Who has the BEST food? Line/ship

[desertr0se]

The reason I ask this is because I always thought HAL had the best food but after our last cruise.... I'm thinking...:( not any more they don't.

[kcwingwalker]

The reason I ask this is because I always thought HAL had the best food but after our last cruise.... I'm thinking...:( not any more they don't.

 

Who has the BEST food? Line/ship

 

Oh my Them's fighting words!

 

This will be an interesting thread.

[LHT28]

BEST in whose opinion;)

 

This has been discussed before

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1769312&highlight=best+food

[boogs]

You might get some ideas from the Cruise Critic Cruiser's Choice Awards page. These are rankings based on reviews by your fellow CC members:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Dining&sort=large

 

Celebrity has 6 of the top 10 in the large ship category, with 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th places, plus 2 of the top 10 in the mid-sized ship category.

 

That seems to indicate that your fellow members think they have the best food overall.

[leaveitallbehind]

Too subjective to answer - what one person thinks of as "best" may well be what another thinks of as "worst". And as they would be their opinions based on their taste they both would be right.

 

Probably best left unasked.....:)

[desertr0se]

Too subjective to answer - what one person thinks of as "best" may well be what another thinks of as "worst". And as they would be their opinions based on their taste they both would be right.

 

Probably best left unasked.....:)

 

I disagree. We all know what New York Cheesecake should taste like, right? If you are on a cruise and you see something labeled NY Cheesecake and it is partially white cake.... well we all know that's bogus. Right? That is just one example.

[desertr0se]

You might get some ideas from the Cruise Critic Cruiser's Choice Awards page. These are rankings based on reviews by your fellow CC members:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?category=Dining&sort=large

 

Celebrity has 6 of the top 10 in the large ship category, with 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th places, plus 2 of the top 10 in the mid-sized ship category.

 

That seems to indicate that your fellow members think they have the best food overall.

 

Thanks, I'll check this out.

[leaveitallbehind]

I disagree. We all know what New York Cheesecake should taste like, right? If you are on a cruise and you see something labeled NY Cheesecake and it is partially white cake.... well we all know that's bogus. Right? That is just one example.

 

You asked "best" - which is a taste question. Not whether or not a given food choice was "real" or "bogus". What NY Cheesecake "should" taste like still is subjective - even if it is reputed to be the best. And to be honest, I am not a big fan of cheesecake and have never had NY Cheesecake - so no, I don't know what it should taste like. Sorry.

[calliopecruiser]

I disagree. We all know what New York Cheesecake should taste like, right? If you are on a cruise and you see something labeled NY Cheesecake and it is partially white cake.... well we all know that's bogus. Right? That is just one example.

 

But authentic doesn't mean "best"........you might like NY cheesecake, but I don't, so if the MDR has nothing but NY Cheesecake for dessert, you'd probably give them a higher rating than I would, because I didn't have any dessert options that appealed to me.

 

More practically, people have different tastes, so some people like their sweet desserts sweeter than other like them, or some people like their meat cooked more or less than others, or some people like their vegetables cooked firmer or softer than others. Joe might think the meal was great because the beef was well done (just like he asked for it) and the veggies were tasty and a little firm, and the pie was not overpoweringly sweet, but Pat would think the meal was horrible because the beef was well done (even though he asked for it medium-rare) and the veggies were too crisp and undercooked, and the cherry pie was too tart :-0

 

FWIW, I keep hearing that the best food is either Seabourne or Crystal, though I haven't tried Seabourne. I can attest to the great food aboard Crystal, though.

[CruiserBruce]

I don't know what NY Cheesecake should taste like, but if one does, is that the criteria for "best food"? I don't think so.

 

As so many have said, food is totally subjective. To say one cruise line doesn't have the "best" food because you don't like the taste of the cheesecake just proves the point of how subjective food is.

[ducklite]

If you mean the highest quality, none of the mass market ships should even be bothered to be looked at. You need to turn to the luxury lines.

 

Look at the price per person per day expenditures by the different lines and it will be a good start. I'll give you a tip, none of the less expensive lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, HAL, MSC, NCL, etc.) are going to have high quality food.

 

If you are using the word "best" in a purely subjective manner, there will be no definitive answer. The guy that loves the meatloaf and hot dogs on Carnival will most likely not care for the cuisine (or dress code) on Crystal.

 

So far the best meals I've had on cruises were in Remy on the Disney Dream and the MDR on the WindSurf with Jason Wilson as a guest chef.

[cruiseman111111]

Some good, some bad and some horrible..

[navybankerteacher]

BEST in whose opinion;)

 

This has been discussed before

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1769312&highlight=best+food

 

Obviously it would "best" in the opinion of whoever expressed that opinion. So, unless you have reason to believe that your taste would coincide with that of the poster, it would be close to meaningless. There are, however, certain objective standards - which usually require specific details. For instance, HAL serves fresh squeezed orange juice at breakfast. NCL serves something resembling Tang -- they will, of course, sell fresh juice at a heavy price. For that reason, I would maintain that HAL serves better breakfast than NCL.

[marco]

If you are going mass market, I'd go with HAL. If you want a step up, but don't want to break the bank with something like SilverSea, I'd suggest Crystal which is now also all inclusive beverages. But as everyone else has mentioned, "best" is very subjective and to piggyback on the above post, if your friend is a bit of a food snob, DO NOT!!!!!!! go on NCL.

[janetz]

The reason I ask this is because I always thought HAL had the best food but after our last cruise.... I'm thinking...:( not any more they don't.

 

 

Food is subjective. For us, Celebrity. :)

[DonnaK]

We thought that Celebrity had really good food in the MDR (but the buffet on the Summit was really sub par in selection, variety and quality)

[leaveitallbehind]

I don't know what NY Cheesecake should taste like, but if one does, is that the criteria for "best food"? I don't think so.

 

As so many have said, food is totally subjective. To say one cruise line doesn't have the "best" food because you don't like the taste of the cheesecake just proves the point of how subjective food is.

 

Well said. Others on that same ship may have liked the cheesecake just fine - and they would be just as right in their opinion as the OP would be in theirs.

[runner15km]

The reason I ask this is because I always thought HAL had the best food but after our last cruise.... I'm thinking...:( not any more they don't.

 

Oceania or Seaborne:).

[Hlitner]

I am going to sound boastful but its for a good cause (food comparison). We have cruised on 14 different cruise lines and more then 65 different ships..and DW and I consider ourselves "foodies." So here is the truth with NO SPIN. The entire cruise industry is very dynamic and nothing stays the same for very long. Food quality (and quanity) can vary ship to ship and line to line simply based on the current executive chef working on specific ships. For example, we have noticed a huge decline in the quality of Holland America food....but their smallest ship (Prinsendam) is a remarkable exception since the food on that vessel always seems to be many notches above the other vessels upon which we have sailed. If we had to choose one mass market line with the best overall cuisine it would be Celebrity.... but with a caveat. We have not been on Celebrity since last November and have seen some reviews that make us wonder if they have cut-back on food quality (the line does have a new CEO). We will be on the Eclipse in November so will shall see.

 

Getting back to Holland America....we have cruises a lot on that line in the past 4 years (about 200+ days) and have noticed a remarkable decline in just about every department. We are again cruising on that line in the very near future and will see if that decline was just a fluke...of if it has become institutionalized. I should add that we stopped cruising RCI about 3 years ago....for several reasons....the decline in cuisine being one of the factors.

 

The food on the smaller ships of the true luxury lines is usually in a different class then what we experience on the mass market lines...but one should keep in mind that those cruises can easily cost 2-4 times the cost of a mass market cruise.

 

Hank

[navybankerteacher]

The reason I ask this is because I always thought HAL had the best food but after our last cruise.... I'm thinking...:( not any more they don't.

 

Sorry to hear that HAL's food (in your eyes, at least) has declined in quality. Of, course, that decline could be across the board - resulting in HAL still being the best - although among a lesser group.

[Keith1010]

There is no best. It is very subjective.

 

Typically, Luxury Cruise Lines are going to have high quality cuisine but that still does not mean that everyone would say they are the best.

 

Keith

[cruiserking]

We've had great meals on all of the ships we've traveled aboard. HAL has been up there, but, our favorite is Cunard.

 

Jonathan

[Gunner22aa]

Very subjective and totally depending on your tastes and expectations. As a general rule the luxury lines should have the best but I have read reviews where food on a particular luxury line was "best described as swill".

 

Read some reviews. Same ship, same time, same buffet and dining room and probably the same menu selection that day and one person will describe the food as the best they have ever had on the planet and another will tell you it wasn't fit to feed their dog.

 

Personal preferences and expectations.

[Taxguy77]

Sorry to hear that HAL's food (in your eyes, at least) has declined in quality. Of, course, that decline could be across the board - resulting in HAL still being the best - although among a lesser group.

 

We only have one cruise, a few years ago, on HAL but did not consider the food above average.

15 years ago, we had excellent food on NCL, but the last NCL cruise it was blah.

[gardenbug22]

I took my first HAL cruise in August, as much as I loved the cruise and the ship.... the food was so bad that I will not be taking HAL again any time soon. ( especially after becoming ill after one of my meals.) I was disappointed to find that the menus in both the dining room and buffet were the same. Ugh! However, I will have to say the deserts were much better on HAL than the other 2 cruise lines I have traveled with.

 

I cruised with NCL when they served the Cooking Light menus, where I enjoyed the food in the dining room, however the buffet food got tired real quick. A year ago I traveled on RCL, and both the dining room food and the buffet were very good with lots of variety.

 

Has anyone else observed now that the specialty restaurants for" a fee" are increasing on the ships..... that the quality of the food in the buffets and main dining rooms have declined?