Princess Food

[Colo Cruiser]

Love the beef wellington! I think we had that on lobster night so I order both :)

 

Yes! Somehow some lobster wound up on my plate too. ;)

[oskidunker]

Has a strange taste.Would be curious as to what casues it. Lower grade of meat? Mthod of cooking? That being said my wife and her cousins love it. I just don't find it as good as a top Notch restaurant. But at least Princess usually gives you a medium rare piece. Most restaurants its hit and miss except the Oregon electric Station in Eugene Oregon.If youa re ever there, don't miss it.

[albertiger]

After my first Princess cruise, CB may 10 repo, the thing that impressed me MOST was the food! Lobster, steaks, escargot, all wonderful. Most impressed with dinner offering in HC, far better than RCI! Quality of fruit was superior to any other cruise line.

This was one of the factors influencing my decision to book with Princess again for next year!:D

[2BeOnaBoat]

On a recent cruise on Caribbean Princess, the quality of food in the main dining room and buffet were signficiantly lower than we experienced on my previous four cruises with Princess. What I was wondering was how much of this is related to issues on the Caribbean versus cost-cutting across the entire line?

 

I have found the food to be 'ok' so far. 'Ok' because for some reason we expect 5 star gourmet food for us and up to 3000 of our closest friends - are we setting expectations too high? :o Aside from unrealistic expectations, the food has been pretty good with an occasional exception.

 

On my last cruise (Alaska May 09) I had 1 pork loin that had been cooked dry - that may actually have been cooked perfect but left under the heat lamp too long. Anyhow, my only complaint was that Baked Alaska was served in the 'Scheduled' dining room but not in the 'Anytime' dining room despite asking 7 nights in a row and having a birthday amongst our little party of 8.

[cruisin36]

I have found the food to be 'ok' so far. 'Ok' because for some reason we expect 5 star gourmet food for us and up to 3000 of our closest friends - are we setting expectations too high? :o Aside from unrealistic expectations, the food has been pretty good with an occasional exception.

 

On my last cruise (Alaska May 09) I had 1 pork loin that had been cooked dry - that may actually have been cooked perfect but left under the heat lamp too long. Anyhow, my only complaint was that Baked Alaska was served in the 'Scheduled' dining room but not in the 'Anytime' dining room despite asking 7 nights in a row and having a birthday amongst our little party of 8.

 

We always do anytime dining. The baked alaska is usually available one night in anytime. They don't usually do the "parade" in anytime. It just isn't practical since the parade is usually done at the end of dinner.

[shashi883]

I have never had a bad meal on Princess.

[jellybungsters]

[Treven]

I was on the Sea Princess last May and I certainly didn't have any problems with the food in the dining room with the exception of the size of the "lobster tail". In the Horizon Court, I did run into some entrees that I couldn't eat; often times the entree was overcooked. I simply got up, got another plate and then got something else.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I did have one dish that I didn't care for on my Coral cruise and that was the Barramundi. Never have had fish on a Princess cruise that smelled bad and tasted the same but this was on time when it did.

Me too. I think it's the only Princess meal I've actually returned for being inedible (I have returned beef for incorrect temperature). But I loved barramundi in Australia, and so was brave on my last Princess cruise and ordered the fish without the sauce. It made all the difference in the world, and was quite good.

[Pam in CA]

On our Coral Princess cruise last January, we found the food to not be as good. The French onion soup was watery, salty and had a huge piece of bread that took up most of the bowl. Other things were "off" as well. We said something to the Maitre d' and the next night, the chef made us French onion soup that was fabulous. From then on, the food seemed to improve.

 

We've found that a lot depends on the chef and the people preparing the food. All of the ships receive essentially the same meat and produce, and recipes, but it's what the chef does with it that can make a difference. We were on one 12-day cruise where the head chef was off for a week of the cruise and the quality and taste weren't up to par. When he got back, it improved significantly.

 

Taste is very subjective but when you get meat that tends to be tough whether it's beef, chicken or pork, and things are over-salted, or sauces too watery, that's the prep. If you experience that, say something!

[Q52]

All of my Princess cruises took place over the previous 7 years. However, my most recent prior to the Caribbean was two summers ago on the Emerald. In between, I cruised on Celebrity and found the food to be signficantly better. Prior to this cruise, I had no complaint with Princess food.

 

I did not mean to be unspecific in my comment regarding food. I just wanted to solicit some opinions from frequent Princess cruises to determine if the problems went beyond the Caribbean. In terms of the MDR my issues were selection, quality of ingredients, and plating. For example, on special nights such as the Captain's or Chef's dinner items such as rack of lamb or lobster were of good quality and well prepared. However, on regular dinners fish portions were small and dry. Normal steaks had little taste. In addition, side dishes tended now to be plain white rice or other items that are innexpensive and low cost. Desserts as well followed a similar pattern. On special nights some desserts were very good. On regular nights many did not seem worth the calories. The pasta remained very good at every meal. Sabatini's also remained very good.

 

Buffet issues were selection, temp., and quality. For example, breakfast selections did not change materially throughout the cruise. Items such as steamship round of beef was very chewy. Many items were not hot. One final strange item. For some reason, chocolate chip cookies were very hard to find, although other types were almost always available. Sail-away buffet, however, with lobster claws was excellent.

[Pam in CA]

For some reason, chocolate chip cookies were very hard to find, although other types were almost always available.

Ahhh... a little-known secret: every day at about 3:30pm in the afternoon, in the International Cafe or Patisserie (depending on whether the ship has an International Cafe), a cart goes around offering fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate still a bit melted. Yum!

[Smellytoes]

I'm on CB right now and this cruise has had it's issues but the food isn't one of them. All eight of us have enjoyed everything we've had.

[oskidunker]

All the pictures I have seen have shown this. Do they tell you in advance? Can you substitute potatoes? I would probably order a plate of Pasta to split if this were the case.

[caber]

You can get just about anything you ask for. There are items on the menu that are there every day if you don`t fancy the choices that day.

[FLACRUISER99]

[quote name='Q52']On a recent cruise on Caribbean Princess, the quality of food in the main dining room and buffet were signficiantly lower than we experienced on my previous four cruises with Princess. What I was wondering was how much of this is related to issues on the Caribbean versus cost-cutting across the entire line?[/quote][SIZE=3][B]How much weight did you loose??:rolleyes:[/B][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]

[Wormy53]

[quote name='oskidunker']All the pictures I have seen have shown this. Do they tell you in advance? Can you substitute potatoes? I would probably order a plate of Pasta to split if this were the case.[/QUOTE]

I am not a rice fan - so I would notice if every entrée was served with basic white rice. This is not the case. The one thing I love about Princess is their fresh pastas. They have a different one with every night. It is hard for me to order anything else (But I do manage on occasion!)

If you do not like the side dish on any particular plate, they will be glad to bring you a plate of the pasta to share.

[CanuckCurlers]

We have had many very nice meals on our cruises and a few duds. Wait staff have always been very good at replacing anything that doesn't seem up to snuff. My son ordered a steak medium rare and found the one delivered to be well done and within minutes it was replaced with one that was to his liking. I had a inedible lamb shank one night while my brother at the same table had one he thoroughly enjoyed. I often change up the sides on my meals if I find it more to my liking and the staff have always been accommodating. Sometimes you just have to speak up. Also some people expect $100.00 meals when that is all they've paid for three meals, accommodations, transportation and entertainment per day.

[RickEk]

[quote name='oskidunker']All the pictures I have seen have shown this. Do they tell you in advance? Can you substitute potatoes? I would probably order a plate of Pasta to split if this were the case.[/QUOTE]

Yes, ask and you shall receive. They'll accommodate most any reasonable request and special requests if you ask 24 hours in advance.

Here's some photos of the food from our recent [I]Sea Princess[/I] voyage, including the Most Traveled Passengers luncheon and Chef's Table...

[url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcekparian/sets/72157624523435307/[/url]

[lopdx]

[quote name='Smellytoes']I'm on CB right now and this cruise has had it's issues but the food isn't one of them. All eight of us have enjoyed everything we've had.[/quote]

Hi, I hope the issues have been resolved, but if you would like to share with us what they were it might be helpful. We are sailing on the CB Oct. 2nd.
Thanks.

[lilacbirman]

Just off the Sapphire. Traditional diner and out of six nights there was only one dish that I didn't like, venison, but my sister liked it.

As for the buffet, breakfasts & lunches were okay but nothing special.

Although our last cruise on Princess was 15 years ago, I still enjoyed most of the sit down meals just like I did back then.

[albertiger]

The Pasta! I fogot to mention the pasta!:eek:
On the second night of my cruise I noticed the kids at the next table being served Spaghetti & Meatballs. Having forgotten that princess was known for it's pasta, I asked my waiter for an appetizer sized plate of the S&MB, Wow!:D
After that I tried a different pasta at every lunch and dinner and was never dissappointed!;)

[iancal]

I have noticed that over the past five years the quality of the food has gone down on all of mainstream lines that we have been on. Princess is no exception. I notice it in the quality of the the meat, the desserts, the cheeses etc. I am not inferring that the food is not acceptable, only that the quality has declined. This is our perception.

[Shifra]

I don't know how anyone can judge a whole cruise line by 1 ship. If I had done that I would have deprived myself of many wonderful Princess cruises. My very first Princess cruise was the Golden, and on that particular cruise I found the food definately lacking in many ways.

Sometimes things happen behind the scenes that we are not aware of. New chef, new galley crew, and so many other things that could happen. I have found the food varies from ship to ship and is always changing. Overall I enjoy the food on Princess, even the buffet.

About that veal......On my last Crown cruise I ordered the veal dish in spite of my waiter trying to steer me away from it. It was so dry, tasteless and impossible to chew. I learned a great lesson. You don't have to order the waiters recommended dish but don't order anything that your waiter implies may not be that good. BTW I have had the veal on other ships where it has been very good.

[mr green]

I came off Coral in May, and the only problem that I had was the poor quality of the soups, however I always make this complaint.
Other than the above, I considered the food to be very very good, with few, if any let downs over the years.

john