Disappointed with Carnival...Will I like Holland?

[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 Holland 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 Holland is a step up from Carnival and Princess, I do not want to pay substantially more money for Holland and not see a huge difference in food. We have heard good reviews about Holland's food...but also heard good reviews on Carnival, and that was a let down!

 

Any advice? Comments? It would be appreciated :D

[PathfinderEss]

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

 

We do want to try Holland 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 Holland is a step up from Carnival and Princess, I do not want to pay substantially more money for Holland and not see a huge difference in food. We have heard good reviews about Holland's food...but also heard good reviews on Carnival, and that was a let down!

 

Any advice? Comments? It would be appreciated :D

Well I don't know how Carnival's food is, because it has been along time since I've sailed on them. Princess food is decent but nothing to write home about. I feel, my opinion ofcourse, that Hal's food is from good to excellent.....but isn't food just a matter of one person taste over anothers. I happen to love good food and that is some of my reasoning for sailing on Hal.

[jaguarstyper]

I'm not sure if you will see a huge difference, but HAL is definitely better than Carnival when it comes to food. You might see a huge difference in the lido (buffet) restaurant. I think this is one place where Carnival does very poorly. As for the main dining room, I think HAL is better, but not by a wide margin. I found nothing on the Carnival ship that I was on that even came close to comparing to the Pinnacle Grill on HAL.

 

And, I think you will find that you do not have to pay substantially more for HAL than you would for Carnival if you shop around. HAL is very competitively priced, IMO.

[trvlcrzy]

Food is very subjective. Perhaps you might search some of the menu posts to see what types of fare are offered on Holland America's ships.

 

I happen to have another Internet tab open right now to review the new International Menu.

http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae146/kjw869/Oosterdam%20Alaska%202012%20Menus/?action=view&current=Day6Lower.jpg#!oZZ15QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs966.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fae146%2Fkjw869%2FOosterdam%2520Alaska%25202012%2520Menus%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDay6Lower.jpg

Apologies to the poster who originally shared the photos... I don't recall the name.

 

My husband and I have never had difficulty with the quality of food on any of our cruises. Not to say that all have been fantastic, but our standards are limited to our regularly scheduled food... Cracker Barrel, Chili's, Outback, and Ruby Tuesday are in our area, so those who compare it to a true steakhouse and/or true seafood of the Northeast... we can't relate.

[Boytjie]

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

 

Carnival Corp also Cunard so one would hardly say that Cunard is the same as Carnival. :)

 

PS. I actually thought HAL's food was better than Cunard's but we were on QM2 for only 4 nights.

[Roz]

I've only sailed Carnival and Holland America. I like the food on both of them. Holland is a little step up foodwise, but I wouldn't say it's worth paying substantially more for.

 

What do you consider substantially more, and what exactly didn't you like about the food? That will help us to better answer your question.

 

Roz

[sire_bobbie]

We have sailed RCCL, Celeb, P&O, HAL and have found the food on HAL to be the best, but it is something that is very selective. It depends on your taste and what you are used to.

[kazu]

We have sailed NCL, Celebrity, Princess & others but not Carnival - all I can/will say is that our HAL cruises were the best - in service and definitely in food. Food is so subjective but HAL does a good job of offering options even in the MDR. We've never gone hungry on HAL:):):)

[CtheW0rld]

all three (carnival, hal and princess) are pretty similar in MDR offereings and quality. that is just my opinion, though.

[tangerinebunny]

What kind of food are you looking for? Seriously, we need a more detailed picture before we can really respond and be of help.

 

I can tell you that I am from New Orleans where food is the raison d'entre, have studied French cookery, do not dine in the top restaurants , and find HAL's food edible, but nothing special.

 

I never go hungry, but unless we're in one of the specialty restaurants, it's dinner, not a feast. It's mass produced and not bad for what it is, but it's not gourmet food (imo).

 

But for the cost of the cruise and the number of people who are fed, it's about what I expect.

 

I've read that Celebrity has better food for the same price. I have no idea. But are you asking this question over on that board?

[SwissMyst]

I think one has to keep "banquet" food as the standard for almost any main line passenger ship: some is better than others but it is still "banquet food" - mass produced for mass delivery in relatively short time windows in extremely limited settings - morning, noon and night and in-between.

 

With that in mind, we think HAL food is good to very good, and there is adequate variety to keep on interested morning, noon and night .... and in between. Yes, we sail HAL for its very adequate food and also for a lot of other things.

 

We also sailed Crystal several times which is known for its fine dining, but it was not all that much better than HAL and in some areas Crystal a lot less than HAL, so between both of them, it would be a draw. Consequently, we'll take HAL first for the far better price and overall value.

 

Bottomline, under the limitations found on the larger cruise ships, it is hard to get truly great cuisine on board any ship at these sizes, but we feel HAL delivers really good food under those exact same circumstances.

[OCruisers]

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

 

Noticed from your signature that you have been on two RCCL cruises. What did you think of their food ... especially MDR? Was it better or worse than your recent Carnival? Knowing that would be a help giving you an answer.

[mr green]

We have never been with Carnival, but we have always been well satisfied with the food provided by HAL.

 

john

[Typhoon1]

Our first cruise was with CCL. Second was on HAL, and we were sold.

[AZNative2000]

I'm not sure if you will see a huge difference, but HAL is definitely better than Carnival when it comes to food. You might see a huge difference in the lido (buffet) restaurant. I think this is one place where Carnival does very poorly. As for the main dining room, I think HAL is better, but not by a wide margin. I found nothing on the Carnival ship that I was on that even came close to comparing to the Pinnacle Grill on HAL.

 

And, I think you will find that you do not have to pay substantially more for HAL than you would for Carnival if you shop around. HAL is very competitively priced, IMO.

Having just taken our first Carnival cruise, I can agree with this post. We found Carnival's Lido to be about 60% of HAL's (with a much smaller selection) and also found their "Steakhouse" (while nice) to not come close to the Pinnacle Grill experience.

 

The cruise price is not that different unless you seek a suite. But Carnival's suites can not be compared to HAL's because the benefits are not, at all, the same. Caution ... once you sail HAL, you may find it hard to go back.:)

[trvlcrzy]

Lido on HAL is much better than Carnival or Princess, but I have to admit that I liked getting a Reuben on Carnival (at the deli). HAL doesn't have sauerkraut (or didn't on my sailings... I haven't been on board in a while... but a few more weeks, and I'll remedy that problem).

[Coolcruise02]

all three (carnival, hal and princess) are pretty similar in MDR offereings and quality. that is just my opinion, though.

 

I agree! Sorry, but there just isn't that much difference. :)

[DaveOKC]

HAL food is definately better than Carnival's. But as other have already mentioned, you are in a mass feeding situation, so the quality and presentation will not be as good as a better land based resteraunt.

 

Keep in mind, if you really are into a great dining experience, you can dine at the Pinnacle Grill a few times during your cruise for a cost of $25 pp.

 

DaveOKC

[NovCruisin]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

I did like RCCL food very much, considering the mass production...which is why I am not very nervous going up a step to Celebrity.

 

It's hard to say what one "like's" in food, but I know I don't like the "cheap" feeling of the food on Carnival. It feels like they are trying to push it off as "comfort" food, when really it is bacon and macaroni & cheese, etc. :D

 

I guess the only way to truly know is to just TRY! Thanks again everyone!

[SwissMyst]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

I did like RCCL food very much, considering the mass production...which is why I am not very nervous going up a step to Celebrity.

 

It's hard to say what one "like's" in food, but I know I don't like the "cheap" feeling of the food on Carnival. It feels like they are trying to push it off as "comfort" food, when really it is bacon and macaroni & cheese, etc. :D

 

I guess the only way to truly know is to just TRY! Thanks again everyone!

 

HAL food is creative and does not come across as just cheap - there are always good selections and often very inventive ones that are very good quality. They are getting better every year and have introduced far more variety than their more traditional "meat and potato" offerings in the past.

 

If you can believe this, usually once a cruise they offer liver as one of the four entree choices and I try it every time. Each time it has been **excellent**. I consider doing liver a real test of a kitchen and HAL scores very high marks on this one.

 

They are introducing more international items as well. Every night is a large cold meat dinner salad as well. The appetizers are always interesting, the soups are superb and the desserts are always supplemented with ice cream or sundaes as well. Plus you get a free expresso with dinner which you can pour over a dish of vanilla ice cream and have the best dessert of all - your own hand made Italian "affogato"

 

The daily fresh baked breads on HAL ships are legendary and I often just want to make a meal out of the dinner rolls themselves ... with gobs of sweet butter slathered on them. (Sadly my calorie saving promise to myself is to just eat the bread and only one of them and no more sweet butter - but the breads are stand alone good so this is not too much of a sacrifice.)

 

Dining is a lovely affair on HAL ships in the main dining room- the casual buffet venue Lido also offer the same dinner menu items at night for faster service because you can pick up all the course at the same time. And depending upon the ship there are also specialty restaurants that have some wonderful menu options too for a small extra charge. The more you cruise with HAL the more discount you get with your loyalty points for these restaurants. The Pinnacle Grill now has a wonderful expanded menu.

[jaguarstyper]

I always read replies to food questions that you cannot say if one is better than the other because food is very subjective. While that is true to some degree, there is also a very objective measure of food. Comparing food quality can be done. With HAL vs CCL, the MDR is pretty comparable and I would give a slight nod to HAL mostly by being subjective. But the buffet is simply no contest. HAL has consistently better buffet food across the board. The ingredients are obviously better, the preparation is better and the presentation is better. CCL reminds me of Golden Corral. Food prepared in bulk and presented in steam tables and heat lamps. HAL has fresher food and more prepared to order selections. Its not entirely subjective, in my opinion.

[kruisingkouple]

We've never sailed on HAL but we just returned from the Carnival Legend and we have been on several Carnival cruises, several Royal Caribbean cruises and 2 Princess cruises and we think that the food has definitely gone down hill on all these lines. It's sad that the quality of the food keeps going downhill but we really don't cruise for the food and never go hungry. My favorite thing to eat on this past cruise was the turkey wrap from the deli.

[HouseRulz]

I sailed on Carnival 3 times before I sailed on HAL.

 

I would give the main dining room on HAL a slight edge. A lot of the standard items (i.e. steaks and salads) are identical I think. A little more creativity on the HAL menu.

 

Huge difference in the Lido Buffet on HAL. Even though I never do, I could eat 3 squares a day at the Lido and be happy.

 

There are also multiple additional dining options on HAL (Canaletto, Pinnacle, Tamarind).

 

Also, Carnival is VERY limited wither respect to Room Service options.

I echo the sentiments of many when I say that I love having a full, room service breakfast.

 

Another thing to note, I think those quick Bahamas cruises tend to have lower quality food/service. Could be that perhaps these are newer staff in many cases? Or it could be, on Carnival at last, that these trips cater to very budget-concious travelers who may be a little tighter with the gratuities overall.

[Himself]

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

 

We do want to try Holland 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 Holland is a step up from Carnival and Princess, I do not want to pay substantially more money for Holland and not see a huge difference in food. We have heard good reviews about Holland's food...but also heard good reviews on Carnival, and that was a let down!

 

Any advice? Comments? It would be appreciated :D

 

 

HAL is a lot tamer than Carnival.

[liv2vac]

Carnivals pizza was much better more variety and more flavor (my wife and I loved the goat cheese and spinach). But the rest of HAL food beat Carnivals by a long shot. This is my opinoin from 1 HAL and and about 9 Carnival cruises.