Luminae vs Specialty Dining

[TFree]

34 minutes ago, -Lew- said:

 

Is ordering off the MDR menu an option for those in Sky suites?

 

Yes, in Solstice and Millennium class (because the galleys are adjacent).  I have read that this is not true on Edge class ships, and therefore the MDR menu is not an option there.  Maybe someone can correct this if it is wrong.  The original poster was talking about the Summit, so MDR menu is an option for him or her.

 

Tom & Judy

[lawgirl]

We always sail in suites, usually a CS, and since Luminae began, dining is very, very good.  Service is exceptional.  I have a dairy intolerance, and I will say the menu leans French/International, so I do end up ordering off the MDR menu at times. 
 

I think Luminae on M class is better than S.  Just better service.  They always bring me champagne and great wine and cater to my dairy allergy much better.  S class is still good though, just less attention maybe because of the size? We seem to get Kurt as our waiter on cruises! He is great!
 

Do not miss lunch! The hamburger is good...but chicken and waffles are yummy! So much nicer than the buffet! 
 

As to specialties, we actually really like Tuscan.  We are in the minority in that we prefer it to Murano... mainly because the menu has more that i can eat. The pork belly is yummy!  I would definitely try that.  Le Petit Chef is more fun with a bigger group.  Use your OBC to try one! Have fun!

 

[4774Papa]

On 5/4/2020 at 3:02 PM, bgsports said:

I am sailing on Celebrity for the 1st time in July 2021 (previous NCL & Disney only) on the Summit to Bermuda. We have booked a Sky Suite which gives us access to the Luminae dining room in the Retreat. What is the feeling on only eating in Luminae or does anyone suggest mixing in some specialty restaurants. Have not been a big fan of the main dining rooms on NCL

We upgraded to a suite once and loved Luminae.   The dining is excellent, however, your menu choices are more limited.  Still, we had no interest in doing specialty dining when we had Luminae.  Frankly, we normally don't do much specialty dining on X, since it is very pricey.

[Cruise a holic]

16 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

We upgraded to a suite once and loved Luminae.   The dining is excellent, however, your menu choices are more limited.  Still, we had no interest in doing specialty dining when we had Luminae.  Frankly, we normally don't do much specialty dining on X, since it is very pricey.

You can usually get a great deal with a package- We get at least a three dinner package and if a sale is on- can cost about $20 pp.  Considering we are suite guests- the extra $120 a couple is well worth it-  Also, even without a package, the first night you can usually get a special restaurant dinner for 1/2 price.  

 

Nothing is "necessary" but a nice change of pace and a great experience.

Edited May 6, 2020 by Cruise a holic

[4774Papa]

3 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

You can usually get a great deal with a package- We get at least a three dinner package and if a sale is on- can cost about $20 pp.  Considering we are suite guests- the extra $120 a couple is well worth it-  Also, even without a package, the first night you can usually get a special restaurant dinner for 1/2 price.  

 

Nothing is "necessary" but a nice change of pace and a great experience.

We have done a dinner package a couple of times, but don't remember the cost being $20pp.  We usually have friends onboard and prefer dining with them in the MDR, which is usually excellent.

[Cruise a holic]

15 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

We have done a dinner package a couple of times, but don't remember the cost being $20pp.  We usually have friends onboard and prefer dining with them in the MDR, which is usually excellent.

We have gotten great deals-  you have to keep checking the rates to find the best- if you purchase, and the rate goes down, the cruise line modifies.  

Edited May 6, 2020 by Cruise a holic

[Big_G]

We've pretty much sworn off specialty dining since they opened Luminae. My wife has ordered of the MDR occasionally but not often. To date we've only sailed M and S class so it will be interesting to see how we feel about Apex in January after reading some reviews about Edge.

[-Lew-]

On 5/5/2020 at 2:55 PM, dkjretired said:

 

Yes,,,

 

Thank you...

 

That would have been nice to know on our February cruise on the Silhouette.  We ordered dinner from room service early in the cruise and it was so bad we never ordered again.

 

We're on the Edge in September 🤞 and will give it a try...

[dkjretired]

1 hour ago, -Lew- said:

 

Thank you...

 

That would have been nice to know on our February cruise on the Silhouette.  We ordered dinner from room service early in the cruise and it was so bad we never ordered again.

 

We're on the Edge in September 🤞 and will give it a try...

 
 

Could be ship dependent, have seen posts where ordering on other menus is not available. We did it on M class and S class. As far as room service, we’re you aware that you could order lunch and dinner from the MDR menu in all class cabins.

[Covepointcruiser]

Yes, room service comes from the MDR.  Unless you are served course by course it will be warm to cool in temperature.   Most dishes are not helped when they are not served fresh.   We enjoy the Specialty Dining when we are in a RS, except for Murano.   The first time you are there you appreciate the bells and whistles in that stuffy atmosphere.

Our second time there we ordered a special entree not on the menu.   The third time we only wanted two courses and the folks were so disappointed that we didn’t want the 2 plus hour extravaganza.  

[-Lew-]

1 hour ago, dkjretired said:

As far as room service, we’re you aware that you could order lunch and dinner from the MDR menu in all class cabins.

 

We were unaware MDR menus were available for room service for any meal.  After 50+ Princess cruises this was our first on Celebrity.  We'll be sure to ask on our next Celebrity cruise.

[RichYak]

On our last Summit cruise, we ate in Luminae every night, occasionally ordering items from the MDR menu. Some of those items were recommended by our Luminae waiter. Between the service and the food quality plus the attentive sommelier, we didn't even consider specialty dining. We did have lunch in Sushi on 5 one afternoon.

[molemaui]

Luminea totally exceeded our expectations on our recent Edge cruise. We had thought we might try some of the specialty restaurants but decided we enjoyed everything about Luninea (ambience, service and FOOD) that we ended up eating every dinner and quite a few breakfasts and lunches there. 

 

We recently sailed Oceania and were blown away by the food quality and overall excellence. I think our Luninea experience was quite close. 

[dkjretired]

1 hour ago, -Lew- said:

 

We were unaware MDR menus were available for room service for any meal.  After 50+ Princess cruises this was our first on Celebrity.  We'll be sure to ask on our next Celebrity cruise.

 

I hope that works out for you and I apologize for adding more comments but don't know about the Edge because they have the 4 MDR concept.  

[TeeRick]

17 hours ago, Big_G said:

We've pretty much sworn off specialty dining since they opened Luminae. My wife has ordered of the MDR occasionally but not often. To date we've only sailed M and S class so it will be interesting to see how we feel about Apex in January after reading some reviews about Edge.

You are not able to order off of the MDR menu in Luminae on Edge and likely that will be the case on APEX too.

Edited May 7, 2020 by TeeRick

[NutsAboutGolf]

Many believe that stateroom dining options will greatly increase as all dining room capacities decrease.  Even if the current pandemic is eradicated, there could be another one which is why many believe tightly packed dining rooms will be a thing of the past.

[Big_G]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

You are not able to order off of the MDR menu in Luminae on Edge and likely that will be the case on APEX too.

 

We heard that and the size takes away from the atmosphere. No worries though. Worse case scenario is we spend a couple of nights in specialties or dare I say...the buffet? 😲😲😁

[Straughn]

We have cruised in Sky Suites, Celebrity Suites, and Royal Suites. (Still holding out for the Penthouse!) I love Luminae. When cruising with my SO, a meat and potatoes man, he was less than impressed.  On one occasion, he was very unhappy with the Luminae menu options. Our server said “Sir, what would you like?” To which my SO said “ steak, prime rib, something  like that.” Our server said that steak/filet was available every night thru the MDR menu. My SO ordered from the MDR for almost all the remainder of our cruise. He even decided he didn’t want to go to Murano since he could get prime rib or steak in Luminae. My point being is that you have soooo many options in Luminae. If there is something you want, ask your server. Their goal is to make you happy. 
 

Since Summit does not have Murano’s and, as many have said, Tuscan Grill is a bit of a roller coaster ride on service and food, I would stick with Luminae.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Straughn

[CruiserFromMaine]

We dined in Luminae about a year ago on the Equinox and enjoyed it very much. We usually had the same waiter so the service was very good. The sommelier was excellent! I ordered off the MDR menu once. We didn’t go to any of the specialty restaurants—didn’t see the need to.
 

We have a Sky Suite booked for December in part to dine in Luminae again. We’ll see if we end up going, but that’ll have nothing to do with Luminae. 

[Spellykins]

On 5/4/2020 at 3:15 PM, Sticks5315 said:

My wife and I recently did a 10 day Auckland to Sydney cruise in a Sky Suite. We very much enjoyed Luminae and ate there every night with two exceptions. Celebrity offers Daniel Bolud curated Chefs Table dinners with wine parings which are really wonderful. They also offer a Verve Cliquot champagne dinner. We have done these on prior cruises and enjoyed the food, wine and company immensely. There is of course an additional fee which we felt was well worth it.  We will do them on upcoming cruises. Historically we have stayed in a Veranda suite and ate in specialty restaurants every night which was less expensive than upgrading to the Sky Suite.   

 

Sticks5315, would you recall whether the wine pairings are additional cost to the Chef's Table dinner? I'm interested in booking it for my solo TA next May and wanted to know if the listed price includes the wine pairings or if I should budget extra for that. Thanks from this newbie!

[bigbenboys]

13 hours ago, Spellykins said:

 

Sticks5315, would you recall whether the wine pairings are additional cost to the Chef's Table dinner? I'm interested in booking it for my solo TA next May and wanted to know if the listed price includes the wine pairings or if I should budget extra for that. Thanks from this newbie!

I saw a post here on CC that the cost of the wine was above the premium drink package.

[NutsAboutGolf]

I would recommend NOT paying for the overpriced wine pairings, sommelier are often nothing more than salesmen telling you that this $100 wine is the best then telling your neighbor the $500 bottle is really the best (this experience clearly rubbed me the wrong way).  Unless things change once sailing is resumed, on X you're allowed two bottles per stateroom and if you're a couple, you might get away with bringing two bottles each if you and your significant other go into separate xray lines during embarkment.  Save the carry on wine for the chefs tables.  Furthermore, ordering a bottle of Dom regardless of what's on the menu will simply bring more joy to the table including the waitstaff than ordering a $1000 bottle of wine.  If you order Dom, don't be surprised if fellow passengers and the waitstaff ask to take pictures (this experience clearly rubbed me the right way).  🙂

  

14 hours ago, Spellykins said:

 

Sticks5315, would you recall whether the wine pairings are additional cost to the Chef's Table dinner? I'm interested in booking it for my solo TA next May and wanted to know if the listed price includes the wine pairings or if I should budget extra for that. Thanks from this newbie!

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by NutsAboutGolf

[C-Dragons]

On 5/7/2020 at 9:46 AM, TeeRick said:

You are not able to order off of the MDR menu in Luminae on Edge and likely that will be the case on APEX too.

Yes, but X has added a limited number of every day items from the MDR menu which you can order in Luminae. 😊

[Gracie115]

Luminae is the best that Celebrity has to offer in our opinion.  We've been lucky enough to enjoy it on several cruises the last few years.  The service is, far and away, the best on the ship and the willingness to find you whatever you want, as long as it's on the ship is amazing. I can't speak to the Edge class, as we have no interest in sailing on that class, but on the "S" and "M" class Luminae has always been amazing.   We did a Chef's Dinner in 2016 and were very disappointed, it was a crazy amount of money and we enjoyed our dinners in Luminae much more.  

 

We are booked in a suite on a TA next April on Reflection....hope things are better by then and we get to go.  

[Spellykins]

5 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

I would recommend NOT paying for the overpriced wine pairings, sommelier are often nothing more than salesmen telling you that this $100 wine is the best then telling your neighbor the $500 bottle is really the best (this experience clearly rubbed me the wrong way).  Unless things change once sailing is resumed, on X you're allowed two bottles per stateroom and if you're a couple, you might get away with bringing two bottles each if you and your significant other go into separate xray lines during embarkment.  Save the carry on wine for the chefs tables.  Furthermore, ordering a bottle of Dom regardless of what's on the menu will simply bring more joy to the table including the waitstaff than ordering a $1000 bottle of wine.  If you order Dom, don't be surprised if fellow passengers and the waitstaff ask to take pictures (this experience clearly rubbed me the right way).  🙂

  

 

 

5 hours ago, bigbenboys said:

I saw a post here on CC that the cost of the wine was above the premium drink package.

 

Thank you both clarifying. I had completely forgotten that I did see it noted in the description of the Chef's Table meal.