I guess Celebrity isn't the only cruise line whose food quality is going downhill.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Hey SJ.. I can’t help but wonder if your client wasn’t hyperbolizing his experience just a tad. 

[Stockjock]

14 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Hey SJ.. I can’t help but wonder if your client wasn’t hyperbolizing his experience just a tad. 

I've known them for 20+ years.  Low key, mellow, down-to-earth, non-complaining types.  If they were this fired up about things, I take it as being credible.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Stockjock

[RICCruisers]

6 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Ken, that is a good idea. My wife and I always opt for two tops when cruising (when possible), but I had never thought of this reason for doing so.

There is no acceptable reason to serve cold food unless it’s supposed to be cold. 

[abbydancer2003]

We were on the Caribbean Princess for 10 days last month.  For us the food was fine, but the ship felt very crowded.  I think of the older Princess ships, it has the most number of passengers, and the other ship with the same layout holds about 500 less.  Plus, because this was not a warm weather itinerary, everyone was indoors all the time.   

DH complained about the nickel and diming, but to be. honest, the main thing was the charge for room service (which we never use anyway) and to activate the app for food ordering (which we'd normally do, but we didn't bother this time).

[kwokpot]

10 hours ago, lv2cruisgrl said:

We agree as we sailed Wonder of the Seas earlier this year and said never RC again. Dining room food was barely warm each night and just now that tasty.

 

 

I was on the Odyssey of the Seas this July from Civitavecchia and the MDR food and service, for a group of 9 people, was far superior every single night for 7 nights than our experience on the Solstice Mexican Riviera cruise this past February. 

[kwokpot]

I'm currently on the Carnival Luminosa, an old Costa ship from 2009 that Carnival took over, for a 30 day TP from Seattle to Brisbane. The food has been very good and superior to the Solstice cruise from this past March. We're a little more than halfway through the cruise and the menu hasn't repeated yet, lobster has been served twice already ( actually 3x if you count lobster thermador!) And we also had filet mignon on the MDR menu with no surcharges. Some photos of our MDR entrees. 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. I have been blessed to cruise since the 1970s with inside, outside, balconies, verandas, suites and have read cruise critic since 2002 in think. Sometimes the information posted is accurate and at other times I wonder if it is the same ship lol. Have traveled around the world and have never truly been disappointed. It is like a restaurant and hotel review. I cull the information and am always learning and totally enjoy the food pictures!

[Cruise till you drop]

11 hours ago, darren42 said:

If your food is cold, why not send it back? Do this 2 evening in a row and you can be assured the rest of the trip will be hot. .  

Yes you will be assured it’ll be hot and include the cooks and waiters spit 😂 

[Pushka]

We had a long cruise with Viking in May. Food quality not so great. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

8 hours ago, SusieAV8R said:

We've enjoyed 7 Celebrity cruises in the past 15 months and neither DH nor I have gotten covid, sore throats, coughs or any other symptom indicating less than good health.  (DH says I hug every crew member on board whenever we cruise.......I am a hugger, what can I. say?🤣 I do ask for permission first.). And we are no spring chickens🤣. )

Have you thought the crew may not want your hugs but are told to do what ever makes the passengers happy 🤔

 

[LadyL1]

Got off the Silhouette on Saturday, and totally underwhelmed by BLU. We have never seen so much food returned to the kitchen as the meat quality was extremely poor. One night we asked for medium rare prime rib, and the middle was raw and cold; inedible with sinews. We left the restaurant at that point.

Charged $1 a portion if asked for extra veg. Hardly luxury cruising: once upon a time this type of holiday was all about great cuisine (and probably excess). 
Having berated the restaurant, I have to say the food and displays in Oceanview Cafe were impressive. However I do not want to go on a cruise holiday and serve myself! One should still be able to enjoy the ambience of finer dining, with decent service.

This was my 6th and probably last Celebrity cruise.

[Georgia_Peaches]

48 minutes ago, LadyL1 said:

Charged $1 a portion if asked for extra veg. Hardly

Wow!!  This is the first report of such that I’ve seen. $1 extra per portion?  I just put in an upgrade offer for AQ for Ascent. Think I may need to rethink that. 

[Baggy178]

54 minutes ago, LadyL1 said:

Got off the Silhouette on Saturday, and totally underwhelmed by BLU. We have never seen so much food returned to the kitchen as the meat quality was extremely poor. One night we asked for medium rare prime rib, and the middle was raw and cold; inedible with sinews. We left the restaurant at that point.

Charged $1 a portion if asked for extra veg. Hardly luxury cruising: once upon a time this type of holiday was all about great cuisine (and probably excess). 
Having berated the restaurant, I have to say the food and displays in Oceanview Cafe were impressive. However I do not want to go on a cruise holiday and serve myself! One should still be able to enjoy the ambience of finer dining, with decent service.

This was my 6th and probably last Celebrity cruise.

 

" I have to say the food and displays in Oceanview Cafe were impressive. However I do not want to go on a cruise holiday and serve myself! "

 

It is quite remarkable how many posters on here go to the MDR every night and complain about the food while at the same time praising the OVC but holding their nose up at eating there.

One of the golden rules of being a Ninja Cruiser™ is knowing the buffet is that best friend who never lets you down.

The grub is hot, plentiful and generally very tasty. It's food without the faff. And the serving staff are great because they've often cooked the food as well so they're delighted when you praise them.

Generally Mrs Baggy and I share wait duties.

" Can I interest Madam in another helping of tempura-battered chicken wings with a crescent of deep-fried potatoes lightly drizzled with Heinz jus ? "

Don't knock it till you've tried it !

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bikerunner]

29 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow!!  This is the first report of such that I’ve seen. $1 extra per portion?  I just put in an upgrade offer for AQ for Ascent. Think I may need to rethink that. 

Personally if they started this, since it still seems can order multiple entrees I would just do that and scrape the veggies off the plate on each one onto one plate and tell them take the rest of the plates away.  

[hcat]

$1 for extra veggies  WOW!

.Never heard of  that. Did they add a  gratuity  as well.

 

I like to order dbl veggies and no carbs..usually has been  no issue in BLU.  Hope they don't begrudge me a nice salad on  Ascent!

 

I would seek out food and Bev Director..to confirm the extra dollar  chg is legit..just too petty!  Wondering  if dining staff as a group  get a bonus for upcharges they bill out!

 

Btw...just visually,  not all the food photos above showed many veggies.  Not that impressive overall!  

[hcat]

10 minutes ago, Baggy178 said:

 

" I have to say the food and displays in Oceanview Cafe were impressive. However I do not want to go on a cruise holiday and serve myself! "

 

It is quite remarkable how many posters on here go to the MDR every night and complain about the food while at the same time praising the OVC but holding their nose up at eating there.

One of the golden rules of being a Ninja Cruiser™ is knowing the buffet is that best friend who never lets you down.

The grub is hot, plentiful and generally very tasty. It's food without the faff. And the serving staff are great because they've often cooked the food as well so they're delighted when you praise them.

Generally Mrs Baggy and I share wait duties.

" Can I interest Madam in another helping of tempura-battered chicken wings with a crescent of deep-fried potatoes lightly drizzled with Heinz jus ? "

Don't knock it till you've tried it !

 

 

 

 

 

 

i get your point,  but we are not paying thousands of dollars to eat dinner in a self serve cafeteria where tables are washed with dirty dishrags! (the wet dog smell) 

 

 Our next cruise is to celebrate  a big b day. We are going to a few specialty  dining rms.  and  will dress accordingly.  Hoping for the best!

[Georgia_Peaches]

10 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I've known them for 20+ years.  Low key, mellow, down-to-earth, non-complaining types.  If they were this fired up about things, I take it as being credible.

Understood. 20+ years is a good litmus test, for sure. I just can't relate to the worst cruise ever.  We've been lucky, I guess...even so-so cruises have been pretty darn good.  But it's good to know that it's not just Celebrity struggling with food cuts.  My parents, who only sail on Princess may be in for a rude awakening on their upcoming cruise...their first since 2019.

[di T]

24 minutes ago, hcat said:

i get your point,  but we are not paying thousands of dollars to eat dinner in a self serve cafeteria where tables are washed with dirty dishrags! (the wet dog smell) 

 

 Our next cruise is to celebrate  a big b day. We are going to a few specialty  dining rms.  and  will dress accordingly.  Hoping for the best!

hcat, agree with this.On our recent cruises last month, we ate in the buffet at night for the first time in over 30 celebrity cruises, because the MDR food wasn’t to our liking.We always dress up for to go out at home and enjoy sitting in a restaurant and being seved.19 nights on board we did 4 speciality, 4 times in the main dinning and the rest of our dinners were in the buffet.Hope next time on Celebrity they sort the menus out in MDR.

[Georgia_Peaches]

4 minutes ago, di T said:

Hope next time on Celebrity they sort the menus out in MDR.

Sadly, it seems that the folks at Celebrity do not think there's anything that needs sorting with the menus.

 

Our last cruise was on Equinox in July.  We had mostly good meals in the MDR.  My issue was with Reader's Digest (condensed version) menu.  Had to order an app, salad, cheese plate, main, and dessert just to have the illusion of more options.

[kywildcatfanone]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

but we are not paying thousands of dollars to eat dinner in a self serve cafeteria

I think people are going to have to vote with their wallets to get things to change.  Currently cutbacks are occurring across all major cruise lines.  Benefits to loyal passengers are being removed or changed, quality of food and choices are degraded, but ships are sailing full, and until that changes, paying more isn't going to get you a better experience.

[markeb]

Curiosity got the better of me. Beef keeps coming up as a major topic of consideration for quality and price, so I did a little looking. Beef prices are up over 6% since this time last year; that may finally be moderating slightly. They started rising dramatically in early 2020 and have trended aggressively upward since then. The draughts in the Southwest led to major beef sell offs, which ultimately decreased supply. Logically there would have been a large bolus of beef cattle entering the market all at once, which usually leads to a lot of lesser quality beef in the first place, and more frozen/processed products. One article specifically mentioned huge increases in the price of beef roasts, such as you'd use for prime rib. It hasn't been a good year for beef in general.

 

Food and fuel are the two big cost drivers for the cruise industry; I'm lumping labor into essentially a fixed cost for the short to midterm. The cruise industry business model encourages cruise sales well in advance, but that also fixes the price and revenue for a significant part of the inventory. They would project their expenses for food and fuel on historical norms. We've gone through a long period of low inflation so at a macro level you should be able to project your food costs with a (WAG) 2% annual increase. But that's not what's happened with food costs. AND beef supplies in general are down. 

 

Is it hitting Celebrity worse than other beef consumers? If so, what did the others do different? The food service for the fleet is almost certainly operating on a per person per day allowance that's more reflective of revenue than actual costs (remember the motto do more with less?).

 

Does any of that explain delivering cold meals? No. That's a different problem. 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, di T said:

hcat, agree with this.On our recent cruises last month, we ate in the buffet at night for the first time in over 30 celebrity cruises, because the MDR food wasn’t to our liking.We always dress up for to go out at home and enjoy sitting in a restaurant and being seved.19 nights on board we did 4 speciality, 4 times in the main dinning and the rest of our dinners were in the buffet.Hope next time on Celebrity they sort the menus out in MDR.

We will have our first hand experiences since the menu and food quality changes in January. Not big beef fans, never eat tilapia,  but won't love watered down soups or food buried in sauces!

 

We are not X cheerleaders but have enjoyed cruising with them for many years.

 

Our cruises these days are down to   one or 2 per year.  Next up is AQ Class on  Ascent (with specialty dining,) ,  Concierge Class on Silhouette, then Sv on APEX.  

 

if we book another line,  probably it will Cunard ,  but not looking to adjust to something totally new for future cruising.  .If X really  disappoints, we may just stay home or go land based

 

[sanger727]

20 hours ago, Stockjock said:

"Our Princess cruise was the worst vacation ever.  The ship was old.  The food was worse than horrible.  It's not that the taste was just bad night-after-night, but service was slow and the food was served cold every night.  I'm not talking about warm, I'm talking flat-out cold!  Everyone was sick and coughing.  We both caught covid.  They had people crammed together like a cattle car.  They nickel and dimed us for everything.  I'm not sure that we'll ever do a cruise again, but if we do, it definitely won't be with Princess!"


 

 

It seems pretty clear that their issues were based less around the "food quality going downhill" and more around the service levels. The one thing they didn't complain about was the taste and quality of the food.

 

I also take reviews with a grain of salt when they complain about things that have been true about cruises for a long time - being packed like cattle, extra charges, illnesses spreading. Those are not new cruising issues. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by sanger727

[dogsdogs]

Shoutout to Kwokpot.  Thanks for the photos--honestly, I haven't seen a lobster tail that big on an RCI or X ship in a very long time.  They are mostly the size of a small thumb now.

[coaster]

Their first comment about the ship being old would make me question any other comments they have. Ship is only 20 years old. We go on Royal's Vision and Radiance class of ships often that are older and close to the same age and prefer the smaller design. Going on the 20 year old Constellation for the second time this year in December and she is older and that is not a negative.