celebrity coffee

[jakenashleysmom]

Whats this I hear that the "coffee" on Celebrity is some sort of syrup concoction? I read on some past post that the only brewed coffee is for purchase in the Cova, is this true? No biggie, just wondering if anyone thinks this the case, and if you think its the same deal on other cruise lines?

 

Is that why on most ships you can stand a spoon in it?

 

What ever it is, it seems to do the trick for me, in many ways we won't discuss! :eek:

 

just curious,

[Jim_Iain]

You are correct that the coffee in the buffet is machine dispensed and is brewed from a concentrate. Cova Cafe has speciality coffee at a premium price. Very nice.

 

Suite passangers get fresh brewed and specialty coffee from their butler on request and with afternoon tea.

 

I believe the coffee in the Aqua Spa dining are is fresh brewed.

 

From a major coffee addict the coffee from concentrate is very drinkable and not too bad.

[C 2 C]

You will find that the taste of coffee varies from station to station. My wife tries all the ones at the buffet until she finds one to her taste. I only drink Tim Hortons, Starbucks and home brew (my wife's is best of all):D I can't master the chemical mix in the right proportion to satisfy my own taste. On board I find green tea suits me best.... but X always runs out near the end of each voyage.:eek:

[oldmancurtis]

i was on the zenith in june, at the buffet one day i watched one of the workersloading the coffee makers in the buffet. he opened bags of what looked like the coffee we had at the cumberland farms my wife worked at. they poured it in the clear canister on top of the coffeemakers. just my observations, it was much better than princess or rccl, but i am happy with maxwell house.

[katiensb]

C2C ,

 

I too, am a huge fan of Tim Horton Coffee...now if I could only get it in Fl. My salvation on the ships is to put a shot (2 finger) of hot water in the mug..then dispense my coffee. It seems to work pretty good.

 

See the coffee lover thread on the Carnival Board....

 

Katie

[jakenashleysmom]

I couldn't help but notice on these boards, that there are a lot of Canadians here (Tim Hortons was a dead give away:) )

 

I have a non-cruise related question for you, and please answer me honestly and don't take offense. What is the tipping percent believed to be in Canada, particularly if paying in American dollars? I am a server in New York, on the border of Ontario, and our clientelle is about 80 percent Canadian. I would never ask a customer this question, it would be inappropriate, but thought my friends on CC would give me an honest answer and not be offended.

 

I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with the PST and GST, but it seems to be 10% across the board, and the customers seem to be very happy with their service etc. Help???????????:confused:

[soooo excited!]

jakenashleysmom: I can only speak for myself - and I don't have experience with U.S. $, but , in Canadian $ , my general rule is 15% - but years ago it was 10 % - unless the service is really bad and I've read that the tip should be calculated on the 'before tax' amount of the bill; and I never cheat the tip if I didn't like the food - that's not the server's fault, and in high end restuarants - I'll go 20 % if the food and service was first rate (not that I do high end a lot!!! ) Before they lowered the GST to 6%, the tip in Ontario was easy - the same amount as the tax, Prov. tax is 8% and GST was 7%. Also, if I'm eating breakfast out - which is a cheap meal - I tip a higher % if they refill my coffee cup often - can't just give 15% on a 5.00 meal if they are working hard. Sorry, not a very simple answer!

(hope we don't get flamed for being off topic ! )

[jakenashleysmom]

;) I know, I'm sorry for being off topic and I swear it won't happen again! I just couldn't help but ask, and thanks for answering! I just don't get it, its ALWAYS 10%, and not just me! I have comment cards with raves about my excellent service and still the 10%. arg.:mad:

 

Makes it hard to save up for my next COFFEE from the COVA on my CRUISE!:)

 

Thanks for the coffee info folks, do you think that room service coffee for CC passengers would be the same as from the butler in suites? If I asked real nice and tipped well, would my steward get me Cova coffee in my room?

[dkjretired]

of Cruise Critic. I think they have topics on everything. Very important no matter what you do is bring a travel mug for your coffee, the cups on Celebrity at the various locations on not much bigger than a shot glass. (A little exageration but very small.)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=219

[CelebrityMan]

Hi,

 

I, too, have read on these boards the information about syrup. But my experience on X has always been to watch bags of ground coffee being used in the buffet area.

 

I'm going to have to watch closely on our upcoming Constellation TA and see what happens there in the various areas, i.e., buffet, Cova, Aqua Spa Cafe, etc. I'm intrigued to see what the coffee syrup type of brew tastes like.

 

 

 

 

CM

[raymac46]

I'm a retired food technologist who worked in coffee plants for General Foods and Standard Brands for many years (Maxwell House, Yuban, Sanka, Chase & Sanborn.) Right now I volunteer with Equator Coffee Roasters, a small fair trade coffee company in the Ottawa area. Check us out on the web at:

http://www.equator.ca

I watched the brewers at work on Constellation and I'm pretty sure they are automatic machines that use real ground coffee, not concentrate. The coffee diluted from concentrate would not taste as good as the buffet coffee I drank on the ship.

If Celebrity is using "Fresh Brew" as stated in the CC article, that is a brand of Douwe Egbert, a Dutch firm that makes absolutely great coffee.

[shoshona2]

Hi,

 

We were just on RCI's Navigator and I really enjoyed the coffee in the Buffet. It was the Seattle Coffee brand and it was brewed. When we ate dinner in the dining room, the coffee was not as good. I couldn't find out why it was so much better at breakfast. When the coffee isn't good, I switch to tea.

[OVgirl]

We are going on our first Xcruise and am really hoping for good coffee. We have sailed on HAL and the coffee was always fine. Raymac, I hope your right about Dutch coffee. I'm dutch and know that the DE coffee is good. By the way I'm in Carleton Place. We do buy the Fairtrade coffee as well.

 

We are on Galaxy February 2007.

[bonbon663]

I'm still baffled to learn that you have to pay extra for coffee. Is there such thing as a "coffee card", like the soda card?

[xtopher_66]

I'm still baffled to learn that you have to pay extra for coffee. Is there such thing as a "coffee card", like the soda card?

The only coffee that you have to pay for is the specialty coffee drinks such as lattes and cappucinos that are in the Cova Cafe. The regular coffee in the dining room, buffet, and room service is free.

 

Chris

[bonbon663]

:) Whew...that's a relief!!

[CruznTom]

There is at least 1 coffee machine in the buffet running 24/7.

It might be different on Millie class, but on Century class it was liquid concentrate from milk carton type containers.

[Jim_Iain]

On the front page of Cruise Critics today the are hosting a review of "finding the best coffee at sea" http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=219

 

I sounds like Celebrity is using a new coffee as of July. Will be interesting to hear from those who have tried it.

 

Jim

[Lsimon]

I've always found the coffee on Celebrity, as well as other lines, to be very inconsistent. Rooms service coffee is terrible 90% of the time, and the buffet is terrible 60 or 70% of the time. Dining room after dinner decaf is usually OK.

 

We enjoy coffee on our veranda as soon as we wake up in the morning, so the past couple cruises I've taken a very inexpensive coffee pot of our own and just left it on the ship afterward. Meant to bring it back last time but somehow we couldn't fit it in the luggage on the way out! We always bring some decent coffee and enjoy having our own pot. I've read others that use coffee presses and either bring a hot pot or use room service hot water (like for tea), and some that use coffee bags (similar to tea bags). Heck, there are even some that like the coffee on board - but we're not generally amoung them - except perhaps an afternoon Latte at Cova.