Quality of food lower now on Princess

[Cruisedreamer1]

My girlfriend and I went on the same 4 day Crown cruise. A couple of years ago, my husband and I did the same itinerary. The food now is going down hill. The MDR had limited choices and the quality ho hum. On the previous same cruise the food was better and we had more choices.

 

One evening we went to Sabbatini's and found less choices and the food very average. If you consider that we are paying a $29 surcharge this is outrageous!

 

However, we found the piazza food better prepared and its presentation better. Even their desserts were better than MDR or Horizon.

 

The service in the MDR was poor to average with lots of uneven serving of courses. Was this because of the ship sailing at full capacity or lack of staff?

 

It seems that Princess can't offer consistent service or quality across their ships. This is very disappointing.

[Kinkacruiser]

The menu choice is ultimately up to the executive chef onboard and the food budget they are given for a specific sailing from corporate. He/she selects menus/items from the master rotation that fit within that budget. Shorter cruises often have lower food budgets assigned to them, especially if they have been heavily discounted.

 

I'd have to agree and especially so if the short cruises are sold at bargain basement prices.

[sunsetbeachgal]

It must be the Crown. I cruised ten days on the Regal in late October and the variety and quality of food in the Horizon Court, MDR, Alfredos and Crown Grill were all excellent. The buffet on the Regal and Royal are the best!

 

 

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[dickinson]

Was on the Crown for the 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific. Agree about the Horizon Court for lunch (we rarely went at dinner). Choices were boring and same ole same ole. No variety really from day before. Heard there was a new Indonesian chef so that explains why there were several of those types of dishes. I saw most people pass by that section.

 

I put this on my survey. Hope others did.

 

MDR was fine. Didn't like that butter was not on table. Had to wait or even had to ask them to bring it. Choices were ok although wish the beef medallions were still on there. Didn't care for the gourmet hamburger they had instead. After a while though I got bored of the same old choices.

[hm9912]

I was curious about the same thing.....:D:D:D

 

Bob

 

Me too!

 

Can someone define "filler food"

 

Howard

[GRAYTech]

Was on the Crown for the 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific. .... After a while though I got bored of the same old choices.

 

A nice problem to have actually. One of the hazards of a month long cruise...

[ar1950]

M

 

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Interesting - I did not post the above post.

 

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Hmm......Short memory? :rolleyes::D:)

[ar1950]

Not sure about the Crown specifically, but, we have found the food choices on other short (3,4, or 5 day) cruises to be less than what we have found on longer cruises.

Edited December 2, 2016 by ar1950

[Cruiser411]

I remember most of what was positive or negative on a cruise actually. This was our 8th Princess cruise, and I have never found absolutely nothing that appealed to me, yes they have the everyday options that are available, but I and my husband would prefer quality for quantity, especially in the main dining room. We actually have done anytime ding the last 3 cruises and it was excellent service as well as this time. Probably the uncharge on the dining in the specialty restaurants had something to do with the lower quality.

I was surprised on the formal night the choices it always seemed to be very special but didn't seem like it this trip.

It still was a very fun time, with great entertainment and a positive helpful attitude across the board.

Next time we might just do a couple of the specialty restaurants.

 

4 day cruises have a formal night?

[Alaskan Joe]

Not sure what you mean by filler food.

 

Most food fills me.....eventually.

 

I had the same thought...hahahaha:D.

[Knickearth]

I don't mean to sound mean, but you were lucky it was just a 4 day trip. We got off two weeks ago from the Crown Princess after a 28 day cruise and we had the same complaints.

 

We are returning to the Royal Princess in February and shall see if they are still good.]

[Knickearth]

Dickinson, we were on the 28 day trip as well and we completely agree with your assessment. Bring back the Beef Medallions Princess.

 

I couldn't believe that most of the 28 days they served bok choy as the green vegetable. I love bok choy, but also love other green veggies.

[keithm]

The menu choice is ultimately up to the executive chef onboard and the food budget they are given for a specific sailing from corporate. He/she selects menus/items from the master rotation that fit within that budget. Shorter cruises often have lower food budgets assigned to them, especially if they have been heavily discounted.

Being in the food industry, I'd say you hit it spot on. A really talented Exc. chef can still make a lower quality food type better with his talent. The same goes for a not so great chef who can really make high quality food taste pretty bland. I found the steaks on the Regal last Feb. to not even be up to "select" grade(even in Crown Grill & Sabatini's)The seafood dishes, however were overall excellent. I'm from New England, where we know a thing or two about decent seafood.

[keithm]

It must be the Crown. I cruised ten days on the Regal in late October and the variety and quality of food in the Horizon Court, MDR, Alfredos and Crown Grill were all excellent. The buffet on the Regal and Royal are the best!

 

 

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I found the steaks overall rather bland. The seafood was very good to outstanding at times. I'm in the food industry, so I have some knowledge about the food. Food budget means a lot, but a talented chef can do wonders with even fairly low grade food.

[keithm]

Dickinson, we were on the 28 day trip as well and we completely agree with your assessment. Bring back the Beef Medallions Princess.

 

I couldn't believe that most of the 28 days they served bok choy as the green vegetable. I love bok choy, but also love other green veggies.

Bok Choy is very inexpensive, which is why you'll see a lot of it.

[hydrodriver831]

On our last couple of cruises on Princess, we have actually preferred the buffet over the MDR. Whenever we preview the MDR menu for dinner, we are just not very excited by the choices offered, so up to the buffet we go. :)

[keithm]

On our last couple of cruises on Princess, we have actually preferred the buffet over the MDR. Whenever we preview the MDR menu for dinner, we are just not very excited by the choices offered, so up to the buffet we go. :)

We found the food on the Regal pretty good(especially seafood)The buffet certainly seemed to have a lot of choices. If we do the Regal again we might skip the MDR a few times & try the buffet for dinner, as opposed to breakfast/lunch.

[Loonbeam]

It's not quite that flexible, they have to choose from a set selection of menus, but the overall point holds.

 

And a good EC can do a lot more with less than an average or subpar one.

 

That said, to the overall topic, yes, they are going with lower cuts of meat, etc. Simple reason, food costs have been going up, a lot in some cases. Fares have not risen at the same rate. So something has to give.

 

The menu choice is ultimately up to the executive chef onboard and the food budget they are given for a specific sailing from corporate. He/she selects menus/items from the master rotation that fit within that budget. Shorter cruises often have lower food budgets assigned to them, especially if they have been heavily discounted.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've found it varies from ship to ship, and from executive chef to executive chef. We've done four Princess cruises so far.

 

1st cruise, Dec14, 13 nights Sun Princess, the food was excellent, plenty of variety, beautifully presented, perfectly cooked. We ate in the MDR for almost all meals, apart from a couple of breakfasts in the buffet, a balcony dinner, and one night at Sterling Steakhouse.

 

2nd cruise, Aug15, 17 nights Dawn Princess. The food was the worst I've had so far on a cruise ship, apart from one experience (see below). Very salty, especially the soups. Sloppy presentation. Again we mostly ate in the MDR.

 

3rd cruise, Apr16, 21 nights Golden Princess. Nice quality without being outstanding. Some misses. Attractively presented. On this cruise we started using the buffet or Terrace Grill more for lunch, or ordered something from the Sanctuary Menu. We also went to Sabatinis (excellent except for the zabaglione) and the Crab Shack which was absolutely awful.

 

4th cruise, Sep16, 20 nights Sun Princess, different executive chef. Again nice quality with some misses in the MDR. But the order of the MDR menus was unbalanced - we'd have lamb 2-3 nights in a row, then beef for 2-3 nights. We used the buffet much more for lunch on this cruise and that's where the really excellent food was. We tried Share (some good dishes, some not up to the standard I expected) and Kai Seafood (oysters good, lesser quality fish on the nigiri than we are used to, ahi tuna excellent, menu is too limited).

 

One thing I will say is that Princess does do lobster very nicely. It's always been perfectly cooked.

 

We've also cruised on three other lines:

 

Royal Caribbean, Mar 15, 9 nights Rhapsody of the Seas. Decent quality food with the occasional standout dish. We loved the Park Cafe for lunch.

 

Celebrity, Dec15, 12 nights Celebrity Solstice. Less choice than Princess but decent quality. By the end of the cruise I was bored with the dinner appetisers, which seemed to be repeated more than once. Tried the buffet a couple of times for breakfast - it seemed hard to get hot food that was actually hot. We tried Silk Harvest for lunch one day, and it was very nice. Murano was OK, a bit old fashioned but the venison was beautifully cooked.

 

Carnival, Nov16, 9 nights Carnival Legend. Look out, Princess, you have some competition. Excellent appetisers and mains (OMG! The spicy pork dish on Island Night was divine!) but desserts are far below Princess standard. Decent food in the buffet but the buffet shuts down too early. Nouveau was a bit disappointing except for the Maine lobster which was superb. Next time we'll just order the lobster in the MDR ($25 extra) instead of paying $45 to go to Nouveau.

 

The quality of the meals is an important part of the whole cruise experience for us. We don't expect Michelin three star dining in the MDR, but we do expect good food, served attractively, tasty and properly cooked, and it's nice to have the occasional wow factor dish.

[sfaaa]

Unrealistic expectation can also mean lower quality of food. Want lobster and prime cut steak every night? No problem. Pay extra and dine in specialty restaurant. It's your call.

[jeromep]

Not sure what you mean by filler food.

 

Most food fills me.....eventually.

 

hahahah. I like that. :D

 

I'm not sure exactly what filler food is, but I'll take a shot. I think I'd call it carb loading. Lots of starchy foods, which are often times steam table, hot hold, friendly. Potato dishes, pasta dishes, breaded meats, etc.

 

Somebody tell me if I'm wrong.

[jeromep]

I'm not trying to be off topic, and this certainly isn't targeted toward the OP, but whenever these food threads pop up on CC, I always wonder, where does the OP dine when they are at home? If I knew that I'd have a better barometer by which to understand where the OP is coming from. Again, this isn't directed to the OP on this thread, just an observation about almost every food quality thread on CC.

[california and cruising]

The reason I started this thread is we have been on 8 Princess cruises previously and my husband and I had thought the food was quite varied, presented nicely and had great flavor. This time it was lacking, seemed just ho hum. My husband and I don't regularly dine at upscale restaurants very casual and prefer neighborhood establishments. We do like varied menus and it seemed like it was pretty plain compared to the Ruby just last year and that was a 4 day. The year before that it was the Golden and that also was a 4 day. The food was fabulous and the menus varied. All of the others were 7 days and also no complaints. I only started this thread to see if other seasoned cruisers thought that there was a difference. I realize this cruise was a four day but if I book again and it is for a longer cruise I certainly wouldn't want these choices that were offered that's all.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Do you recall who the Executive Chef was?

Edited December 3, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[california and cruising]

No not there name. I know they were both Indian. Met them both at the chef's dinner.