Why *some* passengers complain about MDR - my theory

[middlehaitch]

Boy you guys are really making me analyze the food I ate on Celebrity.

In retrospect I found the 2009 Solstice Mediterranean food more exotic/spicy than the 2010 Mercury Caribbean. Just the opposite of what I expected.

Here is the menu for this year posted on another thread by unixgeek.

h.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=32231741&postcount=187

[n2wdw]

As I've gotten older I've eaten at better restaurants and my standards have changed. So restaurants I used to think were great are just okay now, but not great. I wonder if this is a factor for people who say the food has gotten worse over time.

 

I agree with the original post that eating too much diminishes from the experience. Last April we cruised on Disney and I ate multiples of some of the courses, and I didn't enjoy it as much as the year before on Disney when I thought the food was great. I finally realized the food hadn't changed, I just didn't enjoy it as much because my palate was fatigued from all the food.

 

I remember a cruise we went on Crystal back in 2005. We'd gotten a free upgrade from our TA, so each night before dinner we had a huge serving of caviar and sushi while getting dressed. By the end of the cruise we were sick of the food. It was great, but you just get tired of all the food.

 

We're going on our first Celebrity cruise in a couple of months, and our expectations for the MDR are hopeful. Looking at the menus, the food looks pretty good. But I think a key is what other people have said, which is to eat light and maybe leave each meal a little hungry. At breakfast, I'm going to try to eat fruit and maybe one good thing, at lunch the same thing, and then at dinner eat a single appetizer and entree, and no dessert.

[ghstudio]

I agree with the thought that Celebrity has cut down on the salt, but unfortunately, it seems that the only change they made to their recipes is reduced salt. Cooking with less salt is easy, but the chef's challenge is to use other spices a bit more generously. As I think about it, that's just what Celebrity didn't do.....there's been no adjustment to recipes for the new "low salt" cooking...and the current MDR food (equinox, Dec 2012) is pretty bland. Adding salt at the end does not correct for too little salt during cooking. That was the first cruise where I added salt to most every dish served, and often some pepper. Good food is tasty food...not food that sounds good on a menu and then is served relatively bland and dull.

 

Murano and Tuscan do better and you get seasoned food. I'm not even comparing the quality of the food....the food they serve is tasty....unlike the MDR which seems to assume that everyone wants no salt, no pepper, and very little seasoning.

 

I continue to sail celebrity (4 cruises planned, but I'm now booking aqua class because the extra cost is not all that much and the food is prepared with seasoning)....and yes, we're in the MDR for a transatlantic because the deal on the cc cabin was terrific. We'll just eat in Murano/Tuscan more often....

[artmc]

I never went on a cruise until 2004, so I can't talk about the good old days. And I've never been on Celebrity (that changes in 10 days....can't wait!), but have done (and enjoyed) four Carnival cruises. As some have mentioned already, the great thing about cruising is the options. On one of the formal nights on my first cruise, we were waiting in line with a sophisticated, well-dressed woman who mentioned that this was her first night in the dining room. I asked her why she hadn't gone before, and she replied that she works in an office and dresses up all week. For her, dressing up for dinner on a holiday wasn't appealing. She was happy eating in shorts and a t-shirt at the buffet.

 

So why, I politely asked, was she coming to this dinner.

 

She smiled and said "one word....Lobster."

 

I'm sure there were people who never entered the dining room at all, even for the lobster.

 

On the other hand, DW and I love the formal nights and would feel deprived if there weren't any. (Truth be told, the only part of packing that I actually enjoy is selecting reading material and my formal nights shirts and ties.)

 

Neither preference is "right", just different. Good cruise lines accommodate both.

 

Even though I eat late, I wouldn't eat hamburgers etc. at 5 p.m., but you can find me eating sushi.

 

In the meantime, Bon Voyage and Bon appetit, wherever you satisfy your appetit.