjoyed trying lots of different drinks we dont have at home. They do have a non alcoholic drinks package you can but which covers sodas, premium juices & smoothies , speciality tea and coffees, water and non alcoholic cocktails   

Edited February 15, 2020 by anniedave
Made an error

[varoo]

😀

15 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

Regarding afternoon coffee or tea, Celebrity has pretty good coffee at the buffet.   It is Lavazza coffee and far better than what cruise lines like NCL serve.  

 

 

We also like their coffee.  One tip - if you occasionally get a cup of coffee from a machine in the buffet area that does not taste good,  just leave it and try to find a fresher cup from one of the other coffee machines. 

There are several of them in the buffet area, and they may get serviced at different times so occasionally the coffee in a particular machine may have been sitting there for a long time.

 

But whenever we have ordered coffee at the end of a meal in the dining room, it has just about always been good there.

 

Some coffee lovers like to make their own iced-coffee drinks with ice and ice-cream up at the buffet.

 

In addition to the free coffee, tea (hot and iced), lemonade, fruit juices and punch already mentioned, milk is also free (several different kinds),  and packets for hot chocolate that you mix yourself.

 

Many find the tap water from the bathroom perfectly fine to drink, while others prefer the filtered drinking water provided from dispensers up at the buffet.

Those who have a beverage package may use the package to get bottled water.

 

Also, you can ask your stateroom attendant for an ice bucket and water pitcher, and they will be refilled twice a day when they service the room, or at other times upon request.

 

When we first started cruising with Celebrity, they used to put an ice bucket and water pitcher into every stateroom automatically, but they found that some passengers were not using them, so they changed to providing them upon request.

 

Not only can you order whatever you want, and as much as you want, from the menu in the dining room, but you can ask to have it served in any order you want.   Sometimes we just order a lot of different appetizers and skip the entree, or ask them to bring two courses together. 

 

But it is easier to mix things up in the dining room if you have your own small table. 

When we dine with others at a large table, we try to order courses in the traditional order,  out of consideration for our table mates and for the waiters who needs to serve all of us.

 

By the way, if you know that you will want a second dessert (or a second of anything else), the waiters really prefer that you order both at the same time. 

That way they can pick up both with one trip and are spared needing to make a separate trip to the galley to get the second one.

  

Bo gave you some great advice, to enjoy yourself, have fun, relax, not worry, and also to let people know that you are a first time cruiser and feel free to ask questions. 

That is also a great way to meet people, and they will end up telling you even more than you ever wanted to know. 😁

   

 

              

Edited February 15, 2020 by varoo

[smogfarmgirl]

Looking at the lunch menu is got me to thinking… We have the classic beverage package, which allows drinks up to $9. All of the cocktails on the lunch menus are over that, and there are not very many of them. Is there a another drink menu that you can order from in the MDR? We will be eating in Blu for dinners, but I never thought about the MDR for lunch.… It’s our first cruise, and I’m still trying to get my head around the whole thing, LOL.

Edited February 15, 2020 by smogfarmgirl

[Sandra1616]

All your replies were excellent and the downloaded menus said so much.  Thanks Sandra

[aml3679]

Right, don't think of it in terms of "included meals" think of it in terms of "included dining venues". The MDR and buffet are both included dining venues. The MDR is open for lunch and dinner every day and breakfast on sea days (I think); The buffet is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day with some snack sections open outside of meal times. Think there is also a grill out by the pool on some ships that serves burgers and fries. You are free to have breakfast at the buffet, come back later for a snack, lunch at the MDR, second lunch at the pool grill, third lunch at the buffet again etc. If they are open, you can eat there for free as much as often as you like. 
 
The drinks can be purchased through a package, but they can also be purchased individually. The package is just cost effective if you purchase many many drinks. Ice water, lemonade, ice tea, drip coffee, and hot tea are available for free at all the dining venues. The buffet will also have additional free drinks in the dispenser (like juice at breakfast and fruit punch later in the day). Soda, espresso based coffee drinks, bottled water, and alcoholic drinks will carry and addtional charge or included if you get a package.

On our cruise, you could eat in the Ocean View cafe, the dining room, Blu for Aqua Class or Luminae for suite guests for breakfast. For lunch, the Ocean View Cafe or Sushi on 5 for an extra charge. The main dining room was only open 2 days.
For dinner, every thing is open


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