Celebrity Cruises Main Dining Room Menu + Recent Changes

Changes for Celebrity Cruises Main Dining Room Menus

Talk to many cruisers who are loyal to Celebrity, and you’ll get a consistent complaint about how the food is not what it once was. In reality, it’s a problem across nearly every major cruise line. Food seems to be where the cutbacks and cost savings are most evident, and people are talking about it!

Unfortunately, Celebrity has been known for exceptional food in the past, so these changes have been more evident than on other lines.

Last year, Celebrity Cruises made hugely unpopular changes to its onboard menus, especially in the Main dining rooms (MDR). Having originally changed the menus to “simplify” the ordering process and allegedly increase customer satisfaction, many people complained about staples of the main dining room experience being removed from menus.

Bringing Customer Favorites Back to the Menus

Celebrity is bringing back some favorites, and adding nightly chocolate dessert options in response to Captain’s Club guest feedback and research showing a desire for menu diversity.

Notable changes to the Celebrity Cruises dining menus:

Changes to menus in response to guest feedback and desire for classic items such as Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, grilled chicken, New York sirloin
Introduction of nightly chocolate dessert options
Changes were expected to be implemented fleet-wide by the end of 2023 (which seems to have mostly happened)

See the Main Dining Room (MDR) Menus on Celebrity Cruises – From a Recent 7-day Cruise

Other menus available to see from the Celebrity Specialty Restaurants:

A few things about how the Main Dining Room works with Celebrity (some FAQs)

Surprisingly, yes! On our last cruise, about halfway through the 7 days, there was a surprise lobster night at no additional charge. If you’re craving lobster, it’s also on one of the menus at Le Petit Chef, and available for an additional charge of about $17 most other nights in the main dining room.

True formal nights are pretty much a thing of the past, but Celebrity does have a night for “evening chic”

You’ll see a range of cocktail dresses, skirts, and slacks to designer jeans, paired with elegant tops or blazers. Some guests opt for even more formal wear like tuxedos or gowns, especially for onboard photography sessions.

But in reality, you rarely see a Tuxedo anymore.

Most itineraries include one or two “evening chic” evenings. Cruisers who prefer not to partake in Evening Chic (aka Formal Night) can choose Smart Casual wear for dining and theater events.

For the most part, smart casual is what is expected.

It is requested for entrance to the main dining area, specialty dining venues, and the Celebrity Theatre passengers wear “Smart Casual”. Smart Casual attire suggests a polished and comfortable look, which can be a dress, skirt, long pants, or jeans, complemented by a fashionable top or button-down shirt.

Celebrity says that shorts and flip-flops do not meet the Smart Casual dress standard. In reality, we’ve seen people dine in shorts without a problem. But it is worth noting, we’ve witnessed the restaurant host ask guests to remove baseball hats – so best to leave those behind.

Many cruise lines have implemented a charge for multiple main courses. This hasn’t been put in place on Celebrity at this time (but it wouldn’t surprise me if it becomes policy at some point)