Food quality equal across ships?

[Weetahbugdotcom]

How consistent is the food quality across ships? My first cruise was on the BA, and as a vegetarian and a foodie, I was ready to weather through blandsville. With the exception of a few tomato sauce based things, I was pleasantly surprised. My second cruise was also on the breakaway. Those of you who like great food, do you find that the food is similar across ships? I'm sailing the pearl next year alone, I would really like great food.

 

 

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[pcakes122]

I've only sailed on the Breakaway, Gem and Dawn so far. While I think the food (I eat dinner 99% of the time in specialty restaurants) is good on all ships - I find the food on the Gem to be exceptionally good. Especially in Le Bistro.

[BirdTravels]

The ships use common menus across the fleet. Exec chefs rotate every 6 months. Other cooks every 9 months. Could one cook be more heavy handed or light handed with seasoning. Sure. But the menu items should be very similar.

[elruth]

We were on the Pearl March 3- 10th. Not vegetarians but I remarked that if I were a vegetarian, the menus in all the restaurants ( dining room and specialty ) had some interesting selections for a vegetarian. I think you'll be pleased with the choices.

[Loonbeam]

First of all, food is subjective. I've had 2 couples at the same table have very different opinions about the same dish (literally one said was too salty, other said needed salt).

 

With that in mind, especially in regards to the large venues (MDR, Buffet) the number 1 factor in food quality on any ship is the Executive Chef. How they run their kitchens has a ton of impact on options, quality, etc. Factor 2 is the MD/Head server, because a well organized and balanced staff gets food out more efficiently which means less time in warmers, etc.

 

This is why people can be raving about food on Ship A one week, and complaining the next (the week after an Exec Chef switch will almost always be problematic).

 

The best example I have is on Princess. We sailed on the Coral and the Island within a close time frame. Sister ships, identical galleys, identical menus, etc. Food on Coral? Ok. Food on Island? Spectacular to the point where we gave up free specialty dining because we looked forward to the MDR, and never went to the buffet once. And doing the backstage tour it was easy to see why. EC on the Coral ran his kitchen like a military operation. No one looked happy or engaged. Island? The chef was constantly encouraging, tasting, joking, and the kitchen staff responded accordingly. MD on Coral? No clue. MD on Island was helping his staff clear tables if needed, serving drinks, always visible and again staff responded accordingly....

[VideoTech]

How consistent is the food quality across ships? My first cruise was on the BA, and as a vegetarian and a foodie, I was ready to weather through blandsville. With the exception of a few tomato sauce based things, I was pleasantly surprised. My second cruise was also on the breakaway. Those of you who like great food, do you find that the food is similar across ships? I'm sailing the pearl next year alone, I would really like great food.

 

 

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As mentioned above, food is a very subjective subject. And since you spend a lot of time eating on cruise ships, you'll get a lot of opinions.

 

IMO, with the exception of the specialty restaurants, food across the NCL line is about the same, and it's all middle of the road. After all, they're having to cater to thousands of different people, all with different tastes. They're also buying huge quantities of food, which means they're obviously balancing cost against quality to find a profitable medium.

 

The chefs obviously make a difference. I have had some wonderful Indian food on one ship, and awful Chinese food on another. Simple hamburgers can be quite good, or just average.

 

The exceptions are the specialty restaurants, where they obviously try to do their particular specialty as well as possible. That being said, Cagney's steakhouse always seems to impress - although we did have one incredibly bad dinner in Cagney's on the Escape, but that was an anomaly. Le Bistro is always good, whereas the quality from the "Italian" specialty restaurant seems to vary all over the place. For the ships that have them, Food Republic is an interesting concept, and our one dinner in that restaurant was quite good.

 

A step beyond the specialty restaurants, on those ships that have them, are the Haven restaurants. We have never been disappointed with the quality, taste, preparation or presentation in any of the Haven restaurants.

 

While we're not vegetarians, we've noticed that there is a definite effort to make sure there are vegetarian options on all the menus, in all the restaurants.

 

Bottom line: given all the food options and dining options on the ships, it's hard to believe that anyone could not find something they would like.

[luvs2beachit]

I've only sailed on the Breakaway, Gem and Dawn so far. While I think the food (I eat dinner 99% of the time in specialty restaurants) is good on all ships - I find the food on the Gem to be exceptionally good. Especially in Le Bistro.

 

I have to 2nd your comment about the Gem. We were on the Gem in January and we said exactly the same thing....the Gem food was much better when compared to other NCL ships we have been on. We were on the Gem for a 21 day TA in 2010 and we thought the food was bad. We were so glad when the ship offered 1/2 price dinners in the specialty restaurants for the duration of that cruise. Having had that experience in 2010 when we booked the Gem for Jan 17 we went with low expectations but I am delighted to say we were pleasantly surprise at how good the food was this time. We are booked again on the Gem in May and looking forward to having some really good dining experiences!

[MaryZ]

We love the Gem too! I think overall, the Gem manages to make every meal wonderful.

[dexddd]

IMO the food across the fleet is very consistent. Of course you can get a one off but the food is very consistent.

 

The one moving target is the pizza - you never know what it is going to be like.

[Tatka]

I cannot compare as our cruises on different ncl ships were in different years. Dawn 2011, Jewel and Gem in 2012 were so so, Breakaway in 2014 was much better.

[victory2020]

Any thoughts on the Sky? Just booked along with some family & they asked about food. I haven't been on NCL for 16 years (when the Sky was new) so I have no clue.