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Considering Princess cruise, but concerned about negative food reviews


Leejnd4
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Of the cruise lines I have been on, Princess was disappointing in variety and quality of the dishes served in the main dining room. Joe,the French Laundry it is NOT!

French Laundry: capacity 60, 8 chefs, price tag $270 (prix fixe nine course meal). Wonder if the French Laundry would be the French Laundry if they had to serve 3000 or so meals three or more times a day?;)

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  • 6 years later...

Sailed on the Grand Princess for Alaska...17th cruise for us. Took daughter and family. After touting the excellent food and smooth sailing was thoroughly shocked by the poor food and choppy cruise..other guests noted same. Food in all areas (with the exception of the pizza place) was poorly cooked (tough beef and chicken...how do you manage to serve tough chicken??)...unimpressive and disinterested head waiters....servers tried but couldn't overcome the poor food. Even in the "special" restaurants the food was not up to par. I would suggest you stick to the pasta dishes in all the restaurants...choppy seas and the ship seemed out of control at some times. Many of us were under the impression the crew was not handling the ship correctly. Was sea sick the first time in 17 cruises. Buffet was terrible...cold food, tasteless and ugly...servers not interested in assisting. No longer have trays so seniors and disabled guests struggled with several trips hand carrying food to tables...speaking of which: guests with inferior rooms 'camp out' in dining room and lounges reading and playing cards and using computers while diners have to wander around with plates of food looking for a seat. I would strongly suggest signs in multi languages be placed on dining tables noting that tables are for diners...if you are not eating or ordering sit elsewhere. Terrible cruise all around.

the exception being our cabin steward Edwin Sun Bonifacio...5 stars for this guy. Outstanding.

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Sailed on the Grand Princess for Alaska...17th cruise for us. Took daughter and family. After touting the excellent food and smooth sailing was thoroughly shocked by the poor food and choppy cruise..other guests noted same. Food in all areas (with the exception of the pizza place) was poorly cooked (tough beef and chicken...how do you manage to serve tough chicken??)...unimpressive and disinterested head waiters....servers tried but couldn't overcome the poor food. Even in the "special" restaurants the food was not up to par. I would suggest you stick to the pasta dishes in all the restaurants...choppy seas and the ship seemed out of control at some times. Many of us were under the impression the crew was not handling the ship correctly. Was sea sick the first time in 17 cruises. Buffet was terrible...cold food, tasteless and ugly...servers not interested in assisting. No longer have trays so seniors and disabled guests struggled with several trips hand carrying food to tables...speaking of which: guests with inferior rooms 'camp out' in dining room and lounges reading and playing cards and using computers while diners have to wander around with plates of food looking for a seat. I would strongly suggest signs in multi languages be placed on dining tables noting that tables are for diners...if you are not eating or ordering sit elsewhere. Terrible cruise all around.

the exception being our cabin steward Edwin Sun Bonifacio...5 stars for this guy. Outstanding.

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As someone who enjoys all sorts of food and can appreciate Michelin macarooned restaurants all the way down to street food worldwide, I'd say the food on Princess (Island and last year Star) is o.k. to good. Not food 'd pay to go eat but it's perfectly acceptable. Stuck to the MDR on the short 4-day repo whenever possible. Some issues with service and food presentation but it's better than your local aspirational restaurant. Good but not particularly so.

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Sailed on the Grand Princess for Alaska...17th cruise for us. Took daughter and family. After touting the excellent food and smooth sailing was thoroughly shocked by the poor food and choppy cruise..other guests noted same. Food in all areas (with the exception of the pizza place) was poorly cooked (tough beef and chicken...how do you manage to serve tough chicken??)...unimpressive and disinterested head waiters....servers tried but couldn't overcome the poor food. Even in the "special" restaurants the food was not up to par. I would suggest you stick to the pasta dishes in all the restaurants...choppy seas and the ship seemed out of control at some times. Many of us were under the impression the crew was not handling the ship correctly. Was sea sick the first time in 17 cruises. Buffet was terrible...cold food, tasteless and ugly...servers not interested in assisting. No longer have trays so seniors and disabled guests struggled with several trips hand carrying food to tables...speaking of which: guests with inferior rooms 'camp out' in dining room and lounges reading and playing cards and using computers while diners have to wander around with plates of food looking for a seat. I would strongly suggest signs in multi languages be placed on dining tables noting that tables are for diners...if you are not eating or ordering sit elsewhere. Terrible cruise all around.

the exception being our cabin steward Edwin Sun Bonifacio...5 stars for this guy. Outstanding.

 

By inferior cabins, I assume you mean inferior people sailing in interior cabins?

 

Rough seas. That can happen on any sailing. Never promise smooth sailing. This, obviously, isn't Princess' fault Maybe cruising isn't for you. Also, the itinerary you picked is well known for rough seas. A little research would have told you this.

 

As far as the food is concerned, I can't believe this. Maybe a not so good meal here and there, but the whole cruise?

 

Also, you resurrected a 10 year old thread... :eek:

Edited by Working 2 Cruise
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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Just returned from our 21st Princess cruise (Regal). We have also cruised on 13 other cruise lines on more then 100 cruises (well over 1000 days at sea)....so I guess that makes us a little experienced. Princess food is good cruise ship food! I repeat...."good" cruise ship food." No mass market cruise line comes even close to a great land based restaurant...and few restaurants in the world come close to the French Laundry (saw this was mentioned in a previous post).

 

This thread was started 7 years ago...so most of the posts are dated. The more recent negative review of the Grand....is cause for concern as it sound like everything , food wise, went wrong on the ship. But when the poster blames the cruise line because they got sea sick...it does call into question their credibility.

 

Like any mass market cruise line, there are some variations in food quality on different ships..generally due to the ship's own management team. Get a really good Executive Chef and Hotel Manager...and you will likely be pleased. Get a lousy executive chef (it does happen) and demoralized crew and it can be a bad experience. We have cruised on the Grand 5 times (some were very long cruises) and always enjoyed the ship.

 

So what did we think of our most recent Regal cruise (we have been on the Regal the past 3 years)? There have been cut-backs in the actual food products. For example, the steak that used to be on hte everyday MDR menu has now been replaced with a hamburger! The popular Fettucini Alfredo that used to be served in a eatable basket...is now served on a regular dish. We think that Princess is trying to control costs by purchasing less expensive ingredients, meats, etc. and also reducing quanities. Even the famed "Princess Pizza" has deteriorated (DW thinks they are using lower quality cheese). But overall, the food on our Regal cruise (2 weeks ago) was very good. I noticed that the person who reviewed the Grand complained about rubbery chicken (easy to do by overcooking)...but we must admit we do not generally eat much chicken while on cruises (DW makes more then enough at home). On Lobster night,,,we thought the lobster tails were unusually small....although ours was perfectly cooked (unusual on any ship). At breakfast, Princess makes liberal use of real eggs (the kind that you crack) as opposed to overusing boxed liquid eggs (pasteurized) found on most cruise lines.

 

Folks need to adjust expectations. When you book a huge ship of a mass market line, you are getting (at best) sophisticated banquet cuisine. If you want something better you need to look at the alternative restaurants (we do think that Princess lags in this area). If you want to get something better then "good: in the MDR you can book lines like Seabourn, Regent, or Crystal. Of course you will generally pay over $600 per person/day (often over $1000 per person day). And for that price food will be better....but still not up to Chef Keller's wonderful French Laundry.

 

Hank

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