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Has the food choices and quality improved?

Nashna

By Nashna,
in Celebrity Cruises

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C4HCG

C4HCG

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

And what's wrong with tilapia and sirloin?  There are better ingredients out there.  I have not had tilapia or sirloin in at least 20 years.

Not what I asked. I asked which sides are better than mash.

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di T

di T

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, C4HCG said:

Be good if you would share your experience of the cut backs and elaborate. Which restaurants, what were the cut backs, was the cut back food edible, will you sail Celebrity again on the back of it? Just to add context to your experience.

Well put on a few pounds coz we were eating food we would class as junk at home! I found the MDR menus poor, Even on the dress up nights, the food was to me rubbish. Our 32nd celebrity cruise and I now think the food is no better than Royal and NCL. But hey! Still had a lovely time but for the price, will after the cruises with Celebrity we have booked do more holidays in the med just enjoying fresh well cooked food. I would not eat the frozen seafood at home and that awful fish they serve in the buffet! Flank steak what is that? Never had that back home. But still love the Celebrity ships S class and M class, best staff ever! 

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Loracpin2

Loracpin2

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, C4HCG said:

😁 which sides are less cheap? Fries?

What scares me even more is that the mashed potatoes might be instant! If so Celebrity (under the RCI umbrella since 1998) has truly eliminated so many of the things that made them special on our first Horizon cruise in the early 1990's.

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lv2cruisgrl Great Review Rare

lv2cruisgrl

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Let me also add that on MSC, the Specialty Dining packages are priced much better.  On my last cruise, I think I paid roughly $70 per person for 3 specialty restaurants.  On our upcoming cruise (NYE), I paid $100 per person for 3 speciality restaurants.  But remember, MSC has a status match, so for many, it's not hard to achieve Diamond Status, and that also includes a free specialty restaurant dinner (plus Prosecco, chocolate & snacks in the room and such).

So for $70-$100 per person, I'm getting 4 specialty restaurant dinners (including 1 free) on MSC and their specialty restaurants are very good.

Obviously, some might say, "If you like MSC so much, just sail MSC".  And I do that, along with Celebrity.  But that's really not the point.  The point is that Celebrity's food quality is dropping a lot, where some other cruise lines, such as MSC, seem to be holding steady or even improving.

I posted this before, but this was my first night's meal on Celebrity a few weeks ago.  A very thin, poor quality sirloin steak with a massive piece of fat & gristle in it (sorry if it's a bit gross, but trying to illustrate the point).  And of course, the obligatory cafeteria scoop of mashed potatoes w/a few veggies.

Michelin-starred chefs?  Hardly.

 

IMG_9130.jpeg

IMG_9132.jpeg

Wow that's disappointing!  Yuck!

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Loracpin2

Loracpin2

Posted
Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:


I’m sure they’re not but what makes you say this?

I have no evidence to back this up except assuming it's cost effective. No kitchen staff necessary to spend time peeling, cutting, boiling and mashing!!!! 🙂

Edited by Loracpin2
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Cruise till you drop Great Review Rare

Cruise till you drop

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Loracpin2 said:

I have no evidence to back this up except assuming it's cost effective. No kitchen staff necessary to spend time peeling, cutting, boiling and mashing!!!! 🙂


Wow big assumption.  I’ll file this in the fiction category until we see proof as I’ve been through cruise ship kitchens and seen them making mashed potatoes from scratch

 

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Loracpin2

Loracpin2

Posted
Posted
42 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:


Wow big assumption.  I’ll file this in the fiction category until we see proof as I’ve been through cruise ship kitchens and seen them making mashed potatoes from scratch

 

I stated in my first sentence "I have no evidence to back this up"!!! But this is also not the same Celebrity we first sailed in the early 1990's.  When was the last time you were through a cruise ship kitchen????? 

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cgolf1 Great Review Rare

cgolf1

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

And what's wrong with tilapia and sirloin?  There are better ingredients out there.  I have not had tilapia or sirloin in at least 20 years.


Curious what is wrong with a Sirloin? Don’t get me wrong, a ribeye, porterhouse, or T-bone are my favs, but with the ridiculous prices of them this year I have been getting fresh sirloins from a butcher and they have been very tasty and tender. That said they are thicker cut and a 2-3 lb steak, so super easy to get a perfect medium rare cook on them. Just curious to learn from others. 
 

My steak preferences may be different than many as I prefer flavor over texture, so a filet is quite low in my list of steaks. The only texture I hate are tough and chewy ones that end up just short of beef jerky. 

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Guera53

Guera53

Posted
Posted
On 9/29/2023 at 7:09 PM, marianoam said:

And what would happen if I previously download a couple of episodes at home and then try to cast them onboard without a WiFi package?

Unbelievable ….we have to buy premium Wi-Fi to watch tv? 

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kywildcatfanone

kywildcatfanone

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Guera53 said:

Unbelievable ….we have to buy premium Wi-Fi to watch tv? 

Well, I think if you are trying to cast from your phone to the TV you have to be on wifi to do that because the TV is on wifi.  

Now, I have premium, which I loathe what I had to pay just for internet, but I did swallow and purchase it, but I'm also taking a computer and a HDMI cable.  If you are taking a device with a HDMI port, you probably could take the cable and connect to the TV and then display your downloads on the TV.  I mean that should work, if Celebrity allows you to change the input on the TV, which I'm not sure about, but I'm taking a cable to see.

 

Perhaps others who have done this can comment.  

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retired dude

retired dude

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Well, I think if you are trying to cast from your phone to the TV you have to be on wifi to do that because the TV is on wifi.  

Now, I have premium, which I loathe what I had to pay just for internet, but I did swallow and purchase it, but I'm also taking a computer and a HDMI cable.  If you are taking a device with a HDMI port, you probably could take the cable and connect to the TV and then display your downloads on the TV.  I mean that should work, if Celebrity allows you to change the input on the TV, which I'm not sure about, but I'm taking a cable to see.

 

Perhaps others who have done this can comment.  

most of the big blue b-ball games are on espn, so no need to get wifi on the ship, we dont go on cruises to watch tv....

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NMTraveller Holiday Sharing Rare

NMTraveller

Posted
Posted
On 9/29/2023 at 1:28 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

I'm sort of dreading this on our upcoming cruise.  We cruise Princess most and they have a fantastic selection of ondemand programming to watch.

We tend to like to go back to our cabin and just chill most nights after dinner, so having some good TV to watch is  big deal for us.

I did purchase the premium wifi at an outrageous price, so I'm hoping I can connect to hulu, netflix, max, etc and stream a bunch of stuff.  I might even take a HDMI cable and try to connect to the TV.  

Check for sales on the premium wifi around the holidays.  I am not sure if they will have a Columbus Day sale,  but they should for black Friday.  

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kywildcatfanone

kywildcatfanone

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, retired dude said:

most of the big blue b-ball games are on espn, so no need to get wifi on the ship, we dont go on cruises to watch tv....

For us, not so much ballgames, but we cruise different than most. Also, seems to me espn in the Caribbean is mostly soccer or cricket. We both work, long hours in stressful environments and we use cruises mostly just to hang out and chill.  Don't go to MDR or specialty dining, rarely do excursions or other shipboard entertainment, maybe a comedian or something.

Basically our day, at least when the weather cooperates, is hang out by the pool, shop around ports, then go eat a leisurely dinner, maybe walk around a bit, and go back to the room and watch TV.  That's why I bought premium (kills my soul) so we could stream stuff.

On Princess it's not needed because they have a large selection of on demand stuff to watch.

Edited by kywildcatfanone
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