MDR food - Do you feel Celebrity is living off its past reputation?

[alcpa1]

We too have sailed Celebrity since 1999. When Aqua's Blu restaurant became available we booked so we could dine there in a smaller venue with better food (for our palates) and service. Fast forward to May 2019 we were back in the MDR. Never again. The entire experience was lacking in taste quality and care.  

It wasn't just Michel Roux but the Food and Beverage VP, Scott, who elevated the menu and insured quality from ship to ship.

We have not given up on Celebrity. We have another voyage or two, or more, in our future but we will not be dining in the MDR.

[dkjretired]

13 hours ago, nancyshaw said:

I got viciously attacked for saying that on the last 3 cruises in 2018,2019 the food was inedible on the two ships we sailed on, eclipse and infinity. After 3 nights in MDR  on the eclipse, we ate dinner in the buffet for the rest of the cruise.

 

Some here wanted me to explain every which way what inedible meant. I think it is pretty clear.

 

Since then , we have done a Viking O, cruise and are about to do some Oceania. Wonderful dining on Viking, no matter what stateroom you have. 

 

Here MDR is almost for those in steerage..after all what can we expect....if you want better, you have to spend and spend.....aqua, suites and above.....that is how classist Celebrity has become. 

 

are we still sailing Celeb? one out of seven cruises booked is Celeb..that says a lot, since we are elite plus and have spent many years and dollars with Celeb only.

 

for the one Celeb cruise I am prepared again to eat in Buffet...have no expectations..why then am I doing another celeb cruise...it is the only one I found that sails round trip to hawaii from LA.

 

 

Quite frankly, if someone said the food was inedible, I would completely ignore that review because you may not like the food but inedible is going much to far. 

[Oxo]

19 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

Quite frankly, if someone said the food was inedible, I would completely ignore that review because you may not like the food but inedible is going much to far. 

Totally agree with you. There is no cruise line that would serve such food. There is also no ship that could have such bad food in the MDR and edible food in the buffet. Someone is really trying to give false info. 

[nancyshaw]

12 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I am very surprised Nancy Shaw is again sailing Celebrity!?    Other ships regularly sail round trip to Hawaii including Royal and NCL.    Why spend money and time to be disappointed and eat in the buffet.   

 

 

well here is one that is still surprised by my posts but not others...so many have said Celeb food in MDR is now inferior but only my posts get attention...interesting...

[nancyshaw]

8 hours ago, alcpa1 said:

We too have sailed Celebrity since 1999. When Aqua's Blu restaurant became available we booked so we could dine there in a smaller venue with better food (for our palates) and service. Fast forward to May 2019 we were back in the MDR. Never again. The entire experience was lacking in taste quality and care.  

It wasn't just Michel Roux but the Food and Beverage VP, Scott, who elevated the menu and insured quality from ship to ship.

We have not given up on Celebrity. We have another voyage or two, or more, in our future but we will not be dining in the MDR.

 

We share your sentiments. Others will ask you why you would sail again on Celebrity or maybe they just ask me.

[dkjretired]

8 minutes ago, nancyshaw said:

 

well here is one that is still surprised by my posts but not others...so many have said Celeb food in MDR is now inferior but only my posts get attention...interesting...

 

Saying the food is inferior to what it was 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years ago  is not the same as saying the food is inedible. Please don’t conflate the two. The word inedible is why you got the attention and rightfully so.

Edited September 5, 2019 by dkjretired

[nancyshaw]

As I said so long ago, on three cruises in a row, we could not eat what was served on multiple occasions in 

the MDR. When you cant eat something, it is called inedible. I will always stand by that. If you cant eat something because of poor quality or awful taste, it is INEDIBLE. How much more of a definition does the word need. Others cant believe something could be inedible,  they are fortunate that they did not have our experience. Then there are those   that say they will never eat in MDR again. Really does not matter what word is used to describe the meals in MDR, the outcome is the same. 

 

The Buffet was very good for dinner, we are prepared to eat there again on the one sailing we have coming up. 

 

 

[TeeRick]

With all due respect to people's opinions and definitions here, these food topics are always very reactive and go all over the place.  To get back to the OP's question - and not to resurface and rehash a thread on the meaning of inedible- we think the Celebrity MDR food is on par with the only other cruise line we have sailed (Royal C).  But we think the Oceanview buffet is much better than the Windjammer buffet.  All subjective of course.  Since we started cruising so much has changed.  Lots of dining choices now (for added fees).  Restaurants specific for cabin categories (Luminae, Blu).   But the largest change is the huge increase in ship size and number of passengers on the mass market lines. No matter how good the executive chef is, I think it is near impossible to serve MDR food like the old days on much smaller ships.  So yes the overall quality has gone down (IMO) but perhaps choices and variety even in the MDR are expanded. A trade-off good for some but not others.  I think that years ago there was no menu offered for things like gluten-free.  Nobody knew about it!

Edited September 5, 2019 by TeeRick

[Orator]

15 minutes ago, nancyshaw said:

As I said so long ago, on three cruises in a row, we could not eat what was served on multiple occasions in 

the MDR. When you cant eat something, it is called inedible. I will always stand by that. If you cant eat something because of poor quality or awful taste, it is INEDIBLE. How much more of a definition does the word need. Others cant believe something could be inedible,  they are fortunate that they did not have our experience. Then there are those   that say they will never eat in MDR again. Really does not matter what word is used to describe the meals in MDR, the outcome is the same. 

 

The Buffet was very good for dinner, we are prepared to eat there again on the one sailing we have coming up. 

 

 

I would suggest that you arrange to speak to the Executive Chef and discuss your previous experiences. They may be able to make some adjustments for you that will improve your experience. I've been on some cruises where I had to escape to the buffet several nights. I've also been on some ships where the food was way above average.  Kenny and Denton are wonderful Chefs who really want to please passengers and love to cook. 

[nancyshaw]

This was a year ago and maybe things have improved. After speaking to the chef and all others concerned, in person and in writing, maybe the MDR has improved somewhat. We will see in October on the Eclipse. 

 

Yes I think think the Ops topic has been derailed, im sorry for my part in it. I think this was supposed to be some sort of comparison to the past. 

[DYKWIA]

We did notice on our recent cruise on Infinity how plain and basic the majority of the tableware is in the MDR.  Even in a modest mid range restaurant on land I would expect to see better tableware. The majority of the tableware, particularly the soup and dessert dishes, and coffee / tee cups,  were very plain. I feel the dining experience would  be lifted considerably with a better choice of tableware

[May B]

On 9/4/2019 at 3:57 PM, DYKWIA said:

The MDR on Infinity the last 12 nights  is the best food we’ve had in the MDR in the last 5 years (3 previous cruises on Eclipse) - superb, yes the usual menu, but a wide choice of veg and excellent large cuts of meat.  Tonight our final night prime rib must have been 16oz.

 

Buffet not as good

 

I was there, too! We also thoroughly enjoyed our dinners in the MDR, and the service (11 out of 12 nights).

 

OceanView Cafe was fine for me. I loved the new touch with the broth soups, but never chose any. Enjoyed Indian food for bkfst. once, but actually missed it for lunch — too tempted with other things. Weird, b/c usually it’s my go-to first choice.

[May B]

5 hours ago, DYKWIA said:

We did notice on our recent cruise on Infinity how plain and basic the majority of the tableware is in the MDR.  Even in a modest mid range restaurant on land I would expect to see better tableware. The majority of the tableware, particularly the soup and dessert dishes, and coffee / tee cups,  were very plain. I feel the dining experience would  be lifted considerably with a better choice of tableware

 

Funny you should mention that. We were intrigued to see that the flatware is Oneida, as we’re originally from upstate NY and we wondered if they’re still in business. But the plainness didn’t bother us.

[May B]

Back to the original question: on at least one occasion on the 12-day cruise from which we just disembarked yesterday (Infinity), I remarked to Mr. B. that a dish tasted EXACTLY the same as it always has, in our previous 16 cruises in nine years on Celebrity. They still season to our palate, for sure.

Edited September 6, 2019 by May B

[Fogfog]

On 9/4/2019 at 3:15 PM, Mike981 said:

No right or wrong answer, just what you have experienced.

For example I have seen people ask questions about the better/best MDR food on mass lines and many times someone will mention Celebrity.
Go ahead and tar and feather me, but I just don't see much of a difference from Celebrity, Carnival or Princess. I have not cruised other lines.
If a faithful Carnival cruiser wants to step up their food experience without specialty restaurants and asks the above question, I believe they would be disappointed.

 

Celebrity/NCL/Carnival/Disney/Regent--the MDRs can deliver a very decent meal and then other nights--very mediocre to downright disappointing.

 

We have had some bad/inedible items in MDR on most recent sailings on both Celebrity and NCL. 

 

Three sailings ago--- with Celebrity--- we found the MDR was more disappointing each night than good so that we had chosen Aqua (Blu) in April for a TA.

We are boarding tom  for B2B and will be Aqua (BLU) one leg and then Concierge with a big specialty dining packages for almost all dinners the second leg

 

In BLU we have had far more hits than misses...though a couple of choices have been less than terrific but none were duds like MDR

 

We have had OUTSTANDING meals in Murano and NCLs French specialty restaurant Bistro and also Carnival's Chefs Table has been an excellent.

The Carnival Chef's Table with wine pairing appears to be  a far better value/experience than whats advertised for Celebrity (before the new chef addition). We may try the Chef's Table with Celebrity if we hear good things about it. So far -we read here people asking about it and haven't heard first hand accounts of it and whether it is successful and well executed.

 

We have had a very nice meals in Celebrity's Tuscan, The Porch, Lawn Club Grill, Qzine (before the lpc conversion) and a steakhouse type of restaurant on both Regent and Carnival. 

 

We feel the  Celebrity MDR quality has gone down and is more "banquet" food. Unlike a kitchen on a land based restaurant (smaller venue--fewer meals demanded at the same time )-- the ability to deliver quality for 1000s is tougher. We suspect too it is that our expectations have been raised due to more experience cruising and having had some really great meals at sea. 

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, nancyshaw said:

This was a year ago and maybe things have improved. After speaking to the chef and all others concerned, in person and in writing, maybe the MDR has improved somewhat. We will see in October on the Eclipse. 

 

Yes I think think the Ops topic has been derailed, im sorry for my part in it. I think this was supposed to be some sort of comparison to the past. 

Nancy- I'm glad you are trying Celebrity again and look forward to your thoughts on the food and other things.

[hubofhockey]

On 9/5/2019 at 12:12 AM, alcpa1 said:

We too have sailed Celebrity since 1999. When Aqua's Blu restaurant became available we booked so we could dine there in a smaller venue with better food (for our palates) and service. Fast forward to May 2019 we were back in the MDR. Never again. The entire experience was lacking in taste quality and care.  

It wasn't just Michel Roux but the Food and Beverage VP, Scott, who elevated the menu and insured quality from ship to ship.

We have not given up on Celebrity. We have another voyage or two, or more, in our future but we will not be dining in the MDR.

 

If we don't book Aqua, we go for the specialty dining package, and we think Celebrity excels when it comes to those restaurants.  If it costs an additional $150 for each of us, it's worth it.

[TeeRick]

4 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

 

If we don't book Aqua, we go for the specialty dining package, and we think Celebrity excels when it comes to those restaurants.  If it costs an additional $150 for each of us, it's worth it.

Specialty dining package is the way to go if you want to avoid the MDR.  Cheaper option by far than Aqua or a suite. But it is a really limited choice on M-Class ships.  But you are a Pats fan and used to the best!

[hulamoon]

Three cruises ago we were on Edge for a three day preview. Two days in Cosmopolitan and one at Eden. All the food was superior than any we have had in sometime. I hope they keep the quality up and I hope it begins a new norm of excellence. We will be back on her in a couple of months.

[TeeRick]

Just now, hulamoon said:

Three cruises ago we were on Edge for a three day preview. Two days in Cosmopolitan and one at Eden. All the food was superior than any we have had in sometime. I hope they keep the quality up and I hope it begins a new norm of excellence. We will be back on her in a couple of months.

I agree that Edge had better food overall than other Celebrity ships I have sailed recently.  The Oceanview Cafe on Edge was really good too.

[Iamcruzin]

Princess has always had the best choices and best food that was prepared properly. However I haven't sailed with them in a while so I'm sure things have changed. We sailed on Royal Caribbean in June and it has been almost twenty years between sailings. After reading about food decline on that board I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised that the food in the MDR was better than Celebrity. We ate breakfast in the MDR and that was the best experience we have had in comparison to Princess and Celebrity.  We don't care for the buffets on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean but have enjoyed them on Princess. The worst food experience I had has been on Celebrity. This has to do with the way the food was prepared. It was over cooked and over salted, the tomato sauce was battery acid and the shrimp and lobster tail were rubber. I feel the decline came around the time they started offering a separate MDR for Suite guests. I  have also read that the food has declined in Blu for Aqua guests. The specialty restaurants on Celebrity don't seem to get the best reviews either.

[Iamcruzin]

On 9/4/2019 at 5:43 PM, boscobeans said:

Back when we started cruising in 2001 there was NO NEED for a specialty restaurant to get a better meal. 

Sure we did go to the Olympic as well as the others when they were on board, but not for edible food but for the special ambiance they offered, almost theatrical to a degree..

 

The Michel Roux inspired menus and the service in the MDR was a complete world away from today's dining experience and was above some offered in today's so called Specialty venues.

I feel that the specialty restaurants  on all of these lines have declined as well and the prices have increased. The service and atmosphere my be better than the MDR but I don't see a big difference in the food. Royal Caribbean has an up charge for certain dishes in addition to the base fee. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[Mike981]

Thank you for all the comments.

I see it every once in a while on CC where someone will ask the question we would like to step up our food and mostly cruise _____ line, what do you suggest? And some will mention Celebrity. But the place I see it most often is Face Book. I will try to "help out" with my experience, but like many have said food is subjective and it can very from week to week on all ships.

[Oxo]

1 hour ago, hubofhockey said:

 

If we don't book Aqua, we go for the specialty dining package, and we think Celebrity excels when it comes to those restaurants.  If it costs an additional $150 for each of us, it's worth it.

We are D+ and Ellie+. We are going on RCI  Symphony OTS next month. The Unlimited  Dining Pkg was $175.

 

Going on X Edge in Feb 2020. The UDP was $275. Both are 7 day cruises. X is totally overpriced. JMHO!

[4774Papa]

We started cruising when I retired in 2010.  Since then we have don 20 ocean cruises, 11 in Celebrity 7 in NCL and 2 in Royal Caribbean.

 

Regarding changes by Celebrity in last 9 years, we have seen a modest decline in the dining.  

 

We still think Celebrity has the best buffet of the three lines.  Celebrity has more healthy options than the other two lines.

 

Rating the three lines on a 10-1 scale:

 

Celebrity 9  years ago   score  9.5

Celebrity today               score  9

Royal Caribbean            score  8

NCL                                  score 7.5

 

Celebrity still has breakfast options that can't be beat, like eggs benedict made as you wait.   Royal has eggs benedict, but they over cook the eggs (eggs are hard).   Haven't seen eggs benedict on NCL at the buffet.