Riviera Caribbean Cruise 3 Jan 2018 Expectations

My comments ... I am surprised to see so many negative comments about Oceania's cuisine here, regardless of which venue is being discussed. Maybe it is indeed that the EXPECTATIONS are off.

We've had some "off" meals on the various ships in the fleet (not Riviera so far because we haven't been on Riviera yet although we will next May). But nothing was consistently terrible, and in general extremely good.

I am not an inexperienced cook, and my friends call me a "gourmet cook" although I would never categorize myself as such. But I've had disasters as well, and I'm no young bride at this point! ( In fact, sometimes I think I did better on average as a young cook then I have had later on in life ... when perhaps I was more experimental. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't!)

I have to admit that when I see comments to the effect that "GDR is awful", I ignore them, because we've had mostly excellent meals there. Of course, we all have different tastes and what I like doesn't mean someone else will. We've also had excellent meals in Polo, although not always in Toscana.

Again, it depends. I love veal chops and on our first Oceania cruise on Regatta in January 2003 mine were overbooked. We were at a table for four, and three of us had ordered the veal chops. They all came out different! But I've ordered those same veal chops in Toscana many times since and they've always been wonderful.

So? What conclusion?

My experiences have been that Oceania's cuisine remains superior. This includes two 2016 cruises so it's not that I haven't been on board recently.

We all have different stomachs and taste preferences!

I appreciate everyone's response and comments some of which seem remarkably indicative.

Since our last cruise with Oceania, we have been on 6 different lines (itinerary and timing) ranging from mainstream to luxury. To tell you the truth, I don't remember any bad food on the Riviera. Nothing was overcooked, undercooked, underspiced or overspiced. There was a nice balance of fish and meat dishes with vegetables.

Among the many really nice people on Oceania's and other top lines' ships, there are some odd ducks who think that their expectations are the rule for everybody.