Food in Blu

[keesar]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Plus you can order off the MDR menu if nothing in Blu that night appeals to you.

 

That has not been the case on our last 4 S-class cruises.  This could be related to the maitre d policy of Blu.  When asked, it was due to how busy they were on that week's cruise.  

 

Blu does vary from ship to ship.  On one ship on two  separate cruises, we have walked out on a couple of evenings due to painfully slow service and mediocre food.    On this particular ship, I felt I was at a wedding.  Everyone in our area was served the same course at the same time.  Staff came out with dishes for 5 tables on a big tray.  However, this ship was an exception to excellent dining and service.  Be aware that the same dish can be prepared differently based on the chef.  

[kimlovesfl]

We were in AQ on the Millennium in January; it was the same price as concierge AND a regular balcony cabin, and we couldn't pass up that chance! We loved Blu, however, we did not love it several hundred $$ more per person. Our budget doesn't allow that. If the upgrade cost were minimal-say $100-$200 pp depending on length of cruise- we would consider it. 

 

I guess Celebrity really needed to sell cabins for us to get that deal a mere 2 months prior to sailing. We booked our next Celebrity cruise whilst onboard, a 7 nt eastern Caribbean on the Beyond, and got a sunset veranda for LESS than an IV. 

[Mark_T]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

On a cruise over 7 nights the Blu and Luminae menus rotate back to the day 1 or day 2 menu after the 7th night, being able to order from MDR or Blu adds some variety on longer cruises. We have 10 nights next month in Luminae on the Refelction

 

Hmm... I can't speak for Blu, but Luminae certainly shouldn't rotate back to the start if the cruise is 10 nights long, there are more than enough different menus to cover 10 nights without a repeat.

 

It will happen if you are on a B2B with 2x7 night cruises though...

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

Hmm... I can't speak for Blu, but Luminae certainly shouldn't rotate back to the start if the cruise is 10 nights long, there are more than enough different menus to cover 10 nights without a repeat.

 

It will happen if you are on a B2B with 2x7 night cruises though...

On our 9 night Equinox cruise last August our 8th and 9th night Luminae dinner menu was the same as the 2nd and 3rd nights earlier in the cruise. I was told by the Matre'd it was this way for more than 7 nights. For our Reflection cruise next month for 10 nights the Celebrity app only has 7 nights of menus for MDR, Blu and Luminae. It would be nice if there were more than 7 nights of menus.

[bethboy]

Nothing special -- fewer choices than general dining 

 

Not worth the upgrade money

[SbbquilterUT]

We really enjoyed Blu on Millenium and Constellation.  I found the portions perfect for me and I enjoyed the menu very much.  And when I spent 6 days in quarantine I was able to order from Blu with the help of the Maitre De, so much better than room service.

[Mark_T]

32 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

On our 9 night Equinox cruise last August our 8th and 9th night Luminae dinner menu was the same as the 2nd and 3rd nights earlier in the cruise. I was told by the Matre'd it was this way for more than 7 nights. For our Reflection cruise next month for 10 nights the Celebrity app only has 7 nights of menus for MDR, Blu and Luminae. It would be nice if there were more than 7 nights of menus.

I've seen future cruises in the app only showing a default menu set for the first 7 nights, that isn't unusual though, it usually fills out just before the cruise begins.

[CruiserByHeart]

We tried Blu once back in 2013 and we truly disliked the experience... this was the most rushed meal of this and and any of our other cruises.  Add to that the little room between tables, we did not enjoy the 2 top experience at all.

This August we're giving Aqua and Blu another chance and hope we were just in bad luck back then. 

 

And now for my question; many mentions of the excellent breakfast in Blu. But, how is the breakfast different or better? 

Do they have a special trick cooking the eggs or ? We've always enjoyed the breakfast in MDR and OVC (depending on when we eventually get out of bed)

[keesar]

1 hour ago, CruiserByHeart said:

We tried Blu once back in 2013 and we truly disliked the experience... this was the most rushed meal of this and and any of our other cruises.  Add to that the little room between tables, we did not enjoy the 2 top experience at all.

This August we're giving Aqua and Blu another chance and hope we were just in bad luck back then. 

 

And now for my question; many mentions of the excellent breakfast in Blu. But, how is the breakfast different or better? 

Do they have a special trick cooking the eggs or ? We've always enjoyed the breakfast in MDR and OVC (depending on when we eventually get out of bed)

 

As for the breakfasts in Blu, we enjoy them for a few reasons.  I enjoy the smoothies and fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juices.  The food comes out hot and made to order.  When I order a custom  omelet, it comes with oven roasted potatoes, grilled mushrooms and asparagus.   And you get a choice of meat whether it be regular bacon, ham, sausage links, etc.  There are fresh fruit plates with cheeses.  The French toast is excellent.  And you don't have the chaos at the buffet.  

[Virginia100]

I’ve been in Blu several cruises, the last in late March on the Reflection. I’ve always find the food excellent, never rushed and service excellent. I’ve  gotten each night the escargot off the mdr menu and.the shrimp cocktail. They even remembered each night my wife’s rum raisin ice cream in addition to the selected desert. On lobster night no problem getting me three tails. The tables for two are close but we enjoyed talking to our neighbors. We knew them so well that by the last night that we all got a large table for eight to celebrate the end together. 

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, CruiserByHeart said:

We tried Blu once back in 2013 and we truly disliked the experience... this was the most rushed meal of this and and any of our other cruises.  Add to that the little room between tables, we did not enjoy the 2 top experience at all.

This August we're giving Aqua and Blu another chance and hope we were just in bad luck back then. 

 

And now for my question; many mentions of the excellent breakfast in Blu. But, how is the breakfast different or better? 

Do they have a special trick cooking the eggs or ? We've always enjoyed the breakfast in MDR and OVC (depending on when we eventually get out of bed)

We love sitting down and being greeted with our fresh hot coffee, pastries of choice and fresh juices. I enjoy having meusli in the morning, but being lactose intolerant, I can't get it in the OVC or MDR. However in Blu I tell them the night before I'd like it and it's ready and waiting for me prepared with the fruit and nuts I like in it. Also the eggs are prepared the way we like and they arrive hot.  Since we usually cruise just the two of us, we enjoy sitting down together and being served unlike in the OVC where we either go separately to get our food while one of us reserves a table (which is like eating alone), or get our food at the same time and then have to wander around looking for a table while our food gets cold. We also find the view from Blu for breakfast (especially on the S-class ships) is beautiful and relaxing.

[LuAnn]

8 hours ago, Provence55always said:

Is Blu better on certain ships…..a few years ago we were Aqua on a cruise in Australia think it was the Millennium. The food in Blu was awful. A few days into the cruise we found out from people who were on the cruise before us that the chef for Blu  got off in Sydney and had been replaced by another chef. Anyway that cruise we mostly ordered from the MDR menu. We are booked in Aqua in October on the Constellation so hopefully all will be well. As mentioned the tables are very close but after greetings you can choose not to engage without been rude.

 

How ironic! We were on the Millie in AQ in '17 in Asia and Blu was terrible. I actually asked to speak to the Hotel Director. We had a meeting with him and he really listened and wrote many things down. It did improve after that.

[LuAnn]

33 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

We love sitting down and being greeted with our fresh hot coffee, pastries of choice and fresh juices. I enjoy having meusli in the morning, but being lactose intolerant, I can't get it in the OVC or MDR. However in Blu I tell them the night before I'd like it and it's ready and waiting for me prepared with the fruit and nuts I like in it. Also the eggs are prepared the way we like and they arrive hot.  Since we usually cruise just the two of us, we enjoy sitting down together and being served unlike in the OVC where we either go separately to get our food while one of us reserves a table (which is like eating alone), or get our food at the same time and then have to wander around looking for a table while our food gets cold. We also find the view from Blu for breakfast (especially on the S-class ships) is beautiful and relaxing.

When Blu was first introduced there used to be the "Meusli Man"! He would come with a variety of items on a rolling cart and you could create your very own Meusli. Our German friends we travelled with loved it!! They did away with that sometime ago! 😞

[luv2cruisemore]

We’ve booked AQ on our last 4-5 cruises due to Blu. We love the intimacy, the experience, the service.and the great food selection. On the last cruise that we were scheduled to be on, we upgraded to a Sky Suite so we could try Luminae, but that cruise was cancelled due to Covid (3/2020).

[terrydtx]

15 hours ago, CruiserByHeart said:

We tried Blu once back in 2013 and we truly disliked the experience... this was the most rushed meal of this and and any of our other cruises.  Add to that the little room between tables, we did not enjoy the 2 top experience at all.

This August we're giving Aqua and Blu another chance and hope we were just in bad luck back then. 

 

And now for my question; many mentions of the excellent breakfast in Blu. But, how is the breakfast different or better? 

Do they have a special trick cooking the eggs or ? We've always enjoyed the breakfast in MDR and OVC (depending on when we eventually get out of bed)

Looks like we are on the same cruise on the Reflection with you. I hope you find Blu to be a better experience than back in 2013.

[terrydtx]

9 hours ago, luv2cruisemore said:

We’ve booked AQ on our last 4-5 cruises due to Blu. We love the intimacy, the experience, the service.and the great food selection. On the last cruise that we were scheduled to be on, we upgraded to a Sky Suite so we could try Luminae, but that cruise was cancelled due to Covid (3/2020).

We had 2 Infinity cruises in Aqua Class canceled last year so we took our 125% FCC from one and booked a Sky Suite on the Equinox last August and loved the experience. We now have 5 future Sky Suites booked beginning next month on the Reflection. 

[letsgogogo]

I would not book an aqua class in the future after having done it for my first celebrity cruise. If I can upgrade for a small cost, perhaps. The cabin is the same. On a typical seven or eight night sailing, by the time you enjoy one or two specialty restaurants, and eat in the main dining room on occasion in order to spend time with friends who are not an aqua class, you are then paying to eat at Blu a handful of times. If you intend to take all your meals there, that’s different. I have cruised in both aqua and concierge class. I don’t think either are worth it. Access to the spa… book a spa treatment on a sea say and you get access anyway. 

[phoenix_dream]

2 hours ago, letsgogogo said:

I would not book an aqua class in the future after having done it for my first celebrity cruise. If I can upgrade for a small cost, perhaps. The cabin is the same. On a typical seven or eight night sailing, by the time you enjoy one or two specialty restaurants, and eat in the main dining room on occasion in order to spend time with friends who are not an aqua class, you are then paying to eat at Blu a handful of times. If you intend to take all your meals there, that’s different. I have cruised in both aqua and concierge class. I don’t think either are worth it. Access to the spa… book a spa treatment on a sea say and you get access anyway. 

The cabin is the same on S or E class only.  On M class the cabin is larger than regular balconies (although roughly the same size as those on S class)

[CruiserByHeart]

9 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Looks like we are on the same cruise on the Reflection with you. I hope you find Blu to be a better experience than back in 2013.

We're really looking forward to our (common) cruise in August and to give Aqua and Blu another chance 😉👍

After all it's not fair to judge based upon one single night's dining experience 😃

[baldilocks]

Hello everyone. We got AQ for our Constellation Dec 2022 cruise. It came about due to all the FCC we accumulated. We have never cruised with Celebrity, let alone in AQ class. We have a question....what is the dress code for breakfast and dinner in Blu?

[Luvcrusn]

2 hours ago, baldilocks said:

Hello everyone. We got AQ for our Constellation Dec 2022 cruise. It came about due to all the FCC we accumulated. We have never cruised with Celebrity, let alone in AQ class. We have a question....what is the dress code for breakfast and dinner in Blu?

Breakfast is casual, the same as you would on pretty much any cruise line. Shorts are acceptable. Dinner dress code is the same as the rest of the ship and will be published daily in the Celebrity Today. 

[OysterD]

On 7/4/2022 at 8:09 PM, terrydtx said:

On our 9 night Equinox cruise last August our 8th and 9th night Luminae dinner menu was the same as the 2nd and 3rd nights earlier in the cruise. I was told by the Matre'd it was this way for more than 7 nights. For our Reflection cruise next month for 10 nights the Celebrity app only has 7 nights of menus for MDR, Blu and Luminae. It would be nice if there were more than 7 nights of menus.

In the app if you select the current Reflection sailing, which is an 11 night one, it shows all 11 nights of menus. There doesn't seem to be any repetition of menus although I think they might have gotten a special deal on cornish hens as that dish (or slight variations on it) does appear 3 times lol. Sherry glazed, roasted and roasted wild (do they go and make a fire pit on the lawn or something?!).

[wrk2cruise]

Celebrity has 14 menus.  Due to provisioning issues they may occasionally deviate.  As others have said if you are on B2B the menu does reset to day 1 on each sailing.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, OysterD said:

In the app if you select the current Reflection sailing, which is an 11 night one, it shows all 11 nights of menus. There doesn't seem to be any repetition of menus although I think they might have gotten a special deal on cornish hens as that dish (or slight variations on it) does appear 3 times lol. Sherry glazed, roasted and roasted wild (do they go and make a fire pit on the lawn or something?!).

Thank you, I didn't realize you could look at anything but my booked cruises. I have been buying a lot of Cornish hens lately as they are priced lower than chicken per pound and we like them much more than whole chicken anyway. With their lower price per lb it is not surprising that Celebrity is serving them more.

[OysterD]

49 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Thank you, I didn't realize you could look at anything but my booked cruises. I have been buying a lot of Cornish hens lately as they are priced lower than chicken per pound and we like them much more than whole chicken anyway. With their lower price per lb it is not surprising that Celebrity is serving them more.

It's not the most obvious place in the app to switch sailings - it's the right hand icon at the top of the main screen, a sort of rectangle with a circle above it, then choose 'select a different sailing' and then 'get more details on ships we support', choose Reflection and then pick the current cruise. You can then look up menus for all the restaurants for all 11 nights plus the daily planner has all the activities for each day of the current cruise. 

 

Reflection seems to be alternating between the 10 night Italy/Greece/Montenegro itinerary and 11 night Italy/Greece/Turkey route all summer, so if you're on the 10 night one wait until July 15th and you should be able to see menus/activities for that itinerary. 

 

If you've had enough hen recently hopefully the lamb, veal and ribs on hen nights will be decent alternatives!