What the Food is REALLY Like on a Celebrity Cruise Ship

[@Explorcation]

It has been over 4 years since we have sailed on Celebrity! Thanks for coming along with us on our food adventure to find out what this luxury cruise line is like in 2024. Have you cruised on Celebrity in the past, what did you think of their overall dining experience?

[@jasonlangdon709]

Excellent content! Thanks!

[@Explorcation]

Much appreciated! Thanks so much for watching :)

[@indygosteve4713]

I’m going on my first Celebrity cruise next week. I was wondering about the food and was happy to find your food focused video. It was nice to see this one topic covered in depth. Now I’m hungry! 😊

[@Explorcation]

We're so glad that our video is what you were looking for, and we hope you have a great cruise next week!

[@jonevans2275]

Really enjoyed your video. My wife and I are taking our first cruise ever on this ship in November. I thought you did a nice job of showing what’s included and what’s not included. Thank you again.

[@Explorcation]

Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging feedback, Jon!

[@mereniecrosby7120]

I absolutely love that there is a bar right in the buffet area and the staff will get your drinks for you!

[@Explorcation]

Yeah, it's definitely a nice perk!

[@evitasdad]

I loved your reviews, and that you each had different tastes and opinions. I am on Celebrity Edge in February, you have got me excited!! Thank you both, from New Zealand

[@Explorcation]

Thanks so much for the kind comment and for watching and supporting our channel! We hope you have an amazing time on the Edge! February will be here before you know it!

[@patrickbeach3070]

Looking forward to rhis cruise in 3 weeks! We've been on Disney twice and MSC once...celebrity is out next test cruise. Glad to see other people do the same thing. BTW...best info for this ship so far between this review and the full ship tour. Appreciate yall!

[@Explorcation]

Thank you so much for watching our videos and taking the time to comment, Patrick! We really appreciate the support, and we hope you have an awesome cruise in 3 weeks!

[@LucasWorldTravel]

It's good to see the more healthly options cruise ships offer. Thanks for sharing them. I really like seeing all of food ratings. You guys really make us want to take our first cruise.

[@Explorcation]

We love that Celebrity does offer quite a few healthier options. They even had sections on their buffet for vegan options and gluten free options. We don't always see that on cruises. When you do book your first cruise we will be very excited to hear about your experience!

[@littleeggpainter]

Enjoyed this video ❤

[@Explorcation]

Happy to hear it! Thanks so much for watching.

[@summerwinter4]

Great food review! Thank you for sharing!

[@Explorcation]

Our pleasure. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@destinationdero]

Great cruise review. hope you have a nice weekend.

[@Explorcation]

Thanks so much, we hope you enjoyed your weekend too :)

[@Brendt-Bsatsea]

Im just happy that you didnt come out saying "OMG, stay away from the buffet on embarkation day", Its my favorite place to go as soon as I get on the ship.

[@Explorcation]

Jamie would never say such a thing. We almost never eat breakfast before a cruise so we are normally at the buffet within 10 minutes of boarding the ship😂

[@Brendt-Bsatsea]

@@Explorcation Now thats what Im talking about. Wife and I have 4 cruises locked in for 2025, Im currently keeping the weight down so I can feast. 1st 2 cruises are in January on Sky Princess 12-19th then Oasis 19-25th. Hope we run into you some day.

[@JillianaMariah]

I'm a huge keylime fan. The best is found in Florida. Thanks for the great video again! ❤

[@Explorcation]

No doubt about that!!! Thanks for always taking the time to comment. We always love hearing from you!

[@MrTmiket0007]

Thanks so much for sharing another wonderful video like always 🤗

[@Explorcation]

Thanks for watching 😊

[@TheAverageTourist]

Very comprehensive!! We haven't done a Celebroty cruise yet, but looking at this video I think we would be fine with the food. Lots of great options from what I can see. It also helps that we aren't picky eaters 😂

[@Explorcation]

We will be excited to see your experience when you do try Celebrity 😀the cruise line is a different vibe compared to Carnival/Norwegian/Royal. We also aren't picky eaters and love trying new kinds of food so this experience was great for us.

[@emmabourke6565]

Really enjoyed this vlog. We love Celebrity and were on the reflection 2 yrs ago. Its so interesting to see your dining option time. We always do the earlier dining, as we werent sure how the evening would work out if we were waiting for dinner but you made it work really well. Its definitely an option we'll look at going forward

[@Explorcation]

Generally speaking we would normally opt for the earlier dining time too, but now that we are often filming all day it works better with our schedule to not eat until later when it's dark. We really don't mind it at all, although we do often find it hard to want to do anything but go straight to be afterwards!

[@MB-uy5kh]

We have been sailing on Celebrity since 1992, on the MV Horizon, before Celebrity was part of Royal Caribbean. Since then we have been on 18 Celebrity cruises on almost all the ships in the fleet. The latest Celebrity cruise was last month on Millennium - Japan / Korea. We have next cruise on Oceania in April - Bali to Taipei, then our next Celebrity cruise is on Ascent in September - Mediterranean. We have not sailed on MSC or Carnival, so it’s interesting to hear your food reviews. We have been cruising since 1982 - the Celebrity Japan cruise was #142. We have sailed on twelve different cruise lines, and will add two more next year, as we are trying out Viking Ocean and Virgin for the first time. My opinion only, the food quality on Celebrity is not what it used to before the Covid shutdown. Prior to our Millennium cruise, we had not sailed on Celebrity since 2018 on Edge.

[@Explorcation]

Wow you sure do have some amazing cruise experiences, with many more to come! We can only dream that someday we get up to 142 and get to see the entire world via cruise as you surely have by now! Thanks so much for watching our channel and taking the time to share your experiences!

[@jeffreyobryan6406]

Minute steaks at the Oceanview Cafe with chimichurri sauce or bernaise sauce at lunch are incredible! Sailed on Reflection last year April and November. Some things are really good and some just ok. Reflection is definitely in need of a solid overhaul and refurbishment! Staterooms and furniture show their age with wear and tear! Overall there’s definite pros and cons! Hope you enjoyed your cruise!

[@Explorcation]

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences on the Reflection, Jeffrey. We agree that parts of the ship are showing there age a bit, but if it means continuing to be able to sail with Celebrity for barely over $100 per night, we're not complaining!

[@mereniecrosby7120]

I always go with the Indian in the buffet! Celebrity cooks do a great job! Many of the cooks are Indian and know what they're doing! It's fantastic from ship to ship!

[@Explorcation]

We couldn't agree more. The Indian food we had on this ship was so good! We figured that some of the cooks had to be Indian for it to be as good as it was!

[@michaelpeddy7738]

Going on our first cruise ever on the reflection next week and I’m so excited!

[@Explorcation]

You should be, Michael! It's a great ship. We hope you love it.

[@johnm.9405]

Great video ,We travel exclusively with Celebrity 25 cruises 9 more booked. We find the food to be very good also and I get the escargot every nite.

[@Explorcation]

Wow! We've never had more than 2 cruises booked at once, and couldn't imagine having 9. Celebrity really is such a great cruise line and we do understand why you cruise with them exclusively. Just thinking about that escargot makes me want to get back on a Celebrity cruise. Thanks for watching.

[@Kparc1212]

Where sailing in November on the same itinerary you guys went on. Thanks for a great the food reviews.

[@Explorcation]

Wohoo! We hope you enjoy your cruise just as much as we enjoyed ours. Thanks for watching!

[@stevenmichael3426]

Looks delicious!

[@Explorcation]

There was too much delicious food on this cruise 😃thanks for watching!

[@ScottLara]

Great video!

[@Explorcation]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks so much for watching!

[@jeffreytalbot3431]

Started cruising since early 90’s, Royal was our first cruise and listen to this, we always had head waiter checking on us, our waiter, assistant waiter and two busboys. In mid 90’s tried Celebrity and had better service!!!! Lately there is NO presentation of food, slap it on plate and there you go. Sad really, they want you out in an hour. Back in the day Captain’s dinner was 2.5 hour affair. Not today 😂. Celebrity is still very nice and happy you two enjoyed it! ✌️

[@Explorcation]

Wow, yeah the Captain's parties we've been to lately are an hour tops, but normally much shorter. It's always interesting to hear how cruising has changed over the years. Thanks for taking the time to share!

[@marcleblanc5970]

Great review! We were on the Silhouette in November and we did Retreat Class / all inclusive, and overall the food was awesome overall. As everyone knows, food is very subjective, and I've discovered, the longer I've been married, the more true that has become! We're going on the Carnival Paradise in December for a short cruise in December and your review on that was extremely helpful. It will be our first time with an inside cabin! What a difference that will be!

[@Explorcation]

Oh my, going from Celebrity Retreat to a Carnival inside cabin will be quite the change! As long as you go into it with the right mindset it should be a fun time.

[@bryantsteury8910]

Love the video! I heard awhile back, don’t remember from who, cruises are like toilet paper. Carnival is the one ply. If you NEED to you can. But otherwise, love yourself and pay more for the higher tier places.

[@Explorcation]

While we've never heard this toilet paper analogy, we do see why some would equate Carnival to the lowest level. That being said, they do a few things extremely well, including burgers, tacos, and karaoke!

[@chunited]

Awesome video! How would you compare the food variety on Celebrity compared to Royal Caribbean? I was quite disappointed in the food choices on a recent Royal cruise so am looking to branch out

[@Explorcation]

It really depends on what ship you are sailing on. The newer Royal Caribbean ships are enormous and therefore will likely have the best variety of food, but the quality of the food on Celebrity, both at the buffets and in the main dining rooms is generally known to be a step up from Royal. Thanks so much for watching.

[@larrymefford737]

I’ve cruised on several different cruise lines including Celebrity. Celebrity has the best buffet of any cruise line we’ve been on. What we enjoy is the Indian station. The food is of high quality. Some of the items are freshly grilled while you wait. The Italian station pasta was made fresh as well. It’s interesting about your comments on the prime rib. The last Carnival cruise we were on the prime rib was terrible. I was unable to chew the beef enough to enable swallowing. We find the main dining rooms on Celebrity to be average but the Blu dining room is outstanding. It is worth the extra cost for the Blu dining room.

[@Explorcation]

We couldn't agree more on the Indian station, Larry. We both agreed that the our last Celebrity Reflection cruise had the best Indian food we've ever eaten on a cruise ship. It was fantastic! Yeah that is very interesting to hear about your Carnival prime rib experience. We were quite surprised by how good it was on our cruise, but it sounds like the quality may be inconsistent. We've been hearing quite a few good things about the Blu dining room, and we're really hoping that we get a chance to dine there on one of our future Celebrity cruises.

[@rhondalyn100]

As a foodie, I very much enjoyed this one. 🙂My first cruise was this past May on Virgin and I loved it so much I booked three more Virgin cruises for next year. I hope when y'all get to Virgin you will enjoy the food as much as you did on Celebrity. It was my reason (along with being an adult only cruise and offering top shelf cocktails) for booking more with Virgin. I'm thinking I might like to do this Celebrity ship, though, so I might be able to squeeze it in somewhere. Great video, guys! 🙂

[@Explorcation]

Oh wow we knew you loved your Virgin cruise but I didn't realize you loved it that much 😂 I don't think we've ever had three cruises booked at one time! While we have yet to sail Virgin (we will someday) and can't compare it to Celebrity, we would recommend Celebrity over any of the other cruise lines we've sailed on to a foodie... with the exception of the MSC Yacht Club.

[@eleniebiebe123]

Great video! For main dinner are they strict with dress code? Do you know if men able to wear shorts during dinner?

[@Explorcation]

Thanks so much! No shorts at dinner unfortunately. You can find a good description of the evening dining dress code on the Celebrity website in the FAQ's.

[@PrimeTimeTravelers]

Hoping to take a few different cruises over the next few years. We really enjoyed your reviews of the food. Always good to get an honest review to help know what to expect. The buffets are usually not that good on most cruises. Safe travels you two! Keep in touch! We have an Amtrak ride into New York City coming Tuesday night on our channel! Check it out if you can!

[@Explorcation]

It's always exciting to have a few cruises on the books. We don't have any at the moment, but hopefully that will be changing within the next week or two!

[@Steven-er2bt]

Nice video! If you get a chance, you should try Aquaclass and Blu Restaurant and some Solstice Class Specialty Restaurants!

[@Explorcation]

Thanks, Steven. We would love to do both of those things, and hopefully we'll get a chance to do so sooner than later!

[@ellenw1881]

Do they let you take the food out of the restaurant, like the complimentary cafe? I just wonder if you can leave with some pastries to bring back to your room or bring to the coffee shop or something like that. Thanks! Going in January

[@Explorcation]

Yes, you can definitely take pastries, cakes, cookies etc... from the cafe (or from the buffet) back to your room.

[@roburb73]

The Luminae on the Edge was exceptional compared to Luminae on the Eclipse which was great. When we compare the food on Celebrity vs RCL vs NCL - we choose Celebrity 10x over.

[@Explorcation]

Thanks for sharing your experience. We agree that Celebrity food quality is very hard to beat. The only comparable experiences we've had have been in the MSC Yacht Club and on Virgin.

[@genehinders9639]

I still don't see us going on s cruise yet but you two do a great job pointing out the good and bad...I made a looong comment about Key West on your FB page so I won't repeat myself. What cruise has your favorite foods?

[@Explorcation]

Hey you might get there eventually :) until then we appreciate you watching. We did see your Key West comment and loved all of your recommendations, thanks so much for taking the time to share them. As far as the overall complimentary food experience, Celebrity is our favorite (we have yet to try Princess and Virgin). But in our opinion, MSC still has the best pizza and Carnival has the best burgers!

[@genehinders9639]

@@Explorcation being a big fan of Guy Fieri ya know we'd be on that!

[@tiatowery6409]

I noticed you ordered 3 entrées.They allow an extra even with 2 people? If so do all cruise lines ?❤

[@Explorcation]

Yes, we did order three one night. At least on this cruise it was permitted with no extra charge. Some other Cruise lines will charge a small fee for a second entree, what as far as we know Celebrity has yet to do so on any of its cruises.

[@karlis8344]

Going on this same cruise next year! My partner and I are debating getting the premium package, but that would be around $400 each. Around how much did you spend on drinks the whole trip (alcoholic and nonalcoholic)?

[@Explorcation]

We only averaged 1-2 drinks each per day on our 4-day cruise, so we probably spent around $75 per person on drinks over the whole cruise.

[@floridacycling4842]

Loved the video. We are big fans of Celebrity and sailed the Reflection last summer in the Med from Barcelona to Civitavecchia, a lovely cruise. That said, I think it is more correct to characterize Celebrity as a Premium line, not Luxury line. Oceania, Silverseas and maybe Azamara are all Luxury lines and priced accordingly.

[@Explorcation]

We're so glad you enjoyed the video and that you also had a great experience sailing on the Reflection. That itinerary sounds amazing, and we hope to do it ourselves someday. And perhaps we'll get a chance to experience a true luxury cruise on Oceania and Silverseas too!

[@zeropressureacoustic7255]

Great video. Pool at 4:56 looks really crowded 😮

[@Explorcation]

Thanks so much for watching :) yea if I remember correctly that was the pool for sail away. Thankfully it wasn't that busy all of the time!

[@Right_beside_U]

Some of those food portions are too big for me. Are you allowed to take leftovers back to your room? Do they have take away trays/cartons?

[@Explorcation]

I'm not aware of them having takeaway containers at dinner, but people do often grab plates of food off the buffet and take them back to there room. You can also grab snacks from the coffee shop and take them to your room. You can always ask for a smaller portion at dinner as well, although sometimes they actually bring you extra food without you even asking.

[@maximous9993]

I wish you described the food with more detail. To me you just say what anyone can see and give it a rating. And comparisons with other ships are probably useful for a small number of your followers.

[@Explorcation]

We appreciate the feedback. Thanks for watching.

[@MB-uy5kh]

We haven’t cruised on Carnival or MSC yet, and not on the list for the time being. Food quality comparison to those lines are interesting, but not useful for me.

[@wendykornfein3337]

Is the pool warm enough?

[@Explorcation]

We thought so!

[@mnguymnwater6348]

How strong is the regular coffee? I have purchased drink packages but really only need regular coffee if it’s not weak ?

[@mnguymnwater6348]

Nice, saw your review if the coffee, thanks for the review!

[@Explorcation]

Our pleasure!

[@Cayla2015]

Its interesting looking at the food offerings on Celebrity, this seems almost indistinguishable from Royal Caribbean. You'd think that on a premium line like Celebrity that the options and quality would be a step up from their standard cruise line like Royal.

[@missdizziest]

So, what music/artist was playing that you really enjoyed at the buffet?

[@Explorcation]

They were playing Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness 🎵😀very unexpected to hear on a cruise. Thanks for asking and for watching!

[@nicholashall4625]

We sailed in Aqua Class on Reflection last year. The food in Blue was okay but the buffet food was dreadful. I would not say Reflection is a luxury ship

[@Explorcation]

We are curious what your other cruise experiences are for the Reflection buffet food to be dreadful in comparison. Compared to most major cruise line buffets we found the Reflection's food to be great, but I'm sure it's not great when compared to some much more expensive cruises.

[@MaynardGKrebs-tt1dd]

Not many people can stay skinny eating like you guys do.

[@Explorcation]

We definitely eat much less (and much healthier) when we're not filming... for that reason, I guess it's good that only around 20% of days are our filming days!

[@paving58]

Looks like you waste lots of food

[@Explorcation]

How do you figure?

[@aretheybiting2251]

Come on guys ...be trendsetters. Find a solution for NOT holding the mini-microphones ...sheesh... looks amateurish. May clipped them on to some article of clothing, or around your neck ...or something creative/stylish/funny. Be first!!

[@Explorcation]

We know holding the mini-mics isnt ideal, but it does allow us to speak in areas with extremely loud music/background noise/wind. Maybe we can come up with some creative alternatives. Thanks for watching!

[@Craig-wr3bm]

Just look at these two individuals that don’t have much of a cruise industry experience background. There choices of Cruise Lines hasn’t really given them enough experience of a truly wide selection of different classes of cruise grades. I’ve watched several of there other cruise companies reviews & hopefully they have real paying jobs in the real world.😢

[@Explorcation]

Thank you so much for watching several of our videos. It's people like you that help us to grow our channel and allow us to both work on it full time and not have to have other "real paying jobs in the real world". Perhaps as the channel continues to grow and generate more income we'll be able to experience "a truly wide selection of different classes of cruise grades". But for now, we'll continue to have a blast cruising on our budget friendly ships.

[@crooksycollins4349]

​@Craig-wr3bm I just looked at them, and I appreciate "their" opinions. What you said is so pointless! Really, what kind of opinion is that? " It's a shame they go on budget cruises!" ""Their" kind will never know the taste of lobster on this 1 month cruise...Meh!!" You are so negative and the videos are informative.

[@JimFromMarietta]

@@Craig-wr3bm I was thinking exactly the same thing. I don’t think they have much experience with the cruise industry, or videos. Why are they holding their lav mics in their hands? And anyone that would go to the buffet after first boarding really doesn’t have that much experience.

[@lindasobin7007]

Disregard all negative comments!! Holy cow! People can be so mean and RUDE. Like Thumper, " if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

[@lindasobin7007]

Who hurt you?

[@DEPUTYGETSOME]

Celebrity is not a luxury cruise line. They are a premium cruise line in the same category as princess, holland America, and Virgin. Luxury cruise lines are lines like Oceania, silver sea, regent seven seas, or azamara.

[@Explorcation]

Thanks for this info and for watching our video. Much appreciated!