First Celebrity Cruise - wonderful cruise but not a decent cut of beef to be found

[BeasleysMom66]

54 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

Quality varies greatly by ship.

THIS^^^^

 

I was on the Summit 5/17 Alaska sailing and the MDR left A LOT to be desired.  Much of it wasn't edible.  There were much better choices in the buffet.  3 of us dined at Tuscan Grille one night and all of it was terrible. NONE of us finished our meals.  Making it worse service was SLOW in the MDR nightly with our entire table noticing that we were still waiting to order dessert and others were empty and had already left that were in our section and had the same servers.  We arrived before them most nights as well.  

 

This is one of the big reasons on my January cruise I am giving Princess a try after 100% Celebrity cruises since I started cruising.

 

1 hour ago, tfred said:

then I wonder what they are really looking for then...

 

I can't speak for the others but when I pay extra for supposed "fine dining" I expect a decent cut of steak cooked the way I ordered it in a timely manner.  When a steak is ordered medium or medium rare it shouldn't come out bloody/cold and with a few quirts of Bactine and a bandaid would be back out in the field mooing and grazing.  It also shouldn't take 40 minutes if it is coming out raw either. 

 

When I am dining out I expect a server to pay attention to when I look like I might need a drink refill and if early in the meal just do it and later in the meal it is definitely nice to be asked as I might be ready to leave and don't wish to waste the full drink that isn't needed.  I expect to be checked on once or twice to see if things are satisfactory or if anything can be provided to enhance the dining.  I don't want to be there an hour or more longer than other dinner guests because you ignore my table until you have to bring us the next course.  I don't want to be so thirsty that I need two bottles of water after dinner every night.  I don't want to never be asked if I want a glass of wine or a drink because on the first night I didn't order one.  And I definitely don't want to be asked repeatedly if everything is okay and reminded when the survey comes at the end of the cruise how I HAVE TO TELL THEM how wonderful they were or their life is over.  

 

I can't speak for other ships but that was the experience on the Summit last month.

 

[TGfromTX]

13 hours ago, canderson said:

Our best X meat ever was also right after COVID on the Connie restart cruises.

I keep seeing 'connie' posted, but for the life of me I can't find anywhere saying what the tarnation it is referring to.  Anyone?

[markeb]

Constellation. 

[mahasamatman]

Though the real "Connie" was built by Lockheed.

 

[markeb]

2 minutes ago, mahasamatman said:

Though the real "Connie" was built by Lockheed.

 

 

There is that. Brought to you in part by the original skunk of the skunk works...

[Iamcruzin]

I am finding at home at the supermarket and in restaurants that the beef choices and quality have not been the same since covid. The cheapest cut of meat is over priced. Even the meal kits that we get from Home Chef aren't the same quality. I can find better quality if I pay more at a specialty supermarket like Fresh Market. I just have to wait for a sale on the better cuts.  I don't expect much from any mass market cruise line.

[markeb]

Back to the OP. I normally avoid red meat on cruises, but did have beef and lamb on Summit. The Luminae filet was OK. The lamb loin was horrible, and the strip (which I think was originally described as a roasted strip, not grilled) was beyond bad. That's the first time I can actually say that on a cruise, and on Celebrity in particular. Fish was not surprisingly overcooked. The best meat dish we had was jerk chicken from the MDR menu, which was cooked perfectly.

 

[markeb]

Just now, Iamcruzin said:

I am finding at home at the supermarket and in restaurants that the beef choices and quality have not been the same since covid. The cheapest cut of meat is over priced. Even the meal kits that we get from Home Chef aren't the same quality. I can find better quality if I pay more at a specialty supermarket like Fresh Market. I just have to wait for a sale on the better cuts.  I don't expect much from any mass market cruise line.

 

It was actually the Texas and SW US droughts. They just happened at about the same time. The USDA Agriculture Marketing Service wrote up some major reports about a year ago. A lot of producers sold breeding stock for beef to recoup any money. There just wasn't water or grass for cattle. I haven't looked recently, but even assuming things have returned to some form of "normal", that's 3-5 years to get back to pre-drought production and quality. Lamb has gone through the roof as well. Our local Greek restaurant had to drop lamb chops and rack of lamb from its menu; they can't charge enough in our area to recoup the cost. And quality has suffered there as well.

[Iamcruzin]

3 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

It was actually the Texas and SW US droughts. They just happened at about the same time. The USDA Agriculture Marketing Service wrote up some major reports about a year ago. A lot of producers sold breeding stock for beef to recoup any money. There just wasn't water or grass for cattle. I haven't looked recently, but even assuming things have returned to some form of "normal", that's 3-5 years to get back to pre-drought production and quality. Lamb has gone through the roof as well. Our local Greek restaurant had to drop lamb chops and rack of lamb from its menu; they can't charge enough in our area to recoup the cost. And quality has suffered there as well.

Thank you for the explanation.