Just off Pride: MDR food pretty meh

[Seago2]

From what I gather of your experience (and your expectations), the answer to that question is a very obvious "Yes".

 

If you are not happy with the product and have disappointing experiences, it's time to take your business elsewhere.

 

I think you're right, but where? I'm in western New York. No Princess ships on the east coast next June. HAL has Veendam, which: check the HAL board and you'll never sail her. I won't, anyway. Not making the jump to NCL as I've had five NCL cruises and they are no better than Carnival. That leaves me with an older Celebrity ship or Royal Caribbean, a complete unknown to me. Go to the Royal boards- people are complaining just as much as here and the price point is higher. Suddenly Breeze looks tempting, especially when compared to flying to Seattle and staying in a hotel. A B2B on Breeze gets me Aruba and Curaçao for cheaper than one Alaska cruise on Princess. And this, my friends, is how I find myself on Carnival every year!

[cantthinkofanythingfun]

I think you're right, but where? I'm in western New York. No Princess ships on the east coast next June. HAL has Veendam, which: check the HAL board and you'll never sail her. I won't, anyway. Not making the jump to NCL as I've had five NCL cruises and they are no better than Carnival. That leaves me with an older Celebrity ship or Royal Caribbean, a complete unknown to me. Go to the Royal boards- people are complaining just as much as here and the price point is higher. Suddenly Breeze looks tempting, especially when compared to flying to Seattle and staying in a hotel. A B2B on Breeze gets me Aruba and Curaçao for cheaper than one Alaska cruise on Princess. And this, my friends, is how I find myself on Carnival every year!

 

 

Book the Breakaway and get the dining package. In fact, they are giving it away now.

[Linerguy]

HAL has Veendam, which: check the HAL board and you'll never sail her.

 

Not making the jump to NCL as I've had five NCL cruises and they are no better than Carnival.

 

That leaves me with an older Celebrity ship or Royal Caribbean, a complete unknown to me. Go to the Royal boards- people are complaining just as much as here and the price point is higher.

 

Looks like it's time to give up on cruising....I hear Peoria is nice.

[love my grandkids]

As you know, there is only one dining room on the Pride, with the upper level being YTD. You can hear and maybe see Ken sing from the upper level.

 

oops my bad:)

[Seago2]

Book the Breakaway and get the dining package. In fact, they are giving it away now.

 

We had it booked this winter, just my husband and me. Then he tore his rotator cuff and that was that. Thank god for insurance! Honestly, when I am cruising with my son it's like Siberia in a specialty restaurant. We like the MDR experience a lot. You get to know the waiters- they're like magicians with the way they remember your name and preferences right off the bad.

 

There are a lot of options and I'm sure I'll find one but I stand my my OP- the MDR food is in a slide and on a side note, the Pride has a vibration problem. That's about it :)

[bury me at sea]

Third cruise on the Magic in the last year. Staff in MDR great as usual. Three nights I had 2 and even 3 appetizers and skipped entree.

 

I fry a pretty mean chicken at home. Also a meatloaf and macaroni and cheese with a lot of flavor. Not about to order things on an American Table menu that I make better at home.

 

Some good things still on the menu but overall pretty disappointed.

 

On the plus side there were still 4 cold fruit bisques.

 

Still a good oveeall value for the price for us, but the cutbacks sure do stand out.

[disfan13]

such a shame to read - we were on the Pride in Mid April and didn't have a bad meal. David's was the best ever - ate there twice. The MDR food wasn't "great" but it was fine.

[jamscckmc]

I was also on the May 24th cruise. I actually liked all the food in the MDR. I thought all the beef and pasta dishes were really good. I thought the stroganoff and lasangna, which were awful on RC, were great. I didn't are for the deserts though. I thought the ice cream and sherbet in the MDR had a funny taste. I do think the 24hr ice cream machine was much better then the other cruiselines limited hours frozen yogurt. I enjoyed the food more than Princess or RC. Especially the pizza.

 

Pride gets the new menus in August. It looked to me that those menus had more limited choices. Hopefully the food will good!

[richstowe]

I really think I need to move on from Carnival.

Perhaps you do . The frequency of your Carnival cruises is leading to ennui .;)

 

I get it, it's a bargain no doubt. But if I'm going to spend $1860 for the cruise fare alone, wouldn't it be better to spend $2500 or even $3000, payments made throughout the year, for something better than Carnival?

Love the singing waiters!

Interesting that your thread focuses on MDR food . I believe this is the area where Carnival matches

or surpasses the other cruise lines . I'm sure you would enjoy Princess or perhaps non-cruise options .

[Seago2]

Perhaps you do . The frequency of your Carnival cruises is leading to ennui .;)

 

Interesting that your thread focuses on MDR food . I believe this is the area where Carnival matches

or surpasses the other cruise lines . I'm sure you would enjoy Princess or perhaps non-cruise options .

 

I think you're right about the ennui! It could just be a been there, done that kind of thing. However, I have to say that the MDR staff was excellent and I certainly have had cruises where the opposite was true. Also my cabin steward was excellent. So I'm giving credit where it's due and noticing the upticks as well. Honestly it seemed like there was twice the staff in the MDR than I am used to. And they hustled. But omg, the first night my salmon came out upside down. Seriously. And the potatoes and things along the sides of dishes are now really small.

[BartRock]

Seems we had opposite experiences on the same cruise.

 

We were completely unimpressed with the service most nights and with the exception of the prime rib, which was a disaster in every possible way, and the fried chicken, which I believe my wife said was tasteless and dry, we were pretty happy with everything we got. Presentation, quality, temperature, etc. were good.

 

Now, my mom hated everything, but she likes about four different things cooked in very specific ways, so her opinion doesn't count. :p

[Seago2]

Seems we had opposite experiences on the same cruise.

 

We were completely unimpressed with the service most nights and with the exception of the prime rib, which was a disaster in every possible way, and the fried chicken, which I believe my wife said was tasteless and dry, we were pretty happy with everything we got. Presentation, quality, temperature, etc. were good.

 

Now, my mom hated everything, but she likes about four different things cooked in very specific ways, so her opinion doesn't count. :p

 

Were you upstairs or down? I'm wondering if they give more staff to the ATD diners. We certainly had more bread! Whole basketfuls as we watched the fixed dining people get the usual single piece at a time.

[Crusin Karen]

Were you upstairs or down? I'm wondering if they give more staff to the ATD diners. We certainly had more bread! Whole basketfuls as we watched the fixed dining people get the usual single piece at a time.

We noticed the exact thing with the bread! We were always at a table for 2 at the "edge" and not 2 seconds after we were seated our great waitstaff brought us a huge basket of hot bread. We would "spy" over the railing and all the fixed seating tables had the waiter come around and give one piece that you picked. It was weird! Many times we made ourselves eat ONLY ONE piece of bread and I wanted to take the basket downstairs and share lol.

[Linerguy]

Yeah, we were on the PRIDE on May 3 and the food in the MDR was fine.

 

As far as the vibration...it was also not an issue. It's a ship - it moves up and down, side to side, and, yes, it vibrates. It does what a ship is supposed to do. These are just some of the reasons I liked the PRIDE so much....I knew I was at sea.

[eponym]

Look at the economics for a second. Your cruise fair costs about the same as it costs to stay in a Hampton Inn for a week. With that fare you get quite a few choices of unlimited food and some kind of entertainment every night. Oh, and the thing floats and probably burns a gallon of gas every 2 feet. You aren't going to get a Tavern on the Green meal in the MDR that serves 2000 people every night in 3 hours. Personally, I avoid the MDR. I find it silly to go through all the pomp and circumstance for a meal that is rightfully of Applebee's quality. I do like a couple good meals on vacation and I will pay extra to dine in specialty restaurants for that.

 

Rates to stay at a 185 square foot Hampton Inn room with no windows perhaps, but who does that?

[BartRock]

Were you upstairs or down? I'm wondering if they give more staff to the ATD diners. We certainly had more bread! Whole basketfuls as we watched the fixed dining people get the usual single piece at a time.

 

Haha, yeah, bread wasn't a problem. We were ATD.

 

They were all very nice, but our water glasses weren't kept filled and one of us drinks coffee after dinner and on a few nights, we were waiting quite a while for it. Long breaks between courses sometimes and I mean long enough where you start to wonder what's going on.

 

I certainly wouldn't say it was the worst service I've ever had, but it was very uneven, at least.

[bonvoyagebites]

Sorry to hear of your food experience. As you can see below, I am a big fan of cruise food, and always hope it to be wonderful (the food below WAS quite wonderful). So far I have had great food experiences while cruising. As a previous poster said, the price of a cruise is comparable to a lesser experience, BUT... many of us have had great experiences so far, and always hope to continue that.... Thanks for remaining positive on the overall experience, and not just making it a complaint post.

 

Here's to hoping that your experiences in the future are better. Hooray for yummy cruise food.

[nokidz]

We were on the Pride at the end of April. The MDR YTD/ATD. the food was very good. Not excellant but very good. The service was ok until we hit one waiter, then it was fantastic. So much that we requested him every night after. We did receive a few pieces of fatty beef. I just sent it back and the next one was good. I did add a steak to every dinner entre. The steak was very good.

I guess food is and will be hit and miss due to alot of reasons.

[Love2Cruise626]

We were on the PRIDE in September and after 2nights in the MDR we never went back. It was like eating hospital food. We ended up going to get pizza or burgers which were great. Also David's Steakhouse was excellent. One day, the soup of the day at Mermaids Lido deck was veg broth. That's what the sign said VEG BROTH. It was really awful. The service was excellent, the entire cruise was excellent but the food was not good and has really gone downhill. We still had a great time!

[RecoveryDude]

Wow - Perhaps some of you might want to either stop cruising, pick another, more "premium" line ... OR, adjust your expectations!!

 

Carnival has never promised "upscale" 5-star dining! For the overall value of the vacation expereince, Especially compared to land vacations, it can't be beat! Where else can you spend about $100 to $150 per person, per day, and get:

 

a hotel room

several options for "unlimited" food

Resort-like ammenities including full gym, pool, waterslides

daily activities

nightly entertainment including shows, comedians and audience-shows

Round Trip sea-transportation to multiple tropical locations for you to explore

 

Plus, GREAT Views of the ocean ALL day ...

 

No matter WHAT line you cruise ... it's an AWESOME vaue ... and I cruise for the OVERALL experience ... not just "one" aspect, like the food.

 

So, I place my expectations for cruise food in the MDR and the Lido Buffet somewhere between "Banquet/Wedding food" and "Outback Steakhouse" -- and I am typically happy and satisfied.

 

I'll be on the Pride February 20th, 2016 - Paying $98 per person, per day for my 8 day cruise (INCLUDING Gratuities and Port Charges!) I'm confident with these properly set expectations ... I'll have a great time and never be hungry! I also plan on trying the Steakhouse for the first time, my expectations for that will be a little higher - I'm NOT expecting it to be like "Ruth Chris'" but it would be nice if it were :)

 

Cheers!

 

Jeff aka Recovery Dude :)

[Seago2]

Wow - Perhaps some of you might want to either stop cruising, pick another, more "premium" line ... OR, adjust your expectations!!

 

Carnival has never promised "upscale" 5-star dining! For the overall value of the vacation expereince, Especially compared to land vacations, it can't be beat! Where else can you spend about $100 to $150 per person, per day, and get:

 

a hotel room

several options for "unlimited" food

Resort-like ammenities including full gym, pool, waterslides

daily activities

nightly entertainment including shows, comedians and audience-shows

Round Trip sea-transportation to multiple tropical locations for you to explore

 

Plus, GREAT Views of the ocean ALL day ...

 

No matter WHAT line you cruise ... it's an AWESOME vaue ... and I cruise for the OVERALL experience ... not just "one" aspect, like the food.

 

So, I place my expectations for cruise food in the MDR and the Lido Buffet somewhere between "Banquet/Wedding food" and "Outback Steakhouse" -- and I am typically happy and satisfied.

 

I'll be on the Pride February 20th, 2016 - Paying $98 per person, per day for my 8 day cruise (INCLUDING Gratuities and Port Charges!) I'm confident with these properly set expectations ... I'll have a great time and never be hungry! I also plan on trying the Steakhouse for the first time, my expectations for that will be a little higher - I'm NOT expecting it to be like "Ruth Chris'" but it would be nice if it were :)

 

Cheers!

 

Jeff aka Recovery Dude :)

 

Wow, what a stunningly original reply on Cruisecritic.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

I'm almost platinum, do I quit now? Hm.

 

I say branch out. I am loyal to no line and find variety is great. Are the plat perks really all that good?

[caitmac1]

Some of you guys must eat REALLY good hospital food! I thought the food on our Miracle cruise was just fine.

 

Was it SUPER GREAT AWESOME? No. It was sort of like going to Olive Garden. The food will be tasty, but you know perfectly well it's massproduced and a lot of it was frozen. It still tastes pretty good and you're perfectly happy to eat it for a nice but not fancy or super special dinner out.

[mediccruzin]

Wow - Perhaps some of you might want to either stop cruising, pick another, more "premium" line ... OR, adjust your expectations!!

 

Carnival has never promised "upscale" 5-star dining! For the overall value of the vacation expereince, Especially compared to land vacations, it can't be beat! Where else can you spend about $100 to $150 per person, per day, and get:

 

a hotel room

several options for "unlimited" food

Resort-like ammenities including full gym, pool, waterslides

daily activities

nightly entertainment including shows, comedians and audience-shows

Round Trip sea-transportation to multiple tropical locations for you to explore

 

Plus, GREAT Views of the ocean ALL day ...

 

No matter WHAT line you cruise ... it's an AWESOME vaue ... and I cruise for the OVERALL experience ... not just "one" aspect, like the food.

 

So, I place my expectations for cruise food in the MDR and the Lido Buffet somewhere between "Banquet/Wedding food" and "Outback Steakhouse" -- and I am typically happy and satisfied.

 

I'll be on the Pride February 20th, 2016 - Paying $98 per person, per day for my 8 day cruise (INCLUDING Gratuities and Port Charges!) I'm confident with these properly set expectations ... I'll have a great time and never be hungry! I also plan on trying the Steakhouse for the first time, my expectations for that will be a little higher - I'm NOT expecting it to be like "Ruth Chris'" but it would be nice if it were :)

 

Cheers!

 

Jeff aka Recovery Dude :)

 

How low must ones expectations go? Soon the bar will be set low an ant couldn't crawl under it.