Would you complain about NCL food if they did what Carnival is doing?

[halos]

Another example of why you should pay little attention to food reviews on any cruise line.

 

"OMG the food was disgusting and I couldn't find a THING to eat......"

 

How right you are!

 

I just got off my first Carnival cruise this morning (Paradise) and I found the food borderline inedible. I'm not a "foodie" either. I generally have no problem finding lots of things I like on any ship. My wife and I ended up eating at the sandwich counter most evenings. The hot turkey sandwiches were actually very good.

 

 

 

However, the lobster was like chewing an eraser, the steak was like chewing a shoe, and heaven only knows what they battered, fried and called chicken. The clam chowder reminded me of elementary school paste with some potatoes and pepper in it. Tasty indeed One thing I DID get was a shrimp cocktail, and it wasn't too bad.

 

 

 

Do you want to know the sad thing?? It really didn't used to be that way. CCL's food used to be pretty freaking awesome.

 

This breaks my heart...yet, if you post anything like this on the CCL boards, all they tell you is that they're happy they aren't cooking and doing dishes, so the food is fine to them.(Not to mention you get called a 'hater' among other things...)

 

I don't understand how a change this drastic can be acceptable....I guess with the base price of the cruises so low, passengers are more than willing to accept sub-standard food...and by sub standard, I mean this is WAY below the food standard CCL used to uphold.

 

 

 

sad...

 

 

 

What's making me sadder is I have two cruises coming up on CCL...I am hoping your experience is not mine...but I have seen the slow deterioration and I am not expecting anything great. I had to lower my expectations quite a bit.

[chill6x6]

Oh my goodness....

 

Carnival's food is FINE. It's not Commander's Palace but it's really good food for the most part.

 

If all else fails pizza and ice cream 24/7 and Deli sandwiches from like 11 to midnight.

 

You WON'T go hungry.

[Warm Breezes]

I just got off my first Carnival cruise this morning (Paradise) and I found the food borderline inedible. I'm not a "foodie" either. I generally have no problem finding lots of things I like on any ship. My wife and I ended up eating at the sandwich counter most evenings. The hot turkey sandwiches were actually very good.

 

However, the lobster was like chewing an eraser, the steak was like chewing a shoe, and heaven only knows what they battered, fried and called chicken. The clam chowder reminded me of elementary school paste with some potatoes and pepper in it. Tasty indeed :confused: One thing I DID get was a shrimp cocktail, and it wasn't too bad. :)

 

I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy your dining experience. Ours was completely different on the Glory last month. I had the best lobster I have ever had on a cruise ship and DH said his steak was "excellant"... his words not mine. He did find the prime rib lacking though. This is why I never consider other people's reviews of food when deciding who to cruise with. Each person has different tastes. Quite frankly I wouldn't have liked DH's steak and he would have hated my lobster. We have different tastes. Even with that, IMHO you can't judge a ship or a cruiseline from not liking certain meals. Yours could have been cooked in a way you didn't like and the person next to you could have been perfect according to their tastes. I don't expect to like everything I order. But I can usually find something I like to eat in it's place. FYI...my little secret...DD and I liked the fried chicken. But I don't expect everyone else to.

 

We never found much on the buffets that we liked, but others must have because there was always a line and people walking away with full plates. We didn't like the pizza either...but there were obviously others who did. We did find food we liked at the Deli, Burrito Bar, Grill and Fish & Chips for lunch. But I'm sure there were others who didn't like the items we did. Food is too subjective to take anyone else's word but your own.

[newmexicoNita]

Just read on the Carnival boards that they are changing their MDR menus; they now include meatloaf, fried chicken, mac and cheese, and burgers. And they have eliminated the shrimp cocktail. Sounds like a mutiny going on over there. I have always found the food on NCL to be much to my liking, always something good to order, and very good. But I would have to say if I opened the menu found found my choices to be limited to meatloaf, fried chicken, burgers, and mac and cheese, I would protest! I can understand these being offered on the buffet, or in the Blue Lagoon, OK; but the MDR?

 

What's your thoughts?

 

I feel your pain, but I do remember years ago being on Costa and meat loaf was one of the choices the first night. On another ship (I don't remember which one) liver and onions were offered the first night and these were in the days of great MDR food, before the cut back and the sur charge dining.

 

Nita

[yoyocruiser]

Liver and onions?? LOL :p That is hysterical!

 

Well, when looking at the issue of "choices"--I found my 1986 NCL brochure for The Norway--the only option for lunch was the sit down in the dining room OR burgers by the pool. No Blue Lagoon, no Great Outdoors, no deli, no pasta station. . .

[luddite]

Oh my goodness....

 

Carnival's food is FINE. It's not Commander's Palace but it's really good food for the most part.

 

If all else fails pizza and ice cream 24/7 and Deli sandwiches from like 11 to midnight.

 

You WON'T go hungry.

 

Oh stop!

"you won't go hungry" is an unacceptable concept.

 

That's right up there with the classic "Try the boxed win. Some of them aren't so bad."

[luddite]

I feel your pain, but I do remember years ago being on Costa and meat loaf was one of the choices the first night. On another ship (I don't remember which one) liver and onions were offered the first night and these were in the days of great MDR food, before the cut back and the sur charge dining.

 

Nita

 

We had liver and onions last night.:)

I would choose liver and onions over meatloaf or a burger in a MDR.

[sparks1093]

We had liver and onions last night.:)

I would choose liver and onions over meatloaf or a burger in a MDR.

 

I would choose liver and onions over starvation. Well, on second thought, no, I probably wouldn't ;). Still, if it's something you like I wouldn't mind it being on the menu.

[Warm Breezes]

I would choose liver and onions over starvation. Well, on second thought, no, I probably wouldn't ;). Still, if it's something you like I wouldn't mind it being on the menu.

 

I would end up starving. I think it was my step-dad forcing me to eat liver and onions when I was 14-16 that caused the issues I have with eating most types of meat now. I can't even think of putting liver and onions in my mouth without my gag reflex going into high gear. YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!!! But like sparks said, if it was on the menu and you wanted to order it more power to ya....I might have to leave a little earlier though since that is one smell I really can't stand.

[swedish weave]

I would end up starving. I think it was my step-dad forcing me to eat liver and onions when I was 14-16 that caused the issues I have with eating most types of meat now. I can't even think of putting liver and onions in my mouth without my gag reflex going into high gear. YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!!! But like sparks said, if it was on the menu and you wanted to order it more power to ya....I might have to leave a little earlier though since that is one smell I really can't stand.

 

I like liver and onions !!!! Of course, I have been hungry a couple of times in my life, and that can change a persons whole concept about food !!

[luddite]

Don't get me wrong here. Although I like liver and onions, and trust me I've had it cooked a lot of ways, including at a local mexican restaurant and very snooty place in New York that asked how I wanted it cooked (I opted for medium-rare) I do not really want to see it on the menu in the MDR.

 

It is appalling that people that would go on a cruise ship and wish for food that is pretty much a Denny's menu. Adults eating from the booger-munchers menu because they are 'picky' eaters is simply sad.

[mousey]

We were also on the Liberty on 7/2 and experienced the new menus. While my DH was a little disappointed that they didn't have his shrimp cocktail every night, he got over it. They still had shrimp offered about 4-5 times throughout the week, cooked different ways. He definitely did not suffer from lack of shrimp.

 

I liked the comfort food section of the menu. While I understand that food is an important part of some people's cruise, it is not for me. I am not a fancy food person and prefer a good steak and potato. I did try the Fried Chicken and thought it was very good. I also had the flat iron steak a few nights, and found it to be tender and tasty (if you like you beef well done, this might not be an option for you, it seemed the more well done it got the tougher it got).

 

The whole food debate has got me puzzled. How do people think that the cruise lines can keep cruising at the same price I paid 20 years ago, and not cut corners some where? I actually like the way it is set up. If I want a truly gourmet experience, I will pay for one of the supper clubs.

 

If people that complain about the MDR would add $175.00 per person to the price of their cruise ($25.00 per night), they could go to the supper clubs every night, have the type of food and ambiance that was common 20 years ago, and pay an inflation adjusted price for their cruise.

 

Sounds like a solution to me :)

 

Yeah, what you said! I totally agree with your point of view! I just sailed on Carnival two weeks ago and there was plenty of good food and many different choices for dinner in the MDR. The year before I sailed on NCL and the food was just as good. I'm not a "foody" so either cruise line's food is fine with me. If you want gormet food, you're going to have to pay for it. I'd rather have a cheaper cruise!

[chill6x6]

Oh stop!

"you won't go hungry" is an unacceptable concept.

 

That's right up there with the classic "Try the boxed win. Some of them aren't so bad."

 

What is a boxed win?

 

I'm trying to think how many times I have read, "I enjoy NCL SERVICE but I wish they had CCL FOOD."

:rolleyes:

 

BTW...Denny's fixes a GREAT breakfast!;)

[sdmike]

I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy your dining experience. Ours was completely different on the Glory last month. I had the best lobster I have ever had on a cruise ship and DH said his steak was "excellant"... his words not mine. He did find the prime rib lacking though. This is why I never consider other people's reviews of food when deciding who to cruise with. Each person has different tastes. Quite frankly I wouldn't have liked DH's steak and he would have hated my lobster. We have different tastes. Even with that, IMHO you can't judge a ship or a cruiseline from not liking certain meals. Yours could have been cooked in a way you didn't like and the person next to you could have been perfect according to their tastes. I don't expect to like everything I order. But I can usually find something I like to eat in it's place. FYI...my little secret...DD and I liked the fried chicken. But I don't expect everyone else to.

 

 

I agree that food is very, very subjective. I saw people eating copious amounts of the fried chicken and other items that I found to be pretty bad. I'm not normally very picky, but to be completely honest, this was more similar to hospital cafeteria food than I would have expected. Part of the problem, I think, was the lack of variety. On a smaller, older ship they didn't seem to have much room at the buffet for more than one or two meat selections. At breakfast they had a pan of runny scrambled eggs, but no other real egg options. With more options I'm sure I would have found many things that I enjoyed. As it was, the baked potato bar was good, and the limited number of things they had at the salad bar were workable. The sandwich station was very good, and the pizza was better than Epic's.

 

 

By the way, I posted a long review of my trip on the CCL board and didn't get any responses before it disappeared on page 5+. Guess folks weren't much interested. :)

[luddite]

What is a boxed win?

 

I'm trying to think how many times I have read, "I enjoy NCL SERVICE but I wish they had CCL FOOD."

:rolleyes:

 

BTW...Denny's fixes a GREAT breakfast!;)

 

:) A typo. It was supposed to be 'wine'. My proofreader took a break.

 

Indeed, Denny's makes a fine breakfast. I don't want it for dinner in the MDR.

[chill6x6]

:) A typo. It was supposed to be 'wine'. My proofreader took a break.

 

Indeed, Denny's makes a fine breakfast. I don't want it for dinner in the MDR.

 

I enjoy cheese with my wine!;)

At least they WILL have some of that in the MDR!:)

[SASA13]

Having sailed both lines(as well as others ) I can say we prefer the food on carnival to ncl.

NCL has great specialty restaurants where carnival (the pride) doesn't need them.

Every line offers something a bit better and different then the others.

They each haver their own personal touch and then others copy them to make it nice for their passengers. If it works well ~ why not.

 

I like fried chicken , especially if its really good fried chicken. I have my comfort food days like alot of people do.

 

I like the idea that carnival and ncl have made changes to their menus. While I wasn't at first impressed with the new one for NCL I'm sure once we sail in october I'll be happy when we're actually sitting at the table ordering !

It shows the cruise lines are trying other things to keep their cruisers happy .

 

We too prefer CCL's food over NCL's in the MDR. I liked the new CCL menu, especially the DIDJA appetizers.

I got to try Alligator fritters, Shark something ( can't remember), and a few others.

[CruisnGram]

Just read on the Carnival boards that they are changing their MDR menus; they now include meatloaf, fried chicken, mac and cheese, and burgers. And they have eliminated the shrimp cocktail. Sounds like a mutiny going on over there. I have always found the food on NCL to be much to my liking, always something good to order, and very good. But I would have to say if I opened the menu found found my choices to be limited to meatloaf, fried chicken, burgers, and mac and cheese, I would protest! I can understand these being offered on the buffet, or in the Blue Lagoon, OK; but the MDR?

 

What's your thoughts?

 

I just returned from my first Carnival cruise in over 25 years. I am a loyal NCL sailer.

 

Those foods you are talking about have been added to the menu. They call them "comfort food". They are not in place of any other items that I'm aware of. And, as much as I'm surprised to say this, Carnivals MDR food is better then NCL's. Much more variety and better quality choices. The shrimp are real shrimp, not those tiny brine things and on lobster night, its a full lobster tail, not a split one. I'm a fairly picky eater and I find myself eating a lot off of NCL's always available menu but I didn't eat of Carnivals one night. I actually had a hard time choosing from their daily choices.

[CruisnGram]

Don't get me wrong here. Although I like liver and onions, and trust me I've had it cooked a lot of ways, including at a local mexican restaurant and very snooty place in New York that asked how I wanted it cooked (I opted for medium-rare) I do not really want to see it on the menu in the MDR.

 

It is appalling that people that would go on a cruise ship and wish for food that is pretty much a Denny's menu. Adults eating from the booger-munchers menu because they are 'picky' eaters is simply sad.

 

Why would it bother you to see liver and onions on the menu? If you don't want to eat it, don't. There are many other items (more gormet/elegant) for you to pick from, so why not make everyone happy by offering basic food for those who want to eat it?

[rajones007]

I just finished reading this thread and I have to respond on a few comments made earlier about the flat iron steak. (I'm not going back to quote them.....that's too much work to go back and find them :) )

 

A flat iron steak is a very tender cut of beef. If it was received in the MDR "tough" and like "shoe leather", I'd send it back and have another made.

 

One of my oldest friends is an old-school licensed butcher. He lives in a very Mayberry-esqe small town, and he's the charismatic butcher (in a dual-roll, he's also the town drunk after 8pm ;) We can call him Otis). Anyways...He was telling me that the flat iron used to be commonly called (or mistaken for) a blade steak, which was an unpopular choice because when first removed from the cow it had a big thick hunk of gristle right thru the middle of it. So the butchers would carve around it and it didn't make for decent steaks. They weren't thick enough...or something like that.

 

But once they (the butchers organization that sets standards and all that typical mumbo-jumbo) figured out a better way of cutting out the shoulder and carving it up, then they realized they have a prized piece of meat on their hands.

 

As far as tenderness is concerned, the only thing above a flat iron steak in his book would be the tenderloin.

[Cruiser_SG77]

A flat iron steak is a very tender cut of beef. If it was received in the MDR "tough" and like "shoe leather", I'd send it back and have another made.

 

As far as tenderness is concerned, the only thing above a flat iron steak in his book would be the tenderloin.

 

The flat iron steak is a tender cut of meat, if cooked correctly: medium/medium rare and allowed to rest after cooking. If it's cooked more than that it gets very tough. (as most steaks do)

 

In my opinion, the most tender cut of beef is the filet mignon, which I believe is cut from the tenderloin.

 

[jtdlmc]

I At breakfast they had a pan of runny scrambled eggs, but no other real egg options.

 

CCL breakfast buffets have made to order omelet stations where you could also get fried eggs. Eggs benedict were also on the buffet every morning on my February cruise. I don't know what other kind of egg options you would want?

[edawn]

Just read on the Carnival boards that they are changing their MDR menus; they now include meatloaf, fried chicken, mac and cheese, and burgers. And they have eliminated the shrimp cocktail. Sounds like a mutiny going on over there. I have always found the food on NCL to be much to my liking, always something good to order, and very good. But I would have to say if I opened the menu found found my choices to be limited to meatloaf, fried chicken, burgers, and mac and cheese, I would protest! I can understand these being offered on the buffet, or in the Blue Lagoon, OK; but the MDR?

 

What's your thoughts?

 

I wouldn't mind. I like to go to the MDR's for the atmosphere. I don't really care for the buffet atmosphere but sometimes I'd like comfort food. Since they will still offer the regular choices, I don't see it as a problem. I like to switch things up...keeps life interesting. NCL seems to be trying some new things lately. I can't wait!

[luddite]

Why would it bother you to see liver and onions on the menu? If you don't want to eat it, don't. There are many other items (more gormet/elegant) for you to pick from, so why not make everyone happy by offering basic food for those who want to eat it?

 

Because the MDR for dinner should be something special.

The 'You won't go hungry' attitude is unacceptable. Putting out a menu that would make my brother happy would simply be appalling. Basic food is what the buffet is for.

I have never seen gormet on a cruise ship.

[MATHA531]

One lives and learns and begins to realize that one has unrealistic expectations. I am not a veteran cruiser and tend to anger easily and then get over it and probably do have unrealistic expectatons and then when I have time to think about it, I realize how petty I look (not that it really matters as this is an anonymo9us board) so...

 

My first cruise was a year ago on the Eurodam. The food was great. They had two formal nights and not believing in dressing up when on holiday, I went to the buffet both nights. It just so happened that both formal nights they had stuff like shrimp cocktail and lobster tails in the MDR. Went to the buffet and lo and behold they had the same stuff at the buffet and I have to admit I pigged out and thought I was in high heaven and this is the way it is.

 

This past year I did two cruises, one on Ryndam and the other on the Epic and was disappointed with the food experience and now as I've been reading more and listening to others, perhaps I am the one who was wrong. On the Ryndam, I came to expect the same entres in the buffet as in the mdr and it simply was not so. They never had lobster tails in the buffet the nights they had it in the MDR (they did have shrimp cocktails at least once as I remember) so I chalked it up that there was something wrong about it and blamed the ship. Perhaps this is the cut back or perhaps I was just spoiled on Eurodam.

 

Then I had the experience on Epic and again I was disappointed in the food. Not that it was necessarily bad but I noted they never had lobster tails or shrimp cocktail in the MDR nor at the buffet not once and so I felt cheated (my sense of entitlement). Of course, there was nothing to keep me from going to Cagney. I also felt the selection say of Asian foods at the lunch buffet was not what I had on the Eurodam and the Ryndam on the epic but then again Epic has a specialty sushi restaurant, don't they. So really, I'm not in a position to say whether this is NCL policy to reallykeep the top notch food in the specialty restaurants and hyou pay a bit extraj or this is part of the cut backs that all industries are suffering due to the hard economic times (I also miss the late night buffets they have on HAL but apparently not on the Epic and I would suppose although I have no way of knowing on NCL at all).....

 

You live and you learn.....