Dining Other Than Main Dining Room

[OldtimerBill]

Hi All,

 

I plan to post this same message in the Princess and Holland America forums.

 

My wife and I just returned from a cruise on which we took our daughter and two teenage grandkids. We ate our evening meals in the main dining room and came away every night stuffed. We even tried splitting an entrée but that didn't help too much.

 

I am wondering how your non-main dining room experiences have been on Celebrity. I think we would be fine eating at the buffets, etc. and want to compare our options on these 3 lines.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

Bill in Woodstock, Georgia, USA

 

[cruisestitch]

Buffet is very good with lots of options but really it comes down to your choices.  You can order a regular meal in MDR but only eat half of what they serve you.  Nothing says that you have to “clean your plate “. Leaving the table “stuffed” might say more about your choices than anything else, and it’s likely to happen at the buffet as well.

[Cruise a holic]

we really enjoy the food on celebrity- IMO the best food at sea- of the the lines you mentioned.  We really enjoy the specialty restaurants on celebrity as well as luminae.  Blu was just ok IMO.  While the buffet is great- not really interested in buffet- but celebrity has a person serving you now.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[OldtimerBill]

Hey and thanks for the reply. I guess we are just "old school" but it bothers us to leave food on our plates.  I guess I am trying to get a comparison of the quality of the food on the buffets of these 3 lines.

[cruisestitch]

As mom said, 

 

Leaving food on the plate is hard

Feeling stuffed is hard

Choose your hard

😀

[hrhdhd]

When I cruise solo, I eat most nights in the buffet and enjoy it. It's quieter, I can take just what I want from multiple stations, and I can sit outside if the mood suits.

[bEwAbG]

I find the food on HAL (MDR and buffet) to be better than Celebrity.  Celebrity's suite restaurant is better than what you get on HAL as a suite guest.  The various upcharge restaurants are on par, depending on your specific wants.  I last sailed HAL before the pandemic, though. 

 

All of the non-MDR restaurants on any line seem to push lots of quantity.  I made that exact comment on a HAL survey...while the upcharge restaurants were very good, they simply serve too much food in many cases.  On the other hand, you can always order less.  In the Asian restaurant on HAL, they at one time included an appetizer/soup + a full sushi roll and that was before you even got to the entrée and dessert.  When my traveling partner asked for just the sushi roll, they acted very hurt that he "wasn't pleased" with the rest of the menu.  They also discounted his meal price, so maybe that's why they push you to do the full menu.  Regardless, it's a lot of food, and I say that as someone who is a clean plate champ most of the time.  

[39august]

We love the evening buffet on Celebrity. So much variety and usually so delish. Much quieter in the evening than breakfast, which can be a zoo! Lunch is also very good on port days when the MDR and suite restaurant are not open. The Indian food is always a favorite of mine. Also, on Celebrity, lunch buffets are  varied, with a particular cuisine highlighted each day, i.e. French, Mediterranean, Spanish, etc. 

[SueMo]

I think the buffet on Celebrity's ships is so much better than that of HAL.  I was on Nieuw Amsterdam in January and there was very little variety and a lot of items looked like they had been sitting there a long time.  I usually took one look and changed course and got my lunch at the Dive In or New York Deli/Pizza (which are both very good).  On the Edge last October, there was a huge variety of dishes, and they looked and tasted freshly made.  I love it when they have carved turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy--so good!  They made sandwiches to order as opposed to the pre-made ones on HAL.  

We were on the Edge during Halloween week and the desserts were decorated to show little ghost, goblin and witches cupcakes, with carved pumpkins and fruits everywhere--a really amazing spread.  We expected some extravaganza for our New Year's Eve cruise on NA, but were disappointed to see no special items or decorations at the buffet all week.

I do have to give the edge to HAL, though, for table service in the buffet area.  HAL always has the tables "set" with glasses, napkins, and silverware.  The wait staff is very attentive and you don't have to get up and get yourself a drink or find yourself napkins or silverware.  On Celebrity, you have to pick up your own silverware and it usually takes quite a while before somebody comes around to take a drink order.  We usually give up the wait and go to the bar area to get a soda to accompany our meal.

[bigbenboys]

Here are some photos from Luminae. 

[gardengalaz]

I'm currently onboard the Equinox.  We're happy eating in either the MDR or the buffet, depending on the mood we're in.  Be sure to check the menu for the MDR on the Celebrity app each day to see if there's something there you want.  Quite often, the "specials" on the MDR menu will also be available on the buffet.  We've eaten at all of the specialty restaurants on our 5 Equinox cruises we've completed since last October and while the food is good and plentiful and the service is exceptional, in our opinion, NONE of the specialty restaurants' provide an overall experience that justifies the upcharge they impose.  

[PinkSandGirl]

Hi!  I don't eat dinner in the buffet but have walked through at dinner time and there is a variety to choose from.  Currently,  Celebrity's buffet is not self-serv.  The servers will give you as much or as little as you want. My most recent cruise,  I went in for lunch a couple of times and they wanted to keep giving food.  I would politely say no.  I felt bad because they wanted you to try things. 😉

 

For the Main Dining Room, Blu, Luminae & Specialty you can ask for a half portion of most of the apps and entrees.  We did this because there were some nights we wanted to try so many things but didn't want full portions.  They will even plate things together if you'd like.  I don't find most of the courses to be huge.  There are exceptions when some portions are large.  We usually each order multiple appetizers and an entree/some half portions.  

 

I haven't sailed on Princess but my mom and dad did a long cruise on Princess a few years and did not like the buffet at all.  My dad said there was a smell that was so off putting they stopped going in or by it.    They definitely prefer Celebrity.  We have made Celebrity our 'home'.  😉  

 

🍹

[dkjretired]

We always eat at least once in the buffet for dinner, great choices, grill area and not a zoo like lunch and breakfast.  Also, many on this board order off the childrens menu. Never had it but reports are filet mignon on childrens menu is excellent.

 

[Yvonne]

We took our first Celebrity cruise last month on the Silhouette.  We have cruised several times each on Disney, Carnival and Royal Caribbean.  We found the food on the Silhouette to be the best we’ve had on any cruise.  Our first night was at Murano, very enjoyable.  We had one dinner in the main dining room.  It was nice but we just preferred the buffet and not having to dress up.  The buffet has several stations, different things each night.  Loved it.  Could take as little or as much as we wanted.  Room service was great too.  One of my favorite things to do on a cruise is have room service breakfast on the balcony.  We had a sunset aft balcony so breakfast out there was beautiful.  I wrote a couple extra things on the room service card and my requests (smoked salmon, and tomato juice) were granted.  

[terrydtx]

We only book suites with Celebrity and get to dine in the suites only Luminae restaurant, love the food and the portion size and believe it to be healthier than the MDR. We have sailed on HAL, NCL, Carnival and Celebrity and IMO Luminae has the best food and dining experience of all of them. We even prefer the food and specially the service in Luminae over the Celebrity specialty restaurants and no longer dine with them, the exception is Eden in the newer Edge class ships, as this is a specialty restaurant experience like no other cruise line offers

 

We choose to stay away from the buffet, if we wanted to eat in a buffet we would stay home and eat at Golden Corral, which we would never do either. While the food always looks good in the Celebrity Buffet, we just prefer to be served and enjoy the fine dining experience while on a cruise.

Edited February 26, 2022 by terrydtx

[dkjretired]

Pasta station in the buffet is excellent. Steaks in the grill area also good and cooked to order. No way can you compare Celebritys buffet to Golden Corral, way beyond that.

[terrydtx]

44 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

Pasta station in the buffet is excellent. Steaks in the grill area also good and cooked to order. No way can you compare Celebrity's buffet to Golden Corral, way beyond that.

I wasn't comparing Celebrity Buffets with Golden Coral, we have never once eaten in the Celebrity buffet or any Golden Coral. I am sure the Celebrity Buffet is far superior to Golden Coral.

 

My point was after spending thousands to be on a cruise, there is no way I would eat in a buffet when I can be pampered and served fine dining in one of the sit-down restaurants. Even on port days, we do not eat in any buffet, if the Retreat facilities or even the MDR are closed, we do room service.

[odysee]

On 2/25/2022 at 5:24 PM, OldtimerBill said:

Hey and thanks for the reply. I guess we are just "old school" but it bothers us to leave food on our plates.  I guess I am trying to get a comparison of the quality of the food on the buffets of these 3 lines.

On Celebrity you can also order half portions and you have the option to skip courses.

Edited February 26, 2022 by odysee

[dkjretired]

51 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I wasn't comparing Celebrity Buffets with Golden Coral, we have never once eaten in the Celebrity buffet or any Golden Coral. I am sure the Celebrity Buffet is far superior to Golden Coral.

 

My point was after spending thousands to be on a cruise, there is no way I would eat in a buffet when I can be pampered and served fine dining in one of the sit-down restaurants. Even on port days, we do not eat in any buffet, if the Retreat facilities or even the MDR are closed, we do room service.

Each to his own, we usually do it once per cruise, it’s a nice break and sometimes my meals there are better than Luminae.

[keesar]

Don't knock the Golden Corral if you have not eaten there.   Some of the offerings are very good.

[dkjretired]

3 minutes ago, keesar said:

Don't knock the Golden Corral if you have not eaten there.   Some of the offerings are very good.

I agree

[the penguins]

On 2/25/2022 at 5:58 PM, SueMo said:

I think the buffet on Celebrity's ships is so much better than that of HAL.  I was on Nieuw Amsterdam in January and there was very little variety and a lot of items looked like they had been sitting there a long time.  I usually took one look and changed course and got my lunch at the Dive In or New York Deli/Pizza (which are both very good).  On the Edge last October, there was a huge variety of dishes, and they looked and tasted freshly made.  I love it when they have carved turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy--so good!  They made sandwiches to order as opposed to the pre-made ones on HAL.  

We were on the Edge during Halloween week and the desserts were decorated to show little ghost, goblin and witches cupcakes, with carved pumpkins and fruits everywhere--a really amazing spread.  We expected some extravaganza for our New Year's Eve cruise on NA, but were disappointed to see no special items or decorations at the buffet all week.

I do have to give the edge to HAL, though, for table service in the buffet area.  HAL always has the tables "set" with glasses, napkins, and silverware.  The wait staff is very attentive and you don't have to get up and get yourself a drink or find yourself napkins or silverware.  On Celebrity, you have to pick up your own silverware and it usually takes quite a while before somebody comes around to take a drink order.  We usually give up the wait and go to the bar area to get a soda to accompany our meal.

The silverware, glasses etc are a no no for us. Who knows how many people have picked them up, even used them. Fresh every time is what we want.

[Guppy99]

On 2/25/2022 at 11:24 AM, OldtimerBill said:

Hey and thanks for the reply. I guess we are just "old school" but it bothers us to leave food on our plates.  I guess I am trying to get a comparison of the quality of the food on the buffets of these 3 lines.

You can ask for 1/2 portions

[rosiejo]

Just back from the Apex.  We've been in Aqua class before and enjoyed it.  It was a great alternative to the main and noisy dining room. However, this time we were disappointed.  On the new ship it feels cramped and odd.  The windows look out on the ship’s equipment. No view at all. Service was good but food was just ok. We actually enjoyed the ambience in Normandie .. one of their four main dining rooms. It’s very pretty and the menu was better.   Unless you use the spa,  I wouldn’t recommend it. 

[DaKahuna]

13 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Pasta station in the buffet is excellent. Steaks in the grill area also good and cooked to order. No way can you compare Celebritys buffet to Golden Corral, way beyond that.

 I will check again when we sail on Silhouette next month but when we dined in the OVC on Reflection for lunch in December I recall there was only marinara sauce and never bolognese sauce.