In general, do the main dining rooms on NCL compare to other main stream cruise lines

[happy cruzer]

I've been doing alot of research by reading lots of NCL reviews. Many times it seems the major negative against NCL is the food quality and service in the main dining rooms. This is usually voiced by seasoned cruisers from the other lines.

 

So do any of the NCL fans want to explain how they think the main dining experience compares. We do love to eat in the main dining room and tend to avoid buffets and specialty restaurants. We are happy at a table for two as long as the service is polished (mainly that water is refilled, wine served, and food delivered in around 2 hours) and the food is hot and flavorable. We normally order appetizer, soup, salad, entree, and dessert at dinner. And we enjoy lighter meals in the dining room for breakfast and lunch.

 

I know the specific experience changes from cruise and from ship to ship. I just wonder in general what to expect.

[sillysailor 1955]

Having sailed with NCL on three occasions (Dawn, Spirit and most recently Jade) I feel I can give a honest review of service/food quality on this cruiseline. First let me start by saying that the only other line we have cruised is HAL (Rotterdam - 25 years ago and the Noordam). Service I feel was far surperior on HAL probably in great part to the fact we had the same waitstaff - the food on HAL was better than NCL . That being said the food on NCL is edible but is really nothing special. We also like to eat in the Dining Room as opposed to Buffet. I personally thought the lunches were the better of the daily meals. The only pay for restaurant were ate in was Cagneys (twice). I felt it was not worth the extra money - in fact on the Jade it was probably the worst meal we had on our 12 day cruise Mediterrean cruise. Just my opinion.

We still had a great time on all of our trips (No one tops NCL for itineraries and good prices - we probably will not said with them for a while though (we are trying Princess to Alaska this July - I'm curious to see how they are)

[2Cruise4Ever]

We have sailed NCL 4 times now (5th coming up this June) and have never had a bad experience in the main dining room. We've sailed Carnival, Princess, and RCCL, too. All are comparable. On NCL, since Freestyle inception, we've never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes for a table. And, we've found the food to be excellent and the service impeccable. As a matter of fact, we've never experienced bad service on any line! We have found the food to be a bit tastier here and there (sometimes other lines, sometimes NCL). It's all very subjective.

 

The good thing I like: I can order a steak or chicken if I don't like what's on the main menu (have found that to be the case on every line we've sailed).

[sillysailor 1955]

We have sailed NCL 4 times now (5th coming up this June) and have never had a bad experience in the main dining room. We've sailed Carnival, Princess, and RCCL, too. All are comparable. On NCL, since Freestyle inception, we've never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes for a table. And, we've found the food to be excellent and the service impeccable. As a matter of fact, we've never experienced bad service on any line! We have found the food to be a bit tastier here and there (sometimes other lines, sometimes NCL). It's all very subjective.

 

The good thing I like: I can order a steak or chicken if I don't like what's on the main menu (have found that to be the case on every line we've sailed).

 

I agree with you.. on the Jade I ate the grilled chicken breast and mashed potatoes for dinner at least 3 nights - it was delicious.

[doglover5]

I agree that the food and service in the main dning room is excellent. I would suggest that you enjoy a special treat and go to LeBistro for at least one meal. The service and food there are of the highest quality of any I have had at some of the finest restaurants costing hundreds of dollars per meal. On the Dawn, LeBistro was one of the highlights of our trip and the cost minimal and a true bargain.

[suzyed]

We have only sailed NCL once, Carnival 4 times, RCI 7 times, Cunard twice.

When we sailed on the Star last year, we ate in the MDR three times. The first time was when we first got on the ship. The food was good although my lunch was not what I ordered (ordered fish, got chicken) and I had chilled banana soup which was yummy! The service was friendly if not very efficent.

 

We had dinner in Versailles one night. The server was polite, but not friendly, the dining room was noisy and the tables were way too close, we never got coffee or dessert...and what did we eat for dinner?...no idea..it was not memorable.

 

We had dinner in Aqua when we participated in the Murder Mystery. Again, the dining room was fairly noisy, the service was fine, my dinner was so-so, but DH enjoyed his.

 

I think overall the other lines we have sailed on, do a better job with service and food than NCL(at least in the MDRs). Carnival, has the best food.... I know, not what you would expect....probably the best service was Cunard and then RCI.

 

What is nice about NCL though, is that you have many more dining choices than the other lines. We enjoyed the specialty restaurants, some more than others, but overall very nice!

[sottovoce]

Food and service in NCL's main dining rooms has been comparable to that on HAL and Celebrity in our experience. Some items are excellent, some are good, and some are overly ambitious.

 

This business of service being better because wait staff fawn all over you hoping for a better tip is nonsense, and, in our opinion, this behavior is simply annoying. And the people who can't seem to live without having their iced tea or Diet Coke sitting at their place before they even sit down need to get a life. Next thing you know they'll judge the quality of their stateroom stewards by something trivial like the number of towel animals they get.

[uppitycats]

We've been on Princess, Carnival and NCL. We find the food comparable, and enjoy NCL's dining experience where the waiters don't pre-judge and decide, for example, that because we ordered coffee last night we'll want coffee again, or whatever. They were efficient, observant, helpful, and we were in and out in under 2 hours for dinners.

[Don Haynes]

The NCL wait staff prefer to take your dessert orders with the entree, not after eating the entree. If you don't speak up, they will assume you didn't want dessert. Well, that has been my experience.

[Clay Clayton]

DDP and I have done two cruises on Celebrity and three on NCL. We definately prefer the freestyle aspects of NCL and have found the food and service to me comparable in the MDRs. Because of the formal dining times, I think the service on NCL is probably a touch better but so much of that depends on which particular server and which meal and a whole bunch of variables. We have always found that the service on NCL is friendly whereas on X it can be a bit stiff, IMHO. The food quality seems to vary, perhaps a little more on NCL. Like SillySailor, I wasn't thrilled with Cagney's on Jade when we did our Eastern Med trip last year this time, but Cagney's on Star over Thanksgiving was great. We suspect alot of it may have to do with the supplier of the food - perhaps getting good meat in the Med was difficult. Also, we were on one of Jade's early trips after the change from Hawaii so we also suspect the crew hadn't jelled yet. All that said, we aren't picky eaters but we do enjoy Dining - that's with a Captial D - and have enjoyed a number of great meals on NCL and Celebrity. But all of those really memorable meals were in a specialty restaurant on both lines. You didn't mention wine selection but X seems to have a much great selection of wines than NCL. We are pretty easy when it comes to that, but our good friends who are wino-snobs, really enjoy X for that factor. They also really like formal nights - while I don't mind slapping on the tux and bow tie, it sure is nice not to lug it and quite frankly, I don't get wearing a tux in the tropics!

 

In the end, I feel like so much of the cruise experience is up to the cruiser...go in expecting to be disappointed and you probably will....expect a good meal and you will likely find something to meet your fancy.

[JessLCH]

I think the food in the main dining room is better or Celebrity than NCL. That said, we prefer NCL as a cruiseline overall. We don't cruise for the food. We love freestyle dining and NCL suites and villas. NCL's dining strengths are their multiple dining options and their buffets.

[Don Haynes]

I have said this before, and I will say it again. ONLY IN AMERICA WOULD ANYONE NOT CONSIDER A STEAK FINE DINING! A sirloin, a lamb, or a great fish dish isn't enough. Its gotta be a filet or lobster......

[newmexicoNita]

I've been doing alot of research by reading lots of NCL reviews. Many times it seems the major negative against NCL is the food quality and service in the main dining rooms. This is usually voiced by seasoned cruisers from the other lines.

 

So do any of the NCL fans want to explain how they think the main dining experience compares. We do love to eat in the main dining room and tend to avoid buffets and specialty restaurants. We are happy at a table for two as long as the service is polished (mainly that water is refilled, wine served, and food delivered in around 2 hours) and the food is hot and flavorable. We normally order appetizer, soup, salad, entree, and dessert at dinner. And we enjoy lighter meals in the dining room for breakfast and lunch.

 

I know the specific experience changes from cruise and from ship to ship. I just wonder in general what to expect.

This is only an opinion and we all have them> depending on the line, some are better than NCL but overall food has gone down since the prices have remained pretty steady for cruising. We used to cruise to eat, this is not the case anymore. That being said, the food on NCl is fine and I love to cook so am very critical...Rarely have I had anything I didn't like. The last 2 lines we have cruised are NCL and Princess. We did like the entrees on Princess better because I love seafood and they offered better seclections. Breakfast and the buffets on NCL are much better and desserts are similar. NCl has smaller servings which is good not bad. You can always order more and there isn't as much waste. Service wise, the two lines were similar, some nights good, others, not so....I think this is the biggest downside to flex dining. The positives outweigh the negatives in our opinion.

 

Nita

[jp2001]

I have cruised 3 times with NCL and once with Cunard. Here are my thoughts about food :

 

NCL: Always good to excellent (most meals being very good... I had only 1 dish that I disliked completely, as did my SIL, but 1 meal out of about 60 isn't bad at all).

 

Cunard: Very good to excellent (I had only 1 plate that I had to send back - my tuna was very well done (hard to swallow) when I like it medium-rare, the waiter didn't ask me how I wanted it and forgot to tell him so it's nobody's fault really).

[Don Haynes]

Here is a video of Norwegian food, the food looks very good to me:

 

[Deckhandoug]

In our opinion:

 

1 Holland America

2 Carnival

3 Royal Caribbean

4 NCL

 

Of course, we actually judge the quality by what we are presented with, if it is supposed to be a fillet, we judge it as a Fillet Mignon and not the generic "steak", nor do we judge the quality of food by pictures or movies.

[suzyed]

In our opinion:

 

1 Holland America

2 Carnival

3 Royal Caribbean

4 NCL

 

Of course, we actually judge the quality by what we are presented with, if it is supposed to be a fillet, we judge it as a Fillet Mignon and not the generic "steak", nor do we judge the quality of food by pictures or movies.

Haven't cruised on Holland, but I pretty much agree on the order of the others....my list would have Carnival #1 and Cunard #2, RCI #3 and NCL #4....and I am referring only to the MDRs on each of these lines.

[Teacherloves2Cruise]

Of the lines I have been on, this is how I rank the food/main dining room experiences.

 

1. Celebrity

2. Royal Caribbean

3. Carnival/ Norwegian

[garycarla]

I would say that there are better options. Our Queen Mary trip was outstanding. Still, with that said we have taken 7 cruises with NCL and will do another one this fall. NCL does a good job and we eat all we want. I just would not say it is outstanding.

 

And, any comparisons to food more than maybe five years ago is not very valid. The price points, margins, staffing, etc have changed quite a bit over time along with the whole mass market change.

[swedish weave]

WE have been on NCL and HAL within the last two months, and have had good food and service on both. The portions on HAL are larger on some entrees. The souffles we enjoy were hot on NCL and cool on HAL. The fruits and berries were much better on NCL.

Quality of other food was equal in my opinion.

We used the "as you wish dining" on HAL and were unable to eat at 7pm but were offered 7:45pm and had no wait. On NCL we were able to be seated at 7pm with never over 5 minutes wait. This was not a problem for us, just a difference in the lines.

[DavidPatrick]

In a talk by the hotel manager on HAL he told us food is ordered 6 months in advance and is shipped overseas in refrigerated containers, then sits on the dock until the ship comes in and unloads it onto the ship. We had an afull lot of left over lobster and filet minon on our repositioning cruise last fall. The Lido buffet had 30" bowls of peeled shrimp out at lunch and were serving prime at lunch towards the end of the repositioning. :)

[happy cruzer]

Thanks everyone for sharing. You did give me some extra information. I really just needed to be reassured that NCL dining rooms do compare to the others i.e. are not vastly inferior as so many of the reviews claimed. I do know to take the reveiws as a group but there do seem to be so many that very negative of the dining rooms. Probably from folks who did not adjust their expectations to "freestyle". That's the key to me is knowing what to expect.

 

Thanks.

[ddjwms]

We have been on NCL several times in the last 2-3 years as well as Princess and RCL. Have also sailed on HAL and Carnival several times in the past, but those were over 3 years ago. The reason I am making the 3 year distinction is because that is about when we began to see a noticeable decline in NCL's dining/food standards. For example, we have sailed on the Dream three times. The first time, we loved everything about it and the food was great; it was easily our favorite ship. The second time, we noticed some changes (for the worse), but still were pleased with what we had. The last time (about a year ago), the deline in service, food quality and portion size was noticeable. (And meantime we had sailed twice on another NCL ship where the food and service was MUCH worse both times than the Dream ever was...) We sailed NCL three times in a row and then sailed RCL and were shocked at the difference (RCL much better) We had gotten used to NCL's declining standards and forgotten what we had been used to in the past--on both NCL and other lines. Then we went on Princess last fall: head and shoulders above both NCL and RCL, while as I said, RCL was noticeably better than NCL. When we were on HAL and Carnival several years ago, I would put them even with Princess, ahead of RCL. Don't know if this is still the case.

 

We have still sailed on NCL more than any other line and are considering another NCL cruise right now. But we know going in that we can't expect the quality of service or food we would be getting elsewhere (but we like the itinerary, price and heck...we just like cruising).

[newmexicoNita]

We have been on NCL several times in the last 2-3 years as well as Princess and RCL. Have also sailed on HAL and Carnival several times in the past, but those were over 3 years ago. The reason I am making the 3 year distinction is because that is about when we began to see a noticeable decline in NCL's dining/food standards. For example, we have sailed on the Dream three times. The first time, we loved everything about it and the food was great; it was easily our favorite ship. The second time, we noticed some changes (for the worse), but still were pleased with what we had. The last time (about a year ago), the deline in service, food quality and portion size was noticeable. (And meantime we had sailed twice on another NCL ship where the food and service was MUCH worse both times than the Dream ever was...) We sailed NCL three times in a row and then sailed RCL and were shocked at the difference (RCL much better) We had gotten used to NCL's declining standards and forgotten what we had been used to in the past--on both NCL and other lines. Then we went on Princess last fall: head and shoulders above both NCL and RCL, while as I said, RCL was noticeably better than NCL. When we were on HAL and Carnival several years ago, I would put them even with Princess, ahead of RCL. Don't know if this is still the case.

 

We have still sailed on NCL more than any other line and are considering another NCL cruise right now. But we know going in that we can't expect the quality of service or food we would be getting elsewhere (but we like the itinerary, price and heck...we just like cruising).

 

Don't judge NCL by the Dream experience you had a year ago. Since 2.0 everything has improved or I think so as do most of my clients. Of course not everyone would agree, but most do. The food is better, especially the the buffets. We found the buffet on the Spirit to be as good if not better than on HAL and I didn't think I would ever say that. The selection alone was unbelievable. I can't think of anything they did not serve for breakfast including so many fruits. As for lunch, the salad bar was awesome as well as the hot selections.

 

Nita

[CHOCBANAWAD12]

We are both foodies as well as cruise-aholics. We have found, you get what you pay for.

Oceania's food is excellent, but you can take 2 NCL cruises for the fare. NCL's MDR food is good, just not a great deal of variety or imagination. Their specialty restaurants are excellent. Celebrity and Princess have better MDR choice, but you pay for it in the fare. We love NCL's attitude and ships, so put back part of the money we save on the fare into going to the specialty restaurants, when nothing on the main menu speaks to us. We check at the restaurant part of the main desk to see that night's menu and then make reservations at the specialty restaurant if desired.

Some people swear by Burger King and others Mc Donalds. Some people prefer Burger King to "21" so it's all subjective. I've never seen anyone, on any line starve.

Sam and Audrey