Constellation elite breakfast venue?

[yellowhat]

Currently..where is elite breakfast being held?

Sailed Connie in Dec 24..the elite breakfast was held in the darkest depressing venue.. matched the food..(picture coffee shop in 1950 bus stop...)perhaps with the current upgrades X has revised the breakfast venue..my past experiences were with equinox and reflection..bright fresh .I switched breakfast to MDR with glorious results..just hoping for an improvement  thank you for your comments.

 

[WestLakeGirl]

Most of the Time it is held in Tuscan Grill.  On transatlantic and other Cruises were there is a very large number of Elites it could move to a portion of the dining room.  The food is a continental breakfast of Pastries, food, meat and cheese, salmon, coffees teas juices smoothies.  If you are looking for food you need to go elsewhere

[cruisestitch]

2 hours ago, yellowhat said:

Currently..where is elite breakfast being held?

Sailed Connie in Dec 24..the elite breakfast was held in the darkest depressing venue.. matched the food..(picture coffee shop in 1950 bus stop...)perhaps with the current upgrades X has revised the breakfast venue..my past experiences were with equinox and reflection..bright fresh .I switched breakfast to MDR with glorious results..just hoping for an improvement  thank you for your comments.

 

On Connie Tuscan is up at the top of the ship.  Was that where your breakfast was held, Yellowhat?

[jelayne]

56 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

On Connie Tuscan is up at the top of the ship.  Was that where your breakfast was held, Yellowhat?

Sounds like it was held at LPC  on deck 3.

[the penguins]

11 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

Most of the Time it is held in Tuscan Grill.  On transatlantic and other Cruises were there is a very large number of Elites it could move to a portion of the dining room.  The food is a continental breakfast of Pastries, food, meat and cheese, salmon, coffees teas juices smoothies.  If you are looking for food you need to go elsewhere

never seen breakfast moved from Tuscan to the main dining room on any Transatlantic. What they have done is open Qisine as an overspill  - you collect your food from Tuscan just use the Qsine for seating.

[cruzeluver]

We were on Constellation in February and the breakfast was held in Qusine which matches the original poster's description.

[Wineaux007]

We were on a Constellation TA several years ago.  There were so many Elites and + that they held the Elite+ morning breakfast on Deck 11 (or 10) in Tuscan.  The Qsine area on Deck 3 was a mob scene.  

 

On the S-Class, Tuscan can get so busy on TA's that they move the overflow to Qsine, around the corner.

[cruisestitch]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

never seen breakfast moved from Tuscan to the main dining room on any Transatlantic. What they have done is open Qisine as an overspill  - you collect your food from Tuscan just use the Qsine for seating.

I don’t have a photo from the transatlantic, but here are 2 photos from constellation’s recent cruise in February 2024, over Mardi Gras,. Breakfast was moved to the buffet style in a portion of the main dining room.

 

I was on back to back and for the second cruise the breakfast remained in a portion of the main dining room, but went back to menu style

[cruisestitch]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

never seen breakfast moved from Tuscan to the main dining room on any Transatlantic. What they have done is open Qisine as an overspill  - you collect your food from Tuscan just use the Qsine for seating.

That has happened on S class ships but not Constellation

[cruisestitch]

I just checked the dates and my photographs were not from Connie in February. They were from a recent Panama Canal transit on Millennium — so many Elites that the breakfast was moved to the MDR. 
 

I thought I had photos from the TA too and will keep hunting for them.
 

Edited June 20 by cruisestitch

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Last November TA on the Connie , it was held Deck 4 of the MDR 

[yellowhat]

Thank you cruise stitch for the pictures! Yes that's the exact food presentation on equinox and reflection buffet. I Thank everyone for your hopeful words. 

[cruisestitch]

Both the buffet and the menu formats are used.  While there are exceptions, the general rule is that when sailing in the US, the menu format is used.  When sailing in other locations around the world, there is some magic cut off below, witch menus are used, and above which the buffet is laid out.

[cruisestitch]

7 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I just checked the dates and my photographs were not from Connie in February. They were from a recent Panama Canal transit on Millennium — so many Elites that the breakfast was moved to the MDR. 
 

I thought I had photos from the TA too and will keep hunting for them.
 

Connie, February 2024 Mardi Gras cruise, Elite breakfast in MDR

[Liao]

11 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I don’t have a photo from the transatlantic, but here are 2 photos from constellation’s recent cruise in February 2024, over Mardi Gras,. Breakfast was moved to the buffet style in a portion of the main dining room.

 

I was on back to back and for the second cruise the breakfast remained in a portion of the main dining room, but went back to menu style

Is this the entire breakfast??

[cruisestitch]

Yes.  Pastry, fruit, sliced meat, sliced cheese, sliced salmon, cream cheese, onion, capers, juices, smoothies, cappuccino, tea, mimosas , screwdrivers, Bloody Mary’s

 

no hot food

 

 

[the penguins]

9 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Both the buffet and the menu formats are used.  While there are exceptions, the general rule is that when sailing in the US, the menu format is used.  When sailing in other locations around the world, there is some magic cut off below, witch menus are used, and above which the buffet is laid out.

The US regulations don't allow "buffet" style service from carpeted areas only from areas with tiled floors. This is also the reason that the very popular "brunch" that was served in the MDR was discontinued.

Even when the meals are "pre plated" the selections are only suggestions and they will make-up plates to your specification. 

[cruisestitch]

I had been told that information about carpeted vs non carpeted floor coverings many times but we had the buffet in the MDR on Constellation in February out of Tampa as seen in the photo above In post #14.  

[hcat]

19 hours ago, Wineaux007 said:

We were on a Constellation TA several years ago.  There were so many Elites and + that they held the Elite+ morning breakfast on Deck 11 (or 10) in Tuscan.  The Qsine area on Deck 3 was a mob scene.  

 

On the S-Class, Tuscan can get so busy on TA's that they move the overflow to Qsine, around the corner.

We have not been on S Class in quite awhile....Is Q-sine still an entity ?  or is it just Le Petit Chef?  Q sine was a fav of ours but we have no.interest in LPC 

 

Guess they have to place Elite bkfst where it works best.. It was always in Tuscan on E Class but more recently has been  held in the Bistro area

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

We have not been on S Class in quite awhile....Is Q-sine still an entity ?  or is it just Le Petit Chef?  Q sine was a fav of ours but we have no.interest in LPC 

 

Guess they have to place Elite bkfst where it works best.. It was always in Tuscan on E Class but more recently has been  held in the Bistro area

 

 

Didn’t Qsine change when they change Bistro on 5 to Sushi on 5 , big mistake I think 

we also have no interest in LPC 

one with the Smoothies , they are unable make one is mango free still my wife cannot have mango 

[cruisestitch]

5 hours ago, hcat said:

We have not been on S Class in quite awhile....Is Q-sine still an entity ?  or is it just Le Petit Chef?  Q sine was a fav of ours but we have no.interest in LPC 

 

 

In order to keep from having to change all the signage, names qsine, and Silk Harvest ( on Solstice), still exist but the concept and menus of the former restaurants are gone.  Now called “Le Petite Chef at Qsine” and “le Petite chef at Silk Harvest”

[the penguins]

6 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I had been told that information about carpeted vs non carpeted floor coverings many times but we had the buffet in the MDR on Constellation in February out of Tampa as seen in the photo above In post #14.  

we did 5 B to B's on Solstice from Auckland to Vancouver. On the last sector the Elite Breakfast was Buffet however for the morning of the ship's first arrival at a port in mainland US it changed to Plated as the ship knew it would be inspected. The next day it was back to Buffet when to the ship's horror it was subject to an unannounced inspection. We were sat the breakfast when 2 Officers and a few staff rushed in and together they rapidly cleared the whole buffet and reorganised the plates etc. We  learnt later that during this time another officer was delaying the Inspection Team. We also spoke to the Hotel Director who said that whilst ship's were always subject to unannounced inspection to have one just 24 hours after a scheduled one was unusual but thanks to the quick action of the Duty Team Officers they had past both inspections. The next day service was back to Buffet.

[SFCAcruiser]

43 minutes ago, the penguins said:

... We also spoke to the Hotel Director who said that whilst ship's were always subject to unannounced inspection to have one just 24 hours after a scheduled one was unusual but thanks to the quick action of the Duty Team Officers they had past both inspections. The next day service was back to Buffet.

That is an interesting anecdote, but I am surprised by the Hotel Director's lack of discretion in sharing the details which acknowledge the ship's lack of compliance with local regulations. I have found staff to be "tight-lipped" when things do not go according to expectations. 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

In order to keep from having to change all the signage, names qsine, and Silk Harvest ( on Solstice), still exist but the concept and menus of the former restaurants are gone.  Now called “Le Petite Chef at Qsine” and “le Petite chef at Silk Harvest”

thanks for the explanation.. We miss both Q Sine and Silk Harvest...we always enjoyed them!

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, SFCAcruiser said:

That is an interesting anecdote, but I am surprised by the Hotel Director's lack of discretion in sharing the details which acknowledge the ship's lack of compliance with local regulations. I have found staff to be "tight-lipped" when things do not go according to expectations. 

There were a number of things that resulted in this cruise (or to be more precise 5 x B to B cruises) that made this a unique experience and one that has never been matched.

1) we had the worst outbreak of Norovirus that started just before the end of Sector 2 and wasn’t irradiated until the start of Sector 4. During that time every crew member including all the Officers, entertainment staff etc all had to do 4 hours cleaning a day to try to keep the bug at bay. Boarding was also delayed in Hawaii by around 4 hours. As most of the passengers left in Hawaii those who remained had built up a closer “bond” with the crew as we recognised just how much extra work they had been doing.

2) In recognition of the work done by the Crew once the ship had been cleared of passengers in Ensenada (the first and last time X terminated/boarded at that port)    and before new passengers arrived, the Captain arranged for a crew  party to be held on deck to which the 20 or so remaining passengers were also invited. Our first and only invite to a Crew Party.

3) A member of the Beyond the Podium speakers also got married on the ship and we were invited to the Reception.

4) The Cruise Director refused to use his office and did all his paperwork in the Al Bacio. So again over the 5 cruises we got to talk to him and some of the other senior Officers much more than usual.

5) During the many Sea Days the Environmental Officer held a number of “Coffee Break” sessions were he met with a small group of passengers  to discuss all sorts of things regarding the running of the ship. This also involved input from other Officers.

By the time of the Elite Breakfast incident I think there were just 10 of us left who had boarded in Auckland (50 days before) and so when we mentioned to the Hotel Director what we had seen and heard he was happy to fill in the blanks.

Yes I agree very unusual but so was :

the free tour of the Engine Control Room and some of the crew facilities followed by a free lunch in Muranos

2 lots of free spa treatments free Internet on 1 sector.