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michel roux gone, what a difference!!!


amanda blake

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I carefully read Host Anne's warning before composing this post.

This is meant as comments on food preparation and presentation.

In your post, I have bolded and italicized a few words for discussion purposes.

For us inland folks, you really only get fresh fish from a restaurant or fishmonger that has arrangements with a seaside supplier to ship fish by air on a daily basis. If seafood is more than a couple of days old, it tastes better if taken out of a freezer and prepared rather than kept on ice for several days. The seafood case in the grocery store normally has items such as salmon that has previously been frozen and then thawed before you purchase it.

Since I have never seen a helicopter delivering food supplies to a cruise ship, I suspect the fresh halibut is really frozen halibut. The difference you are tasting is that it has been cooked to order for you in the speciality restaurant. In the dining room, the waiter selects your halibut dinner from a warming oven where it has been sitting for a while.

Similarly, the specialty restaurant filet has been cut from a loin and cooked to your specifications. The sliced filet in the dining room is probably from the same delivery of cryovac packed frozen beef loins but it is simmering in sauce in the warming oven until your waiter selects the plate he will serve to you.

You have the key word in your quote, 'subjective.' Having a meal prepared to your order and delivered with the 'just cooked' aroma and appearance makes a huge difference even if it starts from the same steer as the banquet dish in the main dining room.

On a recent cruise, we toured the galley very early in the afternoon. The evening vegatables were already at room temperature being prepped for dinner. They certainly won't look as nice at 6:30 pm as the dish of broccoli freshly steamed for you in the specialty restaurant.

Les

 

Hi, Les:). I agree with many of your points. Preparation has a lot to do with how food tastes and the dishes were definitely fresher tasting in the specialty restaurants. That being said, I have been on ships where provisions, including seafood, are brought aboard in port to be served during that voyage; helicopters are not required.;)

 

While some do not consider the specialty restaurants to be an appreciable step up, we do and they are more like what the main dining rooms used to be.

 

The point I was trying to make is that we did find the cuts, portions, flavors and preparations far better in the extra charge restaurants while some do not find the difference worth the surcharges. Having grown up in the restaurant business, I am familiar with the differences between preparing banquet food and cooked to order and have noticed significant differences in galley tours these days versus 20 years ago.

 

We also preferred the adult ambiance and intimacy and were willing to pay extra for it nightly. We also understand that many feel differently, though these restaurants were far busier on my last few RCI cruises than they used to be.

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The only time we ever had good fish on a Celebrity Ship was during our 2001 cruise to Alaska on Infinity. On the surface, this could appear to be an example of how Celebrity has slipped, but I think there is another explanation. While we were in Juno, I saw fresh salmon being loaded onto the ship, which appeared on my dinner plate that night. That level of freshness has not been duplicated at sea, and my taste for fish is influenced by the fact that I have always lived near the water.

 

With that said, it is easy to overlook the fact that mega ships are equipped to prepare some foods better than others, and that should be considered when one decides what to order. Unless meals are prepared table side, a banquet type facility has obstacles that a small restaurant does not have.

 

Similarly, I have learned a long time ago, when I have a choice for an entree at a wedding to consider what a kitchen designed for a banquet can do well, as opposed to what my favorite dish is.

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Hi, Les:). I agree with many of your points. Preparation has a lot to do with how food tastes and the dishes were definitely fresher tasting in the specialty restaurants. That being said, I have been on ships where provisions, including seafood, are brought aboard in port to be served during that voyage; helicopters are not required.;)

 

While some do not consider the specialty restaurants to be an appreciable step up, we do and they are more like what the main dining rooms used to be.

 

The point I was trying to make is that we did find the cuts, portions, flavors and preparations far better in the extra charge restaurants while some do not find the difference worth the surcharges. Having grown up in the restaurant business, I am familiar with the differences between preparing banquet food and cooked to order and have noticed significant differences in galley tours these days versus 20 years ago.

 

We also preferred the adult ambiance and intimacy and were willing to pay extra for it nightly. We also understand that many feel differently, though these restaurants were far busier on my last few RCI cruises than they used to be.

 

Hi caviargal, I agree that the food in speciality restaurants is now better fare and is what used to be served in the main dining room on Celebrity. While I think the specialty restaurants are a great idea, my experience has been that in addition to the added cost the specialty restaurants take a lot more time for dinner and I enjoying doing other things instead of sitting at a dinner table for two or three hours. I just hope that Celebrity's food in the main dining room will come back to what it used to be just a year or so ago. The bottom line, for me, is that would expect the food to be very good in any restaurant on board, for the amount of money that a cruise costs.

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Hi caviargal, I agree that the food in speciality restaurants is now better fare and is what used to be served in the main dining room on Celebrity. While I think the specialty restaurants are a great idea, my experience has been that in addition to the added cost the specialty restaurants take a lot more time for dinner and I enjoying doing other things instead of sitting at a dinner table for two or three hours. I just hope that Celebrity's food in the main dining room will come back to what it used to be just a year or so ago. The bottom line, for me, is that would expect the food to be very good in any restaurant on board, for the amount of money that a cruise costs.

 

Mr Mudd, being an early riser, dinner is usually the end of the day for me so a few hours is just fine but I understand that lots of folks enjoy the shows and other nighttime activities. We generally hit the disco a couple of nights but that is about it for us.

 

I completely agree with your statement above (bolded). Will look forward to hearing more from recent X cruisers on the subject.:)

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In light of the recent posts, I would like to add (hoping that someone from Celebrity reads this) that on our last cruise, the Galaxy in February, the fish was awful. Most of the time I couldn't eat it. Even one night, at the Captain's Table. There was nothing on the menu that appealed to me, so I ordered the salmon. I told the waiter I wanted "melt-in-your-mouth" salmon. (I figured that if I could get it anywhere, it would be at the captain's table!) It turned out to be inedible. One bite was all I mustered.

 

That cruise was very inexpensive. The price kept going down until sailing date. I had posted on CC, asking others if they thought the food was worse because of the cruise price. The answer was "no". I wonder? Our next cruise is a transatlantic, also rock-bottom price, also the Galaxy. Will I experience the same thing again?

 

As some mentioned, items that I usually chose were missing. I can't remember too much now except for the fresh berries at the breakfast buffet. All they had were frozen berries. Not the same, that's for sure.

 

I hope they can figure out how to give us better quality.

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