Celebrity food worse year over year.

[Dave H.]

Last year I sailed on the Apex, and now I am on the Reflection.

Beef has gotten dry, mealy, and bland.  I wouldn't bother with it at this point, it really has declined to the level of a school cafeteria.

The Caesar salad used to have grated parmeson cheese, now they use ground parmesan dust without any flavor.  Set aside the cheese and the dressing lacks any of the flavor from the now absent anchovies as well.  This is an always available item and even available from roomservice.  Such a staple falling off in quality is an intensely sad event.

Pizza has been ruined.  The cheese like that of the parmesan has been cheapened and worsened.  Also the amount of cheese in the pizza has even reduced in volume.  This is an always featured item and also on the room service menu, I found it to be more similar to an Elios pizza and I would prefer Tony's pizza to it.  It isn't even close to a Red Barron or a DiGornos pizza.  I used to like the pizza on this cruise line.

I had a caprese salad and the tomatoes were green and the red portions were a feint pink.  No licopene, no flavor, and an unpleasant texture.  The Buffalo mozzarella lacked any of the rick fat content that it is known for.

I had a bearnaise sauce that contributed wetness without any flavor.  I don't mean mild or subtle, I mean no flavor at all.

The troubles continue with food items completely absent.  There is no almond or oat milk on the ship: soy, lactose free, and regular milk only.  This ship has no oolong tea, it is one of the four teas listed on the menu and they don't have any plans of getting any.

This is not an exhaustive list but I have been noticing more and more deprecated items and then a culling of what items are even available.

[mac66]

Okay...well...thanks for posting 

[Traveling Mike]

On 12/12/2022 at 9:37 AM, Dave H. said:

Last year I sailed on the Apex, and now I am on the Reflection.

I think you are comparing Apples and Oranges.  I find the food changes from ship to ship.  They have different managers and different cooks.

[cruisellama]

On 12/12/2022 at 11:37 AM, Dave H. said:

Last year I sailed on the Apex, and now I am on the Reflection.

Beef has gotten dry, mealy, and bland.  I wouldn't bother with it at this point, it really has declined to the level of a school cafeteria.

The Caesar salad used to have grated parmeson cheese, now they use ground parmesan dust without any flavor.  Set aside the cheese and the dressing lacks any of the flavor from the now absent anchovies as well.  This is an always available item and even available from roomservice.  Such a staple falling off in quality is an intensely sad event.

Pizza has been ruined.  The cheese like that of the parmesan has been cheapened and worsened.  Also the amount of cheese in the pizza has even reduced in volume.  This is an always featured item and also on the room service menu, I found it to be more similar to an Elios pizza and I would prefer Tony's pizza to it.  It isn't even close to a Red Barron or a DiGornos pizza.  I used to like the pizza on this cruise line.

I had a caprese salad and the tomatoes were green and the red portions were a feint pink.  No licopene, no flavor, and an unpleasant texture.  The Buffalo mozzarella lacked any of the rick fat content that it is known for.

I had a bearnaise sauce that contributed wetness without any flavor.  I don't mean mild or subtle, I mean no flavor at all.

The troubles continue with food items completely absent.  There is no almond or oat milk on the ship: soy, lactose free, and regular milk only.  This ship has no oolong tea, it is one of the four teas listed on the menu and they don't have any plans of getting any.

This is not an exhaustive list but I have been noticing more and more deprecated items and then a culling of what items are even available.

Would agree there is some degradation in both menu offering and some food quality.  We did find meat dishes (despite being cooked properly) seemed dry, including  in "Fine Cut"  which in the past, was top notch.  Thought Apex was the weakest of the last 3 we've sailed,   Edge, Reflection, and Apex.   While in Luminae, we had items from the MDR menu instead of the daily Luminae offering.  ( Was not an appealing menu.)  We'll be on Beyond in March.  Fingers crossed.

[JeffB]

We'll be sailing on Edge out of Fort Lauderdale, 11n S. Caribbean departing 1/23/2023. Mike brings up a good point that food services onboard each ship varies. Still, Corporate drives the menu selections and prep - chefs have some discretion in plating and appearance. Food prep process is key. Each station in the kitchen from the sou chef on down involved in delivering the plate is going to be manned by people with different skills and motivation. Supervision and training is really important here. This alone is going to affect taste and appearance.

That Celebrity, at least in the past, has maintained a remarkable level of consistency in food quality and presentation is notable.  On recent cruises, talking with food service managers, all of them are dealing with supply issues. None of them will say it directly but I've had table staff in the restaurants, when asked, if they've seen a price crunch affecting produce, meat and fish. Yes, has been the response. That would mean lower quality produce and cuts of meat, frozen (questionable processing) seafood products - poorly frozen fish unless it is very carefully prepared is a non-starter for me. You can't make a cow leather grade sirloin taste juicy or cut like butter. Properly ripened tomatoes are a tough get. Wholesale fruit and veggie supplies from S. FL ports are pretty decent. Wholesale food sourcing is going to affect your like or dislike of a dish.

I'll check this out in both the Edge MDR and Luminae. No plans for specialty dining as Murano is the only one I really will pay the upcharge for and these are not on the Edge class ships. Maybe Eden - I do like the environment. I'll be reporting on the food issues noted on Apex and will post while I'm aboard.

[loki007]

we just got off a 6 night Apex sailing and the food was great. Service in the main dining rooms was a little suspect at times but no complaints about the food. 100x better than our summer Mariner cruise.