Celebrity's New Menu: I'm just the messenger.

[ORV]

On an airline board I frequent, one of the running jokes is that when Delta makes changes like this, as they frequently do, it's always spun by the airline as an "enhancement." Kind of like adding a bag charge but giving the elites one free piece is an "enhancement." We've had many "enhancements" the past few years.:rolleyes:

 

Where I come from we call that peeing on your leg and then telling you it's raining.

[Islandgirl4242]

Love your reply and it is soooo true!:D

 

The new menus look good to me. When we dine out at home there are things on restaurant menus we like and others we don't...we order what we like. We've cruised on several lines and always held our regard for Celebrity high in all aspects. BUT when choosing a cruise we make the choice by ports and time in ports, tendered/docked, cabins, etc. We have never chosen a cruise by checking out the menu first...we've eaten well and never arrived home looking like skeltons of our former selves. For someone cancelling their Celebrity cruise because of changes to the menus...good luck with your future cruising!

[Gonzo70]

I also find the new menu appealing and am not disappointed. For me change is good as having the same menu over and over becomes boring. Whenever there are changes some people will find them appealing, some not appealing. To me there does not appear to be an overall downgrading of the quality of what is being offered.

 

On my last two cruises I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food at the MDR. I live in Chicago and have the privilege of having some of the country's best restaurants at my doorstep and enjoy eating out frequently. As such I am used to high quality cuisine and really am impressed with how good Celebrity's MDR food is considering how many meals must be prepared at once and their budgetary constraints. It is nowhere near as good as my favorite Chicago restaurants, but I have found all my meals to be tasty the past couple of cruises (some better than others, but all enjoyable).

 

My biggest issue with the MDR is cutbacks in service personnel. It seems on my first couple of cruises I built a strong personal relationship with our servers and they had ample time to engage in some lively banter with us. My last two cruises our waiters seemed so busy and spread thin that we barely conversed (aside from to give our orders) and service was slow. They still were friendly and competent, but just seemed to have too many passengers assigned to them to provide the type of service I had come to expect and enjoyed during prior cruises. To me I would almost rather see some additional money be budgeted for increasing the number of service staff versus to increase the quality of the food. Part of the reason I have greatly come to enjoy the specialty venues is not just the better food there, but having the quality of service I am accustomed to receiving when I dine out.

[Thechats]

It seems that the perceived quality of one's dining experience aboard ship is purely subjective. I mean how many times have you read trip reports where someone is ranting about MDR food while in another review they're raving about how great it was? Sure, the quality and quantity of food has probably declined a bit over the past decade, but it's still pretty darn good when compared to what we eat while on other type vacations. As for the new menus, they look fine to us as long as the food is prepared well. We like Celebrity for a number of reasons and menus are nowhere near the top of the list. But hey, that's just our subjective opinion...

[Spf12]

Then I'm in the minority also. Plus I don't think they would have to increase the price that much to improve the food quality greatly.

How would you know this?Fuel cost is going up and what has to suffer,the sub sandard food quality.,ie USDA SELECT beef.

[Bridge Maven]

Celebrity might be trying to distinguish itself from other mass market cruise lines by eliminating its chilled soups. Maybe they feel it helps to make them more sophisticated than their competition that still have them :)

[Kan't Wait]

The Executive Chef on MIL told me that some items will be added. These include lamb Shank on bone, a full lobster, osso buco and chateaubriand. I'm in AQ for my next two cruises so won't experience MDR until I return to MIL. Just hope that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The Executive Chefs have been called to a meeting on March 17th on the Eclipse. Let's seewhat results.

 

We sail Millennium on March 17 so I take it this meeting is a day meeting and Chef Jason will be back on board for our sailing? I can only hope; we are looking forward to seeing him again. Jason is a great guy and he seemed to be extremely excited with the changes to the menus. We sail on Eclipse in November and he will be on Eclipse after dry dock.

 

I have a gluten allergy and he made sure that I was never bored with choices.

 

 

What kind of full lobster, I doubt very much it will be of the cold water variety but who knows. I can't believe X will add a tank to keep a cold water lobster alive

 

No cold water tanks- they will be towing a huge lobster trap off the side of the ship ;)

[constantcruiser]

For the convenience of others, I will volunteer to go on enough cruises to personally taste and report back on every dish. I promise to thoroughly describe each dish and give unbiased ratings on taste, presentation & service. Surely for feedback as valuable as this, each of you would be delighted to contribute a small percentage of my fare...right?

[Tiggertastic]

For the convenience of others, I will volunteer to go on enough cruises to personally taste and report back on every dish. I promise to thoroughly describe each dish and give unbiased ratings on taste, presentation & service. Surely for feedback as valuable as this, each of you would be delighted to contribute a small percentage of my fare...right?

 

You beat me to it - I will volunteer to go with you

 

We've got a couple of cruises booked this year and have to admit we book by ports of call and cruise line first. We always find something to eat that is decent that I've not had to cook or wash the dishes foir

[cdn.cruiser]

I don't mind the new menu, my only compliant is that the rack of lamb and chateaubriand are on the same night. Do you think they will be offered twice on a 12 day cruise in the Med?

[omarchs]

All the cruise lines have been cutting back on food over the years and Celebrity stands out more due to their past food reputation with Michel Roux.

 

We have always preferred Celebrity and have put up with the steady decline in food selection/quality over the past few years since we still liked the staff and ships.

 

Our last cruise on the Silhouette in November, the MDR selections and food hit a new low and we are now looking elsewhere. I do agree that Celebrity doesn't care since you can complain onboard and the staff will try to please, but they have to work with what they are given. All the cruise lines figure there are many more potential cruise passengers out there so they can afford to lose some old customers.

[Slyn]

The new menus look really good to me. In fact, I think there is more here that I would eat than ever before. We are doing AQ this cruise, but looks like we may slip in a night or two at the MDR just to taste some of these dishes. Thanks for posting the menus.

[A Sixth?]

How would you know this?Fuel cost is going up and what has to suffer,the sub sandard food quality.,ie USDA SELECT beef.

 

Guess you haven't seen the new prototype propulsion system for the new Celebrity ships then have you? :rolleyes:

 

 

 

And the new design for the Fun Zone is very well thought out

 

 

[Kan't Wait]

For the convenience of others, I will volunteer to go on enough cruises to personally taste and report back on every dish. I promise to thoroughly describe each dish and give unbiased ratings on taste, presentation & service. Surely for feedback as valuable as this, each of you would be delighted to contribute a small percentage of my fare...right?

 

My contribution is in the mail :p

 

I don't mind the new menu, my only compliant is that the rack of lamb and chateaubriand are on the same night. Do you think they will be offered twice on a 12 day cruise in the Med?

 

They do offer doggy bags ;)

[C 2 C]

We sail Millennium on March 17

 

In 2012' date=' Millennium will sail on March 15th and March 19th. Are you planning to catch the ship in Cozumel?[/size']

[cirpi]

attached are the new menus with the new font and reduced choice from Solstice, as posted by "CAVOK" on another thread.

 

This is in my opinion a cost cutting exercise combined with an attempt to lighten the workload on the galley and thus improving overall quality of the remaining choices. Some Celebrity veteran dishes seem to have reappeared, eg. Chateaubriant and lamb shank, which is good.:)

Shame though about the lobster bisque and strawberry soup, which I loved:(

 

Before making conclusions, I will try all 14 menus on my upcoming Connie cruise on 24/03/12. with an open mind.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=222759&d=1329874696

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=222760&d=1329874696

 

I am disappointed to see that the new menu retains spaghetti carbonara. I have given it a try on the Equinox and Silhouette and each time it has been a gloppy, gluey mess. Cooking a proper spaghetti carbonara requires patience and precise timing -- something that cannot mass produced.

[fgc15527]

Just returned from 5 day Mill. cruise. Had escargot twice. Cold soups were an option. Food was great except for the last night where the chef's choice was the meatballs. I had the quail which was fine because I chose the crab cake as an appetizer. Food was good in main dining room. Ocean Cafe food was often cold and flavorless. I like Asian/Indian ethic food. Didn't enjoy. Decided the panini sandwiches were a better choice for lunch.

[KyCatCruiser]

The menus do not look all that bad to me. We were on 2 Millenium cruises last month and there is not a great difference in the new menus and the ones we had. I've tried several other cruiselines and found the menus cut back on them as well. The big problem was our 2nd week. We chose the "Anytime Dining." Our waiter had 7 tables, and as I am not a patient person, we ending up eating upstairs most nights.

[Railwaylass]

We are going on our first Celebrity cruise on Monday and I had perused the prior menus posted here on CC with great anticipation. So many wonderful sounding dishes to try!

 

These new menus are very disappointing in comparison and not what I had expected on Celebrity at all.

 

I'm sure that we will still have a fantastic holiday but I am no longer anticipating a fantastic evening meal every night...:(

[Celebrity Cruises]

Hello All,

We thank you as always for your passion and support for Celebrity. It was important to us to offer some additional information as a part of the discussion happening here regarding some exciting updates we have been testing in our main restaurants. The combination of our valuable guest feedback as well as leading culinary trends, seasonality, and availability of food items (as is the current, temporary situation with Escargot which we will offer as soon as it becomes available) are all factors that inform updates to our menu selections, enabling us to deliver a superior breadth of choices of the highest quality. We have been testing some different menu concepts on Solstice that have been highly received by our guests that include several enhancements specifically requested by guests. These include beloved entrees such as Broiled Lobster Tail and Chateaubriand as well as delicious new offerings of hot and cold appetizers. Also, please know that we continue to offer a full assortment of your choice of side dishes, including baked potatoes, as well as selections for those guests with special dietary needs, including gluten free. We will continue to innovate and test new culinary offerings, learning always. We look forward to having you aboard to sample these offerings for yourself and taste the ways we are always striving to bring culinary excellence and evolution as part of a fabulous vacation experience.

[Gonzo70]

[quote name='cdn.cruiser']I don't mind the new menu, my only compliant is that the rack of lamb and chateaubriand are on the same night. Do you think they will be offered twice on a 12 day cruise in the Med?[/QUOTE]

Try speaking with the Maitre'd the night those are both on the menu; let them know you really like both and ask if they can serve one of them to you on the next night so you can enjoy them both. They often try to accommodate such requests; they just need some notice. It is worth a try.

[bellasorella]

[quote name='Host Andy']Hi Everyone,

Could it just be possible this is a good thing ? Yes, we enjoy the chilled Soups, and some of the other items mentioned... but it's not going to stop us from sailing with Celebrity. Orator's description of the new menu items seem very positive. I'm hoping they prove to be accurate.

I'd rather learn of the details, and actually taste the food, before I begin to worry about it. I'm glad we are sailing on Eclipse in April, so whatever is in the works, should be settled by then. FYI - earlier today, I asked Celebrity if new MDR menus are forthcoming. I hope to have additional information shortly. Stay Tuned ![/quote]

Andy....
Your loyalty is admirable. But as a longtime Celebrity passenger just off the Ssilhouette, let me tell you.....

Food quality in the MDR is significantly diminished.
Service, while pleasant, is unskilled, and below Celebrity's standards.
The reduction in MDR personnel is apparent, and reflected in the )(lack of good) service
It is clear to all that the emphasis on the specialty restaurants is a profit initiative, and has had a deleterious effect in the MDR, which was the heart and soul of Celebrity's reputation and distinction from close competitor Princess.

On the positive side, on our recent cruise on Silhouette, escargots were back on the anytime menu. And a good thing, as the steaks were often inedible. Don't know about cold soups, but the onion soup was wonderful.

[Brad1185]

I wish they would just be honest any say these changes are a cutback rather than put a spin on it to try to make it sound like its a good thing.

[GranthamMommy]

We are supposed to be first time Celebrity cruisers in January 2013. I am seriously thinking of cancelling our trip. We've booked a two week cruise so we could relax and enjoy the food. All of the items we were looking foward to are missing from the new menu. The appetizers and soups are the items I look foward to trying - since I don't often try them when I'm out dinner (and saving my for a cruise!) And yes, a baked potato might be a deal breaker for my husband. He's always disappointed when baked potatoes aren't available until dinner.

Sigh.......very disappointed. I live in New England.....lobster isn't going to do it for me. Chateaubriand - give me my own ribeye cooked the way I like. Wow...bad move Celebrity........IMHO.

[Gracie115]

[quote name='Celebrity Cruises']Hello All,
We thank you as always for your passion and support for Celebrity. It was important to us to offer some additional information as a part of the discussion happening here regarding some exciting updates we have been testing in our main restaurants. The combination of our valuable guest feedback as well as leading culinary trends, seasonality, and availability of food items (as is the current, temporary situation with Escargot which we will offer as soon as it becomes available) are all factors that inform updates to our menu selections, enabling us to deliver a superior breadth of choices of the highest quality. We have been testing some different menu concepts on Solstice that have been highly received by our guests that include several enhancements specifically requested by guests. These include beloved entrees such as Broiled Lobster Tail and Chateaubriand as well as delicious new offerings of hot and cold appetizers. Also, please know that we continue to offer a full assortment of your choice of side dishes, including baked potatoes, as well as selections for those guests with special dietary needs, including gluten free. We will continue to innovate and test new culinary offerings, learning always. We look forward to having you aboard to sample these offerings for yourself and taste the ways we are always striving to bring culinary excellence and evolution as part of a fabulous vacation experience.[/quote]


Well thank you for this and I'm always glad to try new things....but hope you're seriously working on the escargot issue...my DH will be really bummed if he can't get any on an 11 night Equinox coming up in Apr/May...
I don't mind trying new things at all, just make sure the best of the best remains!!!