Aqua spa cafe

[cruiseerf]

This sounds a to me like SPE is similar to Amex Membership rewards.

 

Amex Membership rewards "reinvented" the program a few years ago and spent 45+ million$$ advertising all the fabulous "new opportunities" we would have with our points. Ultimately we all figured out that they had devalued the most popular awards by 40%....but they spun it as new and improved. It is still the weakest FF program out there in terms of value earned by charging on Amex.

 

Celebrity has put the Spin on SPE and how fabulous it is to have healthy (read cheap) food...and there is no more grilled fish....But sooo very many more opportunities to try healthy organic cuisine....ahem.

 

OR they spent the fish budget trying to attract healthy eaters with grains and low cal meals who are usually younger clientele?......if this was the case, they should have converted Michaels into a REAL SUSHI bar and not the embarrasing sushi they serve on the buffet from 4-6pm. Even a for pay venue serving sushi like Crystal cruises would be GREAT! When we boarded our last crystal cruise the sushi bar was SOLD out for the entire 7 day cruise from pre existing bookings....Thats the business they are doing....Celebrity should take heed.

 

Safe sails to all!

[jenniebnyc]

Thanks Lois!

 

I agree with other posters. A real sushi bar for pay would be wonderful. I would eat this everyday for lunch if it was available.

 

As for other food on ship, Qsine, although fun the first maybe two times, is a ton of fried greasy food. I would actually prefer hibachi type restaurant where I can see/control what they add to the meal.

 

Although the celeb ships are beautiful, they are cutting out everything that makes it special in other ways. I don't even mind paying extra for things, but nothing to me is exceptional anymore. It's actually kind of sad that the highlight of a lot of our lunches was a grilled piece of fish and fresh vegetables. lol. I mean, this meal should be a given!

 

Finally, as mentioned, we usually stay in a suite, so when we eat on the ship we think about how much money we've paid to do so. It is quite a different price than someone staying in an inside cabin. Open BLU for lunch! Have a suite-only restaurant! If I am paying 5k+ for a 7 day cruise for 2, I expect more.

 

Too bad Oceania does not have 7 days cruises, nor does Azamara.

[true45]

Just a quick note - I love Celebrity too but Oceania does have 7 days - we're booked with both. Advantages to both at the different price points.

Linda

[jenniebnyc]

True: Oceania has 7 day carribean cruises in the winter>? This would be great. I will look again. I only saw 10 minimum.

[Waterlily777]

Thanks Lois!

 

I agree with other posters. A real sushi bar for pay would be wonderful. I would eat this everyday for lunch if it was available.

 

As for other food on ship, Qsine, although fun the first maybe two times, is a ton of fried greasy food. I would actually prefer hibachi type restaurant where I can see/control what they add to the meal.

 

Although the celeb ships are beautiful, they are cutting out everything that makes it special in other ways. I don't even mind paying extra for things, but nothing to me is exceptional anymore. It's actually kind of sad that the highlight of a lot of our lunches was a grilled piece of fish and fresh vegetables. lol. I mean, this meal should be a given!

 

Finally, as mentioned, we usually stay in a suite, so when we eat on the ship we think about how much money we've paid to do so. It is quite a different price than someone staying in an inside cabin. Open BLU for lunch! Have a suite-only restaurant! If I am paying 5k+ for a 7 day cruise for 2, I expect more.

 

Too bad Oceania does not have 7 days cruises, nor does Azamara.

 

I am beginning to think that the new regime at Celebrity doesn't really understand what has been, up to now, the Celebrity experience, or why loyal Celebrity clients looked forward to the small but significant differences that Celebrity offered.

 

The Aqua Spa café has always been one of our favorite venues, and the freshly grilled items have been a highlight. I think this SPE program is just spin.

[Bell Ringer]

Wonder what the problem is that they are not available to download?

[CPT Trips]

Thanks Lois!

 

I agree with other posters. A real sushi bar for pay would be wonderful. I would eat this everyday for lunch if it was available.

 

As for other food on ship, Qsine, although fun the first maybe two times, is a ton of fried greasy food. I would actually prefer hibachi type restaurant where I can see/control what they add to the meal.

 

Although the celeb ships are beautiful, they are cutting out everything that makes it special in other ways. I don't even mind paying extra for things, but nothing to me is exceptional anymore. It's actually kind of sad that the highlight of a lot of our lunches was a grilled piece of fish and fresh vegetables. lol. I mean, this meal should be a given!

 

Finally, as mentioned, we usually stay in a suite, so when we eat on the ship we think about how much money we've paid to do so. It is quite a different price than someone staying in an inside cabin. Open BLU for lunch! Have a suite-only restaurant! If I am paying 5k+ for a 7 day cruise for 2, I expect more.

 

Too bad Oceania does not have 7 days cruises, nor does Azamara.

 

Sushi? Specialty restaurant for lunch? Suite perq? Try NCL?

 

ETA . . . A variety of live music and three house bands too.

[richstowe]

This sounds like a great place to avoid on our future cruises.

 

Mary Lou

Although the website for SPE reads like a combination of a cult and a pyramid scheme, I still wonder why

you post that "this sounds like a great place to avoid "?

 

New Celebrity CEO wants to make it uber profittable and is taking the example of Carnival Corporation who has destroyed both Holland America and Princess by cost cutting to the bear bones. :mad:

 

His take: "You want Salmon grilled to order...then pay $40 and go to the specialty restaurant"

It takes a nimble mind to blame Carnival for changes you don't like on a RCL owned cruise brand.:rolleyes:

BTW, how do bear bones taste?

[Lottie A]

Too bad Oceania does not have 7 days cruises, nor does Azamara.

 

Both Azamara and Oceania do have 7 day cruises .....and of the two I think Azamara has the better food.

[gregjm]

We were on the Solstice sailing of May 17th and on on 3 different days tried to have lunch at the Aqua Spa Cafe. There were no tables available---people were "balancing" their plates on deck chairs near the pool instead of waiting for a table. In a ship of 3000 passengers, it seems very odd that they would have a dining venue with seating for less than 30-40 people.

 

The Aqua Spa was of no use to us on this cruise, which is a shame since we always enjoyed lunch there at least once or twice during a cruise

[ghstudio]

The seating at the aqua spa cafe hasn't changed since the Solstice (or others in the class) were built. This isn't a new issue....and apparently it isn't a very big issue since every ship since the solstice has been built the same way.

[curtdesilets]

We were on the Solstice sailing of May 17th and on on 3 different days tried to have lunch at the Aqua Spa Cafe. There were no tables available---people were "balancing" their plates on deck chairs near the pool instead of waiting for a table. In a ship of 3000 passengers, it seems very odd that they would have a dining venue with seating for less than 30-40 people.

 

The Aqua Spa was of no use to us on this cruise, which is a shame since we always enjoyed lunch there at least once or twice during a cruise

 

Solstice Class is too big, IMO. They also only have 6 (or is it 8?) heated lounge recliners in the Persian Garden. Sea Days must be a struggle, given the fact that not only the people who pay for the Persian Garden are fighting for those loungers, but so too are all of the Aqua class people.

 

We were on the inaugural season (3rd cruise I believe) of the Infinity. It was amazing at the time. M Class (before Solsticizing) had about 1900 maximum passengers. It was the perfect size for the facilities presented. It was no surpriseto me that Infinity won Conde Naste Traveller's Best Large Ship Category, 4 years in a row in the mid 2000's!

[JanineM]

Oceania is high end yes...but if you want total luxury, try Seabourn,

Crystal, Silverseas, Regent.....those are 6 star cruiselines.

 

I recall your review...I am sure the food on those lines would be

more pleasing to your pallet.

 

Lois - you're dead on. Thank you.

 

This board had become complaint city with people moaning that they can't get exactly the food they want, yet on many cruises you can find bargain basement prices. I'd love to find a resort where we could get beautiful hotel room, twice daily service, resort amenities (pool & gym), three meals a day plus snacks , plus entertainment for what we all pay for cruises.

[curtdesilets]

Lois - you're dead on. Thank you.

 

This board had become complaint city with people moaning that they can't get exactly the food they want, yet on many cruises you can find bargain basement prices. I'd love to find a resort where we could get beautiful hotel room, twice daily service, resort amenities (pool & gym), three meals a day plus snacks , plus entertainment for what we all pay for cruises.

 

I think the point is....that Celebrity in particular, spoiled us during the early years.

 

For under a grand pp per week, we all got 5 star dining and service for an entire week. The food in particular was quite good, if not spectacular, for every meal. We were spoiled beyond belief, and got it all for a song.

 

Now reality is settling in and for that same early 2000's pricing or cheaper, we are getting just standard fare from Celebrity. I would pay a slight premium to get what Celebrity was, but I doubt that we will ever experience it again.

[happy cruzer]

Well, thanks for the lectures. But the thread was about how to get grilled items at lunch.

 

Most lines offer grilled fish or baked or some nice low calorie seafood at lunch. We were discussing what the option was on Celebrity. The Aqua Spa Cafe changed and that triggered a discussion.

 

I appreciate all the reports of the current options.

 

Thanks.

[otto68]

Hi! If this can be of help, I have found informations, photos and culinary program overview on celebrity certified menù here :

 

http://specertified.com/cruise-lines/celebrity-cruises

[uktog]

Hi! If this can be of help, I have found informations, photos and culinary program overview on celebrity certified menù here :

 

http://specertified.com/cruise-lines/celebrity-cruises

 

That is helpful and all looks wonderful, now I have to find it on board

Thanks for posting

[SSFrance69]

Hi! If this can be of help, I have found informations, photos and culinary program overview on celebrity certified menù here :

 

http://specertified.com/cruise-lines/celebrity-cruises

 

Those photos and descriptions look good. I seriously doubt they offer all of that in the AQ cafe though. From what other people are saying that have recently sailed, maybe 3 or 4 rotations of a dish. I just read on a Summit review that the aft area in the buffet now serves grilled to order salmon and steaks...but ONLY starting at 5:30. So still can't get a piece of grilled fish for lunch. I would never take advantage of having grilled salmon at 5:30, because I dine in the main dining room and that would kill my appetite. If they would do the same thing for lunch in the buffet it would make up for this whole AQ spa cafe thing.

[Bobbie John]

Hi Celebrity,

 

Here is a better solution that would satisfy all.

 

I can't imagine a more basic SPE Certified entre than plain, no butter, no salt grilled fish, chicken, or pork.

 

The question now is: Why did you just move these items to the Oceanview Cafe Grill for the dinner time? If you don't want these items at the Aqua Spa Cafe, why not have these grilled items at the Oceanview Cafe Grill for lunch time and dinner time?

 

 

 

 

Hi all,

 

We wanted to give a little clarification on a few changes at the Aqua Spa Cafe.

 

On April 6 onboard Reflection, we began our fleetwide rollout of our partnership with SPE Certified. SPE Certified is a unique certification program that defines a new way to eat by enhancing the nutritional quality of meals, without compromising taste. In addition to including SPE-certified items in our main restaurant for both lunch and dinner (available within each course), we also at that time fully converted our AquaSpa Cafe menu to be 100% SPE Certified. In doing so, our entire AquaSpa Cafe menu completely changed, and the aforementioned grilled meats were eliminated in favor of many other more interesting types of dishes.

 

While the grilled meats, however, can still be found in the Oceanview Cafe, we do still offer a variety of different proteins on our menu.

 

Please note that at this point, the new SPE Certified menus have only been rolled out onboard Reflection, Solstice, Summit and Century. Silhouette will launch June 26, Infinity on July 5, Constellation on July 19, Eclipse on August 3 and Millennium on August 23. Until those dates the previous AquaSpa Cafe menu will still be in place.

 

We have included two different menus, which include breakfast and lunch. Although we have a 7-night menu rotation, there are 3 different example menus for each meal included.

 

Hope this helps!

[Karin&Isaac]

Hi! If this can be of help, I have found informations, photos and culinary program overview on celebrity certified menù here :

 

http://specertified.com/cruise-lines/celebrity-cruises

 

Wow! Sounds wonderful!

[SSFrance69]

Hi Celebrity,

 

Here is a better solution that would satisfy all.

 

I can't imagine a more basic SPE Certified entre than plain, no butter, no salt grilled fish, chicken, or pork.

 

The question now is: Why did you just move these items to the Oceanview Cafe Grill for the dinner time? If you don't want these items at the Aqua Spa Cafe, why not have these grilled items at the Oceanview Cafe Grill for lunch time and dinner time?

 

That would be great! Or just add them back to AQ cafe.