Best and Worst food lately?

[Iamcruzin]

I have never been on or seen a princess cruise for 500 or 600 dollars. For that matter I have never even seen a carnival cruise for that.

I booked 2 interior staterooms through Princess for $349.00 PP last year for a 7 day cruise on CB. Interior rooms are easy to find at $500 pp for 7 day cruises even booking through the cruise line.

[snrlnd]

I booked 2 interior staterooms through Princess for $349.00 PP last year for a 7 day cruise on CB. Interior rooms are easy to find at $500 pp for 7 day cruises even booking through the cruise line.

 

I agree completely. I am leaving on the Crown in Nov. to Southern Carib. Booked a balcony guarantee months ago for $749 pp. Today interiors are $549 but were $499 the last couple of months. Price has increased as the ship is selling out.

[geoherb]

Pheasant on the Star Princess is the only thing I've ever had to order another entree to replace it. I decided I'm not a fan of the bird and don't plan on trying it again. But it was great to have the opportunity to try something new even if it turned out to be something I didn't like.

[OhioDogLover]

I agree that food is subjective and that with the prices of the cruises these days, they just can't do gourmet stuff.

 

I don't really like meat very much , so I just don't eat it very often. AND, on top of that, I don't like buffets in general. I know, picky, picky. But, I have found that you can almost always get a nice salad and a roll at the HC, and the dining room generally has a seafood dish like.

 

The best stuff on our last cruise (CB)were the International Cafe and the tapas in the wine bar. I thought those were quite good. (DH and DS thought the meat dishes in the MDR were ok, but nothing to write home about.)

Ohiodoglover

[janacin]

We were on the Caribbean Princess recently and for the most part I would say the food in the MDR is fair to good, however we found that the steaks were constantly overdone and litterally hard. No matter how much we sent the food back and said medium, we got well done and hard. Several fish dishes were dry and hard. What they call cioppino really isn't, and a vegiburger is a deep fried mashed potatoe patti with a few peas in it.

 

We were in traditional dining, late seating and I suspect some of our food was left over from the earlier seating.

[Dena]

I have seen plenty of Princess cruises for 500 to 600 dollars. Look on the Princess website. I have even seem 7 day Princess cruises to Mexico for under 400.

[piggybabymcpig]

The way I look at it is if I don't have to cook it or clean up after, its good!! I can't recall ever having anything bad - there have been some dishes I prefer over others but have never sent anything back. We do enjoy the International Cafe and try to eat there at least once a day. I always come home a few pounds heavier and sometimes wish I didn't enjoy the food so much!!

[kristacpa]

The good...

 

Venison (so good I had it the second week on the B2B)

Goat Cheese Souffle

Any dessert souffle (though I think the ramekins got smaller)

French Onion Soup

 

The bad...

Salmon off the "Always Available" menu...very overcooked

White Nectarine ice cream

Crab Leg appetizer

 

The missing...

Could not find a single donut, raised or filled, in HC for breakfast! I was looking forward to a breakfast donut! And no IC as a backup plan...

[lovevacadays]

I didn't like the cheeseburgers on the Sapphire! But that was 3 years ago and my only Princess cruise. :p

 

Aaaah sorry to hear that. I actually love the cheeseburges and had a couple on the Sapphire in April. I don't typically eat hamburgers in my day to day life so maybe that's why they tasted so good!

 

My niece and I thought the food on our April Sapphire trip was pretty much the same as we had experienced before but we both noticed the pastries, cakes, etc weren't very good on our cruise. First time on Princess that I really noticed a difference. Perhaps, as Pam stated, it could have been a particular pastry chef on that cruise.

 

I still always love the fettuchine alfredo, bowtie pasta with veal, filet of mignon in the steak house with bearnaise sauce, shrimp cocktails. :)

 

One of the worst meals I've had was the lobster dish in Sabatini's. First time I ever had to send a lobster tail back. It was in some very salty, brown sauce and was mushy. Double Yuck:(

[dclark]

I have never been on or seen a princess cruise for 500 or 600 dollars. For that matter I have never even seen a carnival cruise for that.

 

I got an inside room for my daughter and I on the Golden Princess, Alaska, July 4, 2009 (peak season) for a total of $879 (that's for the both of us, including taxes!).

That ship had the best food too! Following year, toll the same ship, same time, with wife, paid double that and wasn't as good.

Oh, my favorite food (might be a secret!) is to order the kids spaghetti and meatballs as an appetizer- yummy!

[KruzPrincess]

I'm not a foodie and don't pretend to be. For years I went to the MDR every night until I got tired of spending hours dining every night. So, simple food is the best to me.

 

Favorites:

Pizza is pretty good

The salad bar in the Horizon Court is almost always really good with good dressings.

Salads at the International Cafe

Grill burgers have always been pretty good for me.

If I go to the MDR I like the fish and pasta dishes.

 

Worst:

I don't recall. I just forget about it.

[lovevacadays]

I have never been on or seen a princess cruise for 500 or 600 dollars. For that matter I have never even seen a carnival cruise for that.

 

Oh my. I wonder if you typically sail in high peak seasons. My niece and I just sailed on the Sapphire for $579 for an obstructed oceanview. Also, sailed in January 2010 for $379.00 for an obstructed view guarantee and ended up in a full oceanview on Plaza deck. I don't know if you can get a balcony for $600 as I've paid around $700 for balconies and $800-$1000 for mini-suites.

 

I have friends who cruise Carnival because they get to cruise for $500 or so.

 

Oh, I guess we got a bit off topic so to stay on topic I'll add I absolutely loved a dessert I had on my last cruise. Can't believe it's the first time I tried it. It was the flourless chocolate cake. Oh so good!

[Aquarian]

We have had very good luck with food on Princess over the years. Frequently, we ask our head waiter for suggestions for dinner and we have found if we go with his suggestions, we are very well satisfied. It makes sense that they would know what is good and what isn't.

[spyro1952]

I agree with Mike and others and feel food is so personal. All of the main line cruise companies are dealing with the same issues with regard to the high costs of food. Some chefs are better than others in creating dishes that are attractive and taste great. I love Italian food and garlic. A few years ago on the Regal the head chef was German apparently didn't even know what garlic was, even the escargot was tasteless

 

I was never a fan of lunch in the MDR and thought the lunch menu their was always weird. I like going to the MDR for breakfast and the HC for lunch. I love the pizza and hot dogs!! I live in CO and we have a really hard time getting decent meats in COSTCO. I love seafood and most of the seafood served on Princess. I do miss the Alaskan king crab and the really great lobster tails from years ago but I completely understand how cost prohibitive those things are.

[Stevesan]

We were on Sapphire in February and will be there again in a few months. We did notice the food was not quite as good as we remember from earlier Princess cruises, but still OK. However, the more recent Sapphire reviews have been pretty tepid with regard to food. The consensus seems to be: nothing to write home about and nothing memorable, but you won't go hungry.

 

Still there must be some best and worst choices. Food is subjective, of course, but I would like to here what you think. I will start.

 

Best:

Sorbets, especially grapefruit sorbet

Ice creams

Smoked salmon at breakfast

The MDR lunches, in general

The little yeast donuts at breakfast

The chop which is the Savoy's special

The osso buco from Vivaldi

any seafood dish

 

Worst:

 

Always available steak, tough and over cooked

Any beef dish except maybe Beef Wellington, but even that seemed not as good as before

 

Worst

 

We agree about the steaks.

Prime Rib is my favorite. It's been a good choice, and nearly always served as ordered.

 

My all time worst was a one off: King Crab legs served swimming in a beef flavored broth!:mad: The head chef should have walked the plank!

 

I always order a sorbet palate cleanser as a back to my favorite dessert, the ever reliable Love Boat Dream.

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/dining/menus/dining_room/Sample%20Dinner%20Menus.pdf

[mill4023]

I have never been on or seen a princess cruise for 500 or 600 dollars. For that matter I have never even seen a carnival cruise for that.

 

I was just looking at prices for a 7 day Caribbean trip during Easter week of next year.

Most of the Carnival ships are around $500 to $600 pp for interior cabins.

Crown and Ruby are around $700.

 

Since a lot of schools have spring break that week, I'm assuming that better deals can be found during other times of the year. I've seen plenty of Carnival deals in the $350 range for certain dates.

[owt205]

We have had very good luck with food on Princess over the years. Frequently, we ask our head waiter for suggestions for dinner and we have found if we go with his suggestions, we are very well satisfied. It makes sense that they would know what is good and what isn't.

 

I totally agree...we always choose traditional dining, as the waiters are a great source of info. On our last cruise on the Coral, when one of us at the table would order something that the waiter did not think was great, he would suggest something else. (And he always brought out the 1st choice so we could tell for ourselves that it wasn't up to par) We really relied on his suggestions, and were always satisfied.

We also love the cold soups, and the ice cream.

[Carolyn R]

I find that Princess does most pasta and seafood dishes very well. My other favorites are the rack of lamb, twice baked goat cheese souffle, escargot, and eggplant parmigiana. My complaints are limited to an occasional awful reheated baked potato, limp caesar salad, and a dried skin on my eggs benedict. Other than that, I have been completely satisfied.

[chris2597]

I got an inside room for my daughter and I on the Golden Princess, Alaska, July 4, 2009 (peak season) for a total of $879 (that's for the both of us, including taxes!).

That ship had the best food too! Following year, toll the same ship, same time, with wife, paid double that and wasn't as good.

Oh, my favorite food (might be a secret!) is to order the kids spaghetti and meatballs as an appetizer- yummy!

 

 

My dh and I did AK on the Golden in 2009 in a Balcony on Caribe for an unbelieveably low price of 1500 total. We tried to book the following year and the same cabin would have been close to 4000.

 

My favorite food is the prawns and seafood dishes, breads, and desserts. They are all very good.

 

I can't wait to try the International Cafe on our next cruise. We didnt try it on our last cruise. We were always so full even when walking by smelling the choc chip cookies.

[coolbreeze2]

In general, I like almost all the food on Princess. My only complaint is that sometimes the prime rib is on the dry side.

[caribill]

No dining room option for lunch while in port? I hadn't heard this.....:eek:

 

Bob

 

This started in the last couple of months and has been reported by posters on a number of the Princess ships.