Disappointed with Carnival...Will I like Princess?

[NovCruisin]

DH and I recently went on the Carnival Magic and were not impressed. Our biggest disappointment was the food :(

 

We do want to try Princess but we are afraid that since they are owned by Carnival Corp., they may have the same quality of standards as Carnival.

 

While I understand that Princess is a step up from Carnival, I do not want to pay substantially more money for Princess and not see a huge difference in food.

 

Any advice? Comments? It would be appreciated :D

[Kamloops50]

DH and I recently went on the Carnival Magic and were not impressed. Our biggest disappointment was the food :(

 

We do want to try Princess but we are afraid that since they are owned by Carnival Corp., they may have the same quality of standards as Carnival.

 

While I understand that Princess is a step up from Carnival, I do not want to pay substantially more money for Princess and not see a huge difference in food.

 

Any advice? Comments? It would be appreciated :D

 

People impression of food is very subjective . If you gave a little more info on what you didn't like then you'll better replies. Overall food quality depends

on the cruise line not the parent Company . As a rule we have food the pretty good and plenty off . On RCI we found somethings ran out half way thru a 7 day cruise.

[chefim]

Food is really very subjective, and I speak from experience as a retired chef. For me, all cruise lines are serving what I call "glorified banquet" food. Keep in mind that they are cooking for in excess of 2,000 - 3,000 people daily. With that said, some do better than others.

 

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Princess, and the DW has done Carnival. She hated Carnival.

 

Princess is currently our line of choice, and I personally prefer the food on Princess to Royal Caribbean. I am sure there are others that will disagree.

 

I am sure that you will be presently surprised at the difference between Carnival and Princees, eventhough they are owned by the same company.

[Astro Flyer]

Food is really very subjective, and I speak from experience as a retired chef. For me, all cruise lines are serving what I call "glorified banquet" food. Keep in mind that they are cooking for in excess of 2,000 - 3,000 people daily. With that said, some do better than others.

 

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Princess, and the DW has done Carnival. She hated Carnival.

 

Princess is currently our line of choice, and I personally prefer the food on Princess to Royal Caribbean. I am sure there are others that will disagree.

 

I am sure that you will be presently surprised at the difference between Carnival and Princees, eventhough they are owned by the same company.

I feel exactly the same way & nice to know that a chef also feels the same way. ;)

 

How the OP will compare the Carnival & Princess food is subjective however Princess has rarely disappointed me & provides the best cruise experienced within my budget. :)

[simok99]

Food is great on Princess. Never had a bad meal yet;)

[SAC69]

I have my first Princess cruise coming up this Christmas but I would hope the food would be at the same level as Celebrity. I was on the Eclipse in March and I thought the food was quite superior to Carnival. The OP has a Celebrity cruise coming up so they can make that comparison.

[LarryL]

As Chefim has said, food is a very subjective topic. We have only sailed on Princess and Royal Caribbean and have found the food to be very good, for the most part. Some of that may have to do with delivery and presentation. Sometimes the ambiance can enhance your dining experience and both seem to deliver in that department.

 

We are not food connoisseurs by any stretch but we do very much enjoy the degustation menus that some high end restaurants have to offer. Princess and RCL food does not come close to that but I think they work to acheive the best they can with so many passengers to feed.

 

My guess if you are looking for a particular dining experience, you may want to try Seabourn, Silversea, Oceana or other similar lines that are a little more high end.

 

Larry

[geocruiser]

I think the best fod we had on a Princess ship was on Emerald. It was better than what we had on our two Azamara cruises!

[TracieABD]

Like others have stated, food is subjective. I liked some of the food better on Princess over HAL. My mother has been on Princess, HAL, and NCL. Hated the food on NCL, and like HAL better than Princess. :)

[roudy1]

As the others have said...dining and food is subjective. However, we have sailed with Carnival three times and will do so again in 2014 with a group we belong to and have always had a fun cruise.

 

Having said that, we enjoyed our two Princess cruises much more...the service, the ship decor, and a more "quiet" ship is what we like.

 

Each cruise line is run independently of the others even when they are owned by the same parent company.

 

 

Happy cruising.

Char

[NovCruisin]

Thanks everyone for your replies!! I do understand food is very subjective and while I in no way expect gormet meals I was underwhelmed with Carnival, but thought RCCL was very good (again not anywhere near five star)

[Matcodixon]

I have not been on Carnival but my wife has. She reported that the food was not as good as other cruises we have been on. I very much enjoyed the food on the RCI cruise we took and have loved all the food on the Princess cruises. We always eat dinner in the MDR and most often lunch at the buffet.

That said, there have been many great reports about the Crown Grill and Sabatini's where ther is a small upgrade fee. The untimate balcony dinner has had some excllent reviews also. There are several other food venues including Pizza, Pub lunch, International Cafe.

Many choices on Princess. I am sure that you will find one that suites you.

[zahav1]

I haven't been on a Carnival cruise so I can't compare. However, if you have anything special you like to eat, or any special request, Princess is always happy to oblige. The waiter, headwaiter, maitre D, etc. all want to please you. We've had many special requests and they always came through.

[goingsailing]

My daughter and I have been home now less then two weeks from our Carnival cruise to Alaska, I can tell you I too was very disappointed in the food. We only found three things that were tasty. We have been on Princess twice now, and both times have really enjoyed the things offered at meal times. I loved the pizza on the Coral Princess!

[mr green]

I have just answered you on HAL, and IMO the food on Princess is a tad better than on HAL, which, was more thn acceptable.

 

john

[Pam in CA]

I have just answered you on HAL, and IMO the food on Princess is a tad better than on HAL, which, was more thn acceptable.

I agree. Plus, I think the food on Princess is substantially better than Celebrity. You can find good and bad food on all cruise lines but on average, I think Princess is among the best. I like that if I want something prepared without sauce or a different side dish, it's not a big deal. I like that I can have a shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad and/or tenderloin steak any evening; they're among the "Always available." As are the salmon and Fettucini Alfredo, which are delicious. The pasta on Princess is usually great and there's a special pasta dish every night that you can order as an entree or side dish.

 

The area where food is different on Princess from some other cruise lines is the buffet. The Princess buffet is open from 5:30am until at least 11:00 at night. It doesn't close and even while it's changing over from breakfast to lunch and then lunch to dinner, at least one side is open with a wide range of food available. I love salad and to me, Princess has the best salad bar, better than HAL, Celebrity and RCCL. It's open from late morning until closing. What some people don't like about the Princess buffet is that there isn't a made-to-order sandwich station or other prepared-to-order stations. On the other hand, you can get what you want and move on without waiting.

 

And, depending on the ship, there's the International Cafe in the Piazza with wonderful salads, pastries, sandwiches, etc. and it's open 24/7. I haven't seen anything even close to it on HAL, Celebrity or RCCL.

 

I just had lunch and now I'm drooling, thinking about all the great food on Princess. :)

[Princess Mich]

They are one in the same. If you don't like Carnival, you won't like Princess. I know that I don't....

[cherrypop]

Food is different from ship to ship. We had great food both on Carnival Spirit and NCL, actually NCL was the best cruise food we have ever had. Holland by far was the worse. If you want to take cruise food up a notch go to the specialty restaurants well worth the extra cost.

 

Cherie

[Astro Flyer]

They are one in the same. If you don't like Carnival, you won't like Princess. I know that I don't....

What people like & dislike is very subjective & each of us have an opinion. However reading the many posts on this board, not many of us would agree that Carnival & Princess "are one in the same"...not even close to many of us. :rolleyes:

 

I think that someone could hate Carnival & would love Princess because to me Princess is that much better. ;)

[PunkiC]

Sometimes the food even varies from cruise to cruise. A couple of years ago we took a cruise to AS on the Golden in June and the food and service were both subpar.

 

In September we took the same cruise again on the same ship and the service and food were bothh 100% better. On this trip we were with a group of 10, all of whom are very fussy eaters. We all ordered halibut and it was perfect in every instance.

 

Go figure.

[Times Prince]

DH and I recently went on the Carnival Magic and were not impressed. Our biggest disappointment was the food :(

• Carnival Magic 05/13/2012 - Key West, Florida; Freeport, Bahamas and Nassau, Bahamas
   
  

Considering the short length of the cruise and the ports, I am not surprised you were not impressed. While we enjoy a 7 day cruise, we find a 10 day cruise to be most satisfying overall, as the superlative days will be balanced out by the good days - food included. No restaurant can hit a home run 100% of the time (for me the strikeout is French cuisine), and a longer cruise gives the time to sample more options.

[Matcodixon]

They are one in the same. If you don't like Carnival, you won't like Princess. I know that I don't....

 

Actually, they are more different than alike.

 

BTW, Mich, you must have a real ax to grind with Princess. Every post you have made on the CC board indicates this..

[Cancun01]

If you like RCI food - We are just off the Allure of the Seas. Certainly, in our opinion the food in Princess' traditional dining is much better than the traditional dining on the Allure with the exception of the lobster tails - no comparision there - Allure wins that one by far. The speciality restaurant 150 Central Park on the Allure - at $40 extra per person is far superior to any food that I have had in the specialty restaurants on Princess. There was nothing wrong with the food in the dining room on the Allure but Princess has the edge by a country mile.

[windsor26]

They are one in the same. If you don't like Carnival, you won't like Princess. I know that I don't....

 

 

Not agreed by many many cruisers:o If you do not like Princess as all - and your posts illustrate this - why are you continually on the Princess threads?

[catugirl]

DH and I recently went on the Carnival Magic and were not impressed. Our biggest disappointment was the food :(

 

We do want to try Princess but we are afraid that since they are owned by Carnival Corp., they may have the same quality of standards as Carnival.

 

While I understand that Princess is a step up from Carnival, I do not want to pay substantially more money for Princess and not see a huge difference in food.

 

Any advice? Comments? It would be appreciated :D

 

We've only cruised on Princess and RCCL. We absolutely LOVED the food and service on Princess. They were generous in their quantities, as well. Not to mention, all the staff were very friendly. We found the food on RCCL to be not as tasty and the service not to be as efficient or friendly; the quantity of food was a lot less generous. You will adore Princess.