Disney Food, How does it Stack up?

[k9hndler]

I am looking for honest input from past Disney cruisers that have also cruised other lines. How Does Disney's food (Quality, Availability, Freshness, Variety etc) compare to the other Lines, Such as Celebrity, Carnival, and Princess, all of which my wife and I have enjoyed. I have done a search and found widely different opinions from other sources, but I would value some opinions from the seasoned Cruise Critic folks. I booked a three day cruise on Wonder in September to celebrate my wife and I’s anniversary, and I would not want her to be both surprised and disappointed.

 

Thanks in advance

[NCmom]

The only other line I have cruised was RCCL to Alaska, and I can easily say that for us, the DCL food wins hands down--presentation, style, temperature, etc. it was all better on DCL. The RCCL lacked presentation, and was often served lukewarm. Definitely try to get to Palo--the food and service are excellent.

 

When in doubt, I have always listened to my server's recommendations.

[ruttie]

We ahve cruise many differnet lines with and without kids and our first choice for our anniversary cruise was disney (but therelocated to west coast:( )

Disney has the best food and great food choices and room services and the all you can eat snack bar by the pool is the BEST!!!! enjoy!!! plus you move daily so it seems new every night!!

[Druke I]

Food is a very subjective issue, but I think Disney's food would rate below Crystal, perhaps even with HAL or Celebrity, and certainly above Princess and the other mass market lines.

 

That said, I think Princess' food is good, and perhaps it is because of the associated service that I rate HAL & Celebrity higher.

 

Again, very subjective.

[ruttie]

oops did not see that you had done celebrity food on celebrity is better.. like the above poster very subjective we enjoy disney becasue we like good ol fashion yummy food and they have it steaks chicken burgers etc... for us the taste and quality was better than rccl carnival but the presentation is not... I am a plain jain eater and loved having good ol fashin staples everynight!! again enjoy...

[gizfish]

Have been on NCL, Carnival, Princess, HAL and on three Disney cruises. While the themeing in the Disney restaurants is amazing, and the rotation dining is pretty cool, the variety is lacking. The veggies and sides taste very pre-plated, the desserts are so so. It looks pretty but doesn't taste as good as the other lines. There is not a lot of food available during non meal times compared to the other lines (except HAL which lacked in that area). While there is pizza and BBQ at many times during the day, I am spoiled with Princess' 24 hour buffet and with the way Carnival and NCL schedule their buffet meal times so that there basically isn't a time when you can't find something other than a hamburger, pizza or room service. If food is a big part of your cruise, and you and your wife don't absolutely positively LOVE the mouse, DCL may not be for you.

[ruttie]

i love these boards now you can see how totally subjective food is... I love love love disney because i love chicken fingers and french fries and nachos.... so i am happy (can't seem to find them all the tinme on carnival or Rccl) gizfish who cruises it seems often it would seem as me and whos also seems to be knowledgable has the exact oppisite opinion than me:) but so totally correct if you do not like snack food nachos, hamburgers, chciken and fries all the time and instead prefer a buffet with lots of choices open all the time than yes disney maynot be your best fit.... (me i am just upset that Johnny rockets is charging now for my upcoming mariner cruise and am hoping there will be someplace i can grab a frenchfry and a burger without paying...:) ) good luck

[Melrosgirl]

I've been on Disney, RCCL and Princess. I think Princess had the best food, followed by RCCL and then Disney. All were within range of eachother though.

[cruislovin]

We thought the food on DCL was not anywhere near as good as the food on the other cruiselines we have been on. In the dining rooms, all 3 nights, we were served cold food - appetizers and soup that were supposed to be hot, as well as entrees. Our breakfast entrees at Tritons were cold both mornings we are there.

 

We also found the food choices to be extremely limited on DCL. The Beach Blanket Buffet is small and very crowded and noisy. No healthy choices can be found at the poolside eateries on deck - it's pizza, hot dogs, chicken strips, etc. Room service, other than for breakfast, had a pretty nice selection and the few items we tried were very good.

 

We found our best meal was at Castaway Cay! But the adult only beach has limited choices so if you spend the day there you may want to return to the family beach for lunch.

 

Breakfast the final moring (we were in Parrot Cay) was a joke with very limited choices. The "hot" food was also served cold there, actually the coldest of the 3 breakfasts we had.

 

I think you should wait and evaluate it yourselves because food likes and dislikes are very subjective. But we found the food on DCL to be the worst of all the cruises we have taken. Did we starve? Of course not! But can I say the food was a highlight of the Disney cruise for us? No way!

[pj-atsea]

I've sailed on a number on cruiselines. While I would rate Celebrity best overall, I really enjoyed the Disney food. As mentioned by someone else, Palo's is well worth a visit. I really enjoyed the breakfasts on DCL except for the last morning in Parrots Cay, which was kind of slap/dash and rushed. But I usually stick to a light breakfast for travel days anyway so it was fine.. I also liked the on deck sail away parties...lots of sandwiches, fruit and desserts.. Food is subjective, but my friend and I really enjoyed our cruise and the food.

[mycruz]

I am very sorry to hear Cruiselovin did not have a good experience. We have cruise Carnival (pretty good) Princess(pretty good) but I have to give Disney a very good. I could eat at Palo's every night and it's worth the extra charge! I love the breakfast buffet the best, we only eat lunch at the buffet on sail day. Had lunch in Triton's and fell in love with it. As for the buffett on Castaway Cay, it was pretty good considering the number of people they have to feed on shore! I would have to say that Parrot Cay for breakfast looked pretty good, although I didn't eat there just visited while some of the others in our party ate.

[bigsky]

Yes, very subjective. Everyone has their own opinion because what they like, someone else may hate.

The best part of our Disney cruise was Palo's by far!!! It was the best food I've ever eaten. Went with another couple. We had every dessert on the menu....just trying a little of each. :rolleyes:

 

For us, I was not impressed with the food during non meal times. If I want a snack, I didn't always want kid food...hamburgers, french fries, ...stuff like that.

 

Going to the different restaurants was nice for a change.

We've done Carnival many times, RCCL once in Dec. and Disney once.

For us, we'd won't do a Disney cruise again. Many reasons....just not for us.

 

Carnival to me had the best food...then RCCL and then Disney last. I thought there' were so many more options with Carnival and RCCL than Disney.

 

Have fun!

[MrPete]

I like to EAT!

 

My first Disney cruise, I was shocked when I sat down (first meal was in Parrot Cay) at the lack of selection and variety.

 

Usually when I cruise, I am narrowing down multiple selections. On Disney, I was reading through menus and coming up empty. Then I would be reading again to find something. And each time, I was VERY dissapointed. I could not believe that every other aspect of their experience exceeded my expectations, except the food!

 

I had never planned to sail them again, thinking one experience was nice. And overall, it was nice.

 

18 months later, we did it again, because of a "family" thing. I was pleased when I saw they changed the menus, but again, the food still wasn't up to my "standards". At least, it exceeded my expectations having experienced it from the first time.

[CruisingAgain]

We have recently crusied Disney and Carnival - 2 cruises on each line during the past 2 years. We found the food much better on Carnival. They sure have changed in the last several years!! I love the presentation on Disney and the 2 restaurants, but he food is surely lacking at dinner. Palo though is a completely different story - EXCELLENT. But we shouldn't be comparing Palo to regular dining on other cruise lines.

 

Diane

[k9hndler]

I appreciate and respect all the different imput I have recieved. Thank you everybody, and Happy Cruising!

[jnnifer01]

DH and I thought Disney has some of the best cruise food of any line we've tried, thus far. Except for the pizza, which we didn't care for.

Palo was excellent- don't miss it!

[rickdeni]

My husband and I have cruised Carnival (OK), Celebrity (classy - high quality), Princess (my favorite) and Disney which was OK in the dining room and buffet but had the best hamburgers, chicken fingers, nachos, etc. Food is important to us but not the main reason we cruise.

[themiracleawaitsme]

although i have only traveled on carnival i really enjoyed the food on it. the food on the miracle was wonderful. we are traveling on the disney magic in november 2006 and i can't wait.:)

[3travelalot]

Been on Disney and Carnival, going on Royal Caribbean, Disney's food by far outranks Carnival.

[gizfish]

Been on Disney and Carnival, going on Royal Caribbean, Disney's food by far outranks Carnival.

Although the only Carnival ship I was on was Legend, I have to disagree about Disney's food being better. The quality, variety, presentation, etc., on Carnival absolutley surprised me. I expected better from Disney, but have to say it ranks in the bottom of all the other lines in it's class when it comes to food. On every other cruise line (except HAL) I have found that every single night, I had trouble deciding which food to order from each category. On Disney, I had trouble on some nights even picking one item from each category. The side orders were not fresh and anything that was preplated was obviously so. Also, the only 24 hour food option on Disney is room service. You can only have hots, hams and chicken fingers so many days in a row as a snack.