Similar food on RCL and Celebrity?

Obviously your Celebrity escargot experience is different from my wife's. I'm not a foodie or a cook either. But Celebrity's escargot also is baked to brown the butter like RCs escargot. Most recent experience was a B2B cruise on the Equinox March 2018. Only difference is RCs escargot comes with a French baguette for dipping and Celebrity's doesn't. My wife used a similar bread from the bread basket for dipping.

My experience was on the Solstice on the Apr. 29 Hawaii-Vancouver sailing. I noticed that the Solstice did some things a little different than some of the things that I read on these boards recently. For example, they still had the Corning glass show (which was due to close on Jun. 21). Perhaps the prep of escargot was different too since they were coming from Australia cruises. All of the soda and bottled water was from Australia.

My experience was on the Solstice on the Apr. 29 Hawaii-Vancouver sailing. I noticed that the Solstice did some things a little different than some of the things that I read on these boards recently. For example, they still had the Corning glass show (which was due to close on Jun. 21). Perhaps the prep of escargot was different too since they were coming from Australia cruises. All of the soda and bottled water was from Australia.

Ok now knowing that, that very well could have been the case with your escargot. (y) On the Equinox they had the new Hollywood Hot Glass show. We didn't go. Saw the Corning show once and that was enough.

 

 

 

Equinox no longer has the glass show.

Equinox no longer has the glass show.

That's what I said. The Equinox no longer has the Corning glass show. It has been replaced with the Hollywood Hot Glass show where you can also blow your own glass piece for a price.

On our Oasis cruise...the food ( and service) in the MDR was fair to poor.. Was somewhat better when we did the Specialty dining circuit but none compared favorably to X...MDR, BLU and Specialty venues...

Although X is becoming more like Royal C.....with cutbacks in many areas, quality of food and menus are much better on X...Of course this is subjective but that's our opinion.

Hope OP enjoys it !

Also the notion that cruisers on X are mostly over 70 years of age is ridiculous !

Celebrity is a class above its sister company Royal, both in food and service. On Celebrity, the food is not just different, it is much better. We enjoyed gourmet food on all our Celebrity cruises, with lobster, jumbo prawns, etc.

Royal has more action, activities and entertainment; ideally suited for families, young and middle aged adults.

Celebrity attracts a lot of seniors over 70 years.

Over 70? Come on now that's a gross misjudgement of their customer base by a long shot.

Over 70? Come on now that's a gross misjudgement of their customer base by a long shot.

Ha ha, a little but not by much :) Out last night Equinox cruise had the oldest average age we've ever seen. None of the other ones have been like that but if this was the only Celebrity Cruise I had ever taken, I'd be able to make that statement too.

Still had fun but boy, it was a much older clientele.

They are two very different brands, that is the point. Royal targets families. Celebrity targets adults. Royal markets middle class, Celebrity markets upper middle class. That's their demographics. Royal designed with ships as the destination, Celebrity designs as the ship bringing you to port in a Mercedes. More sophisticated with assumption passenger doesn't need to be hand held or entertained hourly. Lots of terrific options on beautiful ships and terrific opportunities to meet, sit, chat and enjoy. Great choice and I'm sure you'll enjoy the differences.

Happy sailing

They are two very different brands, that is the point. Royal targets families. Celebrity targets adults. Royal markets middle class, Celebrity markets upper middle class. That's their demographics. Royal designed with ships as the destination, Celebrity designs as the ship bringing you to port in a Mercedes. More sophisticated with assumption passenger doesn't need to be hand held or entertained hourly. Lots of terrific options on beautiful ships and terrific opportunities to meet, sit, chat and enjoy. Great choice and I'm sure you'll enjoy the differences.

Happy sailing

You obviously weren’t on our Reflection Med cruise last summer. Drunken louts, bodies all over the grass, inches apart etc...sophistication, I think not! Both are mass market cruise lines so forget the upper middle class ideas, and I do think LLP has brought some of her Royal ways across to this side. But I have to agree, the average age is definitely not 70 (especially when we travel in the peak holiday seasons).

Luckily, Eclipse at Christmas was the complete opposite experience - not what I would call sophistication, but much more enjoyable for all the right reasons ;).

I have always found something good to eat on both cruise lines but I love the bread on RCCL. I love "savory bites" and the passed tray of specialty breads. Celebrity has a bread bowl on the table with limited choices. I like the choice of ice creams in the buffet on Celebrity.

Not on topic but I love the non-smoking casino in Celebrity.

You obviously weren’t on our Reflection Med cruise last summer. Drunken louts, bodies all over the grass, inches apart etc...sophistication, I think not! Both are mass market cruise lines so forget the upper middle class ideas, and I do think LLP has brought some of her Royal ways across to this side. But I have to agree, the average age is definitely not 70 (especially when we travel in the peak holiday seasons).

 

Luckily, Eclipse at Christmas was the complete opposite experience - not what I would call sophistication, but much more enjoyable for all the right reasons ;).

Reflection had a very Miami vibe party atmosphere in the Carib... tried it once ...that was enough! For some reason our experiences, on the other ships were fun but not insane

We just finished our first cruise on Royal Caribbean (Explorer of the Seas, Transpacific) after 10 Celebrity cruises. We still prefer Celebrity, but we found the two cruise lines more similar than different. The MDR food was about the same. Some of the desserts on Explorer were not X quality, particularly the creme bruile.

The Buffet on Explorer was not as good as on Celebrity, particularly the salad bar. However, Explorer had a salad bar in the MDR for lunch.

We did find some differences in the food, but the quality was very close to equal.

I agree with 4774Papa. Based on recent experience on both lines, the MDRs are very similar and the food is pretty good.

However, IMO RCI's buffet is superior to Celebrity's.

"My favorite dessert on RCL is the Grand Marnier Souffle! "

I have had that many times on Celebrity. It is not a menu item. The waiter just says "we have a special dessert tonight". Yummm

Celebrity ships we have been on (Connie, Reflection and Eclipse -next month Equinox) - they have a part of the menu where they serve "classics" - you can order every night - on the Apps side is shrimp cocktail and escargot - both good. Also on the entree side there is chicken, salmon and steak. It is nice when you find there is nothing on the rotating menu that interests you.

I have been on many RCCL cruises, but it was a long time ago when we were young. We took a break and then began Celebrity a few years ago in our 40's. I recall the food on RCCL good, but we were young and our palates not as refined. We enjoyed some HAL cruises, but always found the average age to be very old, much more so than Celebrity. We have taken an Oceania cruise and by far the best food we have had on a cruise ship. But that being said Celebrity has overall good food. We enjoyed Murano (specialty restaurant) so much last cruise we ate there 3 times. Not so impressed with Tuscan Grille. This time we plan Murano at least once (only 7 nights this time). Have some OBC to burn so was looking at Silk Harvest, but just canceled our reservation there and will decide later. While the menu looks fine, just nothing special that I couldn't get at our Thai place down the street. So will have to see. Might spend the OBC on internet.

I have lots of food pics and menus in my review thread on Celebrity Infinity.

I'm a Royal Caribbean cruiser who dabbles in Celebrity from time to time. I've always said that food is the one thing Celebrity has over Royal Caribbean

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2630520

Great. In case you don't know the Elite HHs are from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM in the Sky Lounge deck 14. The HH isn't held the first evening or during the Senior Offers party during the cruise. You will have a list in your stateroom showing all your Elite perks, hours and days for different events. Similar to RC.

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

I have always found something good to eat on both cruise lines but I love the bread on RCCL. I love "savory bites" and the passed tray of specialty breads. Celebrity has a bread bowl on the table with limited choices. I like the choice of ice creams in the buffet on Celebrity.

Not on topic but I love the non-smoking casino in Celebrity.

on RCL I always chose the regular sourdough rolls! :) Love them!

Some of the desserts on Explorer were not X quality, particularly the creme bruile..

This does not surprise me at all. Most of the time my Creme Brule on Royal comes out too soft and runny! It's not set properly. Sometimes I have gotten lucky and gotten a good one.

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

You're welcome.

... I love the bread on RCCL. I love "savory bites" and the passed tray of specialty breads. Celebrity has a bread bowl on the table with limited choices.

I totally agree about the bread! I love the sourdough rolls on all RC ships. Didn't care for the dinner rolls on Eclipse at all. (May 10-20 sailing R/T Dublin.)

Also, my four traveling companions all complained that the meats were dry in the MDR as well as the buffet. And like all cruise lines, Celebrity loves salt! Be prepared to gain a few pounds from water retention alone.

k.

on RCL I always chose the regular sourdough rolls! :) Love them!

Yes!

k.

Since Aug 2017 we have cruised 35 nights with RCL and 42 nights on Celebrity on 6 different ships of various classes.

Celebrity food service is much better in pretty much every respect except for the bread which has already been noted.

The MDR is a much higher consistent quality on the main course.

In my opinion, the Oceanview Cafe beats the Windjammer in every category (except RCL has bread pudding at every meal [emoji3]).

We are presently on Celebrity Eclipse since May 10th and I can say we have enjoyed every meal in the MDR.

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In my opinion, the Oceanview Cafe beats the Windjammer in every category (except RCL has bread pudding at every meal [emoji3]).

 

Is the Oceanview Cafe Celebrity's equivalent to RCL's Windjammer? As in, a buffet you can go to for breakfast, lunch, etc.?

That is correct, very similar concepts. Basically food stations split between different courses and cooking styles.

Self serve except for carving stations.

We only eat there for breakfast and generally use the MDR (Main Dining Room) for lunch and dinner, but you could certainly eat in the Oceanview for all meals.

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