:( Well Bye bye Carnival :(

[lmen579]

This was our second time on the Dream, we notice that the food wasn't as good as the first time. Usually cold, meats were under cooked even the potato's weren't cooked. The best place to get something good was the pasta bar (fresh & hot), burrito bar and mong. grill but only open during lunch time. Grill is open till 6pm can ask them to throw the dogs back on the grill and burn them.. yes, the buns were sort of hard. The deli was good too Desserts were a hit or miss.

Staff wasn't as friendly as last cruise either.

The lay out is horrible. Watch from inside the store the crowds buying those one day specials--even saw some throw them into their bags. Would of this stop me from cruising NO.. going on the Dream again????

[sjn911]

I had the trout two weeks ago on the Splendor. It was very dry; no fish should be that dry. In fact, I ended up choking on the fish and had to leave the dining room because it got stuck in my throat and I couldn't breath. Yes, I realize that is a once in a million event but it certainly has turned me off of the fish on the ship.

 

I mentioned on another thread that I believe that the quality of food is dependent upon the head chef for each ship. I suspect that The Dream could use a bit of shifting around some personnel. I cruised the Dream in January and the food was horrible. If it didn't have a name on the menu, I would have called it "mystery meat." In May I cruised HAL and had the best meals ever on a cruise ship. (I will be booking HAL more often in the future) Then we cruised Splendor in October and the food was good, not great, but far, far better than The Dream.

 

Hopefully "The Beards" will get enough feed-back from these boards and correct the problem that The Dream is encountering.

 

You have my empathy....love trout..but only eat it at home and it has been forever..since i caught, kept and cooked. When a kid we fished all the time..poor mom cooked even for bfast and I got a bone stuck in my tonsil and a 45 minute drive to ER with my dad mad at me...a memory from hell..not uncommon or weird at all to choke and trout is terrible for bones, gee it almost seems like a money saving thing to serve it to me..but as iTouch said..we all have such different tastes and different parts of country and world and likes and dislkes...cost access and with farm raised fish and all..i just don't know.....sarah

[Kdram]

Although food is one of the major reasons we cruise, in addition to relaxation, visiting different places, etc., we have not had a cruise bad enough to wanting to avoid the cruiseline completely. Unlike most posts on the Carnival message board...go figure ;), DH and I thought the food was a bit better on Royal Caribbeans than Carnival, but that is just personal preference/taste. We had cruised Carnival, Royal Caribbeans, Celebrity and going on a Princess cruise the first time next year and will continue to do so when the price is right...:). Overall, I think food on most ships are pretty comparable, and some cruiselines may be a bit better but not by much...at least not enough for us to avoid certain cruiseline.

[CrusinAgain]

Just Got off of the Dream on Saturday and even though we did have a great trip, the boat is beautiful, service is good (not GREAT) but all the things said about the food is true. When we cruised a few years ago every night we were so impressed with the dishes that we tried but, this cruise we actually sent some back, not one dish was very good and some of them were actually down right gross. I had the Prime Rib one night it was ALL fat a couple of nights later someone else in our party had it and experienced the same thing. Most of the meals just were not good at all. Even some of the staff were not friendly at all!! This makes as sad because our last cruise was FANTASTIC!! Next we are going to try NCL of Royal Caribbean. :(

 

Food changes from ship to ship as to who makes it. Changing a whole cruiseline due to food on one ship isn't going to tell you anything about the food on the whole cruiseline. We have had good food and not so good on Princess and good food on both the Miracle and Imagination on Carnival, poor food on NCL, good food on Royal. But you need to try this for yourself to see. All the cruiselines have made cutbacks, some worse than others. Good luck with your next cruise.

[scgamecock]

Bye! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

[treasure4two]

Just Got off of the Dream on Saturday and even though we did have a great trip, the boat is beautiful, service is good (not GREAT) but all the things said about the food is true. When we cruised a few years ago every night we were so impressed with the dishes that we tried but, this cruise we actually sent some back, not one dish was very good and some of them were actually down right gross. I had the Prime Rib one night it was ALL fat a couple of nights later someone else in our party had it and experienced the same thing. Most of the meals just were not good at all. Even some of the staff were not friendly at all!! This makes as sad because our last cruise was FANTASTIC!! Next we are going to try NCL of Royal Caribbean. :(

 

 

**

I left HAL and will never go back after 3 cruises with them and it all boiled down to bad service from the upper level crew-bartenders(they have alot more control than you think) to front desk on up. The others, the ones I call 'worker bees' did a great job , but problem handling on HAL, in my experiences, is handled by ignoring the problem then trying to address them.

[SE NC]

I was wondering when I read the first post when I would see the first person who just wrote "Bye" as their post. Someone always does this when someone says they had a bad cruise and are going to try a different cruise line. It's pointless, adds nothing to the thread, and frankly comes across as a little rude. Please if all you have to post is "Bye", don't bother posting at all.

 

Now...now...take a deep breathe.....relax.....again, take a deep breathe...:D

[andrzej5914]

We just did a cruise on CCL, my first, hers second. She was really disappointed, I was okay with it, but also somewhat disappointed.

 

Food - way below average

 

Cruise Director and entertainment crew (not the show performers) - sucked big time.

 

The ship was in good shape, the stateroom was okay, service was good.

 

I would try another CCL cruise, but my SO said no. We did 2 RC cruises together and she wants to go back to them. I also did 2 Celebrity cruises solo and I would go back in a heartbeat.

[H82seaUgo]

I am chuckling at the thread about can we just be postive , why dont we just all run around with hands over ears going LALALALALALALALALA , I'm not a basher of any line I try to make the best out of any situation , but I think we are living in a pipe dream if we think cruising of today is anything like it was 5 -10 years ago. Now thats not saying cruising isnt a GREAT vacation just think its a lot different than it was and the cruise companys are doing what they have to make money. But I am not going to post this on that thread I am not going to pee on their cheerios:):)

 

i saw that thread, and thought why don't they all just put on their rose colored glasses.

 

still waiting for someone to post something meaningful there, as opposed to "the fold in the napkins were absolutely perfect".

[sparks1093]

i saw that thread, and thought why don't they all just put on their rose colored glasses.

 

still waiting for someone to post something meaningful there, as opposed to "the fold in the napkins were absolutely perfect".

 

I live for perfectly folded napkins:cool:.

[H82seaUgo]

I was on the same ship and they were sailing into a 45 mph wind and I was told stablizers dont help withe rocky, it has to be a side to side motion and this was just bumpy. We were sailing almost straight into the wind. Maybe some tech guy can explain to you why stablizers dont help with bumpy like that.

 

did someone on board tell you that they were, in fact, not deployed, and this is what you were told why they were not, as well as inform you of the wind speed and direction the entire trip?

[firefly333]

did someone on board tell you that they were, in fact, not deployed, and this is what you were told why they were not, as well as inform you of the wind speed and direction the entire trip?

 

My point was why assume they were not utlizing the stablizers.. maybe there was a reason. whereas you assume every criticism is valid and well informed.

 

We dont know. btw the worst was at 3 am and it was dark out. I was up because my far forward cabin on lido everything was squeaking and I couldnt sleep thru the ship movement. I can verify the ship was moving around quite a bit and tipping forward and back. .. but dont stablizers help more with side to side movement was my question...

 

I guess you dont know, just want to criticize my point.

[Socref124]

Just Got off of the Dream on Saturday and even though we did have a great trip, the boat is beautiful, service is good (not GREAT) but all the things said about the food is true. When we cruised a few years ago every night we were so impressed with the dishes that we tried but, this cruise we actually sent some back, not one dish was very good and some of them were actually down right gross. I had the Prime Rib one night it was ALL fat a couple of nights later someone else in our party had it and experienced the same thing. Most of the meals just were not good at all. Even some of the staff were not friendly at all!! This makes as sad because our last cruise was FANTASTIC!! Next we are going to try NCL of Royal Caribbean. :(

 

Sorry you had a bad experience. Food on Carnival ia about the same as on RCL, imho. Food on NCL was much better, but that was 8 years ago. Service on NCL was horrible, but that was also 8 years ago. I would try Princess and RCL before NCL, but that's just me. Eventually, I do want to give NCL another try though.

[frito58]

My point was why assume they were not utlizing the stablizers.. maybe there was a reason. whereas you assume every criticism is valid and well informed.

 

We dont know. btw the worst was at 3 am and it was dark out. I was up because my far forward cabin on lido everything was squeaking and I couldnt sleep thru the ship movement. I can verify the ship was moving around quite a bit and tipping forward and back. .. but dont stablizers help more with side to side movement was my question...

 

I guess you dont know, just want to criticize my point.

 

 

Yes if you are going foward to back stabilzers dont help with that , just side to side and I saw something once that said when they were deployed and it would stand to reason the ships takes X amount of more fuel because of the resistance . No one will know for the most part if and when they put them out , my bet it is if it saves money they wont if they can get by with it .

[H82seaUgo]

My point was why assume they were not utlizing the stablizers.. maybe there was a reason. whereas you assume every criticism is valid and well informed.

 

We dont know. btw the worst was at 3 am and it was dark out. I was up because my far forward cabin on lido everything was squeaking and I couldnt sleep thru the ship movement. I can verify the ship was moving around quite a bit and tipping forward and back. .. but dont stablizers help more with side to side movement was my question...

 

I guess you dont know, just want to criticize my point.

 

actually, i was wondering why you were discounting the poster who was on your sailing,

 

worse now, finding it was based on fairy dust.

[firefly333]

Yes if you are going foward to back stabilzers dont help with that , just side to side and I saw something once that said when they were deployed and it would stand to reason the ships takes X amount of more fuel because of the resistance . No one will know for the most part if and when they put them out , my bet it is if it saves money they wont if they can get by with it .

 

I was on Conquest once with the same problem and more knowledgeable people told me the difference between pitch and roll and that pitch (caused when we were sailing into the wind) the stabilizers dont help.

 

this was on our crazies conquest cruise we had so much pitch.. this on triumph was more minor, but noticeable. Just mostly wind, not rain.

 

I was hoping someone who knew the more technical explanations would step in. This was definitely pitch, as my cabin was going up and down, not side to side.

 

It settled down some time while we were at lunch the last seaday finally and after that was fine. We were like a sea saw from early in the morning until lunch though. I had been loving my high deck Lido cabin until then. :D .. ok still loved it .. but it was a little too tippy for a while during the night. Definetely not side to side though.

[halos]

It's okay to cruise other lines. I don't understand why you felt you needed to start a whole thread and advertise your dislike. Move on, life is too short. :rolleyes:

 

It's Cruise Critic...'advertising dislikes' is definitely something that can be done here as well as likes.

 

No one wants to hear anything bad.

I think they should change the name of this web site to 'Ostrichville'

[vegadog2]

Just Got off of the Dream on Saturday and even though we did have a great trip, the boat is beautiful, service is good (not GREAT) but all the things said about the food is true. When we cruised a few years ago every night we were so impressed with the dishes that we tried but, this cruise we actually sent some back, not one dish was very good and some of them were actually down right gross. I had the Prime Rib one night it was ALL fat a couple of nights later someone else in our party had it and experienced the same thing. Most of the meals just were not good at all. Even some of the staff were not friendly at all!! This makes as sad because our last cruise was FANTASTIC!! Next we are going to try NCL of Royal Caribbean. :(

 

I do understand the problem with food quality.Please don't just blame the cruise line.The whole food industry has had large price increases.The cruise lines are just simply responding to the over all problem of having to feed a ship full of people great food at a low price.It just doesn't work.The cruise lines have to raise the prices to justify food pricing.

[frito58]

I was on Conquest once with the same problem and more knowledgeable people told me the difference between pitch and roll and that pitch (caused when we were sailing into the wind) the stabilizers dont help.

 

this was on our crazies conquest cruise we had so much pitch.. this on triumph was more minor, but noticeable. Just mostly wind, not rain.

 

I was hoping someone who knew the more technical explanations would step in. This was definitely pitch, as my cabin was going up and down, not side to side.

 

It settled down some time while we were at lunch the last seaday finally and after that was fine. We were like a sea saw from early in the morning until lunch though. I had been loving my high deck Lido cabin until then. :D .. ok still loved it .. but it was a little too tippy for a while during the night. Definetely not side to side though.

 

Oh boy I hope our next cruise is not like that we booked the lido deck I promised our travel mates it would better than the last cruise . we were Empress port side Aft the last couple of balcony cabins , now it didnt bother me but they thought it moved to much , so this cuise we are dead center but I wanted Lido , I know empress would jave been a safer choice but i do the booking and I get what I want lol .

[firefly333]

Oh boy I hope our next cruise is not like that we booked the lido deck I promised our travel mates it would better than the last cruise . we were Empress port side Aft the last couple of balcony cabins , now it didnt bother me but they thought it moved to much , so this cuise we are dead center but I wanted Lido , I know empress would jave been a safer choice but i do the booking and I get what I want lol .

 

I was within half a dozen cabins of the very front of the ship on Lido, thats why my cabin was tipping forward so much into the wind.. very noticeable then .. but great location. I love Lido. If you are not that far forward, then it should be fine.

[bobmal99]

You do realize that if your Prime Rib was

one big hunk of fat, you can always just have

them take it back, and ask for another one...

 

Not a big deal, if you don't like what you

get served, get another one..

 

 

It is about luck.

My prime rib was fine..my Dh's was one big hunk of fat.

I will say that any beef/lamb we ordered during the week was cooked PERFECTLY....just to our specifications.

[big_duck]

You do realize that if your Prime Rib was

one big hunk of fat, you can always just have

them take it back, and ask for another one...

 

Not a big deal, if you don't like what you

get served, get another one..

 

Much easier to let it go then whine on Cruise Critic when you get back.

 

Everyone knows that is the way to get on board improvements. :rolleyes:

[iceleven]

I do understand the problem with food quality.Please don't just blame the cruise line.The whole food industry has had large price increases.The cruise lines are just simply responding to the over all problem of having to feed a ship full of people great food at a low price.It just doesn't work.The cruise lines have to raise the prices to justify food pricing.

 

But what is their excuse for bringing out cold food that is supposed to be hot and vice verse? Economy is not a good answer for that. That's just bad restaurant management.

[finsupcruiser]

I am a Platinum cruiser with 2 more booked cruises. After those are completed we are taking a break from CCL.

 

We ahve enjoyed our cruises in the past but CCL has become to stress filled. 3 of the 4 in our group are smokers and have no problem with new rules about smoking in cabins(never did) and one side of ship smokin etc.

 

However now it seems CCL changes the rules without notifying anyone ie Liberty. We are rules followers but changing rules in midstream makes no sense.

 

We will return to NCL and HAL in the future. If they alter their rules at a moments notice--we have many spots we love as land vacations.

[Sashalanda]

Sailed for the second time on RCCL's Liberty of the Seas this past summer, July 2011. The food was downright awful; and I mean horrible, not even palatable in the MDR. It was like eating bland, overcooked, poor quality food that would be served in a hospital cafeteria. Three years ago on the same ship, the food was much better. I spoke to one of the servers and she told me "confidentially" that many other cruisers had complained about the quality (or lack of) in the MDR and that we should make sure we mentioned in on our comment cards (we did). We ended up paying to eat three times in the gourmet restaurants where the food was much, much better.

 

That being said, our experience with Carnival is that we have NEVER had bad food. The food is decent quality, not excellent or gourmet but definitely there is a wide selection to choose from and you can always order something else if you don't like your first choice.

 

We were also like you that we had excellent food on our cruises with carnival but this last one 11-19-2011 was a vast difference. Mostly with no seasonings and hot food was served cold and cold food served slightly warm. The spinach dip was a great example. It had decent flavor but there was a marble size chunk of frozen something in the middle. It was runny and cold..so assuming that chunk was cheese but hubs and I both passed on trying it.

The prime rib was wafer thin but tasted good. The veges and small potatoes on the plates were cold everytime with no seasonings. I thankfully asked for baked potato every night. Our waiters were tops so no way was I going to tell them but meant to on comment card. I realized as we left that we never got one. We got the slip to fill out for items we bought but no comment card.

 

I say cook cheaper menu but better tasting. Problem with paying for an upgrade meal...they have no incentive to fix the bad meals. Plus on the shorter cruises that is not an option I dont think..I may have missed it though.

I see some almost take it personally when someone airs a complaint. I would want to know so I would be prepared and I would read all the comments but its not a personal affront. I love carnival and will probably sail her many times but I just hope I don't have to pack a lunch. The food in MDR was barely edible at times. The desserts thank God are still yummm.