Celebrity Cruises – Ultimate dining guide
One reason I love to cruise is the sheer amount of variety and quality when it comes to dining on board. And not only that, but truly some of the best food in the World can be had at sea, with Michelin starred chefs producing fabulous menus using the best ingredients – I’m sold! In this blog we’ll take a look at the delicious dining found on Celebrity Cruises. It is split into two. Firstly, a description of the various dining on board and a quick reference guide that highlights what ship each venue is on as well as price (if applicable). This article does not cover the Celebrity Galapagos expedition fleet as this operates slightly differently.
Celebrity Beyond will debut in 2022, and will feature a whole host of new and reimagined dining experiences on board – you can read more about this here.
If you want to skip the descriptions and go straight to the quick reference guide, click here.
What’s included in your Celebrity Cruise
I always say cruising is such good value, and one way to show this is the sheer variety of dining options available on board. There’s a huge amount included in your cruise fare. Let’s take a look at what’s typically included on Celebrity Cruises.
When choosing to dine the decision is yours how you want to play it. You can typically opt for two dining times in the main restaurants found on board, or if you want to be more flexible you can consider Select Dining, which means you can go when you choose (you can also book a timeslot so as to not wait as it can get busy at some peak times).
Café al Bacio and Gelateria
This Café can be found at the heart of every Celebrity ship and features a variety of coffees, pastries and other fare. It also features a gelateria.
Oceanview Café
This restaurant is the self-service area found on board. Open most hours of the day, it features something for everyone with an international-inspired (huge) range of options, from breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch and dinner.
Mast Grill
Found close to the main pool on board Celebrity ships, this grill features a range of burgers, hot dogs and other grilled fare.
Aquaspa Café
The Aquaspa Café features a variety of healthy options, juices and smoothies.
Eden Café
Found within Eden, this café is the perfect spot for some complimentary breakfast and lunch.
Main Restaurant
Like with most cruise ships, Celebrity ships feature a main dining room. This expansive space featured a globally-inspired range of dishes that changes every day giving you a variety of classic and contemporary choices.
Cosmopolitan / Cyprus / Normandie / Tuscan
Found on Celebrity Apex and Celebrity Edge. Instead of one main dining, there are actually four each focussing on a distinct theme and cuisine. Cosmopolitan is an evolution of the main dining room found on the rest of the fleet. Tuscan pays homage to the Tuscan Grill found on other Celebrity ships (see below) and serves southern Italian fare. Then there’s Normandie, with its contemporary modern French cuisine, an evolution of Murano. For me the most fascinating part of Normandie is the art, as it was taken from the famous Normandie Transatlantic Liner. Finally, the relative newcomer is Cyprus, serving fresh Mediterranean cuisine.
Room Service
This is available 24-hours a day whether you want an extra blanket or a midnight snack. On all sailings, a late-night room fee of $4.95 is added to all orders received between 11pm and 6am. Room service outside the hours of 11pm and 6am is complimentary.
Blu
Exclusive to AquaClass guests, Blu was a first for the cruise industry and features delicious classics, just prepared in a simpler and healthy way.
Luminae
Excusive for suite guests of The Retreat, this restaurant features a globally-inspired and cutting-edge menu which is not available anywhere else on board.
Speciality Dining
On top of what’s included in your cruise, you can opt to pay for a number of speciality dining experiences on board. Personally, I always choose a couple or so when cruising as I love to embrace the variety of cuisine on board.
What I tend to do is pay for a Dining Package on board. This is something you can pay for up front before the cruise or when you get on board and gives you access to the speciality restaurants for X number of nights. Depending on the length of the cruise the packages can cover most of your cruise. I find this to be a much more cost-effective way of experiencing the various dining options on board. They typically start at $109.00 for the 3-night package and go up from there.
So, let’s take a look at the speciality dining found on board.
Edge Class
The Edge class is the newest in the Celebrity fleet and as such has number of unique offerings you cannot find on the other ships. And from my experience on board, they are not to be missed. You can read all about my time on board Celebrity Apex and Edge, as well as a full ship tour, here.
Eden Restaurant
Starting this list off with a bang is Eden. The flagship restaurant this new class of ship, the Eden Restaurant is situated at the aft of the ship overlooking the wake, this is a prime spot to enjoy a sumptuous dinner. Expect an experiential and theatrical meal set within the ambience of Eden and utilising the finest and freshest ingredients.
Finecut Steakhouse
Situated overlooking the Grand Plaza on Edge and Apex, as well as featuring some al fresco space that looks out over the ocean, this is a sophisticated steak and seafood restaurant. The description doesn’t do this justice with a vast array of stakes on offer, seafood and other delicious fare such as lamb chops and slow roasted chicken.
Raw on 5
Across the way from Finecut Steakhouse, and also overlooking the Grand Plaza, is Raw on 5. This new concept puts seafood at the heart of its menu, including sushi. In the evening the Magic Carpet docks with Deck 5 and becomes an extension of Raw on 5, where you can enjoy a selection of tempting Raw on 5 favourites.
Rooftop Garden Grill
The Rooftop Garden on Celebrity Edge® is a lively, spacious environment at the top of the ship that’s perfect for slowing down, wandering, and daydreaming – and satisfying your cravings for mouth-watering backyard BBQ.
Le Grand Bistro
Inspired by classic French bistros, Le Grand Bistro bubbles with the mouth-watering sights, scents, and sounds of a bustling boulangerie-patisserie. Designed to transport you to a bistro in the heart of Paris, Le Grand Bistro creates a richly authentic dining experience.
Le Petit Chef
Le Petit Chef is an immersive, mind-blowing fusion of entertainment and dining like nothing you’ve experienced before. Here, your tabletop literally comes to life as Le Petit Chef, an animated character, appears beside your plate and prepares each course right int from of you, before you are served the actual dish. This is featured both at Le Grand Bistro on the Edge Class but also in Qsine on board the Solstice and Millennium classes below. Not only is the food really good, but it’s so much fun.
Dining on the Edge
Finally, there is Dining on the Edge. This special experience turns the magic carpet into an al fresco restaurant on deck 16. The menu varies depending on the destination.
Millennium and Solstice Class
Broadly speaking, these are the speciality restaurants on board these classes of ships.
Lawn Club Grill (Silhouette and Refection only)
Found at the lawn club on board Celebrity Reflection and Silhouette, this is an interactive grill where you work with one of the chefs to cook pizzas and a variety of BBQ fare.
Murano
One of my favourite Celebrity restaurants at sea, Murano is a classic French restaurant including fresh lobster prepared tableside, gorgeous chateaubriand, artisanal cheeseboards, and world-class service. Not to be missed.
The Porch (Silhouette and Refection only)
A casual restaurant on Celebrity Reflection and Silhouette that features fresh-from-the-ocean fare, homemade sangria and a raw bar.
Sushi on 5
As the name suggests, this is a luxurious sushi restaurant featuring a modern take on traditional Japanese cuisine.
Tuscan Grille
The Italian steakhouse found on Celebrity is one of the best at sea. Expect fresh, handmade pasta, artisanal salami, fish, butcher cut meats, and stunning dry aged steaks. It also features a regional Italian wine menu, as well as cocktails and beers.
Want to know more at a glance?
Take a look here at the quick reference guide of dining options found on board featuring costs and where to find them.
For more information about Celebrity Cruises click here.
So, what’s your favourite restaurant on board Celebrity Cruises? Let me know in the comments and on social media.