Solstice 1/17 Voyage The good and the bad.

[cobalt206]

I posted this on the review section but I thought I should also post here since I have been getting rebuttals on the food quality. Were we the only table on the entire ship to have below average dinners in the Grand Epernay? My wife and I are both stunned how bad the food was, yet others are saying it was excellent? Were we eating the same food? I don't think it could vary from table to table or early to late seating. I know it is highly subjective but we have never had a bad food experience in our past 8 cruises. I suspect it is the new larger ships that are the root of the problem and X has not figured out how to handle the larger passenger load ... my review is below:

 

We are in our late forties and recently empty nesters. This was our ninth cruise and first experience on Celebrity. We chose Celebrity as friends and family have spoken very highly about them, especially for great food and service.

 

Disembarkation: This was very smooth and simple. We flew a red eye from Seattle, took a cab to Port Everglades and were on board within about 15 minutes. For a ship this size, one could not expect anything better.

 

Cabin: Our cabin was ready as promised by 1:00pm and we had ample time to eat lunch and explore the ship prior to finding our aft Sunset Verandah cabin (7317). The cabin was excellent, especially the bathroom that was the nicest we have ever had on a cruise. There was plenty of storage and we never felt cramped. The bed was very comfortable and we slept extremely well. We love aft cabins especially for the balconies. We ate breakfast from room service almost every morning. The room service was quick and we only ordered fruit, pastries and coffee and all were fine. We enjoyed wine on the balcony every evening and made friends with some of the neighbors as the privacy is not as good as other aft balconies. This was not a problem for us but might be for others. There is only about one foot of overhang so the aft balconies are very exposed. While seated close to the door, you will have privacy. We did not have any rain on our voyage so we really did not mind having the exposure as we like the sun. If you want a more shaded balcony, these aft locations are not for you.

 

Service: The overall service onboard was excellent. Our cabin attendant was very thoughtful and went out of his way to greet us and cater to any need we requested. The overall staff was very friendly and helpful. Our waiter in the Grand Epernay was not the best but he was ok but very difficult to understand with his sharp accent. The assistant waiter was outstanding and should have been the head waiter. The sommelier was good and helfpul too.

 

Food: One word describes this, "Disappointed". After hearing how great Celebrity is with their fine dining, our expectations were set pretty high. We were prepared to have one of our best dining experiences ever on a cruise. Instead, this was by FAR the worst food we have ever had on a cruise. We've cruised 5 times on RCCL and once each with Carnival, Windstar and Princess. While we did not expect the cuisine to match Windstar, we thought it would be better than the other three ... not even close. I believe there are some major problems in the kitchen on this ship. Friends who have sailed Celebrity have only sailed their smaller ships and perhaps the larger ship has caught them into a transition they are not prepared for. Our entire table of eight was extremely disappointed with the food in the main dining room and the other three couples were Celebrity regulars. They are all seriously considering never returning to Celebrity after this experience. While we consider ourselves, "Foodies", we also realize its difficult to feed 1000 people per shift and maintain high QC standards. Our last cruise on a similar size ship was FAR SUPERIOR in taste, presentation and cooked properly to order. The food served at Grand Epernay was bland, not cooked to order and in some cases, not really desirable to eat. We did go to The Tuscan Grille twice and it was EXCELLENT!! This was the type of food we expected from Celebrity in the main dining room. We had one breakfast at the Bistro on 5 at that was also very good. The Mast Grill by the pool served decent quality burgers, fries and onion rings. The Oceanview Cafe buffet was sub standard in my opinion. The traffic flowed well and they offered several choices but again, the quality was marginal. I did not try the sushi but was warned by others to stay away if you like real sushi. Sorry for the negative stuff but I'm telling it like it is. We appreciate good cooking and expected much better. I hope Celebrity can figure this out soon because they are going to lose loyal customers if they keep this up. As a business owner, if I knew my company was delivering poor quality or service, it would get fixed pronto or heads roll. Celebrity has worked hard to earn their reputation and this needs to be addressed right away.

 

Entertainment: Average. The Solstice singers and dancers were sub par compared to previous cruises. Karen Grainger was the lone highlight and her act is of Vegas headliner quality. She is a singer/impressionist and she really puts on a great show. We decided to try the comedy show Friday night at midnight. We got there 5 minutes early to get seats, only to find the comedien (forgot his name already) did not show up till 12:15am. Then the show started and he was not funny AT ALL. I think the entire audience felt sorry for him. We would have left but I felt embarrased for him so we endured this painful and not funny show. The Sizzle party dance by the pool one evening was fun and entertaining. Most of the entertainment was by fellow passengers who all had a great time.

 

Ports:

 

San Juan - We waited over an hour (by design) to get off the ship. This worked perfectly as we were able to explore the entire ship and take many pictures with no other people around. Once we left the ship, we just walked around and shopped. Been to this port several times so not much more to see or do.

 

St Maarten - We booked a snorkel tour though an independent company, Captain Alan's charters. Alan and Colleen are fantastic and they arranged easy transportation for the pier over to the Oyster Bay Marina. There were about 24 people and they split us into tow groups on two comfortable boats. We snorkeled at two reefs and the water was crystal clear, teeming with many tropical fish and lots of coral. Alan also took us to a remote beach for a mudbath. This was a lot of fun and really exhilarated the skin. Finally, we stopped for a short visit to Pinal Island on our way back. For $69 plus cab, this was a greta 4 hour tour that is an excellent value. For those who don't like excursions with hordes of people, this is perfect.

 

Tortola - We really wanted to go the The Baths at Virgin Gorda but I got concerned that this would be the excursion most people would opt for. I was right, they had several busloads of people going to the Baths and I heard from some that they did enjoy but it was too many people. We decided to go to Jost Van Dyk through Celebrity as we did not want to chance missing the boat on a very short stay. We made a GREAT decision. We took a 5 minute cab then a 30 minute boat ride to White Bay. They dropped us off with chaise chairs, a BBQ lunch and a drink. This beach is postcard perfect and famous for visits by Jimmy Buffet and Kenny Chesney. We sauntered down the beach to the Soggy Dollar Bar and started drinking "Painkillers" at 9am, and they went down easy. Mic the bartender is a hoot and the other customers were fun to chat with. Too bad we could not spend all day here. We were tempted to stay here and fly back to FLL as we were very apprehensive going to Haiti.

 

Labadee - We had mixed emotions visiting Labadee with the terrible tragedy just 10 days old with maybe 200,000 dead and many others suffering. We agree with RCCL/Celebrity wanting to stop here to help the Haitians with supplies as well as donating all proceeds from Labadee to charities. We felt a little guilty for going on shore to enjoy ourselves. I inquired with guest relations and the shore excursion desk to see if we could volunteer our time to do anything to help. There were no options other than to donate money and purchase items while on shore. So we did go to the beach and made the most of the day. They have made some nice improvements since our last visit. This is truly a beautiful place, you would never know the devastating destruction is less than 100 miles away ... very sad. It would be great to see a shore excursion developed for passengers to volunteer their time to do anything like packing boxes or something to feel like you are helping out in the humanatarian efforts. I'm not suggesting going to Port au Prince as the security and liabilty and timing would not make this possible. But anything else that would be constructive and make people feel better about the entire tragedy would be a nice option for some.

 

Disembarkation: This went very smoothly and we were off the ship in no time and breezed through customs. We were in a cab within 15 minutes and headed to the Doubletree Hotel for one night. We had the best dinner of the week (even better than Tuscan Grill)at Casablanca in Ft Lauderdale. If you get a chance, do yourself a favor and try this place, you will not be disappointed.

 

Overall, we had a great vacation. The ship is the nicest we have sailed and the service was excellent. If not for the bad food experiences in the main dining room, the trip would have been perfect. I truly hope Celebrity can get to the root of the problem in their kitchen. I doubt I would sail on Solstice again due to the poor food quality. We might try one of Celebrity's smaller ships if I can be reassured the food is better than what we just experienced. While we did not expect 5 star dining, we were dismayed to get food probably worse than Applebees, Red Lobster, Olive Garden ,et al.

[caribbeanboy]

Here you see how subjective food is. For me it was one of my best cruises when it comes to food and this was my 20th cruise in less than 3 years , so I have plenty of recent comparison. Don't know what you ate, but found the food darn good for a cruise ship!

 

However I must agree with you on the sushi that I never touched one b/c it didn't look appetizing to me. Dessert in the Seaview cafe I found subpar, but in the diningroom I found it surprisingly better.

[Gracie115]

I'm still writing my review of same cruise but must agree with caribbeanboy that we thought the food was great on this cruise. Granted we were in Blu, but hard to believe the quality is that much different. If it is I am EVEN more grateful that we were in Aqua Class. We have cruised about 12 times all between Royal & X, but all Royal for the last 5 years. It was wonderful coming back to Celebrity and experiencing the higher level of food and service. My DH and I kept commenting all week at how much better the food was, including the buffet which DH has hated on Royal for years now. Choices and quality of food were much better on Solstice in our opinion.

 

Agree with you about Tuscan Grill, it was very good and worth the surcharge. Also like Bistro on 5 too.

 

We loved the Solstice, glad you liked the ship if not the food....

[Texed]

Thanks for posting. :)

[Solstice23]

Good thing you were not on the Caribbean Princess this past August, If you thought the food on the solstice along with your "table" was that bad you would have starved on Caribbean Princess this past summer. I take food with a grain of salt, if all the reviews were coming back with awful food ratings I would be nervous but thats not the case. Perhaps your waiter did not help the situation.

 

The passenger to ship ratio is better on Solstice then any Princess ship or even the Smaller Celebrity Century and Mercury

[txsloth]

I thought the food on Equinox in December was the best we'd had on a cruise. I think a trick to know is to listen to what your waiter is suggesting. On my cruise, when people went with what he said was excellent that night, no one was disappointed. He would subtly (sometimes not subtly) let us know if we'd ordered something that wasn't up to par that night.

[Gracie115]

I thought the food on Equinox in December was the best we'd had on a cruise. I think a trick to know is to listen to what your waiter is suggesting. On my cruise, when people went with what he said was excellent that night, no one was disappointed. He would subtly (sometimes not subtly) let us know if we'd ordered something that wasn't up to par that night.

 

 

You're exactly right....my husband tried to order an entree one night and the waiter said..."NO, I won't bring that to you, unless you demand it, you won't like it!" Now.. we had become very comfortable with the waiter and I doubt they would all be so adamant but he was and my husband listened and wound up with something else he was very happy with.

[txsloth]

You're exactly right....my husband tried to order an entree one night and the waiter said..."NO, I won't bring that to you, unless you demand it, you won't like it!" Now.. we had become very comfortable with the waiter and I doubt they would all be so adamant but he was and my husband listened and wound up with something else he was very happy with.

 

Very true--the hints became less and less subtle as we became friendlier with our waiter.

[Jen & Kim]

We are thinking of booking the excursion to Jost Van Dyk. How many people were on the excursion with you?

[madelinerose]

I thought the food on Equinox in December was the best we'd had on a cruise. I think a trick to know is to listen to what your waiter is suggesting. On my cruise, when people went with what he said was excellent that night, no one was disappointed. He would subtly (sometimes not subtly) let us know if we'd ordered something that wasn't up to par that night.

 

Land or sea, we always ask what the waiter recommends. ;)

[Orator]

I was on the same cruise and loved every meal in Blu. The final night we asked for Filet and one of the waiters went to the MDR to get it. I would describe it as only fair. Perhaps some of the problem was the time it took to reach us. In recent years I have found my meals on Celebrity superior to meals on other mainstream lines. I feel that I'm geeting a good value for my money, that's why Celebrity has become my cruiseline of choice.

[cobalt206]

Orator,

 

On the final night several at our table had the filet including my wife. My wife was the only one who did not send her's back. Her's was cooked ok but it was very bland. As it turns out, Tuscan Grille uses "Prime" while the MDR uses "Choice". There's a big difference and there is also a difference from vendor to vendor. I'm not suggesting that the MDR use "Prime" as this is not cost effective. Even an Outback Steakhouse knows how to cook a lower grade steak and make it presentable. I'm not a big fan of Outback but their steak quality was far better than any of the steak dishes we ate in the MDR. Four other tablemates ordered the filet as their first orders were all rejected including: Ahi asked to be seared and rare in the middle (I knew they would screw that one so I did not order), sure enough it looked like it had been cooked for an hour. Another person had the turkey and it was turkey roll, a total disgusting joke and the other two had the pasta dish with spinach. Well the two pasta dishes did not come with spinach, instead it had bagged salad thrown on top! We all burst out laughing in total surprise! These two ladies as well as the other two meals were all traded for four filets. NONE of the filets were cooked to order, they were all WELL DONE! This evening was a disaster.

 

I only sent one item back in the five nights. It was the Lobster Bisque which I am very fond of when done properly. The bisque I received onboard was not edible and had a foul odor. For the most part, I just ate a lot less than normal and ended up not gaining weight on the cruise (how does that happen). The only dish in the MDR that I remember being decent was the first night I had the lamb Shank and it was pretty good. The other four nights were just really fair at best. Our waiter was not very communicative and perhaps a better waiter could have steered us in better directions. We tried a variety of different appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and deserts and nothing stood out as exceptional, save the two meals at Tuscan Grille. I guess my expectations were too high?

[Woobstr112G]

I posted this on the review section but I thought I should also post here since I have been getting rebuttals on the food quality. Were we the only table on the entire ship to have below average dinners in the Grand Epernay? My wife and I are both stunned how bad the food was, yet others are saying it was excellent? Were we eating the same food? I don't think it could vary from table to table or early to late seating. I know it is highly subjective but we have never had a bad food experience in our past 8 cruises. I suspect it is the new larger ships that are the root of the problem and X has not figured out how to handle the larger passenger load ... my review is below:

 

We are in our late forties and recently empty nesters. This was our ninth cruise and first experience on Celebrity. We chose Celebrity as friends and family have spoken very highly about them, especially for great food and service.

 

Disembarkation: This was very smooth and simple. We flew a red eye from Seattle, took a cab to Port Everglades and were on board within about 15 minutes. For a ship this size, one could not expect anything better.

 

Cabin: Our cabin was ready as promised by 1:00pm and we had ample time to eat lunch and explore the ship prior to finding our aft Sunset Verandah cabin (7317). The cabin was excellent, especially the bathroom that was the nicest we have ever had on a cruise. There was plenty of storage and we never felt cramped. The bed was very comfortable and we slept extremely well. We love aft cabins especially for the balconies. We ate breakfast from room service almost every morning. The room service was quick and we only ordered fruit, pastries and coffee and all were fine. We enjoyed wine on the balcony every evening and made friends with some of the neighbors as the privacy is not as good as other aft balconies. This was not a problem for us but might be for others. There is only about one foot of overhang so the aft balconies are very exposed. While seated close to the door, you will have privacy. We did not have any rain on our voyage so we really did not mind having the exposure as we like the sun. If you want a more shaded balcony, these aft locations are not for you.

 

Service: The overall service onboard was excellent. Our cabin attendant was very thoughtful and went out of his way to greet us and cater to any need we requested. The overall staff was very friendly and helpful. Our waiter in the Grand Epernay was not the best but he was ok but very difficult to understand with his sharp accent. The assistant waiter was outstanding and should have been the head waiter. The sommelier was good and helfpul too.

 

Food: One word describes this, "Disappointed". After hearing how great Celebrity is with their fine dining, our expectations were set pretty high. We were prepared to have one of our best dining experiences ever on a cruise. Instead, this was by FAR the worst food we have ever had on a cruise. We've cruised 5 times on RCCL and once each with Carnival, Windstar and Princess. While we did not expect the cuisine to match Windstar, we thought it would be better than the other three ... not even close. I believe there are some major problems in the kitchen on this ship. Friends who have sailed Celebrity have only sailed their smaller ships and perhaps the larger ship has caught them into a transition they are not prepared for. Our entire table of eight was extremely disappointed with the food in the main dining room and the other three couples were Celebrity regulars. They are all seriously considering never returning to Celebrity after this experience. While we consider ourselves, "Foodies", we also realize its difficult to feed 1000 people per shift and maintain high QC standards. Our last cruise on a similar size ship was FAR SUPERIOR in taste, presentation and cooked properly to order. The food served at Grand Epernay was bland, not cooked to order and in some cases, not really desirable to eat. We did go to The Tuscan Grille twice and it was EXCELLENT!! This was the type of food we expected from Celebrity in the main dining room. We had one breakfast at the Bistro on 5 at that was also very good. The Mast Grill by the pool served decent quality burgers, fries and onion rings. The Oceanview Cafe buffet was sub standard in my opinion. The traffic flowed well and they offered several choices but again, the quality was marginal. I did not try the sushi but was warned by others to stay away if you like real sushi. Sorry for the negative stuff but I'm telling it like it is. We appreciate good cooking and expected much better. I hope Celebrity can figure this out soon because they are going to lose loyal customers if they keep this up. As a business owner, if I knew my company was delivering poor quality or service, it would get fixed pronto or heads roll. Celebrity has worked hard to earn their reputation and this needs to be addressed right away.

 

Entertainment: Average. The Solstice singers and dancers were sub par compared to previous cruises. Karen Grainger was the lone highlight and her act is of Vegas headliner quality. She is a singer/impressionist and she really puts on a great show. We decided to try the comedy show Friday night at midnight. We got there 5 minutes early to get seats, only to find the comedien (forgot his name already) did not show up till 12:15am. Then the show started and he was not funny AT ALL. I think the entire audience felt sorry for him. We would have left but I felt embarrased for him so we endured this painful and not funny show. The Sizzle party dance by the pool one evening was fun and entertaining. Most of the entertainment was by fellow passengers who all had a great time.

 

Ports:

 

San Juan - We waited over an hour (by design) to get off the ship. This worked perfectly as we were able to explore the entire ship and take many pictures with no other people around. Once we left the ship, we just walked around and shopped. Been to this port several times so not much more to see or do.

 

St Maarten - We booked a snorkel tour though an independent company, Captain Alan's charters. Alan and Colleen are fantastic and they arranged easy transportation for the pier over to the Oyster Bay Marina. There were about 24 people and they split us into tow groups on two comfortable boats. We snorkeled at two reefs and the water was crystal clear, teeming with many tropical fish and lots of coral. Alan also took us to a remote beach for a mudbath. This was a lot of fun and really exhilarated the skin. Finally, we stopped for a short visit to Pinal Island on our way back. For $69 plus cab, this was a greta 4 hour tour that is an excellent value. For those who don't like excursions with hordes of people, this is perfect.

 

Tortola - We really wanted to go the The Baths at Virgin Gorda but I got concerned that this would be the excursion most people would opt for. I was right, they had several busloads of people going to the Baths and I heard from some that they did enjoy but it was too many people. We decided to go to Jost Van Dyk through Celebrity as we did not want to chance missing the boat on a very short stay. We made a GREAT decision. We took a 5 minute cab then a 30 minute boat ride to White Bay. They dropped us off with chaise chairs, a BBQ lunch and a drink. This beach is postcard perfect and famous for visits by Jimmy Buffet and Kenny Chesney. We sauntered down the beach to the Soggy Dollar Bar and started drinking "Painkillers" at 9am, and they went down easy. Mic the bartender is a hoot and the other customers were fun to chat with. Too bad we could not spend all day here. We were tempted to stay here and fly back to FLL as we were very apprehensive going to Haiti.

 

Labadee - We had mixed emotions visiting Labadee with the terrible tragedy just 10 days old with maybe 200,000 dead and many others suffering. We agree with RCCL/Celebrity wanting to stop here to help the Haitians with supplies as well as donating all proceeds from Labadee to charities. We felt a little guilty for going on shore to enjoy ourselves. I inquired with guest relations and the shore excursion desk to see if we could volunteer our time to do anything to help. There were no options other than to donate money and purchase items while on shore. So we did go to the beach and made the most of the day. They have made some nice improvements since our last visit. This is truly a beautiful place, you would never know the devastating destruction is less than 100 miles away ... very sad. It would be great to see a shore excursion developed for passengers to volunteer their time to do anything like packing boxes or something to feel like you are helping out in the humanatarian efforts. I'm not suggesting going to Port au Prince as the security and liabilty and timing would not make this possible. But anything else that would be constructive and make people feel better about the entire tragedy would be a nice option for some.

 

Disembarkation: This went very smoothly and we were off the ship in no time and breezed through customs. We were in a cab within 15 minutes and headed to the Doubletree Hotel for one night. We had the best dinner of the week (even better than Tuscan Grill)at Casablanca in Ft Lauderdale. If you get a chance, do yourself a favor and try this place, you will not be disappointed.

 

Overall, we had a great vacation. The ship is the nicest we have sailed and the service was excellent. If not for the bad food experiences in the main dining room, the trip would have been perfect. I truly hope Celebrity can get to the root of the problem in their kitchen. I doubt I would sail on Solstice again due to the poor food quality. We might try one of Celebrity's smaller ships if I can be reassured the food is better than what we just experienced. While we did not expect 5 star dining, we were dismayed to get food probably worse than Applebees, Red Lobster, Olive Garden ,et al.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Hopefully the food issues will be fixed soon.....

 

Bob

[Orator]

Orator,

 

On the final night several at our table had the filet including my wife. My wife was the only one who did not send her's back. Her's was cooked ok but it was very bland. As it turns out, Tuscan Grille uses "Prime" while the MDR uses "Choice". There's a big difference and there is also a difference from vendor to vendor. I'm not suggesting that the MDR use "Prime" as this is not cost effective. Even an Outback Steakhouse knows how to cook a lower grade steak and make it presentable. I'm not a big fan of Outback but their steak quality was far better than any of the steak dishes we ate in the MDR. Four other tablemates ordered the filet as their first orders were all rejected including: Ahi asked to be seared and rare in the middle (I knew they would screw that one so I did not order), sure enough it looked like it had been cooked for an hour. Another person had the turkey and it was turkey roll, a total disgusting joke and the other two had the pasta dish with spinach. Well the two pasta dishes did not come with spinach, instead it had bagged salad thrown on top! We all burst out laughing in total surprise! These two ladies as well as the other two meals were all traded for four filets. NONE of the filets were cooked to order, they were all WELL DONE! This evening was a disaster.

 

I only sent one item back in the five nights. It was the Lobster Bisque which I am very fond of when done properly. The bisque I received onboard was not edible and had a foul odor. For the most part, I just ate a lot less than normal and ended up not gaining weight on the cruise (how does that happen). The only dish in the MDR that I remember being decent was the first night I had the lamb Shank and it was pretty good. The other four nights were just really fair at best. Our waiter was not very communicative and perhaps a better waiter could have steered us in better directions. We tried a variety of different appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and deserts and nothing stood out as exceptional, save the two meals at Tuscan Grille. I guess my expectations were too high?

 

I specifically spoke to the Head Waiter in Blu about the quaility of meats. He told me that all the beef is "Select" and is purchased from the same distributor.The difference is in the preparation. Each location uses a different recipe. Some us ovens, some pan fry. Sauces abd soups are also prepared differently. For example, Onion soup is cream base in Murano, water base in the MDR.

[JRT5000]

Thanks for your review Cobalt206. I was sorry to hear of the poor quality of food in the MDR and buffet. We will be on the Solstice this weekend and have been worried about the food since we booked. On our last two Celebrity cruises (Summit & Constellation), the food was very poor but we wanted to give Celebrity one more shot before leaving them permanently. What days in particular would you recommend eating in the specialty restaurants?

 

Thanks

[Solstice23]

Thanks for your review Cobalt206. I was sorry to hear of the poor quality of food in the MDR and buffet. We will be on the Solstice this weekend and have been worried about the food since we booked. On our last two Celebrity cruises (Summit & Constellation), the food was very poor but we wanted to give Celebrity one more shot before leaving them permanently. What days in particular would you recommend eating in the specialty restaurants?

 

Thanks

have you also read the other bunch of reviews from the past few weeks indicating great food? Its nice to go thinking more on the posistive is the way I see it. Food is subjective and I really believe one person can have a great dinner while the next table does not, it can happen.

 

genreally these days on any large ship cruise line I feel if you are a foodie then book the specialty restaurants as much as possbile. If you are a foodie and would like to eat in a regular dinning venue try the following lines. Azamara, Oceania, Regent, Crystal etcMy mom swears they are great, but like the selction of Celebirty best when going to a large ship even over the Quenn Mary

 

Enjoy your cruise Possibly upgrade to BLU I heard from my friends just getting back it was the best food in 30 cruises.

[firstplacechef]

Select Meats!!!! That is what they use for school cafeterias. For the stews and braised dishes that would not be a problem, but surely they at least use choice cuts for the steaks.

[danacline]

My first cruise on Celebrity was the Millennium in November, and we also had food issues. One was with the beef - either not cooked to order, or too tough. Conversely, the churrasco steak and filet mignon were perfect. The salmon was good, other fish less so due to the addition of non-fish items (the flounder had a "salmon mousse"...say what?). Soups were hit or miss - some just didn't have much flavor. I generally found the buffet to be excellent and varied for breakfast and lunch.

 

On the galley tour, we found out that the fleet has standardized their menus, so supposedly a meal would taste the same no matter which ship or where. I'm not sure I like this idea. It may be the reason we had issues, or it just could be that ship, that week, that waiter, or maybe the phase of the moon. I'll certainly sail Celebrity again but will be a little wary of MDR food.

 

Further details including menus on my web site.

[jd1966]

We were on the Solstice for the January 17th cruise and thought the food in the MDR was excellent! Also thought that the food in the Oceanview was quite good. Oh well, must be all those lo cal meals we eat at home. It's also possible that I don't go into the MDR pretending to be a gourmet cook and analyze everthing I eat. The only issue we had was one overcooked steak which we sent back and my wife opted for something else. No issue, problem resolved. Actually, had that happen at Outback too. Go figure!

[cobalt206]

Jen & Kim - There were only about twenty people that did this excursion. It was very memorable and i would love to spend a week at the Sandscatle Bungalows at this beach. The prcie is $3000 (for 2) with meals for a week, about the price you would pay on a cruise.

the place is very casual, you will only need shorts, t-shirts, bathing suit and flip flops.

 

JRT5000 - It's hard to answer that because the MDR was pretty consistently below average every night. If I were to do it again, i would just pay the extra fees and stay in the specialty restaurants. We loved Tuscan Grille but we also dropped $400 in there for two dinners and two bottles of wine. If you are on a budget, you might consider Bistro on 5 for $5 you at least get food cooked to order. They have some decent crepes filled with a variety of meats, eggs, fruits and vegetables. Not really my choice for dinner but never the less our one breakfast there was good. Seems like eveybody has good things to say about Blu so maybe you should consider upgrading to Aqua class and try this venue. If you are a fan of Applebees and Olive Garden, you might find the MDR acceptable. Keep in mind if you toggle between MDR and specialty venues, you still get all tips billed to your account for 7 nights in the MDR. The two nights at Tuscan we had 15% tips added to the bill but I also gave another $20 each night for exceptional service. We also paid the MDR staff those two nights so i believe we tipped somewhere around 40% those two nights. If you plan to eat a lot at the specialty places, you should ask guest services to allow you to tip out on your own. I'm not suggesting lowering tips because the service all around was very good, but I think its stupid to pay tips for services not rendered.

 

Regarding the meat quality, our waiter, Sylvanus in Tuscan Grill who was excellent told me the beef in Tuscan is indeed, "PRIME" while the MDR was "CHOICE". Choice is not bad but it can be bad from certain suppliers. I don't think the problem was as much the quality of the beef as the poor execution in the kitchen. They need Gordon Ramsey to come in and kick some a@*.

[KKCruisers]

I'm still writing my review of same cruise but must agree with caribbeanboy that we thought the food was great on this cruise. Granted we were in Blu, but hard to believe the quality is that much different. If it is I am EVEN more grateful that we were in Aqua Class. We have cruised about 12 times all between Royal & X, but all Royal for the last 5 years. It was wonderful coming back to Celebrity and experiencing the higher level of food and service. My DH and I kept commenting all week at how much better the food was, including the buffet which DH has hated on Royal for years now. Choices and quality of food were much better on Solstice in our opinion.

 

Agree with you about Tuscan Grill, it was very good and worth the surcharge. Also like Bistro on 5 too.

 

We loved the Solstice, glad you liked the ship if not the food....

 

Hi Gracie, Still waiting for your review. I have a few questions I hope you don't mind answering.

1. What time do the shows start? (trying to decide what time to dine)

2. Do the nightclubs close early. (We were in Hawaii and the NCL closed clubs at 12)

3. Do they have a Captains Night or coctail party prior to dinner. (some of the other cruises we have taken had these)

4. Which restaurant do you sugest we book for my birthday dinner? My husband wants to take me to someplace special.

Thanks so much for your help. I'm sure after I read your review I will have more questions. I know you went to Blu, but would you suggest taking the early, late or special dinning?

Fiannly going to book today. I have done a lot of research and this is the one we want.

Thanks again,

Katt