For traveling foodies, dining at restaurants over the course of a vacation is practically the best part of the vacation. Experiencing the local food, fine dining experiences, sampling items you could never get at home โ it makes for some great travel memories.
For that reason, some may hesitate to take a cruise; isnโt cruise ship dining just bland buffets and stuffy sit-down dinners, where the food is barely better than lackluster catering cuisine?
No, no, no and no. Cruise ships have upped their games in recent years and most now offer amazing, award-winning dining experiences. One cruise line thatโs shown this exceptionally well is Celebrity Cruises, which offers an array of foodie-approved restaurants and bars that are sure to make your mouth water.
Not sure where to get started when making your dining reservations for an upcoming Celebrity Cruises cruise? Here are the lineโs must-try restaurants.
In This Article:
1. Blu Restaurant
Blu Restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but thereโs a catch. This restaurant is only open to AquaClass cruisers and you can view the menu here.
However, if youโre one of the lucky few to book a cabin within this category, which comes with tons of spa-related amenities, youโll definitely want to make tracks to Blu at some point during your cruise.
The restaurant feels a little upscale, and the menu items are more or less on the healthy side, which aligns with the wellness amenities that AquaClass cruisers are looking for. Breakfast options include continental offerings, bakery items and an omelet station, as well fresh juices and smoothies.
For dinner, Bluโs signature entrรฉes include items like a Dijon-glazed salmon salad, roasted chicken breast and pan-seared filet mignon. A portion of the menu is dedicated to โclean cuisineโ with additional entrรฉe options like orecchiette pasta and pan-seared red snapper.
What Ships Have the Blu Restaurant?
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Eclipse
- Celebrity Equinox
- Celebrity Reflection
- Celebrity Silhouette
- Celebrity Solstice
- Celebrity Constellation
- Celebrity Infinity
- Celebrity Millennium
- Celebrity Summit
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Ascent
2. Fine Cut Steakhouse
Fine Cut Steakhouse is featured on all of Celebrity Cruisesโ Edge-class ships. While the steakhouseโs focus is on USDA Prime steaks, it offers plenty more to love, for a high-end, classic steakhouse experience.
Think shrimp cocktails and Caesar salads for your app; steak just about any way you like and served with an array of specialty toppings; and classic steakhouse sides like creamed spinach and loaded baked potatoes.
Donโt worry, though. If someone in your party isnโt quite the carnivore, you can still enjoy a meal here, thanks to a more expansive menu that offers other seafood options, salads and pasta. Take a look at the Steakhouse’s menu here.
What Ships Have the Fine Cut Steakhouse?
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Ascent
3. Tuscan Grille
Just like most cruise ships offer some sort of steakhouse-style restaurant, so do most cruise ships offer an Italian restaurant. Celebrity Cruisesโ version of this is Tuscan Grille, where authentic Italian eats are served for both lunch and dinner, and the wine menu has received nods from the likes of Wine Spectator.
The ingredients-focused menu utilizes artisanal meats and fresh, homemade pastas (made right on the ship!), and the drinks menu highlights all things Italian, with Italian wines, cocktails and beers.
While the menu is limited (which is the case in many cruise ship restaurants), youโll still enjoy succulent options like the house meatballs, pizzas and all your favorite pastas. You can view the menu here.
What Ships Have the Tuscan Grille?
- Celebrity Eclipse
- Celebrity Equinox
- Celebrity Silhouette
- Celebrity Solstice
- Celebrity Reflection
- Celebrity Constellation
- Celebrity Millennium
- Celebrity Summit
- Celebrity Infinity
4. Murano
Murano has gained attention not just among the various Celebrity Cruises restaurants you could dine at, but across the cruising industry as a whole.
The French-inspired eatery offers caviar, a cheese course โ as well as cheese and wine pairings, with an impressive wine list โ and tasting menus designed to stimulate your senses.
If youโre not keen on tasting menus, an a la carte menu is also available, and some menu items are even prepared tableside, such as the Murano lobster, which features a cognac-flambeed lobster tail. Let’s take a look at the menu here.
What Ships Have Murano?
- Celebrity Eclipse
- Celebrity Equinox
- Celebrity Silhouette
- Celebrity Solstice
- Celebrity Reflection
5. The Porch
A seafood-focused eatery with a light and airy beach feel, The Porch is located near The Lawn Club on Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity Reflection. The casual restaurant is counter-service, so place your order, then grab a seat and enjoy the venueโs ocean views.
The highlight on the small menu is the restaurantโs Seafood Tower, which contains shrimp, lobster tail, scallops, mussels and a seafood salad, but other tempting options include the Hamachi crudo and classic lobster roll.
For those who donโt really prefer seafood, the menu does offer a few vegetarian options, as well as a turkey and ham wrap. You can view The Porch menu here.
What Ships Have The Porch?
- Celebrity Silhouette
- Celebrity Reflection
6. Le Voyage
Featured on Celebrity Cruisesโ newest ships, Celebrity Beyond and Celebrity Ascent, Le Voyage comes courtesy of Chef Daniel Boulud. The restaurant is the chefโs first signature restaurant on a cruise ship, and the chef is Celebrity Cruisesโ global culinary ambassador.
The restaurant itself boasts a modern, eye-catching aesthetic, with artistic architectural features that provide visual appeal and craft intimate spaces for diners to enjoy a private meal.
Tasting menus (both plant-based and otherwise) are available here, but the a la carte dinner menu includes globally inspired menu items like Brazilian moqueca (grouper, shrimp and squid with cashew rice and a coconut broth), 5-spice duck pithivier (with bok choy, shiitake and a sweet and sour sauce) and risotto au homard (with lobster, zucchini and a cherry tomato confit).
7. Eden Restaurant
Similarly featured on some of Celebrity Cruisesโ newest ships and offering a blend of attractive dining spaces and tastebud-tempting menus, Eden Restaurant has a large and impressive feel, thanks to the spaceโs ample natural light and focus on greenery and wood tones.
Multi-course tasting menus, including plant-based tasting menus, are available, but for dinner, expect to enjoy contemporary international flavors, with options like sheepโs milk gnocchi served with speck ham, sage butter and smoked pecorino, or tomato couli served with Israeli couscous, chickpeas and vegetables. Here’s the main dining menu for Eden.
What Ships Have the Eden Restaurant?
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Ascent
8. Le Petit Chef
Yes, at first glance, this particular restaurant might look a little gimmicky. An animated chef appears, projected onto your plate and table, to basically provide a bit of whimsical entertainment alongside your meal.
That said, while itโs not a dining experience that will appeal to everyone, it is an incredibly unique experience, a great option to consider if you want a โspecialโ meal, but you donโt really like sitting in a formal restaurant where youโre expected to know your salad fork from your dessert fork.
Plenty of cruisers do really enjoy the experience, and so Celebrity Cruises has this restaurant on the majority of its ships. It’s worth checking the menu here.
The only downside with this restaurant is that, due to the programmed nature of the show, you get very few menu options โ two options each for four courses. You can choose between a tomato salad and burrata salad, chicken Caesar salad and bouillabaisse, chicken and steak, and rice pudding or an ice cream sundae.
What Ships Have Le Petit Chef?
- Celebrity Reflection
- Celebrity Infinity
- Celebrity Eclipse
- Celebrity Silhouette
- Celebrity Equinox
- Celebrity Solstice
- Celebrity Millennium
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Constellation
- Celebrity Summit
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Ascent
9. Rooftop Garden Grill
Available on a few of Celebrity Cruisesโ newer ships, the Rooftop Garden Grill sits outside, on one of the top decks, and offers a casual backyard barbecue vibe.
With the wide-open sky above and plenty of sea views all around, youโll enjoy an array of smoked and grilled meats, like baby back ribs, smoked brisket and grilled burgers. If youโre not a meat eater, there are a few salads available, as well as a few veggie-based options, like grilled veggie kabobs. Take a look at the Rooftop Garden menu here.
What Ships Have Rooftop Garden?
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Ascent
10. Cafรฉ al Bacio
Not all of the eateries aboard Celebrity Cruisesโ ships are focused on sit-down meals for lunch and dinner. Available on the majority of Celebrity Cruises ships, Cafรฉ al Bacio is a European-inspired cafรฉ serving specialty coffees, pastries, desserts and authentic gelato. So, whether you need to get a caffeine fix, or just satisfy your sweet tooth, you can do so here.
The menu includes a nice selection of espresso-based drinks, from lattes to Americanos, as well as both hot and cold teas and specialty drinks like hot cocoa and affogato. Coffee-based cocktails are also available, as is wine.
11. Luminae
If youโre cruising on a ship that features The Retreat โ the suite guests-only area on certain Celebrity Cruises ships, and that often feature a private restaurant, sun deck, lounge and more, only for suite guestsโ use โ then you have to take advantage of one of your VIP dining spaces at some point: Luminae restaurant.
Luminae is a high-end restaurant thatโs completely complimentary for suite guests, and which serves breakfast and dinner daily. One cool feature?
The menus are exclusive to the restaurant, so that means that, in addition to having exclusive access to the restaurant itself, youโll also enjoy exclusive access to dishes that no one else on the ship can order.
These specialty items include options like a slow-roasted radicchio with a romesco sauce and quinoa, and a Moroccan chicken tagine with saffron couscous. Take a look at the menu right here.
What Ships Have Luminae?
Every ship in the fleet features this venue.
12. Raw on 5
Featured on just a few ships (Celebrity Edge, Apex, Beyond and Ascent), Raw on 5 specializes in expertly crafted sushi, with a menu designed by Chef Yoshikazu Okada. Whether you prefer sushi rolls, sashimi or nigiri, albacore, shrimp, eel or salmon, youโll find something to sate your cravings.
Make sure to pair whatever you pick from the menu with one of Raw on 5โs sakes. Sake is available by the bottle or glass, and, if youโre not quite sure which to order, the restaurantโs sake experts can make a few suggestions. Let’s take a look at the menu here.
What Ships Have Raw on 5?
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Ascent
13. The Magic Carpet Restaurant
On ships that have the Celebrity Cruises Magic Carpet feature, such as Celebrity Edge, the floating cantilevered platform provides a unique dinner experience after dark. Youโll dine in a setting thatโs literally floating over the water, for unparalleled views of the ocean beyond.
The menu is an extension of what youโll find at Raw on 5 โ and, as such, has a seafood focus โ with a few unique offerings added in that you wonโt be able to get at Raw on 5.
While the Magic Carpet sits on Deck 5, adjacent to Raw on 5, during lunch hours, for the Dinner on the Edge experience, the Magic Carpet moves up to Deck 14, where itโs an extension of the Resort Deck on Deck 14, providing even better, higher views.
While reservations are required, the Magic Carpet restaurant is one of the more casual specialty dining experiences on Celebrity Cruisesโ ships.
What Ships Have Magic Carpet?
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Ascent
14. Le Grand Bistro
For European eats in a French bistro-style setting (this restaurant has the French sidewalk dining experience down pat), go to Le Grand Bistro.
Here, youโll find it easy to sip away at your favorite cafรฉ beverages during the morning or afternoon (or maybe a glass of wine, if youโre feeling cheeky). Then, after dark, the bistro becomes a cozy spot for a casual dinner.
The menu includes cheese and charcuterie options, as well as baguette-based sandwiches and classic French appetizers like mussels with fries and escargot. There are also daily specials on offer, like coq au vin on Tuesdays and bouillabaisse on Wednesdays. Here’s a view of the venue’s menu.
What Ships Have Le Grand Bistro?
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Apex
- Celebrity Beyond
- Celebrity Ascent
What About the Main Dining Rooms and Buffets?
You probably noticed that we didnโt include any of Celebrity Cruisesโ main dining rooms or the buffet on this list of best restaurants, and we didnโt focus so much on complimentary dining across the fleet.
This is in part because, while Celebrity Cruisesโ main dining rooms and buffets are perfectly okay, theyโre not exactly over-the-top special โ and for cruising foodies, you really want those special features that are going to โwowโ and make for a memorable dining experience, whether thatโs the menu or setting.
However, if you do want to dine at the main dining rooms, youโll find that most Celebrity Cruises ships feature two to four main dining rooms: Cyprus, Tuscan and Normandie, and then Cosmopolitan, which is featured on Apex and Edge-class ships. Each dining room has its own aesthetic.
All are generally the same in that they give you a multi-course meal thatโs described by many cruisers as more or less just โfine.โ Itโs also been described as similar to wedding food. Think, again, perfectly fine catered fare, but nothing exceptional.
Read Also: What You Should Never Do at the Cruise Ship Buffet
At the buffet, the quality is pretty much the same. However, many cruisers like a cruise ship buffet due to the wealth of options available to you, as well as the laid-back atmosphere. Additionally, many cruise ship buffets now offer cook-to-order stations, like omelet stations, for super-fresh bites.
Celebrity Cruisesโ buffet is the Oceanview Buffet, and itโs open for three meals per day, serving up a variety of cuisines and items, with lots of staples like pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads, Asian cuisine, Mexican cuisine, hot dogs, burgers, fries, etc., plus bakery items and other desserts.