Which cruise line has the best and worst food?

[broberts]

I must disagree. I just got off the Carnival Ecstasy four-nighter (Thursday-Monday) out of Galveston and the MDR food was the best by far of any of the 10 cruises I have been on (RCCL, Princess and Celebrity). Dinner was the high point of the day and everyone in our group was ordering three starters, an entree, and two desserts, just to try the different items. Can't wait to cruise Carnival again for the wonderful food!

As an aside, The Ecstasy is rated the number one ship in the Carnival fleet year after year. Does this make a difference in the food quality? I wouldn't think so, but who knows????

 

I tend to think that the ship makes a huge difference.

 

I was on Radiance a couple of years ago and was thoroughly disgusted by the food in the MDR. To the point that I figured either RCI had halved their food budget or someone in procurement was on their way to a non-extraditable location. Poor ingredient quality was not helped by below average preparation and incredibly hostile service.

 

A year later I cruised Jewel OTS. Essentially the same menu. Slightly better ingredient quality. Excellent preparation, although often a little heavy with the salt, and very good service. A world of difference.

Edited February 7, 2010 by broberts

[MiamiSpartan]

Princess--Main dining room was pretty good, as was the buffet...We loved the Italian Premium restaurant, but all of us were a bit disappointed with the steak house unless you ordered the filet....

Carnival--Main Dining Room ok..nothing bad, nothing great....about what you would expect from a large kitchen.....buffet was ok, but the set up always seems to need changing for better flow of people....

NCL--Main Dining room is good. Premium restaurants are great, except not as impressed with the Italian place....buffets are good...nice selection...

RCCL--Main Dining room is decent...premiums are great...buffet is also decent with a nice selection...

Celebrity....main dining room good....buffet is surprisingly good with nice selection...premium is great....

HAL--main dining room decent....premium great...buffet decent...

 

Obviously, the food depends on the trip...every kitchen has good and bad times....the above is just what we have noticed...

[uwishufish]

CB Princess New England out of NYC the food was bland my wife said it was because of all the 75-99 year olds onboard. Off subject but they also forgot how to use a door ( go through and stop just beyond the opening this included the elevators also). Back to food the Italian specialty dinning venue we found to be very good too bad we ate there our last night.

Crown Princess Med itinery very good in MDR and buffet. The meal in the Crown Grill one of the best meals I ever had on a ship!!!!

Saphire Princess Alaska Not a bad meal but the fresh local shushi and pasta bar on deck during the Glaciar Bay cruise day put the food over the top.

 

Hope this helps.

[kerry.johnson]

We were on a HAL cruise (Noordam) over Thanksgiving, and I am still fantasizing about their bread and butter! Such a simple thing, but the breads were made daily and the butter tasted like Normandy butter. I must have eaten my weight in bread and butter!!!

[tubasteve]

Only been on Carnival. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'll give it a 7. It's almost an 8 but there always something that not that good. The supper club is amazing, up there with a NYC steak house.Cheers!:D

 

I tend to agree with this statement. Having only cruised carnival valor so far (Princess coming up in April) I can say I enjoyed most of the food. Our MDR waitstaff (Carlos and Igor) was stellar and were eager to make our entire table happy. We ate in the supper club one evening and were amazed. I have eaten at a few very pricey restaurants and the supper club held its own. Nice ambiance, great service and amazing food.

[CroneWynd]

I'm anticipating a very good experience on HAL this time, in regards to the food.

 

After our unfortunate experience last time, HAL has indicated to us that they are very interested in preventing that from happening again. I'm either the worst PITA they've ever had, or our cruise with them was truly an anomoly. I'll assume it was an anomoly.

 

Watch this space :D for further details after we return. Hopefully, it will be with accolaides for HAL. ;)

[tapdancemom]

Our first cruise 12 years ago was on Celebrity. Everything with the exception of the bakery items were really good. MDR service was exceptional.

NCL, just ok.

HAL, pretty good, with supberb service in the dining room.

RCCL, has gone down over the years. Buffet....boardering on lousy two years ago.

Carnival, for lthe first time last Thanksgiving. Better than I expected. The Supper Club had top notch cuisine and service.

[Harry Cane]

Of the lines I've used I'd say HAL and Celebrity were the best. Princess and RC were somewhere in the middle. NCL probably not so high. Never sailed on Carnival. Doesn't seem like my type of crowd when I've seen them in ports.

[sledneck68]

We returned from a Cruise on the Celebrity Solstice in January 2010. The ship was absolutely stunning, and elegant. However, I thought the food in the dining room was poor, and often tasteless. I was extremely disapointed in their food in the dining room. No spices, seasoning, these are chefs??????? I realize you are cooking for hundreds of people, but its not that hard to have flavor? One evening there were 3 beef choices for dinner? I can understand the food not being high end restaraunt fare, but it's really not that difficult to have flavorful food.The food at the oceanview cafe (buffet), was actually better. In fact, we finally gave up on the pretense in the dining room, and spent the last 2 nights eating there. We have cruised twice on Carnival, and thought the food was better in the dining room, but horrible at the buffet. My wife is an EXCELLENT cook, and I know what good food is. I have heard that food quality on ships has gone down recently. Our Carnival cruises were over 4 years ago, maybe they are tightening their belts? I would cruise on the Solstice again, just for the elegance/ambiance of the ship, and the rooms/beds are fantastic!!!!!

[KAYEF]

Holland American (all of them) have the BEST food. From duck to desserts. Not a lively cruise ship like carnival but relaxing, and great food, service, people very friendly, etc. Cant wait to go on a princess (cheap/undecided) over Feb. break!!

 

No doubt about it, HAL hands down...............but, I'm soon to cruise Celebrity and have read great thing about them on here.

Worst food we've had was on NCL.........absolutely awful...........and on one Princess ship many people got food poisoning (mine and others was from Caesar Salad). The buffet area was always filthy.

The second time we tried Princess, the food was good...........just not AS good as HAL.

No one can compete with the SERVICE of HAL personnel.

Edited March 7, 2010 by KAYEF

[ranger10!]

Here is my two cents. :rolleyes:

 

1. Disney - Of course done in top Disney fashion. Just have to deal with lots of kids..

2. HAL the Zandam - We had great food and service.

3. Carnival

4. NCL - Just went on this cruise this last July to Alaska. Not impressed at all with food or Cruise Line. Found that the food in the specialty restaurants used the same sauces in the main restaurant. :cool: Wondered why we had to pay extra for the same thing!?

[MCManders99]

Food is very subjective. I've seen it where two different people aboard the same cruise had completely opposite opinions of food. One said excellent, better than they ever had, the other horrible. So it just depends.

 

My 2 cents is my recent Freedom of the Seas Cruise, I was not impressed with the food at all. My 2 Princess cruises, the food was excellent.

 

I'm hoping my 2011 cruise will be a Princess Cruise, if not We may try Carnival.

[DavidPatrick]

We are leaving this week on the Eurodam (Holland America) because the food was disgusting on the NCL Jewel last fall. The QMII food was 1st class in quality and service. All 5 of Hollands ships have had excellent food and very good service. Our only NCL was a back to back with food so bad that after the 4th night we couldn't eat in the main dinning room any more. Beef cooked well done as if we were some farmer without electricity who hasn't the faintest idea on how to cook beef. A hamburger in their 24 hour restaurant cooked so well done it was actualy black on the bottom and so hard I could have pounded a tack in with it. I realize that food is subjective, we all thick our local pizza place makes the best pizza, because that is what we are used to. Upon growing up I opened up my experiences in eating food and forced myself to eat foods that I had previously disliked. I hated my first salad with blue cheese dressing, the 2nd week it wasn't so bad, by the 3rd week I realized I really like blue cheese dressing. Same thing happened with a lot more foods except I still can't bring myself to eat aspargras. In a Paris restaurant I reminded the waitress that I wanted my steak medium rare, that's pink in the middle. She huffed up and said "Sir we are not Germans, if you ordered it well done we would have thrown you out of the restaurant.":)

[mckenna]

Kelmac - I have to agree with you. We have been on 17 going on 18 cruises and for the mainstream mass market lines -- IMHO

 

1 - Celebrity - Best food and service for the $$$; agree - alternative restaurants are excellent;

 

2 - Holland - Excellent Food; service was very good to excellent; people on the ship tend to be "old" (and that was said to us by our 85 Y.O. friends):); great drink card packages;

 

3 - Princess - Food is very good to excellent; not a big fan of anytime dining; tough to get late seating; a bit of nickel and diming;

 

4 - Royal Caribbean - We were very disappointed with the food our last cruise and prefer smaller ships; too impersonal; quality and food choices were slim; shrimp cocktails only on "certain" nights;

 

5 - NCL - We will NEVER cruise with them again; the food was DISGUSTING and DISGRACEFUL!

 

Neil

I totally agree with you on NCL. We just got back yesterday and this was the worst Cruise that we have been on. The Food was really disgusting, lukewarm to Stone Cold. The Cabin's where filthy. We will never cruise with NCL again. The Sewage smell on Deck 4 took my breath away. Check out my Review under NCL Jewel!

[DrMrsRichardson]

I am a foodie and have found a lack of consistency overall. The first time I went on Carnival (Ecstasy in 2001) the food was pretty awful. But having been on the Carnival Paradise in 2009 I was pleasantly surprised by the variety, flavor, and presentation in the dining room. I don't really care for the buffets.

 

I most frequently cruise on RCCL because of the the ships, but their food tends to range from poor to fair with one or 2 items weighing in at good. I particularly try and avoid the buffets on Royal as they leave much to be desired.

 

I cruised on the NCL Star, once when it was new (2003) in Hawaii, and then again in Alaska 2006. The first time the food was stellar. The second time I was hugely disappointed by the lack of variety, poor presentation, and cafeteria flavor. NCL has my favorite breakfast buffet! They have a daily musilix (*sp) that is wonderfully nutritious and absolutely delicious!!

 

I love Princess for many reasons but none of them are the food. The diningroom food was fair most of the time. I do, however like their buffet variety. For awhile they were not serving chocolate, but I hear they have done away with that (thank goodness). My favorite aspect of Princess is afternoon tea where they serve teas and coffee along with a large variety of cookies, cakes, and finger sandwiches.

 

So, if you are looking for standout dining, I am not sure if any of the above lines are going to impress.

[cruisemama5]

Of the cruises we have been on, teh only one we didn't like was NCL. Our first cruise with them, Hawaii, the food was awful. But, we went again with them hoping that the food would be better. I don't think it was worse, but it was still not good. We are not people who eat at fancy places so are expecting four star restaurant food, but NCL was not good at all.

 

On the other hand, all the other cruises we have been on the food has been fine. Nothing to complain about.

[apollobeach]

Based on the cruises we have taken, here are our ratings:

 

For the best would be Carnival; the food and service in the main dining room was outstanding.

 

Tied for second, is Royal Caribbean and Holland America. The Italian themed specialty restaurant on Royal Caribbean was outstanding.

 

Coming in last, is Princess. The food was quite ordinary. On the occasions when we had dinner in the buffet restaurant (Horizon Court) we were quite disappointed. The food at dinner was simply food left over from lunch. Items served that night in the main dining room were not served in the buffet restaurant as they stated. The Italian themed specialty restaurant was outstanding in both food and service.

Edited March 22, 2010 by apollobeach

[talfonso]

I have sailed with Carnival thrice and with Disney twice. Before cruising on the Disney Wonder two years ago, I believed that the two rivaling cruise lines are pretty mediocre in food. When I sailed on her, I noticed an improvement in the cuisine, notably the fruit. I tried eating at Palo and it was a change of pace from the main dining rotation venue cuisine (It's also a detraction from the whiny-as-heck kids since only Guests 18 and up can dine here for a fee!) I can't say that Disney's the best of the whole lot of cruise lines in food, but having sailed on both its ships as well as three on Carnival, it's safe to say that it's better than the latter. Will see to next cruise (on a different cruise line) to compare on May.

[apollobeach]

At the end of March we traveled on the Carnival Miracle. The level of service and food in the Main Dining Room was not at the outstanding level we experienced on the Carnival Spirit. There were areas that needed definite

improvement.

[BroncosFan2010]

I think I need to cruise more to make that call!

[tomchi]

I've just come back from a first cruise with Royal Caribbean (Voyager OTS) and the service in the main dining room was the best we've ever got. Really good, and very well done to them. The quality of the food was variable - sometimes average (but not bad) and occasionally excellent.

[SMSACE6]

I think I need to cruise more to make that call!

 

I agree, same for me, but if I had to rate the three lines I have cruised on;

 

1st Celebrity

2nd Carnival

3rd NCL

 

and by no means was the food on the Norway bad. Celebrity buffet by far exceded Carnivals and NCL. However MDR, Celebrity was only slightly better than Carnival's IMHO:)

[psbtrvlr]

For buffets (best in this order):

Norwegian

Holland

Royal

Princess

Carnival

 

For main dining rooms:

Princess

Holland

Carnival

Royal and Norwegian (tied for last for me, I certainly didn't go hungry, but was very unimpressed with both)

[cruzeluver]

Without questions, the food on Celebrity has been the best we have had. We have also sailed on Royal, Norwegian and Carnival. None of them have been bad, but Celebrity stands head and shoulders above.

 

On our recent Celebrity Mercury cruise we had an opportunity to chat with the executive chef. He told us that he came to Celebrity after a lot of years working in restaurants and thought a cruise ship would be a great alternative. Several lines made him offers, but he accepted Celebrity's offer as they were the only one that prepares everything from scratch on board. Nothing comes on prepared, frozen or pre-packaged. We were quite impressed.

[bluehenfan]

I went on Carnival two years ago and it was the worst food I ever had! The buffet was a dry whole turkey that they carved for you, an inedible chicken dish and spaghetti and meatballs the tasted like they poured the whole jar of basil in it. The food in the MDR wasn't much better. The waiter told us on the first night (lobster night) that this was the best night for food and for the rest of the cruise it went downhill and he was correct. I love Mexican food and when it came time for the midnight buffet it was all Mexican! I was so excited it looked great! I took a few bites and wondered how could they mess up the food so badly? We were on the Sensation on the short cruise and will never do Carnival again. We usually go on the Disney and are satisfied with the food. It is good buy not great. At least I didn't go hungry like I did on Carnival. We are going on the Liberty of the Seas 4-4-10 and I am very curious how the food will be. It is a week long cruise and I figure I will either gain the usual 5 pounds or loose 10! If you have been on Liberty of the Seas lately please let me know if you enjoyed the food. Thanks Dori

I have been on approx. 5 cruises with DCL and thought the food was awful (except desserts ). I also never liked eating in the Triton DR. The aqua overhead lighting always made any beef dish look grayish green and very unappealing. Next tried RCCL and it was better than DCL but still nothing to write home about. Our next cruise was on NCL and we didn't think the food was any better than DCL. Finally after years of saying we'd never vacation on CCL ship we sailed on the Pride and loved the food and the ship. We're not gourmet diners but we know what we like and the food to us, was really good. Love the warm chocolate melting cake, the soups, the beef....mmmm We also liked the variety at the buffet at lunch time. I've read other comments where people said they didn't care for CCL food - different strokes for different folks, but that's our favorite so far.