Horizon court food - what has happened?

[RealDeal]

I definitely think the buffet food quality has gone since I started cruising on Princess about 5 years ago. I used to love going to the buffet & trying different things, but now we rarely go to the buffet at all due to the decrease in quality. Just my opinion, of course.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Yeah, what's up with the plastic wrapped sandwiches lately? Just like a school cafeteria or vending machine...so un-Princess like. I certainly would expect that on NCL, where I saw bologna and american cheese sandwiches on white bread! C'mon Princess!

All the better to be taken with you in port the next day. :rolleyes:

 

(FWIW...we don't take food off the ship...ever...anywhere)

[j!m]

we were recently on the star and were somewhat diappointed with HC lunches

 

we like a meat sandwich, say ham n cheese, turkey or roast beef and a beer for lunch

 

there were very few days in the month when the carving meat was suitable for making a sandwich

 

the pre made sandwiches were unusual too, one day there was chicken with lettuce, tomato and horse radish?????

 

breakfasts were fine and twice we grabbed a quick dinner there and it too was fine for a buffet

 

but overall am not impressed, celebrity does a much better job

[fud2468]

rdsgrl and KruzPrincess make some good points.

Our first cruise was on Dawn a couple of years ago. In our ignorance we thought that Anytime Dining restricted us to the HC, so that's where we ate. We were able to have a great Mediterranean diet for ourselves, had all we wanted to eat, and gained absolutely no weight! Plus, no valuable time wasted in the dining room.

So, we had the chance to eat more healthily in the buffet and if one dish didn't suit, we could go back and pick out something else. Having gone through the Great Depression we eat what's served to us, so we naturally gained weight on our next cruise (not Princess) when we ate in the dining room.

Ray Mac

[boat tay]

Princess is trying to cut costs this is the way they do it? Crappie food in the buffet.

[MTJSR]

Princess is trying to cut costs this is the way they do it? Crappie food in the buffet.

 

I do not agree, maintenance, upgrades to ships, number of paid crew and stuff like that would go first, if they were trying to cut costs. Whether or not food tastes good is just a matter of crew interest, controls and someone to check quality and refuse allowing the service of anything that does not meet a standard. If I was in charge, half a dozen negative comment cards would be enough for me to see what is going on, and change it.

[PrincessMelody]

This is an interesting thread...Everyone has such different tastes. I have been on five Princess cruises, and ate plenty in the HC each time. I would say that most of the food there is pretty decent...some things really good, and some things really not so good. We always enjoyed eating there though. The salad bar never disappointed. Breakfast was good, especially the Western Omelets made to order. The toast station backlog is annoying. The roast beef carved to order was really good. My main issue I guess would be a bit of repetitiveness throughout the cruise. The desserts were always very good, and on a few occasions on the Crown last time there was a gentleman doing fresh crepes to order, and one evening it was fresh made bread pudding. Delicious!! I'd love to see more of that!!

[irish2009]

I don't know folks, it is 2 years since we sailed on the Diamond. At that time our party of 5 had no complaints regarding HC on our 15 day cruise. Of course, there will be similarites over the length of the cruise. How many variations can you come up with for breakfast and even for lunch. You know bacon, eggs, pancakes, sweet buns etc,etc and the sandwiches ,soups, all kinds of hot dishes if I recall for lunch. I like to mix in some pizza and/orburgers for varitity some days. :cool::):D

[2Oregonians]

Why does anyone opt to eat dinner in the HC when there is a perfectly good dining venue in the MDR's. The food is always cooked to your liking and is always hot and you get served by courses. Just my opinion!!

 

Because we don't like how it takes 2 1/2 hours to eat. We want to grab a bite in 20-30 minutes, then enjoy the pool, hot tub, promenade deck, our tv, our bed (:p) or whatever the evening has to offer. Some people just aren't the fancy schmancy foods type people. JMO.

[UtterCaro]

I'm also wondering why the butter, jam, etc. is with the fruit and not with the toast....

 

Ambient temperature.

 

Caro

[karmacruiser]

I do not agree, maintenance, upgrades to ships, number of paid crew and stuff like that would go first, if they were trying to cut costs. Whether or not food tastes good is just a matter of crew interest, controls and someone to check quality and refuse allowing the service of anything that does not meet a standard. If I was in charge, half a dozen negative comment cards would be enough for me to see what is going on, and change it.

 

I don't know about that. When we were on the CB in 2008, salmon lox were offered every day for breakfast, on our last cruise they were only offered one day. I think that you would be shocked at how much cutting back on a single item saves, wasn't there an airline that saved bunches of money by cutting back on peanuts? I think there is a fine line the cruise lines take with cutting special items and keeping cruising affordable. Now that bigger is better apparently with ships, they need to cut costs but still fill capacity.

[Casshew]

I can't imagine a stale bun at the buffet, they have loads of breads replenished constantly. If I did come across a less than stellar bun, I'd go grab another type, it's really not a big deal.

 

On first couple of cruises with Princess there was always feta on the salad bar, on the last cruise I took, I only saw it once the entire week.

[Denisern2]

It is funny how we are all different I had good food in the HC. I felt the dining room was where the decline in food quality was. First week was ok in the Dr week 2 was beyond bad. Weird huh

[MTJSR]

I don't know about that. When we were on the CB in 2008, salmon lox were offered every day for breakfast, on our last cruise they were only offered one day. I think that you would be shocked at how much cutting back on a single item saves, wasn't there an airline that saved bunches of money by cutting back on peanuts? I think there is a fine line the cruise lines take with cutting special items and keeping cruising affordable. Now that bigger is better apparently with ships, they need to cut costs but still fill capacity.

 

I was referring to a comment that I concluded was a comment on food taste being a result of cost cutting. That is the part I disagree with. Types and variety of food could certainly be a cost cutting maneuver. Just serve spaghetti and bread, they will save millions.

[karmacruiser]

I was referring to a comment that I concluded was a comment on food taste being a result of cost cutting. That is the part I disagree with. Types and variety of food could certainly be a cost cutting maneuver. Just serve spaghetti and bread, they will save millions.

 

Sorry, I misunderstood.

[gertz]

We have no complaints.

[MTJSR]

Sorry, I misunderstood.

 

Not a problem! What I find interesting about the comments each has offered so far, is that it is consistent with the number of negative reviews I was referring to in the original post:eek:

[bec funky]

We we're on the Crown Princess in December. We loved everything about our cruise and will return. The only down side was the buffet food. We kept giving it a try and it was not very tasty. Not very fresh we gave it a few shots. Not to worry we loved the dining room and the international cafe. So not a deal breaker but we we're not impressed with the buffet at all. We have been on many other ships and this was the worse buffet food we have ever had.

[cpj]

We we're on the Crown Princess in December. We loved everything about our cruise and will return. The only down side was the buffet food. We kept giving it a try and it was not very tasty. Not very fresh we gave it a few shots. Not to worry we loved the dining room and the international cafe. So not a deal breaker but we we're not impressed with the buffet at all. We have been on many other ships and this was the worse buffet food we have ever had.

We just got off the Diamond Princess and I have to agree with you the food in the buffet was very bad.

[sarge98]

On the Caribbean Princess last week the wife and I ate dinner in the main dining room ever night mainly because she wanted it. Two of our table mates only ate there once. I talked with him during the week during which time he said they didn't like the crowded dining room and having to sit there about an hour and a half just for dinner. I personally didn't like the menu being, I think, mainly in French and having to guess what the food was. It all comes down to personal choices.:confused:

[Pam in CA]

I think the downfall theme about the Horizon Court buffet is more common from those who are comparing HAL or Celebrity's buffet. Other than that, I have not noticed posts that it was really bad. It is certainly better than RCI's buffet.

I disagree. We were recently on the Coral Princess and the buffet food was excellent. At breakfast, there was a whole section of the buffet area dedicated to making eggs any way you wanted as well as waffles. Not the one guy with two pans over sternos I've seen before. IMHO, it was much better than any HAL buffet I've experienced.

 

Why does anyone opt to eat dinner in the HC when there is a perfectly good dining venue in the MDR's. The food is always cooked to your liking and is always hot and you get served by courses. Just my opinion!!

Everyone has an opinion. There are many reasons why people sometimes like to eat dinner in the buffet. Some people just don't want to change for dinner. If you've spent 12 - 14 hours on a tour in 100+ degree heat, you may not feel like getting changed for dinner in the main dining room. Or, if you're on a longer cruise, eating in the dining room becomes monotonous and just "too much." Quite a few times, I've opted to eat a casual dinner in the buffet where I can serve myself what I want. (FYI, this is MUCH better than HAL's buffet which shuts down 100% at 8pm; if you haven't gotten your dessert yet, you're SOOL.)

[mnbruce]

We were on the CB two weeks ago. Overall I thought the food at the HC was acceptable for a buffet. I'm rather picky and I was always able to find things to eat. The HC was at it's best during breakfast,however I wish Princess had hot food room service like HAL so I did not need to go to the buffet to eat in the morning. The salads,fruits,cheeses, breads and desserts kept me happy. One night though we did decide to skip the dining room and have a light meal in the HC, bland experience that night. My only complaint was the buffet set up. No order to things,people bumping into each other while crossing from station to station.

[kendon]

The current buffet doesn't even resemble the Princess buffet of ten years ago. I understand cut backs and changing the types of food offered. What I don't understand that the presentation has suffered and the food is often not replenished until two tablespoons of crusted food is left in the tray. So unappealing and unprofessional from a food service stand point.

[KruzPrincess]

The current buffet doesn't even resemble the Princess buffet of ten years ago. I understand cut backs and changing the types of food offered. What I don't understand that the presentation has suffered and the food is often not replenished until two tablespoons of crusted food is left in the tray. So unappealing and unprofessional from a food service stand point.

 

Are you thinking of the one big GALA buffet they had once a week? As I recall, the night time buffet on Princess was pretty much snacks ten years ago. They'd do the big GALA buffet once a week and people would line up to take pictures of it. Most everyone had to eat dinner in the dining room. Sometimes, they would have a buffet of sorts on deck associated to the deck party. Ten years ago, I was on the Sea Princess for a Panama Canal cruise and, as I recall, there wasn't much more than pizza and sandwiches in the Horizon Court at night.

 

There's certainly changes to the buffet. I don't disagree, but I think all cruise lines have changes now. For example, they used to have Asparagus Nicoise a few time during lunch on each cruise. One my last cruise, I didn't see it once. Yes, they have wrapped sandwiches that a pre-made. People used to always want something made for them to take with for lunch. Now you can do that. Now, if that was the only thing they offered in the buffet at lunch time I'd be complaining, but it's one tray of sandwiches amongst a bunch of other stuff. Heck, it's buffet food. I've been on a Carnival cruise (Inspiration) where the buffet food was literally inedible and they didn't have anything to speak of at dinner. A later Carnival cruise was better, but not great. My HAL cruise a few years back (2001) didn't have a dinner buffet at all. At least, Princess had something.

[MTJSR]

I am now totally curious why any cruise line would let such a popular eating option get a rather universal thumbs down. Three meals a day, they have to care......don't they?