Quality of food vs Carnival

[ROCruiser]

Another vote for Carnival. Their choices at the buffet were massive and not the same everyday. I did enjoy the french fries on the Gem though.

[oyme]

I've read every single reply and appreciate all of your input. Thanks so much! You've all given me much to think about and upon some reflection - maybe all were similar in uality but maybe Carnival's selections appealed less to our palates. In which case NCL will still be to our liking. :) Thanks again. :)

[spacewoman]

Ok we are planning our next 2 cruises for 2011 and my husband's favorite part of a cruise is the food, esp. in the MDR but in all of the ships dining areas. We've only been on 3 cruises so far so we are still less experienced than a lot of you guys, especially since we haven't cruised the same cruise line twice yet... hopefully that will be changing in 2011.

 

Anyways, we loved NCL's and Princess' food but Carnival just wasn't as good food-wise in our opinion. However, we haven't sailed NCL since 2005! Is the food still great? I'm sure it's gone downhill a tad in the past few years. I see so many Carnival groupies saying that the food (specifically on Norwegian's Spirit, that's the ship I'm reading reviews on but I'm asking about all NCL ships really) doesn't stack up to Carnival. Is this true, in your opinion?

 

Thanks in advance! :o

005

As someone who had not sailed NCL since 2005 - I can add my 2 cents. We sailed the Jewel in September. Far above our expectations. Loved the food. Loved the entertainment. While food is very subjective, there were no meals that disappointed us. Wonderful cruise.

[PlayTheAces]

We haven't cruised Carnival for quite awhile, so any comparison I would give would really be unfair, but I would pretty much agree with what you are saying. NCL does a great job with lox and bagels and eggs bene. I know some people prefer Carnival, most of my clients lean toward NCL.

 

Nita

 

Both lines have their attractions, and both have their disadvantages. We wouldn't hesitate to book either one. We simply enjoy the good each has to offer and ignore the not-so-good. ;)

[CLASEN]

I agree, Carnival is much better than Norwegian when it comes to the food. I thought the food and service was terrible on Norwegian. Nothing beats Celebrity when it comes to food and servce!

[topguy]

When it comes to food, it's all good to me. I'm really not that picky. I've only cruised Carnival and all of it tasted fine to me. I'm taking my first NCL cruise in Jan 2011 and I'm sure that I won't spit anything out on that one either. I think that it would be really hard to compare unless you had both plates of food from the different cruise lines in front of you at the same time to taste. That is unless the food was absolutely horrible on that specific cruise line.

[spacewoman]

We heard Chef Andreas (can't remember his last name) had been brought on the Jewel to "straighten it out" Maybe he's off for vacation now???

 

We found hot foods hot cold foods cold. We ate 1 dinner in Tsars, and most of our breakfasts in Tsars. Lunch when we boarded at Tsars. Fussy husband loved the split pea soup. I started with a pancetta and goat cheese quiche, followed with baked tilapia and peach cobbler for dessert. All very good.

 

I prefer the layout of NCL's buffet over Carnival because it seemed to reduce the lines, but would give a larger selection availability to Carnival. I always enjoy taste of nations with Carnival because I like to try different food.

 

The Jewel's Blue Lagoon is rather convenient. It's open 24 hours so you can hit it anytime. That's nice especially if you've been out on an excursion and they've closed the MDR and buffet to prep for dinner. My husband loves the meatloaf, although they only serve it lunchtime.

 

As everyone says, food is so subjective. I loved Princess' selection of seafood (crab legs, lobster claws, two or 3 fish selections lunch and dinner). Princess had the best ice cream but you had to pay for it ($1.50 back then).

 

We don't pick a cruise line based on food. We know we going to eat and we know we'll find something to eat. We pick by the embarkation point, then where we want to go and who is giving us the best price. As long as the coast guard is not plucking me from a lifeboat, I'm having a fantastic cruise!!!

[rednose83]

IMO, the food on both are like attending a cheap wedding. Sometimes it's decent, sometimes it's edible, sometimes (looking at you Sky) it's not even edible.

 

I've only been on two NCL cruises. I thought the food on the Spirit was some of the best I've had on a ship. The Sky was HORRIBLE.

 

With Carnival, we've had good food on the Imagination and the Legend. The Sensation and Spirit were passable. And the Freedom was downright disgusting.

 

Of course, it seems to be the luck of the draw. Others have reported very different findings.

[98Charlie]

IMO, the food on both are like attending a cheap wedding. Sometimes it's decent, sometimes it's edible, sometimes (looking at you Sky) it's not even edible.

 

I've only been on two NCL cruises. I thought the food on the Spirit was some of the best I've had on a ship. The Sky was HORRIBLE.

 

With Carnival, we've had good food on the Imagination and the Legend. The Sensation and Spirit were passable. And the Freedom was downright disgusting.

 

Of course, it seems to be the luck of the draw. Others have reported very different findings.

 

We've found that you can sail on the same ship a few months a part and get different opinions of the food. An example:

 

We sailed Carnival Valor in late Nov. a few years ago and found the food in the MDR ok, but nothing really great. Sailed the Valor again in April and it was like we were on a different ship, the food was so good!

 

Found out the ship had changed head chefs between the two sailings. Menu items were the same on both sailings but the quality and flavor of the menu items on the second sailing was beyond compare.

 

Dianne

[newmexicoNita]

We've found that you can sail on the same ship a few months a part and get different opinions of the food. An example:

 

We sailed Carnival Valor in late Nov. a few years ago and found the food in the MDR ok, but nothing really great. Sailed the Valor again in April and it was like we were on a different ship, the food was so good!

 

Found out the ship had changed head chefs between the two sailings. Menu items were the same on both sailings but the quality and flavor of the menu items on the second sailing was beyond compare.

 

Dianne

 

of course I totally agree with you on this.

 

Nita

[98Charlie]

of course I totally agree with you on this.

 

Nita

 

It's amazing how often we agree on things, Nita.:D

 

Dianne