Celebrity Xcel Mediterranean Cruise Dining: Best Eats, 7 Categories

A cheap gyro in Santorini, razor clams in Barcelona, pistachio and chocolate baklava in a medieval wood bakery in Mykonos, and an amazing bourbon cocktail in a secret speakeasy aboard the Celebrity Xcel. These are but a sampling of what we enjoyed during our summer, 2026 Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Athens. This is our Celebrity Xcel Mediterranean Cruise Dining Recap, where we’ll talk about our favorite food across all sorts of categories, from snacks and starters to desserts and drinks and everything in between. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already done so, check out our Celebrity Retreat Review post to see what we thought about Celebrity’s premier-but-not really-ship-within-ship concept.

Eats, Drinks, and Caffeine

This is probably the most fun topic about which to write. To be honest, all this varied dining is best experienced, but it’s also a blast to relive. Heck, we were on a premium cruise ship in the Mediterranean for seven nights. We had a day in Barcelona before that plus several hours in Athens after disembarkation. Oh, and then there were the ports in Malta, Turkey, and Greece. Guess what all of these places have in common. They have lots to eat and drink, and the variety keeps it interesting.

The point is, we ate and drank a lot, though somehow didn’t gain any (Rona) or much (Jay) weight. Go figure. It’s true. It must have been all that walking. Europe is funny that way. 

We try to explain the logistics, if applicable, and the cost.  Do note that we never ate in any of the Xcel’s four main dining rooms during this sailing because, as Retreat guests, we had access to the excellent suites-only restaurant, Luminae. On the two nights we didn’t eat in Luminae, we ate in a specialty restaurant. However, we ate in each of those dining rooms on the Xcel preview cruise, so please check out our Xcel preview cruise page for our experiences in Normandy, Cosmopolitan, Cyprus, and Tuscan.

If you are interested in specialty dining, book those reservations as early as possible, ideally when they’re on one of the flash or holiday sales. We locked in our pricing via a pre-cruise Black Friday sale for the specialty dining trio, which includes two specialty restaurant dinners and one lunch or brunch. We did have to wait until we boarded the ship for the actual reservations, but had no issue securing the times we wanted.

Categories? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Categories

No actually, we do need categories, otherwise this post would be even shorter, and frankly less interesting to organize and write. That this was a Mediterranean cruise brings with it certain implications, and those implications are called tapas. Therefore, for your convenience, we will repeat something from our Celebrity Apex Dining Review.

Here’s an addendum to what we said last year. Because there are no rules on this blog, the dishes don’t have to be Spanish in origin. Just Mediterranean-ish.

We should also mention that the ranking approach around here is complete anarchy. The goal for each of us was to pick one favorite item in each category. However, sometimes one or both of us wanted to give out a participation trophy, a.k.a. designate a runner-up. Them’s the breaks. Anyway, here’s our food favs from this trip!

The Food & Drink Favs: Celebrity Xcel Mediterranean Cruise Dining

1. Coffee & Caffeine Fixes: Shipboard Baristas vs. Port Bakeries

Because we require near constant infusions of caffeine, here’s our favorite coffee:

• Jay’s winner – Skinny Flat White at Café al Bacio aboard the Celebrity Xcel. Jay is not an iced coffee drinker, and unless it’s with breakfast, he goes for an Americano. But he does like a Flat White, and Café al Bacio did not disappoint. Also, they called it “skinny”, so that brought him joy. Most barista-crafted coffees at Café al Bacio are included with a standard drink package. Flat White’s are off-menu, so we don’t have the pricing handy.
• Rona’s winner – Iced Americano at Gioras Wood Medieval Bakery in Mykonos. How could you not while eating baklava in an ancient underground bakery? With two pieces of baklava, this cost ~$13.
• Rona’s runner-up – Iced Americano at Café al Bacio. Café al Bacio will always have her heart. Without a drink package this would cost $5.50.

2. Breakfast & Brunch Favorites: Onboard Specials & Suite Dining

What pairs well with coffee apart?  Well dessert does, but let’s start with breakfast!

• Unanimous winner – Simit at Spice in the Bazaar aboard the Celebrity Xcel. Delicious and familiar. This Turkish street bread with salmon is sometimes called a Turkish bagel, maybe because it looks like one. At Spice it also had the same chew as a good bagel. Food at Spice is included with your cruise fair.

• Rona’s runner-up – The smoked salmon at Luminae aboard the Celebrity Xcel. Rona is a big fan of the presentation and it is some good salmon. Luminae is the included restaurant for suite / Retreat guests.

3. Cocktails & Drinks: Craft Bar Bourbons & a Hidden Speakeasy

Next up, drinks, or to be precise, beverages with alcohol in them. 

• Rona’s winner – Custom Old Fashioned at Craft Social onboard the Xcel. She has hers made with orange bitters, cinnamon syrup, and black cherries. The price of a custom old fashioned at Craft Social depends on the price of the bourbon you choose, which on our sailing was anywhere from $12 to $45. If you have a drink package – standard ($12 upper limit) or premiere ($19 upper limit) – you’ll just pay the difference between the cost and upper limit of your package. As Retreat Guests, we had the premiere drink package, and kept to the bourbons at $19 or less.

• Jay’s winner – Split Decision at IYKYK (Speakeasy) onboard the Xcel.  We must not speak of it. Just…. #IYKYK.  We need to keep the pricing hush-hush, but this particular cocktail was within the premiere drink package limit.
• Rona’s runner-up – Hibiscus Collins at The Club onboard the Xcel. This comes in second only because Craft Social’s Old Fashioned is so darn good. However, this is the cocktail Rona talks about.  Without a drink package, this cost $17.

• Jay’s runner-up – Custom Old Fashioned at Craft Social. Jay’s is made with orange bitters, maple syrup, black cherries, and an orange twist. Also, most of the black cherries are donated to Rona.

4. Top Snacks & Tapas: Greek Island Street Food & Spanish Markets

It seems appropriate to move on to our favorite snacky-snacks. These are stand-alone consumables that in the right situation could have been appetizers, sides, or entrees. However, circumstances conspired against them and they became a snack. Also, tapas eaten outside of mealtime are excluded from this category. 

• Unanimous winner – Gyro at Souvlaki, Gyro, Pita & More in Fira (Santorini). This was the cheap gyro we’d been looking for. Technically, we were looking for a $5 gyro, but instead we found a €4.80 gyro. That’s the issue with being in a country whose currency is the euro. Exchange rates. It was closer to $5.50. Anyway, this was a really good gyro, with the french fries stuffed inside. We had considered building a “best gyro” category since we had many gyro or gyro-adjacent meals. This would have won that category anyway.

Moving on. Next up we present tapas not eaten at dinner. This seemed easier to explain than tapas at brunch or lunch or outside of mealtime.

• Jay’s winner – Lobster Medallions at Bora Brunch onboard the Xcel. Lobster in lemon beurre blanc? Does it get much better than lobster in butter? Bora is a specialty dining restaurant on the Celebrity Xcel. Brunch costs $35 per person when booked prior to the sailing. However, we reserved the brunch and dinner as part of the specialty dining trio we’d already bought.
• Rona’s winner – Jamon Iberico and cheese in a paper cone at Mercat de la Boqueria in Barcelona. There is always huge anticipation for that first bite after arriving in Barcelona. This is that first bite, and it cost $7.

• Jay’s runner-up – Gambas al Ajillo at Bora Brunch. It’s an amazing traditional dish, with some added oomph at Bora. A close runner up to the lobster. But, you can also get it at dinner.

Speaking of dinner…. What about tapas at dinner?

• Rona’s winner – Gambas al Ajillo at Bora Dinner. Awkward.🤭A dinner reservation at Bora cost $65 per person, but as previously noted, we booked it as part of the specialty dining trio.
• Jay’s winner – Razor Clams à la Plancha at Puertocillo El Born in Barcelona. There are very few ways to serve Jay razor clams that won’t result in a “best bite” award. This was part of a larger meal that additionally included mussels, grilled octopus, salad, and beer. It cost $69.

• Rona’s runner-up – Mussels in a garlic tomato sauce at Puertocillo El Born. We pointed to one of the humongous bags of amazingly fresh mussels. The sauce was garlicky goodness. 

5. Best Appetizers & Starters: Specialty Steakhouse vs. Suite Dining

On we go to starters, or as they say in the biz, appetizers.

• Jay’s winner – Crab cake at Finecut Steakhouse aboard the Celebrity Xcel. This is a really good crab cake, and better than Jay remembered it being in Finecut on the Apex. However, it is still second best to the phenomenal crab cake in Eden on that same ship. Finecut Steakhouse is also a specialty restaurant on Celebrity Xcel, and we had reserved the time as part of the specialty dining trio. Otherwise, it would have cost $65 per person.
• Rona’s winner – Escargot at Luminae. It’s comforting and laden with garlic and butter. That garlic and butter would make a lot of things tasty

• Jay’s runner-up – French onion soup at Luminae. Jay debated whether to make this the runner-up, but honestly a good French onion soup deserves a mention. That we’re even talking about it here versus some other starters makes it worth a second-place vote.
• Rona’s runner-up – Lobster cocktail at Finecut Steakhouse. First, it’s lobster. But sometimes lobster in and of itself isn’t enough to elevate the dish. But the melon, grapefruit and horseradish did.

6. Main Courses & Sides: Favorite Lunch & Dinner Entrees

Let’s move on to the main course, first-half-of-the-day style – Lunch or Brunch entrees.

• Rona’s winner – In a surprise decision, the Chicken, Kofte and Sigara Boregi platter at the Golden fringe in Selcuk, Turkey. This was part of the lunch included at the Turkish carpet co-op we visited as part of our phenomenal Ephesus shore excursion. You can read all about that right here. 

• Jay’s winner – Eggs Benedict, the Bora Way at Bora Brunch. This excellent Eggs Benedict variation was served with salmon and ricotta on a croissant.

Fast forward several hours because we were still full from lunch, let’s talk about or favorite Dinner entrees.

• Jay’s winner – Surf & Turf at Luminae. Perfectly cooked Filet Mignon? ✅ Succulent lobster tail? ✅

• Rona’s winner – Sea Bream a la Espalda at Bora Dinner. Highly recommended by our server, this was quite possibly Rona’s favorite bite the entire sailing. 

• Unanimous runner-up – Citrus and Chili Braised Short Ribs at Luminae. These were so darn filling, so darn comforting and so darn good. That they came with bao buns didn’t hurt.

Like an order of french fries at McDonald’s, sometimes you need a side. On a cruise, you may need more than one.

• Unanimous winner – Gruyère Tater Tots at Finecut Steakhouse. No notes. There can be no runner up because this lapped the competition.

7. The Grand Finale: Mid-Day Treats & Dinner Desserts

After all this food, did we have room for dessert? Duh!.

But how does one categorize desserts, when on a cruise, you could well have some form of sweet goodness two or three times each day. I mean, it could be way more than that, I don’t know you, but let’s open negotiations at two or three. So it seems we must begin with breakfast/brunch/lunch dessert.

• Jay’s winner – The pistachio croissant at Bora Brunch. There is none like this, and Jay is probably a bit too obsessed with it.
• Rona’s winner – n/a – Rona declined to eat dessert until later in the day, which could explain how she gained zero wait on this trip.

Next up is our penultimate category, which means I was looking for an excuse to use penultimate in a sentence. All dessert eaten between lunch and dinner shall henceforth be known as snacky-snack-dessert.

• Unanimous winner – Pistachio chocolate baklava at Gioras Wood Medieval Bakery in Mykonos. This beat out the regular pistachio baklava from the same place.  
• Jay’s runner-up – Dulce de leche gelato at Forn Condal in Barcelona. We were a little tired after a lack of sleep on the flight to Barcelona, and we rested here before touring the Barcelona Cathedral. This was sweet and creamy goodness. With a bottle of Coke Zero, this cost $8.

And now for our final category – dinner dessert.

• Rona’s winner – Lemon & Olive Oil Ice Cream at Bora Dinner. There is a certain irony here, because this is the dessert that Jay ordered. Yet, after Rona had numerous tastes, she proclaimed this was the best dessert she’s ever had, at least on a cruise.

• Jay’s winner – Baked Alaska at Luminae. It honestly didn’t matter what other dessert Jay ate on this sailing. The winner here was always going to be the Baked Alaska.

• Rona’s runner-up – Affogato a Bora Dinner. This was in fact the dessert that Rona ordered at Bora, and it was phenomenal. But the ice cream Jay ordered was stupendous. This, of course, assumes stupendous is better than phenomenal. We’ll have to check with the professionals on that.

Hey, if you like to eat and drink, and also read about other people eating and drinking, why don’t you check out our other Dining Roundups.