A Poll on Carnival's Food Quality........

[rickcop44]

Thanks for responding to the Poll. Hopefully Carnival will get the message that the majority of passengers realized the food is a major problem.

 

I want to keep this poll on the first page for a couple of days so I'll be topping it if necessary.

 

Feel free to post your food experience on the thread in addition to the poll.

 

Thanks.

 

The results of your own poll seem to contradict your post. By my tally, between 58%-60% of people voting thus far say the food is as good as it's ever been, or even better. 60% to 40% seems a fairly wide margin. My conclusion would be that most people are still happy with the food served on board.

[nycruise]

The results of your own poll seem to contradict your post. By my tally, between 58%-60% of people voting thus far say the food is as good as it's ever been, or even better. 60% to 40% seems a fairly wide margin. My conclusion would be that most people are still happy with the food served on board.

 

As a poster right before you said, "alot of people here wouldn't say anything bad about the line, even if they pitched them off the boat in the middle of the ocean and gave them a life raft and a single oar to get back to shore."

 

I guess he's knows the audience better than I! ;)

 

If you're satisfied with very little, that's what Carnival will give you..... I'm not!

 

Happy Cruising!:rolleyes:

[elcuchio24]

As a poster right before you said, "alot of people here wouldn't say anything bad about the line, even if they pitched them off the boat in the middle of the ocean and gave them a life raft and a single oar to get back to shore."

 

I guess he's knows the audience better than I! ;)

 

If you're satisfied with very little, that's what Carnival will give you..... I'm not!

 

Happy Cruising!:rolleyes:

 

Well obviously if people feel this way, something is driving that brand loyalty. Happily, your free market system allows you to cruise elsewhere if you aren't satisfied with the product. In general though, it seems like people ARE satisfied with the product, if this poll is any micro-indicator.

[msstarr22]

Would like to hear from anyone who has taken a Carnival Cruise in the past year or two, what you think of the food quality when compared to your earlier Carnival Cruises.

 

We thought the food quality was seriously lacking (particularly the Lido) on our recent Magic cruise as compared to our 2008 cruise on the Freedom and 2009 cruise on the Dream.

 

Really don't see the point here. You will find those who like the food and those who don't. Was on the Freedom in March and the food was very great in my opinion. I don't eat beef, chicken, lamb, or pork so that said I have a limited opinion but my husband had all of the above offered and he loved it. Best thing was I never had to clean anything up! Love to eat and walk away from the dishes.

[Deckhandoug]

If you think its any better on the other lines well maybe you should cruise them...No else posted in this thread as you can see....Our friends came off the Oasis and thought the food was OK for the price they paid...We sailed NCL and had no choice then to Spend the Extra money on the Premium Restaurants the MDR food was awful and the Service was awful as well, I dont like being treated like a 2nd hand citizen as the crew just really could have cared less...Our Destiny Cruise the Food was Excellent and so was the Service and that was Last December...so good luck because all the lines are cutting back....

 

I agree swimmom, we hated NCL's MDR food and service and we got off a RCCL ship in October and it wasn't that good or varied.

 

Give me Carnival or HAL anytime!

[msstarr22]

As a poster right before you said, "alot of people here wouldn't say anything bad about the line, even if they pitched them off the boat in the middle of the ocean and gave them a life raft and a single oar to get back to shore."

 

I guess he's knows the audience better than I! ;)

 

If you're satisfied with very little, that's what Carnival will give you..... I'm not!

 

Happy Cruising!:rolleyes:

 

I noticed you cruise a lot with NCL maybe that is where your loyalty lies. The food is good. Sorry you are one of the minority who think otherwise.

[mckenna]

I noticed you cruise a lot with NCL maybe that is where your loyalty lies. The food is good. Sorry you are one of the minority who think otherwise.

 

 

Hi, not to take any sides but I have also cruised NCL before and the food in the MDR there was also awful. They brought it to us cold. So the food is just as bad on NCL as it is on CCL. The only thing I liked better on NCL was the Buffet on Lido. You did not have to stand in long lines to get your food and it was hot. But I still prefer Carnival. All Cruise lines are cutting back on Quality and Staff. The Staff is overwhelmed because their workload has doubled.

 

As far as the quality and taste of the food goes, they could do better even with a smaller budget.

 

The Buffet on Carnival has gone downhill too. The food needs to be kept at a certain Temp, but that is not being done. It is only lukewarm when they put it on the Buffet. So with that being said, just because one sails more on NCL than on Carnival or any other Cruise Line has not much to do with the Quality of food since all Cruise lines have their Pro's and Con's.

Happy Cruising to all!

[nycruise]

I noticed you cruise a lot with NCL maybe that is where your loyalty lies. The food is good. Sorry you are one of the minority who think otherwise.

 

How did you determine that? We've taken 4 NCL cruises and 8 Carnival cruises. My point is that Carnival used to serve some of the best food, better than RCL and NCL, but as a result of our Magic cruise I can't say that anymore.

 

Also when I talk about "food" it includes the Buffet, since we eat breakfast and lunch in the Lido. The buffet on the Magic was probably the worst we have experienced in our 2 dozen cruises. The limited selection, poor presentation, hit or miss preparations and ridiculous logistics have sworn us off from Carnival for the foreseeable future.

 

If you're happy to just not have to prepare the meal and clean the dishes, as many have said, Carnival is the line for you.

 

We expect more from a cruise.:rolleyes:

[rickcop44]

As a poster right before you said, "alot of people here wouldn't say anything bad about the line, even if they pitched them off the boat in the middle of the ocean and gave them a life raft and a single oar to get back to shore."

 

I guess he's knows the audience better than I! ;)

 

If you're satisfied with very little, that's what Carnival will give you..... I'm not!

 

Happy Cruising!:rolleyes:

 

One of the nice things about a board like this is the variety of opinions. I try to avoid sarcasm when possible. Not always, but whenever possible. But what I take away from your response is that you're saying I have no taste in food and that it doesn't take much to please me. The second part I would probably agree with. The first part I seriously disagree with.

 

As for saying good or bad about a cruise line, I generally tell it like I see it. Am I a cheerleader for Carnival? No. I admit I cruise Carnival more than the others because Carnival is a great vacation for the money. I've cruised just about every cruiseline out there that leaves from some port in the United States. I love RCCL. I didn't care for Celebrity. I don't get on their boards and boast or bash. For the money, Carnival can't be beat. I find the food to be very good - that's one reason why I continue to eat in the MDR each night rather than pay additional to eat in one of the private restaurants. All that said, if you are dissatisfied with Carnival, I urge you to seek out other cruiselines that will satisfy your good taste.

[Sun 4-ever]

I do believe the quality of the food has gone down in recent years but you have to expect it with how the economy is. Trust me when I tell you Carnivals food is 4 star when compared to MSC cruise line. I am not much of a cook and we tend to eat a lot of frozen meals. My DH is very easy to please but when we went on MSC last year the food was so nasty he wouldn't even eat.

 

Your on vacation which is something a lot of people can't afford to do, somebody else is cooking for you and cleaning up after you so just enjoy unless of course you are on MSC then I suggest you stock up in ports.

[big_schots]

The results of your own poll seem to contradict your post. By my tally, between 58%-60% of people voting thus far say the food is as good as it's ever been, or even better. 60% to 40% seems a fairly wide margin. My conclusion would be that most people are still happy with the food served on board.

 

 

You just made the OPs point. If you owned a business and 40% of your customers had issues with your product, you would be VERY concerned. A business doesn't want to just make the majority of their customers happy. They are not running for public office. They want to make 95%+ happy. There will always be a few that you can't make happy. Like others have said, it is a cost/value proposition. The food quality has done down but so has the price. It's a trade off I can live with, for now.

[elcuchio24]

You just made the OPs point. If you owned a business and 40% of your customers had issues with your product, you would be VERY concerned. A business doesn't want to just make the majority of their customers happy. They are not running for public office. They want to make 95%+ happy. There will always be a few that you can't make happy. Like others have said, it is a cost/value proposition. The food quality has done down but so has the price. It's a trade off I can live with, for now.

 

No, you just made Ricks point. It's not 40%. It's 40% of 3% of the most picky cruisers here on CC. 98% of folks on a given cruise are not CC members. Half of them are first timers. Probably 30% are very occasional cruisers. So the ship DOES have 95% of people happy with the food, or something close to that.

[big_schots]

No, you just made Ricks point. It's not 40%. It's 40% of 3% of the most picky cruisers here on CC. 98% of folks on a given cruise are not CC members. Half of them are first timers. Probably 30% are very occasional cruisers. So the ship DOES have 95% of people happy with the food, or something close to that.

 

By that back-handed logic, even if all 100% of the 3% of CC "picky" cruisers thought the food was lacking, you would still have a 99%+ approval rating. It doesn't really matter. Like you have said 85% of the people on any particular cruise don't have much, if any, historical experience to go on, so they take what they get. Over the past 20+ years, Carnival's passenger demographic has been expanded greatly to become more inclusive of all socio-economic levels. They are just giving the people what they want. 25 years ago if they had offered fried chicken and meat loaf as MDR dinner options there would have been a "cruise snob" induced riot.

[livestocruisetoo]

As a poster right before you said, "alot of people here wouldn't say anything bad about the line, even if they pitched them off the boat in the middle of the ocean and gave them a life raft and a single oar to get back to shore."

 

Ah, another 'See, I told you so." Commodore.

 

I guess he's knows the audience better than I! ;)

 

The fog has lifted so you might notice you are on the Carnival board. :eek:

 

If you're satisfied with very little, that's what Carnival will give you..... I'm not!

 

For someone that lives in such a high cost and tax area with so many cruises under your belt, I have to wonder why you cruise in the cheap. Unless you are a 'value' cruiser', why not go upscale? Time to get out of steerage, don't you think?

 

Happy Cruising!:rolleyes:

 

Happy cruising to you as well as you don't seem to be happy on Carnival.

[livestocruisetoo]

No, you just made Ricks point. It's not 40%. It's 40% of 3% of the most picky cruisers here on CC. 98% of folks on a given cruise are not CC members. Half of them are first timers. Probably 30% are very occasional cruisers. So the ship DOES have 95% of people happy with the food, or something close to that.

 

Funny you should mention that. The overall number of people I tell about Cruise Critic have never heard of it or the other sites that deal with cruising. The down side is now some of them wonder why cruise at all. :D

[elcuchio24]

By that back-handed logic, even if all 100% of the 3% of CC "picky" cruisers thought the food was lacking, you would still have a 99%+ approval rating. It doesn't really matter. Like you have said 85% of the people on any particular cruise don't have much, if any, historical experience to go on, so they take what they get. Over the past 20+ years, Carnival's passenger demographic has been expanded greatly to become more inclusive of all socio-economic levels. They are just giving the people what they want. 25 years ago if they had offered fried chicken and meat loaf as MDR dinner options there would have been a "cruise snob" induced riot.

 

It's not backhanded logic, it's the truth, and you're totally correct that 85% of people on any given ship really have no frame of reference. I actually think we agree with each other, I was just stating, don't expect CCL to make any changes when 85% of their customers don't know any better, and at least half of the rest are still happy.....

[elcuchio24]

Funny you should mention that. The overall number of people I tell about Cruise Critic have never heard of it or the other sites that deal with cruising. The down side is now some of them wonder why cruise at all. :D

 

I met a nice lady this year that was a reagular reader, but not poster, on CC. That's honestly the first time I've been someone that even really knows what CC is. You really have to remember that the average CCer is vastly more knowlegable about cruising than the average cruiser in general.

[mckenna]

To NYCruise

Totally agree with you!!! We do pay close to $100.00 per person per day so we are talking @200.00 per day not including the Tips, Drinks and Gambling . The food should be high Quality and hot when it arrives. I also do expect more from Carnival. I am going on another Cruise next week and if the food is horrible (which I hope it wont be) then I will make it known to Guest Services. And I don't care if I have to complain the whole 7 days. I will still enjoy my Cruise!!! Happy Cruising!!!

[halos]

To NYCruise

Totally agree with you!!! We do pay close to $100.00 per person per day so we are talking @200.00 per day not including the Tips, Drinks and Gambling . The food should be high Quality and hot when it arrives.

 

LOL...seriously???

Take a vacation that isn't a cruise.

Add your hotel, 3 (plus) 'high quality' meals a day and all your entertainment and then come back and tell me if you can get it for $100 pp/pd.

[GaNavy]

How many of the folks who think Carnival's food has gone downhill would be willing to pay the extra money it would take for the line to serve food to their liking?

 

Very few, I'm guessing.

 

On my Ecstasy cruise last week, the MDR was pretty good, the buffet was hit-or-miss, but the other food outlets (Mongolian Wok, grill, sushi, pizza, etc.) were excellent. Pretty much my typical Carnival experience. For all the yakking about the 'new menu,' most dishes are carried over from the old menu and are as good as ever.

[Warm Breezes]

To NYCruise

Totally agree with you!!! We do pay close to $100.00 per person per day so we are talking @200.00 per day not including the Tips, Drinks and Gambling . The food should be high Quality and hot when it arrives. I also do expect more from Carnival. I am going on another Cruise next week and if the food is horrible (which I hope it wont be) then I will make it known to Guest Services. And I don't care if I have to complain the whole 7 days. I will still enjoy my Cruise!!! Happy Cruising!!!

 

Please tell me where else you can go to get consistant, HIGH quality, all you can eat food, entertainment, transportation to exotic places, room with room service and twice daily cleaning and turn down for just $200 a day for 2 people.

 

I think you are setting your expectations a little too HIGH for the amount you are paying. Carnival is a value cruise, you pay value price. Why on Earth do you expect HIGH QUALITY food for a value price? If anything you should be expecting Applebees, Chilis, Olive Garden, Red Lobster type food. That is basically what you are paying for. That is what I expect and that is what I normally receive. If I end up with better then bonus...I got an even better deal for my money. If you go on expecting HIGH Quality all the time, I expect you will be spending a lot of time at guest services and not enjoying your cruise.

 

If you don't like something...send it back and ask for something else. It's not that difficult. In all of our cruises we have never had an issue with cold food...if I did I would send it back and request something hotter. Were there things I didn't like? Of course. Then I ask for something else. I have never really had to ask because every time there was something I really didn't like, my waiter picked up on it right away and would ask if I wanted to try something else (sometimes they just brought something else that they thought I would enjoy better). It doesn't mean the food was bad....it just wasn't to my tastes and I can't blame the ship for that.

[Warm Breezes]

LOL...seriously???

Take a vacation that isn't a cruise.

Add your hotel, 3 (plus) 'high quality' meals a day and all your entertainment and then come back and tell me if you can get it for $100 pp/pd.

 

 

Halos you were reading my mind...:D

[H82seaUgo]

How many of the folks who think Carnival's food has gone downhill would be willing to pay the extra money it would take for the line to serve food to their liking?

 

Very few, I'm guessing.

 

 

actually, i'd rather that $2 a day they are trying to take from me and give it to tip the drummers and purser desk personel go toward better quality food.

[big_schots]

I met a nice lady this year that was a reagular reader, but not poster, on CC. That's honestly the first time I've been someone that even really knows what CC is. You really have to remember that the average CCer is vastly more knowlegable about cruising than the average cruiser in general.

 

On my last two Carnival cruises, I have worn the "sanctioned" bright blue Cruise Critic t-shirt on the first sea day. I wandered the entire ship and had it on for at least 8 hours each time. I got the occasional "what's that" response, and only 1 lady stopped me to say that she was also a reader. I think 2% is probably exagerrated. When we see the roll call lists, we probably assume all in the party are involved. Most likely only one, so we can forget about the tag-along SIL, BIL, BFF, DD, etc. They are probably oblivious. My wife has never looked at this web site, beyond the few times I force her to read either a humorous and/or very informative post.

[elcuchio24]

On my last two Carnival cruises, I have worn the "sanctioned" bright blue Cruise Critic t-shirt on the first sea day. I wandered the entire ship and had it on for at least 8 hours each time. I got the occasional "what's that" response, and only 1 lady stopped me to say that she was also a reader. I think 2% is probably exagerrated. When we see the roll call lists, we probably assume all in the party are involved. Most likely only one, so we can forget about the tag-along SIL, BIL, BFF, DD, etc. They are probably oblivious. My wife has never looked at this web site, beyond the few times I force her to read either a humorous and/or very informative post.

 

Usually when I mention cruise critic on a cruise people are like "so what is that, is that your job?" Ya, 2% sounds like a good number but you're right, it's probably more like half a percent. It just cracks me up when people complain about things on a thread and assume that everyone else on the ship has the same concerns about tipping and food and smoking, when in fact 99% are mostly clueless and happily drinking DOD's at the hairy chest competition.:)