Food on RC...vs. Carnival

[nicwoodard]

I am a Texan, and we love to cruise. DH and I have been on three Carnival cruises over the last two years...all out of Galveston - two on the Magic and one on the redone Triumph. Now with the presence of the Royal Caribbean Navigator, we wanted to give it a try. We loved all cruises on Carnival, but we wanted to do something different. Plus, we wanted different food! No offense to Carnival, but we wanted a change food-wise. So, I was curious about how others felt about RC food. Thanks!

 

 

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[Darkwolfe]

I've never had any troubles with it. Always find something I like. However, food is SOOOO subjective, you're going to get a everything from "It's the greatest!" to "They served us hog slop". :D

 

I will say that based on my last trip on Serenade, the food has come up a couple of notches in the last year. YMMV of course. :)

[Alyrica]

We've sailed on the Triumph and the Navigator. My husband preferred the food on the Triumph but not by much. I thought they were equal. Food is subjective as the previous poster stated but in my opinion it was not hard to find something I liked.

[sellwingri]

In my opinion, there's no comparison. We gave Carnival a try last June because the price was so low but were extremely disappointed. After eating 2 meals in the MDR, we paid the extra and ate in he steakhouse for 2 nights. That was great but also cost $30 per person.

 

We'll stay with RCI.

[hscruiser]

My one and only (so far) Carnival cruise was back in 2010, but I do remember the MDR food being outstanding in comparison to Royal Caribbean. Things have probably changed since then, but that was the impression I was left with.

 

For what it's worth, the MDR food on Adventure a couple months ago was prepared well, but the menus themselves are incredibly boring.

[momof3cruisers]

In my opinion, there's no comparison. We gave Carnival a try last June because the price was so low but were extremely disappointed. After eating 2 meals in the MDR, we paid the extra and ate in he steakhouse for 2 nights. That was great but also cost $30 per person.

 

We'll stay with RCI.

 

Food is definitely subjective. Even my kids expressed that the food on Carnival was so much better than RCI. Especially the desserts from the children's menu!

 

OP, you'll just have to try it and decide for yourself. Have fun either way!

[royalcruz]

My favorite thing on our only Carnival cruise was the MDR food. The portions were good, everything was served with nice vegetables, and it was very tasty. The food is fine on RC but not as memorable.

[cb at sea]

Most will say Carnival has the edge on food....but it really depends on YOUR tastes! They are similar in the offerings....some are better than others. Give it a try and report back!

[dhernan81]

I agree with everyone that food is very subjective. To me Carnival and RCCL quality was very similar, both had highs and lows. I've been on Carnival Ecstasy, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Breeze, and Freedom of the Seas. RCCL wins for seafood and pizza, but Carnival wins for everything else. Desserts were subpar on both unless you paid for it a la carte. Carnival's variety was way better than RCCL. Guy's burgers are hard to beat, Blue Iguana burrito bar is super tasty, sandwiches are awesome, the Indian food is great and the Mongolian wok is fabulous as well and lastly the make you own pasta... I could go on. RCCL was less than memorable for there food, just the pizza and the way they cooked the seafood was it. I've done other cruises Princess and NCL and Celebrity. But for the sake of Carnival vs RCCL, I choose Carnival. Out of all of them all-around, CELEBRITY hands down.

 

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[emdia43]

I found the DR food on Carnival much better than the DR food on Royal Caribbean, but their buffet restaurant was horrible - Windjammer beats them hands down. :)

[runner15km]

I found no faults in either cruise line meals.

[flips7]

We have been on 3 carnival cruises and 7 RCL and find that the MDR are very similar, however the buffets are very different. Carnivals buffet has lots more choices. Each area has something different, and they have a sand which bar plus guy's burgers. RCL is the same at each station all the way around the buffet, but they do have an afternoon snack with nachos (which are great)

[OCruisers]

We are not fond of the food in the MDR on either Carnival or RCCL; however, we LOVE the food in Specialty Restaurants on RCCL.

LuLu

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Edited April 26, 2014 by OCruisers

[luvscruising2007]

I found the DR food on Carnival much better than the DR food on Royal Caribbean, but their buffet restaurant was horrible - Windjammer beats them hands down. :)

 

Just what I was going to post. However, since I cruised on Carnival the menu has changed and I am not sure it will still be better than RC. Having said that, MDR on RC was good and I always find something good to eat.

[Cindy]

On our first two Carnival cruises (2009 & 2010) we were blown away by the food in the MDR, especially in comparison to RCI at the time. The food on our last Carnival cruise in 2011 wasn't good, primarily because nothing was served quickly or at the correct temperature. Carnival has changed their menus a couple times since I last cruised with them, so my opinion isn't based on current information.

 

I think RCI food has improved greatly from what it was a few years ago. Our last three cruises on Royal Caribbean we have had great service and for the most part the food was very good. The Navigator has a nice variety of Specialty Restaurants. I really like the Italian restaurant, Giovanni's Table. There is also a steakhouse (Chops), Asian/Sushi restaurant (Izumi), and a Mexican restaurant (Sabor).

 

I avoid the buffet as much as possible, and usually only go up there if I don't have other choices.:p I think the buffet itself is far better on Royal Caribbean than Carnival, but I like Carnival's "stations" such as the deli, Mongolian Wok, Burrito Bar, etc.

[bighairtexan]

As you can see some give the edge to Carnival and some to RCI. I've done many cruises on both and I wouldn't say either one far outshone the other. However, I totally get what you mean about just a change up on the food. When it gets to the point that you know what the menu is going to be for that day, and what desserts are served the same day as what entrees, then it's just time to change things up.

 

I usually cruise Celebrity and think their food is a bit better than Carnival or RCI, but sometimes I just want a change. Kind of like, even if you ate at a very high end steak house day after day, you just want a salad and a sandwich for a change.

 

Go for it. I think you'll be quite happy.

[jules815]

I've enjoyed the MDR on both lines. I like the Windjammer buffet on RC much better than Carnival's.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I think the MDR food on RCL is equal to about $30 pp, and Carnival $50 pp. Outside the MDR, specialty restaurants and the buffet, Royal wins hands down.

[fishbonz]

As we only done 1 carnival cruise and 8 royal cruises I thought the MDR food on carnival blew royal away. But the windjammer was much better than carnivals buffet although the freshly made pizza were great.

[matj2000]

Everyone is going to have their own expert opinions.

Carnival ships all have the same menus.

RC ships all have the same menus.

 

After a while you have them memorized.

Switch cruise lines to break up the monotony...

[silentbob007]

I like Carnival's specialty stations ... ie, the deli, the burgers, etc, better than on RCI, though I think the rest of the buffet is probably better on RCI, especially for breakfast. I used to think that Carnival's MDR food was much better, but I did not find it to be anything spectacular (except the melting cake ... still like that).

[John Reid]

I found the DR food on Carnival much better than the DR food on Royal Caribbean, but their buffet restaurant was horrible - Windjammer beats them hands down. :)

 

I agree here. We found the "old" Carnival dinner dining room food much better than RCI. Many ships still have that menu. You would have to see if the Carnival ships you are considering have the updated approach. I have no experience with that more limited menu and approach.

 

Though the SeaDay brunch on Carnival was good (I liked it better than eating in the dining room for lunch on RCI), for us the lido buffet for breakfast and lunch on Carnival was not in the same ballpark as RCI Windjammer. If you eat dinner in the lido/Windjammer, it is a nicer experience on RCI. Navigator will also have better quick choices in their Promenade Cafe when hunger strikes at odd times.

 

So, it wasn't an across-the-board winner for one line over the other. Each had their strengths.

[BamaGuy44]

I've never had any troubles with it. Always find something I like. However, food is SOOOO subjective, you're going to get a everything from "It's the greatest!" to "They served us hog slop". :D

 

I will say that based on my last trip on Serenade, the food has come up a couple of notches in the last year. YMMV of course. :)

 

So true. Whatever anyone's favorite restaurant is, the one they rave about and dream about, you can find plenty of reviews on the interwebs saying it's trash they wouldn't feed to their dog.

 

As long as you're not really picky or expect banquet food prepared for 3,000 people to be like gourmet food prepared by a chef one dish at a time, I think most people can enjoy the MDR meals on any ship. :)

[ROCruiser]

This is such an interesting subject! We just had our first RCCL cruise and totally loved their MD food for dinner. Our Carnival cruise in January was a little disappointing probably due to the large group that we were in. Most food came a little cold and desserts melted. I guess the timing, people you are with, and the servers all take into account whether you would be enjoying your meal. I have to say that the Carnival seaday brunch was excellent, much better than Radiance lunch even with their Tutti salad bar. Their lunch menu had limited choices. Radiance had escargot every evening, which we loved but did not serve lobster at all (I know, I know...those lobsters...). It was easy to get food from the different stations at the buffet on the Radiance but it seemed that we were always in line to get food on the Inspiration. You get more varieties on Carnival where as RCCL seemed to serve the same/similar items everyday at the buffet. No matter what they serve, we still enjoyed all the meals because I didn't have to cook!

[maitaiguy]

We have been on a number of RC cruises and one Carnival (12 day Europe inaugural last May on Sunshine). We found the dinner experience in the MDR very similar in most respects.

 

It helps to have excellent servers and we have on almost ALL our cruises. (On Sunshine we had a group of 24 at two tables and our server was great at getting the food out hot and on time). No excuses for poor food in a large group setting here.

 

To us breakfast buffets were fairly alike too.

 

Lunch: On our 12 day cruise to Europe on Carnival we only had two sea days. We ate either at Guy's Burgers or the burrito place by the pool and both were terrific! I don't believe these options are on every Carnival ship but they are adding them. Pizza was a bit better on Carnival but I prefer the pizza on Princess to both the other lines.

 

We would like to try Celebrity soon and I am, of course, willing to report back to you as soon as that happens! You know.....taking one for the team.:D