Food, Glorious food.....?

I have recently returned from a 12 night cruise on Oriana. Before I left I had spent a fair bit of time reading on this and other forums about the decline in standards of the food on board - on all P & O ships - the glut of green beans, lack of choice...and more negative comments about food.

So I embarked with some concerns about what to expect. Now I am a bit of a foodie, living in the West country with an abundance of high quality fresh meat, fish and veg available everywhere, and I do not expect food on board to match what I am used to - whether cooking it myself, or eating out.

We were on Freedom dining.

I have to report back that I was very pleasantly surprised with the standard on this cruise. Fine dining it wasn't, and was not up to the standard of some of the (expensive!) restaurants we have around my neck of the woods, but I found that there was....

1. more than enough choice in the MDR

2. with one exception on the last evening (which went back) every meal in the MDR was served hot

3. Soup is always available, and waiters often asked if we wanted a soup course if we had not asked for one as well as our starter.

3. I had green beans twice in 12 days (I like green beans!)

4. Over the 12 nights, I enjoyed Broccoli, spinach, carrots, sugar snap peas, peas (actually I didnt enjoy these as I dont like peas!) butternut squash, and probably some other veg which I have forgotten! Most of the veg were cooked adequately.

5. Portion sizes were not huge, but were more than adequate (for us) bearing in mind we were normally having 4 or 5 courses. You could always ask for a larger or double portion or extra vegetables if you wanted to.

6. Cheese & Biscuits were offered every night

7. It was always possible to ask for an alternative combination of or additional item (as long as it was somewhere on the menu that evening).

8. Chicken featured on the menu frequently - although is not one of the "daily favourites" any more .

9. I did not have a tough piece of meat once, and, with one exception (sardines!) the fish was nicely cooked (and not overcooked).

10. Generally, I didnt feel the food combinations were strange - as reported by some. Maybe different to what some may be used to? (I did have one very odd sauce on the side with one of my meals though !)

11. The food was well seasoned....on Arcadia and Azura last year, i felt it was frequently over salted....not so this time.

Now...the Buffet....

On previous cruises, we have tended to use the buffet mainly for breakfast and lunch, but on this cruise we only ventured there for a cake or a sandwich occasionally. We did have a look at the lunch menu a couple of times but were not terribly inpressed, although the salad choices were OK. We are not great "lunch" eaters, especially on cruises as we usually find a cooked breakfast sees us through the day. The two MDR lunches we did have were fine. For breakfast, on recomendation of another cruiser, we went to Alfresco's most mornings, and used the MDR twice. All very good. We didn't particularly like the size and layout of the buffet very much on Oriana so tended to avoid it. On the few occasions we did, we had no trouble finding a seat.

So,our conclusions.....?

My fears were unfounded. The food was good, and certainly more than acceptable. We did not go hungry, and if anything was not up to scratch , the waiters dealt with it immediately. I wonder if all the poor reports since the menus were changed last year have actually been acted upon, because we certainly did not experience any real problems. And my personal view was that the food was better on this cruise than on Arcadia last year - which was before the menu change.

Whether this is down to the particular ship or not, I dont know. The menus are fairly standard across the fleet, but the Executive chef does have an influence on the actual execution of those menus.

(We did dine in the Beach house twice...another story!)

We got back from 2 weeks on Aurora this month and too had read all of the horror stories. I concur with the observations above, the food and service were of a high standard most of the time and the choice was good even for us non-meat eaters. The Buffet was very good and we never had a problem finding a table.

Good reviews all around.

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Ah, you have filled me with hope. Last October on Oriana, I was very disappointed with the food in the MDR, not every day, but more often I found Roast this and roast that and nothing interesting at all.

I sent back a beef wellington, meat was tough and pastry soggy. It was our 4th cruise on Oriana and the last two have been the same. Still love the ship. I wonder when they changed the menu. We are back on board this October, so hopefully what you found is correct!

You're filling me with dress about Arcadia. We're going on her in 7 weeks time and both of us hate over salted food.

We have however enjoyed the food on both the Oriana (twice) and the Britannia.

 

I sent back a beef wellington, meat was tough and pastry soggy. It was our 4th cruise on Oriana and the last two have been the same. Still love the ship. I wonder when they changed the menu. We are back on board this October, so hopefully what you found is correct![/quote

 

Don't get too excited....I am afraid the pastry on my Beef wellington wasnt the crispiest either.....but the meat was lovely! So I forgave the pastry! Might be worth asking for the gravy on the side as I dont think that helps to keep the pastry crisp....

We were on Arcadia for the last 2 weeks of May and found the food was very good for dinner in the MDR. It was much improved from our P&O experiences in 2008 and 2009 when the food was a lot of "meat and two veg". The choice this time was varied and interesting. There was only one dish I was disappointed with and that was a crab soufflé as it was more of a crab dumpling, but it tasted OK!

The rumours of bad and uninteresting food have been exaggerated :-)

Eddie

We found the choices a bit limited in the buffet for lunch but what we did have was very good. The lunch menus in the MDR looked good but we didn't have a meal in there.

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Thanks for that very comprehensive review Mysticalmother.

Just after Christmas I was concerned too about several reports from several regular P&O cruisers about a decline in standards including the situation on the Aurora Worldie which resulted in a meeting of passengers with some influential people from the Hotel and F&B depts. on board.

In the event we were on Oriana in April/May and agree completely with your observations Mysticalmother. We felt the variety, choice and quality of food good and had no complaints whatsoever. We too don't like the buffet so I'm really commenting on the mdr where we ate each evening (plus Beach House a couple of times) we also went to the mdr for breakfasts and often Alfresco too so we mirrored your dining patterns.

Perhaps the reports earlier in the year has brought about a reversal of what was said to be a cut in the food budget (at the meeting on Aurora). Let's hope our recent experiences on Oriana are reflected across the fleet. But we were reassured and I hope this proves to be the case for others too.

You're filling me with dress about Arcadia. We're going on her in 7 weeks time and both of us hate over salted food.

We have however enjoyed the food on both the Oriana (twice) and the Britannia.

I wouldnt worry too much....we were on her last July and I would imagine that it will have changed. It wasnt THAT bad , but like you I dont like over salted food and I guess I was a bot sensitive to it - my OH thought it was fine!

If it should turn out to be a problem, just have a word with the Maitre D and ask to have a "low salt" diet....you will then be able to choose your meal the night before, and that should alleviate the problem

Agree about the executive chef making a difference.

We were on Oriana over Christmas and although the menu was basically the same we found the food on X607 was much better. The selections of veg was more varied and seemed to compliment the main item better. It was generally better prepared too, and not over-salted as we too have found in the past.

The Sardines i had one lunchtime in the buffet were so good I went back for more:D I think there was a good turnover of them and they had just come straight off the grill.

We tend to stick to the MDR at night, but went to the Indian buffet the night it was on. This was our only poor dining experience, not a patch on Arcadia last year. Little choice and not particularly good quality.

Alfresco is good for a change at breakfast, but those bacon paninis are so hard. Lovely omelettes though.

Great well balanced information. Thank you.

We're just back from Oriana too - and completely agree about the food. We had a good experience in all freedom dining - asking for extra veg on several days and being given a bowl of assorted veg as a side. Excellent service too. We never used the buffet on Azura due to the crush and lack of seats - Oriana totally different. Always a seat to be found and a good selection of meals through the day. The best bit was the 10.30pm - 2am late night bites - the lovely young staff would make anyone a mug of hot chocolate or Horlicks on request, so that quickly became our end of day habit before bedtime. Great fun...

Afternoon tea in the MDR was a bit disappointing and basically sandwiches and cakes that you'd find in the buffet tea as well. Tea served from a pot by staff - no tea leaves and strainer like we'd hoped were still in use. But at least we tried it...

So generally a big tick from us for Oriana's food.

Good report thanks MM

We're just back from Oriana too - and completely agree about the food. We had a good experience in all freedom dining - asking for extra veg on several days and being given a bowl of assorted veg as a side. Excellent service too. We never used the buffet on Azura due to the crush and lack of seats - Oriana totally different. Always a seat to be found and a good selection of meals through the day. The best bit was the 10.30pm - 2am late night bites - the lovely young staff would make anyone a mug of hot chocolate or Horlicks on request, so that quickly became our end of day habit before bedtime. Great fun...

Afternoon tea in the MDR was a bit disappointing and basically sandwiches and cakes that you'd find in the buffet tea as well. Tea served from a pot by staff - no tea leaves and strainer like we'd hoped were still in use. But at least we tried it...

So generally a big tick from us for Oriana's food.

Disappointing if they've downgraded the MDR Afternoon Tea on Oriana. When I went it was definitely not the same as the buffet - it was proper finger sandwiches, and upscaled cakes & pastries served on a stand.

Not thats theres anything wrong with the buffet tea either - its my first stop after a busy day in port for a coffee and a bun :)

We're just back from Oriana too - and completely agree about the food. We had a good experience in all freedom dining - asking for extra veg on several days and being given a bowl of assorted veg as a side. Excellent service too. We never used the buffet on Azura due to the crush and lack of seats - Oriana totally different. Always a seat to be found and a good selection of meals through the day. The best bit was the 10.30pm - 2am late night bites - the lovely young staff would make anyone a mug of hot chocolate or Horlicks on request, so that quickly became our end of day habit before bedtime. Great fun...

Afternoon tea in the MDR was a bit disappointing and basically sandwiches and cakes that you'd find in the buffet tea as well. Tea served from a pot by staff - no tea leaves and strainer like we'd hoped were still in use. But at least we tried it...

So generally a big tick from us for Oriana's food.

Disappointing if they've downgraded the MDR Afternoon Tea on Oriana. When I went it was definitely not the same as the buffet - it was proper finger sandwiches, and upscaled cakes & pastries served on a stand.

Not thats theres anything wrong with the buffet tea either - its my first stop after a busy day in port for a coffee and a bun :)

One of my biggest pet peeves with the MDR is their inability to deliver what is described on the menu. Without fail dishes arrive without some element or finishing touch which is so nicely described in the menu. I'm surprised more people don't notice.

We got back from 2 weeks on Aurora this month and too had read all of the horror stories. I concur with the observations above, the food and service were of a high standard most of the time and the choice was good even for us non-meat eaters. The Buffet was very good and we never had a problem finding a table.

Good reviews all around.

 

 

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We sail on Aurora on July 2nd, so happy to see the food is still good. We have sailed on other P&O ships and found the food on them to be good. However, we feel the Aurora is that much better when it comes to the food.