Celebrity vs HAL coffee menu

[Lyndihop]

We’ve only sailed Celebrity in past years. 
Always buy the drink package which included specialty coffees. Which their menu was quite extensive, and we’ve enjoyed 

I looked at the coffee menu for our upcoming booking on the Eurodam. 
It seems very very sparse. Am sorry missing something??

[SeaWatch12]

You aren’t missing something. We just took our first HAL cruise (Rotterdam).  Almost all of our cruises have been on Celebrity. Cafe al Bacio is way better than  Grand Dutch Cafe or Explorations cafe. Celebrity has a much wider range of hot and cold coffees.  And no where on HAL did I find the abundant selection of baked goods that are found in al Bacio.                    I have other thoughts on HAL food selections but I won’t post them here as you were asking about specialty coffees. 

[MarkWiltonM]

 

 

5 minutes ago, SeaWatch12 said:

Cafe al Bacio is way better than  Grand Dutch Cafe or Explorations cafe.

 

I also sorely miss Cafe al Bacio when I'm not on Celebrity. But HAL makes up for it in other ways (with better food overall, in my opinion). And at least you can get specialty coffees in both Grand Luxe Cafe and Explorations Cafe, which is located in the Crow's Nest at the bow of the ship with great views. It's equivalent to Celebrity's Sky Observation Lounge, which has no coffee service. The Crow's Nest is very popular on HAL at all times, whereas Celebrity's Sky Lounge is a ghost town during the day. 

[Lyndihop]

Any food 🥘 input would be appreciated. 
The past several cruises on Celebrity, RCCL & Princess haven’t had the best food. 
But we never starve. 

[SeaWatch12]

1 hour ago, Lyndihop said:

Any food 🥘 input would be appreciated. 
The past several cruises on Celebrity, RCCL & Princess haven’t had the best food. 
But we never starve. 

Hi Lyndihop,

I agree, always finding something to enjoy. Our food experience on Apex in December wasn't the best, both the 4 main dining rooms and the one specialty we went to.

I found that Celebrity has more healthy eating options than HAL. 

We usually book Aqua class as we prefer BLU for breakfast and dinner. (Didn't on the Apex though).

There is nothing like it on HAL nor the lighter menu items that Celebrity has at the Spa Cafe.

While HAL had a lot of variety on the dinner menu, it seemed to feature pasta dishes quite frequently.

Fish was always prepared to perfection. Although, the lobster tail at Sel De Mer was a bit overcooked.

We found everything quite tasty, and I was careful not to gain weight!

[willoL]

On 3/30/2022 at 11:38 AM, MarkWiltonM said:

...you can get specialty coffees in both Grand [Dutch] Cafe and Explorations Cafe...

@MarkWiltonM, since you seem to care about coffee quality and have familiarity with HAL's offerings, may I ask if you find one of these venues, Grand Dutch Cafe vs. Explorations Cafe, to make noticeably better coffee than the other?

 

I'm a straight black espresso fan who seeks out single origin coffee wherever I can find it, so definitely pickier than average, but not high maintenance in terms of syrups or add-in's. In August, our stateroom will be much nearer the GDC, but I'd tackle the stairs if EC pulls appreciably better shots!

 

If Celebrity excels in coffee drinks, that would be a reason for me to try that line someday, too. Do they just offer more mixed coffee drinks with flavors, or does Cafe al Bacio also have a greater variety of beans, etc?

 

Even at the luxury level, on Crystal Serenity, for example, I could always get a fine espresso everywhere around the ship, but I never had a fantastic one in the absence of a true specialty coffee venue.