Dining Room Disasters: What's the worst dish you've had on Carnival?

[hfweather]

I had the chilled avocado soup once. It was the saltiest thing I've ever tasted in my life. I let my mom, who is a saltaholic try it and it was even too salty for her. I hoping it was just a miscue with the salt shaker and isn't always that salty.

[cks]

One of our cruise buds has an iron and stomach and will eat anything...he ordered some seafood dish one night on the Pride when it was sailing out of Port Canaveral. The waiter raised his eyebrows and said "are you sure" but he ordered it anyway.

 

Our waiter brought it and set it down in from of him then just stood back. Our whole table of 6 burst out laughing it. It looked like a huge turd covered in green seaweed and stunk like rotten fish. :eek: I wish I knew what it was called.

 

:D

 

Makes me wonder why they would even have something like that on the menu if it's something that 99.5% of the population wouldn't like and the waiters wouldn't even recommend it. :confused:

 

To answer the original question, I must have lucked out, because most of what I had on board was pretty decent. Nothing was horrible. There was definite inconsistency with the "runniness" of the chocolate melting cake, but as someone who likes both the cake batter and the finished product, it was all good.

[Megnolia]

I had the chilled avocado soup once. It was the saltiest thing I've ever tasted in my life. I let my mom, who is a saltaholic try it and it was even too salty for her. I hoping it was just a miscue with the salt shaker and isn't always that salty.

 

 

I love the chilled avocado soup, but I am an admitted salt addict. I don't remember it being particularly salty though, so you probably did get a bad bowl.

 

My worst taste sensation was in the steakhouse on the Pride - my own fault, too - I ordered the cheese platter for dessert, with a sample of each of the cheeses. I have no idea what the one was called, but it was literally the most revolting thing I've ever put in my mouth! It smelled like you'd walked into a dairy barn... you can imagine the taste. What a terrible way to cap off a lovely meal! (the rest of the choose was good!)

[DocF]

The worst food item I have had in the dining room was a flatiron steak. In this case, they served the flatiron, not the steak. Ironically, one of the best steaks I have ever had anywhere was the first flatiron steak I had on Carnival. These things require whittling out of a glob of chuck all the good parts. The quality of the steak depends upon the skill of the butcher.

 

Doc

[luvscruising2007]

The worst for me was my 1st night on the Pride, chicken el greque with penne. The chicken was dry and the penne was bland. Everything else in the MDR was fine. Especially the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake.

[gtalum]

I can't think of any that stand out as bad. Some dishes are better than others, of course, but none have been bad.

[PatrickZJD]

the worst food item i have had in the dining room was a flatiron steak. In this case, they served the flatiron, not the steak....

 

lolol!

[Cruiser_SG77]

Back in November on our Dream cruise I ordered the white gazpacho...big mistake! It tasted like very strong, raw, white onion puree. The strawberry bisque was also bad. It tasted like bland, cold, artificial strawberry milk!!!

 

The rest of the food however, was outstanding!

[elcuchio24]

My worse dish was Duck. I even tried it on two different cruises, different ships.

Horrible.

I'm sure it is the Duck and not the way it is cooked.

Well, actually it is the way it is cooked (med rare), but that is the reason I hate Duck. I like my birds cooked thru and thru, not slimy and half raw.

 

Andy

:eek:

 

Thats how duck is supposed to be cooked. Stick to KFC for your avian needs...

[DEBnGAB]

Thats how duck is supposed to be cooked. Stick to KFC for your avian needs...

 

 

I know duck breast should be somewhat med..but what about the dark meat? I was served the leg/"thigh" and it was also med rare.

 

Just wondering....

[elcuchio24]

I love the chilled avocado soup, but I am an admitted salt addict. I don't remember it being particularly salty though, so you probably did get a bad bowl.

 

My worst taste sensation was in the steakhouse on the Pride - my own fault, too - I ordered the cheese platter for dessert, with a sample of each of the cheeses. I have no idea what the one was called, but it was literally the most revolting thing I've ever put in my mouth! It smelled like you'd walked into a dairy barn... you can imagine the taste. What a terrible way to cap off a lovely meal! (the rest of the choose was good!)

 

Oh boy.....guess thats what you get if you expect American, cheddar, and cheese-whiz on your cheese plate......

[framerman]

the worst was a ceasar salad that had been sitting in the dressing forever marinating away.........like day old salad that had been left out of the fridge over night..........i won't say where

[dominichunter]

I don't care for the flatiron steak. They used to serve top sirloin as their everyday steak.

Love the duck,wish they served rabbit.

[elcuchio24]

I know duck breast should be somewhat med..but what about the dark meat? I was served the leg/"thigh" and it was also med rare.

 

Just wondering....

 

Usually the same, unless they confit it, in which case it's usually more on the done side.

[madgally]

Generally, I've been very impressed by Carnival's MDR menu. I've never had anything I didn't love...except for once.

 

One night I ordered the diet pumpkin pie. I'm pretty sure it was just a goof in the kitchen, but the pie came out wobbling like jell-o on the plate. I took a bite of the shiny texture and tasted no pumpkin or even sweetness, but something like pure baking soda! Fortunately we were brought a different dessert very quickly, and the staff apologized. Now like I said, I highly doubt it was supposed to taste like that, so it's not an attack on the recipe. But man...was it bad! :p

 

Do you have any memories of dining disasters, or just something Carnival could improve on in general? Feel free to share.

 

My daughter order the steak almost every night - one night there was spec's on one side - after inspection we realized the steak was dropped on the floor (actually this wasn't Carnival technically - but one of their sister ships and of course more expensive ship). I complained and they brought her a new steak (lets hope they didn't spit on it) but with the group I was sitting with we were talking about it and other tables starting getting annoyed, not at us talking maybe too loud about it but that it happend. The head guy came over and we were given gifts for my kids (not shabby stuff either) and a credit on my sail and sign account for the gift shop for me. They only asked that we stop talking about it. They said it was a one time error and they moved that person back to the staff's dining room for further training. The head guy said he might even be fired. Course we h ad the same servers the whole time and it fell on a rug not in the kitchen - we saw the fibers that matched the carpet on the steak. Unfortunatly I didn't have my camera and I had long locked my cell phone in the safe as it was useless on the cruise - no picture.

[truchattycathy]

I really have been happy with the food on the ship, however; my last cruise on the first night, I ordered the shrimp as an appetizer, like I do at every meal, and it was sour and smelled bad. I politely spit it out in my napkin and didn't eat it(afraid of getting sick from it). When the waiter notice I had not eaten it, he asked if something was wrong, so I told him, I think it is bad. He made a huge deal about it and went to get the maitre de, who also made a huge deal about. I did not intend for them to do this and I was totally embarrassed. I not only asked to switch tables for the next night, I didn't order the shrimp the rest of the cruise.

 

LOL I eat almost anything, and I love almost everything I order on my Carnival Cruises.

[sjn911]

The crab cakes were not cooked through..raw in middle..on the Paradise June before last. Only bad experience everything else was wonderful..next time I order 2 "lobster tail" plates as they were quite tiny (3 bites) and sserved with a couple jumbo shrimp..food on plate was very small but delicious that night.

[stingraycityslicker]

My first time having the salmon fillet, it was pretty dry and a tad bit fishy. The second time was excellent, however. I think overall Carnival aces the fish dishes. :)

[sjn911]

My first time having the salmon fillet, it was pretty dry and a tad bit fishy. The second time was excellent, however. I think overall Carnival aces the fish dishes. :)

 

Agreed..I hate cooking fish for myself..so really enjoy it on board or eating out..the tilapia I had one night was excellent.

[cruzkitty]

I ordered the Chateaubriand, took one bite, and wished I could spit it out! It was just not to my liking at all. I have had this on a previous cruise (another line) and liked it.

 

I can take or leave the Chocolate Melting Cake. Some of my cruising friends call it "THE OMG CAKE"-I think that is hilarious.:p

[SMSACE6]

I had the chateaubriand on the Sensation way back in 2000 and it was wonderful, just as it should be, then on the Triumph in 2004, you needed a saw to get through it. It should never be that tough. The waiter offered to brng me another one, or something else, but I declined. Today I would not hesitate to send something that tough back.

 

Other than that I cant really say I had anything truly horrible on Carnvial, except on the last cruise on the Liberty, I really didnt like the fried oysters at the fish and chip place. They just tasted off. I thought maybe it was a one time thing, so I ordered them one night in the MDR as a starter and they tasted the same, oily, and not fresh tasting. Everything else was fine though. So it may be just me. I find the food mostly very good on Carnival, so I cant complain. I suppose all of us will find one or two things on a cruise that we would not order again.:)

 

And to the OP, I have not heard one person say they liked the diet pumpkin pie. I think it must really be that bad! LOL. I do however like the diet coconut, lemon and orange cake desserts though. I know I wont be trying the pumpkin pie anytime soon.

[MikeM]

Tried Flat Iron 3 times on 3 trips and all were putrid. Last trip the Chateaubriand was terrible and it went back along with a spoiled glass of milk.

[stingraycityslicker]

And to the OP, I have not heard one person say they liked the diet pumpkin pie. I think it must really be that bad! LOL. I do however like the diet coconut, lemon and orange cake desserts though. I know I wont be trying the pumpkin pie anytime soon.

 

What was the diet coconut cake like? I was about to order it one night, but my waiter discouraged it.

[GlendaleCruiser]

Hated the "bowl of meat and gravy" or as they like to call it: Beef Stroganoff. Had no noodles at all. Greasy. Waiter warned me. I will ALWAYS listen to my waiter from now on.

 

Had him bring me something else.

[GlendaleCruiser]

My worse dish was Duck. I even tried it on two different cruises, different ships.

Horrible.

I'm sure it is the Duck and not the way it is cooked.

Well, actually it is the way it is cooked (med rare), but that is the reason I hate Duck. I like my birds cooked thru and thru, not slimy and half raw.

 

Andy

:eek:

 

URP! Disgusting. No wonder I don't like duck. I hate raw meat.