Food? Is it going downhill all over or is it ship by ship?

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

We were on our second CC ship back over Thanksgiving on the Fascination. Overall it was a great cruise, we had a blast and loved the slides on the back of the ship. The food however left something to be desired. We had been on the Triumph , her second week out of refurb, prior to that and it was a great trip. The food was fantastic, the staff was on point and it was a great family trip. However on this past trip, I noticed that the food was not up to what we had on the Triumph. The buffets were "okay", the chocolate buffet was not even recognizable as the chocolate buffet. I ordered the lasagna one night and it had so much spinach and other stuff in it that I found it impossible to eat. Now before I start getting slammed. I am really not hard to please with regards to food. When I see people say "oh the food was awful, it was like apple bees" I am completely happy with that. A day I don't have to cook is a good one but this was seriously lacking. Even the melting chocolate cake was hit or miss half the time. We are thinking about booking again on the Triumph but have seen recent reviews and the complaints have been about food. I saw one review even speak about the same lasagna. Is this fleet wide, industry wide or what?

 

Thoughts?

[firefly333]

We just did Triumph and I had no complaints about the food. I enjoyed it. Im sure something was not perfect, but it was good to me. The pork was a little bit extra good, the jamaican pork they serve one night. perfect. I asked if it could be a little spicier so I got more spices on it.

 

Food should be the same from one ship to another. I cant think of any Carnival cruises that I didnt like the food to be honest. I feel Triumph has fewer choices than some other ships is my only little complaint, would like like Ecstasy has.

 

Iv been back now over a week, so yes, recently. I dont like pasta, so wouldnt know about it.

[nytraveller53]

We were on our second CC ship back over Thanksgiving on the Fascination. Overall it was a great cruise, we had a blast and loved the slides on the back of the ship. The food however left something to be desired. We had been on the Triumph , her second week out of refurb, prior to that and it was a great trip. The food was fantastic, the staff was on point and it was a great family trip. However on this past trip, I noticed that the food was not up to what we had on the Triumph. The buffets were "okay", the chocolate buffet was not even recognizable as the chocolate buffet. I ordered the lasagna one night and it had so much spinach and other stuff in it that I found it impossible to eat. Now before I start getting slammed. I am really not hard to please with regards to food. When I see people say "oh the food was awful, it was like apple bees" I am completely happy with that. A day I don't have to cook is a good one but this was seriously lacking. Even the melting chocolate cake was hit or miss half the time. We are thinking about booking again on the Triumph but have seen recent reviews and the complaints have been about food. I saw one review even speak about the same lasagna. Is this fleet wide, industry wide or what?

 

Thoughts?

I have heard that short-cruise food is not as good as the longer cruises, but I'm not sure about that.... The food on Valor rivaled some REALLY GOOD on-land restaurants, so it is not fleet wide. You must of just of had bad luck. :( Prepare to be bullied by other members, though.:eek::rolleyes:

[luvmysox1]

Our food was great on Truimph and Elation in November. We'll find out about Fascination in 2 weeks.

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

MySox. We truly loved our cruise. I loved the layout of the ship and found it very easy to maneuver. It was our first "smaller ship" but we never felt crowded and we were on for a holiday cruise. There are great places to sit outside the buffet. Just take your food and continue on to the back of the boat, you can get there from both sides. We would often sit out there and there was practically no one out there. You can take the steps down to the adults only Serenity area too. Hope you enjoy Fascination. We did.

[dclark]

There are two different areas when it comes to food quality:

1) The quality of how food is prepared and presented

2) The quality of materials used in the meals.

 

When it comes to #1, it has been low for a while. The number one problem is food being cold- in mdr, it can come from over worked servers, it can also be preparation, like pancakes and waffles which seem to be cooked maybe hours before serving.

As for #2, there is only so much you can do with what is given to the kitchen. CCL has resorted to cheaper cuts of meat, as recently as two years ago, you could order sirloin steak any night, menu still had things like filet mignon, lido deck food was better quality, with things like real cheese on pizza.The cheer leaders and those with palates that equate Spam sandwiches as fine eating will deny it, but it is a fact that CCL has been making constant cutbacks in food quality to save $. Each quarter, the news blurbs about CCL are always the same-" CCL has maintain profits by continuing cost cutting measures".

[luvmysox1]

MySox. We truly loved our cruise. I loved the layout of the ship and found it very easy to maneuver. It was our first "smaller ship" but we never felt crowded and we were on for a holiday cruise. There are great places to sit outside the buffet. Just take your food and continue on to the back of the boat, you can get there from both sides. We would often sit out there and there was practically no one out there. You can take the steps down to the adults only Serenity area too. Hope you enjoy Fascination. We did.

 

Thank U, Princess. We are very excited and have loved all our Carnival cruises. Fantasy class are a great bunch of ships. Serenity one of my fav place to chillout on board. Love the hot tubs. I can never get in the ones on Lido. They seem to be to full and lots of kids. I like kids but I rather be w/ adults.;)

[zqvol]

IMO Carnival food quality has decreased dramatically in the past 18 months.

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

MySox. We had the hot tub almost always by ourselves. I was surprised at how the security didn't care if there were 100 kids packed into the adults hot tub on the Lido Deck but if a kid even came half way down the stairs in the Serenity area, the attendant was ON IT. It became a bit of a joke as the week went on watching him head towards the stairs to ward off any youth offender who tried to breach the sacred retreat ...please know I am speaking in jest. I dont want flames We loved the Serenity area. It was so quiet and relaxing.

[DebJ14]

We've found it varies from ship to ship and it seems to depend on who the Executive Chef is onboard. Had the same EC on different ships and the food was superb. Different EC and mediocre food. However, that being said I can always find something I like and since I have a severe gluten allergy Carnival cooks my dinner to order and makes whatever changes are necessary so I can eat most entrees. They do the best job of any line we have sailed and go out of their way to assist.

[GrandBistro]

I've been on 4 CCL cruises since 2007, including 2 short cruises, and am planning a fifth in May 2011. I went on Princess Sapphire last March, and thought the food was better on all 4 CCL cruises than Princess. I tend to eat mostly in the MDR for most meals, and visit the buffet only occasionally. I don't go to the late night or chocolate buffets because we don't stay up that late, so I can't comment on that. My meals in the MDR have always been well prepared, artfully presented, and served at the right temperature. I have not noticed any decline in food, but while I enjoy the food very much, it's not the central focus of my cruise. If CCL is saving money by cutting back on portion size or reducing waste in the buffet, I'm all for it. It may keep my cruise cost down. Still the best vacation vaue!:)

[firefly333]

I've been on 4 CCL cruises since 2007, including 2 short cruises, and am planning a fifth in May 2011. I went on Princess Sapphire last March, and thought the food was better on all 4 CCL cruises than Princess. I tend to eat mostly in the MDR for most meals, and visit the buffet only occasionally. I don't go to the late night or chocolate buffets because we don't stay up that late, so I can't comment on that. My meals in the MDR have always been well prepared, artfully presented, and served at the right temperature. I have not noticed any decline in food, but while I enjoy the food very much, it's not the central focus of my cruise. If CCL is saving money by cutting back on portion size or reducing waste in the buffet, I'm all for it. It may keep my cruise cost down. Still the best vacation vaue!:)

 

The chocolate buffet is now being held during lunch on the last sea day for Id say the last year now .. no staying up late.

[GrandBistro]

Thanks- I might make it next time. But honestly, for me, seeing huge amounts of food on display just doesn't have much appeal.

[MrPete]

We noticed a decline in food quality and service on our Victory cruise. It had gone down so bad that we, for the first time EVER, sought out food at our port of call.

 

What WAS interesting was how well I was received when I flipped out my platinum card. Unfortunately, that reception used to be extended to all passengers in years gone by.

 

In any case, that experience left such a bad taste in our mouths ( no pun.intended), that we decided to take a break fron Carnival for a while.

 

I'm sorry to read that the spiral has been continuing, now even affecting the entertainment.

 

It's important that those displeasures are vocalized back to those that can change things.

 

They tried to do this in the early 90's, even giing so far as removing lobster from the MDR menues, and the backlash hit them.

[MrPete]

OP: Your signature would be funnier if it read "lose" instead of "loose"

[deborahjo]

I have found if I like nothing on the menu I have gone to the kids menu for a change. Enjoyed their pizza. chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, banana splits and of course the warm chocolate chip cookies. I know this does not appeal to everyone but is good once in a while.

[goodml]

That period that they had the Georges Blanc menus was awful I thought. We were on Victory to Canada during that time and our whole party of 8 didn't like the food much at all. That was 2006. We skipped over to RCI and NCL after that but this year came back to Carnival and did Inspiration, and two weeks ago, Triumph. We enjoyed the food very much on both.

[goodml]

OP: Your signature would be funnier if it read "lose" instead of "loose"

 

and "wonder"

 

:)

[MrPete]

Happy New Year ML!

[98Charlie]

We've found it varies from ship to ship and it seems to depend on who the Executive Chef is onboard.

We were on the Triumph in January and April of 2009. We noticed the flavor and presentation were better on the second cruise and mentioned it to the Maitre d' (same one on both cruises). He said that the EC in January finished his contract and was replaced by a new EC. The new one had the reputation of "best in the fleet".

 

The Maitre d' said the new EC spent much more time in the kitchen supervising, correcting and working with the Sous Chef and cooks.

 

All in all I feel the food on cruise lines MDR's is good to very good. Having said that, the quality (IMHO) is not as good as it was when we started cruising.

 

Charlie

[quickrate]

As far as the lasagna is concerned, I bet you might have had the vegetarian lasagna which I think is great but if your not into a lot of veggies such as spinach then probably not to your liking. I agree that carnival in sone areas has instilled cutbacks but I also feel for the price we pay for the cruise, it's still a good value.

Pat

[leafpusher]

Was on the Spirit in August 2010, thought the food was great.

[ehfl]

They're basically serving banquet food. That's about all you can expect when they're trying to feed several thousand people at once.

 

I'm not sure about the lasagna, but I'm pretty sure that spinach is edible.

 

As for their melting cake, I've never really liked Carnival's. A proper molten cake is made with a piece of real frozen chocolate in the middle, which melts when the cake is cooked. Carnival just squirts chocolate flavored corn syrup on the cake. Again, that's a banquet version of the cake, and really all you should expect in a banquet environment.

[jpg1747]

On my Victory cruise last November, I thought the food was just a bit off; not bad, just not as good as previous cruises. I thought it was just me since others at my dining room table seemed to love it. A few things were just as good as always, but most things were merely ok. Nothing I wanted to send back, just "meh". Same went for the food at the other venues around the ship.

 

I am adjusting my expectations down for my upcoming Destiny cruise.

[goodml]

They're basically serving banquet food. That's about all you can expect when they're trying to feed several thousand people at once.

 

I'm not sure about the lasagna, but I'm pretty sure that spinach is edible.

 

As for their melting cake, I've never really liked Carnival's. A proper molten cake is made with a piece of real frozen chocolate in the middle, which melts when the cake is cooked. Carnival just squirts chocolate flavored corn syrup on the cake. Again, that's a banquet version of the cake, and really all you should expect in a banquet environment.

 

Changed my mind.