Haven't been on Carnival since 2008, has food changed?

[Cruisegoer]

Interested to hear from people if you think the quality of the food has gone up or down in recent years?

[Surfwench]

I've sailed 1999, 2005, 2011 onward....

 

Food in MDR declined between 1999 and 2005. BUT in 2011 noticed a big uptick in choices, alternative venues, etc...

 

And the steakhouse food is every bit as good as the MDR offerings of old.

 

I've sailed another mass-market line once... Royal. I found Carnival food superior to Royal.

[Vitamin_Sea]

Everyone has different tastes, likes/dislikes of spices.

 

Its a huge cruise ship, not Wolfgang Puck's private charter.

 

Ask the 3000 people off a ship and you get 3000 different answers.

 

Were off Splendor 2 weeks ago and thought it was fine

 

Service was outstanding.

[Cruisegoer]

I've sailed 1999, 2005, 2011 onward....

 

Food in MDR declined between 1999 and 2005. BUT in 2011 noticed a big uptick in choices, alternative venues, etc...

 

And the steakhouse food is every bit as good as the MDR offerings of old.

 

I've sailed another mass-market line once... Royal. I found Carnival food superior to Royal.

 

I had always found Carnival selection to be as good if not better than Royal. I sailed the Liberty of the Seas Jan 2015 and found most of the food to be mediocre at best and the Windjammer to be just tasteless.

 

I haven't sailed CCL in quite awhile and the Cantina and other options sounds great and the steakhouse was always a favorite. Having said that I have seen some pictures of dishes from the MDR with the new American Table menu and they haven't looked very appealing. Hoping for the best however so wanted to gather some opinion.

[skittl1321]

We found food declined drastically from our first cruise (2008) to our next two (2011 and 2012).

Edited July 20, 2015 by skittl1321

[Singer4Him]

Our last cruise was last August on the Carnival Freedom (we sailed on the Conquest the year before that) and, I think the food was some of the best we've had. If you're sailing on a ship with Guy's, IMHO, it's a big improvement from the regular lido grill. Others will disagree but, for me, if my waistline could handle it, I think I could eat lunch there every day!!

 

As for the MDR, I can say, hands down that it was some of the best! Service was very good, as well.

 

That being said, this is only two ships out of a whole fleet and, as others have stated, they're trying to feed (and please) a LOT of people from all over the country and around the world, so they won't be batting 1,000 every time for every person, but for us, we were very pleased and looking forward to our upcoming cruise...well, except for the fact that the Dream doesn't have Guy's Burger Joint. :D

[2Shoes2Go]

We find Carnival's food superior to Royal's. Always have found it so.

Portions are overall smaller now than we began in 2007. This is perfectly fine. :)

[Vitamin_Sea]

Our last cruise was last August on the Carnival Freedom (we sailed on the Conquest the year before that) and, I think the food was some of the best we've had. If you're sailing on a ship with Guy's, IMHO, it's a big improvement from the regular lido grill. Others will disagree but, for me, if my waistline could handle it, I think I could eat lunch there every day!!

 

As for the MDR, I can say, hands down that it was some of the best! Service was very good, as well.

 

That being said, this is only two ships out of a whole fleet and, as others have stated, they're trying to feed (and please) a LOT of people from all over the country and around the world, so they won't be batting 1,000 every time for every person, but for us, we were very pleased and looking forward to our upcoming cruise...well, except for the fact that the Dream doesn't have Guy's Burger Joint. :D

 

I would have a couple Guys burgers on a cruise but thats probably it. Of course they taste good.The things are loaded with so much fat and grease its scary

:eek:

[ddloml]

In general, I think the food has improved since my first Carnival cruise in 2009. The Lido buffet was and still is mediocre, but now they have improved other offerings on Lido with venues such as Guy's Burgers, Mongolian Wok, Burrito Bar, and a Fish & Chips station on many ships. The steak house is still very nice (although it used to be better with larger lobster tails and a porterhouse steak offering). The 24 hour pizza is good. I can always find one or two decent offerings in the MDR each night.

[Cruisegoer]

In general, I think the food has improved since my first Carnival cruise in 2009. The Lido buffet was and still is mediocre, but now they have improved other offerings on Lido with venues such as Guy's Burgers, Mongolian Wok, Burrito Bar, and a Fish & Chips station on many ships. The steak house is still very nice (although it used to be better with larger lobster tails and a porterhouse steak offering). The 24 hour pizza is good. I can always find one or two decent offerings in the MDR each night.

 

I've always thought the choices Carnival offers at the Lido buffets are far superior to Royal. I really love the options of having the deli or Mongolian Wok. Royal really doesn't do anything in comparison to it.

[CruisersNC]

Go in with low expectations and you'll probably leave with a :). Go in with real high expectations and you may end up leaving with a :(.

[TheTravelista]

Food is one of the areas where Carnival continuously improves. Especially in variety. I'm pleased with it.

 

Carnival's food is vastly superior to RCIs.

Edited July 20, 2015 by TheTravelista

[oncruisecontrol]

Interested to hear from people if you think the quality of the food has gone up or down in recent years?

 

In my opinion, the food quality on Carnival has gone way down. In fact, on another thread, I mentioned that we'd had some of the best Carnival main dining room food back in 2008 on the Miracle. We haven't had anything as good on Carnival since then(except maybe their Spaghetti Carbonara-still very good).

 

A couple of posters mentioned that Carnival's food is better than Royal Caribbean's; I'd have to agree whole heartedly. In fact, Royal's food (MDR and Windjammer buffet) was so bad, that we opted for Johnny Rockets over their dining room offerings several times. Johnny's food was good (It was greasy burgers and such, but I knew what I was getting and it was tasty).

[cccer]

I don't think the food has changed much in the last 15 years I have been cruising. I have been on Carnival and RCL and find it all very good. Not great, but it's a good meal for mass production. I'm looking forward to trying the new American menu in three weeks on the Liberty so we will see how that goes.

[oncruisecontrol]

Go in with low expectations and you'll probably leave with a :). Go in with real high expectations and you may end up leaving with a :(.

 

That is a rather dismal view, but sadly I must concur. Though, many people may find Carnival's offerings to be very good. My opinion is this: The offerings of the last couple of years are varied, but it is food that has been prepared with way too much salt, inferior cuts of meat, and way too much processed ingredients. For anyone who cooks fresh foods from scratch at home like I do, you may very likely be disappointed with Carnival's food. For comparison's sake, if a person enjoys frozen microwave meals, or dinners from the likes of TGI Friday's, Chili's, or Olive Garden, then you'll probably like Carnival's food. Nothing wrong with liking those establishments, but if one is used to scratch cooking, they may find current cruise ship menus to be lacking. So as not to appear to disparage, it is worth noting that 20 years ago, TGi Friday's and Chili's were totally different birds than what they are today and cooked most everything from scratch, to-order. But like Carnival, their menu items have also endured a steep downward decline to where I now equate Carnival's offerings to theirs. And that's definitely not an improvement.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

With the addition of the new food venues food has improved quite a bit.

[skylark131]

I have always thought that Carnival's food was and continues to be delicious. Except their desserts. Sadly, I've never tasted one that I thought was delicious.

[xeroxme]

Food is fine. Just look at all the restaurants and got to the one that is your flair. We did American menu this summer on Glory. I was worried before sailing. All for nothing. Yes it's different format but food was good and the port of call menu selections made it fun. I have no problem with the food. I like Princess food better than RCI or ccL. Jmo

[cruising maniac]

We took a ten year break from Carnival and when we returned in 2013 to the Dream, we were blown away by how good the food tasted. Not just the MDR but mostly noticed improvements in the buffet. The good news is that you have so many choices that it is truly easy to find something for everyone.

[mzloolue]

There are fewer expensive beef cuts served.

 

There still are some very good beef dishes however.

 

Other than that the food is about the same for the last 10 years anyway.

 

And truthfully, there is less beef in my own kitchen lately too.

[portocaller]

I found the food to be good on Lido deck and fantastic in the dining rooms. We certainly didn't go hungry. My previous cruise was twenty years ago and I thought the dining room was the same and Lido slightly improved from then.

[alreadypacked]

I would have a couple Guys burgers on a cruise but thats probably it. Of course they taste good.The things are loaded with so much fat and grease its scary

:eek:

 

Oh I know! I was really looking forward to my first Guy's burger last November after seeing everyone's pictures here. I wasn't expecting low fat of course, but the burger (on the Freedom) was soooo greasy that I could barely eat half. Since then, the thought of eating any burger anywhere has been a turnoff.

Edited September 14, 2015 by alreadypacked

[mzloolue]

Oh I know! I was really looking forward to my first Guy's burger last November after seeing everyone's pictures here. I wasn't expecting low fat of course, but the burger (on the Freedom) was soooo greasy that I could barely eat half. Since then, the thought of eating any burger anywhere has been a turnoff.

 

I have not sailed on a ship with Guy' yet, but I have heard this comment many times on CC.

It does not sound good as I am not fond of grease.

[Gardeneroflove]

Interested to hear from people if you think the quality of the food has gone up or down in recent years?

 

DOWN. Or I just eat better in real life now...

 

I didn't find portions small, expect on the apps, which were better.

 

Lido sucked. Desserts weren't that great. sigh. no lobster bisque. The pizza was poor quality. The pasta bella, not impressed. Mongolian Wok was good. bacon mac and cheese good, tomato soup good in brunch. so there were a few things, but overall, not impressed.

 

BUT the chicken wrap from room service was still Great!!

[oncruisecontrol]

Earlier in the thread someone mentioned about the expanded offerings. While it is true that on ships that have had the 2.0 "upgrades" there are more offerings on the Lido deck, I would not say that this has improved the quality of food that is offered. In fact, I liked the first Guy's burger that I had, but after that first one, the grease began to weigh on me. I find them unpalatable now. Then there's Café Iguana. I love the choices of salsa. But the protein choices for the tacos are all waaay too salty. I wish one of the choices was unseasoned, diced grilled chicken, so I can season it as I wish. Since I will be adding their flavorful salsas and other condiments myself, overly seasoned filling is not necessary or desired. Epic fail here.