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Food Cost and Quality?

mfs2k

By mfs2k,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Denny01

Denny01

Posted
Posted

I’ll agree w the posts questioning less portions. Just ask for another serving and all is well. 
 

and quality? I start to tell friends about my favorite local restrauant and they interrupt telling me how terrible it is. Life.
 

I love trying different foods on cruise. If I don’t like it, I can either order something else or dine later at the dozen or so options!

 

everything was sooo much better back in the good ole days!  Yeah right. 

 

den

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LB_NJ

LB_NJ

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On 9/26/2022 at 7:31 PM, LGW59 said:

If we’re honest, there really is only so much that can be done with a buffet.

Oceania (at least pre-COVID) had the best buffet I have had on a mainstream cruise line.

 

On 9/26/2022 at 10:15 AM, kywildcatfanone said:

We have seen lots of downgrades in quality and portions since we started cruising in 2006.  That will continue regardless of costs, as all businesses are first and foremost looking  to cut costs in everything they do.

At a certain point people will decide the quality does not justify the price of the cruise and business drops off.

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letsgogogo

letsgogogo

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Posted

I’m not sure why anyone would balk at smaller portion sizes when you can simply order another ________ at no cost. I think large portions (that aren’t eaten) lead to waste, which is bad for cruise fares, bad for the environment. Given that you can order multiple entrees, appetizers, everything…smaller portions seem totally practical. 

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mcrcruiser

mcrcruiser

Posted
Posted

At one time  on the deck near the inside pool  there was a healthy restaurant  that served Ahi tuna  . We were bummed  when X duscontinued serving Ahi tuna

 

  In general we feel the good quality is about the same  over the years we sailed  with Celebrity  . Other than the Ahi Tuna we do not find   huge quality or selection changes  

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chemmo Holiday Sharing Rare

chemmo

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Posted

Dining, like everything is subject to trends and fashion…

 

We first started ‘serious dining out’ in the 80’s in the UK the focus of many higher end restaurants was to provide…

 

Ingredients seen as expensive (steak, venison, duck) , vegetables which were expensive and shipped in frequently out of season, (asparagus, baby carrots). The only fish option was usually salmon. Desserts had out of season fruit (strawberries or cherries) and a decadence of cream….Plates were large, if you didn’t leave feeling stuffed you felt cheated!

 

Now there seems a reversal. Sweetbreads, , free range chicken, exclusive sausages and traditional dishes (shepherds pie) can appear as entrées in high end restaurants accompanied by seasonal vegetables (even better if home produced). Far more fish options. Desserts frequently now have limited cream and alternatives like yogurt. Portions are smaller, dainty and ‘pretty’. Often ‘healthy options’ are listed…
 

I guess Celebrity is combining all of the above to try to appeal to as many as possible. Still some evidence of the decadence of the 80’s but many dishes presented with modern portion size…Yes, I think portions are definitely smaller but I think this is a sign of the times. As someone else said, you can always ask for more!  
 

Re the buffet…I think you always need to look and choose at a buffet carefully. Head for the made to order sections or dishes that do not particularly suffer by standing (Indian selection). Choose a pork chop or a chicken portion that has been sat in a silver tray for longer than half an hour and you will get leather! One thing that has improved in my opinion is the ‘themed’ lunchtimes in the buffet. Pie day or Indian or Italian day adds variety to an already fairly big selection. Made to order sandwiches very nice too. We only ever use the buffet once or twice per cruise so plenty of variety for us.

 

The only comment I would make is in our opinion you get better steaks when cruising from the US than when cruising in Europe. The steaks served in Europe are usually as tender as those when cruising from the US but just not as tasty…This has been our observation on several ships over several years so more likely down to supply than a drop in standards.

 

 

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Arizona Wildcat

Arizona Wildcat

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, letsgogogo said:

I’m not sure why anyone would balk at smaller portion sizes when you can simply order another ________ at no cost. I think large portions (that aren’t eaten) lead to waste, which is bad for cruise fares, bad for the environment. Given that you can order multiple entrees, appetizers, everything…smaller portions seem totally practical. 

Absolutely.   Years ago the amount of food left on plates to be thrown out was staggering.  Shrimp cocktails with 8 shrimp were half eaten.

Today they serve with 3 or 4.  Great.  Want 8 or 12 or16?  They will bring them to you.  Just ask.

Ask for quality, we recently noticed cheaper cuts of meat and fish.  Disappointed in being served 1/2" thick steaks.  Would rather have a smaller but thicker piece.  Miss the halibut etc.  But understand the reason.

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mfs2k

mfs2k

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Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, letsgogogo said:

I’m not sure why anyone would balk at smaller portion sizes when you can simply order another ________ at no cost.

Well, take a steak for example. They can’t do much about the length or width because that’s cow dependent. But they reduce the thickness of a steak to make it weigh less and thus reduce the portion size. And there’s a huge difference in taste between a thin, cooked steak and a thick juicy rare steak. Mmmm

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calicakes "Live from...." Rare

calicakes

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

Oceania (at least pre-COVID) had the best buffet I have had on a mainstream cruise line.

 

At a certain point people will decide the quality does not justify the price of the cruise and business drops off.

We cruised oceania in February. Buffet was good, better than celebrity.

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vermonter16

vermonter16

Posted
Posted

DH and I always ate in the buffet, we did it once on our Eclipse cruise the last 2 weeks - it was a 12 day cruise...the buffet was not up to the standards we are used to.  Fortunately, we had luminae which was fantastic.  We also spent $130 in the Tuscan Grille and it was not worth $10 more.  Very disappointed and will not sail Celebrity in the forseeable future for that and other reasons.

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dlh015 Great Review Rare

dlh015

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, locksley10 said:

I have never lost weight on any cruise. Have you?

As a matter of fact we did! And we ate (and drank) as much as we wanted. But our excursions in the Mediterranean this past June (for 3 weeks)  were all in the high 80s/low 90s (except Gibraltar)...and almost all of them involved a *lot* of walking. I lost a pound (lol) and DW lost 2 pounds. 

 

First and only time...

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Smmessineo Holiday Sharing Rare

Smmessineo

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Posted (edited)

In my experience , there haven't been changes over times as much as changes per sailing. With MDR but especially with the buffet, we have had great experiences some sailings and average experiences on others. I think so much depends on the chefs , food managers and other staff.  Example..We sailed on Edge for  2 7 night cruises. First time, the buffet had great options and special one-day-only stations, at lunch and dinner. And the  dessert station had delicious options, like a day of cream-filled cupcakes. Second cruise, only 4 months later, buffet had  only 2 special themed lunch days ( Italian, American) and did not carry over to dinner. Desserts were the usual Celebrity options , no WOW factor.  Food was still good, just uninspired.

 

 

 

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Smmessineo Holiday Sharing Rare

Smmessineo

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Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, mfs2k said:

Have you ever seen the Wynn brunch buffet in Vegas?  
wow

Even buffets like that can be hit or miss. Went to Caesar's Bacchanal for dinner , i think it was 70 or 80 pp. It was awful,  no selection, room temperature food, dry meats, to the point we reached out to the manager the next day to ask what happened. He invited  us back to give them another chance 3 days later and it was incredibly good!  Even a place like that has a bad day sometimes, we were lucky to be in town long enough to experience what people rave about! 

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