Is the food back en par with the prices?

[calicakes]

@Jim_Iain Can you try the buffet? ( Take one for the team) and report back!! 

 

On our Reflection cruise in September, I thought the buffet was terrible.  The quality on some items was downright poor.  I don't even touch the desserts. 

[SSFrance69]

On 5/5/2023 at 12:43 PM, cruiserchuck said:

I was looking at recent posts on the Oceania board and recent reviews of Oceania cruises, and there are many comments about cutbacks and declining quality of the food.  
 

We cruised on Oceania once, and did not think the food quality was worth the price increase vs. Aqua/Blu on Celebrity.

We were recently shopping for cruises. The price for a 7 night on Oceania's brand new ship Vista was the same as an 8 night Aqua cabin on Eclipse. We booked Oceania, as we were delighted with the food we had on Riviera in March. That was our first Oceania sailing, so we didn't have past to compare it to, however it blew Celebrity's food (7 years ago food when it apparently was better) out of the water (no pun intended). We have our first Aqua sailing this July on Summit, so it will be interesting to compare.

[SSFrance69]

On 5/1/2023 at 5:29 PM, Loracpin2 said:

Everytime I read a thread about food, I reminesce about our first Celebrity sailing in 1993 on the Celebrity Horizon. Even without Balcony rooms, Specialty Restaurants, and all the bells & whistles ships have today, every experience was elegant especially when it came to both Food & Service in the Main Dining Room on the 2 formal evenings. What I recall the most were the 2 desserts prepared by the Maitre'd at each individual tableside . One evening it was Crepes Suzettes the other Bananas Foster. 

 

While I realize the policy of tableside was eventually eliminated due to the possibilty fire issues,the experience made you understand how exciting and special the cruise experience can be. Wish I could say the same today. 

 

 

I feel the same way when I reminsece about our first Celebrity sailing on Century when Michel Roux was in charge of food. It was a wonderful experience. We just sailed on Oceania for the first time in March and were blown away. It was everything Celebrity used to be, but elevated even more. We found our new home. One more Celebrity cruise booked in Aqua this July that we booked before reports of things not being done as well. We'll see how it is, however we already booked our next cruise, next year on Vista. The ship looks stunning and I'm so excited about it!

[yknot13]

On 5/1/2023 at 5:29 PM, Loracpin2 said:

Everytime I read a thread about food, I reminesce about our first Celebrity sailing in 1993 on the Celebrity Horizon. Even without Balcony rooms, Specialty Restaurants, and all the bells & whistles ships have today, every experience was elegant especially when it came to both Food & Service in the Main Dining Room on the 2 formal evenings. What I recall the most were the 2 desserts prepared by the Maitre'd at each individual tableside . One evening it was Crepes Suzettes the other Bananas Foster. 

 

While I realize the policy of tableside was eventually eliminated due to the possibilty fire issues,the experience made you understand how exciting and special the cruise experience can be. Wish I could say the same today. 

 

 

Unfortunate that can be said for many experiences. I remember back to the glorious days of fine dining at land based restaurants, that is long gone

we live in a new norm. So glad I was able to experience the by gone era of refined dining

[calicakes]

37 minutes ago, SSFrance69 said:

We were recently shopping for cruises. The price for a 7 night on Oceania's brand new ship Vista was the same as an 8 night Aqua cabin on Eclipse. We booked Oceania, as we were delighted with the food we had on Riviera in March. That was our first Oceania sailing, so we didn't have past to compare it to, however it blew Celebrity's food (7 years ago food when it apparently was better) out of the water (no pun intended). We have our first Aqua sailing this July on Summit, so it will be interesting to compare.

We had our first Oceania sailing in Feb 2021.  I thought the food quality was 50x better than X. There were only 338 people on the cruise too.  We ate in the specialty restaurants every night.  We have our next O sailing this September.  It will be interesting to see if its as good as I remember. 

[cruiserchuck]

58 minutes ago, SSFrance69 said:

We were recently shopping for cruises. The price for a 7 night on Oceania's brand new ship Vista was the same as an 8 night Aqua cabin on Eclipse. We booked Oceania, as we were delighted with the food we had on Riviera in March. That was our first Oceania sailing, so we didn't have past to compare it to, however it blew Celebrity's food (7 years ago food when it apparently was better) out of the water (no pun intended). We have our first Aqua sailing this July on Summit, so it will be interesting to compare.

 

We noticed that Oceania has real good fares on some upcoming cruises, which is why I was reading reviews about them.  We may try Oceania again, especially since their prices are very competitive with Celebrity on some cruises.

 

There are many recent posts complaining about the food on Celebrity, but on our Solstice cruise last month, the food in Blu, the buffet, and the MDR was as good as ever.  There must be differences in the food quality on the various Celebrity ships.  

[SSFrance69]

1 minute ago, cruiserchuck said:

 

We noticed that Oceania has real good fares on some upcoming cruises, which is why I was reading reviews about them.  We may try Oceania again, especially since their prices are very competitive with Celebrity on some cruises.

 

There are many recent posts complaining about the food on Celebrity, but on our Solstice cruise last month, the food in Blu, the buffet, and the MDR was as good as ever.  There must be differences in the food quality on the various Celebrity ships.  

I think you're right. I'm guessing it varies by ship, depending on the head chef and other factors as  well. Don't be turned off by some of the Oceania reviews. Our experience on Riviera was amazing. That said, we had no past Oceania experience to compare to. I can just honestly say that it was some of the best food I've had at sea or on land, and we have some very fine restaurants in the DC metro area. This was one of my meals in Polo Grill (and of course the specialties are still included). Had the Veal Oscar style with lobster tail. Incredible.

[Banjo]

I been on 4 cruises (2 on the Constellation-in the Caribbean, one on the Edge (trans-Atlantic) & the Solstice (Pacific cruise) since the pandemic I found the food to be excellent except for part of my last March Constellation cruise. Last 3 or 4 days of the cruise we had norovirus outbreak (1st time that had ever happened to us and we been on 23 Celebrity cruises in the last 15 years). Fortunately the wife and I were spared,.

 

Food both in the OV, where they had to serve you, and in BLU went down hill fast. I attribute that to circumstances.  

 

I am booked on the Edge (Rome-Dubai) end of October.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

12 hours ago, calicakes said:

@Jim_Iain Can you try the buffet? ( Take one for the team) and report back!! 

 

On our Reflection cruise in September, I thought the buffet was terrible.  The quality on some items was downright poor.  I don't even touch the desserts. 

Buffet was ok on the Reflection TA 

ship was 60% filled , grill , stir fryer, pasta station opened every night I walk through it 

you can not ask for more than that 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Just off Apex.  Food was anywhere from average to excellent and much improved from last summer.  Supply chain issues have been mostly worked out for both food and liquor.

Just remember food comments are subjective and many on CC like to make negative references.

Comparing a ship with 400 passengers to 2500 is pretty silly.  Different situation.  Celebrity has high demand for suites and thus high prices.  Varies greatly from cruise to cruise.  Quality of food does not vary much from ship to ship.  Very standardized across the fleet.

[indy406]

We were on the Reflection in February, Aqua, and the food was OK. Not great, nothing memorable. Blu's menus were not special, probably better than the MDR but that's about it. One night I ordered the asparagus soup in Blu. It was inedible. I don't mean it was not to my taste. I'm talking awful, like somebody messed up the recipe and put in a full bottle of lime juice. The MD stopped by and asked if everything was satisfactory. I told him about the soup, first time in 12 years of Celebrity cruising I ever complained about the food in any venue. He smiled and nodded. I suggested he hit the kitchen and give it a taste. Smile and nod. I told my wife that we should watch other folks' reaction when the soup arrived. Every person gave it one taste and pushed it away. Isolated incident, I know, but the MD didn't care. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the buffet. So I'm not that hard to please.

[tfred]

19 hours ago, calicakes said:

@Jim_Iain Can you try the buffet? ( Take one for the team) and report back!! 

 

On our Reflection cruise in September, I thought the buffet was terrible.  The quality on some items was downright poor.  I don't even touch the desserts. 

I don’t believe it. I have eaten the buffet for breakfast and lunch and it was very good. What do you consider good food ?

[clojacks]

18 hours ago, SSFrance69 said:

We were recently shopping for cruises. The price for a 7 night on Oceania's brand new ship Vista was the same as an 8 night Aqua cabin on Eclipse. We booked Oceania, as we were delighted with the food we had on Riviera in March. That was our first Oceania sailing, so we didn't have past to compare it to, however it blew Celebrity's food (7 years ago food when it apparently was better) out of the water (no pun intended). We have our first Aqua sailing this July on Summit, so it will be interesting to compare.

Can I ask if you were comparing Celebrity's All Included fare to Oceania's O Plus fare? We have considered Oceania in the past, but aside from there fares being quite a bit higher in our research, there is an awful lot that is included with Celebrity's All Included fare that IS NOT included with Oceania's O Plus fare. 

[CelebrityBrownWater]

Just got back from 10 days on the Equinox. Buffet was serviceable. Decent Indian food. Very lacking in desserts. Mostly cheap little square cakes of varying flavors. Carving station fare was inedibly overcooked and dry. Tried the beef, pork, and turkey. No decent seafood. The best stuff was stewed or covered in sauces so they didn’t overcook as much.

 

Specialty dining was fantastic. Tried Tuscan and Murano and both were great.

 

MDR was abysmal. Terrible selection most nights. NY ‘steak’ instead of NY strip.  Steaks were tough, pork was beyond overcooked. Fish tasted fishy. Duck was gamey with limp rubbery skin. Tried a duck pate that smelled like dog food. Shrimp cocktail was on par with a party platter from Walmart. Not a single standout dish in 6 or so dinners, except for a very tasty steak tartare appetizer. I guess it’s impossible to overcook something raw. 
 

So, I urge everyone who cares about this kind of stuff to spend the extra cash and avoid the MDR at all costs.

 

From what I’ve seen most ppl enjoy Blu. Go aqua class or bust.

Edited May 7, 2023 by CelebrityBrownWater

[SSFrance69]

1 hour ago, clojacks said:

Can I ask if you were comparing Celebrity's All Included fare to Oceania's O Plus fare? We have considered Oceania in the past, but aside from there fares being quite a bit higher in our research, there is an awful lot that is included with Celebrity's All Included fare that IS NOT included with Oceania's O Plus fare. 

I was comparing with Aqua that came with some free stuff. I think it came with the basic beverage package and something else. I don't think it was called all included though. I'm honestly not sure what all included Celebrity fare is. As for the Oceania we booked, it comes with your choice of basic beverage package (which we upgraded last time once on board), shore excursion, or gratuity. We don't take the air because both of these cruises have been out of FL and we have never paid nearly what they charge for air. So we get only the other option part, in our case beverages, which includes beer and wine with your meals, so we just upgrade to have anything at any time. If you look at it without airfare the prices drop quite a bit. We felt the value was worth it. To be fair, I should add that we were also comparing an Aqua cabin to a French verandah cabin on Vista, so balcony VS no balcony. I felt the food was good enough on Oceania that I could live without a full balcony. On our last sailing however, we had the verandah on Riviera and we were extra lucky because we got one of the few that are double the depth of the others. Not sure if that helps at all.

[C4HCG]

55 minutes ago, CelebrityBrownWater said:

Just got back from 10 days on the Equinox. Buffet was serviceable. Decent Indian food. Very lacking in desserts. Mostly cheap little square cakes of varying flavors. Carving station fare was inedibly overcooked and dry. Tried the beef, pork, and turkey. No decent seafood. The best stuff was stewed or covered in sauces so they didn’t overcook as much.

 

Specialty dining was fantastic. Tried Tuscan and Murano and both were great.

 

MDR was abysmal. Terrible selection most nights. NY ‘steak’ instead of NY strip.  Steaks were tough, pork was beyond overcooked. Fish tasted fishy. Duck was gamey with limp rubbery skin. Tried a duck pate that smelled like dog food. Shrimp cocktail was on par with a party platter from Walmart. Not a single standout dish in 6 or so dinners, except for a very tasty steak tartare appetizer. I guess it’s impossible to overcook something raw. 
 

So, I urge everyone who cares about this kind of stuff to spend the extra cash and avoid the MDR at all costs.

 

From what I’ve seen most ppl enjoy Blu. Go aqua class or bust.

I agree about avoiding MDR, everyone please avoid. We won’t have to queue then when we sail in September . Please avoid cafe el baccio too please 😂

[CelebrityBrownWater]

12 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

I agree about avoiding MDR, everyone please avoid. We won’t have to queue then when we sail in September . Please avoid cafe el baccio too please 😂

If you’re more worried about the line than the poor food, then rest easy: we never experienced a line for the MDR.

[C4HCG]

18 minutes ago, CelebrityBrownWater said:

If you’re more worried about the line than the poor food, then rest easy: we never experienced a line for the MDR.

Well we did experience queues but enjoyed a drink in cafe el baccio each time waiting to be buzzed which is fine. And poor food is subjective, wouldn’t say the food was brilliant but acceptable for sure. So we are resting easy thanks for your concern 

[CelebrityBrownWater]

1 minute ago, C4HCG said:

Well we did experience queues but enjoyed a drink in cafe el baccio each time waiting to be buzzed which is fine. And poor food is subjective, wouldn’t say the food was brilliant but acceptable for sure. So we are resting easy thanks for your concern 

 

Oh it sounds like you had anytime. No queues for our early dinner time slot. 

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, CelebrityBrownWater said:

 

Oh it sounds like you had anytime. No queues for our early dinner time slot. 

Depends on the class of ship. E class doesn't do SD/ATD reservation and no longer has TD.  

[C4HCG]

18 minutes ago, CelebrityBrownWater said:

 

Oh it sounds like you had anytime. No queues for our early dinner time slot. 

We did

[ChiosFan]

On 4/28/2023 at 7:08 AM, Nemanoxer said:

Thank you all for your posts.

 

Seems to me booking Celebrity these days is a trial and error based endeavour when it comes to food. Booking Celebrity without bringing premium expectations with it, feels a bit odd. Maybe a good time to try their main competitors when it is try and error anyway. I never tried Princess, I might give them a shot.

 

 

I am Elite with Princess and have three cruises post COVID with them.   I cannot recommend.   Lots of issues and food was mediocre in MDR and buffet.    Have two Edge cruises post COVID both remarkably excellent on all fronts.

 

I am booked on the Reflection in two weeks.  Fingers crossed the Celebrity experience continues to please.

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, ChiosFan said:

 

 

I am Elite with Princess and have three cruises post COVID with them.   I cannot recommend.   Lots of issues and food was mediocre in MDR and buffet.    Have two Edge cruises post COVID both remarkably excellent on all fronts.

 

I am booked on the Reflection in two weeks.  Fingers crossed the Celebrity experience continues to please.

Looking forward to our March 2024 Caribbean cruise on the Enchanted. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by davekathy

[wwjd1947]

1 hour ago, ChiosFan said:

Would you mind reviewing the Reflection after your cruise?  We are booked on the transatlantic in October and my husband wants to cancel because of all the cutbacks in the food area.  We were on the Constellation in March and ate in the MDR every evening and the food selections and quality were disappointing.
 

 

I am Elite with Princess and have three cruises post COVID with them.   I cannot recommend.   Lots of issues and food was mediocre in MDR and buffet.    Have two Edge cruises post COVID both remarkably excellent on all fronts.

 

I am booked on the Reflection in two weeks.  Fingers crossed the Celebrity experience continues to please.

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

4 hours ago, ChiosFan said:

 

 

I am Elite with Princess and have three cruises post COVID with them.   I cannot recommend.   Lots of issues and food was mediocre in MDR and buffet.    Have two Edge cruises post COVID both remarkably excellent on all fronts.

 

I am booked on the Reflection in two weeks.  Fingers crossed the Celebrity experience continues to please.

Was on the Reflection TA , it was was very enjoyable