Downgrading of Aqua Spa Cafe

[Go-Bucks!]

[quote name='cruisetrail']The Reflection itself is a huge cutback by design in comparison with the original Solstice class ships: more passengers, less public space, more commercialization, Solstice class "key features" went overboard.[/quote]


So, which S-class ship do you think is the best?

Also, someone asked, [COLOR=red]"And I am assuming you stay away from the yummy poached fruits in AQ Cafe, since those are self-serve?"[/COLOR]. Earlier in this thread someone said the AQ Cafe doesn't serve the poached fruits anymore. Is that true?

[ghstudio]

[quote name='GRBlizz']Yikes! I guess you could wear medical gloves while getting your food. Or simply only choose food items that are handed to you by servers. There are quite a few choices like that in the buffet on S Class: stir fry, pasta bar, carvery, caesar salad of the day - and of course ice cream. Also, if you're that concerned about touching communal tongs, I'm sure one of the staff would be happy to plate your food for you.

(And I am assuming you stay away from the yummy poached fruits in AQ Cafe, since those are self-serve?)

As to finding a table, this proved much more challenging for us in the Aqua Spa cafe than it ever was in the buffet.

I think you might want to check out the modern buffet. It may surprise you![/QUOTE]

I actually used to love buffets. On the last cruise, I waited for a sandwich behind a couple of other people. The guy in front of me reached in to the french fries and started to eat them one by one with his fingers...out of the serving tray. I stood at the sushi bar and watched an early teen with their parents try a piece of sushi, and then put it back on the serving tray. I see folks picking up salad ingredients with their fingers or using the tongs that have fallen into some other veggie. I wish I didn't see these things....but it really has put me off buffets on ships (and actually at home). If everyone would just use common sense and think what they are doing...buffets would be wonderful...but unfortunately....

Yes, when we go to the buffet, I do get things that are prepared and put on my plate by the preparer (pasta/stir fry/....). Most of the time we have burgers or even the MDR for lunch...now that aqua spa, our favorite, is no longer interesting.

[GRBlizz]

[quote name='Go-Bucks!']
Also, someone asked, [COLOR=red]"And I am assuming you stay away from the yummy poached fruits in AQ Cafe, since those are self-serve?"[/COLOR]. Earlier in this thread someone said the AQ Cafe doesn't serve the poached fruits anymore. Is that true?[/QUOTE]

The poster mentioned that the poached pears were absent. I was on Equinox last week, and they definitely had at least three containers of poached fruits. I tried the apples, and I don't remember what the other fruits were. Maybe pears, maybe not. I'm an apple fan, so that's what I focused on.

[cruisetrail]

[quote name='Go-Bucks!']So, which S-class ship do you think is the best?
[/quote]

The Eclipse.

[shipshape sam]

[quote name='cruisetrail']The Eclipse.[/QUOTE]

Excellent! Only S class we have sailed so far. Want to sail on Reflection, but love the Southern Caribbean itinerary of Eclipse.

[SSFrance69]

I actually used to love buffets. On the last cruise, I waited for a sandwich behind a couple of other people. The guy in front of me reached in to the french fries and started to eat them one by one with his fingers...out of the serving tray. I stood at the sushi bar and watched an early teen with their parents try a piece of sushi, and then put it back on the serving tray. I see folks picking up salad ingredients with their fingers or using the tongs that have fallen into some other veggie. I wish I didn't see these things....but it really has put me off buffets on ships (and actually at home). If everyone would just use common sense and think what they are doing...buffets would be wonderful...but unfortunately....

 

Yes, when we go to the buffet, I do get things that are prepared and put on my plate by the preparer (pasta/stir fry/....). Most of the time we have burgers or even the MDR for lunch...now that aqua spa, our favorite, is no longer interesting.

 

On Summit last summer, my husband witnessed someone who worked on the ship in the buffet pick up a fork that had fallen on the floor and put it back up with the other forks. He notified someone in charge, who quickly took all the forks to the back to be washed. Eww.

[dodger1964]

.. The guy in front of me reached in to the french fries and started to eat them one by one with his fingers...out of the serving tray. I stood at the sushi bar and watched an early teen with their parents try a piece of sushi, and then put it back on the serving tray. I see folks picking up salad ingredients with their fingers or using the tongs that have fallen into some other veggie. ...

 

that is why you pick food from the back of the offerings. Reach past the "slightly used" food in the front.:)

[Bently57]

A buffet is a buffet. No getting around it. Even the classiest brunch buffet in town has the same issues. You have to know that, going in. I grew up with church potlucks, so I know the score and I'm okay with it. My partner is not, though! Anyway, we do compromise and utilize the buffet at least a few times on a cruise.

 

I have only been on one Celebrity cruise, in 2003. The AquaSpa was new then, and we were quite excited about it. However, we tried it twice and were not impressed in the least bit. It just seemed like a glorified salad bar to me, except that it was plated by a server instead of serve-yourself-in-a-buffet line. My partner actually preferred the buffet! Quite funny to me.

 

I tend to think Celebrity will eventually phase it out, what with Blu and all the other choices available onboard.

[NLH Arizona]

I get Cruise Travel Magazine and there was a letter to the editor in this new edition and the writer wanted everyone to have their own personal tongs. Now can you imagine that, you get your knife, fork, spoon and tongs. Come on, just bring some antiseptic wipes and wipe your hands off before you eat your food.

 

I also don't every take touchable food from the front; I take the tongs and go to the back, that way I hope that if anyone touched the food, they didn't touch the back rows.

Edited January 14, 2014 by NLH Arizona

[TourDeCruise]

We were on the Century for 19 nights in April, and the Aqua Spa Cafe was nearly as good as in the past other than no hot grilled (only cold) options at breakfast and lunch. However, we have since been on the solsticized Infinity and the Eclipse and saw the same cutbacks that others have reported. On the Eclipse each day we went there, they had the small self-serve salad option, a sundae dish with tuna or chicken salad, and plates with lentils on lettuce versus the attractive and creative rotating plates. We also missed the sun-dried tomato, orange, squash, & herb rolls at breakfast on the Eclipse and instead had less desirable muffins. They still had made-to-order options though.

 

We are not fans of the buffet for reasons mentioned and because of crowding and only go there on port days (we use the sanitizer before and after eating). Sounds like we will be using the MDR for lunch more often on sea days; we've always found some healthy options there.

 

What can we expect on our Century cruises (19 nights) next month based on your recent experiences with Century's Aqua Spa Cafe? Can we expect it will also have the same cutbacks?

 

Kathy