BLU vs Luminae - looking for feedback

[eileenover]

That is INEDIBLE , we tried for 3 nights, processed turkey, low quality beef, everything so salty that people complained of increased BP . Some went down to the medical facility and were told not to eat in the MDR.

 

But of course I am glad you enjoyed yourself in the MDR on the Eclipse in the Feb. Maybe your first cruise? or maybe not a discerning foodie.

 

Sadly, you correct the 'unedible' but then write 'Maybe your first cruise? or maybe not a discerning foodie.'. Please check your punctuation: ? or

 

Oh, the .'. in my writing is the way that we are taught in the UK. However, this does seem to becoming simplified to .' in recent years.

[Gordoncruickshank]

Can I say that the original thread starter was asking about the food in Blu and Luminae not the MDR. I can also advise you that Swigso has cruised many times on Celebrity. He has been on similar cruises to us over the years and is on future cruises that we have booked. I seem to remember a post about inedible dinning room food in the early part of the year and I remember that many others who were on the same cruise did not find the MDR food inedible.

 

We have cruises 17 times with Celebrity since 2012. We have done 8 cruises with Blu as our restaurant and 8 with Luminae as our restaurant. The other cruise was on the Reflection, when Luninae was being built and all suite guests were given unlimited speciality restaurants for the length of the cruise.

 

We enjoyed Blu very much but I think that it is telling that we have not visited it since Luminae was opened and really feel no need to go there. The Luminae food is significantly better although it does not suit all tastes but they do bring the MDR menu to you as well. I don't think that I have sent a course back since we started in Luminae which happened reasonably often in Blu, particularly with overcooked fish.

 

If circumstances changed and we had to go back to a cabin would we enjoy either Blu or the MDR the answer is yes. We may do more Speciality restaurants to give variety but the food will be fine wherever we eat.

[dkjretired]

We found Blu and luminaries to be very similar, not much difference. Never had an inedible meal on Celebrity since the early 90s.

[WestLakeGirl]

TO call the food inedible is simply laughable. Were the tomatoes rotten? Was the bread moldy? Were the potatoes raw? Was the lasagna burned? There are so many choices on a menu. Maybe you didn’t care for one or two. But that doesn’t mean that the MDR food was inedible. Even processed turkey, which might be unpalatable, is not inedible

[kenevenpar]

Like many others, we find Luminae to be superior to Blu, both in ambiance and food/menu.

[Big_G]

We've done both and liked the food in both but found in Blue, the closeness of the two tops and the noise level a bit off putting.

 

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[bigbenboys]

Over the years we have eaten in the MDR, Blu and Luminae. We have been booking sky suite lately. We cruised with friends last Nov and we were in Aqua. I was quite happy with the Blu menu. I did not have that thought or feeling that I was missing out in something for not being in a suite. It is my understanding that you can not order off the MDR menu in Blu. There will be excepting, and the waiter should get a good tip if they do bring you food from the MDR while dining in Blu. As to Luminae we enjoy it very much. We like having the option of ordering off the MDR menu. My problem with Luminae menu is understanding the description of the items.

One evening while dining in Luminae my pork dish was dry and not to my liking. I asked our waiter to take the dish away and bring me another shrimp appetizer. They turned the shrimp dish into a main dish for me.

[GIZMO81]

After reading all the post on this thread...... all of you are 100% correct....

Yes it’s ALL SUBJECTIVE.

LMAO!

[Palms2Pines2Sea]

I have to agree - I'm not a "Foodie" but I have several friends who are and I know what is innovative and great food and what isn't. (It just isn't as important to me as it is to my friends.) If the food was truly inedible then I have to wonder why anyone would choose to travel on a mass line. I's not the French Laundry cruise line.

 

Thomas Keller is aligning himself with Seabourn, so I guess that makes Seabourn "the French Laundry cruise line"!

 

I think the biggest difference between Blu and Luminae is service. And both are a big leap forward from MDR service. But it's fair to say that Luminae provides a more gracious and calm level of service than Blu.

:cool:

[Cruise a holic]

Have sailed both- if you can stay with a sky suite. Luminae and Michael's club are wonderful. Service in AQ restaurant-while sometimes better then the MDR, the tables are close and the ambiance and service very different then Luminae.

 

The cabins for AQ aren't in the best location on the summit and small. The S class ships the Sky suites even better then on the M class. Enjoy

[Miaminice]

We've done both and liked the food in both but found in Blue, the closeness of the two tops and the noise level a bit off putting.

 

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:confused: Funny, we just returned from a cruise on Reflection last week and noticed that the distance is just the same in Blu and Luminae. Didn’t bother us in either venue.

 

While we liked Luminae and have nothing bad to say about it, we did not like it more than Blu.

So Luminae would not be a reason for us to pay the price for a suite over Aqua.

[Georgia_Peaches]

We have enjoyed the food in both venues. If you opt for a suite, you can still order off the Blu menu in Luminae. Although we really enjoyed access to the spa while in AC, I'd still opt for the suite and pay for a weekly pass into the thermal suite for the over all experience as a suite guest...not just the food.

[Lastdance]

On our last cruise on Reflection, Luminae was superb. Our waiter was one of the best we have ever had! On another cruise and on a different ship, Luminae was not good in our opinions, so we dined in Blu several times with the request made from Luminae's manager. Wow! We were treated like Royalty in Blu and absolutely loved the food. It also left a great impression on us to do Luminae again. My DH and I loved the way both restaurants worked together to make sure that we were pleased.

 

When you are treated the way that we have been treated, that is what is important and Celebrity did not disappoint. However, I would always choose a suite over Blu for a variety of reasons, but with some of the suite prices increasing by leaps and bounds, we got an excellent price for Aqua, so that is where we will eat on Reflection for a westbound TA. Our eastbound is in a suite on Edge to give that a try! It is all about one's preference and asking to be be accomodated by being genuine and not condescending...or complaining loudly in front of others. In otherwards using manners to improve the situation if food misses the mark. Nothing is going to be perfect all of the time, but the waiter has a lot to do with this too!

[omarchs]

I can’t imagine that Luminae would still be able to easily provide MDR items with a location 8 decks higher and at the opposite end of the ship with the Edge class.

[Big_G]

:confused: Funny, we just returned from a cruise on Reflection last week and noticed that the distance is just the same in Blu and Luminae. Didn’t bother us in either venue.

 

While we liked Luminae and have nothing bad to say about it, we did not like it more than Blu.

So Luminae would not be a reason for us to pay the price for a suite over Aqua.

I wouldn't book a suite just for Luminae either. Between the all inclusive package, the lounge, and Luminae, it's a no-brainer for us. That said, our comparison was Blu on Reflection to Luminae on Silhouette and Equinox. You could barely walk between the tables in Blu on Reflection. Maybe that has changed.

 

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[Hlitner]

We prefer another option (over the MDR, Blu and Luminae). We simply book a regular balcony cabin and then purchase a dining package (we try to do this during a 20% Off sale) that allows us to dine most nights in an alternative restaurant. We then eat nearly all of our dinners in Murano :). Far better then either Blu or Luminae with amazing service. In Murano there is decent beef, seafood, and poultry. And you are talking about a small elegant venue with its own staff , galley and chef.

 

Hank

[Cruise a holic]

We prefer another option (over the MDR, Blu and Luminae). We simply book a regular balcony cabin and then purchase a dining package (we try to do this during a 20% Off sale) that allows us to dine most nights in an alternative restaurant. We then eat nearly all of our dinners in Murano :). Far better then either Blu or Luminae with amazing service. In Murano there is decent beef, seafood, and poultry. And you are talking about a small elegant venue with its own staff , galley and chef.

 

Hank

 

Agree with you. We book a suite as I like the cabin size and bigger bathroom and storage. Love michaels club also . The unlimited dining package is great especially on the silhouette and reflection as the lawn grill is great and our favorite specialty restaurant. We also enjoy lunches at the specialty restaurants. But breakfast in Luminae is great.

[miched]

We have been in Blu many times, Luminae and MDR a few times. We always had a table for two as we want to be by ourselfs enjoying our dining experience toegether.

 

We enjoyed all of the dining rooms and their menus. Service has been great in every one. Having sailing many times on X and basically in the Caribbean we have had the same host and servers a few times in the different dining rooms.

 

There is a different in the atmosphere, presentations and etc but we just accept what we got and enjoy it because none of them are a greasy spoon and for the most part are better than any restaurant we would dine at at home.

 

Happy cruising🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Miaminice]

I wouldn't book a suite just for Luminae either. Between the all inclusive package, the lounge, and Luminae, it's a no-brainer for us. That said, our comparison was Blu on Reflection to Luminae on Silhouette and Equinox. You could barely walk between the tables in Blu on Reflection. Maybe that has changed.

 

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Granted, Blu on Reflection is a bit different and more crowded because of the higher number of AQ passengers.

[jagoffee]

Granted, Blu on Reflection is a bit different and more crowded because of the higher number of AQ passengers.

I did not realize that the Reflection had a higher number of AQ passengers.

I know they have more suites, thus more people eligible for Luminae dining.

[cmhdoogalsatsea]

I did not realize that the Reflection had a higher number of AQ passengers.

I know they have more suites, thus more people eligible for Luminae dining.

 

Reflection has 150 Aqua Class cabins vs 130 on Equinox and 107 on Summit.

Blu's capacity is listed as 154,128 and 100 respectively.

Edited September 27, 2018 by cmhdoogalsatsea

[Miaminice]

I did not realize that the Reflection had a higher number of AQ passengers.

I know they have more suites, thus more people eligible for Luminae dining.

 

If you compare the deck plans, especially deck 12, you can see that Reflection has a full deck of staterooms on deck 12 which is part of the pool deck on the other ships. Those are suites and additional AQ staterooms missing on the other ships. So Blu on Reflection tends to be more crowded.

[misterkevin]

We did our very first Celebrity cruise on Summit earlier this year, for which we got an absolute steal on a Sky Suite, so enjoyed our nightly dinners at Luminae. For our next cruise we are currently booked in Aqua Clas, and contemplating whether to upgrade, but one of the things I'm curious about is for feedback from folks who have done both Aqua and Suites and how the food compares between BLU and Luminae. We didn't take advantage of the ability to dine in BLU as suite guests so don't have any experience. Side question, in BLU can you order from MDR like you can from Luminae?

 

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

We cruised in AQ on the Summit and had an option to order from the MDR menus when dining in BLU. It was explained to me that on M-class ships, BLU diners can order from the MDR because the kitchens are right next to each other. This is not the case in AQ on S-class ships.

[maggie.1008]

We have enjoyed Luminae and Blu and have not been in the MDR for several years.

Just came off the Solstice and for the first time I was very disappointed in Blu. We had to wait with a pager every night no matter what time it was. They were short staffed and tables were not cleared fast enough. Food was not up to past standards. Best meals were Tuscan Grill, Silk Harvest and two lunches in the MDR on sea days.

We will be back on the Solstice for Hawaii cruise in April. I have booked a A1 cabin and bought the dining pkg. A few nights we will enjoy casual dinner outside of Ocean View Café.

[maggie.1008]

Sorry we will be in 1A not AQ 1.