What Line Has the Best Food?

[Glovie]

Crystal's Food and Wine cruise had by far the best prepared and most varied selection of food. We had a two-for-one deal through the Panama Canal so it was fairly reasonable and is worth trying at least once if you seek the unusual. Our waiter brought special requests not on the menu, like caviar.

Second choice varies by ship rather than line. RCCL's Dawn Princess had an incredible set of chefs five years ago or so. The rest of RCCL, Princess, and Celebrity did not seem widely disparate in quality, but my personal preference was RCCL (except the pizza and calzone were better on Princess). I was not impressed by HAL or Norwegian - too bland and limited portions.

[5668200]

We've sailed RCCL, NCL, HAL, Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, and Regent. I'd say Carnival and Princess would be tied for first place.

[Runitsajellyfish]

Celebrity ranks the highest for evening menu in the non-specialty restaurants. The best sauces...everything has it's own sauce that's to die for. 5-star presentation and selection, cooked to order and variable options. You ask for it, they can get it.

 

Norwegian ranks the highest for the buffet selection and flavor. Every breakfast and lunch buffet represents numerous nations, and there's too much to sample a little of everything. Scarcely saw the same entrees twice in 9 days. So many different options....love options.

 

Princess didn't really "wow" me on anything.

 

Royal Caribbean has the best butter. The "optional" steak on the evening menu was wonderful...soaked in a butter sauce.:D

[spyro1952]

Crystal's Food and Wine cruise had by far the best prepared and most varied selection of food. We had a two-for-one deal through the Panama Canal so it was fairly reasonable and is worth trying at least once if you seek the unusual. Our waiter brought special requests not on the menu, like caviar.

Second choice varies by ship rather than line. RCCL's Dawn Princess had an incredible set of chefs five years ago or so. The rest of RCCL, Princess, and Celebrity did not seem widely disparate in quality, but my personal preference was RCCL (except the pizza and calzone were better on Princess). I was not impressed by HAL or Norwegian - too bland and limited portions.

 

Dawn Princess is not a RCCL ship - it's Princess Cruise Line ship. For the prices that Crystal charge for a cruise, there food should be better than anybody elses'. the cavier should be stocked in your room!!!

[PAULNJILL]

we have done Princess P +O and Cunard = Princess comes out top of the pile every time QM2 bottom

 

rgds

Jill n Paul

[cruisecrasy]

Crystal is the best - food wise (and price)

 

Celebrity

Oceania

HAL

Princess

RCCL

Carnival

are all comparable with the edge to HAL.

 

NCL is a notch below

 

This is in my humble opinion only!!! Sometimes NCL serves great food but only in an alternative (pay for) restaurant and HAL has served not so good food in the dining room on the odd occasion ... One of the worst meals I ever had was one served almost cold & too salty on Celebrity - unusual but it happens. Seems to me that the alternative restaurants on all the ships serve great food although not 4+ star - then again it's close at times..and the price is right..:0)

 

Happy New Yr all!!

[septane]

Just got back from our first cruise ever on Carnival Glory, and while I can't compare it to other cruises, I can compare it to land-based restaurants.

 

The buffet was of very low quality. If you are familiar with Ponderosa, Hometown Buffet, or Old Country Buffet, they are equivalent. I'd consider Golden Corral a step up from Carnival's Lido deck buffet.

 

The main dining rooms were passable in terms of presentation and service, but the quality of the food was on par with Applebees at best. I'd consider Red Lobster a step up from Carnival's main dining rooms, and I don't like Red Lobster.

 

Food is very subjective. So I'll bring up a specific issue. The Shrimp cocktail contained three flavorless 51/60 shrimp. I'm accustomed to being served U10's or 16/20's. And they should be seasoned. Shrimp should have flavor. Mid-range inland grocery stores have better shrimp available.

 

In general, at best the food was of mediocre quality but poorly prepared and completely unseasoned. At worst, the food was of poor quality, poorly prepared and completely unseasoned.

 

YMMV. Like I said, food is very subjective. I'm a foodie and hold high standards.

[Goldeneye]

Out of the 3 cruise lines I've been with.....Celebrity, RCCL and Carnival .. Suprisingly... Carnival wins hands down !!

 

This goes for their drink menu and specials too

[gkbiiii]

I have gone with RCCL, Celebrity, & Disney; the very best being the Disney Magic, with it's rotational dining. Now The best specialty was the Murano on the Century. Soon I will be on Carnival Victory and NCL Epic; then I will have a larger picture of main lines. However so far, it's Disney by a long shot!

[kelmac]

Hi Everyone!

 

This thread was started back in 2006, so I've had a few more cruises since then and here is my updated views:

 

After 36 cruises, here is my break down in the area of quality cuisine:

(only cruise lines I have cruised)

 

#1 -- Oceania (small ships; more expensive)

 

#2 -- Azamara (same as Oceania)

 

#3 -- Celebrity (best food in the large ship category; alternative restaurants

are outstanding)

 

#4 -- Holland America (very good food; best buffet)

 

#5 -- Royal Caribbean (Radiance class only; nice alternative restaurants)

 

#6 -- Princess (nice food; alterative restaurants not that great)

 

#7 -- Royal Caribbean (other ships; basic food)

 

#8 -- NCL

[BILLP1]

We loved the food on Regent. The cruise is all inclusive and the food was exceptional.

You usually do get what you pay for. Give them twelve hours notice and they will make mostly what ever you want if they have the ingredients.

 

For us the worst food was on NCL.

 

Celebrity and Princess was hit or miss. Some OK and others it was like eating at a wedding only without the bride and groom.

[apollobeach]

Based on our cruises first would be Carnival, then Royal Caribbean & Holland

-America. Just took our second Carnival cruise and the food was still the best

of the lines we have traveled on.

 

FYI: the buffet on the Coral Princess is really bad; service the leave-overs

from lunch at dinner

[SuiteTraveler]

We just sailed on the RCCL Oasis of the Seas and I have to say, this is now, IMO, the ship to beat. Oasis of the Seas has so many specialty restaurants that we NEVER made it to the main dining room! Yes, they cost extra but it is worth every penny and ultimately made our cruise. Of special note:

 

150 Central Park (tasting room with award winning chef Kerriann Von Raesfeld who is onboard and in the kitchen) As good as any 5-star on land. We also bought the wine pairings. They change the menu once per cruise, so we went twice - well worth it.

 

Izumi - great sushi and Japanese food.

 

Chef's Table - you must call to make reservations for this and they only serve 14 passengers per night. It was awesome and came with wine pairings included - and these were very expensive wines.

 

Vintages: Wine flights and tapas - another delightful experience

 

Chops: RCCL's steakhouse - typical of any traditional upscale steakhouse on land.

 

Giovanni's Table: Most Italian restaurants at sea are like Olive Garden to me (which is not a compliment), but this one is done right! My mother studied Italian cooking in Italy, so I was raised on authentic Italian food and that's what you get at this restaurant!

 

Solarium Bistro: The undiscovered evening gem of the ship - they made the mistake of advertising it as "healthy" but what it really is is great food! I had pan seared Ahi Tuna - absolutely great! And this restaurant is quiet in the evenings, which is nice.

 

Park Cafe: My favorite place for lunch. Definitely try their hot roast beef sandwich and custom salads - PS: On embarkation day, head here for lunch instead of the Windjammer buffet, it is far less crowded and a lot more fun!

 

What makes these restaurants so special? The different chefs, all have their own style and it is apparent in the food served. This is no "corporate" menu and the chefs are allowed to change their menus as different foods come into season.

 

What I was not impressed with on this ship:

Windjammer cafe - food was rather ordinary and they offered the same things for breakfast every day. We found breakfast and lunch at the Solarium Bistro to be much better and more interesting.

 

BTW: Oasis of the Seas is an awesome ship. There really is no reason to get off of it and although there were 6,000 passengers onboard, it NEVER felt crowded - in fact it felt less crowded than much smaller/fewer passenger ships we've been on. The entertainment is fantastic! Tip: Get a balcony on deck 8 so you walk through Central Park every evening and morning. It's an ideal location and there are no inside cabins on this floor, so the entire deck feels less crowded.

[Hlitner]

Impossible to really answer since we find that food quality is always changing on each cruise line and often is different on different ships of the same lines. We have cruises on 11 cruise lines (will be on our 12th in June) and more than 50 different ships, and still cruise about 70 days a year. Currently, among the mass-market cruise lines we think that HA does the best job in the dining room. We also liked Crystal, but its been too long for us to know their current situation. We thought Azamara had the best food we have had on any crusie line (even better then Crystal) but its been more then a year since we were on the Journey and we cannot be sure they have maintained the quality.

 

Hank

[sun_chaser85]

Carnival all the way!! Just got off the Norwegian Sky and did not like menu choices. Everything was pretty simple that you will find at an Applebees restaurant. Could not find chocolate anything if my life depended on it!! No chocolate desserts in dining rooms...closest thing would be a raspberry chocolate truffle. I miss carnivals chocolate molten lava cake and their chocolate buffet!! Also, missed carnivals "didja ever..?" Menu selections.

[Emps]

Oceania's O ships, ie; MV Marina and MV Riviera are recognized as having the best cuisine at sea.

[winegirl]

Oceania, hands down. Windstar and Seabourn were good, but Oceania was GREAT. They are known for their dining.

[OCruisers]

We just sailed on the RCCL Oasis of the Seas and I have to say, this is now, IMO, the ship to beat. Oasis of the Seas has so many specialty restaurants that we NEVER made it to the main dining room! Yes, they cost extra but it is worth every penny and ultimately made our cruise. Of special note:

 

150 Central Park (tasting room with award winning chef Kerriann Von Raesfeld who is onboard and in the kitchen) As good as any 5-star on land. We also bought the wine pairings. They change the menu once per cruise, so we went twice - well worth it.

 

Izumi - great sushi and Japanese food.

 

Chops: RCCL's steakhouse - typical of any traditional upscale steakhouse on land.

 

Giovanni's Table: Most Italian restaurants at sea are like Olive Garden to me (which is not a compliment), but this one is done right! My mother studied Italian cooking in Italy, so I was raised on authentic Italian food and that's what you get at this restaurant!

 

Solarium Bistro: The undiscovered evening gem of the ship - they made the mistake of advertising it as "healthy" but what it really is is great food! I had pan seared Ahi Tuna - absolutely great! And this restaurant is quiet in the evenings, which is nice.

 

:) So agree with you! When we were on Oasis, we had dinner in a $peciality restaurant 6 of the 7 nights. Giovanni's was also open for lunch so did a couple of lunches there as well.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Emps]

:) So agree with you! When we were on Oasis, we had dinner in a $peciality restaurant 6 of the 7 nights. Giovanni's was also open for lunch so did a couple of lunches there as well.

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

So..have you sailed on Oceania to form a fair comparison?

[jpg1747]

IMO all food on any line that is mass produced is not going to be of the highest quality. For that you need to eat in the speciality restaurants/venues where food is prepared one meal at a time.

[OCruisers]

So..have you sailed on Oceania to form a fair comparison?

 

Gosh, I wasn't comparing the Oasis food in their $peciality restaurants to the food in $peciality restaurants on any other cruise line. All I said was that we liked it. :confused:

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Emps]

Gosh, I wasn't comparing the Oasis food in their $peciality restaurants to the food in $peciality restaurants on any other cruise line. All I said was that we liked it. :confused:

 

LuLu

~~~~

Sorry i highlighted the wrong quote. I was replying to 'Suitetraveler'

[giuseppes1933]

We go with Celebrity for the overall best food on a cruise ship. Holland America has exceptional dishes, if you know what to order.

[LHT28]

Quality =Oceania

http://www.oceaniacruisesblog.com/taste/2013/02/the-secrets-behind-the-finest-cuisine-at-sea.html

[kelmac]

Okay, after 45 cruises and counting:

 

#1 Oceania -- best main dining room food.

 

#2 Azamara -- close to Oceania, but buffet nothing special

 

#3 Celebrity -- best of the large ships and outstanding alternative restaurants

 

#4 Cunard -- Queen Mary 2 has very good MDR cuisine; Todd English ok.

 

#5 Holland America -- good traditional food, buffet good, alternatives ok.

 

#6 Royal Caribbean (Radiance class and Oasis class only) pick and choose some great options

 

#7 Princess -- overall the MDR is good, buffet crowded, alternatives so so.

 

#8 Royal Caribbean -- all other ships. ok, but buffet a feeding frenzy

 

#9 NCL -- maybe if you stick to alternative restaurants only

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)