What you can expect to eat on your cruise

Food on the Celebrity Constellation


I was told to expect amazing food. It was more than amazing!

  1. The buffet food is very very good. The variety, innovation, presentation, options and quantity are really amazing. As someone who usually avoids buffet food I could not resist overeating.
    Each meal would include extra different theme dishes.

  2. There is a whole selection of gluten-free desserts, and gluten-free toast was available for breakfast.

  3. My photos of some of the dishes will be posted on this page.

  4. Passengers can go to the buffet dressed any way. I have seen passengers having the buffet dinner in shorts and shoe slip-ons in the Oceanview Cafe, and no crew member has stopped them.
    The buffet area is also a walkway from the pools to the cabins so passengers pass through during meal times, and I doubt if anyone will stop them grabbing a plate of food.

  5. The buffet hours are long.
    Breakfast is from about 6:30 to 11:00 am, although some dishes may be removed during the last hour.
    Lunch is from midday till 3:00 pm, although after 2:00 pm, some dishes are removed.
    Dinner seemed to be from 5:00 pm till after 10:00 pm.

  6. The ice cream stations are open from 11:00 am to 10:30 pm. The ice cream is really good!

  7. The Pizza station is open from 12 noon to 1:00 am. There are 4 different delicious thick crust pre-cut pizza varieties available, as well as gluten free and custom toppings within about 10 minutes.

  8. Unlimited coffee, tea, with skim and plain milk, limited juices, cold water and ice is available in the Oceanview Cafe all 24 hours.

  9. We did not eat at any of the speciality restaurants. Select Dining, also known as the MDR (Main Dining Room) is included, as is the Oceanview Buffet Cafe.
    Coffee from the urn is included but if you want acuppocino it will be charged.
    I did not know that pastries & sweet treats at Al Bacio is also included.
    I thought that the Mast Grill was charged, but see that others said it was free. Tuscan, Le Petit Chef, Chef's Table, and Sushi on 5 (a la carte) are all an additional cost.

  10. Although the Oceanview Cafe dinners were amazing, I found that I could not resist overeating with consequences, so we ate at Select Dining most nights.
    The Select Anytime dining room is huge, with the ceiling several levels high. For those who remember and still have nightmares from "The Poseidon Adventure" the Celebrity dining room ceiling could be higher. The lower level Select Anytime dinning area has tables of different sizes, from 2 to 10 and more, seating maybe 500 at a time. The upper level, San Marco only has tables around the sides.

  11. I only understood the difference between Celebrity Select San Marco 5 Early and Late dining and Celebrity Select Anytime 4 after our cruise when preparing this website.
    On booking our trip we booked for Celebrity Select 6 pm early dining with others, expecting that we would meet some interesting people. The first and second evenings we missed because we were after the 6:30 cut-off, being tired or still full from lunch, the third one because we were late after being ashore.
    Each night we still ate in Celebrity Select Anytime but did not realise we were now there, but on the lower level 4 in the same dining room with the same food, but at our own table for two.
    When we turned up in time on the fourth evening we were told that we had lost our San Marco fixed time and place booking with our place given to others.
    So we never did get to meet out dining partners on Level 5.
    You won't get this information from Celebrity.

  12. Select Dining 4, offers walk in anytime during mealtime hours dining, the dress is smarter, basically with everyone following the dress code.
    The tables have table cloths, there is full table service with a sommelier, senior and junior waiters, and manager waiters. You will usually find the same waiters in the same locations, but seating is determined on entering, and requests will be honoured where possible
    The menu includes four starters, four main courses and desserts that change every night, as well as another four classic starters and main courses that are always available. Our server told us that if you like a particular dish that was served one night, it can be ordered even if not on the menu. Photos of menus will be posted on this website.
    Ice cold complimentary water is served soon after seating. A basket of bread and breadsticks is served soon after sitting. Gluten-free bread or toast which was described as good as it gets is available.

  13. The quality of the dishes are good. A restaurant would do well serving food of that quality. However it cannot be compared to your favourite dish in your favourite restaurant back home, where each dish is lovingly prepared. Considering that they serve 500 guests at a time, it was amazing.
    We ate there most nights for the ambiance, food quality and outstanding friendly caring service.

  14. Select dining hours are from 5:30 to 9:30 pm,

  15. My big complaint is that no drinking water is supplied to the rooms unless you are on a drinks package.
    The tap water is from filtered seawater, which I was assured was drinkable, with the water tanks cleaned regularly.
    However, filtered drinking water needs to be purchased at $4.60 a bottle, or surreptitiously taken from the water fountains in the Oceanview Cafe. I refilled my water bottles against the rules from the fountain and there were no complaints.
    There is a notice saying that filling containers from the soda fountain is inadvisable due to health reasons. When I asked what health reasons, I was told that Celebrity were concerned that using your own containers could cause or spread disease. I could not see how a drink bottle bought in the last few days used only by myself could make me sick.
    Nor do I believe that the millions who refill water bottles from public drinking fountains are risking their health.
    I must be a cynic to believe that Celebrity would rather passengers bought bottled water at $4.60 each.
    See more under the DRINKS heading above.

Pictures of food coming.

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