Reflection food experiences

[RClark6369@aol.com]

  Hi,

  Wondering if anyone could comment on recent food experiences on Reflection.   We were on the ship last year and did not experience the "wonderful" food that everyone comments on.  The deserts were horrible at best and usually not edible.   Each day in the lido, there was a choice of 3 or 4 cakes or pies.   All tasted the same.... bland or flavorless,  but they looked very attractive......    It actually became a joke between us as the cruise progressed.... "What horrible excuse of a desert will be offered today ?"

    The lido was a constant repeat day after day of the very some offerings.    The MDR was "okay" at best.  Nothing was "wonderful".   Do you have to pay for the alternative dining experience to get "wonderful" food on Celebrity ?

  When you are "reflecting" on your dining experience on a cruise ship,(any ship) what factors are most important to rate the food as "wonderful" ?      

 

Just picking Celebrity cruisers brains.

Thanks

Rex

 

 

 

 

 

[bikerunner]

Food  is so subjective.   I was on reflection in nov and found plenty of great dishes to try and have. I think I had one thing I didn’t care for from mdr but the waiter brought me out another entree and it was really good  Someone else in my group had a different experience and didn’t find to many things they liked   I really can’t comment on the cakes since I never have them but look all to be the same tho.  I stick with ice cream usually and always find that great.  I did eat in lcg a couple times and that was incredible.  

[39august]

We greatly enjoyed the buffet food on all our Celebrity cruises including Reflection a year ago.  Certainly NOT the same thing every day!  Looking forward to more good food on RF in 3 weeks. PS, I never eat cake. Agree with the poster above. Great ice cream in the Ocean View Cafe buffet.  Also great lemon tarts in Cafe Al Bacio!

[Marelaine]

 

Oh my, those lemon tarts are delightful.

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Marelaine

[cheeseclan]

Does the Reflection have sorbet for us who need lactose free items?

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, cheeseclan said:

Does the Reflection have sorbet for us who need lactose free items?

 

Yes it does...Although I am not lactose intolerant I often prefer a sorbet to an ice cream and I have enjoyed them in restaurants (Tuscan and Murano) where they are not even on the menu.

 

Chat to the M’D on boarding about your dietary needs and they will discuss with you each evening the next day’s menu and be able to make recommendations on suitability of items and items they can modify for you. Much better than arriving at the restaurant and finding you have limited choices.

 

 

[cheeseclan]

Thanks Chemmo.  Will talk to M’D in Blu since we have Aqua class.  I will also talk to waiters in each of the specialty restaurants as well.

I am glad to hear sorbet is on board!!

[chemmo]

Generally we are not massive dessert fans to start with. On Celebrity, whilst we generally find the food to be very good we are not massive fans of their desserts either. I don’t think this is just a Celebrity thing, we haven’t been particular fans of desserts on other ships too. 

 

Agree with OP that many items look nicer in the buffet and MDR than they actually taste. Exceptions being apple pie and ice cream and the creme brûlée...

 

We do enjoy the desserts in Murano’s (ballon rouge, Gran Marnier soufflé). We were disappointed with the cookie and ice cream desert at the Lawn Grill which we had read about...just too sweet and heavy for us after a big meal.

 

Even when we dine in a restaurant with good dessert choices we will often finish our meal with a coffee and liqueur rather than become ‘over full’ with rich items. Alternatively we will just ask for a sorbet or small ice cream.

 

The best place for free decent desserts on Celebrity is Cafe Al Bachio...Remember you do not need to buy a coffee. In our opinion the best time to enjoy these delights is not straight after a heavy meal. If we have had a decent breakfast we may not bother with lunch or just have a light salad and then choose something from the cafe to enjoy back on our veranda with a coffee, alternatively after your evening meal miss the dessert course, enjoy a stroll around the deck and a nice drink before calling at the Cafe for something sweet with a coffee.

Edited January 19, 2020 by chemmo

[chemmo]

9 minutes ago, cheeseclan said:

Thanks Chemmo.  Will talk to M’D in Blu since we have Aqua class.  I will also talk to waiters in each of the specialty restaurants as well.

I am glad to hear sorbet is on board!!

 

In Tuscan when I asked at the end of a meal if they had sorbet they told me they only had mango (which was fine with me)...Next time we dined there, however, the waiter asked if I would be wanting sorbet as a dessert as he would arrange a selection to be sent up. Nice to know they will try to go above and beyond!

 

Hope you have a fantastic cruise!

[dogs4fun]

12 hours ago, bikerunner said:

Food  is so subjective.

Absolutely agree! I am a dessert fan and have found many appetizing choices on our X cruises - have not yet sailed on the Reflection but will be sailing the Baltic on her this September.  FWIW ... with the exception of our Oceania cruises, I would not rate any of the food on our many cruises on multiple lines (both ocean and river) as "wonderful" - it's just not an adjective I would use to describe the food in the MDR or buffet. Depending on the ship, I would describe the food as fair to very good, but not "wonderful" or "exceptional". 

[zanderblue]

We were on Reflection in November. We ate all our dinners in MDR and never had cause to complain. There was at least one, and often more choice that suited us.

I wouldn’t go as far to see every meal was excellent, but certainly very good.

As other have said, food is very subjective and I do get that not everyone will have a similar taste.

I would say though, that if you are never satisfied with anything on your plate, you should  bring it to the staffs attention.

 

PS.

does anyone else think that the shredded lamb in phyllo pastry is good?

 

[Lisamarie18]

 I’ve been on the Reflection twice, just got off on January 3. Overall, I found the food very good, but I do agree with you in terms of some of the desserts.  The cakes are sweet, but no discernible flavor. I thought the cheesecake and crème brûlée in the main dining room was very good and some of the items from Cafe Al Bacio (lemon tarts and cookies are great).

 

On the last cruise, we were sitting in Café Al Bacio and we ordered one coconut cupcake to split.  The server brought over another type of cupcake as well.  I really didn’t like it either and she stopped by to ask us what we thought.    I politely said that I wasn’t a big fan of either while my cousin said that she really liked the pistachio one.  The server laughed and said it was pineapple. You could tell she knew they weren’t very good either 🙂  The cake was stale and the frosting was super sweet with no flavor   

 

I do think the ice cream in oceanview café was very good as well as some other desserts in the specialty restaurants. It’s probably just as well that I don’t love all the desserts, haha!

[39august]

Sorbet is also available daily in  the Ocean View Cafe along with the ice cream. Flavors vary daily. 

[dcyonce]

Sailing on Reflection now.

 

Ocean View is very, very good. It just keeps getting better. But, I can definitely understand the comments about "poor deserts". Since we normally don't eat desert, the limited and bland deserts don't bother us. I guess if they had better deserts, we would be tempted. 😉

 

Luminae is a big disappointment. This used to be such a great restaurant. Celebrity changed the Luminae menus. I thought the previous menus were weak … now they are much, MUCH worse. But, you can still order from the main dinning room menus. The main dinning room menus have not changed. We … and about 80% of the people we spoke with in Michael's Club said they were ordering from the main dinning room menus or eating in Blu instead. Along with the new Luminae menus, Celebrity also seems to have changed the process. Dinner in Luminae now takes a very, VERY, loooooooong time. Tonight we arrived at 6:00 PM. Luminae was about half full. Seated immediately and ordered quickly, but appetizers did not arrive until just before 7:00 PM. At 7:20 PM, we decided to leave. Went upstairs to Ocean View for dinner. The changes to Luminae are not good. It seems to be short staffed now. Waiters now fetch the dishes from the kitchen instead of the "runner" that they used to have. Too few assistant waiters now. Hostess and maitre'd were serving bread, clearing tables and resetting tables.

 

Murano is still excellent!

 

Lawn Club Grill was very, very busy and excellent one time we visited this week. Not so good the second time.

 

Did not go to Le Petit Chef. The old Qsine format was sooooooo much better. There seems to always be someone outside Ocean View promoting Le Petit Chef. Hopefully Celebrity will cancel this miserable venue and move on to something better!

 

Did not eat in Tuscan Grill or Blu during his cruise. However, we are staying on the Reflection for the next cruise. We plan to try Tuscan and Blu. Years ago, Tuscan was fantastic. Lately … not so much and not worth visiting. But, with high hopes ... we are planning to try Tuscan Grill again next week!

 

We will also give Lawn Club another shot. It has good potential. I think our one bad experience last week may have just been an off night with a much larger than normal crowd. It was very, very busy that evening.

 

Overall, even though Celebrity seems to be focused hard on cutting costs, the staff onboard still try hard to provide an excellent experience. The only exception is Luminae. The Luminae staff are nice, but I'm not sure the cost cutting changes forced upon them by Miami can be worked around or overcome by the staff onboard. Goodbye Luminae … you were once great and will be missed.

 

-- Don

Edited January 20, 2020 by dcyonce

[megfla]

We were on the Reflection two weeks ago and would agree that the cakes and pies on the Buffet were underwhelming.  We did find the chocolate mousse and ice cream very good.   We offered this feedback to one of the head waiters working in the Oceanview.

 

We found that the deserts in the MDR were much better than the OV, and the offerings in Murano & Lawn Club were outstanding!

[dcyonce]

On 1/19/2020 at 10:53 PM, dcyonce said:

Sailing on Reflection now.

 

Ocean View is very, very good. It just keeps getting better. But, I can definitely understand the comments about "poor deserts". Since we normally don't eat desert, the limited and bland deserts don't bother us. I guess if they had better deserts, we would be tempted. 😉

 

Luminae is a big disappointment. This used to be such a great restaurant. Celebrity changed the Luminae menus. I thought the previous menus were weak … now they are much, MUCH worse. But, you can still order from the main dinning room menus. The main dinning room menus have not changed. We … and about 80% of the people we spoke with in Michael's Club said they were ordering from the main dinning room menus or eating in Blu instead. Along with the new Luminae menus, Celebrity also seems to have changed the process. Dinner in Luminae now takes a very, VERY, loooooooong time. Tonight we arrived at 6:00 PM. Luminae was about half full. Seated immediately and ordered quickly, but appetizers did not arrive until just before 7:00 PM. At 7:20 PM, we decided to leave. Went upstairs to Ocean View for dinner. The changes to Luminae are not good. It seems to be short staffed now. Waiters now fetch the dishes from the kitchen instead of the "runner" that they used to have. Too few assistant waiters now. Hostess and maitre'd were serving bread, clearing tables and resetting tables.

 

Murano is still excellent!

 

Lawn Club Grill was very, very busy and excellent one time we visited this week. Not so good the second time.

 

Did not go to Le Petit Chef. The old Qsine format was sooooooo much better. There seems to always be someone outside Ocean View promoting Le Petit Chef. Hopefully Celebrity will cancel this miserable venue and move on to something better!

 

Did not eat in Tuscan Grill or Blu during his cruise. However, we are staying on the Reflection for the next cruise. We plan to try Tuscan and Blu. Years ago, Tuscan was fantastic. Lately … not so much and not worth visiting. But, with high hopes ... we are planning to try Tuscan Grill again next week!

 

We will also give Lawn Club another shot. It has good potential. I think our one bad experience last week may have just been an off night with a much larger than normal crowd. It was very, very busy that evening.

 

Overall, even though Celebrity seems to be focused hard on cutting costs, the staff onboard still try hard to provide an excellent experience. The only exception is Luminae. The Luminae staff are nice, but I'm not sure the cost cutting changes forced upon them by Miami can be worked around or overcome by the staff onboard. Goodbye Luminae … you were once great and will be missed.

 

-- Don

***** UPDATE Wednesday January 22nd *****
 

We were on Reflection for the previous cruise. Luminae Service was poor. Restaurant was short staffed. 
 

We stayed on Reflection for another cruise. The new Luminae manager ( Joseph) came by and visited with us. We also spoke to the Reflection Restaurants manager. They were aware of the problems and have made changes including adding more staff and changing Luminae managers. So ... we tried Luminae again. I am happy to report ... it was wonderful. Must have been a bad week for them. 

 

We don’t prefer the new Luminae menus, but that’s a subjective thing ( you may like the new menus). As a Vegetarian, the new Luminae menus have very limited selections. But, ordering from the Main Dining room and Vegetarian menus is still an option and service when ordering from those menus is still very good !!

 

Cannot do that on Edge. No ordering from Main Dining room menus when dining in Luminae. Another in a long list of reason we will not be sailing on Edge or Apex. 

We were VERY impressed with how the Reflection Food and Beverage management handled and responded to the issues in Luminae. It’s very obvious that Luminae and Suite guests are important to them.
 

I was wrong to assume that the changes had been forced upon them by Miami and they could not fix them.  
 

Had lunch in Blu. Wow !

Very, very nice. Lunch in Blu and Tuscan is amazing on Reflection and much better than any other Celebrity ship. Always look forward to it !!

( another little known Top Suite and Zenith perk )
 

For dining ... Reflection is still our favorite ship. For Penthouse Suites, Millennium is our favorite. 
 

  — Don

Edited January 22, 2020 by dcyonce

[MR_T]

Currently on the Reflection and the select dining option is working terribly, by far the worst of the 15 celebrity crises I’ve done so far, last night we decided to go around 6.45pm to avoid the normal 7-7.30pmrush, there was a huge queue so decided to wait a little longer and had another drink... went back 20 mins later and the queue was as bad so we decided to wait for a buzzer only to be told (by the time we got to the front of the queue) it would be around an hour wait... we got seated around 55 mins later... 

 

I'm guessing everyone wanted to eat early which is fine and I guess in the situation there’s not much that can be done... 

 

what makes this more frustrating for us is we booked early dining for a table of 2 but when we checked onboard the first day we were allocated to one of the largest tables they had 🙄 and was told to take it or leave it as they were full so select was our only option! 

[CaptCrunch]

I agree with the above poster who said that food is so subjective.  What one person likes and thinks is good will be a total "miss" for someone else.  Our last cruise was in a Suite on the Reflection and I ordered off the MDR menu a few times at dinner.  Personally, I prefer simple food to fussy foods and the grilled salmon and steamed broccoli is more appealing to me, than some of the Luminae choices.  I'm really glad to have the option of ordering off the MDR menu in Luminae. 

 

As far as the desserts go, I wholeheartedly agree that the cake selections in Ocean View Cafe leave a lot to be desired - they look pretty, but that's about all.  The ONLY exception I have found is on the last sea day lunch when they have the "fancy buffet" (I'm not sure what this day is actually called, but it's when they have a REALLY NICE buffet lunch in OVC).  I had a slice of Battenberg Cake (this cake is recognizable by it's pink and yellow checkerboard pattern when it's sliced) and it was outstanding.  The pastry chef was standing near the desserts and I made sure to let him know how delicious it was.   I also really like the coconut macaroons in Cafe Al Bacio.  They are in a glass jar above the pastry case and are fantastic.  Not too sweet and very coconutty. 

[39august]

So, were the coconut macaroons available on Reflection? They were not on either Silhouette or Equinox on our last two cruises in Sept and Dec. I love them and hope they show up again!

[dcyonce]

2 minutes ago, 39august said:

So, were the coconut macaroons available on Reflection? They were not on either Silhouette or Equinox on our last two cruises in Sept and Dec. I love them and hope they show up again!

Yes !  
And they are heavenly little bites of joy !

 

  —Don

[jjsnonna]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:35 PM, RClark6369@aol.com said:

  Hi,

  Wondering if anyone could comment on recent food experiences on Reflection.   We were on the ship last year and did not experience the "wonderful" food that everyone comments on.  The deserts were horrible at best and usually not edible.   Each day in the lido, there was a choice of 3 or 4 cakes or pies.   All tasted the same.... bland or flavorless,  but they looked very attractive......    It actually became a joke between us as the cruise progressed.... "What horrible excuse of a desert will be offered today ?"

    The lido was a constant repeat day after day of the very some offerings.    The MDR was "okay" at best.  Nothing was "wonderful".   Do you have to pay for the alternative dining experience to get "wonderful" food on Celebrity ?

  When you are "reflecting" on your dining experience on a cruise ship,(any ship) what factors are most important to rate the food as "wonderful" ?      

 

Just picking Celebrity cruisers brains.

Thanks

Rex

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jjsnonna]

I have to agree, although the "fan club" will surely dispute this.  Those deserts in the buffet are atrocious.  They do look good, but that's about the only thing good I can say.  They are all tasteless and bland, and for some strange reason all tasted the same.  Flavorless.

[jjsnonna]

On 1/19/2020 at 10:53 PM, dcyonce said:

Sailing on Reflection now.

 

Ocean View is very, very good. It just keeps getting better. But, I can definitely understand the comments about "poor deserts". Since we normally don't eat desert, the limited and bland deserts don't bother us. I guess if they had better deserts, we would be tempted. 😉

 

Luminae is a big disappointment. This used to be such a great restaurant. Celebrity changed the Luminae menus. I thought the previous menus were weak … now they are much, MUCH worse. But, you can still order from the main dinning room menus. The main dinning room menus have not changed. We … and about 80% of the people we spoke with in Michael's Club said they were ordering from the main dinning room menus or eating in Blu instead. Along with the new Luminae menus, Celebrity also seems to have changed the process. Dinner in Luminae now takes a very, VERY, loooooooong time. Tonight we arrived at 6:00 PM. Luminae was about half full. Seated immediately and ordered quickly, but appetizers did not arrive until just before 7:00 PM. At 7:20 PM, we decided to leave. Went upstairs to Ocean View for dinner. The changes to Luminae are not good. It seems to be short staffed now. Waiters now fetch the dishes from the kitchen instead of the "runner" that they used to have. Too few assistant waiters now. Hostess and maitre'd were serving bread, clearing tables and resetting tables.

 

Murano is still excellent!

 

Lawn Club Grill was very, very busy and excellent one time we visited this week. Not so good the second time.

 

Did not go to Le Petit Chef. The old Qsine format was sooooooo much better. There seems to always be someone outside Ocean View promoting Le Petit Chef. Hopefully Celebrity will cancel this miserable venue and move on to something better!

 

Did not eat in Tuscan Grill or Blu during his cruise. However, we are staying on the Reflection for the next cruise. We plan to try Tuscan and Blu. Years ago, Tuscan was fantastic. Lately … not so much and not worth visiting. But, with high hopes ... we are planning to try Tuscan Grill again next week!

 

We will also give Lawn Club another shot. It has good potential. I think our one bad experience last week may have just been an off night with a much larger than normal crowd. It was very, very busy that evening.

 

Overall, even though Celebrity seems to be focused hard on cutting costs, the staff onboard still try hard to provide an excellent experience. The only exception is Luminae. The Luminae staff are nice, but I'm not sure the cost cutting changes forced upon them by Miami can be worked around or overcome by the staff onboard. Goodbye Luminae … you were once great and will be missed.

 

-- Don

Curious, what about LPC did you not enjoy?  Which menu did you have?

[GateGuardian]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:35 PM, RClark6369@aol.com said:

  Hi,

  Wondering if anyone could comment on recent food experiences on Reflection.   We were on the ship last year and did not experience the "wonderful" food that everyone comments on.  The deserts were horrible at best and usually not edible.   Each day in the lido, there was a choice of 3 or 4 cakes or pies.   All tasted the same.... bland or flavorless,  but they looked very attractive......    It actually became a joke between us as the cruise progressed.... "What horrible excuse of a desert will be offered today ?"

    The lido was a constant repeat day after day of the very some offerings.    The MDR was "okay" at best.  Nothing was "wonderful".   Do you have to pay for the alternative dining experience to get "wonderful" food on Celebrity ?

  When you are "reflecting" on your dining experience on a cruise ship,(any ship) what factors are most important to rate the food as "wonderful" ?      

 

Just picking Celebrity cruisers brains.

Thanks

Rex

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you did not like it last year, you will have the same experience this year.

[suz56]

I don't eat desserts though my husband loved most of his. The rest of the food in the main dining room was just blah on Reflection. On the millennium class class in the past, everything was amazing. Not sure if it is an overall Celebrity cost cutting or if it the amount of people to be served on the bigger ships cuts quality. I hope it is the later because I don't want to be disappointed if I return to the millennium class ships. I just love everything about them.