Main dining room on the pearl

[woodley]

I have just returned from a 7 day cruise on the pearl and I have to say that the dinners in the main dining room were awful. Food was barely warm, tasteless, and of a poor standard. Service in the dining room was slow, unattentive and lax at best.

 

I have been a loyal cruiser on NCl but this was the worst food I have had on any cruise line. I ended up paying each evening for the speciality restaurants to get a decent meal. The food for breakfast was fine as was the service in the main dining rooms. The buffet for lunch breakfast and dinner was as expected and previously experienced.

 

I am sure many people will say this is a negative post and is down to personal preference but I thought it may be of interest to some especially when I have been on many other NCL cruises and always been happy with the food.

[cruiseat50]

Sorry you had this experience and I don't question your validity at all but was wondering if this was just one night or did you try a couple of nights then decided to go with the specialties? We ate in the MDR a couple of nights and it was fair to good for the 4 of us. I wouldn't blame you for going to the specialties if the 1st night was bad... kinda puts you off from trying again. I know this as we ate in the Blue Lagoon on our 1st cruise and it really was horrible. Now, from what most people say they love the BL so I know I should give it another try as it's always possible to have an off night but haven't been able to yet. I have made myself a promise to try it on the next cruise... whenever that is.

[newmexicoNita]

Sorry you had this experience and I don't question your validity at all but was wondering if this was just one night or did you try a couple of nights then decided to go with the specialties? We ate in the MDR a couple of nights and it was fair to good for the 4 of us. I wouldn't blame you for going to the specialties if the 1st night was bad... kinda puts you off from trying again. I know this as we ate in the Blue Lagoon on our 1st cruise and it really was horrible. Now, from what most people say they love the BL so I know I should give it another try as it's always possible to have an off night but haven't been able to yet. I have made myself a promise to try it on the next cruise... whenever that is.

 

My feelings exactly. I was going to ask him this. I remember eating on the old Sea about a year before they left the fleet. The first night I ordered lamb kabobs, I think it was the only food I have even had on a cruise ship that was awful. From then on the food was good to very good.

 

Yes, OP, food can be a personal choice. Here we have a couple of restaurants that many of our friends think are to die for and we don't like them at all..Again, high jacking this thread, for those in the western part of the USA, a perfect example is IN N Out burgers, most people think there could never be anything as good as those burgers for the money, but you also hear people wondering, what is the big deal?

 

Luckily in 3 weeks and 6 days, we will get to experience the Pearl and judge for ourselves.

 

Nita

[woodley]

We tried the main dining room three times and each time service was poor and the food very poor to unedible. We also tried the blue lagoon and did not enjoy the food we received there. As I stated previously breakfast and lunch in the main dining rooms was good it was just dinner. The quality of the food on the pearl was IMO much poorer than any cruise I have previously taken.

 

I will just have to budget next time to use the speciality restaurants more than the main dining room.

[Ex-Calgarian]

Agreed, food can be a personal choice but there are atttributes, such as "slow and unattentive service" and food that is "barely warm", that are not. Is it possible that the cruise line does this deliberately in an attempt to drive people to the revenue-generating specialty restaurants? Just the conspiracy theoriest in me speaking out.

 

BTW, I am one of those that loves In-n-Out burgers. The burgers taste good and stand on their own merit, no need for a bunch of other stuff to be piled on top, just this person's personal choice.

 

Like Nita, looking forward to checking out the quality of the food in the MDR on board the Pearl in about 26 days.

 

Brenda

[newmexicoNita]

We tried the main dining room three times and each time service was poor and the food very poor to unedible. We also tried the blue lagoon and did not enjoy the food we received there. As I stated previously breakfast and lunch in the main dining rooms was good it was just dinner. The quality of the food on the pearl was IMO much poorer than any cruise I have previously taken.

 

I will just have to budget next time to use the speciality restaurants more than the main dining room.

 

Woodley, I am certainly not trying to dismiss what you are saying, especially if you tried the MDR three times, I would say, I am a little surprised because Pearl usually get good reviews for everything including the food. It is rare to hear someone stay they didn't like Blue Lagoon for the type of dining it is supposed to be..I know last week as has been the case the last 3 weeks, it is spring break and the ship was sold out. Maybe that had a little to do with your experience since you haven't had problems with NCL dining in the past. I know years ago we decided never to eat out on Easter or Mothers' day, after experiencing bad service and food due to crowds on those days. It took several years to decide, but we have stuck with it and never go out after church on either day. I hope we have a different report when we return.

 

Nita

[woodley]

Nita, I hope your report from the pearl regarding the dining room is good too as we are seriously thinking of trying a new cruise line for our next cruise.

 

Just to give an example of what we experienced in blue lagoon, spinich dip was watery with sliced up mushrooms in it and no flavor of cheese. The fish was brown not white and chewy, I asked what fish it was and the waitress told me it was Cod. In my experience cod is white and flakey. The fries were ok. We only ate there once as the food in the buffet was of much better quality and available at the times we wanted to eat.

 

All the pay restaurants were of good quality and we received very good service. We ate at four of them and enjoyed them all.

 

I know the cruise was sold out but I have travelled on sold out cruises prior to this one and never had a complaint about the food and service before.

 

I do hope that the chef had an off week and will be back to the usual standard we have come to expect but I am also concerned that quality and service may be on the decline and perhaps it is time to look elsewhere.

[zqvol]

I have just returned from a 7 day cruise on the pearl and I have to say that the dinners in the main dining room were awful. Food was barely warm, tasteless, and of a poor standard. Service in the dining room was slow, unattentive and lax at best.

 

I have been a loyal cruiser on NCl but this was the worst food I have had on any cruise line. I ended up paying each evening for the speciality restaurants to get a decent meal. The food for breakfast was fine as was the service in the main dining rooms. The buffet for lunch breakfast and dinner was as expected and previously experienced.

 

I am sure many people will say this is a negative post and is down to personal preference but I thought it may be of interest to some especially when I have been on many other NCL cruises and always been happy with the food.

 

We were on the Pearl the first week of March and only ate in the MDR once just for the reasons that you are stating. I rally do not understand why the service is so lax. I think that that is what causes some of the problem with the food, because it sits too long before it gets served.

[scchasgal]

We were on the Pearl the first week of March and only ate in the MDR once just for the reasons that you are stating. I rally do not understand why the service is so lax. I think that that is what causes some of the problem with the food, because it sits too long before it gets served.

 

We noticed on our Pearl cruise it made a huge difference which MDR you went to. Our problems arose in Summer Palace with slow service and lukewarm food. Indigo the service and temp was much better. Go figure since they had further to go to get the food (as per our server in Indigo).

[NicksPhilly]

We have been on 3 NCL cruises,and we eat in the MDR's less(3 nights),and in the specialty places more.

We also were on the Pearl,and we thought that the food was Ok,nothing to write home about.

We always eat at the Italian one,and eat the Oso Buco.

You can not go wrong with any of the specialty places IMO.

We agree that they dummy the food down in the MDR's,or the food sits under the heat lamp way too long.:mad:

We are doing a Princess cruise soon,and DW wants to eat in MDR every night,as I like the Specialty gigs way more.;)

I guess We will know a bit more after a Princess cruise.

[newmexicoNita]

Nita, I hope your report from the pearl regarding the dining room is good too as we are seriously thinking of trying a new cruise line for our next cruise.

 

Just to give an example of what we experienced in blue lagoon, spinich dip was watery with sliced up mushrooms in it and no flavor of cheese. The fish was brown not white and chewy, I asked what fish it was and the waitress told me it was Cod. In my experience cod is white and flakey. The fries were ok. We only ate there once as the food in the buffet was of much better quality and available at the times we wanted to eat.

 

All the pay restaurants were of good quality and we received very good service. We ate at four of them and enjoyed them all.

 

I know the cruise was sold out but I have travelled on sold out cruises prior to this one and never had a complaint about the food and service before.

 

I do hope that the chef had an off week and will be back to the usual standard we have come to expect but I am also concerned that quality and service may be on the decline and perhaps it is time to look elsewhere.

 

yep, last time I heard cod was white....at least you did enjoy the sur charge dining rooms. We intend on eating 4 nights in the MDRs and 3 in the specialty ones. We are considering, the Italian, Le Bistro (always) and maybe Cagney's. If not Cagney's we will do the Mexican one cause we have 1/2 off..

 

I will let everyone know and will be as objective as I can...In all honesty we didn't think the food on our last 2 cruises have been as good as years past, not just NCL but other lines have taken a tumble.

Nita

[Darthdaddy]

My family and I were on same cruise as zqvol and Nick. We ate in the MDR's each night. 5 people ordering at least 4 different entrees times 7 nights = at least 28 separate samplings. I give most a "B." A couple rated a B+, but others were no better than a C. There were no "A" meals (which I accept).

 

I had a ravioli with cheese sauce. The sauce resembled nothing more than cheez whiz. Nick would recognize it as the goop we put on cheesesteak sandwiches up here in PA. Another night I had something (some type of fish, I believe) served on a bed of cheese grits. There was almost no flavor to it at all.

 

Oddly, were received better service in Summer Palace than Indigo. In other posts I have described the utterly indifferent service we received one night in Indigo. It wasn't terrible, but I expect more than what a high school kid can provide at Appleby's.

 

Assuming there is an effort to push traffic into the specialty restaurants, NCL would be smart to go with the "Ticket to Dine" plan. Poor service and or food quality runs a high risk of driving business right off the ship and over to the competition.

 

I remain satisfied with the overall value we receive from NCL, but I cannot agree with those who refuse to recognize shortcomings in certain areas.

[DaisyL]

I will let everyone know and will be as objective as I can...In all honesty we didn't think the food on our last 2 cruises have been as good as years past, not just NCL but other lines have taken a tumble.

Nita

 

Nita, I agree. Last year on the Jewel the MDR meals were not impressive, but the specialty were excellent and for the first time ever, we dined in the buffet for dinner and it was very good. So for us it was 2 nights in the MDRs, 1 night Italian, 1 night Cagney's, 1 night Asian, and (surprise) 4 nights buffet. Oh, and the Blue Lagoon for lunch every day... excellent.

 

BTW, we just cruised HAL (for the first time) and for all the raving they get on CC for their dining, we were not impressed. Next 2 cruises we're back to NCL.

[zqvol]

We noticed on our Pearl cruise it made a huge difference which MDR you went to. Our problems arose in Summer Palace with slow service and lukewarm food. Indigo the service and temp was much better. Go figure since they had further to go to get the food (as per our server in Indigo).

 

Our problems were in Indigo.

[woodley]

We experienced bad service and poor food from both dining rooms.

[mlmagic]

Sorry you had a bad experience...I too just returned from the Pearl yesterday and although I only ate in the MDR 1 time, I thought it was good. Overall I thought the food was yummy on the whole ship. Of course there were those few things I tried that I did not like, but I thought it was all good for the most part. We ate at a couple specialty rest. and Cagney's was exceptional the night we dined there. I thought the Pearl was a beautiful, clean and friendly ship, As a 1st time cruiser of NCL, I would not hesitate to book again...