Has the cuisine on lux lines slipped since the restart of cruising?

[jjeffjb]

I've read on the cruise critic pages of Seaborn, Silver Sea, Regent and Oceania that the cuisine is not as good as it was pre pandemic.  This could be a result of supply chain issues and/or staffing.  What have others experienced?

[worcestergal]

We were on Venture in September/October and I think that the food was as good - probably better - than on any of my 8 previous Seabourn cruises. Just one person’s experience…

[Covepointcruiser]

The food in the Queen’s Grill on the QM2 is the best we have ever had.    Everything has been cooked to perfection and no special request (except King Crab Legs) has gone unfulfilled.   The Matre D is great and cooks his own special dishes table side.    

[johng75370]

22 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

The food in the Queen’s Grill on the QM2 is the best we have ever had.

I’ll second that…we tried Cunard (and Queen’s Grill) for the first time this year and were blown away with how great the dining experience was.  As to Seabourn we’ve not seen a huge change from pre-pandemic, except that we think the amount of salt varies too much depending on the chef in charge.  Last year on Seabourn we found most meals to be way too salty for our taste, but on a recent sailing had no such issues.  Perhaps what we found last year with the salt was also that they were not making meals to order, and/or using too many components prepared ahead of time, because the kitchen was unable to provide us with lower salt on request except if we ordered the day before.  

[phillipahain]

Food on Seabourn Odyssey on 65 Grand Pacific cruise was most certainly not that great 

 

Particularily the quality of the meat that definitely varied 

[2SailingNomads]

On the 2 cruises we have done on Seabourn this year: Ovation and Sojourn I thought the food was very good, better than some cruises in the past.  Staffing issues another story, however.  

[Flamin_June]

The food is only as good as whoever the Head Chef is on board at the time.

[adoctor]

The head chef on Seabourn has very little to do with the menu’s and sourcing.it’s all pre determined from Seattle.These days he is predominately measured by his skills in waste management.rather than customer delight.On our last cruise there was an endless recycling of dishes from MDR to Colonade to Earth Ocean and the chefs skills were focussed on using up the left overs.eg meat and seafood covered in cheese.

The food on Seabourn is now 4 star at best.Yes Keller remains very good and the Chefs dinner is usually good.as well.but the standard of food on the plate has declined sharply since the resumption.

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, adoctor said:

The head chef on Seabourn has very little to do with the menu’s and sourcing.it’s all pre determined from Seattle.These days he is predominately measured by his skills in waste management.rather than customer delight.

Is this a function of financial distress?

[frantic36]

3 hours ago, adoctor said:

The head chef on Seabourn has very little to do with the menu’s and sourcing.it’s all pre determined from Seattle.These days he is predominately measured by his skills in waste management.rather than customer delight.On our last cruise there was an endless recycling of dishes from MDR to Colonade to Earth Ocean and the chefs skills were focussed on using up the left overs.eg meat and seafood covered in cheese.

The food on Seabourn is now 4 star at best.Yes Keller remains very good and the Chefs dinner is usually good.as well.but the standard of food on the plate has declined sharply since the resumption.

 

This is your opinion only. As seen by the others commenting they didn't think that and neither do I. Though I will agree that on long voyages the repetition of menu items does get a bit boring. 

 

On our July/August cruise we started with an Indian Chef and on the last 7 day segment we had a French Chef. The Indian Chef did an excellent Chicken Curry one night and was kind enough to give me the recipe which we have since cooked at home. The French Chef menu was very similar but maybe it was quantity of butter or something but similar fish and meat menu items tasted different. With were very good though in 35 nights there were a couple of not as good meals.

 

I really enjoy the ambience in TK but to be honest the menu is the most boring. I go because it is nice to have a change of atmosphere on long cruises but that is all.

[JPH814]

You can see my cruise history below.  The food on Our most recent Seabourne cruise was just as good as previous cruises.  

[dalliowner]

We have been sailing on Seabourn since 2006 and ever year since I have been reading on CC that the the food and service is getting worse, I am please to say that this not what we have been experiencing.

 

 

[Covepointcruiser]

SLSD, Financial distress by CCL cannot be the problem as Cunard is also under that umbrella.   Why Cunard is performing so much better in the food area is really a puzzle.   It is so much better than before we were blown away.   The menus outside of the top restaurants were also wonderful and not much different, except for limitless ala crate options, than the top tier restaurants.   Everyone we spoke to was extremely happy with the food.   The only complaint onboard was the very bad internet.

 

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

SLSD, Financial distress by CCL cannot be the problem as Cunard is also under that umbrella.   Why Cunard is performing so much better in the food area is really a puzzle.   

 

That is a puzzle.  Is there one person in charge overall of food and beverage?

[lincslady]

On 12/21/2022 at 1:01 PM, Flamin_June said:

The food is only as good as whoever the Head Chef is on board at the time.

Definitely - we have been on a back to back where the Head Chef changed, and the difference was very noticeable.  But they are all having to prepare and  cook whatever is provided, and it does sound as if this can be dodgy - maybe due to cost restrictions from on high, but could be lack of supplies en route as well.

[saminina]

Who knows?  If you want a decent meal on SB go to TK.   IMO, the food sucks in other venues.   It's really that simple and am saying that after two days on board Sojourn.

[Mauzac]

Having just done a 65 day cruise, we found the food as good as ever, if not better, particularly in the MDR.

The Executive chef on Odyssey is particularly well liked and respected by his staff and it showed.  Nothing was too much trouble and we had a special meal for 11 organised for us (double birthdays!) and it really was superb.

So as far as I'm concerned, the food offering was excellent.  

[hoya68]

10 hours ago, saminina said:

Who knows?  If you want a decent meal on SB go to TK.   IMO, the food sucks in other venues.   It's really that simple and am saying that after two days on board Sojourn.

Not much of a sample.

[saminina]

I feel badly for writing that after a night of high alcohol consumption.    I'll stick with the booze.

[SLSD]

About the TK Grill.   It is ok but reminds me of a garden variety  (upscale) Texas steakhouse.  No better, no worse.  And these are not my favorite restaurants.   And the servings are HUGE!!!!!!  Who eats that much food?  At the most, we each take a couple of bites of the side dishes and the rest goes to waste.  I have had some very good Dover Sole at the TK Grill, but never a steak that blew me away.  The BEST steak I have had on SB was a ribeye in the MDR on a Baltic cruise.  I still think about it from time to time.  I don't find any restaurant interesting that has the exact same menu year after year.  Yes, there are some daily specials and I have tried them and found them unremarkable---that means just ok.  Our table mates have even had some very rare steaks served when they asked for medium well.  In other words, I think the TK Grill is overrated.  We will try the grill again when we finally cruise post pandemic.  

 

I see all dining on a cruise ship (even a luxury one) as similar to large hotel catering.  We've sailed enough on SB to know what we like on their menus and pick and choose accordingly.  One of my favorite meals ever was slow roasted lamb.  

 

Since we don't cruise only for the ship experience, we see the food differently from most.  We are not expecting 5 star dining and seldom have experienced that.  At the same time, the food usually very good and we have not had big complaints.  

Edited December 23, 2022 by SLSD

[texanaust]

23 hours ago, saminina said:

Who knows?  If you want a decent meal on SB go to TK.   IMO, the food sucks in other venues.   It's really that simple and am saying that after two days on board Sojourn.

I hate to say it, but I (mostly) agree.  The problem is getting more than one reservation at TK even on a non-full voyage.  The TK restaurant manager on our last cruise refused reservations even at 6pm when no one was dining.  So much for Seabourn 'exceeding guest's expectations' in this regard. 

 

We ended up doing a lot of special orders as a result...

[BasandSyb]

We have never enjoyed TK grill and thought it was a lot of pfaff over very pedestrian fare. We did have hopes that the contract may have run out post pandemic, but are disappointed that it seems not. The bar on the larger ships is lovely.
 

 Over the years the main dining room has gone from very good to just okay in our opinion. The change seem to occur at the same time. Restaurant2 was phased out - which we loved. Many of the MDR stunning dishes are no more, surrendered to the two week menu rotation, which we agree, becomes quite boring on longer cruises. The TK intrusion into the colonnade on certain nights also reduces options.

Good to hear that the food on Odyssey is okay as we will be boarding in a few weeks for an extended trip. Totally agree that strangely, despite the fixed menus and rotation, the executive chef and talented staff can provide a point of difference. Otherwise there’s always our special orders.

 

For the record, the best food we have ever had at sea has been on the Paul Gauguin on which we have done 9 cruises over 10 years pre- Ponant.

tried Viking recently, and it didn’t seem to be suffering any supply issues having provisioned in Australia and Asia and provided lots of fresh, healthy meals and salads.

[lux4me]

Forget food….we are currently on the Sojourn.  Service has been lousy at best in many of the dining areas.  Not greeted a r a table for 20 min after sitting down.  35 min between courses.    Food luke warm at best.   Dishes sitting so long the sauce creates a skin film.  It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on food,  if your service staff cannot hold up their end the product seriously suffers.   
 

 

[Mr Luxury]

6 hours ago, lux4me said:

Forget food….we are currently on the Sojourn.  Service has been lousy at best in many of the dining areas.  Not greeted a r a table for 20 min after sitting down.  35 min between courses.    Food luke warm at best.   Dishes sitting so long the sauce creates a skin film.  It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on food,  if your service staff cannot hold up their end the product seriously suffers.   
 

 

Have you spoken to the Maitre d' or the Hotel Director?

[Ovener]

Looks like the luck of the draw at the moment. We were on Viking Sky in August and the dining experience was really poor. On Sojourn in October food and service were absolutely excellent - as good as pre-Covid. Sorry to hear of bad experiences on Sojourn currently - I guess we were lucky with the rotation of chefs and staff onboard at the time.