Rare aml3679 Posted October 11, 2022 #1 Share Posted October 11, 2022 We are usually loyal to Celebrity, But decided to take a cheap cruise for our 37th wedding anniversary on carnival. While we enjoyed ourselves , the food was terrible in their Buffet area. The choices were very limited. The food was also very bland and cold. We did eat in their steakhouse and enjoyed our meal very much, but it was nothing compared to a Murano. We are very much looking forward to our celebration cruise next November on the Silhouette and all of the wonderful food choices. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturngrl Posted October 11, 2022 #2 Share Posted October 11, 2022 The Oceanview Cafe' on Celebrity serves MUCH better food than Carnival! I especially enjoy the different types of bacon offered at breakfast: American, Canadian and English! I LOVE English bacon! The also offer breakfast choices of different nationalities. You will be surprised and delighted with such choices as baked beans, blood pudding, Indian foods, Asian foods and more. In addition, the lunches and dinners are often "themed" for different nationalities each day of the cruise. On our Thanksgiving cruise last year, the Oceanview had the best carved-to-order turkey I have ever tasted. Wow, just wow! Enjoy the Silhouette, she's a great ship! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C4HCG Posted October 11, 2022 #3 Share Posted October 11, 2022 We too are big fans of the ocean view cafe. Try fried bread in the English breakfast section, it’s the best, but not very healthy! Am sure posts will follow from people who are not keen on the OVC but it’s all about opinions. And you can wear shorts there 😂😂😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ipeeinthepools Posted October 11, 2022 #4 Share Posted October 11, 2022 1 hour ago, aml3679 said: We are usually loyal to Celebrity, But decided to take a cheap cruise for our 37th wedding anniversary on carnival. While we enjoyed ourselves , the food was terrible in their Buffet area. The choices were very limited. The food was also very bland and cold. We did eat in their steakhouse and enjoyed our meal very much, but it was nothing compared to a Murano. We are very much looking forward to our celebration cruise next November on the Silhouette and all of the wonderful food choices. You'll never find my wife on a cheap Carnival. Nothing but the best for my DW. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CruiseMrB Posted October 11, 2022 #5 Share Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) Carnival is kind of known for not having the best buffet. But... on the new Mardi Gras especially, Carnival is trending towards more distributed fast service specialty areas (included in fare) that are supposed to be quite good. And Guy's Burgers has the reputation of having some of the best burgers at sea and are not considered specialty dining, in comparison to say, Johnny Rockets on Royal Caribbean. Would I cruise Carnival personally? Probably not. But that's me. It serves a different market segment. Too bad, because it has lots of ships going out of my closest port (Port Canaveral). Edited October 11, 2022 by CruiseMrB spelling & grammar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyntil8ing Posted October 11, 2022 #6 Share Posted October 11, 2022 I am not a buffet fan on any line, but I think Carnival is way ahead of Celebrity in choices for free dining -- Guy's Burgers, Carnival Deli, Blue Iguana Cantina, Pig & Anchor BBQ, Shaq's Chicken, Captain's Pasta Bar, Mongolian Wok, etc. Their pizza is very good and it's always available (almost 24 hours)! You didn't mention which ship, but I assume an older one. We haven't cruised anything newer than Carnival Vista (2017), so we haven't had Shaq's Chicken yet, but the others are prepared to order and served hot. The only time we visit Lido is for a quick breakfast. We've been on over a dozen each on Celebrity and Carnival and are Elite/Platinum respectively. Our 12 day Europe cruise on Carnival Pride this summer was excellent. I joked that it felt very Celebrity-like as our fellow cruisers were generally older, there weren't tons of kids, and the ship's activity pretty much ended at midnight. We are coming back to Celebrity for our December cruise, but we'll continue to enjoy both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upwarduk Posted October 11, 2022 #7 Share Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Saturngrl said: blood pudding, Known as Black pudding in UK, but it is made of blood. I never have it served on an English breakfast. Edited October 11, 2022 by upwarduk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusieV Posted October 11, 2022 #8 Share Posted October 11, 2022 Honestly? I'm not a big fan of the Oceanview Cafe and the cutbacks, so I can't imagine what I'd think of Carnival! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bama4cruisin Posted October 11, 2022 #9 Share Posted October 11, 2022 1 hour ago, SusieV said: Honestly? I'm not a big fan of the Oceanview Cafe and the cutbacks, so I can't imagine what I'd think of Carnival! Last year on the Apex the OVC was amazing! Absolutely no evidence of cutbacks at that time. That is our only experience post-shutdown, but we’ll see again in 2 weeks when we board Beyond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wineoclock Posted October 11, 2022 #10 Share Posted October 11, 2022 2 hours ago, upwarduk said: Known as Black pudding in UK, but it is made of blood. I never have it served on an English breakfast. Don’t blame you 😂 I don’t know anyone that eats Black pudding! Or fried bread referenced above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjrpar Posted October 11, 2022 #11 Share Posted October 11, 2022 We’ve been on both Celebrity and Carnival several times. Although the buffet on Celebrity is better, Carnival offers much superior lunch options and the Carnival steakhouses compare very favorably to the Tuscan Grill. JMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturngrl Posted October 11, 2022 #12 Share Posted October 11, 2022 4 hours ago, upwarduk said: Known as Black pudding in UK, but it is made of blood. I never have it served on an English breakfast. Thank you! I had a senior moment when I posted this morning. Perhaps it was another darker-colored breakfast item I was recalling. LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-Airbalancer Posted October 11, 2022 #13 Share Posted October 11, 2022 2 hours ago, bama4cruisin said: Last year on the Apex the OVC was amazing! Absolutely no evidence of cutbacks at that time. That is our only experience post-shutdown, but we’ll see again in 2 weeks when we board Beyond. On the April TA , it wasn’t great, a lot of cold food that should’ve be hot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davekathy Posted October 11, 2022 #14 Share Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) We aren't buffet fans but like to try it at least once on the cruise. Impossible to get a table on our 21September NE/Canada Summit cruise due to lunch time table hogs. Selfish people sitting there playing card games and or on their electronic devices, even before the stations opened. Real jerks and the staff did nothing about it! Which IMO, they shouldn't have. MDR and the pool grill were always good for lunch. Edited October 11, 2022 by davekathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bama4cruisin Posted October 11, 2022 #15 Share Posted October 11, 2022 8 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said: On the April TA , it wasn’t great, a lot of cold food that should’ve be hot What a shame! We were never crowded as the ship was at just under 40% capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drakes2 Posted October 11, 2022 #16 Share Posted October 11, 2022 6 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said: You'll never find my wife on a cheap Carnival. Nothing but the best for my DW. 😆 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusieV Posted October 11, 2022 #17 Share Posted October 11, 2022 5 hours ago, bama4cruisin said: Last year on the Apex the OVC was amazing! Absolutely no evidence of cutbacks at that time. That is our only experience post-shutdown, but we’ll see again in 2 weeks when we board Beyond. I haven't tried Edge class yet but I can tell you that the S class has gone downhill from the last time I sailed in 2017 (before Solstice last month). Fewer options and cheaper than in the past, fewer special stations, shorter hours, and reduced offerings. I was not impressed at all. MDR was great. Oceanview was middling at best. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichYak Posted October 12, 2022 #18 Share Posted October 12, 2022 11 hours ago, cyntil8ing said: We've been on over a dozen each on Celebrity and Carnival and are Elite/Platinum respectively. Our 12 day Europe cruise on Carnival Pride this summer was excellent. I joked that it felt very Celebrity-like as our fellow cruisers were generally older, there weren't tons of kids, and the ship's activity pretty much ended at midnight. Agreed. We enjoyed our Carnival Pride Med cruise this past spring. The food was better than I expected. The breakfast burritos at Blue Iguana were phenomenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ipeeinthepools Posted October 12, 2022 #19 Share Posted October 12, 2022 19 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said: On the April TA , it wasn’t great, a lot of cold food that should’ve be hot That's my biggest complaint about the OVC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drakes2 Posted October 12, 2022 #20 Share Posted October 12, 2022 37 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said: That's my biggest complaint about the OVC. I just go there for cheese and crackers to enjoy on balcony 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ipeeinthepools Posted October 12, 2022 #21 Share Posted October 12, 2022 4 minutes ago, drakes2 said: I just go there for cheese and crackers to enjoy on balcony I go there for cooked-to-order eggs, pizza and cooked to order pasta. I know those are hot. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-Airbalancer Posted October 12, 2022 #22 Share Posted October 12, 2022 1 minute ago, Ipeeinthepools said: I go there for cooked-to-order eggs, pizza and cooked to order pasta. I know those are hot. My wife was in quarantine on the Apex , I was in another cabin and could only eat in my cabin Those chooses and the stir fry was about the only hot food you could get in your cabin Since we were not in the suite , the food from room service took over 2 hours to get and was frozen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wineoclock Posted October 12, 2022 #23 Share Posted October 12, 2022 50 minutes ago, drakes2 said: I just go there for cheese and crackers to enjoy on balcony Good idea. I’d always rather have cheese than any dessert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise47 Posted October 12, 2022 #24 Share Posted October 12, 2022 Is it true that Carnival used paper plates and plastic forks and spoons in their buffet areas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-Airbalancer Posted October 12, 2022 #25 Share Posted October 12, 2022 5 minutes ago, cruise47 said: Is it true that Carnival used paper plates and plastic forks and spoons in their buffet areas? RCL uses plastic plates and glasses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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