1st Time Princess cruiser Dining Concern

Going on my 1st Princess Cruise December 1. Typically cruise Celebrity, but wanted to go to Mexico from West Coast. Just had a friend return from Emerald Princess and reported that dining was not up to par and they ate in specialty dining most nights. We have Club Class dining but are concerned about food also. Recently we had a very poor experience with dining on Royal Caribbean Explorer. Looking for some reassurance that we will find an acceptable level of dining without resorting to specialty dining every night. Help us to feel better veteran Princess Cruisers.

Nearly 60 cruises (lost count a while back), mostly Princess, some X, RCC and Carnival as well as a couple of now defunct lines. Just on the Grand last month, going on the Ruby next. The food is very comparable between Princess and X.

That said, food is subjective. We enjoyed a wonderful 10 day west coast X cruise a while back and were seated with a couple from Canada who had similar cruise history. We all agreed that it was one of our best cruises as far as staff, ship and dining. The next morning, we were in the main DR for breakfast and were seated with a lady who asked, "Isn't this the worst cruise ever?" Just smiled. Didn't engage. Ate and left.

Don't worry. You will enjoy.

Cheers.

Have only had about three bad meals on the 10 Princess cruises and one of those was buffett food. The only way to tell is to go on the cruise on determine for yourself.

It was fine for us last January, but I admit we are not foodies. Of course everyone has different tastes, but we could always find tasty food.

I have been on 4 Princess cruises, and overall have been quite happy with the food. I tend toward salads, veggie, and fish dishes, and have enjoyed most of the items I have ordered. Have there been a few misses? Of course, and that is true anywhere! I have found the servers quite eager to bring something else if they noticed I wasn't eating my food, even if I didn't say anything.

We had club class dining in April and again for 14 nights in August. It was superb. It compared to ship food of about 15 years ago and was the best we've seen on any line in a long time. You'll have the regular menu as well as one or two items each night that are only for club class. Service is excellent. You have nothing to worry about.

Going on my 1st Princess Cruise December 1. Typically cruise Celebrity, but wanted to go to Mexico from West Coast. Just had a friend return from Emerald Princess and reported that dining was not up to par and they ate in specialty dining most nights. We have Club Class dining but are concerned about food also. Recently we had a very poor experience with dining on Royal Caribbean Explorer. Looking for some reassurance that we will find an acceptable level of dining without resorting to specialty dining every night. Help us to feel better veteran Princess Cruisers.

The great thing about Club Class is it is true ANYTIME dining! You can eat whenever you want. Food in the MDR is good. There are certain menu's I don't like (first and last of a 7 night cruise) but on the cruise that we did Club Class we only did specialty dining on the first night. We did SHARE that night and LOVED IT!!! We love SHARE and we actually went on the Ruby for our anniversary just to go to SHARE. :)

The other nights we did the MDR and the food was good, the service was outstanding and the "special" club class option was nice. Husband always did the pasta special. He loves all Princess pasta. I think you will enjoy the food and the service. Have a great cruise.

Quality of food is so subjective. 20+ Princess Cruises. Is the food as good as it used to Be? Probably not. Is it a 5 star dining experience, No. Will the MDR generally have food you will enjoy and find good for a dining room serving your nearest 2500 friends, absolutely. Enjoy your cruise and approach it with positive expectations

Steak and escargots are not on the always available menu as on celebrity, so you may notice that. Also the dining room is on one level vs. the multilevel ones on celebrity. Rest of the experience is very similar.

Read this thread.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2623890

We disembarked from the Royal yesterday after a 15-day trans-Atlantic cruise. I did not have any really bad meals. Once, I got chateaubriand that was too rare even for me. I ate around the edges. I could have ordered another serving medium rare instead, but I had enough. I did warn a tablemate against ordering the steak the last night. She ordered it anyway and ended up not eating much of it.

Princess food is 10 steps above Royal Caribbean's food.

I wouldn't worry - go and enjoy.

Food is subjective and as other reviewers have mentioned, we have heard fellow passengers on the same ship rave about the food, while others complain.

Our experience on various lines is that you get the good with the bad no matter the cruise line.

Both we and numerous cruise friends routinely wonder why dissatisfied people don't say something to the waiter or head waiter if they get a bad piece of meat/fish/soggy vegtables/etc. Instead they complain non-stop about their experience. It is a restaurant and the staff fully understand that sometimes something goes wrong and would like to fix it.

Lastly listen to your waiter. Not necessarily the evening's recommendations, but if they say that the prime rib isn't great that night - DON'T ORDER IT and then complain to the table that is fatty/tough/over cooked/etc.

All that said, different ships on the same line have different preparations of the same menu. The chef and the Maitre D do make a difference.

Going on my 1st Princess Cruise December 1. Typically cruise Celebrity, but wanted to go to Mexico from West Coast. Just had a friend return from Emerald Princess and reported that dining was not up to par and they ate in specialty dining most nights. We have Club Class dining but are concerned about food also. Recently we had a very poor experience with dining on Royal Caribbean Explorer. Looking for some reassurance that we will find an acceptable level of dining without resorting to specialty dining every night. Help us to feel better veteran Princess Cruisers.

The service in club class is lovely the menu selections are cheap items and comparable to a large banquet. Princess has significantly declined in food. Table side preparation is a joke. The head waiter makes a pasta dish or casear salad some where in the room and your waiter will offer it to you when you order, it's not table side. The last night of the cruise it is not offered.

Steak and escargots are not on the always available menu as on celebrity, so you may notice that. Also the dining room is on one level vs. the multilevel ones on celebrity. Rest of the experience is very similar.

I ordered up them escargots once and some joker put snails on my plate. Yup, stolen directly from "The Jerk".

We were on the Emerald recently and generally had very good dining experiences, both in the MDR and at the buffet. There is a great variety of food, and almost everyone can find something to like.

Taste in food can be very subjective. Some passengers raved about the herb-crusted salmon. We tried it and found that it was tasteless, gray, and must have been frozen a very long time. ( That's the only dinner entree we did not like).

On the other hand, we loved the beef wellington; but some people sitting next to us thought it was terrible. Same food, same night. There's so many different preferences for food. It's a good idea to consider the waiter's suggestions for food each night. They seem to know what the best dishes are.

Have a great cruise on the Emerald ! She's a beautiful ship, with an excellent crew. -- EBC

I don't have to purchase the food at the store and put it all away later. I don't have to cook the food nor do I have to clean up the mess. I find the food to be just fine - although I wouldn't count on being able to order a decent steak in MDR. If you want steak go to Crown Grill. We have had meals that were better than others but haven't had any bad meals.

I'll chime in on the "Princess food is far above RCI" statements......we have more Princess cruises than any others, that said we just got off of the Explorer of the Seas last week and were disappointed in the food overall. Breakfast in the dining room was horrible and we never did that again......when you can say the buffet food is better that's pretty bad. We love Princess breakfasts in the dining room......much better. We ate in Chops, their steakhouse, one evening and compared to four years ago they've really gone down in quality.

I agree, go and enjoy the cruise.

I've never left a Princess cruise hungry or lighter :D

I have noticed and this NEVER fails.......if I don't like the food, it's my fault. There's so much variety and the servers are so anxious to please. I have NEVER had a rude or unable to please me server on a Princess cruise....they are so good at what they do.

Ask them for something that you like and they will bend over backwards to get it for you.

If there's something you like to eat at home and you just want a plate of it at dinner....ask your server to have the chef make it for you.....it can be done!

Most importantly; keep an open mind, don't be afraid to explore and test your taste buds!

Elite + on Celebrity. I also cruise once or twice a year on RCI as well as twice/year on Celebrity, and every year or so on Princess (March will be my next Princess). I'll give you some sweeping generalities.

I'd say the MDR is about equal on both. Service and food are similar. Both have some hits and some misses but basically consistently good, if not great meals.

In my opinion the suites only restaurant on Celebrity, Luminae, blows Princess' "Club Class Dining" clear out of the water, with it's totally separate menu and separate kitchen. But you pay for it with higher fare, especially for anything bigger than a Sky Suite (which equates to Jr. Suite size wise on Princess).

Specialities, I'd give the nod to Celebrity (except their Silk Harvest which 2 weeks ago was the worst cruise meal I've ever had. Period).

Buffet and Room Service: Slight nod to Celebrity. Both fine for what they are.

Where Princess really stands out to me is the International Cafe. Celebrity really doesn't have ANY 24 hour venue. Maybe the closest comparison is Cafe al Bacio which closes at maybe midnite IIRC. I'd say the offerings in the IC are better pretty much any time of the day.

I'd say not to worry. You'll be fine.

Having Club Class Dining is great! Emerald Princess is one of our favorite ships.

Look forward to having a WONDERFUL cruise! :D

Ok, I wasn't going to post on here but to the OP I gotta warn you. Princess food is mediocre. In the last 4 years we have been on 2 NCL , 2 Celebrity and 2 Princess cruises or 3 if you go back another 2 years. Both NCL and Celebrity are alot better in the food department.

Just got off the Star 3 weeks ago. Service, ship condition and crew were all top notch, just like the Emerald 2 1/2 years ago and the Ruby 2 years before that. Pricing was decent. But the MDR and Buffet were not good. Buffet is very small, at least a third of what the Sillhoute (spelled?) and Equinox are with a third of the offerings. All are low end cafeteria at best. Room service was even worse. MDR had a few ok nights but mostly everything is overcooked and dry. No flavor.

If you want to compare Princess to RCCL, well, its a toss up between ships. Worst food ever was on the RCCL Enchantment 15 years ago. However, 5 or 6 years ago on the Navigator and Voyager, the food was considerably better. But its been awhile. Hard to compare when you go back too far.

So my point of posting here is I don't want the OP to think Princess food is even close to what they are used to on Celebrity. They will be disappointed. I get its subjective but really, its not very good.

A cruise is not what you make it. Its if your expectations were met or not. If your expecting too much you will be disappointed.

We are looking at a cruise for late Winter and the Regal has an amazing price. However, I am considering paying a couple hundred more PP (plus all the nickle and dime charges NCL does) to go on NCL. Food is part of the reason.

One semi bright spot would be the IC. They grill sandwiches and their food seemed a bit more fresh.

In my experience, I have found that main dining room food on Princess, RCCL, Celebrity and, yes, Carnival is about the same.