Royal Caribbean vs Carnival FOOD?

[Jakeplays]

My family of 6 (kis 10-18) are trying to plan our second cruise. We took Carnival Pride last year and had a great time. We are leaning toward the Explorer of the Seas for June 2011.........everyone says the food is much better on Carnival. We are foodies and know good food....we thought the food on the Pride was good to very good (the supper club being superb) Do you think we will be disappointed with RC.....everyone says for Carnival has better food RC has better pools/activities comments please!

[alexw]

In my opinion, Carnivals food is much better.

 

However, there is so much more to do on Royals ships.

[caribbeanboy]

In my opinion MDR food is about the samen, but when it comes to the buffet here is where Royal Caribbean wins hands down. No comparison!

[Loves_Dogs]

In my honest opinion the food in the main dining room is a lot better on Carnival. Room service food is way better on Royal Caribbean. Carnival room service let us down every single time (order messed up, hot food not hot, cold food room temp) while RCI room service was excellent. Tasty food that arrived fairly quickly and the order was always correct. We dont eat in the buffet area a lot but I didnt think there was much difference between the 2 lines when it came to the buffet.

 

That being said remember that food is very subjective and each individual will have their own opinion. We enjoyed the food on all of our cruises and I can assure you we didnt go hungry on any of them..LOL...

Have a GREAT cruise!

Edited June 9, 2010 by jeleja

[martinchem]

I'd go with Carnival for MDR and buffet this past year, I may have thought differently a couple years ago. It seemed Carnival took it up a notch and Royal took it down a little, food as well as service. I had a great time on both lines though.

[mtchg]

Carnival Food: Better than RCCL

RCCL Ships (design, activities/family) Better than Carnival

Price: Carnival cheaper.

 

 

Thats it in a nutshell.

 

 

Mitch

[BESTOFTIMES]

I agree totally! We are not big eaters by any means but Carnival food is way better than RC by a lot! RC shio are larger and more to things to do.

[travellovers2]

We just sailed on Carnival last week. We find RCI's food much better, especially the buffet selections.

[Aquahound]

I have eaten in the lunch buffets of every major cruise line countless times. I honestly can't say there is a uniform difference. Some days are better than others, but truthfully, it all tastes the same to me.

 

The suttle differences are more related to different ships, not cruise lines.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Aquahound

[SimoneT]

In my opinion MDR food is about the samen, but when it comes to the buffet here is where Royal Caribbean wins hands down. No comparison!

 

I agree with this. Although I might give Carnival a slightly higher grade for their MDR food. I was sooo impressed with Royal Caribbean's buffets. And I do consider myself a "foodie" also. Bottom line for me is that the food alone is not different enough to base my choice of cruise on. Trust me, if you thought the food on Carnival was good you won't be disappointed with the food on Royal.

Edited June 9, 2010 by SimoneT

[Mysticks1]

• Main Dining Room - I think Carnival is slightly better but I didn't have a bad meal on RCI.
  
• Buffet - RCI has much better food and the layout on their ships is much more efficient at handling the crowds.
  
• Room Service - RCI was much better and I think they have better choices.
  

[ryano]

Didnt care for either buffet. If burgers and hot dogs are your thing, they are better on Carnival IMO

 

As far as the MDR goes, some things were better on Carnival than on Royal and vice versa.

 

Carnivals MDR "steaks" were not as good......Even though people have posted that Royals MDR steaks are like shoe leather, I found the strip and the sirloin to be decent and cooked as I ordered it.

 

We have all read about how subjective food is but I honestly dont think you will notice a huge enough difference to disappoint you when it comes to Royals food.

Edited June 9, 2010 by ryano

[GCurry]

The best specialty restaurant we've yet enjoyed was on Carnival Spirit, and that includes HAL and Princess.

 

If Walmart had a cafeteria, it would equate to NCL!:eek:

[SimoneT]

Didnt care for either buffet. If burgers and hot dogs are your thing, they are better on Carnival IMO

As far as the MDR goes, some things were better on Carnival than on Royal and vice versa.

 

Carnivals MDR "steaks" were not as good......Even though people have posted that Royals MDR steaks are like shoe leather, I found the strip and the sirloin to be decent and cooked as I ordered it.

 

We have all read about how subjective food is but I honestly dont think you will notice a huge enough difference to disappoint you when it comes to Royals food.

 

I agree with the last part, since I also said the same thing. But I don't agree with the part bolded above. I've been on a number of cruises on Carnival and Royal and not once did I have a burger or hot dog on any of the buffets. I can have that anytime. I always go for the ethnic type dishes. I can remember an unbelievably good lamb dish I got on the buffet on Royal. And many delicious indian dishes.

[MrPete]

In my opinion MDR food is about the samen, but when it comes to the buffet here is where Royal Caribbean wins hands down. No comparison!

 

I've never had the samen, but yes, the food is better on Carnival.

 

And although the layout of the WJ is better, the food is the same stuff every day, and quite boring, as well as bland. The buffet on the Spirit class vessels has some of the best variety at sea, as well as tasty. The Chinese, the daily Taste of Nations, as well as the delicious deli just completes the experience.

 

There is also more availability of food on Carnival during the "off" hours. On RCCL, your only option is the Cafe Promenade, which basically is cold finger sandwiches and Ellios type supermarket pizza. If you want fresh burgers and such, there's always Johnny Rockets for a charge.

 

That being said, we never went hungry on the ExOS. There was always something to chose from the menu (but I did leave my food twice on one sailing, as the Turkey and the Lobster were horrid).

[fwacruiser]

I'll be going on just my fourth cruise in July, but I've done both RC and Carnival for the previous three. My comparisons boil down to this:

 

1. Buffet food: Equal quality.

2. Late night food: Equal quality. More "points of access" on Carnival than on RC's older ships. Equal access to late night food (namely pizza, sandwiches) on Carnival and RC's new ships.

3. MDR: Carnival quality is better. I'm a midwestern guy and am picky about my beef in particular. Carnival served up some very nice steaks. I've had some good ones on RC too, but they've also served up a couple duds. Overall, I just thought Carnival's MDR food was of better quality.

 

I still prefer to cruise with RC because I like their ships so much better. More activities, more open, airy, more sunlight. I feel like I'm on the ocean when I'm on a RC ship. With Carnival, sometimes I felt a little claustrophobic. Decor was a little tacky. Most irritating thing with Carnival is that they'd stack up and tie down all the deck chairs after dark. One of my favorite things to do is pull a deck chair up to the rail at night and stargaze while the ocean breeze blows through my hair (or more accurately, over the top of my bald head). Couldn't do that on Carnival.

[FLACRUISER99]

Don't forget Carnival's pizza.

[MCC retired]

There is no one answer when it comes to food , ships, resturants ,anywhere .

Just collect the personal opinions here and see who wins.

We are Diamond on RCI and Platinum on CCL

Carnival Dining room meals are our favorite by a longshot.:)

[DPurcell58]

we've been on the Explorer 3 times, the Carnival Pride last summer. We thought the food on the Explorer in the main dining room was better, bigger portions. Did love the pizza in the buffet on the Pride, also burgers outside by the pool. Love Portofino, but the Supper Club on the Pride was wonderful too. With kids your age I think I would try the Explorer, although it's probably more expensive, which is why we went w/the Pride last year.

[Cuizer2]

My family of 6 (kis 10-18) are trying to plan our second cruise. We took Carnival Pride last year and had a great time. We are leaning toward the Explorer of the Seas for June 2011.........everyone says the food is much better on Carnival. We are foodies and know good food....we thought the food on the Pride was good to very good (the supper club being superb) Do you think we will be disappointed with RC.....everyone says for Carnival has better food RC has better pools/activities comments please!

 

In my opinion (and I'm no foodie) the food on Carnival is a little bit better than the food on Royal Caribbean. I've been on five Carnival cruises and six Royal Caribbean cruises.

 

I've eaten in two of Carnival's supper clubs. I've also eaten in Royal Caribbean's Portofino (extra charge Italian restaurant) and Chops (extra charge steak house). I was not impressed with the food at Portofino. I though that Chops was the equal of Carnival supper club.

 

The Explorer of the Seas has a Portofino but not a Chops. It also has a Johnny Rockets.

[Cruzaholic41]

I'm happy with both. It think it's both great. I even think Chops and Steakhouse (new name for Supper Club) are even.

[ERTHDOG]

i gotta say that we love rci ships and activities , but our first carnival cruise in april was a eye opener as far as the food goes ;)

 

i was very impressed with all the food choices , and how delicious pretty much everything was :)

 

so on that note , its hard to choose whats more important now , but allure of the seas was way too hard to resist :D

 

rci food isnt bad , but i found it bland.

 

dave

[weneedavacationasap]

Royal Caribbean has no chocolate melting cake... Carnival wins :-)

Seriously, Carnival's food is so much better than RCCL in my opinion. We just returned from a cruise w/ RCCL and my group of 11 all agree.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

I think the food on both is good but Carnival is all around better.

[cruiserbryce]

many of the posts you see complaining about RC food are those from people who have taken many many cruises with RC...if you take multiple with them per year then yes things will start to taste bland and get boring. We cruised on Radiance in April...it was our first RC cruise in about a year and a half and the food was as good as I have remembered