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Carnival, NCL and Princess Food

Bulldog3777

By Bulldog3777,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Bulldog3777

Bulldog3777

Posted
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A friend just returned from an NCL cruise in Hawaii. They have been on Princess and recently they cruised with us on Carnival. Her opinion of the food was that Carnival had the best. Now Carnival is changing their food and from what I am seeing, it is going down hill with the new menus.

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jsmac3

jsmac3

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We've done all three. We like Carnival MDR food the best, Princess buffet food the best and NCL is third in both categories. We also prefer Carnival's buffet operation over Princess'. On Carnival you can get your own drinks in the buffet while Princess has servers - and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. Also it seems as though when Princess began building larger ships the size of the buffet are remained the same.

 

We will give the new MDR menus a chance.

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evandbob

evandbob

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A friend just returned from an NCL cruise in Hawaii. They have been on Princess and recently they cruised with us on Carnival. Her opinion of the food was that Carnival had the best. Now Carnival is changing their food and from what I am seeing, it is going down hill with the new menus.

 

I've sailed all 3 lines mentioned, and would rank Princess #1, NCL #2, and Carnival #3 for MDR food.

 

But Celebrity tops them all.

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tequilasunrise

tequilasunrise

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I'm a big Princess fan, have sailed her and Carnival but not NCL. I used to rank Princess food first, CCL second but have to reverse that now after a recent cruise. Princess just rolled out new menus too and it's now extremely difficult to find anything that isn't very spicy and/or Asian inspired. So, if you like curry, red peppers and Asian sides like bok choy instead of salad, you will love Princess. If that's not your thing, you will be eating off their "always available" like I now am, which gets old fast. I really miss the Italian and Mediterranean inspired food they used to have! So, I have been reading the Carnival menu change threads with trepidation---but the menus I saw posted look fine---not great, but ok. Guess I'm back to CCL for longer cruises if the itineraries are comparable!

 

It seems that very few prefer NCL to either Carnival or Princess so I just haven't been inspired to try them!

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lovesublime

lovesublime

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We've been on all those lines and our consensus is that cruise line food in general sucks. On ALL the lines. Yes, we've found a few things here and there that were OK or maybe pretty good, but there is just no understanding all the raving on so many threads on these forums on how "yummy" things are. Sorry, just don't get it. We figure that most of these folks must be eating garbage at home to go on and on about how great cruise line food is.

 

Here are a few things that we've found ok

 

-Carnival's steakhouses are pretty good

-Cagney's on NCL is also pretty good

-Blue Lagoon on NCL has good tomato soup

-Pizza on Princess is very good

-Cucina del Capitano on Carnival is also pretty good (for dinner)

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Love2travel4

Love2travel4

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I have also sailed on all 3 lines..most frequently with NCL. I certainly will never starve on a cruise and there are some good food items, but in my opinion, nothing too wonderful. I have not been impressed with Carnival's steakhouse. Princess steakhouse was MUCH better.

 

I will say, that I sailed on NCL 2x last year and saw a huge decline in their food. Again, I did not starve, but there were some dishes that were just down right yucky!

 

Also, I like my sweets, but I find many to be too fake tasting for me. Even the warm chocolate melting cake. Maybe I am spoiled by higher quality chocolate and treats when I do indulge from time to time?

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xeroxme

xeroxme

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I've sailed all 3 lines mentioned, and would rank Princess #1, NCL #2, and Carnival #3 for MDR food.

 

But Celebrity tops them all.

I can't report on NCL food or Celebrity. I have found on RCCL Allure, various princess cruises and carnival MDR food to be close. I like Princess MDR best for food and service. The Chocolate Soufflés are the best on Princess. Princess buffet is open longer which I like. I find all the buffets to have something they do better than the others. But of all the lines I like Carnivals Eggs Benedict for breakfast is the best!!! None of the others has as good and is so frustrating. Since breakfast starts the day say I'm booking more with Carnival! As far as liking or not liking their food I'm fine with it and realize there is no way they can produce a menu that would be as good as any of us would find at home at a local high end restaurant. I try to avoid the buffet on them all for every meal. I find myself over eating, the food typically disappoints me and no service or slow service. Lol. Hopefully you find something you really like from every cruise line. I agree with this poster of the 3; Princess MDR the best Dinner experience for me, but I'm getting old!

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Stateroom_Sailor

Stateroom_Sailor

Posted
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I've looked at PDF's of the new Carnival menu, and it appears to be a similar quality, but a shorter menu. Hopefully the cut in cost comes from the selection only, where the food is just as good as before, though I will miss their chilled soup.

 

Can anyone verify who's sailed recently?

Edited by Stateroom_Sailor
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sharecruises

sharecruises

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I haven't sailed on Princess for quite awhile now but their food used to be very good, pretty "Continental fancy"...however, I do have friends who have been on her and say they have cutbacks too on Princess, food not as good as it used to be etc

 

I have been on NCL 3x and thought their buffet was very good but Carnival 2.0 (Guy Burgers and the Burritos) would be the winner

 

NCL main dining room food was not that great, especially on a longer cruise so ended up spending more to eat in the speciality restaurant. Food was excellent there ...but extra $$

 

I think Carnival food is very good, on my last (Dec 13) Conquest cruise the food was mostly good sometimes "excellent". I don't know about the new menus however - I like the fruit soups and I am not sure I will enjoy the family style.

 

Now...entertainment?? NCL had great shows and lots of live entertainment.....I don't know about Princess but IMHO nothing could be worse than the 2.0 Carnival lol...don't get me started...I know of Condos in south florida that have better shows than the Playlist "reductions" haha

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deltahog

deltahog

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We've been on all those lines and our consensus is that cruise line food in general sucks. On ALL the lines. Yes, we've found a few things here and there that were OK or maybe pretty good, but there is just no understanding all the raving on so many threads on these forums on how "yummy" things are. Sorry, just don't get it. We figure that most of these folks must be eating garbage at home to go on and on about how great cruise line food is.

 

Here are a few things that we've found ok

 

-Carnival's steakhouses are pretty good

-Cagney's on NCL is also pretty good

-Blue Lagoon on NCL has good tomato soup

-Pizza on Princess is very good

-Cucina del Capitano on Carnival is also pretty good (for dinner)

 

I consider myself a serious foodie and have recently had CCL and RCI food....it doesn't "suck". It's not high-caliber restaurant food, but it's decent and passable mid-level food. Like, above an Applebee's or Chili's but below a nice restaurant on land.

 

If you dislike cruise food so much, and food is such an important part of cruises....why are you going on all these cruises?

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kcwingwalker

kcwingwalker

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I've found the food on NCL and Carnival to be about the same in the MDRs and buffets. A nod to Carnival for deserts and a nod to NCL for when I wish to spend the $$$ for a specialty restaurant.

 

Whoops forgot to mention that when food is being served NCL has more "elbow" room especially in the MDRs.

Edited by kcwingwalker
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riclop

riclop

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A friend just returned from an NCL cruise in Hawaii. They have been on Princess and recently they cruised with us on Carnival. Her opinion of the food was that Carnival had the best. Now Carnival is changing their food and from what I am seeing, it is going down hill with the new menus.

It all depends what a person likes, so you will get many different answers.

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