BosoxI

The demand is so high as the economies all around the world are strengthening.

Maybe in Australia

My offerings.

 

* Breads made on ship - now frozen and ba

 

ABoatNerd

Interesting, as I have read this same comment in other threads. So on the Connie last last week, I asked the young lady who seemed to be the head waiter in Blu is this was true. She recoiled at my question and said everything was baked on board. Baked, was her term and I don't consider thawing and heating to be baking. So what is the answer. In several days I'll be on the Eclipse and I'll inquire again. The plot thickens.

I first cruised on Celebrity around 1990. I remember little about the particulars, except the shrimp cocktail comprised baby shrimp and that seemed really cheap to me. So back to Princess I went for quite a few years. Still do on occasion

Blu on Constellation must have been going through a bad patch when we were on.

 

Appalling food.

 

Pleased to see it has improved.

Just off the Connie last week and the food in Blu was well prepared.

It also was boring. Duck three days in a row, for example. Worse, there was nothing on the menu that couldn't be prepared as well by a good home cook such as me. Little challenged the chef, it seems.

The menu description varied tremendously from the plated food.

Service was excellent, as was the ambiance, compared to the barn known as the MDR.

BTW for my taste the table for two second from the window is best.

We'll be on the Eclipse for 23 days in a row coming up. Two in Blu and one cruise in Luminae. "Twill be interesting, but at least I will know it's necessary to question the waiter as to what actually will be served.

I would like to not be required to pay income taxes too!

That one I'd go for as long the government squanders what they're now getting. But on a more serious note, when did Americans become panhandlers? It seems most have their hands out. I'm well over 55 and I'll pay my own way, thank you. This is not to say that I won't search for the best deal X offers, just that I don't expect age based privilege.

Jackets at dinner are the height of impracticality. They are awkward, hot and the sleeves knock over your drink when you reach for the salt..

Not if you're sober ;););)

This was my experience also. Have you ever tasted their waffles? :cool:

No, but I've tasted their pizza:D

Unfortunately when we tried OC on the Constellation in May the service was awful and the place was only 1/2 full.

 

Can't really comment on the food as we only got our appetizer and 1 glass of wine. After sitting for 40 minutes with the dirty appetizer plates in front of us with no entree in sight & no wine service we left. Yes we flagged down a waiter, twice, who said it's coming. It didn't! A couple at an nearby table had a bit better experience they got their appe & entree but never got their wine & they to sat with dirty plates for quite awhile- they left also.

 

On the other hand we had a wonderful meal in Tuscan with very good service and that restaurant was full.

And Tuscan is cheaper, too;)

If what many posters believe is true, Celebrity will be happy to see long time customers with many benefits leave for other lines. Fill those cabins with new cruisers of any age and they'll save a lot more than by not giving Aqua cabins a bottle of water each day. I'm almost to the point of booking a TA on Regent next year. My wife is entitled to certain cost benefits which make Regent a very reasonable alternative to X.

I met a woman on the Connie last week who said prior to the cruise, Celebrity called to offer her $500 and an upgrade from Aqua to a Sky suite. She and her husband turned it down because the wanted to eat in Blu.

My jaw had hit the ground, but when I recovered, I pointed out that suites can eat in Luminae or in Blu , space permitting.

I sure wish we had received that call. We would have jumped at it. Even without the $500

Yup, after we complete our three upcoming X cruises, our next one is likely to be on Regent. I'm investigating them and MSC today.

Just booked last minute on Connie. First Celebrity cruise and very excited-based on all we have read and heard, we are hopeful X will fit us well. We do enjoy specialty restaurants on other ships. Ocean Liners looks and sounds like a worthwhile trip. Thoughts?

Ocean Liners is my favorite specialty restaurant in the X fleet. I never miss eating there at least once, regardless of having access to Blu or Luminae. The service has always been great, the ambiance can't be beat, and though we are pretty much used to the same entrees, the food has been excellent

Well I just rediscovered a classic cocktail this fall.:)

Order a Sidecar! Cognac, orange liquour, lemon juice. Shake, pour in a sugared rim martini glass... enjoy.

That's the recipe for a sidecar, alright, but what you'll get from Celebrity tastes like a mix is substituted for the lemon juice and that is a world of difference. Still a nice change from the more common cocktails but a bit too sweet for me.

I missed your 2nd post. Sorry.

 

DON

No sweat. I've also responded without reading all the following posts. It goes with the territory

Unfortunately, it seems that dressing up for dinner out is no longer the norm on land or sea. My husband and I like to go out to a nice restaurant (not just your neighborhood Olive Garden, Applebee's, or gastropub) when I'm not on call. I enjoy wearing "chic" clothing and dressing up a little, but then feel overdressed when we get there and people are wearing their shorts and sneakers. It kind of makes you feel like "why did I bother," and takes away from the idea of a special night out. I have tried to impress upon my grown sons that you clean up and dress up a little so your significant other knows you made an effort to make the night special. It saddens me that this is becoming the norm.

You are so right. When I see a well dressed man enter a fine restaurant and immediately take off his suit jacket and drape it on the chair back, I ask myself "Can't you keep the damned thing on for an hour and a half in a good restaurant?" Frankly, I blame the woman for this decline. She has the ability to make a man toe the line, believe me :D

Shredding up some veal (assuming it even is veal) and wrapping it with prosciutto and calling that Osso Buco is completely outrageous. It should have been sent back simply on principle, to let X know they cannot get away with stuff like that.

Believe me, I took my fork and spread the shredded meat on the plate, called for the waiter, and started the complaint process. If I'm in the right mood, I just might order it again next week on the Eclipse, just to see what's served.

I once ordered osso buco at Aqualina on the Azamara Journey and the dish that arrived was exactly what you described: a cylinder of shredded overly dry veal wrapped in proscuitto and no bone for marrow. Oddly, osso buco was on the MDR menu a few nights later and it was d one right with the bone and a side of saffron risotto.

Sounds like you ate in the Galleria :p Risotto. I used to make various types for my foodie friends. They loved it so much, they actually bought me a new pot to prepare it in. And then there is polenta and tripa with a side of aged gorgonzola. I'm making myself hungry:D

Did you tell them that what they served was unacceptable and then ordered something else. If you did not do this, you became part of the problem.

 

DON

Don, Did you read what I wrote? I spent some time giving a quite detailed synopsis of what I said and to whom.

Jennie, The Hawaiian salmon was excellent.

Warmwinds, The menu described classic ossobucco prerparation.

Az Tcr, I won't argue the point, but I know I've had ossobuco on an X ship earlier this year, because I remember pointing out to my wife the chunk of marrow I was about to devour. It might have been on the Reflection, and it might have been a lamb shank, not veal, but it definitely was a reasonable attempt at the classic preparation.

I am almost to the point where getting a good veranda cabin and spending the savings on specialty restaurants at least half of the cruise is the best way to go. Oceanliners on the Connie is absolutely my favorite X restaurant for ambiance, service and food preparation. We ate there only once this trip, but I let every employee I encountered there know how much I enjoy eating in their restaurant. Their faces beamed. Murano on the larger ships has been good, and I've even come to enjoy Qsine, something I never thought would happen. Tuscan Grill is just OK for me, as I've been spoiled by Princess and a Mother of Northern Italian descent who was a master in the kitchen. That's probably why I'm so fussy about osso buco.

Do designer jeans even come in sizes that would fit the average Celebrity cruiser? I believe the older one gets, the more it becomes necessary to dress well, so as to cover the physical faults that can accompany the ageing process. Once a guy's belt line goes down and under his paunch, any idea of chic goes out the window in my estimate.

The battle to maintain some form of dress standards has been lost. It's time to tilt with other windmills. My favorite would be table manners. :)

Try Ocean Liners, My favorite specialty restaurant in the X fleet.

There oughta be a law against it!!!

There will be if certain politicians get their way

There was no mix up in the order. This was the only hot soup offered. My wife's was served first, and she immediately noted the lack of chicken or coconut. Mine came several minutes later, and nothing had changed. There were a few small slices of mushroom floating in an indescribable liquid. I don't know what it was meant to be.

Of course, when the "ossobuco" arrived I told the waiter it was not ossobuco. He had no explanation. I wouldn't expect him to have one unless the chef advised him of it. The head waiter arrived almost immediately and I went through the same explanation with her. She left and the maître d'hôtel came on the scene and for the third time in four minutes I explained the situation. Again, no explanation was offered but there was an offer to replace the meal. I would expect that. I will say at this point, I could not have been calmer. At no time was I upset, nor did I even raise my voice. I even said to the maître d'hotel that the dining room staff was put in an awkward and untenable position which wasn't fair to them. Maybe I should have called for the chef, but I didn't think it necessary to create a possible scene.

On the subject of the Blu menu, there's more. Duck was served in some form three nights in a row. Yes, for you Celebrity apologists, while waiting to be seated, I certainly mentioned this to the maître d'hôtel who wanly said it wasn't the same dish every night. True, but it was duck. Celebrity must have gotten a fantastic deal on that poor fowl.

.The Blu menu was pedestrian at best. Nothing exceptional was offered. My old favorite lamb chops were excellent, as they always seem to be. I had a wonderful Hawaiian salmon one night and in general the food was well prepared, though DW struck out with a super bland vegetarian dish one evening. I didn't even bother with dessert, as they didn't appeal to me, but my wife raved about the lava cake.

We'll be back on the Eclipse in ten days for three back to backs, two in Blu and one in Luminae. I am not looking forward to the dining experience . I hope my concern is unfounded. We are not complainers but we do know good food, properly prepared. I am glad I addressed the issue, as my tendency is to pass off a disappointing meal as just one of those things.

We left the Connie yesterday, having eaten eight times in Blu where we noticed the description on the menu did not always match the food on the table. On the last night, for example, the menu contained "Spicy chicken and Coconut Soup".. It sounded pretty interesting until it was served. It contained no chicken or coconut, a pretty drastic difference, I'd say. I ordered osso buco, one of my favorite dishes. It means "bone with a hole" and I always look forward to scooping out the marrow. But not in Blu. What I was served was the same shredded meat wrapped with prosciutto that is regularly served in the MDR under a different name. There was not a bone in sight, and the dish was not even close to the classic Milanese dish known as ossobuco .

If the food being offered is not what is described on the menu, the waiter should be so advised by the chef, so the diner can make an informed decision. For those who think dining in Blu is something special, I can only say "Think again"

I'm new to AQ (Jan sailing) but are they still bringing the daily tea?

Yes, there still is tea. I drink it but DW won't touch it. Of course, water is available by other means, but that's not the point.

Just off the Connie and never got a whiff except when a smoker plopped down near my wife in the theater. This is a non issue.

Just off the Connie yesterday and though I had no business requirements, I found the wifi to be very good. With only one exception did I have a bit of difficulty in connecting.

I only used it in my cabin on deck 11. Could that have had an effect?