Expectations not met?

[jerseygirl3]

My sister, DH, and their two kids are currently on the Rome to Venice Insignia sailing (departed Rome on July 14). She has been updating me with emails. According to her son, the seas have been quite rough. While they are absolutely loving the itinerary and they say the staff and fellow passengers have been wonderful, they've been less than thrilled with the food. This has surprised me. They are seasoned cruisers, but all previous cruises have been on mainstream cruiselines (Princess, Celebrity, HAL, etc.). I am shocked that she said the dinner entrees (including Polo) have been quite unremarkable. I thought cuisine was Oceania's strongpoint. She said the appetizers definitely outshone the entrees.

 

We're currently (along with sister, DH, and their kids) on the Regatta TA next March. It'll be our first Oceania cruise, and it's a bit disheartening to hear this.

 

I'm sure I'll get a full report when she returns home, but I'm wondering if anybody else can share recent experiences.

 

Jo-Ann

[LAexNY]

No, that is not our recent experience. Three O cruises in the past 14 months and 4 more coming in the next year. The food is excellent and one of the reasons we cruise with O.

[LHT28]

You have no control over the seas!

 

As for food it is so subjective, I am not sure what they would consider remarkable.

 

We found the food to be fine ...well presented, tasted fine...we are not foodies so it may be quite different story if you are.

I love the Lamb on Oceania it is always cooked just right for me :)

 

It would be interesting to know what dishes they ordered that were unremarkable & what their expectations were!

 

I would wait and form your own opinion it could be quite different than hers.

Enjoy your cruise

 

Lyn

[chicagogal]

My sister, DH, and their two kids are currently on the Rome to Venice Insignia sailing (departed Rome on July 14). She has been updating me with emails. According to her son, the seas have been quite rough. While they are absolutely loving the itinerary and they say the staff and fellow passengers have been wonderful, they've been less than thrilled with the food. This has surprised me. They are seasoned cruisers, but all previous cruises have been on mainstream cruiselines (Princess, Celebrity, HAL, etc.). I am shocked that she said the dinner entrees (including Polo) have been quite unremarkable. I thought cuisine was Oceania's strongpoint. She said the appetizers definitely outshone the entrees.

 

We're currently (along with sister, DH, and their kids) on the Regatta TA next March. It'll be our first Oceania cruise, and it's a bit disheartening to hear this.

 

I'm sure I'll get a full report when she returns home, but I'm wondering if anybody else can share recent experiences.

 

Jo-Ann

 

We were on a 16 day Insignia cruise in December - all 4 of us really enjoyed the food - especially at Polo Grill

[A Knitter]

No, that is not our recent experience. Three O cruises in the past 14 months and 4 more coming in the next year. The food is excellent and one of the reasons we cruise with O.

 

Ditto!!

[CintiPam]

We sailed on Nautica last month Athens to Rome (our second Oceania cruise), and we felt that the food was excellent, as well as the service.

 

I lived in Manhattan for 11 years, and I visit my son who lives there now regularly, and I truly believe that some of the meals, particularly in the two specialty restaurants, were on a par with the some of the best we have eaten both in NYC and in Cincinnati's fine dining establishments.

 

I do concur that some of the appetizers in the Grand Dining Room outshine the main courses in creativity and variety.

[capegirl]

We have recently returned from Athens to Barcelona cruise aboard Insignia. We reside in London and often eat out in top quality central London restaurants and I can honestly say the food onboard was far better than ever tasted in London. We did not have one meal in any of the restaurants that we found below par. The food was outstanding!

[Bruin Steve]

I just returned last week from Nautica...absolutely loved the food...

 

Of course, food is a matter of personal taste.

 

I did think the menus offered great choices. The quality of ingredients and, for the most part the availability of items certainly demonstrates that Oceania does not cut any corners when it comes to food. On some other lines, I've seen hidden cutbacks--fewer andfewer appearances on the menu of expensive items--lobster, higher end seafood, better cuts of steak...but not on Oceania. I was amazed at how often I was able to order higher end entrees.

 

But the particular preparation and recipe of any dish may always be different from how you like it--doesn't mean it's bad...

 

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it...just go and enjoy...

[happy cruzer]

My sister, DH, and their two kids are currently on the Rome to Venice Insignia sailing (departed Rome on July 14). She has been updating me with emails. According to her son, the seas have been quite rough. While they are absolutely loving the itinerary and they say the staff and fellow passengers have been wonderful, they've been less than thrilled with the food. This has surprised me. They are seasoned cruisers, but all previous cruises have been on mainstream cruiselines (Princess, Celebrity, HAL, etc.). I am shocked that she said the dinner entrees (including Polo) have been quite unremarkable. I thought cuisine was Oceania's strongpoint. She said the appetizers definitely outshone the entrees.

 

We're currently (along with sister, DH, and their kids) on the Regatta TA next March. It'll be our first Oceania cruise, and it's a bit disheartening to hear this.

 

I'm sure I'll get a full report when she returns home, but I'm wondering if anybody else can share recent experiences.

 

Jo-Ann

 

for your peace of mind, get her to provide details. Get her to copy the menus. They are often posted outside the restaurant and then have her tell you the items she ordered and what she did not like about each one. After all you probably know her tastes better than posters on this board and can judge what she is experiencing best.

 

My guess is that she was expecting to new and unusal items on the menus. What O does is provide some of the best items found on standard menus (like on other lines) and prepares them freshly and with finer ingredients in smaller servings. Unless you really are a foodie you might think it is just the same old Chicken Marsala.:o

 

We really love to enjoy TAs by enjoying the dining experience so the food is important to us. and on O, we were not disappointed in quality at all. so my guess is that it just might be that she wanted to see items that she had never seen before.

 

Please keep us posted.

[Acrusa]

We are sailing on the Insignia when you dock this week in Venice.This will be our 3rd O cruise and am looking foward to the meals we always enjoyed in the speacialty restaurants.I will try to give updates once we sail out of Venice about the food and cruise.

[GJH123]

We were on one of the Athens to Istanbul cruises in May and found the food to be comparable to that found in a four or five star hotel restaurant. Entrees were varied and beautifully presented. Sauces were flavorfully complex. Appetizers were temptingly creative--one night, I chose to have one instead of an entree. Staff was attentive yet not obtrusive. We had previously sailed on Princesss and Holland America and found that there was no comparison to the quality of food found on those lines; for us, Oceania was by far superior. Hope you will enjoy your cruise as much as we did!

[agnesd]

DH & I had the same reaction. We loved the appies, soups (ourtrageous), salads(outstanding) and desserts went through the roof. Even the afternoon tea and burger bar were above the bar. But we felt the main meals were lacking. Either the meat was dry or not cooked to our order or some arrived cool. Veggies usually were cool. Or the seasoning didn't match our expectations. To reorder is a nuisance. We spoke to the head chef after we commented on the cards sent to each room 3 days into the cruise. He personally sought us out at the Polo Grill (embarrassing) but we were honest and he seemed concerned since we weren't badmouthing everything. I think the next time I will order an appy for the entree. I usually couldn't decide between them. Polo Grill was OK. Toscanna was outstanding in every aspect even main meals.

 

All in all, the food (other than the main meal) exceeded other cruiselines. The Main meals were equal to but not better than other crusielines. The afternoon tea is not to be missed

[fPetrarca]

The food might not seem as good as expected because of the rough seas. Seriously.

[meow!]

Food is nice on Oceania, with good quality and variety. We especially liked the Tappas buffet dinner at night. We could tell the cook to pick the ingredients we liked, and cook it right in front of us. We didn't have to wait for course to course, and as there were not many people, we could sit by ourselves, farther away from fellow passengers .. meow!

[suec12]

You may want to read my cruise review of the Nautica that I recenly posted - I am a foodie and I ramble on quite a bit about the food. I too was a bit disappointed BUT I think I got on that ship expecting the 12 best dinners I had ever had in my life. I did not care for the lobster in Polo, I think, which surprised me - another cruiser speculated it was because it had been frozen. But there were some definate "home runs" - I tried to mention some in my review. I am not a fan of foie gras or caviar or usually vegetarian entrees and it seemed there were a fair amount of items like that so sometimes it seemd the choices were a bit limited. One thing that really frustrated me was that, at least most of the wait staff, would not give suggestions as to what was particularly good on the menu that evening. Another cruiser said the staff was told not to give suggestions because "they are all excellent choices" well......not every dish was an A. But every bite of beef I tried and usually the lamb was excellent. Several excellent appetizers and some very nice desserts - do not miss the chocolate tear in the GDR. We thought the chocoalte lasagna that we had read about on the boards was bogus!

 

So there is my ramble about the food - we have crusied Celebrity in the past and been pretty satisfied. Also most of the food we got off the ship, I enjoyed more than much of the food on board but we were crusiing the Greek isles and I love ethnic food probably more than "haute cuisine". So in summary, I think some of my disappointment was due to very high expectations. But as far as cruise food goes - it was very, very good. And I hope to repeat an Oceania cruise in the future.

[Friscorays]

My wife and her mother were on the Regatta (on a Jacques Pepin cruise) this March. It was the first Oceania cruise for both of them.

 

They both said the food was good but felt is was somewhat bland / underseasoned. They had very high expectations as far as food quality given everything that they had read about Oceania and the fact that Jacques Pepin himself was on board. So to be perfectly honest and address the title of this thread, their expectations were not met in this regard. This is not to say that the food was bad... just not as good as the "hype" had led them to believe it would be.

 

I'll be trying the food on the Regatta myself this December and will be happy to report back. I must say, the food pictures in the glossy brochure I just received look awfully yummy.

[LHT28]

One thing that really frustrated me was that, at least most of the wait staff, would not give suggestions as to what was particularly good on the menu that evening. Another cruiser said the staff was told not to give suggestions because "they are all excellent choices" well......not every dish was an A.

 

Well what you find appealing someone else may not.

Getting suggestions from the crew on dishes which they probably have not tasted is not relevant.

 

DH is a picky eater & did find most of the dishes to his liking. some may not be a spicy as he likes but they try to accommodate all palates ...just ask them to give you more spice when you order or the bottle of hot sauce ;)

 

Lyn

[MightyQuinn]

We’ll be cruising Oceania for the first time in Nov/09 on a TA & we’re looking forward to enjoying the ship, especially the food. Since Oceania promotes itself as having the “finest cuisine at sea” we have fairly high expectations. The sample menus on the Oceania website look promising, but much depends on on-board execution.

 

Any cruise line that offers baby lamb chops for breakfast is A-OK by me! ;);)

[Bruin Steve]

Okay...I am not a "gourmet"...

I am an average cruiser...

I have a fairly high expendable income so, at home, we eat out a lot...everything from fast food to those restaurants of the rich and famous we find here in LA...

I have also cruised on seven different cruise lines, most multiple times...

 

I NEVER compare the food on any cruise ship to Spago or the Palm...It's just not fair. There are gourmet restaurants here that cook for a couple of dozen people a night...the Nautica is feeding over 1,000 (between passengers and crew)...

 

Compare them to other cruise ships...or to banquet halls at home...Ever had the "rubber chicken" at a banquet or social event?

 

Compared to other cruise lines, to banquet halls, to chain restaurants and to most of the places most of us usually eat, I will still insist the food on Oceania is excellent...

 

Do not go on board with the expectation Wolfgang Puck will be personally preparing your bacon and eggs in the morning...Understand that they are serving you, 600+ other passengers and a good number of crew each day...yet, somehow, they can give you an excellent choice of appetizers, entrees and desserts--

 

Some are better than others...some may disappoint you...The soup may be too "thin" for your taste, you may not care for the sweet and sour sauce over your thai dumpling appetizer or the combination of spices on your broiled mahi mahi...

 

Everyone likes their food done differently...it is hard to please everyone...I was born in NYC and grew up in LA and have a very narrow idea of what good pizza is...my wife comes from Nebraska and grew up knowing only Pizza Hut and Shakeys...To this day, we cannot agree on pizza...Even though I KNOW she is wrong, you just can't convince her... :) :)

 

But, that's the thing...what one person thinks is bland, another thinks is overspiced...I have a sister-in-law who pours Tabasco over EVERYTHING...

 

So, no question, some people won't like the food...You might not...but you may...

 

But...look at the choices, the ingredients, what goes into the food and onto the table on Oceania...

 

I have heard some questioning a particular item or two, but, for the most part, they give you some pretty good seafood, cuts of meat and assorted delicacies...they do not skimp...Some lines give you a menu loaded with chicken, cheaper fish choices, a lot of pasta ...some have cut back on offering things like lobster, prawns, New York Steaks and Filet Mignon...Oceania hasn't...

 

If you can't find food you like, you may just be hard to please...

[meow!]

I am an average cruiser...

I have a fairly high expendable income so, at home, we eat out a lot...everything from fast food to those restaurants of the rich and famous we find here in LA...

The first two clauses may not be congruent. However, just curious, from your "signature", why wouldn't you also try Seabourn, Silversea, RSSC and perhaps charter once or twice to widen the scope?

[Bruin Steve]

The first two clauses may not be congruent. However, just curious, from your "signature", why wouldn't you also try Seabourn, Silversea, RSSC and perhaps charter once or twice to widen the scope?

 

Actually, I think your average cruiser has a lot of expendable income...people living from paycheck to paycheck don't cruise. We are the lucky ones, we can afford to cruise.

 

I don't cruise with the luxury lines not because I cannot afford to but because I like to get value for my money....I prefer to cruise multiple times for the same money that would cover only a single cruise on those lines.

 

Everyone has their own criteria as to what they want out of a cruise line...I have mine...If I can drop $10,000 on a cruise and get everything I want, why should I spend $20,000?

 

Actually, my TA specializes in luxury cruises and would love to "move me up" to those lines...but, I resist...I may try them one day...but, for now, I'll keep with what I have been doing...

[loum140]

Getting back on topic....this is just a sugestion, but perhaps Jerseygirl's family should try a few dinners in Tapas. My DH loves the Grand Dining Room, Polo and Toscana, but on our last cruise because Mother had a bit of a cold and didn't feel up to conversation in the GDR, we ate many, many meals in Tapas. You can choose what you want from the various offerings including a wonderful carving board station. The hot and cold dishes are constantly refilled and are consequently always freshly prepared and are hot, or chilled as the case may be. We found the dining experience was much more intimate and there's live music to boot.

[nparmelee]

We did the Rome to Venice cruise back on May 2nd and we also loved the itinerary and the food. Food is very subjective and like others have said, it would be nice to know what they ordered and what they expected. My hubby is one that will sometimes order something thinking it will be something very different than the description and then may be surprised by what actually appears. That happened to him one night at dinner on the ship, but he still liked the meal, just had expected something else. Cruise food does tend to be less spicy, lots of palates to please. We found that if we asked them to make something a little more spicy, they would do their best, kind of turned into a running joke with us and some of the crew.

[calvin81]

We were on our first Oceania cruise in June. I am somewhat of a foodie and am considered picky by family and friends. I had heard wonderful things about Oceania's food and expected great meals. "Great" was too high an expectation. They are feeding several hundred people each night, as was pointed out. However, I wasn't terribly disappointed, as the food was quite good. The desserts were the high point for me, as was afternoon tea. I also thought breakfast was quite good. Sometimes my disappointment was the choice of entrees and sometimes it was the quality. No meal was bad, just a bit boring in one or more of the courses. Usually I liked the appetizers, salads and desserts better than the main course, as someone else pointed out. The quality of the beef I ate was excellent, but we don't eat a lot of red meat any more, so I tried not to order it too often. It seemed that the only chicken available was often the Jacques Pepin signature rostisserie chicken and it was only OK (I actually prefer Costco's rotisserie chicken!). I didn't order lobster ever, but my daughter did several times and although she enjoyed it, I did not care for the samples she gave me at all -- so it is often a matter of personal taste. After working in an Italian restaurant for years I am very picky with Italian cuisine and did feel they had hits and misses (osso bucco not tender, veal limone in a cream?? sauce), but we liked Toscano enough to dine there 4 times and would have gone more often if we could have gotten in. Sometimes I was even looking for more basic choices at lunch -- but not as basic as Waves Grill. More variety of salads and sandwiches were what I was hoping for, knowing my dinner would be a big meal. All in all, the food was very good, we never went hungry, and we liked it enough that we are booking another cruise next summer.

[suec12]

They have wonderful berries on the breakfast buffet - where do they find those??? and at lunch they had delicious bleu and goat cheese to add to the salads. The pasta station was very nice.

 

As to the comment, how could the staff make recommendations, not to be nit-picky but on other lines they certainly could - I would think just from passenger feedback they would have some idea as to what other passengers had really liked. And a couple of times when my entree was a miss, I did not sense a willingness to bring another - granted I did not ask, but again, on Celebrity, the staff would offer to bring an extra serving or an additional entree, especially if they noticed a lack of interest in the initial portion.

 

I am certainly not saying I did not like the food or thought that it was not good - it just did not "exceed expectations".