Poor quality food

[Cruise Raider]

8 hours ago, nhraformula00 said:

Going on the Emerald in 11 days for our 1st. Princess and our 23rd cruise over all. This is good to hear. ????? Are the beds comfortable. Hope they are not hard.

Their beds are the best!  Only the Discovery seems to have more firm mattresses.  I attribute that to being released during CoVid when the supply chain issues hit nearly every industry.  But even those are pretty comfortable compared to some other cruiselines.  
 

[memoak]

Just off the Ruby last month. MDR food was gone but menus did not have the variety we are used to. When we checked dinner menus in the morning and couldn’t find any entrees we like we would just book a specialty dining venue

[kywildcatfanone]

Food is very subjective, and IMO, I'm the quality isn't what it once was, but I always find items I enjoy and never go hungry.

 

The beauty of cruiseline food is if you order something and don't like it they will bring you something different.

[Knickearth]

Having recently gotten off the emerald I learned to appreciate the medallion app.  Every afternoon we went onto the app and checked the dinner menu in the MDR for that day.  Unfortunately, on a 15 day cruise we liked the menu for only about 5 of those days.

as for the buffet - lack of green veggies, food repetitious and definitely nothing to write home about in my opinion.

[jacketwatch]

13 hours ago, molly1995 said:

I keep reading reviews on how terrible the food is on the Ruby Princess and now I'm getting cold feet and buyers remorse.   The pictures of food don't look good either. Any have anything good to report. Also heard the pickle ball court was too small to play on.

We have been on 20 cruises over four different lines and six on Princess. The most recent was just a month ago on the Crown Princess out of San Francisco. I can’t really say that the food has been bad on any of them. It’s always pretty good to me. Do you remember that this is Bank because they are cooking for so many people. However, they do a very good job. I think you’ll be perfectly fine.

[SCX22]

6 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

Well, I miss food from cruise when being back home more than 14 days.

 

Can't say I miss the food from the ship, but I do miss the action of not having to cook.

 

One example is, Princess ships usually has some form of Mexican food at the buffet for lunch.  It's lackluster compared to my local taco truck or taqueria.  Same goes for Chinese food or In-N-Out Burger.  I start to miss my local restaurants when I've been on a ship for too long. 

[KKB]

14 hours ago, molly1995 said:

I keep reading reviews on how terrible the food is on the Ruby Princess and now I'm getting cold feet and buyers remorse.   The pictures of food don't look good either. Any have anything good to report. Also heard the pickle ball court was too small to play on.

Sailed Caribbean, Discovery, Sapphire & Ruby 2022-23.

Food always good.

Just got off 28 days on the Regal & food was FANTASTIC. Sailed with 2 foodies & they agree. Arguably the best MDR food we have had on ANY line we have sailed.

So perhaps reply earlier that says they are stepping up their game is true!

(Buffet was solid if a bit repetative)

Edited May 9 by KKB

[memoak]

12 minutes ago, KKB said:

Sailed Caribbean, Discovery, Sapphire & Ruby 2022-23.

Food always good.

Just got off 28 days on the Regal & food was FANTASTIC. Sailed with 2 foodies & they agree. Arguably the best MDR food we have had on ANY line we have sailed.

So perhaps reply earlier that says they are stepping up their game is true!

(Buffet was solid if a bit repetative)

After seeing several people using their hands in the buffets over the last few cruise has turned us off of the buffet   And yes very little change day to day for cheese, cold cuts and salads

[Kay S]

Has anyone told OP about the International Cafe?  More choices.

[memoak]

4 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Has anyone told OP about the International Cafe?  More choices.

Just wish the IC would bring back the salads at lunch on Grand class ships. Mostly all sandwiches. However I do love the oatmeal and raisin cookies 

[XBGuy]

13 hours ago, molly1995 said:

 The pictures of food don't look good either.

 

I am going to address this  part of your post.

 

Food photography is very difficult.

 

In her previous life, Mrs; XBGuy worked as a chef for a company that offered commercial food service and retail consumer products.  Part of her responsibilities was to assist in the photography sessions in which pictures were taken for labels and other marketing collateral.  These sessions were in fully equipped professional studios.  So, you know that they were using top-level equipment, and they lacked for nothing,  A food stylist was also engaged to add additional artistic expertise.  In an eight-hour day, their goal was to get two usable pictures.

 

Compare this to somebody sitting in a restaurant with, at best, iffy lighting who pulls out their cell phone, aims and shoots.

 

I agree with you that, as much as I enjoy them, many of the food pictures that are posted on Cruise Critic are not very good.  My wife told me that "white things" were the most difficult dishes for them to photograph.  That comment comes to mind every time somebody posts a picture of the Fettucine Alfredo they enjoyed in the dining room.  I try to imagine that the actual plate looked much more appetizing than the picture showed.  I then click the "Like" button.

 

 

[nhraformula00]

8 hours ago, 555 said:

Sounds like Goldilocks And The 3 Bears. 😄

No such thing as TOO SOFT for an old guy with arthritis. I"m good with it. We love Royal Caribbean Oasis class ship, but I hate the brick hard bedding.

[Coral]

10 hours ago, 555 said:

Sounds like Goldilocks And The 3 Bears. 😄

No, not really. Princess used to have really hard mattresses. So many people asked for an egg crate each cruise that they ran out. Then they came out with new beds which were softer and most people were (are) very pleased with them. When they get past their "age" - they get really soft and have huge dips in them. If you do a search on beds on this forum, you will see the Crown Princes had really bad beds last year (and I was on that ship). Not sure if they got replaced as I haven't followed that ship as I am not sailing on her in the near future.

[EDVM96]

And nobody wants cruise prices like in the 90's. 🤣

[Coral]

11 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

And nobody wants cruise prices like in the 90's. 🤣

I actually think the cruise prices were more affordable then compared to now.

[jeromep]

18 hours ago, nhraformula00 said:

Are the beds comfortable. Hope they are not hard.

 

Beds and food are always highly subjective.  However, the "Princess Luxury Bed" is very good.  The linens are excellent and we feel the mattresses are about the best we've experienced in any lodging situation.  I like a firm bed, not rock hard, and these are quite a bit softer than I'd choose for my everyday usage, but I always woke up easily and had no feeling of being worn out or any pressure or pain points that I couldn't explain.  However, hotel beds wear out and get used by all types and sizes of bodies, and wear out pretty quickly.  You'll read reports here of beds that are made up to be the "Luxury Bed" but the mattress is well past its prime.  That is the gamble you take in any hotel situation.

 

Just to add and stay on subject, I've never had a bad meal on Princess.

[PATRLR]

Someone above said " food on Princess ships is better than you would get at Applebee's, Chili's, TGIF, Outback Steakhouse, etc"

 

Building on this statement, if you think about it there is a segment of the population who think those restaurants have great food - there must be, otherwise how would they stay in business, right?  But there is also a segment that thinks those restaurants are not good and will only eat at "higher end" restaurants (whatever that may mean).   

If those assertions are correct then it leads us to understand the former segment is likely to think cruise line food is great and the latter segment will not.  Point is, food is so subjective it almost doesn't make sense to worry about what other people say about the food.

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, jeromep said:

 

 

 

Just to add and stay on subject, I've never had a bad meal on Princess.

Grandma's CoQ au Vin. 😝  Most food is really fine.

[Kineticoh20]

Wonder why I keep gaining weight on every Princess cruise 🤗

 

[gvre]

22 hours ago, nhraformula00 said:

Going on the Emerald in 11 days for our 1st. Princess and our 23rd cruise over all. This is good to hear. ????? Are the beds comfortable. Hope they are not hard.

Was on the Emerald last month the food was EXCELLENT and the bed was so cozy and we slept great!

[jlawrence01]

11 hours ago, KKB said:

 

Just got off 28 days on the Regal & food was FANTASTIC. Sailed with 2 foodies & they agree. Arguably the best MDR food we have had on ANY line we have sailed.

So perhaps reply earlier that says they are stepping up their game is true!

(Buffet was solid if a bit repetitive)

 

I would agree with that.  I think that the only thing that I would not order in the MDR are some of the steak entrees which tend to be rather tough.  I was really surprised how much better the Regal buffet was that the HAL Eurodam.  There was so much variety.

[KKB]

12 minutes ago, jlawrence01 said:

 

I would agree with that.  I think that the only thing that I would not order in the MDR are some of the steak entrees which tend to be rather tough.  I was really surprised how much better the Regal buffet was that the HAL Eurodam.  There was so much variety.

I’m from Nebraska. We were surprised how GOOD the steaks were!!

[jeromep]

14 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Building on this statement, if you think about it there is a segment of the population who think those restaurants have great food - there must be, otherwise how would they stay in business, right?  But there is also a segment that thinks those restaurants are not good and will only eat at "higher end" restaurants (whatever that may mean). 

You bring up a good point.  I know a couple who road trip travel quite a bit.  More so now that they are both retired.  The wife was an elementary school librarian so she had summers off and they found time to drive to many, many, distant destinations here in the west, and keep in mind that the distances between places out here are measured in hours of driving and hundreds of miles on the road.  I asked the husband about their travels and someplace in the conversation they mentioned looking for Applebee's while on the road, and dining there most nights while in transit someplace.  I was shocked.  Why would they seek out Applebee's?  Especially while traveling where you could experience new foods.  Simple, consistency and a relative assurance that the food would be prepared reasonably well in a sanitary manner.  And yes, they did like the food there.

McDonald's fits into the same category, they are consistent, you basically know what you are getting when you order something while away from home, and it basically tastes the same as if you were at McDonalds at home.  Plus kitchen procedures are wrote in all McDonalds, so are sanitary standards, which means that there is a good chance that the food is being prepared in a predictably sanitary kitchen.

[Cruise Raider]

15 hours ago, Coral said:

No, not really. Princess used to have really hard mattresses. So many people asked for an egg crate each cruise that they ran out. Then they came out with new beds which were softer and most people were (are) very pleased with them. When they get past their "age" - they get really soft and have huge dips in them. If you do a search on beds on this forum, you will see the Crown Princes had really bad beds last year (and I was on that ship). Not sure if they got replaced as I haven't followed that ship as I am not sailing on her in the near future.

We’ve cruised in 4 different cabins in as many cruises on the Crown so far this year.  The beds were super comfortable in all 4 cabins. 

[sfpd3000]

23 hours ago, Knickearth said:

Having recently gotten off the emerald I learned to appreciate the medallion app.  Every afternoon we went onto the app and checked the dinner menu in the MDR for that day.

Old app used to post the dinner menu for the ENTIRE cruise so it made it easier to plan for specialty dining reservations.  This new app only posts the menu for that particular day.  We had to ask the dining room manager for the week's menu.  It was printed on a piece of paper in a tiny font size that you needed a magnifying glass to read.