Caribbean Cruise - A Week Aboard the Celebrity Summit

We just got back from a week long cruise around the southern Caribbean (St. Martin, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba). I thought I would share some thoughts about the food, primarily on board the Celebrity Summit.

The Summit, when fully loaded, carries about 2200 passengers and about 900 crew members. Obviously feeding this many people for a week presents a challenge of pretty significant proportions. Overall I would give the food on board the ship a solid B. Breakfast and lunch were usually pretty good, dinner in the main dining room was mediocre banquet food, and dinner in the ship's "fancy" restaurant was actually quite good.

Breakfast and lunch were served buffet style each day. At breakfast the usual suspects (scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, oatmeal, cereal, pastry, etc) were available each day. Omelettes and waffles were made to order each day. Also at the omelette station they would make you fried eggs to your specified level of doneness (I opted for this each day over the chafing dish scrambled eggs). Smoked salmon (which was very good) was available each day along with some other smoked fish (peppered mackerel was a highlight) and some cured meats.

Lunch was also served buffet style. I usually stuck to either a sandwich (all bread is baked on board the ship and is served within an hour of coming out of the oven, so even with the so-so meats for the sandwiches this was usually a solid option) or something from the "Asian Corner". Highlights from the Asian Corner included a surprisingly tasty chicken biryani, Vietnamese pork meatballs, and shrimp dumplings. They also served Thai fried chicken one day. It was very different from any version of the dish I've had, but tasty nonetheless.

Dinner was a mixed bag. We ate in the main dining room on six out of the seven nights we were on board. Appetizers were usually straightforward and solid (duck pate, more smoked salmon, shrimp cocktail, random seafood in puff pastry, etc.). Soups were generally good (all are made from scratch on board). The main courses were a minefield to be navigated each night. Whatever the fish option was, it was usually terrible. The first night they served hake. I didn't order it, but I took a bite of someone else's and it was completely inedible. Same with cod ordered a few nights later. Salmon was available each night, and generally tasted like it had just been thawed and cooked. On the other hand, anything with shrimp or scallops was usually tasty. Meats were also a safe bet, with the highlight being a venison dish served with lingonberry sauce on Christmas night. Desserts all seemed like stuff you would learn in a classical pastry class in cooking school. Nothing terribly inventive, but everything was usually well executed. The ice cream is all made on board so we were always sure to order some (blueberry and peanut butter were two standouts). We also made sure our waiter brought us a plate of warm cookies with dessert each night. Sometimes these were the highlights of the meal.

One night we ate in the ship's "specialty" restaurant, the Normandie. You got a choice of a six course tasting menu or a four course a la carte. I wasn't with a tasting menu kind of crowd so we went a la carte. For my appetizer I had seared foie gras, which was just a tad overcooked but still pretty good. My main course was scallop and lobster served over pasta, which was an excellent dish. The third course was a selection of French cheese. You got to pick three from a cart that probably had 9 or 10 types of cheese. I asked for the 3 stinkiest on the cart and was happily obliged. One was an Eppoisses, I can't remember the other 2 but they were all very good. Dessert was chocolate souffle and a glass of 10 year old tawny port. I went to bed a happy man.

We managed to get away from the ship for 2 meals, lunches in St. Martin and Dominica. In St. Martin we ate at a place in the marina in Marigot. I think it was called Le Belle Epoque. I would give it a solid fine, but sitting and eating along the water in St. Martin it didn't really need to be any better than that to make me happy. In Dominica we ate at a little creole place a couple blocks from the port. I can't remember the name but I had roasted suckling pig that was excellent.

Everything else about the Summit was extremely impressive. The facilities were gorgeous and the crew was friendly and helpful. There was a solid choice of activities on board (including two wine tastings that were really well run) and a wide range of excursions offered at each port. I would definitely recommend the Summit, just keep your expectations for the food in check.

The secret on Celebrity ships is the SPA cuisine, if they have it (the bigger ships do, not sure if Summit is one of thm). Nearly all of the spa items in the dining room are done by hand with very fresh veggies, etc, and they have very lovely lunch items plated in the spa/thalassotherapy area.

leek wrote:The secret on Celebrity ships is the SPA cuisine, if they have it (the bigger ships do, not sure if Summit is one of thm). Nearly all of the spa items in the dining room are done by hand with very fresh veggies, etc, and they have very lovely lunch items plated in the spa/thalassotherapy area.

They did have food in the spa. We had breakfast there one morning and it was quite nice. I walked through to check out the lunch one day and, while it looked pretty, the food they had out didn't really appeal to me (lots of "meat-like" substances).

Wow, I didn't notice any "meat like substances" just fresh veggies and salads with grains and such.