New Improved Food Quality Poll

[celem]

Since there seems to be continued interest in an old Poll that I posted, I thought that I would present an improved version based upon feedback in the previous poll. I will be very interested to see the results given a bit of additional clarity in the choices. Thank you for participating.

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Note: This is a repeat poll from a while back – however, input from that poll led me to expand the categories – so much so that I feel that a new poll is justified.

 

Threads that have discussed food quality on Celebrity’s cruises inspired me to take the discussion to the next level – a poll. I don't think that "excellent", "good", etc., work for rating the food quality. Food is simply too subjective an experience. There are restaurants that friends like that I do not and visa versa. People's tastes are just too varied for "excellent" or "good" or "fair" to really mean anything to someone else. My brother and I were raised in the same household yet our culinary tastes are as different as black & white. I prefer complex, well-seasoned dishes from many nationalities while he is a very meat & potatoes person, yet what each of us calls "excellent" is the opposite to the other. Thus, I wanted the poll to be more subjective so I am going to follow the excellent suggestion of "alexMD" and use a rating guide that compares your dining experience to well-known restaurants. Most people have should have some basis for comparison. This should be much more meaningful and useful that adjectives like "excellent".

 

Note: This survey is solely for the food quality. Therefore do not include service or ambiance into your judgment.

 

For the poll, enter your Celebrity dining experience for the Main Dining Room Only, on average, by selecting one of the numbers in the rating guide below.

 

1. Fast food chains: Mc Donalds, Wendy's, Subway

2. Hotel catered meal, such as for convention.

3. Sit down casual dining, mostly pre-prepared food chains: Chili's, Applebee's, TGIF (or any other "Chicken Ceasar Salad Roadhouse"), Olive Garden, Outback.

4. Somewhat better quality food chains that probably prepare most of their food from scratch: Maggiano's, Macaroni Grill, PF Chang's, Big Bowl.

5. Better quality hotel catered meal, such as for a wedding.

6. High-quality restaurants with national name recognition: Ruth's Chris, The Capital Grille.

7. Fine local restaurants that are worth a two hour trip from elsewhere.

8. True gourmet restaurants with highly complex, challenging cuisine of the finest ingredients and rare wines, typically for those few among us with very discriminating taste in food and wine.

[alpal1993]

Saturday night we went down to Las Olas Blvd in Ft Laud for dinner.It was a very high end place.For the price and amount of food we received I would rate it a 5.Celebrity's food choices and amounts are so much better.The drinks were expensive. a glass of White Zin and a beer on tap-No salad-(2 rolls).We paid 48$ without .tax or tip.Would I drive 2 hours for that meal never.Besides, Celebrity(the port )is closer.

[brigittetom]

I voted with the majority and that has always been our experience on Celebrity.

[dmarch@islc.net]

Why do I get all hard questions? I mean, I would rate wedding food as better than Ruth Chris. I don't know...let me ask my wife.

[OCruisers]

Why do I get all hard questions? I mean, I would rate wedding food as better than Ruth Chris. I don't know...let me ask my wife.

 

Gosh .... Agree Totally! dmarch, maybe we are going to the WRONG weddings! :p

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Lsimon]

I voted for high quality catered food, but while that is a realistic charaterization of the quality of the food it understates the overall cruise dining "experiance".

 

if I compare a specific dish on a Celebrity cruise to the same named dish, nicely catered is as good as it gets. But I can't think of many restauraunts - if any at all - where I enjoy dining as much as on a cruise ship.

 

Selection & variety is always great, or nearly so, and far exceeeds all but the finest restaurants.

 

Service usually ranges from pretty good, to fantastic and the attention to detail is great. You can usually get anything you ask for, within reason. How many restuarant or banquet waiters call you by name, or go out of their way to do special favors for you.

 

You don't need to worry about the cost (well except maybe for that bottle, or bottles, of Dom Perignon!).

 

You don't have to worry about waiting for a table, crowds, reservations, traffic, or who should be the designated driver.

 

Meeting new table mates is great - how often do you ever sit with strangers and become friends in a restuarant?

 

True any individual aspect of the cruise dining experiance is usually less than perfect but no where else do I ever get to experiance so very unusually nice things at once.

[zackiedawg]

I had to go with the minority with the Fine Local Restaurant worth a 2 hour drive category.

 

I found the overall food on board Celebrity to be slightly above that on Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean...but not drastically so. However I found the main dining room to be where Celebrity really shined for me.

 

I have heard reviews ranging from "best food on the sea" to "highly disappointing"...but for me it was probably the best overall main dining room experience of the current vessels I've been on (not counting some cruises on small ships 20+ years ago when cruising was a smaller cottage industry and more individual attention was paid).

 

I found the selection to be interesting, well thought out, with good soups, sauces, and seasonings. The cooking preparation was spot on in every case, with all foods properly cooked to request, and with presentation always considered. I won't count service in the review, as that is a different category. The meats were excellent, especially the veal and duck in my opinion. Bernaise and au jus were always good, and the thicker variety of soups were delicious (cream of califlower a standout).

 

If there was a weak spot it was deserts. Some were excellent, with some of the pastry-style deserts and pies with excellent, flaky and tasty crusts, and the ice creams as served in the dining room always homemade-tasting and excellent almost-gelato thickness and quality...while some of the cakes and cookies coming off a bit dry and not sweetened enough. Creme brulee was done marvelously...but flan was a bit flat.

 

Then again, I can't think of a particular cruise line that excelled in overall desert presentation - so with Celebrity's excellent creativity and wonderful sauces and soups, with perfectly cooked and prepared meats...I have to give the edge to their dining room of all the cruises I've taken in the past 10 years.

[DrKoob]

Just off the Infinity on 11/14 we decided the following about the food at dinner in the main dining room.

 

1) It is comparative to high end catered food at a really good convention hotel EXCEPT try getting shrimp cocktail or salmon or steak anytime you want.

 

2) In comparison to the two other cruise lines we have been on, it was SUPERB!

 

3) But in the final analysis, we asked ourselves, if this was a good restaurant in Seattle would be go back again? For the service, yes. For the food, no.

 

Jim in Redmond, WA

[Truffle]

with DRKOOB. On our recent Constellation cruise we felt there had been a great decline in the quality/taste/creaminess of the soups since our previous Celebrity cruises. The desserts have gone downhill, too--they look lovely but taste like nothing (with the exception of those in the specialty rest.)

 

Our last cruise was to Canada and New England and the ship always had a large server of hot chocolate waiting as we re-entered the ship from port. It was a lovely idea after a chilly (and sometimes damp) day in port and a welcome sight. But it was watery and way too sweet. I found the hot chocolate in the Cova Cafe to be the same, although I had always enjoyed it there in the past. I was more satisfied with the instant packettes in the buffet.

 

However, Celebrity still has much better food than other lines we have sailed.

 

Melody

[FastFreddie]

Interesting isn't it, the differing opinions regarding food. It seems to me, however that I had experienced different levels of food depending upon the particular ship. We have been on all 3 classes of ship X has. The best IMHO was on the smaller ships. I thought the Milli had the least outstanding food. And felt the Century (our last cruise) restored my faith in X. We're going on the Zenith in 2 weeks. Our first time was 2 years ago and I would have rated the food, including the desserts, to be something I'd drive 2 hours in order to partake. If you'd have asked me about the Milli, I'd say the food was very good but not to drive 2 hours. The specialty restaurant on the Milli was indeed outstanding, but not really far above our experience in the Zenith.

 

FF

[Giorgi-one]

But in the final analysis, we asked ourselves, if this was a good restaurant in Seattle would be go back again? For the service, yes. For the food, no.

 

Jim in Redmond, WA

 

 

I totally agree with your approach to food quality. That is the only measuring stick one should ever use for dining. I see so many reviews where people are praising food that they would not pay for on land. Or those who say that as long as they don't have to cook or clean up, how bad can it be. And the one that really gets to me "You can't expect quality food if you are cooking for 1000 people". What does the number of people have to do with the creamy soups or delicious deserts or the size of lobster tails, etc.

 

That said, I feel that the food on Celebrity is excellent. We ate at the Captain's table for lobster night on our last Summit cruise and I would go back there every night. It was the only time in my life I ever heard anyone say "No more lobster tails thank you".

[pcur]

I voted high quality restaurant. We just got off the Zenith last Sunday from a 14 day cruise. They never repeated the menues, the beef was the best DH has had on a cruise (RCI, Celebrity, Costa, NCL) in about 15 years! The presentation was excellent, he appreciated the freshly ground horseradish sauce, Bernaise sauce, etc. to add some extra flavor to his beef dishes. I thought the fish and other entrees were excellent. Fabulous desserts, too, and the ice cream tasted homemade.

 

The dining staff was the BEST we have ever had in 30 years of cruising. The crew in the dining room and Windsurf Cafe seemed the most cheerful group I've seen yet. Lots of spontaneous singing, and our dining steward was a delight.

[JJPNYC]

Just back from Mercury and here's my thoughts:

- the shrimp in the shrimp cocktail were limp & lifeless from day 1. I steered clear from these guys for the whole cruise.

-for the beef dishes, Celebrity had unique names of calling Prime Rib by about 3 different names. Same thing for the sirloin.. You order the beef thinking it's something new but it's just really the same cut of beef with a different sauce or something.

- the overall quality of the beef I found to be lacking. Just in general it was lacking I thought.

- The salads were basically variations on a theme and almost always lettuce based...wish that they showed some more creativity here.

 

Overall dinner was good but didn't really get my juices going though. It was at a point that we decided to go to casual dining one night because we were tired of what the main dining room had to offer. Surprisingly, the causal dining blew us away in it's preparation, presentation, & quality.

[masterbaker]

In my experience food quality only reflects the talents of the head chef onboard any given ship during that sailing. Chefs are moved from ship to ship and have vacations just like any other cruiseline employee. I'm sure someone will argue that recipes should be the same ship to ship, but I've never known a chef that didn't play around with a recipe to suit his own tastes. So IMHO, you never really know if your tastes and those of the Chefs onboard will be the same until you actually are there.

[pcur]

I was just about to say the same thing: it depends on the head chef.

 

The Zenith's was great, and DH thought all the beef was first quality. He liked the shrimp cocktail so much, that he ordered it every day, double portion. Our waiter had his order all written up most nights, because he knew my DH's preferences after the 2nd day. The pastries were also exceptional on the Zenith.

[Giorgi-one]

In my experience food quality only reflects the talents of the head chef onboard any given ship during that sailing. Chefs are moved from ship to ship and have vacations just like any other cruiseline employee. I'm sure someone will argue that recipes should be the same ship to ship, but I've never known a chef that didn't play around with a recipe to suit his own tastes. So IMHO, you never really know if your tastes and those of the Chefs onboard will be the same until you actually are there.

 

I believe that the food quality depends more on the ingredients. I really don't care who the chef is as long as the shrimp are large and crispy, the filets and prime rib are really prime and cooked as ordered, the food is served hot, etc. I know that the chef controls the recipes but most of the complaints I have seen are more related to the ingredients than the sauces.

[JJPNYC]

I agree with Giorgi-one. My main issue was with the food quality rather than preparation. So if anything, this has more to do with the purchasing agent or restaurant manager who puts in the order. A head chef can only do so much with a poor cut of beef or small shrimp.

 

I think that this is one of the areas where Celebrity is cutting some corners to save a few bucks.

[niborHS]

Its interesting to see who responds to this type of question in what way. For those of us who live in metropolitan areas, we are used to a different type of fine dining experience. Its interesting that the 2 people I most agree with are Jim, talking about Seattle (I loved Wild Ginger when we were visiting this past July), and the person from NYC, where its hard to get a bad meal at any price. Of course in NY, you can spend as much on a dinner for 2 as you can on a cabin aboard ship, if you go to a place like Alain Ducasse and order great wine. The reason that people comment on preparing for 1000 people, is that there is no way you can obtain the same quality cooking in that large a quantity, whether you are talking the creaminess of soups, or whatever. My favorite steaks are from Morton's, and you are just not going to get those on a ship. Also, there is nothing as good as fresh lobsters bought and cooked on the docks, like I have had anywhere from Nova Scotia, to the tip of Long Island. The ship's frozen lobster tails can't possibly compete with those, but I am glad that many of you like them so much anyway.

Like they always say, a bad day on a ship is better than the best day at work.

[C 2 C]

I was just about to say the same thing: it depends on the head chef.

 

The Zenith's was great, and DH thought all the beef was first quality. He liked the shrimp cocktail so much, that he ordered it every day, double portion. Our waiter had his order all written up most nights, because he knew my DH's preferences after the 2nd day. The pastries were also exceptional on the Zenith.

 

We were on the Zenith B2B in Nov 03. We just got off last Sunday... A real decline... and shrimp was no longer available every night.... at a special request baby shrimp was available... but we're driving 1200 miles to do it again next week.. HAL has also declined from our previous experience.... I think the chef's went to dumb & dumber schools... A new chef was on board the Zenith and when he toured the dining room, I told him his soups needed improvement. I'd drive further to get those cold soups available on the Infinity in Dec..... My wife told me 8 bowls of berry soup at lunch was a bit excessive.. :D

[Kathie44]

I haven't voted yet--never heard of the "high class" restaurants mentioned so can't compare.

I disagree about the desserts declining. Of course, I had only one non-chocolate dessert, a lemon tart. Another night when there was no chocolate dessert on the menu I said (kiddingly) to our waiter, "I don't suppose you have some chocolate left over from previous nights?" He chuckled and said there might be some chocolate sauce left over. So I asked him to bring me some over vanilla ice cream. Well, he went beyond the call of duty and brought out a sacher torte left over from a couple of nights before--one for me and another for the other woman chocoholic at our table. A couple of nights later he came to take my order and said formally, "Madame?" When I just smiled meaningfully at him, he said, "Chocolate! With extra sauce!" Then he brought the chocolate mousse between meringue cookies--- covered in sauce! Needless to say I slipped in a few extra $$ with his tip. I also wrote on the envelope, "Thank you for taking care of my chocolate needs." ;)

I'm the one who had beef more than anything. Prime rib 3 nights, sirloin 2, churasco steak 1, and the yummy filet mignon 1. Other nights I had the chicken, stuffed pork loin and turkey dinner (on the last night.) Every beef dish was perfect, just like on the Summit. On RCI the food is great overall, but the tenderness of the beef has been inconsistent. Others at our table were very happy with the fish and other choices. I really loved the soups, especially the creamy ones.

Now, alas, we are back to reality--starting with the dinner we had shortly after returning home--frozen pizza!

 

Explorer E. Carib. 1/12/02

Explorer W. Carib 1/18/03

Summit Alaska cruise/tour 8/3/03

Adventure S. Carib. 2/8/04

Galaxy Panama Canal 2/3/05

[celem]

Bump

[celem]

Bump

[phillipahain]

I agree much depends on the chefs and the deserts particularily depend on the excellence or otherwise of the pastry chef

 

I adore Sachertorte and had wonderful ones on previous cruises however in Feb on Galaxy it was horrendous and most of the deserts were tasteless and cardboard quality .........add on the fact the self same menus are being churned out year on year and the food gets boring

[Shirley and Les]

Is this a poll about "improved food quality" or is it an improved poll about "food quality?" :confused:

Either way, I have moved the thread to the top without saying "bump." :eek:

 

Regardless of the answer to the above, I always shiver when I hear the word "improved." It normally works out that I am going to get less of whatever I am buying while the seller's profit picture is going to improve. :rolleyes:

Les

[celem]

Is this a poll about "improved food quality" or is it an improved poll about "food quality?" :confused:

Either way, I have moved the thread to the top without saying "bump." :eek:

 

Regardless of the answer to the above, I always shiver when I hear the word "improved." It normally works out that I am going to get less of whatever I am buying while the seller's profit picture is going to improve. :rolleyes:

Les

 

The IMPROVED means "improved" over a previous poll that I posted. The improvement was in making it less subjective through the use of comparisons rather than a "score" which is very subjective.