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Food Quality on New Ships


geordiebing
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The food quality and choice on our last two Princess Cruises have been below par and we thought of changing our Cruise Line of choice. We have been to go with friends on the new Majestic Princess in May.

As it's new will Princess be out to impress and give quality and choice again without having to use a specialist restuarant

 

 

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If you usually eat in the MDR, remember that menu choices are essentially fleetwide. In my experience, quality varies from ship to ship, even entree to entree. And though tough meat is tough meat, other things are a matter of taste. I've been at tables where everyone else was raving about a dish that I thought was meh.

 

The buffet on the Royal was a big step above other ships', though.

 

From what I see on the Celebrity boards, longtime X pax have the same complaints, and if you sail NCL, you're looking at lots of upcharge restaurants. Seems like the food on Carnival has a good rep, though, if Carnival would suit you.

Edited by shepp
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The last time We were on a Princess cruise was about 14 years ago....because the food was below par then. However..we are about to go on the Regal this Sunday and opted for Club Class as to not take any chances. Hoping things have improved since then.....and according to the other posters here, they have.

 

 

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As it's new will Princess be out to impress and give quality and choice again without having to use a specialist restuarant

 

 

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Aside from quality and choice, I expect the dining staff to provide an impressive service performance as well.

 

 

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The last time We were on a Princess cruise was about 14 years ago....because the food was below par then. However..we are about to go on the Regal this Sunday and opted for Club Class as to not take any chances. Hoping things have improved since then.....and according to the other posters here, they have.

 

 

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Other people have been posting that, aside from one extra dish available each day, the menu for Club Class dining is exactly the same as the regular MDR menu.

 

I've found that the food depends greatly on the head chef. We had a change of head chef mid-cruise (not sure why) and the food improved markedly after the change. Sad but true.

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If you usually eat in the MDR, remember that menu choices are essentially fleetwide. In my experience, quality varies from ship to ship, even entree to entree. And though tough meat is tough meat, other things are a matter of taste. I've been at tables where everyone else was raving about a dish that I thought was meh.

 

The buffet on the Royal was a big step above other ships', though.

 

From what I see on the Celebrity boards, longtime X pax have the same complaints, and if you sail NCL, you're looking at lots of upcharge restaurants. Seems like the food on Carnival has a good rep, though, if Carnival would suit you.

 

It really does vary from person to person. We sailed with Celebrity for the first time last summer on the Equinox and loved the buffet so much that we didn't even go to the MDR.

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If you usually eat in the MDR, remember that menu choices are essentially fleetwide. In my experience, quality varies from ship to ship, even entree to entree. And though tough meat is tough meat, other things are a matter of taste. I've been at tables where everyone else was raving about a dish that I thought was meh.

 

The buffet on the Royal was a big step above other ships', though.

 

From what I see on the Celebrity boards, longtime X pax have the same complaints, and if you sail NCL, you're looking at lots of upcharge restaurants. Seems like the food on Carnival has a good rep, though, if Carnival would suit you.

 

 

Thanks for your comments.

We won't go down to the Carnival or NCL class, It will be Celebrity or Cunard

 

 

 

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Thanks for your comments.

We won't go down to the Carnival or NCL class, It will be Celebrity or Cunard

 

 

 

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We have cruised Princess, Celebrity, Cunard for the most part recently... Princess and Celebrity we are elite on both lines: Holland America and Cunard less cruises but mention them because I actually see all of these lines as very similar in terms of quality and service in the food area. Did an NCL cruise a few years back in the Mediterranean because we got a good deal to ports we wanted to visit... it was okay but we skipped the MDR the entire cruise... do not like anytime dining arrangements on any line and NCL donot have traditional dining. Food was not up to par in the MDR on NCL... we opted for the buffet and made our own salads and sandwiches out what was avialable... worked for us; we did breakfast in our cabin -- supplemented with omelettes we picked up in the buffet and took back to the cabin... as I say we got a good price so we were not disappointed. Would do NCL again in the same manner for the right price and tour. Otherwise, prefer Princess, Cunard or Holland America... even over Celebrity... on Princess we now like the Crown Grill as our preferred dining choice even with up scale charge... worth it.

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Other people have been posting that, aside from one extra dish available each day, the menu for Club Class dining is exactly the same as the regular MDR menu.

 

It may be the same menu coming out of the same kitchen, but maybe it tastes better if you pay more? Reminds me of going to a restaurant in India that had two doors. One read "Vegetarian" and the other "Non-veg." They led into the same dining room. True story.

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The food quality and choice on our last two Princess Cruises have been below par and we thought of changing our Cruise Line of choice. We have been to go with friends on the new Majestic Princess in May.

As it's new will Princess be out to impress and give quality and choice again without having to use a specialist restuarant

 

 

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If the new ship is anything like the Regal or Royal I think you'll really be impressed. They stand out above the other ships without question.

They've been transferring crew from the other ships so they won't begin with an inexperienced crew to start.

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Have to say that there are a few threads complaining of "Poor" of late. We were on Ruby in December and I have to admit that the food in HC was a little unadventurous and somewhat repeated - I wouldn't say it was "bad" or indeed "poor" - but I've had better (The Regal in September was the benchmark, especially in HC). That being said, the bread pudding at dinner was the mutts nuts as was the Congee (no, I'm not putting chilli and scallions in my oatmeal :)) and poached fruit at breakfast. Guess we're not fussy eaters... Worst meal though was actually in the ATD - when the limoncello sorbet was the best tasting dish, you know there are problems!

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It will be interesting to see how the Majestic on April 4th compares to the Ruby Princess our two previous Princess cruises.

 

A few years ago we did a B2B on the NCL Jade, the first week the food was great and the head chef was from Jamaica, the second week we had a French Chef who had been on our previous Jade cruise to the B2B and the food went rapidly downhill and was as bad as the previous sailing.

 

So the main man does influence what food comes out of the kitchen either good,bad or indifferent.

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It will be interesting to see how the Majestic on April 4th compares to the Ruby Princess our two previous Princess cruises.

 

A few years ago we did a B2B on the NCL Jade, the first week the food was great and the head chef was from Jamaica, the second week we had a French Chef who had been on our previous Jade cruise to the B2B and the food went rapidly downhill and was as bad as the previous sailing.

 

So the main man does influence what food comes out of the kitchen either good,bad or indifferent.

 

A French chef .... that answers it right there. :p

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The food quality and choice on our last two Princess Cruises have been below par and we thought of changing our Cruise Line of choice. We have been to go with friends on the new Majestic Princess in May.

As it's new will Princess be out to impress and give quality and choice again without having to use a specialist restuarant

 

 

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We have been on several Inaugural cruises and actually they had a lot of kinks to iron out and not all goes smooth because the crew is new to the ship too.....I really laugh about how people complain about food on cruise ships and I have never really associated cruise passengers with sophisticated food palettes....just walk through any buffet dining room on Princess and it appears people seem to go for MASS quantity and not quality of food.....please settle down on the food thing unless you make a habit of dining at Michelin-starred restaurants!!!

:):D:rolleyes::cool:

Edited by PrincessLuver
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We have been on several Inaugural cruises and actually they had a lot of kinks to iron out and not all goes smooth because the crew is new to the ship too.....I really laugh about how people complain about food on cruise ships and I have never really associated cruise passengers with sophisticated food palettes....just walk through any buffet dining room on Princess and it appears people seem to go for MASS quantity and not quality of food.....please settle down on the food thing unless you make a habit of dining at Michelin-starred restaurants!!!

:):D:rolleyes::cool:

 

We haven't been on any Inaugural cruises and are certainly not passengers who have sophisticated food palettes. Our tastes lean from mediocre restaurants & home cooking so that when we experience most of the items prepared in Princess are pretty good although we do know when something bad. We also haven't experienced that on many Princess cruises but there have been a few that were questionable in the buffet.

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We were on the Regal twice MDR was just OK nothing to right home about for us. Didn't care for any Curtis Stone items offered. I don't think they did justice to the pork belly which is an item I enjoy when I can but couldn't even cut this one (with a steak knife). Truely missed the parm bowl what they served me was a greasy yellow soggy mess.

Alfredo's for lunch was exceptional though. I had the ravioli in 2015 and was hooked but did try the eggplant in 2016 OMG what a lovely lunch item. Just the right portion etc.

As for the buffet my husband wasn't impressed as everything he tried was cold to luke warm. Myself I loved the choices as I enjoy looking at all the different items. What I tried was OK. And as always we liked the IC. At pool area pizza & grill same as all other ships hit or miss.

So many choices throughout the Regal if you go hungry shame on you :).

Edited by latebloomer56
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The Curtis Stone items were one of the biggest mistakes Princess even made and as soon as they get rid of the happier most cruisers will be. Talking to one of the cooks at the buffet recently, he had no words for those items. :rolleyes:

I hope they do replace it with some of the removed items from the past.

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The Curtis Stone items were one of the biggest mistakes Princess even made and as soon as they get rid of the happier most cruisers will be. Talking to one of the cooks at the buffet recently, he had no words for those items. :rolleyes:

I hope they do replace it with some of the removed items from the past.

 

I have to agree with your post. Our October 2016 Ruby cruise main dining room choices didn't impress me.

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The food quality and choice on our last two Princess Cruises have been below par and we thought of changing our Cruise Line of choice. We have been to go with friends on the new Majestic Princess in May.

As it's new will Princess be out to impress and give quality and choice again without having to use a specialist restuarant

 

 

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The buffets are much better.

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We just got off the Regal on Sunday, and cruised the Royal last year, and really liked the food, especially in the buffet. Sure, some items were less than stellar, but for the most part, the food was good to excellent, especially the soups and all the vegetarian dishes. Breads are wonderful, and several different varieties as well, and so many dishes to choose from! Alfredo's is great as well. Wasn't impressed with Sabatini's (banquet food, as my husband called it), and haven't tried Crown Grill.

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The food quality and choice on our last two Princess Cruises have been below par and we thought of changing our Cruise Line of choice. We have been to go with friends on the new Majestic Princess in May.

As it's new will Princess be out to impress and give quality and choice again without having to use a specialist restuarant

 

 

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I don't think the age of the ship has anything to do with it.

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