Food Quality on Regal Princess 12/27-1/7/24

[mermaidgal]

I disembarked from the Regal Princess this morning and wanted to share my thoughts, good and bad.

This was an 11 day cruise and I traveled with my husband and 8 other friends. Three of my friends are travel agents who have traveled on Princess extensively. This was my 4th Princess cruise. Also want to say I have been on approximately 50 cruises with other lines. I’ve always heard about how great the food was on Princess and I’m here to tell you it was just awful! I don’t expect 5 star dining but I do expect the food  to have some flavor. The food on this cruise was SO bland, I thought maybe I had Covid! But come to find out everyone else in my party said the same thing! It was so bad that it became a running joke mid way through the trip. Have others encountered these issues on Princess recently? There were some great things about the cruise too. I love the Medallion system and the Internet worked really well throughout the ship. The entertainment was pretty good, nothing outstanding but good enough. I spoke to one of the Dining room Managers when he asked me how I liked my meal and when I shared my feelings about food and how bland it was he said basically they just follow the recipes… huh?
My cruise mates indicated that they were also very disappointed in their meals as well.

I am interested if others have felt disappointed on Princess recently.

[DUCHESSRN]

Was awful in October too , buffet curry and pasta every meal.

We just got off Crown equally disappointing , except Crown Grill and Crab Shack excellent .

No shopping cooking or washing up though.

[Wishing on a star]

That is too bad!!!   our last cruise, REGAL, last year..  I was so pleasantly surprised!!!

In fact,  we thought that Crown Grill was one of the least experiences.   Bad steak, and too much of a heavy sauce on the Sea Bass.  Plus, the whole venue was fully (over) booked so service and ambiance really suffered)

Can anybody tell us who the Executive Chef and head of dining and beverage are onboard.

That, I think, can make ALL the difference!!!

[luv2kroooz]

It's an industry wide issue currently. Paying more getting less.

[nwnittany]

We were on the regal the cruise before the OP's, so I'm assuming same staff/chef/etc.  Granted, we aren't foodies, but we found everything fine.  The comfort food (burgers/dogs/fries/pizza/etc) was very good...the quality of the buffet and MDR was fine.  If I had a gripe, it would be that the MDR menu was more limited than I remember. 

 

I also agree that I haven't found steaks at the Crown Grill to be anything special (sides and service were fine). 

[Titanfan22]

Do you think, maybe, all a setting a lower ceiling for “free” food so people will be more inclined to purchase the upgraded “casual” or “specialty” dining to increase profits?  

[DUCHESSRN]

2 hours ago, Titanfan22 said:

Do you think, maybe, all a setting a lower ceiling for “free” food so people will be more inclined to purchase the upgraded “casual” or “specialty” dining to increase profits?  

Good point , we ate at Crab Shack twice and Crown twice as we wanted a better meal...

[TheMichael]

Will be on the Regal next week - apparently the OP's issues are with the MDR, we'll be able to see how it stacks up against a recent HAL cruise. (I'm already bracing for slower service.)

 

However bad it may be, it probably won't be my most disappointing meal of the past year - that was not on a ship, but at a well-known local fine-dining steakhouse, which only reinforced my longstanding hole-in-the-wall restaurant preferences. 

 

To me the beauty of cruise ship food in this "everybody cruises/nobody cares" era is the variety - I look to find the things they do well, and between the MDR, specialty/casual spots, and buffet, I can always find more than enough to make me happy.

 

My "superpower" is that I will send back food I don't like while keeping a relentlessly positive attitude. Bad food happens, it's not the server's fault (and frequently not even the cook's), I use "thank you" profusely and aim to be the nicest customer they've got, even while not putting up with crappy food. The result is that I (usually) get better food. 

[beshears]

TheMichael, I agree with what you said. 8 of us are to be on the Regal next month. I guess we will find out about the food as well. As there are MANY choices to eat on the ship, I'm sure we will FIND something we will like to eat. I agree, the waiters/waitress cannot be blamed if the food doesn't taste the way the customer wants it to taste. After all, not all of us have the SAME taste buds. 🙂

[Yehootu]

4 hours ago, TheMichael said:

Will be on the Regal next week - apparently the OP's issues are with the MDR, we'll be able to see how it stacks up against a recent HAL cruise. (I'm already bracing for slower service.)

We did 26 days on the Regal in Sept/Oct and our service was awesome. Table for 2, same servers every night. Fred and Aaron, even when Aaron went down for a few days, Fred was able to keep up his very good service

10 hours ago, Titanfan22 said:

Do you think, maybe, all a setting a lower ceiling for “free” food so people will be more inclined to purchase the upgraded “casual” or “specialty” dining to increase profits?  

We are thinking of trying Crown Grill once more. Already 2 strikes. Broke a tooth taking a bite of my wifes filet on last cruise. The Sea Bass keeps me coming back, not so sure wife wants a terrible fillet again. We found the Regal food god, not very good, just good. Did get tired of the non rotating offerings on the lunch buffet. Burgers were alot better than on the Royal. Can't wait for the noodle bar on the Majestic.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2 hours ago, Yehootu said:

Broke a tooth taking a bite of my wifes filet on last cruise.

oh, that's terrible.

[memoak]

4 hours ago, Yehootu said:

We did 26 days on the Regal in Sept/Oct and our service was awesome. Table for 2, same servers every night. Fred and Aaron, even when Aaron went down for a few days, Fred was able to keep up his very good service

We are thinking of trying Crown Grill once more. Already 2 strikes. Broke a tooth taking a bite of my wifes filet on last cruise. The Sea Bass keeps me coming back, not so sure wife wants a terrible fillet again. We found the Regal food god, not very good, just good. Did get tired of the non rotating offerings on the lunch buffet. Burgers were alot better than on the Royal. Can't wait for the noodle bar on the Majestic.

Lately we have been preferring Sabatini’s to Crown Grill. I really don’t need half a cow on my plate 

[bethfelk]

I was on this same cruise, and admittedly I do have a pretty simple palette and often enjoy bland flavors, but I was very happy with the food in general. There were a few misses with the dining room food (pork chop tasted off to me, crab risotto tasted overwhelmingly of chicken stock) but more wins in my opinion. I thought the Beef Wellington and the filet on NYE especially were really good

[HleeCruiser]

On 1/7/2024 at 8:08 PM, nwnittany said:

We were on the regal the cruise before the OP's, so I'm assuming same staff/chef/etc.  Granted, we aren't foodies, but we found everything fine.  The comfort food (burgers/dogs/fries/pizza/etc) was very good...the quality of the buffet and MDR was fine.  If I had a gripe, it would be that the MDR menu was more limited than I remember. 

 

I also agree that I haven't found steaks at the Crown Grill to be anything special (sides and service were fine). 

The quality of the beef served throughout the ship has really gone downhill.  This is especially true of the CG offerings.  Our last meal there of filet mignon was tough and had connective tissue throughout.  Didn't even have the shape or texture of a tenderloin cut of beef.  Honestly I could not tell what cut it was.  Spend my entire career in the food service business so I do know a little about beef quality - USDA grading.  We have had outstanding service and steaks in the GG before covid but it is obvious the food budget got wacked in order to make a buck.  

 

[eclue]

We do not eat beef so no comment on that. Overall the food is good . It does tend to be a bit too salty for my palate. There are always plenty of options.

[Wishing on a star]

I have posted on this topic before here on CC...   And will make the same comments again.

First...  on Princess, food quality can vary WIDELY....  Depends on the ship, perhaps the location and supplies, and especially the Executive Chef and heads of dining and beverage.  

 

1.  There is NO consistency....   I am not just saying this...  I have also heard and read this many times...  Sometimes with photos that clearly show some is MUCH better than others.

Of note...  I have been looking at the new Celebrity Ascent...  and there are a few detailed dining reviews out there.  One even mentions that, as of recently, the consistency of the food and quality when comparing this cruise with their other recent cruises.

For Princess, I saw one set of comparison photos, for example, that showed the beef medallions...  one was beautiful, medium cooked, tender looking meat, with larger cuts of veggies and a nice looking au jus...  The other looked like a small, well done, cut of cheap steak, hardly any veggies..  and a strange 'broken' gravy.

 

2.  I have been on cruises with some bad food...  I am neither a Princess cheerleader or critic.  Just stating the obvious.

The post above that mentioned that the food seemed too salty....  That was one of the huge problems I had on one cruise (REGAL, a few years ago) where there were some things that were SO salty that they really were not edible.  Something about a, well, not-so-good, Executive Chef is that, IMHO, they often lean heavy on the salt, to cover for other shortcomings in quality and flavor/seasonings....  (You can always tell when a new kid is on fires at a fast food when they are just covered in salt!!!)

Yes,  sometimes, some of the food can be, well,  bad.

 

3.  Our worst experience on our last cruise, as mentioned by one person above,  was our worst dining experience onboard.  So, even the Specialty Restaurants can be affected by these issues mentioned.

Everything else was really good!

 

4.  When I see complaints that come from a Princess newbie,  I also wonder if lack of familiarity and knowing what Princess does well, and what they do not do as well, could be a factor.

Edited January 10 by Wishing on a star

[c-boy]

I always come prepared, shouldn't have to but , for when there's times like these...

 

       

 

Except last cruise it didn't make it through customs ag. inspection... and I couldn't find any in Australia. 

[beshears]

C-Boy yes I remember my mother always trying to have Mrs. Dash on hand when I was growing up, and now that I'm an adult with family, I have bought it a few times too. 

[rbtan]

Princess is NOT known for really good food. This is why we do mostly Oceania & have met a lot of former pax from Princess & Celebrity. I do love the staff. In my opinion the most friendly we've met on any line.We are giving Princess another try in 2025 on the new Sun. We booked a Cabana Reserve cabin.Those in the suites & Reserve have their own dedicated restaurants. I'm hoping that with the extra fee for this accommodation that the food will be better than we've seen on Princess. We did the Regal in 2016 the food was very good to excellent. On our last trip to Hawaii it was awful. the head waiter in Club Class(now Reserve) made a "special" dinner. It was Spaghetti & Meatballs. Yuck! We ordered off the Crown Grill menu more times than I wanted to admit.

[BlerkOne]

Did a b2b on Regal last November and had no issues with the food other than one time I ordered prime rib medium rare and they brought me an end cut. They offered to replace it, but I wasn't going to let great food go to waste.

[mermaidgal]

38 minutes ago, rbtan said:

Princess is NOT known for really good food. This is why we do mostly Oceania & have met a lot of former pax from Princess & Celebrity. I do love the staff. In my opinion the most friendly we've met on any line.We are giving Princess another try in 2025 on the new Sun. We booked a Cabana Reserve cabin.Those in the suites & Reserve have their own dedicated restaurants. I'm hoping that with the extra fee for this accommodation that the food will be better than we've seen on Princess. We did the Regal in 2016 the food was very good to excellent. On our last trip to Hawaii it was awful. the head waiter in Club Class(now Reserve) made a "special" dinner. It was Spaghetti & Meatballs. Yuck! We ordered off the Crown Grill menu more times than I wanted to admit.

That’s why my next cruise is on Oceania! I won’t go back! 
 

[TheMichael]

BTW, there was a live thread from the same cruise as the OP's that found the food to be anywhere from "good" ("most things were tasty, some extremely so") to "great" ("best deck pizza on a cruise ship, hands down").

 

Goes to show, different people can have different experiences on the same ship. The difference is that the good review is buried on page 5 of a thread, while the bad one is the title of its thread.

 

Tastes do differ widely. Case in point: people RAVE about the Dive-In burgers and fries on HAL. I found the fries to be just meh and the burgers consistently served lukewarm with dry patties, I even went back another day to make sure I didn't just get a bad one. Just shrugged and ate something else (most of the food was great). I also think In-N-Out is mid, so...

[starvenger]

I was on the same cruise and we dined in Allegro every night. I think that helped us to develop expectations for the food from that kitchen - get the tenderloin, avoid the strip steak, do not order anything "Asian", etc.

 

I do think the MDR food could've used a bit more salt and there seemed to be a fear of giving things any level of heat. But overall it was fine and we liked it. Was the food super memorable? Not really. But I can't say that I ever forced myself to eat something bad just to feel full. I don't like wasting food, but if your chana is dente, I'm not eating it.

 

9 hours ago, TheMichael said:

BTW, there was a live thread from the same cruise as the OP's that found the food to be anywhere from "good" ("most things were tasty, some extremely so") to "great" ("best deck pizza on a cruise ship, hands down").

In the live thread, the poster required GF meals so that could be a factor in their food experience. But the deck pizza was quite good. Easily better than any Sorrento's pizza I've had on Royal.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Interesting.  We were on the Regal just 2 wks. before you and were very pleased with the food quality and food service.  Everyone we ate with at night seemed pleased with it too and many commented on how good it was.  Compared to the Emerald Princess which we were also on recently, we were thrilled with how well run the Regal was.  

[azbirdmom]

We thought the food on our Regal cruise in June / July was mostly good.  Some hits, some misses.  Specialty excellent, MDR mixed.

 

Contrast this with our cruise on the Royal out of Sydney last month.  Our first night was in Sabatini's (we were in a suite).  We've loved the new menu but the mains were tasteless and missing the main ingredients (no detectable lemon in the chicken or marsala in the veal, just bland).  Our second visit there we switched entrees and enjoyed them.  Yes, we said something but got a weak excuse that the ingredients "cook off".  Doesn't explain why these dishes have tasted better on prior cruises.

 

Our first two (and only) visits to the Reserve Collection part of the dining room was worse.  Overcooked fish, bland and overcooked chicken parmesan on Italian night (new menu and I hope it doesn't go fleetwide).  Took forever to have our orders taken and the Restaurant Manager had to go fetch the mains for us and the surrounding tables on our second night.  We shared our concerns about the food and service with him and the Suite Concierge.  Later in the cruise we dined in Allegro and everything was better.

 

At first I chalked some of this up to different provisioning in Australia and the poor service due to low staffing (lots of illness aboard on this cruise).  But overall there has been a change in the quality from meal to meal since the restart.  I do think that some of this is attributable to financial issues at the parent company.  We aren't fussy people and can deal with average food and still love our cruise.  But for those expecting fine dining I would just say lower your expectations and be pleasantly surprised when you do get an exceptional meal.