Luminae or Murano?

[K12Guy]

Over the course of three or four Celebrity cruises in suite class I've learned that by making Luminae your venue of choice you will very quickly get to know the staff and they will learn your likes and dislikes. That said, if you save your celebration night for Luminae the staff tends to make it much better than Murano, in my experience.

[tmk1941]

We too will be eating most of our meals in Luminae. How ever I have booked Murano for my wife birthday, our usuL special treat.  Y question is about the French Turbot compared to my usual Dover Sole entree. Comments are solicited and welcome.

[chemmo]

16 minutes ago, tmk1941 said:

French Turbot vs Dover Sole....

 

My vote is for the French Turbot....It is a light and delicate entree and not over filling meaning you can choose a more filling starter and still enjoy a cheese course and (hopefully) a dessert.

 

No issues at all with the Dover Sole but I really love the Turbot with its background citrus flavours....Whilst the Dover Sole is widely available in many land based restaurants Turbot, certainly in our region of the U.K., is less widely available.

 

Only downside to choosing the Turbot is you don’t get to see the wonderful tableside removal on the bone from the Dover Sole...

 

Hope you and your wife have a fantastic meal.

[Gonzo70]

What do they actually serve when one orders turbot? I know they serve flounder for what they call “Dover sole.” Since French turbot is also extremely expensive, am curious what they are substituting. Fluke maybe? 

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, Gonzo70 said:

What do they actually serve when one orders turbot? I know they serve flounder for what they call “Dover sole.” Since French turbot is also extremely expensive, am curious what they are substituting. Fluke maybe? 

 

If it is a ‘mock’ as the turtle from Alice in Wonderland it isn’t one I have had an issue with the flavour or cooking of....It isn’t a massive portion but certainly adequate, beautifully presented and with complementing sides...

[jagoffee]

If you wish to dine in Murano’s in the later part of the cruise, you should make your reservation very early in the cruise.  On our last two Cruise, Murano’s was totally sold out the last four or five days.

[keesar]

3 hours ago, Gonzo70 said:

What do they actually serve when one orders turbot? I know they serve flounder for what they call “Dover sole.” Since French turbot is also extremely expensive, am curious what they are substituting. Fluke maybe? 

 

Those fish are all in the flounder family.  You need  to have fancy names in a Specialty Restaurant.  Fluke is a really tasty fish, one of my favorites.

[Cruise a holic]

Definitely Murano.  The food service and venue is elegant and special.  You should also dine in Tuscan Grille one evening.  Luminae ok for other days

[Fogfog]

Second the advice to make a reservation at Murano and then decide after enjoying Luminae ...

We love Murano ( and are NOT old as one poster suggests about Murano fans)... we just like fine dining and have always had amazing food/service including wine pairing in Murano

 

With a cruise--why limit celebrating to one day/night. Enjoy the whole week of fun/festivities and feasting

 

Happy 40th

Edited January 28, 2019 by Fogfog

[dateacher]

4 hours ago, jagoffee said:

If you wish to dine in Murano’s in the later part of the cruise, you should make your reservation very early in the cruise.  On our last two Cruise, Murano’s was totally sold out the last four or five days.

Agree. We ate there for the first time on our recent Silhouette cruise. It was one of the best meals we have had anywhere.  (And while we have not eaten in every great restaurant in the world, we've eaten in enough great restaurants to compare). We tried for another reservation and couldn't get one until 9:30 the night before we arrived back in port. I didn't want to eat that late on our last night.

[Gonzo70]

4 hours ago, keesar said:

Those fish are all in the flounder family.  You need  to have fancy names in a Specialty Restaurant.  Fluke is a really tasty fish, one of my favorites.

 

Celebrity is specifically listing “Dover sole” and “French turbot” on the menu, yet serving much cheaper fish; same “general” family, but not at all the same thing. Don’t know why Celebrity does this and how they get away with it; a land based resto would be out $$$$$$ in false advertising suits if they pulled this stunt. Just like Celebrity calling product “Kobe beef” and serving US “beef blend.” Likewise on Celebrity champagne = sparklIng wine, truffles = truffle oil, morels = button mushrooms, caviar = masago/tobiko/salmon roe etc. etc. Luxurious, expensive, rare menu items listed, common, inexpensive items served. 

[ChrissieCee]

I quite like the look of the menu in Blu; have you considered that as an option?  Perhaps not for your celebration night, but it depends on your taste. To be clear, I haven’t sailed yet myself, so I am not speaking from any first hand knowledge; purely from perusing menus on here. I’m not sure if Suite guests can eat at Blu as standard, but I’m sure you’d have no trouble getting a reservation.

Edited January 28, 2019 by ChrissieCee

[Suite Susie]

Murano for us, without a doubt.  The food in Luminae is OK, but some nights there is nothing that excites us on the menu.

[Diamond lover]

Could I piggyback on this thread and ask a quick question.  I am admittedly quite a boring eater....and I am in a Sky Suite.  Does Luminae have any standard dishes, as the MDR does, that are always available?

 

Honestly, I am allergic to seaweed and shellfish (but not fish itself thankfully) I do not enjoy lamb, cilantro, cumin/curry or kale or avocado. I promise you, those restrictions wipe out a lot of menus in elegant places lol.

 

i never “fuss”, and I am always happy to make do with an item on the “you are a boring eater” menu....if it is available?

[NCHPcruiser]

11 minutes ago, Diamond lover said:

Could I piggyback on this thread and ask a quick question.  I am admittedly quite a boring eater....and I am in a Sky Suite.  Does Luminae have any standard dishes, as the MDR does, that are always available?

 

Honestly, I am allergic to seaweed and shellfish (but not fish itself thankfully) I do not enjoy lamb, cilantro, cumin/curry or kale or avocado. I promise you, those restrictions wipe out a lot of menus in elegant places lol.

 

i never “fuss”, and I am always happy to make do with an item on the “you are a boring eater” menu....if it is available?

You are always able to order off the Main Dining Room menu in Luminae (except on the Edge) which includes several entrees that are offered each night.  When dining in Luminae I frequently order the Salmon from this section of the MDR menu.   

[Diamond lover]

Just now, NCHPcruiser said:

You are always able to order off the Main Dining Room menu in Luminae (except on the Edge) which includes several entrees that are offered each night.  When dining in Luminae I frequently order the Salmon from this section of the MDR menu.   

Thank you so much for this reassurance.

 

[chemmo]

7 hours ago, Diamond lover said:

Thank you so much for this reassurance.

 

 

If you ask the M’D at the start of the cruise for the Luminae menus for the full cruise he will print them out for you. You can then look at them and decide which days you are happy with the choices, which days you may fancy a choice but would like it modified and which days you can not find anything suitable.

 

Obviously, on days you are happy, no issue but on the others you can ask the day before either for them to modify a dish for you for the next evening or request an item off menu. You do not need to just rely on the MDR menu as a back up. By looking at the menus at the start of the cruise you can also use that information to decide which nights you may prefer a speciality restaurant. In our experience Luminae staff will really try their hardest to maximise your dining pleasure, it does make life easier for them, however, to know 24hours before if you have a special request.

 

On a final note we do find some of the descriptions of the Luminae menu a little odd/ unclear, so ask your waiter to explain where necessary.

 

Have a fantastic cruise!

 

[Gordoncruickshank]

We have one problem with Murano. The menus now are almost the same as they were in 2012 on our first Celebrity cruises.

 

We have eaten there on almost all of our 18 cruises with Celebrity sometimes two or three times a cruise and I am really bored with the menu. I have tried everything that I would possibly like and it is all so repetitive now. It, along with Blu and the MDR are all in need of an update and Luminae is getting to the same stage. It has been open since 2015 almost 4 years and while there have been some tweaks, the menus are the same as then.

 

That more than anything else is what will make us look elsewhere for our future cruises. We are already trying MSC yacht club in October.

[chemmo]

33 minutes ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

We have one problem with Murano. The menus now are almost the same as they were in 2012 on our first Celebrity cruises.

 

We have eaten there on almost all of our 18 cruises with Celebrity sometimes two or three times a cruise and I am really bored with the menu. I have tried everything that I would possibly like and it is all so repetitive now. It, along with Blu and the MDR are all in need of an update and Luminae is getting to the same stage. It has been open since 2015 almost 4 years and while there have been some tweaks, the menus are the same as then.

 

That more than anything else is what will make us look elsewhere for our future cruises. We are already trying MSC yacht club in October.

 

We will be interested in your views on the yacht club! With the suite prices for X in the Mediterranean we may look at alternatives also. 

 

I must say we do still find plenty to enjoy in Murano’s and as we dine there several times a cruise they have been kind enough to cook us a few off menu items. We have always found the Luminae menu quite limited, hence my advice in the above post....When we dine there one or the other of us will often struggle to find something to suit. Never any issues with the service just with the range of choices.

[Gordoncruickshank]

58 minutes ago, chemmo said:

 

We will be interested in your views on the yacht club! With the suite prices for X in the Mediterranean we may look at alternatives also. 

 

I must say we do still find plenty to enjoy in Murano’s and as we dine there several times a cruise they have been kind enough to cook us a few off menu items. We have always found the Luminae menu quite limited, hence my advice in the above post....When we dine there one or the other of us will often struggle to find something to suit. Never any issues with the service just with the range of choices.

The Med prices were why I started looking elsewhere. 9 nights in their yacht Club in the equivalent of a sky suite (there are only two larger suites which seem to go very early) was £4k while everything I looked at on Celebrity was £10k plus and that includes suite pool deck, suite restaurant, drinks included everywhere on ship.

 

It is my wife who struggles with Luminae. In almost every meal she has something from the main dinning room menu.