Is Food THAT bad?

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 hours ago, DCThunder said:

After 3 B2Bs (36 consecutive days) on Enchanted, my main complaint was that the menus in the MDR simply rotated and consequently I was offered the same entrees and appetizers every seven-to-ten days or so.   

 

That's the downside of doing B2Bs. From that perspective we were very disappointed when our Med cruise, sold as a 21 night cruise, turned out to be two shorter cruises B2B.  However we did a 35 night cruise in 2019 and the only menus that repeated were the special Italian or French night menus. Sure, some dishes appeared more than once but not the whole menu that had previously had that dish on it. It was very well done in my opinion.

[Doug R.]

10 hours ago, DCThunder said:

Then on the last cruise, we shifted to "British" food, especially in the buffet, to cater to the predominately UK cruisers.  I missed American style "streaky" bacon for breakfast.  Somehow English bacon isn't the same.  🤷‍♂️

 

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

Now you know how us Brits feel on US cruises when only the crispy lengths of fat are available! 

I like both.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Doug R.

[cruzin4us]

I look forward to cruising just so I can get some English Bacon and Bangers!

[suzyed]

3 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

That is because English bacon is actual bacon! 😉

They're both bacon...just cut from a different part of the pig.
https://www.myrecipes.com/extracrispy/whats-the-difference-between-american-and-british-bacon

[brisalta]

1 hour ago, suzyed said:

They're both bacon...just cut from a different part of the pig.
https://www.myrecipes.com/extracrispy/whats-the-difference-between-american-and-british-bacon

 

One is bacon and the other is fat that some people think is bacon due to years of propaganda produced to sell fat.

Edited May 19, 2022 by brisalta

[Musky Ike]

7 hours ago, suzyed said:

They're both bacon...just cut from a different part of the pig.
https://www.myrecipes.com/extracrispy/whats-the-difference-between-american-and-british-bacon

And then there is that is the Canadian 😉 All good to this carnivore, just different. 

[suzyed]

9 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

One is bacon and the other is fat that some people think is bacon due to years of propaganda produced to sell fat.

It comes from the pork belly area of the pig.

 

[USCcruisecrazy]

On 5/9/2022 at 7:39 AM, wowzz said:

Interesting that the Netherlands is in the list. The EU have higher standards than the other countries regarding growth hormones and antibiotic usage, hence no other European countries appearing.

https://www.fooddive.com/news/agreement-reached-to-export-more-us-beef-to-the-eu/560288/#:~:text=Under the agreement%2C U.S. beef exports to the,about %24420 million%2C according to Meat %2B Poultry.   According to this article, the EU not only gets beef from the US, but they are expanding the amount.

[sjde]

A google search-

 

“American bacon is generally served in crispy strips, streaked with fat, while British bacon, also known as rashers, is chewier and thicker, served in round slices; it’s closer to a slice of grilled deli meat than what an American would traditionally call “bacon.” But what, exactly, causes the difference.

 

Even though American bacon is often smoked for flavor, and British bacon is often left unsmoked, or “green,” both styles of bacon are cured.

American bacon is streaky with fat because it comes from pork belly, one of the fattiest parts of the pig. Rashers are cut from the loin, located in the middle of the pig’s back where the meat is leaner. The cut of meat that’s used for British bacon is actually the same cut as a pork tenderloin or loin roast, just sliced and cured differently.“

So will the ship have both? 

[Doug R.]

@sjde On all of my pre-covid Caribbean cruises both were available.

[DCThunder]

16 minutes ago, Doug R. said:

@sjde On all of my pre-covid Caribbean cruises both were available.

We had American bacon from Ft. Lauderdale until the ship docked in Southampton and the Brits got aboard to go to the Canaries.  After that, it was just British bacon.  Not both.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

https://www.fooddive.com/news/agreement-reached-to-export-more-us-beef-to-the-eu/560288/#:~:text=Under the agreement%2C U.S. beef exports to the,about %24420 million%2C according to Meat %2B Poultry.   According to this article, the EU not only gets beef from the US, but they are expanding the amount.

Key phrase is "hormone free" !

[Pickels]

Celebrity has a better food selection.  We say that from personal experience. 

[oskidunker]

On 5/5/2022 at 1:36 PM, RNRcruisers said:

We never eat at the specialty restaurants and have never gone hungry. I'm not sure what this person expects but I love the food on Princess. We always eat dinner in one of the main dining rooms, lunch at the buffet or Alfredo's (which was fabulous) and breakfast at the buffet or dining room. Maybe an occasional entree that is just so-so but overall great experiences.

 

What does not gone hungry have to do with the quality of the good. Just curious. I could eat a bowl of oatmeal and not go hungry 

[oskidunker]

2 hours ago, Pickels said:

Celebrity has a better food selection.  We say that from personal experience. 

True

[loge23]

We rarely have had a poor experience dining onboard Princess. We started in 1992, when the old style Italian family service was still in vogue. Many, many changes since but we still haven't had a cruise where we were totally disappointed at the food service. In fact, the only "misses" we experienced were all at premium restaurants onboard, but not all meals we had at the pay-DR's were that way. Yes, the MDR menus can be a bit boring on a long cruise, but we usually try something we haven't had before and we're usually happy with the result.

Come to think of it, there have been threads like this as long as the Cruise Critic site has been up. Can't please everyone.  

 

[brisalta]

5 hours ago, suzyed said:

It comes from the pork belly area of the pig.

 

 

Yes and it is rendered down for use as an industrial chemical feed stock outside the USA.

[Wulfwyn]

On 5/17/2022 at 2:10 PM, Marlster said:

Oh no on the Royal in Sept. to Alaska.  I hate bad food.

 

Marlster

It did get over time.  Somewhat.   Lobster was good.  

[Elequieu]

Son and I just returned from Grand before dry dock.  Food was generally good except for baked items.   We missed the crisp light rolls of the past.  The worst was the highly anticipated tiramisu.  Unrecognizable; part of a trio; one bite was enough.  Pistachio items seemed to be everywhere, green, tasteless.  The other inedible thing was pork belly.  A white slab totaly unlike the crisp bites I had on my last cruise.  The buffet was a delightful surprise: lovely glasses of yogurt with fresh fruit at breakfast.  And the many hot items to choose from were great.  Still love Princess.

[OzKiwiJJ]

11 hours ago, Pickels said:

Celebrity has a better food selection.  We say that from personal experience. 

We think the opposite, from personal experience.

[caribill]

15 hours ago, Pickels said:

Celebrity has a better food selection.  We say that from personal experience. 

 

3 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We think the opposite, from personal experience.

 

Of course people's opinions about cruise ship food is subjective, but in our experience the food in the MDR on Princess, HAL, RCI, Celebrity and even Carnival is about the same.

 

Some lines will do some items better than others, and each cruise line may have some favorite items that are not available on other cruise lines, but overall will even out as to quality in taste.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

Of course people's opinions about cruise ship food is subjective, but in our experience the food in the MDR on Princess, HAL, RCI, Celebrity and even Carnival is about the same.

 

Some lines will do some items better than others, and each cruise line may have some favorite items that are not available on other cruise lines, but overall will even out as to quality in taste.

Yes, it's very similar but it varies from ship to ship and cruise to cruise. On our last Celebrity cruise, in March 2019, the MDR meals were  below average, the other two cruises rated very good. On Princess it's varied from poor to excellent but above average on the majority.

 

Sometimes most of the food will be very nice overall but one or two items will let them down, like the souffles on the Diamond Princess respositioning cruise we did in 2018. 

 

Carnival was a pleasant surprise. There were some standout dishes on our Aussie-based cruise, and when they said spicy they meant it! 😊

[suzyed]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

Of course people's opinions about cruise ship food is subjective, but in our experience the food in the MDR on Princess, HAL, RCI, Celebrity and even Carnival is about the same.

 

Some lines will do some items better than others, and each cruise line may have some favorite items that are not available on other cruise lines, but overall will even out as to quality in taste.

I have only done one Celebrity cruise but found the choices of food limited, the portion size smaller but tasty compared to Princess.  We find that most Princess food is good.

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by suzyed

[oskidunker]

On 5/6/2022 at 5:40 AM, MISTER 67 said:

We were on 2 Princess cruises at Thanksgiving and again at Christmas and the food was pretty good, as good as any of our other 63 cruises, was it as good as a fine dining establishment in a big city where it might cost 100 dollars or more for 1 meal, of course not. I would compare cruise ship food to food you would have at a nice wedding or a nice banquet. We must remember that the chefs on a cruise ship are cooking thousands of meals a day and the time and preparation is not going to be the same as at an upscale restaurant.

All in all most of the cruise ship lines considering the amount of meals served a day do a pretty good job and in our 40 years of cruising I don't ever remember sending a dish back because it didn't taste good. 

 

Baloney. they are cutting quality. It has nothing to do with cooking for lots of people.

[Kay S]

My usual lines I rank thus:  

1 Carnival

2 HAL

3 Princess

It's just one item, but I base this mostly on the burgers.  Guy's is the best anywhere, IMO.  Dive In is a close second.  Princess is inedible, IMO.  I find the food elsewhere on the ship falls into the same pattern (except that there is some good food on Princess from time to time.)