Off Solstice yesterday; My apologies to all of you

[Wineaux007]

47 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said:

What is subjective is how much the difference matters to people. 
 

To me what is not subjective is the fact that there has been a pretty noticeable change in the MDR menu and the disbelief at times that it has occurred is what I really don’t understand. 

Hadn't been on Celebrity for over a year when I just got off Summit 11-night sailing last week.  It seems they replaced Rack of Lamb, Beef Tournedos, Beef Wellington, and Filet with 3-4 slices of medium to well cooked flank steak.  I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy about our 34-day B2B on Solstice next month.   

[kirtihk]

1 hour ago, C4HCG said:

Fair assessment and acknowledge you qualify it as a broad generalisation but I am a non-foodie for sure but can still appreciate food in the way you describe the first group do as I am sure many other non-foodies do.  I may well be stating the obvious there!

 

But I agree with your observation, those of us who can accept the current food offerings continue to be happy with Celebrity.

It all depends on price.  If a cruise is $100 per person per day (balcony, refundable, with drinks, gratuities, tax, Wi-Fi) then, perhaps, the currently described food choices and quality would be acceptable by the majority of cruisers.  However, with prices going over $300 (and over $450 on some ships and itineraries) the same majority cannot admit ("cope" with so to speak) the fact of overall reduced restaurant experience value - for such pricing one may find a great Regent, Ponant, Seaborn cruises where the whole ship is at your discretion as Retreat area and restaurant are on Celebrity (with pricing going toward $600-750 per person per day).

[michaelwh]

2 hours ago, AlyssaJames said:

Re: "Food is so subjective", this is a bit of a cop-out.

If you don't like a particular seasoning or ingredient, or you only like your steak cooked one way, sure, that's a subjective preference.

Grading of beef is not subjective.

Quality and ripeness of produce is not subjective. 

Bulk store chocolate vs. culinary-grade chocolate like Callebaut or Valrhona is not subjective. (well, unless you'd rather taste sugar than chocolate, I guess.)

Just some examples. That phrase is a pet peeve of mine. 

Yes, subjectivity doesn't really come into the fact the menus have been reduced - and a decision has clearly been made (for some reason) to focus on the "plain" things, which are often less interesting than dishes I can make myself for dinner during the week. 

 

By contrast, looking at Royal Caribbean's new menus, it appears they have decided not to worry about offering the staple plain dishes every night, and just have a rotating selection of more interesting choices instead. 

 

I don't have much time for this notion that "as long as there's something, and we can eat it, it's fine". The food is a key part of the offer - and for a lot of money. It's not something I want to put up with, just so I can have the honour of being on a Celebrity ship. Some people clearly see that differently, but it's Celebrity putting food front and centre in the marketing, so it needs to be worth the money. 

[cruisinsusin]

50 minutes ago, Wineaux007 said:

Hadn't been on Celebrity for over a year when I just got off Summit 11-night sailing last week.  It seems they replaced Rack of Lamb, Beef Tournedos, Beef Wellington, and Filet with 3-4 slices of medium to well cooked flank steak.  I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy about our 34-day B2B on Solstice next month.   

we were served the beef tournados on the Constellation in July (cooked to order and excellent)  so hoping they show up on the same B2B Solstice.

[kirtihk]

8 minutes ago, michaelwh said:

Yes, subjectivity doesn't really come into the fact the menus have been reduced - and a decision has clearly been made (for some reason) to focus on the "plain" things, which are often less interesting than dishes I can make myself for dinner during the week. 

 

By contrast, looking at Royal Caribbean's new menus, it appears they have decided not to worry about offering the staple plain dishes every night, and just have a rotating selection of more interesting choices instead. 

 

I don't have much time for this notion that "as long as there's something, and we can eat it, it's fine". The food is a key part of the offer - and for a lot of money. It's not something I want to put up with, just so I can have the honour of being on a Celebrity ship. Some people clearly see that differently, but it's Celebrity putting food front and centre in the marketing, so it needs to be worth the money. 

Precisely!  You put in different (shorter) wording what I just posted.  The reality is what it is: one would expect more variety and product quality when such a product increases (dramatically, not just a few percents for inflation) in price.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, rmedistro said:

I like my perfect grilled cheese sammy, more than my perfect filet.

But if your restaurant stopped serving your perfect filet and in it's place began serving your grilled cheese sammy (delicious as it may be) AND raised the price, customers can and should be upset. That to me is the issue at hand with Celebrity.

[rmedistro]

5 minutes ago, RichYak said:

But if your restaurant stopped serving your perfect filet and in it's place began serving your grilled cheese sammy (delicious as it may be) AND raised the price, customers can and should be upset. That to me is the issue at hand with Celebrity.

I get why people are up in air. I feel I need to make my own decisions on my upcoming cruises.
I'm not married to any one cruise line..  My wife likes the newer NCL ships, even tho I dislike the mega ship Prima class, and tons of kids, we have done quite a few cruises on NCL also over the years.
And we're 15 mins from Port Canaveral, so with Princess sailing from there starting next Winter, may give them a go also.

[tigervixxxen]

52 minutes ago, cruisinsusin said:

we were served the beef tournados on the Constellation in July (cooked to order and excellent)  so hoping they show up on the same B2B Solstice.

My grand hope is that the pork schnitzel is at least offered and it seems like it still makes an appearance on the 10+ night sailing menus. 
 

At this point which of the beef dishes are the best to order in MDR? I will always get the prime rib but otherwise which one is the best? Flank steak? The steak Dianne doesn’t seem to be too favorable at the moment. 

[retired dude]

2 hours ago, RichYak said:

Here's my own personal, completely unscientific observation based on posts on this board as well as from numerous conversations on Summit in August. This is just a broad generalization.

 

There are 2 types of cruisers: those who can appreciate well-prepared dishes made with high quality proteins and ingredients and those who are happy to be fed (non-foodies).

 

The first group used to enjoy Celebrity but for the most part, less so now. The second group continues to enjoy the product.

johnny carson had a well known entertainer on his show one night and the entertainer said that he lived to eat and Carson replied that he ate to live.....many of the people that we have met in our 50+ cruises would not know great food  if it hit them in the head thus the popularity of mcdonalds and burger king.....long live the foodies! 

[cruisinsusin]

3 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said:

My grand hope is that the pork schnitzel is at least offered and it seems like it still makes an appearance on the 10+ night sailing menus. 
 

At this point which of the beef dishes are the best to order in MDR? I will always get the prime rib but otherwise which one is the best? Flank steak? The steak Dianne doesn’t seem to be too favorable at the moment. 

Steak Dianne was the only really bad dish we had on Constellation although we had it on Eclipse in February and it was fine. Prime rib was good on Constellation. 

[Baggy178]

47 minutes ago, cruisinsusin said:

Steak Dianne was the only really bad dish we had on Constellation although we had it on Eclipse in February and it was fine. Prime rib was good on Constellation. 

 

I've eaten at fancy pants restaurants all over the world.

And I've eaten slops in some humongous dives.

But the truth is money doesn't always equate to better food.

It buys a lot of pretentious crap though.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Baggy178

[doghog]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

But if your restaurant stopped serving your perfect filet and in it's place began serving your grilled cheese sammy (delicious as it may be) AND raised the price, customers can and should be upset. That to me is the issue at hand with Celebrity.

Agee. But we will still eat there if we like the food. 

[markeb]

3 hours ago, RichYak said:

Here's my own personal, completely unscientific observation based on posts on this board as well as from numerous conversations on Summit in August. This is just a broad generalization.

 

There are 2 types of cruisers: those who can appreciate well-prepared dishes made with high quality proteins and ingredients and those who are happy to be fed (non-foodies).

 

The first group used to enjoy Celebrity but for the most part, less so now. The second group continues to enjoy the product.

 

I think that's an overly broad generalization...

 

I generally put myself in your group one, but have never really found that to be the case on any cruise line. In the MDR for sure, and probably Blu and Luminae, they're churning out large quantities of food in a relatively short period of time. I could try to do the math, but the MDR has to seat around 500 people per seating, probably more. Most high end restaurants are less than 100 per seating. I really don't know how much is truly made to order. I'll let you know after November if I still enjoy the product.

 

The second thing is that so much of the negativity revolves around the same handful of dishes (proteins) that I normally wouldn't eat anyway. I enjoy a good steak, but I don't eat one (or beef in general) every day. Prime rib reminds me of military formals, not a high end restaurant. And I've never been a lobster fan, other than the very unusual preparations at very high end seafood restaurants. We quit specialty dining years ago on Royal because Chops was just badly oversized steaks and I don't like leaving a meal completely stuffed (and my mother was a child of the Depression and we learned to clean out plates). I would rather have a starch other than mashed potatoes generally. 

 

So, broadly, I enjoy a great meal. I have those on land. I enjoy a good meal, and have had those on ships in the past. I can't eat three MDR or Luminae meals in a day. Period. By dinner most nights I just want something to eat. Preferably something very small.

 

 

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, tigervixxxen said:

What is subjective is how much the difference matters to people. 
 

To me what is not subjective is the fact that there has been a pretty noticeable change in the MDR menu and the disbelief at times that it has occurred is what I really don’t understand. 

Totally agree.  People can choose to like or not like the current menu and quality.  That is subjective.  But much of the so called "whining" is stating facts, not opinions.  The menu choices have been reduced.  Fact.  Some things that used to be free (on at least one day) are now costing quite a bit of $$ now.  Fact.  The quality of the food has declined overall.  Fact.  The menu is now laden with much less expensive and creative dishes.  Fact.  And the prices have risen substantially from a few years ago, well beyond the amount of inflation, often as much as double what they were.  Fact.

[Cruise till you drop]

1 minute ago, phoenix_dream said:

Totally agree.  People can choose to like or not like the current menu and quality.  That is subjective.  But much of the so called "whining" is stating facts, not opinions.  The menu choices have been reduced.  Fact.  Some things that used to be free (on at least one day) are now costing quite a bit of $$ now.  Fact.  The quality of the food has declined overall.  Fact.  The menu is now laden with much less expensive and creative dishes.  Fact.  And the prices have risen substantially from a few years ago, well beyond the amount of inflation, often as much as double what they were.  Fact.

The quality of the food has declined overall.  Subjective - Quality is defined as meeting or exceeding customers expectations and again, everyone has different tastes and expectations
 

The menu is now laden with much less expensive dishes.  Subjective as you really don’t know the cost to Celebrity, which I’m assuming everything is more expensive 

[doghog]

2 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Totally agree.  People can choose to like or not like the current menu and quality.  That is subjective.  But much of the so called "whining" is stating facts, not opinions.  The menu choices have been reduced.  Fact.  Some things that used to be free (on at least one day) are now costing quite a bit of $$ now.  Fact.  The quality of the food has declined overall.  Fact.  The menu is now laden with much less expensive and creative dishes.  Fact.  And the prices have risen substantially from a few years ago, well beyond the amount of inflation, often as much as double what they were.  Fact.

When we go on our next cruise and see for ourselves we'll make that decision based only on our experiences. That's a fact. Possibly the changes won't be that big of a deal to us. We refuse to compare our MDR experiences on our first cruise with Celebrity in 1994 on the Zenith. Or any other past cruises. That's a fact. We still enjoy the 'burger from the mast/pool grill. That's a fact. 

[RichYak]

20 minutes ago, doghog said:

Agee. But we will still eat there if we like the food. 

Hey it's your money. If you want to spend $50+ for a $15 sandwich, you do you.

[kirtihk]

3 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Totally agree.  People can choose to like or not like the current menu and quality.  That is subjective.  But much of the so called "whining" is stating facts, not opinions.  The menu choices have been reduced.  Fact.  Some things that used to be free (on at least one day) are now costing quite a bit of $$ now.  Fact.  The quality of the food has declined overall.  Fact.  The menu is now laden with much less expensive and creative dishes.  Fact.  And the prices have risen substantially from a few years ago, well beyond the amount of inflation, often as much as double what they were.  Fact.

Certain group of people will dismiss "your" facts the same way so many other not only cruise related facts are dismissed during last 4 (or so) years.  So, I've been trying lately to say realism (to camouflage the "fact" verbiage, and sometimes it works (ha-ha!).

 

Voyage, Voyage!!!

[doghog]

10 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Hey it's your money. If you want to spend $50+ for a $15 sandwich, you do you.

Glad our price increases aren't that exaggerated. And if they were we'd move on. Was your last Celebrity cruise your last based on the current changes? 

Edited September 18, 2023 by doghog

[micruiser2002]

2 hours ago, cruisinsusin said:

we were served the beef tournados on the Constellation in July (cooked to order and excellent)  so hoping they show up on the same B2B Solstice.

Have you looked at any upcoming sailings on Solstice to see what is on the menu?  From what I can see the new menu has eliminated all of these.  That is why so many have issues.  Most of the beef selections are lower grade and the appetizers are basically soups or salads, no real appetizers.

[kirtihk]

24 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

The quality of the food has declined overall.  Subjective - Quality is defined as meeting or exceeding customers expectations and again, everyone has different tastes and expectations.

Let's see whether the following works: realism is when the majority say "declined", it is considered to be declined (as of their expectation).  I eat the plainest food at home (being born in SSSR); I can easily (and literally) survive on plain bread and cheap ($4 a bottle) wine all day, for example.  However, on vacation (and at cruising, specifically) I need to relax, not to survive; so, I would eat mediocre food if it's free (meaning the cruise price would be reduced by food price, so to speak), and the majority (like I prefer) something less boring than they might get during regular life.

Edited September 18, 2023 by kirtihk

[RichYak]

7 minutes ago, doghog said:

Glad our price increases aren't that exaggerated. And if they were we'd move on. Was your last Celebrity cruise your last based on the current changes? 

Hard to say. My last cruise (August) was on Celebrity only because of the itinerary. Pricing had already become an issue. The one prior was in March. There was definitely a drop-off in quality in just those 5 months.

 

That said, if I came across the right itinerary at the right time, I might be willing to again. 

[cruisinsusin]

17 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

Have you looked at any upcoming sailings on Solstice to see what is on the menu?  From what I can see the new menu has eliminated all of these.  That is why so many have issues.  Most of the beef selections are lower grade and the appetizers are basically soups or salads, no real appetizers.

I have looked, and booked some specialties with OBC with the last sale, but still hoping that there will be updates to the menus as we get closer.

However, for the first time in many years, we have multiple cruises booked with other cruise lines over the next 14 months.

[RichYak]

38 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

The quality of the food has declined overall.  Subjective - Quality is defined as meeting or exceeding customers expectations and again, everyone has different tastes and expectations
 

The menu is now laden with much less expensive dishes.  Subjective as you really don’t know the cost to Celebrity, which I’m assuming everything is more expensive 

IMO, there's nothing subjective about MDR dishes that used to be prepared with strip steak and red snapper now being prepared with sirloin and tilapia.

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 hours ago, tigervixxxen said:

I never ordered a lot of beef from the MDR in the past because I know it’s prepared catering style in the galley, there is always going to be a range of food quality. What bothers me about the change is the removal of options, almost no appetizers, no difference in sides and I like mashed potatoes but come on, just no exploration in flavor. I’m seriously considering bringing my own seasonings and sauces, which would be ridiculous but how many nights can you have the same thing just it’s a different protein. 

 

It's prepared batch style, generally speaking, the quality would be the same.  If your protein is overcooked most likely everyone's protein in that bunch is overcooked