Food quality> Royal vs Celebrity vs Silver Seas

[Censored]

Like many other people who have cruised extensively with Royal , they make a decision to switch it up a notch by going on Royal's sister cruise lines Celebrity and Silver Seas.  Looking for comments  on overall dining experiences . Is it worth the extra cost?  Does Silver Seas match your Crown and Anchor status?

[JeffB]

I've sailed post COVID and recently aboard Allure of the Seas, Celebrity Equinox and Infinity. I've looked at Silver Sea. I found no significant differences between the food quality in the two buffet type venues on AOSv. Equinox/Infinity- both offer varied selections, appetizing presentations and quality foods.

Comparing the restaurant dining venues depends on what class of ships you might want to compare. Equinox, a Silhouette class ship, is not at all like AOS when it comes to comparing restaurants. AOS has many more dining options than any Celebrity ship. IMO, the table service within Celebrity's main restaurants is a bit more elegant - at least that is the corporate goal - than on AOS.

Over the most recent years, specialty dining aboard Celebrity ships has not been that much better than main dining. That is likely because of cost control measures taken at the corporate level. I can't draw any distinction between food quality on AOS v. Equinox - main or specialty dining. I'm pretty sure sourcing of food on both lines is centralized through RCL. It then comes down to table service and presentation. I'd give Celebrity an edge there but that's just me and is a subjective opinion. 

I've not sailed on Silver Sea but have done a lot of comparing. If you're looking for smaller ships and what they can afford in general, Silver Sea is a good option when comparing this line to others in a similar niche. The issue for me is sailing nicely for at or below $200 per day, per person on an RCG brand v. sailing on Silver sea for upwards of $600 per day, per person. It comes down to 3 cruises on an RCG brand ship or 1 on Silver Sea or similar.

As well, you'll see a different cohort of guests on Celebrity v. RCL and Celebrity v. Silver Sea. Service levels between RCL and Silver Sea are going to naturally be different with Silver Sea having a lower staff to guest ratio than either RCL brand. For me, I'm not willing to pay the higher price of Silver Sea for a higher level of service. I'm satisfied with Celebrity - my go to line since 2001. 

 

[KristiZ]

1 hour ago, Eddy said:

Does Silver Seas match your Crown and Anchor status?

No

[Censored]

42 minutes ago, JeffB said:

I've sailed post COVID and recently aboard Allure of the Seas, Celebrity Equinox and Infinity. I've looked at Silver Sea. I found no significant differences between the food quality in the two buffet type venues on AOSv. Equinox/Infinity- both offer varied selections, appetizing presentations and quality foods.

Comparing the restaurant dining venues depends on what class of ships you might want to compare. Equinox, a Silhouette class ship, is not at all like AOS when it comes to comparing restaurants. AOS has many more dining options than any Celebrity ship. IMO, the table service within Celebrity's main restaurants is a bit more elegant - at least that is the corporate goal - than on AOS.

Over the most recent years, specialty dining aboard Celebrity ships has not been that much better than main dining. That is likely because of cost control measures taken at the corporate level. I can't draw any distinction between food quality on AOS v. Equinox - main or specialty dining. I'm pretty sure sourcing of food on both lines is centralized through RCL. It then comes down to table service and presentation. I'd give Celebrity an edge there but that's just me and is a subjective opinion. 

I've not sailed on Silver Sea but have done a lot of comparing. If you're looking for smaller ships and what they can afford in general, Silver Sea is a good option when comparing this line to others in a similar niche. The issue for me is sailing nicely for at or below $200 per day, per person on an RCG brand v. sailing on Silver sea for upwards of $600 per day, per person. It comes down to 3 cruises on an RCG brand ship or 1 on Silver Sea or similar.

As well, you'll see a different cohort of guests on Celebrity v. RCL and Celebrity v. Silver Sea. Service levels between RCL and Silver Sea are going to naturally be different with Silver Sea having a lower staff to guest ratio than either RCL brand. For me, I'm not willing to pay the higher price of Silver Sea for a higher level of service. I'm satisfied with Celebrity - my go to line since 2001. 

 

good info !  Ive also wondered if the same food supplier is for all the brands?  The purchasing agents know that higher volumes brings prices down, so it would make sense  to use one main supplier , other than a few specialty restaurants. Cost per day is a good rule of thumb.  Can you give the difference in casino with regards to size, vibe, etc?

[JeffB]

3 hours ago, Censored said:

 Can you give the difference in casino with regards to size, vibe, etc?

I'm not a Casino user so, probably not the best to answer you. However from a size standpoint, the AOS Casino is probably 2X as big as that of casinos on Celebrity's Silhouette class ships and 2.5x that of Celebrity's Millennium class ships.

Again a personal preference but I like the smaller Millennium class ships of the Celebrity fleet. They retain some of the charm of the ships of the golden era of cruising in terms of decor and furnishings. These smaller ships are reaching the end of RCL's defined service life of around 25 years and comparatively speaking they are more costly to operate than Celebrity's Edge class ships. But the Edge class ships are, in terms of baseline Celebrity ship design and layout, are completely different. Not in a bad way but rather different. The experience is different. It takes getting used to, IMO.

In my last post I should have mentioned another factor in comparing dining. The Chef's. To be honest, there is no difference whatsoever. That's because of two factors: (1) Menues are pre-ordained at the corporate level. All the Chef has to do is be able to execute it well and I've not come across any Celebrity dining experience since the end of mid-night buffets - which did show creative differences among Chefs - where a particular Chef stood out. (2) Something that is getting a lot of emphasis in the ship's kitchen's across all RCL brands is food waste and minimizing it. Portion sizes are smaller - fine with me. There's also emphasis on efficiency in food prep. The less time it takes to prepare, plate and serve a dish, the better; e.g., app & salad plates and shrimp cocktails are no longer chilled. Takes too long and uses too much space.  

[Censored]

On 10/6/2022 at 3:44 PM, JeffB said:

I'm not a Casino user so, probably not the best to answer you. However from a size standpoint, the AOS Casino is probably 2X as big as that of casinos on Celebrity's Silhouette class ships and 2.5x that of Celebrity's Millennium class ships.

Again a personal preference but I like the smaller Millennium class ships of the Celebrity fleet. They retain some of the charm of the ships of the golden era of cruising in terms of decor and furnishings. These smaller ships are reaching the end of RCL's defined service life of around 25 years and comparatively speaking they are more costly to operate than Celebrity's Edge class ships. But the Edge class ships are, in terms of baseline Celebrity ship design and layout, are completely different. Not in a bad way but rather different. The experience is different. It takes getting used to, IMO.

In my last post I should have mentioned another factor in comparing dining. The Chef's. To be honest, there is no difference whatsoever. That's because of two factors: (1) Menues are pre-ordained at the corporate level. All the Chef has to do is be able to execute it well and I've not come across any Celebrity dining experience since the end of mid-night buffets - which did show creative differences among Chefs - where a particular Chef stood out. (2) Something that is getting a lot of emphasis in the ship's kitchen's across all RCL brands is food waste and minimizing it. Portion sizes are smaller - fine with me. There's also emphasis on efficiency in food prep. The less time it takes to prepare, plate and serve a dish, the better; e.g., app & salad plates and shrimp cocktails are no longer chilled. Takes too long and uses too much space.  

Im sorry , but please indulge me on AOS?   Apostles of the Seas?   lol...... Who owns it  and where can I see all the specs and reviews on it?

 

[Censored]

14 minutes ago, Censored said:

Im sorry , but please indulge me on AOS?   Apostles of the Seas?   lol...... Who owns it  and where can I see all the specs and reviews on it?

 

 

14 minutes ago, Censored said:

Im sorry , but please indulge me on AOS?   Apostles of the Seas?   lol...... Who owns it  and where can I see all the specs and reviews on it?

 

ok so its Located on Deck 3 aboard Ovation of the Seas, Casino Royale is a larger casino than usually found on her older sisters (Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas). This is because Ovation of the Seas will primarily be based around the Far East, serving the Chinese and Japanese markets mainly and in the winter, heading down to Australia and New Zealand for their summer.

 

[FireFishII]

45 minutes ago, Censored said:

Im sorry , but please indulge me on AOS?   Apostles of the Seas?   lol...... Who owns it  and where can I see all the specs and reviews on it?

 

The 'OS' in a name stands for 'Of the Seas' - this is the Royal Caribbean's tag line for the names of their ships.  AOS in this case would stand for Allure of the Seas since it was mentioned in the post above.  So Navigator of the Seas would be NOS. 

[Censored]

On 10/11/2022 at 1:36 PM, FireFishII said:

The 'OS' in a name stands for 'Of the Seas' - this is the Royal Caribbean's tag line for the names of their ships.  AOS in this case would stand for Allure of the Seas since it was mentioned in the post above.  So Navigator of the Seas would be NOS. 

 

On 10/11/2022 at 1:36 PM, FireFishII said:

The 'OS' in a name stands for 'Of the Seas' - this is the Royal Caribbean's tag line for the names of their ships.  AOS in this case would stand for Allure of the Seas since it was mentioned in the post above.  So Navigator of the Seas would be NOS. 

yup, get it, Im not fully versed with all acronyms .thx

[Traveling Mike]

I am an ex-truck driver, so I am not very picky.  I am 61 years old, so I don't eat what I don't like. 

Now with that said I will hardly eat at the buffet on the RCL ships.  Every time I do, I am sorry because of the quality of food.  The main dining on the RCL is not bad and I have a good dinner.  Lately I have been purchasing the Unlimited Dining Plan and eating all my meals at the Specialty Restaurants on the RCL ships.  I have been very happy with the quality in the Specialty Restaurants.

On the Celebrity Cruises I have been very happy with the food in their buffet.  The main dining room is very good and makes me want to eat there and not the specialty restaurants.  The Specialty Restaurants on Celebrity are just OK.  I do not think there is enough difference in the main dining room and the SR to spend the extra money.

Sad to say I have not been on Silver Seas.

Note:  if this helps... I can lose weight on the RCL ships, and I seem to gain weight on the Celebrity Ships.

[JLMoran]

On 10/6/2022 at 11:40 AM, Censored said:

Can you give the difference in casino with regards to size, vibe, etc?

Biggest difference I can tell you, per podcasts I've listened to and blogs I've read, is that all Celebrity casinos are 100% non-smoking. Having been in multiple Royal Caribbean ship casinos, that is something I personally will look forward to when I finally get to sail on a Celebrity ship. I hate the smell of stale smoke and how it always wafts out of the casinos into the surrounding halls and spaces.

[Censored]

16 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Biggest difference I can tell you, per podcasts I've listened to and blogs I've read, is that all Celebrity casinos are 100% non-smoking. Having been in multiple Royal Caribbean ship casinos, that is something I personally will look forward to when I finally get to sail on a Celebrity ship. I hate the smell of stale smoke and how it always wafts out of the casinos into the surrounding halls and spaces.

I dont smoke, my wife does. So bigger casinos are better that have extended non smoking areas,,better filtration, more machines, easier to move around. I cant stand small clustered cruise casinos, with uncomfortable seats, and everybody bumping into you and people on scooters who are navigating all around like they own the place.    

[mac66]

I've been on 1 RCL and 3 X cruises this past year.  The food quality and menu in the MDR is the same. X might be a little more elegant served but it's the same food.  Same with the buffet, though I was disappointed in X. 

More people apparently eat in the buffet on RCL so the selection/variety is better in the buffet than on X, at least in my experience.  We walked out of the MDR three times each our last two X cruises due to poor/non existent service and went to the buffet for dinner instead. 2 of the 3 times the food was mediocre.  The third time they had something different and it was quite good.

[cruisellama]

We just got off Apex and noticed the menus are a step down from a year ago.  Meaning, less complex offerings, somewhat bland.  Appeared to be less dessert offerings (noticed that on RCL also).  Quality was also a little off, especially beef and lamb dishes.   Fish (salmon and haddock) were good.  Although prepared to the right temperature levels, we noticed the meats to be dry.   Might be a supply chain or storage issue.  We'll be sailing Beyond in March and hoping for a better culinary experience.  We dined in Luminae, Fine Cut, Raw on 5, Eden (which abandoned its original themed menu), and some MDR options.

[mac66]

Just an fyi...just got off an 8 nt ABC island cruise on Explorer. The MDR food and service was better than any of  the three celebrity (X) cruises we did this year.

Up to this year we liked X better but RCL has jumped ahead. We have another RCL cruise in February so we'll see.

[WAAAYTOOO]

24 minutes ago, mac66 said:

Just an fyi...just got off an 8 nt ABC island cruise on Explorer. The MDR food and service was better than any of  the three celebrity (X) cruises we did this year.

Up to this year we liked X better but RCL has jumped ahead. We have another RCL cruise in February so we'll see.

Good to hear !  I have 2 EX cruises coming up.

[mac66]

All cruises are different depending on the ship, crew, port, itinerary,  time of year. 

Food and service tend to be better on the smaller ships than on the mega ships but that's not always the case.

We were on the Summit twice this year, the first time was a charter in February. The second time was a makeup of a covid cruise in August. Food and service both times was mediocre to poor.

[twangster]

I had a SilverSea booking I lost to the pandemic.  I really wish that had gone forward so I'd have a basis of comparison, then vs now.  As it is, it would be hard to sail SilverSea now and qualify the food experience without knowing what it was like before.

Presumably... but then again when you make assumptions...