Ice Cream on the Celebrity Summit

[Guppy99]

3 hours ago, Veinless said:

Anyone know what toppings are available these days? I recall sour patch kids in 2020. 

gummy bears, choc sprinkles, multi color sprinkles, choc syrup, strawberry syrup, caramel syrup

I don't recall sour patch kids or nuts.

[Guppy99]

On 5/16/2022 at 9:16 PM, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

It's not self serve on M class.  The question was about Summit which is an M class ship.

mast grill ice cream on summit is most certainly self-serve unless it has changed in the past 6 months

[moneeman]

 

On 5/16/2022 at 12:56 PM, Cinderellie said:

That sounds great, kenb, "IF" we liked coffee. But thanks for the suggestion. Others may love it.

If you have the premium drink package, order an Affogato, but ask for the espresso on the side.  Eat the gelato, and leave the espresso.  Now you have free gelato!  (maybe that's why they took it off the menu?) 

[Guppy99]

21 minutes ago, moneeman said:

 

If you have the premium drink package, order an Affogato, but ask for the espresso on the side.  Eat the gelato, and leave the espresso.  Now you have free gelato!  (maybe that's why they took it off the menu?) 

all to cheat them out of a $5 fee?

[Cap_D]

After spending a few thousand dollars why does Celebrity insist on such insulting charges for not very good gelato?  There's almost zero difference between the milk fat content between what Celebrity calls ice cream vs gelato, and they are not keeping them at different temps.  It was a memorable and ridiculous experience to be told that there was a charge for unlabeled gelato vs the ice cream in the same case.  Even if it was somehow super premium ice cream (which gelato would never be) or served at a different temp (it should be) a charge makes no sense for an inclusive experience, or any other distinguishing package like the premium drink package. It would not be surprising to lean that all ice cream and gelato on the ships is made from the same multimix vanilla flavored base in the blue cartons that is used for soft serve and at most bars when they need a faux cream base. We looked it up while on the ship, and it's promoted by the foodservice companies as a value mix.  (It's perfectly fine for what it is, and may be less full of extra ingredients than some.  Celeb seems to avoid some ingredients in its purchasing, but that may be a function of picking supply outside the U.S., e.g., French fries are from some non-US company). The selection of toppings is also on the skimpy side compared to a real world ice cream stand.

 

On the plus side, the ice cream, gelato, and soft serve aren't very heavy and, in fact, probably on the low end of the milkfat scale, gums, etc.  So there are better and thicker frozen desserts comparatively speaking, but these are perfectly fine for 80-100 temps on a hot day when one is also ingesting a lot of other food.  We'd keep them as compared to going towards chemical tasting products.  The favors correlate to Monin syrups on board, e.g., lavender, so it's possible that's the source of the flavoring.  Those are higher quality mass produced syrups compared to many other name brands and seem "clean."

 

And, usually the ice cream attendants are some of the friendliest crew.  Reeza and on Edge this Spring memorized the names of everyone that shares one, and was a real ambassador to the ship.  He greeted everyone.   Far more engaged than the cruise activity team who seems to be going through the motions.  Though no one goes on a Celebrity ship for a loud and obnoxious cruise director and events team.

[Cap_D]

Here's the mix used on Edge in April from Ft. Lauderdale...https://instantwhip.com/products/frozen-dessert-mix/

 

[Guppy99]

28 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

After spending a few thousand dollars why does Celebrity insist on such insulting charges for not very good gelato?  There's almost zero difference between the milk fat content between what Celebrity calls ice cream vs gelato, and they are not keeping them at different temps.  It was a memorable and ridiculous experience to be told that there was a charge for unlabeled gelato vs the ice cream in the same case.  Even if it was somehow super premium ice cream (which gelato would never be) or served at a different temp (it should be) a charge makes no sense for an inclusive experience, or any other distinguishing package like the premium drink package. It would not be surprising to lean that all ice cream and gelato on the ships is made from the same multimix vanilla flavored base in the blue cartons that is used for soft serve and at most bars when they need a faux cream base. We looked it up while on the ship, and it's promoted by the foodservice companies as a value mix.  (It's perfectly fine for what it is, and may be less full of extra ingredients than some.  Celeb seems to avoid some ingredients in its purchasing, but that may be a function of picking supply outside the U.S., e.g., French fries are from some non-US company). The selection of toppings is also on the skimpy side compared to a real world ice cream stand.

 

On the plus side, the ice cream, gelato, and soft serve aren't very heavy and, in fact, probably on the low end of the milkfat scale, gums, etc.  So there are better and thicker frozen desserts comparatively speaking, but these are perfectly fine for 80-100 temps on a hot day when one is also ingesting a lot of other food.  We'd keep them as compared to going towards chemical tasting products.  The favors correlate to Monin syrups on board, e.g., lavender, so it's possible that's the source of the flavoring.  Those are higher quality mass produced syrups compared to many other name brands and seem "clean."

 

And, usually the ice cream attendants are some of the friendliest crew.  Reeza and on Edge this Spring memorized the names of everyone that shares one, and was a real ambassador to the ship.  He greeted everyone.   Far more engaged than the cruise activity team who seems to be going through the motions.  Though no one goes on a Celebrity ship for a loud and obnoxious cruise director and events team.

Very simple...don't buy the gelato. How easy is that?

[moneeman]

4 hours ago, Guppy99 said:

all to cheat them out of a $5 fee?

All in fun, Guppy.  It's not even on the menu anymore.  I always pay full price for my (infrequent) gelato.  I'm a numbers guy, and enjoy pointing out pricing discrepancies.  I remember a few years ago McDonalds had a breakfast special where you could buy 2 egg mcmuffins for $3.33 where a single one cost $3.79.  I only wanted one, but I pointed out that they were selling 2 for less, so I wanted to pay the lesser price.  It blew their minds.  They put two on my tray.  I handed one back to them and walked off laughing.

[Guppy99]

2 hours ago, moneeman said:

All in fun, Guppy.  It's not even on the menu anymore.  I always pay full price for my (infrequent) gelato.  I'm a numbers guy, and enjoy pointing out pricing discrepancies.  I remember a few years ago McDonalds had a breakfast special where you could buy 2 egg mcmuffins for $3.33 where a single one cost $3.79.  I only wanted one, but I pointed out that they were selling 2 for less, so I wanted to pay the lesser price.  It blew their minds.  They put two on my tray.  I handed one back to them and walked off laughing.

Ah... yup, it is amazing. What's utterly incredible is that when you explain no one gets what your talking about!

[davy jones]

On 5/29/2022 at 3:27 PM, Guppy99 said:

mast grill ice cream on summit is most certainly self-serve unless it has changed in the past 6 months

There was no self serve on the May 13 sailing.  Only hand scooped in the OV or the gelato.

 

 

[39august]

I believe there are self serve soft serve machines at the Mast Grill on both M and S class ships. There is also soft serve behind the ice cream case on S class that is served by the attendant there. 

[Guppy99]

43 minutes ago, 39august said:

I believe there are self serve soft serve machines at the Mast Grill on both M and S class ships. There is also soft serve behind the ice cream case on S class that is served by the attendant there. 

yup. Vanilla, sometimes chocolate & strawberry

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, 39august said:

I believe there are self serve soft serve machines at the Mast Grill on both M and S class ships. There is also soft serve behind the ice cream case on S class that is served by the attendant there. 

 

You can believe anything you choose to.  However, several recent cruisers have reported that there was no soft serve available.  There was none on the April 25 and May 4 cruises on the Summit.  A poster above reported none on the May 13 cruise.

[Guppy99]

OMG... there must be a conspiracy to withhold ice cream from their passengers.

[Big_G]

I don't each much ice cream but I always know where to find my wife if the disappears on me. 😆

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, Guppy99 said:

OMG... there must be a conspiracy to withhold ice cream from their passengers.

 

I don't believe anyone has alleged there was no ice cream available.  

[SQ1953]

We are on Apex in a few weeks and does anyone know if they can make dairy-free ice cream? (not lactose-free, the 2 are very different)

 

I know they have sorbets that of course have no dairy, but I want proper ice cream.

[canderson]

While we're on the ice cream topic ... need a spotter out there aboard:

 

Some years ago, Celebrity made the most positively amazing cinnamon ice cream.  They were making it aboard, and using coarse ground Indonesian cinnamon.  Have never had better anywhere.  It had real intensity of cinnamon without the astringency that you find in recipes that try to beef it up with what I suspect is cinnamon oil.  Very, very smooth, but with lots of flavor.

 

Back in 2021 after the restart, we noted its absence after a week aboard, and asked when it would make 'the rotation'.  Sometimes it would only be offered during lunch in the Oceanview on a port day and we'd miss it.

 

We were told that they no longer had cinnamon, but they'd try to make us up a tray of it.  They tried twice, and in both cases, the result was nowhere near as good as the original recipe - which may have been lost?

 

So for those aboard in more current times ... do you see cinnamon ice cream anywhere?  If so, have you sampled it?

 

 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

On 5/29/2022 at 2:21 PM, Guppy99 said:

chocolate

vanilla

butter pecan

strawberry

pistachio

after eight

rum raisin

cherry vanilla

coconut

lemon (rarely)

 

Ok, what the heck is "after eight"?? The others are actual things that have flavors. Time doesn't have a flavor.

[canderson]

1 minute ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Ok, what the heck is "after eight"?? The others are actual things that have flavors. Time doesn't have a flavor.

It's a brand of chocolate.

Edited July 9 by canderson
I hate tiny keyboardz!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 minute ago, canderson said:

It's a brand of chocolate.

Ah. Thanks. Never heard of it.

[PTC DAWG]

56 minutes ago, SQ1953 said:

We are on Apex in a few weeks and does anyone know if they can make dairy-free ice cream? (not lactose-free, the 2 are very different)

 

I know they have sorbets that of course have no dairy, but I want proper ice cream.

Proper ice cream is not dairy free, and congrats on bringing to life a two year old post. 🙂

[canderson]

1 minute ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Ah. Thanks. Never heard of it.

I think they're best known for chocolate mint.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Just now, canderson said:

I think they're best known for chocolate mint.

 

Gotcha. I'm not denying it exists. It's just new to me. If the ice cream is chocolate mint, I'd be all about that - I'd just never have known it from "After Eight".

[SQ1953]

Ok thanks for your expert input PTC DAWG and perhaps you can tell that to my 6 year old Grandson who would love to have an ice cream (or a poor substitute as you so expertly pointed out) while he is on the cruise.