Disappointed

[wpgcycler]

To those that were disappointed with the food... Comments which identify specific problems with the food such as "the NY steaks in the MDR were thinner, tougher, fattier etc." can be plausible and helpful. General statements such as "the food on the Eclipse was terrible" are just not credible. Sorry. Such comments are more likely attributable to a bad mood brought on by a couple of genuine but specific culinary failures which caused the commentator to unfairly extrapolate their dissatisfaction with those failures to the catering as a whole.

[jkgourmet]

1 hour ago, wpgcycler said:

To those that were disappointed with the food... Comments which identify specific problems with the food such as "the NY steaks in the MDR were thinner, tougher, fattier etc." can be plausible and helpful. General statements such as "the food on the Eclipse was terrible" are just not credible. Sorry. Such comments are more likely attributable to a bad mood brought on by a couple of genuine but specific culinary failures which caused the commentator to unfairly extrapolate their dissatisfaction with those failures to the catering as a whole.

 

I'm not one of those complaining about the food.  But I TOTALLY disagree with your premise.

 

Your comments make me think you expect people to remember each course of every meal they ate, and critique them all.  Even though they are it weeks/months ago.  

 

To  suggest that other people's opinions "are just not credible" is baseless, AND pompous. 

Edited May 15, 2019 by jkgourmet

[ldubs]

12 hours ago, perditax said:

Food quality is not entirely subjective. A cut of meat can be cooked incorrectly, gristly, etc. Fruit can be underripe/overripe. Seasoning can be under-done. These things may not matter to some people, but they are certainly quantifiable. 

 

Agree, a lot is more a matter of preference.  Some like medium rare and some like well done.  When you order medium rare and get well done, that is not subjective.  It is poor.   The quality of ingredients are not subjective either, IMO.  

 

[ldubs]

15 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

What I do not understand is that the food quality and grade on Royal ships are far better than the upscale Celebrity ships. Every Royal ship we have been on had excellent food. Every Celebrity ship we have sailed on had good to below average food. That is my experience. What about you? I am not talking about the Specialty restaurants.

 

I was on Celebrity Infinity & Constellation last year.  Just got off RCI Jewel a week or so ago.  

 

I found the MDR on Celebrity to be better than RCI.  I would say the menu had a lot to do with that.  

 

Flip/flop that for the buffet.  I thought the Windjammer was much better on selection and food line management than the buffet on either of the Celebrity ships.  

 

 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

On 5/13/2019 at 11:02 AM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

While not on Celebrity, I can say that on Royal Caribbean this past summer, I was sorely disappointed in my gluten-free experience on Jewel as opposed to two summers prior on Brilliance. I filled out the mid-cruise comment card and things DID change. They made it clear then that I could ask for much more than they had indicated before and the rest of the cruise things were much better. Taught me to speak up sooner if things are not right.

 

On 5/10/2019 at 12:57 PM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

As for not saying anything about the food... Well, you can CHOOSE not to, but then you

really should not complain as the server had no way to know and make it better.

 

I couldn't help but notice that you seem much harder on other people, than you are of yourself, at least regarding this issue.  You actually discovered this all accidentally, using a mid-cruise comment card, not even having to addressed it directly.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Stateroom_Sailor

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

 

 

I couldn't help but notice that you seem much harder on other people, than you are of yourself, at least regarding this issue.  You actually discovered this all accidentally, using a mid-cruise comment card, not even having to addressed it directly.

 

 

 

Stalking me now are we? 

 

That was was the first time I have had an issue and if you notice it DID teach me to speak up which I do willingly now.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

3 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

That was was the first time I have had an issue and if you notice it DID teach me to speak up which I do willingly now.

 

Right, but are you disappointed in yourself for not knowing this beforehand?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

10 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I respectfully disagree.  Recently we had our 51st cruise on Celebrity, also on the Eclipse.  The food (and much of the service) was seriously a step down (or more) than many of our recent cruises and for that matter any other cruise on Celebrity - and we have cruised them six times this year alone.  I do feel that overall the quality has declined but is generally somewhere between good to excellent.  It was not so on Eclipse (unlike the 28 days we spent on her early last year when the food and service were excellent).  

 

I also want to speak to those who say it should be brought to someone's attention onboard.  We in fact did do that with the service (in Blu) and it did improve considerably.  But I personally don't feel it makes a lot of sense to try to escalate the issue with the food.  Are they going to change chefs onboard??  Are they going to get better ingredients??  Are they suddenly going to have supplies of the several food items they were out of (or nearly out of)??  The answer to all is 'no'.  All it would serve to do it make us even more uncomfortable and feel like constant complainers (which I assure you we are not).  Maybe I am wrong to think this way, but that was our feeling onboard.

 

It's not our job to fix the kitchen, the shipping supplies, the ingredients.  An innocent mistake like no tomato on your burger, or the steak was a little undercooked, that's different.  X has post-cruise surveys, we have to assume they are competent enough to read them.  I'm hoping that Eclipse is an experiment to see how passengers react, and it is heard loud and clear.

 

I know you are a regular, and appreciate your honesty.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

31 minutes ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

 

Right, but are you disappointed in yourself for not knowing this beforehand?

 

No. Because I am not nearly as well-traveled on non-Disney ships as other people on here are. I have never had the issue of having to say anything on Disney because I have never had an issue with food on there. The food on Royal was edible and good - their menu changes just had many fewer obvious choices for gluten-free food. I DID speak up when they had a faro dish labeled as gluten-free - faro is most definitely NOT.

 

I would still speak up in the moment if I slipped though. Not give a meek “I guess so...” and go on. Especially if I slipped TWICE.

[capsplace]

So....for those of you who are saying the food was awful on your cruise, did you LOSE weight by the end of your cruise?

[4774Papa]

17 hours ago, neilrr said:

Hi everyone:

 

I understand everybody has different experiences and food is very subjective.  We have approx. 40 cruises under our belt and we have been on RCCL a couple of times and the food could not compare to Celebrity, Princess and HAL. This is about as good as it gets in the mid-priced cruise lines until you make the jump to Oceania and Azamara.  When we ordered a shrimp cocktail the waiter on RCCL said "you can only get it on certain days." The food was average at best and service was fair.

 

All the cruise lines have specific demographics they cater to. The ships' demographic on RCCL is 30's/40's - mostly families with children.  The kids were running around all over the ship.  The Captain had to make announcements for parents to supervise the children. I will take the service and food of Celebrity over RCCL anytime... Don't even get me started on NCL - those initials are not even discussed in our household after one trip with them. The worst food we ever had on a cruise line in their MDR and they served the same thing 3 days in a row in the buffet for lunch.

 

Everyone finds their niche... I like Celebrity better than Princess; my Partner likes Princess better than Celebrity in certain aspects...  I guess that what makes the world go round....

We have done 11 cruises on X, 7 on NCL and 1 on Royal

 

I would rate the dining as follows (100 pt scale)

 

90 for Celebrity

85 for Royal

80 for NCL

 

NCL has improved in the last couple of years.  Also, their specialty restaurants are excellent and not as expensive as Celebrity's.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

1 hour ago, capsplace said:

So....for those of you who are saying the food was awful on your cruise, did you LOSE weight by the end of your cruise?

 

6 lbs.

[cruisingnewtoit]

I am considering sailing on Carnival to Europe outside of school break to minimize the amount of children on the ship. I will eat at the catina, get the fresh pizza & eat at the speciality restaurants. 

 

 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

1 hour ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

No. Because I am not nearly as well-traveled on non-Disney ships as other people on here are. I have never had the issue of having to say anything on Disney because I have never had an issue with food on there. The food on Royal was edible and good - their menu changes just had many fewer obvious choices for gluten-free food. I DID speak up when they had a faro dish labeled as gluten-free - faro is most definitely NOT.

 

I would still speak up in the moment if I slipped though. Not give a meek “I guess so...” and go on. Especially if I slipped TWICE.

 

Hey, I appreciate the honestly.  You hold yourself to zero accountability, and accidentally discovered via a mid-cruise survey.  Me on the other hand, you are obviously disappointed in.  It is 2019 after all, not how we all used to be in 2018!

 

Anyways, my wife and I gave Eclipse a very poor rating on food in our post-cruise survey.  Maybe all is fixed...

[Stateroom_Sailor]

4 minutes ago, cruisingnewtoit said:

I am considering sailing on Carnival to Europe outside of school break to minimize the amount of children on the ship. I will eat at the catina, get the fresh pizza & eat at the speciality restaurants. 

 

My experience is that the MDR is still better than it has a right to be, though don't order anything beef unless you like really fatty cuts (lasagna is a disgusting soup of grease).  The Catina is about all I was willing to eat for lunch, ok but nothing too special.  I suggest eating in port when you can to break it up.  The fresh pizza is actually an improvement.  I've heard great things about their steakhouse.

[Orator]

I'm always exciting when I see that Kenny is the Executive Chef on my cruise. He is really outstanding and as passenger friendly as any chef in the fleet! He is currently on Eclipse and I was on the cruise that is the subject of most criticism. I must agree that the meals in the MDR were substandard, but they vastly improved on the next cruise. Not an excuse, but something might have happened on the April 17th cruise that we don't know about. I can only speculate, but many crew changes took place and this included the kitchen staff. I've been on cruises when shortages occurred due to shipment errors. On one Japan cruise shortages were caused by the Executive Chef refusing delivery of sub standard product. I'll be in Silhouette on June 16th and be able to see if my first cruise on Eclipse was a one time experience, or a trend.

[Cyber Kat]

We have our first Celebrity cruise booked on the Equinox for next spring. I didn’t notice anyone in this thread mentioning the Equinox in particular. We are in a suite so will probably be eating most of our meals in Luminae. 

 

Anyone have any feedback on this?  

 

We have done a mixed bag of cruises from Carnival to Viking. We’re not expecting Viking, but we’re hoping for better than Carnival - though I’m not one of those who looks down on Carnival or who think it’s terrible. It is what it is. 

 

Food wise. I enjoy a good meal and love good food, but I’m also okay with okay food. I guess that makes me not a foodie 😝

 

So what should I expect from Equinox?

 

FYI I will fill out comment cards, but I’m not a call the Chef or food manager over to complain sort of person unless the food has creepy crawlers or has gone off.

[Hlitner]

We can't help but notice the posts that suggest taking food quality issues to management.  While that can help for issues like food being served cold, it does little when it comes to quality and selection.  It is senior management that has made the decision to cut-back on costs and lower the quality of everything!  With food they try to develop recipes that hide the cut-backs.  For example, what may have previously been a nice filet mignon now becomes a braised cheap cut of stew meat.  The jumbo shrimp you used to get in a shrimp cocktail now becomes tiny shrimp mixed with a few other things to "expand" the offering.  Fresh squeezed OJ now becomes "premium OJ" made from concentrate?   Hot and cold soups that used to be excellent are now watered down distant cousins...often described as broth!

 

So what to do?  Expand your horizons to other cruise lines :).  There are still some lines that have decent food, but you are going to pay more for the experience.  Many fans of Oceania swear by the cuisine rather than swearing AT the cuisine on Celebrity.  We found that the food in MSC's Yacht Club was pretty good (not great) and our cost to cruise in their Yacht Club (which includes an entire ship within a ship experience) was far less than even the smallest suite on Celebrity.  Some of the luxury lines have some decent pricing on certain cruises and the food is certainly a few steps up from mass market lines.

 

Hank

[Orator]

20 minutes ago, Cyber Kat said:

We have our first Celebrity cruise booked on the Equinox for next spring. I didn’t notice anyone in this thread mentioning the Equinox in particular. We are in a suite so will probably be eating most of our meals in Luminae. 

 

Anyone have any feedback on this?  

 

We have done a mixed bag of cruises from Carnival to Viking. We’re not expecting Viking, but we’re hoping for better than Carnival - though I’m not one of those who looks down on Carnival or who think it’s terrible. It is what it is. 

 

Food wise. I enjoy a good meal and love good food, but I’m also okay with okay food. I guess that makes me not a foodie 😝

 

So what should I expect from Equinox?

 

FYI I will fill out comment cards, but I’m not a call the Chef or food manager over to complain sort of person unless the food has creepy crawlers or has gone off.

Equinox will be a "new" ship when you cruise. It's been the "Ship of the year" several times and is highly rated by past passengers. Captain Tasos will be joining the ship in November and then stay 3 months on, 3 months off and then returning to the ship. Capt. Tasos is very popular with passengers.

[Orator]

There was a Health Inspection between the two cruises and Eclipse scored a 99.

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

My knowledge comes from 70 cruises on 7 different cruise lines. Poor quality: Cold instead of hot, mashed potatoes hard as a rock,  If you have a chance, cruise on the Harmony and you will have the best food since the old days. Everything and I mean everything was excellent. Just cruised the Celebrity Reflection Apr 1st. loved the cruises and the ship and the food was exceptional to say the least. Yet, it did not compare to the Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas we sailed on in January. Not all ships on the same cruise line offer the same excellent prepared food. The only great food on the Carnival was in the steak house. Otherwise acceptable. 45 cruises on Carnival alone. At 74 we still like fun. AS for taste, that is not what I am comparing any of this to. That is preference. Variety, preparation, temperature, quality. 

twoday, in January this year we did back-to-back on Harmony and then on Edge out of FLL.  I agree that the food on Harmony was very good as was the food on Edge.  About equal in my opinion.  I felt the large number of people on Harmony was a reason that the service on Harmony was below the service on Edge.  Love both ships.  I know you hated Edge.

[Cyber Kat]

18 minutes ago, Orator said:

Equinox will be a "new" ship when you cruise. It's been the "Ship of the year" several times and is highly rated by past passengers. Captain Tasos will be joining the ship in November and then stay 3 months on, 3 months off and then returning to the ship. Capt. Tasos is very popular with passengers.

Fantastic!  I'm looking forward to it.  I've been hearing great things about the ship. but I hadn't heard much mentioned about the food.

[Hlitner]

26 minutes ago, Orator said:

There was a Health Inspection between the two cruises and Eclipse scored a 99.

Good PHS scores and Coast Guard scores are great.  But it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of cuisine other than protecting us from illness to the storage, prep and serving of food.  So a lousy cut of stew meat passes muster just like the highest quality Wagyu Beef (which you will not find on Celebrity).   When we started cruising on Celebrity in the early 90s (the Meridian was our first X ship) the quality, variety and quantity of food was among the best in the entire industry.  Celebrity built much of their early reputation on their cuisine.  But now, what we get is but a mere shadow of what existed in the past.  For many years the mass market lines cut-back on quantity (in some ways that was a good thing) but Celebrity managed to maintain fantastic quality and prep.  But even that seems to have disappeared under the current management.  We still think that Murano (on the ships that have this venue) is one of the best eating venues at sea.  But everywhere else we now expect something less than we used to get on even Carnival!

 

Hank

[jkgourmet]

1 hour ago, Orator said:

 I've been on cruises when shortages occurred due to shipment errors. On one Japan cruise shortages were caused by the Executive Chef refusing delivery of sub standard product.

 

No doubt passengers complained about the eliminated or limited availability of those  items.  And continued complaining post cruise here on Cruise critic!  

Edited May 15, 2019 by jkgourmet

[Marelaine]

11 hours ago, wpgcycler said:

To those that were disappointed with the food... Comments which identify specific problems with the food such as "the NY steaks in the MDR were thinner, tougher, fattier etc." can be plausible and helpful. General statements such as "the food on the Eclipse was terrible" are just not credible. Sorry. Such comments are more likely attributable to a bad mood brought on by a couple of genuine but specific culinary failures which caused the commentator to unfairly extrapolate their dissatisfaction with those failures to the catering as a whole.

 

Yes, saying all the food in the MDR was inedible makes you sound like a complainer. Saying all the steaks were sliced too thin to be cooked to the desired doneness. The steaks also seemed to be of inferior quality -perhaps select grade and were lacking in seasoning. The roast beef dishes were cooked to the desired doneness, well seasoned, tender, but were sliced much thinner than on previous cruises. Perhaps the steaks are coming from a new distributor and arrive onboard presliced? If any of you do decide to speak to one of the chefs, be prepared with comments that are specific and helpful. Don't forget to mention the dishes that you did like.