Dining is a real event aboard Celebrity’s ships. Photo courtesy of Celebrity Cruises
Dining-wise, Celebrity offers a stylish experience, with modern touches spicing up menus that, on the whole, are on par with other mainstream lines like Royal Caribbean and Holland America. Dining service is excellent, and the line’s main dining rooms are uniformly stunning across the fleet. Guests can opt to either dine traditionally — at a fixed time, with the same companions every night — or choose “Celebrity Select Dining,” which lets you vary your dining time day by day.
In terms of specialty dining, the newer Solstice-class ships win the prize, supplementing their main restaurants and buffet with four specialty options each: the high-end Tuscan Grille for steaks and pastas; the European-themed Murano, featuring table-side cooking, carving, and flambГ©; Blu, a spa-cuisine option for guests occupying the ships’ AquaClass staterooms; and either an Asian restaurant or Qsine, which serves an eclectic international menu with super-creative presentations.
Celebrity’s older Millennium-class ships aren’t far behind on the specialty dining front. From the beginning, each has offered a specialty option intended to recreate a dining experience from the golden age of transatlantic passenger liners, with period decor, music, and menus. Recently, Celebrity has also begun retrofitting these ships with some of the best features of their newer Solstice-class fleetmates, so each of them now has two or three specialty options apiece, or will soon.
Along with style, Celebrity is known for its service, which rarely disappoints. In the restaurants, waiters and sommeliers are poised and professional, while cabin stewards are both friendly and precise. If you book a suite, you also get the services of a tuxedo-clad butler, who’ll bring you afternoon tea, shine your shoes, and otherwise make sure you don’t have to lift a finger.