Quality of Food

[Farts]

I haven't been on Carnival in 7+ years. How is the quality of the food?

 

Things that I think about:

1. Do they serve steak during lunch and dinner in the MDR?

2. Do they have a prime rib or is that an upcharge/specialty dining?

3. Are the ice cream scooped out of bins or are they soft serve?

4. Flavors of ice cream?

 

Just for reference, I am not interested in Johnny's or burgers in general. I like my steak. Any input is appreciated.

 

 

Thanks.

[lucy2mb]

The flat iron steak is on the menu in the MDR every night. It has always been one of my husband's favorite. I do believe they have the prime rib in the MDR.

They only have soft serve vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. One machine is yogurt and one is ice cream.

[lucy2mb]

The flat iron steak is on the menu in the MDR every night. It has always been one of my husband's favorite. I do believe they have the prime rib in the MDR.

They only have soft serve vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. One machine is yogurt and one is ice cream.

[lucy2mb]

Did not mean to post two times and can't find out how to delete one. First time I submitted it, it said that it failed and I did it again.

[Farts]

Did not mean to post two times and can't find out how to delete one. First time I submitted it, it said that it failed and I did it again.

The flat iron steak is so good, you had to post it 2x :D

 

How would you rate the general quality of the food over the years?

[JohnSpo]

You can buy a better cut of steak in the MDR for a $20 upcharge.

 

The scoop ice cream in the MDR is vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and butter pecan. I get the butter pecan every night and it is great.

[riclop]

It has gone downhill fast.

[EGM112]

It has gone downhill fast.

Don't agree with thar we like the food in mDr. We all so like the flat iron steak.

[Cyber Kat]

It has gone downhill fast.

 

 

 

I agree! Been cruising Carnival since 2002 and the quality of the food has gone downhill. The every day steak used to be sirloin, now it's flat iron.

 

I do not like the American Table. Will be eating in the specialty restaurants more on our next Carnival cruise. Next cruises after that are with a higher end line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruisemom67]

The only time you have lunch in MDR now is SeaDay brunch. They had prime rib twice on the 7 day cruise I just took last week. They also had filet mignan one night. They had frozen yogurt and soft serve on lido, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry. In MDR you can order scoop butter pecan, chocolate, vanilla, and some flavors of sherbet. Sea day brunch you can also get scoop ice cream. My 19 y.o. Ordered a banana split every night from the kids menu. She's obviously not a kid.

[sailor05]

We personally found the food to be quite good last week on the Dream. Yes the steaks used to be sirloin and now are flat iron, but they do a great job of cooking them just as you order. We did to the $20 filet mignon upgrade a couple nights for celebrations and those were awesome. The rest of the food was wonderful and really have no complaints. We did not eat in the buffet a single time so can't comment on that. We did the sea-day brunch 3 days and they have filet mignon and eggs for free and we loved it!My opinion and those with us who have all sailed RCCL think it's better than theirs.

[Farts]

So I have to go to the buffet or a specialty restaurant on port days?

[bethtex]

for breakfast on port days you can still order in the dining room, but not the sea day brunch menu.

Guy's burgers, burrito bar, etc open for lunch as well as buffet

MDR for dinner.

 

We love the food in the MDR. The appetizers and cold soups are are favorites. There is prime rib and lobster one night on 7 day cruise and prime rib another night. We always find many good options and service is great. Don't mind the American Table - who cares if there are table cloths? Have never paid for steakhouse, but did Chef's Table once and it was well worth it.

[moongal]

Just off the Valor and my husband and I are steak lovers. Both of us are pretty much meat and potatoes kind of people. Don't like a bunch of weird stuff. Soooo we both ordered the flat iron steak every night of our cruise. (Yeah....we are definitely NOT adventurous eaters!)

We both would order 2 flat irons every night.

 

I found it to be subpar at best. Seemed to be the luck of the draw. A couple of nights we were brought what could only be described as a "tube" of steak. It was like someone had cut a strip of steak. It was so chewy and dried out , with white strips of sinew? running through it. We were barely able to saw a piece off to eat it. Other nights we were brought a nice juicy looking piece of meat that was tender and tasty. So the flat irons can really go either way. We were too cheap to order the steak upgrade from the steak house. We managed to fill up nicely on the delicious bread and our baked potatoes and desserts on nights when the steak was inedible.

 

 

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[SkyPiglet]

This is my 6th year with Carnival, so take what I say with a grain of salt and pepper...

 

1. Not sure about lunch in the MDR, I honestly haven't done it. At dinner, you can always get a flat-iron steak with no up-charge. It is ok, but not fancy. Usually a bit overcooked. Steakhouse steaks are available on some ships for an up-charge in the MDR at dinner.

2. Prime rib is available occasionally. I am not sure if that is for elegant night, or just part of the standard rotation of food items on the menu. I haven paid too close attention because I do not care much for prime-rib, but it is available some nights without an up-charge.

3. Ice cream through the ship is soft-serve. I believe that ice-cream as desert in the MDR is hard serve, scooped ice-cream.

4. For the soft-serve, chocolate, vanilla, twist. In the MDR, I don't remember.

 

 

To be perfectly honest, if you are into steaks as a foodie, the steakhouse is the best option, but it is an up-charge. On the other hand, if you are into "meat and potatoes," and not too picky about the quality/doneness/etc of a steak, the flat-iron is fine. IMHO, the flat-iron is comparable to Applebees or Outback and the steakhouse selection is comparable (almost) to Ruth's Chris.

[tallnthensome]

We were on the Vista. It was our first Carnival Cruise in years. The food in both the MDR and buffet was fair at best. The flat iron steaks in the MDR were tiny, overdone, and bland, no better than your local $12 steak at a family restaurant. How anyone can rave about Carnivals food is beyond me. Food on NCL was way better last year and their steaks in the MDR were real flavorful steaks with size and flavor, not like the 5oz ones Carnival gives you,

[blarko]

Do they not serve lunch in the MDR every day?

 

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[bUU]

How anyone can rave about Carnivals food is beyond me.

People make the same kind of comment in every forum I read, including Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Princess. Typically the answer includes a realization that we're paying cruise fares that are substantially less then we did 15 years ago, adjusted for inflation. I'm not sure about Carnival but I have read numerous reports for Holland America saying that there are far more opportunities to pay that extra incremental if you wish and get a higher quality then there were 15 years ago. So basically it's another case of unbundling: people get to choose whether they pay more and get more or pay less and get less.

 

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[ryano]

I agree! Been cruising Carnival since 2002 and the quality of the food has gone downhill. The every day steak used to be sirloin, now it's flat iron.

 

How long ago? The every day steak was flat iron on my very first cruise in 2008 LOL!

[ryano]

We were on the Vista. It was our first Carnival Cruise in years. The food in both the MDR and buffet was fair at best. The flat iron steaks in the MDR were tiny, overdone, and bland, no better than your local $12 steak at a family restaurant. How anyone can rave about Carnivals food is beyond me. Food on NCL was way better last year and their steaks in the MDR were real flavorful steaks with size and flavor, not like the 5oz ones Carnival gives you,

 

I dont see anyone "raving" about Carnivals food. It is what it is and most of us know that. Mass produced banquet style food prepared for thousands of people just like on every other mass market line. If the food is way better on NCL then NCL is where I would cruise. I stopped cruising Royal largely in part because of their food. Carnivals food was better in every aspect except the buffet. I dont do buffets much. Carnivals buffet sucks from what I could tell. Especially lunch and dinner

[meatloafsfan]

On sea days they have the sea day brunch in the MDR; this menu has filet mignon on it (served with eggs but if you just want the steak, they will get you just the steak). They also have mac n cheese that can be served with steak if you're looking for some cheesy carbs to go along with it.

 

For dinner they have the flat iron steak every night plus another beef dish - on the 7 night cruises you'll see beef dishes like beef brisket, prime rib (elegant night and sometimes one other night), veal parmesan, grilled beef tenderloin, braised short ribs, duo of filet mignon and short ribs (second elegant night), or pepper steak (on some port of call menus).

 

In the MDR ice cream is hard ice cream (scooped out of bins); on deck, it's soft serve.

 

They have caramel ice cream at the sea day brunch (generally served with the cheesecake or banana cream pie) but you can also get just the ice cream. At dinner it's chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or butter pecan. You can also order a banana split (they are on the kids menu).

 

On deck at the soft serve it's vanilla and chocolate; I've also seen strawberry and chocolate (and vanilla) frozen yogurt.

[IntrepidFromDC]

 

To be perfectly honest, if you are into steaks as a foodie, the steakhouse is the best option, but it is an up-charge. On the other hand, if you are into "meat and potatoes," and not too picky about the quality/doneness/etc of a steak, the flat-iron is fine. IMHO, the flat-iron is comparable to Applebees or Outback and the steakhouse selection is comparable (almost) to Ruth's Chris.

 

I think this is spot-on accurate.

[A&Jfamily]

I think this is spot-on accurate.

 

Agree.

 

Started cruising Carnival in early 2007 - so it has been a decade now. There have been changes in the food/menu but I will not say "better or worse" in the MDR. We like some things more, some less. For example, DH and my youngest both love steak and they enjoy the addition of the flat iron - it is a fall back if nothing else appeals. I think their veal parm is surprisingly good.

 

I have mixed feelings about sea day brunch. If you have a lot of sea days, especially back to back, it gets old. As you have learned from other posters, they no longer do "lunch" in the MDR. I miss having the separate meal options with a totally different menu from breakfast, but, I have to say that the food for sea day brunch is better than what was on the old lunch menu. There are "breakfast" foods like huevos rancheros and steak and eggs that aren't available on the standard breakfast menu and a pork chop, pasta and other such goodies on the more lunch portion of the menu. The cheesecake is yum. It truly is a "brunch menu" and well done IMHO.

 

I am one of those people that likes breakfast to be traditional American foods and I cannot stomach a filet at 8 am; but at 11:30 for brunch with some pop-overs, after a light continental breakfast earlier in the morning, it is great! So on sea days, we either eat breakfast ie brunch at 8 in the MDR and use the lido for lunch, or have the continental and eat the brunch more for lunch.

 

If you like steak, try Blue Iguana steak taco bowl...hubby is addicted to that and Guys.

[Farts]

How long ago? The every day steak was flat iron on my very first cruise in 2008 LOL!

 

That was around the time that things started to change iirc

[summersigh]

We're not "foodies" .. for dinner at home most nights we have a meat, veggie and a simple salad. We find the MDR food just fine - we don't expect fine dining on a mainstream budget cruise line. If we really don't like an entree or the way it's prepared the wait staff has always been ok with replacing it with another entree of our choice. We've never walked away from the MDR hungry.

On cruises we really enjoy an app and salad before the entree. We ask that any entree with CCL's red marinara type sauce be served without the sauce. :D We never order steaks unless they're fillets because of tenderness. We always order beef/meats one level below the level of doneness we want and find it's always been just right by the time it gets to the table.

 

Can't speak about other ships but on the Sunshine there were so many places to eat lunch it was hard to decide - Sea Day Brunch, Deli, Pizza, Italian, stir-fry bowls, Cuban, Guy's Burgers, taco/burrito bar, and the Lido buffet plus room service. Whatever we got we took back into the Havana Bar area where there were always seats to be had - many by a window - in a quiet restaurant feeling atmosphere.

 

What I do know for sure is that food almost always tastes better when I'm not the one shopping, cooking, serving, clearing the table, and washing the dishes:D:D