By Hank Schrader, USMA ’71, Europe Destination and River Cruise Expert
Food on cruise ships has always been a highlight of a cruise vacation. Celebrity Cruise lines has some great eating options. There are six Specialty Dining Venues on Solstice class ships available to all guests for a nominal fee. Here are some of our experiences and information on the great dining opportunities on our Celebrity Ocean cruises. We have more pictures on our Pinterest site SEE MORE
Two of your choices are the Bistro on Five and the Porch, which serve breakfast and lunch type menus. The Bistro at Five is an upscale yet casual atmosphere with a menu that features crepes, sandwiches (especially Paninis) soups and salads. This may be the best keep secret on the ship–at lunch you will often see off duty ship officers eating here–it’s that good!
The Porch is an outdoor version of this concept on the upper deck–al fresco dining. I enjoyed some Belgium waffles and Anne had a breakfast Panini–what a way to start the day!
Murano is named for the Venetian island where master glassblowers created works of arts of works but on the Solstice class ships, they create delectable, elegant food. It is fine dining at its best. We had the chateaubriand for two–a really savory meal and a good lobster dish on another cruise.
The Tuscan Grill is a steakhouse with an Italian flair. It features rustic and hearty dishes with an awesome wine list. We have eaten 3 times on two different ships-it is excellent. We have had steaks, shellfish, pasta and deserts to die for–when you see some of the foods in our pictures it will make you want to go right now! Pair your meal with a good Super Tuscan (one of my all-time favorite wines) and it makes a memorable experience.
The Lawn Club Grill is an outdoor grill with a killer menu-you make your own pizza, then you grill a steak or seafood-or you can have the grill masters do it for you. What could be better-a real lawn (on a ship), grilled food and great people? You can cook yourself at the grill or just sit back and let them cook for you–unique and great food–they even have lobster mac as a side dish–no kidding.
The most unique dining venue is Qsine–you start out ordering from an I Pad menu and the food is served in the most unique presentation you will ever see! The portions are served in boxes, mini grills or silver bullets-it’s wild! The food matches the presentation. Luckily the waiters will help you decide because there are so many choices.
There is one other specialty restaurant, called “Blu“ but it is only available to Aqua Class guests. It is a more healthy approach to dining.
Food is an art at Celebrity and everyone is proud to make the best possible meals for your pleasure. We have sailed on 3 ships for close to a month’s worth of time and can tell you the food alone makes the journey a great experience.
While the food is great, it would not be complete without wine to enhance the experience, in our opinion. The wine choices are simply amazing. There is an extensive wine list and cool wine cellar, very knowledgeable certified sommeliers, Cellar Masters, the dedicated wine bar which allows you to sample an excellent variety of wines, and a wine education program.
We hope these description temp you to want to go on a Celebrity Cruise—we are here to help you:
Savor life . . . make memories . . . visit Dream Destinations . . . Your journey begins here!
Dream Destinations' Blog 