A couple of Celebrity Rants

[Hlitner]

Just back from 14 days on the Eclipse (been on this vessel 6 or 7 times) which was, overall, a great cruise. But we do have a few rants (not new issues).

 

1. The sandwich bar/lunch meats in the Lido buffet. To be kind, the meat selection is near rubbish! If you except roast beef, decent corned beef. pastrami, good turkey, decent salami, Italian meats, etc.. you will be disappointed in a big way. What you get is often "mystery" meats which even baffle the servers (if you ask them what it is). Perhaps it is "Olive Loaf," or some other cheap cut....but most of these meats would be shameful on a real budget line!

 

2. Salad bars without lettuce or Romaine? It happened on numerous days...not to mention empty salad dressing bottles. And the quality of ice cream in the Lido has really gone downhill in the past couple of years.

 

3. My final rant has to do with constant annoying loud noise on the pool deck during most afternoons. There is simply no need for the cruise director's staff to do loud play by play for a pool game attended by 4 passengers...while several hundred others are trying to relax, chat, listen to their own music, etc.

 

4. We have probably done our last cruise in Blu (Aqua Class). We love the venue and the staff. But the dinner menus leave much to be desired and one can quickly grow tired of repetitive stuff such as osso bucco, short ribs (as both a main and a starter), ravioli with short rib filling, lamb shank (that was just like the short ribs and osso bucco), etc. They did serve prime rib one night, which was less then an inch thick and covered with a brown gravy (yuck). We are certainly not new to Blu, but its now history as we think even the MDR has a better menu.

 

Otherwise it was a great cruise. To end on a positive note we thought Murano was beyond excellent (had 2 dinners and lunch) and Qsine was marvelous as always.

 

Our advice would be to avoid Aqua Class, book a better located balcony (many Aqua cabins are in a lousy location just under the pool deck with a balcony in a giant shadow). The money you save by not booking Aqua can then be put to better use by enjoying some of the alternative dining venue.

 

Hank

P.S. The most expensive dining venue is now the mediocre Tuscan Grill...if one partakes of the "add-on" steak options. Think of it. First you pay for your cruise....which includes food. Then you pay extra (up to $50 per person) for better food (which is often about the same quality we saw in MDRs many years ago). And now, they want you to pay additional ala carte add-ons! We expect that Celebrity will soon have a sur charge for metal cutlary (with plastic being the default).

 

Hank

[Iamthesea]

Tell me about the "ala carte add-ons" and "steak add-ons"? We ate in Tuscan on the Summit this past October and had filet. No add-0ns for anything. :confused: Has this changed? The menu was the newer menu.

 

We dined in Blu a couple of times and enjoyed the food. When on the Silhouette in May, we dined in Blu and enjoyed the food.

 

I am not questioning you. Just worried that things may have changed in the last several months.

[Beanb41]

Did you raise the question re meat and salad with the restaurant manager or the chef (he's the guy with the black neck scarf). One or both are nearly always in the buffet at peak times. What was their response because in my experience once they are aware of an issue they resolve it. If you didn't raise the matter with them why not instead of complaining here?

[Can'tstopcruising]

Am I in trouble!

 

We will be doing a B2b for 21 days and all I ever eat for lunch is a salad. If there is no lettuce, How will I make one?

[FlorenceItaly]

Thank you for your thoughts. We are sailing on the Eclipse, in Aqua next month. In BLU were you able to order off the MDR, just curious? We have dined in BLU on the Summit and were not offered a MDR menu.

 

 

 

Marie

[agargoyle]

Thank you for your thoughts. We are sailing on the Eclipse, in Aqua next month. In BLU were you able to order off the MDR, just curious? We have dined in BLU on the Summit and were not offered a MDR menu.

 

 

 

Marie

 

Hi,

 

we have been on the Summit (Aqua) three times in the past year. While we have never been "given" a MDR menu I have asked for items off the menu and have never been refused. I get waffles for breakfast at least 2 times a cruise.

[OCruisers]

1. The sandwich bar/lunch meats in the Lido buffet. To be kind, the meat selection is near rubbish! If you except roast beef, decent corned beef. pastrami, good turkey, decent salami, Italian meats, etc.. you will be disappointed in a big way. What you get is often "mystery" meats which even baffle the servers (if you ask them what it is). Perhaps it is "Olive Loaf," or some other cheap cut....but most of these meats would be shameful on a real budget line!

Hank

 

Gosh, hate this especially.

Celebrity use to have a very decent spread of meats for sandwiches. :(

[Beanb41]

To the person who wants lettuce just ask. I have always found a large range of hot and cold meat selections for lunch and more salad choices that I could ever want. The rants I think are just that. Someone crying for attention

[jelayne]

Maybe this was just a less than great sailing on the Eclipse.

 

We were on both the Solstice (a 35 night B2B) and the Reflection (15 nights) all in Blu this year. The chef on the Solstice frequently had a daily special which was a great way to vary the menu since there were over 1000 b2b cruisers. There were a specials a couple of nights on the Reflection.

 

We have salad for lunch most days and there was always lettuce at the buffet. The ice cream was as good as ever; unfortunately for my waist😉.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I totally agree with the lack of iceberg and romaine lettuce in the buffet! Two Summit cruises in 5 months and I saw iceberg MAYBE once and romaine twice. :mad: I can't eat the more exotic lettuces and I really love a good salad for lunch. I end up having to order a Caesar salad through room service and the lettuce is always wilted. :mad:

[jayoldschool]

I've never seen less than two types of lettuce/mixed greens at the buff, along with a caesar salad station.

[Podie]

I was on the same cruise and the poor choices in the MDR and disorganized select dining are my only complaints. Yes, I voiced my concerns, to no avail. The buffet was quite good. I don't eat sandwiches but did like the egg, chicken, and tuna salads. I never had a problem finding lettuce myself. And I was pleased to learn the grill section of the buffet would grill to order steak or fish for me. But the MDR needs more choices to get me back there.

[hcat]

we had the same thoughts about food as OP on our recent Infinity cruise...buffet deli was awful.. BLU is becoming tiresome ..too much squab, pheasant was terrible, poor service (inadequate staffing)...lots of drunks b/c service was so slow..Breakfasts were fine, as always!

 

We did enjoy Tuscan..no need for the enhanced items.(ate there for lunch too).We gave up on BLU and our best meal was in the MDR (veal in phyllo) and great service at our tbl for 2

 

Hope it was a bad week for BLU!

[Husky61]

We did 14 days recently on the Equinox and did not eat in the buffet one time. I don't care for buffets. Ate in all of the specialty restaurants, and only one time in the MDR for breakfast. Ate in Luminaire and Blu frequently, and do not have a complaint about them or the specialty restaurants.:):)

[ECCruise]

To the person who wants lettuce just ask. I have always found a large range of hot and cold meat selections for lunch and more salad choices that I could ever want. The rants I think are just that. Someone crying for attention

 

Unless you have many more cruises than are listed on your profile, your cruising experience is very thin.

 

Thanks, but I will take Hank's advice (who may cruise more in one year than you have in your cruising life) since he as always been more than forthcoming in his analysis--good and bad--of hundreds of topics. He graciously posts much information on ports, ships, different lines, and more.

 

I am confident that he really is in no need of crying for attention from you or anyone else.

[Hlitner]

Regarding ordering off the MDR menu in Blu, the answer is yes and no. You can get some items such as French Onion soup, Escargot and shrimp cocktail. But you cannot normally order entrees or most other starters. Having cruised in Aqua on about 5 or 6 cruises (all at least 14 days) we have truly found the ability to go off the Blu menu to be dependent on the ship, maitre'd, etc. At a couple of breakfasts (in Blu) I did request Eggs Benedict (not on the Blu Menu) and was always cheerfully granted my request (which had to be obtained from the MDR galley downstairs). On a positive note we thought the preparation of our food in Blu was excellent and improved from our last voyage on the Eclipse (12 months ago). Our rant had more to do with the menu selection and available raw materials.

 

As to lettuce, sometimes it was available and other times not! We do agree with the other poster that the chicken salad (located at the sandwich bar) was quite good. In fact, many other things were good. As my topic indicated, this thread was primarily about rants....most of which are minor and can easily be fixed. But the issue of lousy sandwich meat is a long time Celebrity problem going back several years. We have asked several senior dining staff about the meat and generally received agreeing comments with the additional comment that the company makes the determination of those particular products.

 

My rants certainly will not keep us away from Celebrity (we have been Elite Plus for some time) and we recently booked another 21 days for next year. On the other hand, it is the small things which often determine our bookings when we have options, so what could have been an additional long Celebrity cruise has become a 38 day HAL cruise.

 

Regarding the Tuscan "add ons" this has been a relatively new thing (mentioned in some other CC threads) and primarily involves "prime" steaks. Its hard to remember the exact details but we are talking about $18+ add on's for a single beef item....on top of the usual Tuscan price.

 

I would also mention that the marketing of alternative restaurants has changed. On our cruise (ended last week) the crew was constantly trying to sell "alternative dining packages" as opposed to discounting single visits. But we did manage to get 30% off for each of our two Murano dinners as well as our Qsine dinner. As, in the past, the ability to negotiate a discount will depend on supply/demand on your particular cruise. If business is good in an alternative restaurant you may not be able to get any discount.

 

Another "rant" I neglected to mention has to do with wine/spirits available on the Premium Package. The Premium wine selections (in Blu) left something to be desired (we would agree this is a matter of taste) and ability to get even better wines (by paying the supplement over Premium) was quite limited in Blu. Each of the alternative restaurants seemed to have some of their own wine by the glass selections...with Murano having the best (and most expensive) options. I am a cognac drinker and was a little disappointed at the offerings which were primarily Courvoisier and Remy VSOPs. Our favorite bar tender agreed that some premium brandys and scotches had disappeared from the inventory. We would like to see more inventory of better booze (which would be sold at a premium above the premium package limits). But this is a minor rant since there is no shortage of good stuff to drink and sample.

 

Hank

Edited December 15, 2016 by Hlitner

[Hlitner]

We did 14 days recently on the Equinox and did not eat in the buffet one time. I don't care for buffets. Ate in all of the specialty restaurants, and only one time in the MDR for breakfast. Ate in Luminaire and Blu frequently, and do not have a complaint about them or the specialty restaurants.:):)

 

We kind of agree with you about buffets (never use them for dinner). But our cruise had many port days in which the only option was the Lido buffets (or grill) for lunch. Having been to the port numerous times we generally stay aboard on some port days (love the ship when its relatively empty). On sea days we tend to gravitate towards the MDR or an concessional alternative restaurant lunch. In fact, our favorite meal might have been the lunch offered in Murano (they did this twice on our cruise) where they had an excellent grilled/broiled lobster tail (so much better then the usual boiled option). As to Luminaire, color us too cheap to book a suite on most cruises :). But we are big supporters of the concept of Luminaire and alternative options for suites. Makes sense that those willing to pay the big bucks should get more for their money.

 

Also should have mentioned the Sushi on 5. We were two of rare fans of the Cafe on 5 and were not particularly happy when they changed to the new Sushi menu. After looking at the menu we decided to skip the venue and noticed that nearly everyone else also skipped Sushi on 5. The place was pretty empty whenever we looked during lunch or dinner. We suspect the a la carte pricing is a turn-off to many cruisers.

 

Hank

Edited December 15, 2016 by Hlitner

[Orator]

Saw a friend recently in Infinity who is from food services at a Miami HQRRIS. He told me that the Blu menus are scheduled to be the next to be updated. I am in AQ twice in January and I'll see if there are changes. On the Silhouette TA dinners in the MDR were consistently excellent, at least for my choices and taste. The Executive Chef was on loan from Azamara and took some of us on a special Galley tour.

[hcat]

 

. .................................

 

Also should have mentioned the Sushi on 5. We were two of rare fans of the Cafe on 5 and were not particularly happy when they changed to the new Sushi menu. After looking at the menu we decided to skip the venue and noticed that nearly everyone else also skipped Sushi on 5. The place was pretty empty whenever we looked during lunch or dinner. We suspect the a la carte pricing is a turn-off to many cruisers.

 

Hank

 

We were also B on 5 fans...we skipped sushi a la carte as did many on our cruise as well...( not much for a non sushi lover with allergies to orher fish as well. ) We tried the buffet, MDR, found AQ spa cafe too crowded...sure wish B on 5 would return!

Edited December 16, 2016 by hcat

[hcat]

Saw a friend recently in Infinity who is from food services at a Miami HQRRIS. He told me that the Blu menus are scheduled to be the next to be updated. I am in AQ twice in January and I'll see if there are changes. On the Silhouette TA dinners in the MDR were consistently excellent, at least for my choices and taste. The Executive Chef was on loan from Azamara and took some of us on a special Galley tour.

 

Hope you'll keep us posted!

[WonderMan3]

If you're not happy with something on board that is correctable (lettuce not being available, salad dressings out, poor quality meat) then why not say something onboard?

 

I have found Celebrity to be very responsive. On our last Eclipse cruise in January on the first day I had a caesar salad in the buffet and found the dressing they were using to be near flavorless. The next night at Luminae I ordered a caesar salad which the waiter had to get from the main dining room. Again, near flavorless dressing. When I didn't eat much of it the waiter asked if there was an issue and I explained about the flavor in that salad and the one in the buffet. He was very concerned and said he would pass along this information to the chef's staff. I wrote it off as him just placating me but two days later I ordered a caesar at dinner and it had much more flavor. I tried it again in the buffet the next day and flavor improved there as well.

 

They listen and they correct problems. That's why I enjoy traveling with them. Every company makes mistakes but it's how they react to those problems that is the true measure of their worth.

[Fish Lover]

Thank you for your thoughts. We are sailing on the Eclipse, in Aqua next month. In BLU were you able to order off the MDR, just curious? We have dined in BLU on the Summit and were not offered a MDR menu.

 

 

 

Marie

 

On the Summit you may order from the "everyday Classic " menu from the MDR in Blu.

 

That is:

starters: escargot, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, french onion soup

main entre: ny strip steak, baked chicken, grilled salmon

deserts: ny cheese cake, vanilla creme brulee, ice cream, chocolate tres leche cake

 

If you discuss with the maitre'd ahead of time, other items can be arranged

 

This is not a secret and some of the menus even have these items listed.

[sanger727]

If you're not happy with something on board that is correctable (lettuce not being available, salad dressings out, poor quality meat) then why not say something onboard?

 

I have found Celebrity to be very responsive. On our last Eclipse cruise in January on the first day I had a caesar salad in the buffet and found the dressing they were using to be near flavorless. The next night at Luminae I ordered a caesar salad which the waiter had to get from the main dining room. Again, near flavorless dressing. When I didn't eat much of it the waiter asked if there was an issue and I explained about the flavor in that salad and the one in the buffet. He was very concerned and said he would pass along this information to the chef's staff. I wrote it off as him just placating me but two days later I ordered a caesar at dinner and it had much more flavor. I tried it again in the buffet the next day and flavor improved there as well.

 

They listen and they correct problems. That's why I enjoy traveling with them. Every company makes mistakes but it's how they react to those problems that is the true measure of their worth.

 

That was what I found odd about the post. I've never been to a salad bar that didn't have lettuce, but if it didn't, my first move would be to ask an employee if they could refill it. Certainly they had more lettuce onboard?

[Fish Lover]

Just back from 14 days on the Eclipse (been on this vessel 6 or 7 times) which was, overall, a great cruise. But we do have a few rants (not new issues).

 

1. The sandwich bar/lunch meats in the Lido buffet. To be kind, the meat selection is near rubbish! If you except roast beef, decent corned beef. pastrami, good turkey, decent salami, Italian meats, etc.. you will be disappointed in a big way. What you get is often "mystery" meats which even baffle the servers (if you ask them what it is). Perhaps it is "Olive Loaf," or some other cheap cut....but most of these meats would be shameful on a real budget line!

 

2. Salad bars without lettuce or Romaine? It happened on numerous days...not to mention empty salad dressing bottles. And the quality of ice cream in the Lido has really gone downhill in the past couple of years.

 

3. My final rant has to do with constant annoying loud noise on the pool deck during most afternoons. There is simply no need for the cruise director's staff to do loud play by play for a pool game attended by 4 passengers...while several hundred others are trying to relax, chat, listen to their own music, etc.

 

4. We have probably done our last cruise in Blu (Aqua Class). We love the venue and the staff. But the dinner menus leave much to be desired and one can quickly grow tired of repetitive stuff such as osso bucco, short ribs (as both a main and a starter), ravioli with short rib filling, lamb shank (that was just like the short ribs and osso bucco), etc. They did serve prime rib one night, which was less then an inch thick and covered with a brown gravy (yuck). We are certainly not new to Blu, but its now history as we think even the MDR has a better menu.

 

Otherwise it was a great cruise. To end on a positive note we thought Murano was beyond excellent (had 2 dinners and lunch) and Qsine was marvelous as always.

 

Our advice would be to avoid Aqua Class, book a better located balcony (many Aqua cabins are in a lousy location just under the pool deck with a balcony in a giant shadow). The money you save by not booking Aqua can then be put to better use by enjoying some of the alternative dining venue.

 

Hank

P.S. The most expensive dining venue is now the mediocre Tuscan Grill...if one partakes of the "add-on" steak options. Think of it. First you pay for your cruise....which includes food. Then you pay extra (up to $50 per person) for better food (which is often about the same quality we saw in MDRs many years ago). And now, they want you to pay additional ala carte add-ons! We expect that Celebrity will soon have a sur charge for metal cutlary (with plastic being the default).

 

Hank

 

We love the Aqua class cabins beneath the overhang and under the solarium. Zero noise and the balcony is much more enjoyable without the sun glaring down. So..to each their own.

 

As for the food, if you don't like something ask it to be changed. The wait staff is happy to do so. Seems as though you prefer to suffer in silence and then complain afterward. The only acceptable complaint is one that went unanswered in a reasonable time frame. Btw...I have never seen a prime rib cut an inch thick.

 

In terms of the Tuscan Grill, it was my understanding they may have done away with the up charges. However, even if not, if you don't like the charge...don't buy it. It's very simple. Qsine we found to be over hyped, over spiced, and generally disagreeable on our last cruise. However, I know some people love it.

[thmpsn]

We were on the Equinox last week in Blu.The food was great. It was our 54th cruise and we are going on he Equinox again in April. If you don't like the food, don' go back.

Jim