How was the food before to make it so good?

[cruisdog]

My wife and I have been cruising since 1992, and we have not noticed too much difference in the food. So when people say that the food was a lot different, I just wonder if it is selective memory that makes it that different.

Does everyone being dressed up to the nines really make that much of a difference?

I like my food a little blander rather than over-seasoned, often it comes over salted and I cannot eat it, I would always rather salt my own food.

[Chelsea1]

On our recent cruise (16 night Asia) there was one day when we had an "Asia soup noodle" special lunch buffet set up outside on deck and it was great. Really simple, noodles, fresh tasty vegetables and stock, seperate spices. People talked about how good it was for days afterwards.

 

But then we reverted back to the normal, as if the chef was emptying the leftovers from his freezer into a deep fryer and then onto the buffet.

 

When we asked for any of guacomole/salsa/sour cream to go with the chicken and dry fajita wraps, we were told "chef isn't doing that today"

 

Strange chef.

 

(btw, we are from England and used to bland food!)

[Matcodixon]

The missing point: With the larger and larger ships along with the larger number of meals prepared, there is a tendency to use less salt, since more people are becoming aware of the benefits of lower levels of salt, along with less spices. Fact is the spice and salt can be added but not easily removed. There will never be a perfect amount that everybody will be happy with. Even my wife and I like completely different levels of spice and peppers. As a result there will always be many different opinions of the quality of the food.

Smokers have less of a sense of taste so normally camplain about bland more often.

[Chelsea1]

The missing point: With the larger and larger ships along with the larger number of meals prepared, there is a tendency to use less salt, since more people are becoming aware of the benefits of lower levels of salt, along with less spices. Fact is the spice and salt can be added but not easily removed. There will never be a perfect amount that everybody will be happy with. Even my wife and I like completely different levels of spice and peppers. As a result there will always be many different opinions of the quality of the food.

Smokers have less of a sense of taste so normally camplain about bland more often.

 

I have what I consider to be a fairly delicate palate, use very little salt at home and have never smoked. But I found the food really tasteless and odd in texture/combination. To be honest it was a surprise as we've sailed on cheap and expensive cruise lines, but this food just tasted plastic.

[cruisdog]

I wonder how many people could have afforded a Sitmar cruise back then. It must have been wonderful and refined, and very upscale. Would a lot of people really want to go on that type of vacation. I think people like to relax more and be more casual.

Back to food, other than king crab and rack of lamb, what else is missing. I remember having rack of lamb only last year on one of my cruises, so it is still being served and not for any extra cost. I rarely pay extra for food because I have no problem with the MDR food.

You can still have a leisurely dinner with a separate soup, salad, appetizer, entree and dessert course, but I don't think most people order that much food because most people don't stuff themselves that much any more.

If we are talking about way back then, then I would think that ships had all sit down meals, and not buffets like now, so you cannot say that the buffets were better back then.

I do miss the midnight buffet, but I see the waste, when people stack up food and don't eat it just because they could, so I think that getting rid of it is a good idea.

[gertz]

:)We stated on the Crown Princess in June of l991 and to say the experience was wonderful would be an understatement.

I would term the food and service as "upscale Italian" with mandatory pasta dishes at every dinner and it did have more personal service. The menu each evening was printed on stationary which on the outside was replicas of classic paintings, which of course we collected and still have along with the patters, the names and addresses not only of our table mates but also many ships company and a whole bunch of other stuff. We did several cruises on the Crown and then the Regal and I probably could write a book on all the great times we had then.

 

But times change gas is now over $4.00 per gallon. Some changes we like some we don't. Some of the changes with Princess I like. Laundry for free, WOW. Ships with extra decks I despise with a passion and after trying them I just stay away from them.

 

That first Crown Princess cruise, and the Crown was a big ship over 1500 paxs and about 70000+ tons and a wonderful main show room for any of you old enouth to remember and you could dance there prior to the show which we did, I had to be persuaded strongly to go on that cruise. But that cruise literally changed drastically the way we spent our free time. We then started to make free time just so we could cruise. And that change continue to this day.

 

My opinion on food and service today, nothing wrong with it. It is what it is and if I don't approve I can just stay home and find something else to do. Never.

 

I have been on a number of cruises, one lasting four years, I have never been on a bad one some better than others but never a bad one.

 

Just my opinion and for me the only one that counts, and you know I think I am the luckiest guy in the world.:D

[donh1]

Just back from the Emerald Princess. 10 nights of great dining. Picked a winner every night that suited my taste. DW and our table mates were hit or miss but for the most part their meals were well received. Been cruising for 11 years and I have not seen any decline in the food and there really does not seem to be much difference between Princess/Hal/Celebrity or NCL. I was on MSC for 2 weeks and really enjoyed the food but if you wanted to get a dose of complaining all you had to do is go to the dining room for breakfast or lunch and wait for the complaining. Sounded like broken records. MSC likely got there supplies from the same wholesaler as all the other cruiselines. It would be very interesting to photograph evidence of just how alike they all are regarding the raw ingredients and conversely how different they are. It would make for an interesting documentary.

It should be noted that cruise lines are fighting a loosing battle if they think they can compete with quality land based restaurants who can be resupplied every other day and they definitely don't start with some frozen chunk of meat.

Our waiter said that dealing with frozen food in the kitchen has become a real science.

Another point to make is the time you dine. Later dining 7:30 plus has some real advantages if your system or circumstances will allow it.

Advantages from my experience are.. 1) Better service because there are less people in the dining room. 2).. Your waiter if you have a good one will share his knowledge with you. He knows exactly what food was not well received and can make good recommendations. 3) No rush there is no one going to occupy your table after you. 4) Anytime dining puts a huge demand on the dining room between 6 and 7 and waiting can be the norm. After 7:30 it's seems more efficient.

Just my 2 cents worth or maybe more..........

[dclark]

My best comparison is my AK cruise on the Golden '09 and my cruise on the Ruby last January.

Golden had table side deserts made, like cherries jubilee and bananas foster, things that were not seen in the mdr of the Ruby despite it being a 9 day cruise.

Beef was higher quality on the Golden, not grisly like on the Ruby. The buffet had prime rib 3x in that one week cruise, just once on the Ruby. The rest of the time, Ruby had ham, roast beef that defied cutting, just cheap stuff. Shrimp? The Golden almost always had large shrimp in the buffet, these were totally absent during the entire Ruby cruise. The shrimp diavlo was served with dinky little shrimp and lots of sauce. We had crab during that AK cruise, none on the Ruby. I also missed the soups like wonton, can't think of a single memorable soup on the Ruby.

[lovevacadays]

My first cruise on Princess was back in 1997 on the Sea Princess. My most recent cruise was last May on the Sapphire. For me, I haven't seen any significant decrease in food quality. I always find things I really enjoy eating. Yes, I have had things that weren't good but that has always been.

 

I actually am very happy with the food choices. There are so many more now with the Specialty Restaurants, International Cafe, etc.

[Aloha 1]

We first cruised with Princess in 1992 on the original Star. They became our go to line for the next 20 years. What's changed? Definitely MDR attire. On a 7 day cruise there were at least 2 formal nites (and I do mean formal, Class A dress) plus semi-formal(suit or sport coat) and, yes, dining room attire WAS enforced at the door - no cut off shorts or shirts or tank tops, etc. Now, I can go with the modern more casual trend as long as we don't drop below the collared shirt/slacks standard but I do believe there is something civilizing about dressing up every now and then. As to food, yes, there was always one dinner of Maine or Caribbean lobster, as much as you wanted and not just claws. One dinner always had Sevruga caviar with all the proper accoutrements and iced vodka (my favorite night!). Up until the early 2000's (with the advent of Sabatini's) there was always a pasta course. We have not cruised with P since 2002 but are sailing this year on the Pacific. It will be interesting to se how things stack up now.

 

By way of comparison, we were on the Inaugural cruise of the Celebrity Silhouette to the Holy Land last year. Celebrity is supposed to be a little more upscale from Princess. The MDR was VERY disappointing but the private restaurant Blue (for Suite an Aqua class cabins) was outstanding and at least as good as any Princess food we had ever had.

[nho9504]

You get what you pay for.

 

Cruises 20 years ago were a lot more expensive than today especially when you factored in the inflation and adjusted it by that to compare to today's prices.

 

I agree with the poster about Crown and Regal in the early 1990's - the foods were not pre-plated. The wait team in charge a lot less tables. They brought foods to the work station in a family style serving plate / bowl / whatever suitable container. Then the waiter plated your plate at the station, after asking you what side dishes you would like, and how big a portion you would like. If you order more than one item on the same course, the waiter asked you in what order you wanted your food... A lot more personal service than today.

 

However for what we pay now, I have very little complaint on the foods except when it was really really bad for the whole cruise which we did experience once, on a Westbound Emerald Transatlantic in 2008. The Eastbound in April was so wonderful we decided to do the Westbound on her again and canceled our booking on X. Big mistake. The westbound foods were so bad not only the quality but the foods served did not even match with what the menu described. I finally wrote a complaint letter to the purser desk after the proverbial straw. At the end the Maitre D offered us a dinner at the Crown Grill as an apology. Since then, the foods were between OK to quite good in our subsequent 5 or 6 sailings.

 

Even the menu is the same, different ships would have different outcome depending on the kitchen, so it really is a luck of draw whether you get OK foods or very good foods as I assume the ship's budget for foods does not vary too much. Except I do notice that if the sailing is not selling well, it directly affects the food quality. This leads me thinking that unlike HAL, Princess sets its food budget as X % of the revenue, versus HAL seems to have a fixed dollar amount for the foods. We have been on some real dirt cheap HAL sailings with excellent foods. Same thing definitely cannot be said with Princess.

 

Knowing what to expect based on what you pay, would make for a more pleasant cruise.

[ONT-CA]

I prefer to have no rack of lamb and that extra $20 in my pocket for something else - maybe a couple drinks instead. I'd rather have the fare low and choose what to spend my money on with upcharges later. I think it's about setting expectations of what's included though and finding a cruise line that fits your expectations - maybe a pricier cruise line that includes higher-end food in the price would be more to your liking.

 

Why not save a bundle and sail the Staten Island Ferry

[FritzG]

I wonder how many people could have afforded a Sitmar cruise back then. It must have been wonderful and refined, and very upscale. Would a lot of people really want to go on that type of vacation. I think people like to relax more and be more casual....

 

I really don't think Sitmar was very expensive, but I don't have any records from the early 70's. I was only in my mid to late 20's when I sailed with Sitmar several summers in a row--and that was on a beginning teacher's salary.

[Princess Patches]

Well, as I stated in my last review of the Sapphire, I thought the food was actually better than our most recent cruises. I don't not see any significant drop off in the food quality. The food quantity has decreased a little, but I do not miss that at all. No more midnight buffets or 24 hour Horizon Court. I was never up that late to enjoy those things anyway. I cannot eat late at night and still be able to sleep. The only thing I miss is the nightly special pastas that were made tableside. Now they do a couple of special pastas per cruise, but not every night. There used to be more flaming desserts made tableside too. In general, I think their desserts, especially the ice cream, is better than it was years ago.

[Infi]

Another one here who misses Sitmar dearly. The tableside preparation, Italian waitstaff, pasta courses, dishes served at the table (no pre-plating). No cruise line comes close today, IMHO. I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to cruise with them many times back in the day.

[beachbum53]

The absence of favorites such as Alaskan King Crab legs among others in the MDR leads to our thinking that menu offerings are not as good as they used to be.

 

The difference in food preparation among Princess ships can result in some disappointing entrées. For instance, the food onboard the Island Princess in early 2011 was fantastic; however, the same dishes on our Ruby cruise immediately after was quite bland and much too salty.

 

Lew

 

I love crab legs, but I rarely order them any more. Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age, but it just seems like too much work to get a few bits of crab meat after cracking the shell. I much prefer crab cakes. And if I order a dozen crab legs, by the time I've managed to crack five or six, the rest have gotten cold.

 

I found the food on the Princess cruise we just got back from very bland. There was really nothing to like or dislike in the main dining room, it was just extremely dull, with little taste and poor meat quality.

 

Even the buffet was boring with very strange selections - fish fingers but no fries or sauce, steamed puddings with no custard, curry without rice, chicken fajitas with no salsa or sour cream?

 

The bread was good, as were the breakfast choices.

The rest was the dullest I have experienced by far.

 

(I use the term dull, as the food was not bad - it was edible and perfectly safe - just lacking any taste or pairing of ingredients)

 

I'm always amazed when someone says their food was "bland", "dull" or "tasteless". Do you just sit there and silently eat that bland, dull food, or do you speak up and ask for something else? With such a wide variety of choices available, why make yourself eat something you don't like? After all, you're the paying customer. All you have to do is tell your waiter that you don't like whatever has been served, and he will replace it for you. It's not like you're stuck eating Aunt Ethel's meatloaf at some family reunion and have to pretend you like it so you don't hurt her feelings.

[cruisemom42]

When Princess was the original Princess as well as Sitmar, the service in the dining room was the European style silver service. Meat entrees, veggies and more were individually placed by your waiter off a silver try onto each plate. The plate was presented to you hot but empty and then the waiter did his thing putting what you had ordered onto it.

 

None of this 'everything is already on the plate" style of today.

 

To say it was a hell of a lot better than would be an understatement.

 

Worldspan

131 cruises strong

 

I understand that it was a more formal experience, but how many people back then could afford the experience?

Rick, you are right, it was a smaller ship with fewer paying passengers who pay a lot. Those who pay less got less of everything and I am certain their meals did not last 3 to 4 hours.

I think that cruising used to be more of a travel from point A to point B and not the leisurely vacation that it is now.

How was it in the 50s and 60s and 70s? Was it still that formal and cost wise was it very expensive? Didn't people take the ship to go from the west coast to Hawaii, stay there for a time and then took a trip back? Did they do round the islands type trips like now?

How many people could afford to go?

 

I wonder how many people could have afforded a Sitmar cruise back then. It must have been wonderful and refined, and very upscale. Would a lot of people really want to go on that type of vacation. I think people like to relax more and be more casual.

Back to food, other than king crab and rack of lamb, what else is missing. I remember having rack of lamb only last year on one of my cruises, so it is still being served and not for any extra cost. I rarely pay extra for food because I have no problem with the MDR food.

You can still have a leisurely dinner with a separate soup, salad, appetizer, entree and dessert course, but I don't think most people order that much food because most people don't stuff themselves that much any more.

 

Cruisdog, to answer your question, I sailed on Sitmar as a child in the early 1970s -- so it wasn't as long ago as you may think when service was as worldspan described it. I remember it well; we went on a cruise on the Fairwind from Florida about once a year from the time I was about 10 until I started college (my folks still went, but without me). And one memorable 2-week cruise on the Fairsea to Alaska....

 

We weren't well-to-do by any standards. Cruising was just something we enjoyed and my parents saved money for this as our one vacation each year. We stayed -- four of us -- in one inside cabin on the lowest deck of the ship.

 

There were no "class" differences. Everyone went to the same dining room and enjoyed the same delicious food and superior service. It was on Sitmar that I first tried caviar, foie gras, and escargot. Some of these are still served, some are not or only by special request. It's hard to quantify some of the food differences, but dishes were more complex (e.g., more heavily French influenced). Sitmar always had a delicious pasta course, though.

 

It was not stuffy, it was elegant. Table settings were nicer (finer china, heavier silver, better linens). Desserts were more "adult" than was my taste at the time, but the Italian waiters -- who doted on kids -- would always snag us one of those huge 3-tiered bon bon plates and of course there was wonderful fresh-made ice cream.

 

Another memorable feature of these little (by today's standards) Sitmar ships was the dedicated pizzeria with a real brick oven. Open for limited times each day, you could get the most delicious and authentic Italian pizza there. Several varieties always available including a daily special; no charge. I have to laugh to myself now when folks claim the pizza onboard any ship is good. Princess is still better than most, but nothing like the pizzas they used to serve here.

[Kartgv]

First of all, we generally enjoy our meals on recent cruises and believe that the mass market lines do a good job when you consider the huge number of meals they have to turn out, on a budget, in a very short period of time. Occasionally we get an dish that we wouldn't order again, but usually it's basically good food attractively served.

 

But as others have noted, it's nothing like the dining experience in "the old days", which for us was the early 80's. Dinner time was very similar to what you'd find in a very fine restaurant today. We were also probably less sophisticated about food in those days, so a lot of the dishes that are more easily found today seemed very exotic to us then. Somone mentioned that it sounded "stuffy", but my recollection is anything but. There was a lot of chatter and celebration and silliness going on (someday I'll tell the story about the Norwegian leg wrestling demonstration in the middle of the dining room!) As another poster noted, Sitmar probably had the best food we've ever had anywhere.

 

It wasn't a simple matter of "the food was better". The ships were smaller, so there was less mass production going on. The tables were beautifully set and each course was brought out in serving bowls (still hot!) and served to each person individually - as much or as little as you wanted. Each course was separate, sometimes with a "palate cleanser" between courses - such as a tiny serving of a sorbet. Some dishes and desserts were prepared tableside with much fanfare and showmanship. Desserts were on display on a cart that they rolled to each table so that you could see what you were getting. There seemed to be more variety in the menus.

 

And that reminds me, even the menus were a "production" - oversize, beautifully decorated, a different one for each night. I confess to having tucked a few into the back of my pants under my jacket before learning that I could usually have one as a souvenir just by asking. For a number of years, we had old ship menus on our kitchen walls at home as art work and cooking inspiration.

 

Yes, at times I'm nostalgic for what was a more elegant and memorable dining experience. But times have changed, and I'm not sure that I'd want that every night today - so I'll settle for some happy memories.

[klauer]

My husband and I went on our first cruise in 1990 on the Island Princess to Alaska. We paid $799 per person plus port fees and taxes. I am not a "foodie" at all, but I do remember our waiter making a pasta dish tableside every night, plus there was a cocktail server and a wine steward so the waiter and assistant weren't so overworked. I guess that it was more the atmosphere and the service that I remember more than the actual meals.

[Jimnbigd]

I enjoyed the food on my recent Mariner of the Seas much more than I did on my first cruise -- SS Norway in 1997.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Our first cruise, back in the 70's, on one of the Greek line ships, the lobster tails were almost as big as the plate--I mean there was no room for anything else on the plate--and our fantastic waiter kept bringing us more.

 

Except for lobster and some beef dishes, I'm not too disappointed in my meals on most cruises. I do think desserts have gone downhill.

 

It's still pretty good, although not the huge portions we used to get (I don't need bigger portions!) and there is just a general decline in the quality, and a lot of the little things that made dining special.

[navybankerteacher]

It is obvious that the cuts of meat in MDR's are of lower quality -- what is now served in the premium extra cost restaurants used to be standard. Smaller ships meant fewer passengers with higher staff to passenger ratios - meaning service is more rushed and food is more likely to be cold. Also, food was served individually - not on prepared plates assembled in the galley - often at some distance from your table -- meaning it is less likely to be hot when you get it.

 

Of course, the costs of cruising are much lower today -- you get what you pay for. When cruising was reserved for upper income people - who generally had more expensive tastes - the focus was different -- now the lines focus on the mass market -- many of whom are Olive Garden or Red Lobster diners ashore -- rather than the Delmonico's customers who used to cruise.

 

Times change -- you cannot have premium upper-income service as mass market prices.

[Matcodixon]

One post was comparing the food on an Alaskan cruise with that of a Caribbean cruise. Living in the SF Bay area, we can get incredible seafood that the Midwest states never see. Of course the best Pork Chops come from the Midwest. The same is true when it comes to cruise food. What is available in the ports is always a part of the dinner fare.

 

BTW The Alaskan crab on the Alaska cruise is excellent.. As well as the fresh Salmon...

 

The best food in the Caribbean is generally some form of seafood and chicken... The beef is not known for its high quality, that's why Fajitas are popular more than Filet.

 

Just my observations.

[Emperor Norton]

People are always posting that the food was better before and have gone down hill since... So how was it better, did they use to serve whole 3 pound Maine lobsters or one pound filet mignon? Were the only fruits papaya and mango? Was there a big dish of Russian caviar for appetizer? Did you have your very own waiter who only served you and no one else? Was the fish fresh caught off the back of the boat?

So what made it that much better.

I really have no problem with the food on any cruise line and have found them more the same than they are different. I am usually full when I get up and am very happy with almost all my meals, and we will be going on our 14th cruise and have traveled on six different lines.

Robert

 

Lets see

 

Fresh fish? Radisson (Regent) had a captain Dag who when he came across a fishing vessel would send a tender of booze over and get fresh fish in return, so if he was your captain, even in the middle of nowhere you had fresh, fresh fish. Hes since moved on to Seabourn.

 

On Regent and SilverSea caviar used to be served whenever you asked for it as a no charge item. Both still have it free for special events otherwise they charge you. Seabourn still has it for free but people say serving size is down (easy solution: order more!).

 

Some cruiselines used to serve dry aged prime grade filet, now they serve filet (if its filet at all) of questionable origin (Regent I think goes for wet aged chemcially tenderized beef for prime7, at least thats what it tasted and felt like).

 

I guess the easiest way to explain it is this:

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and cruise food was good a line may have spent $50 per passenger per day on food. Also that $50 bought a lot of food.

 

Today now that cruise food is bad, some lines spend about a happy meals worth on passengers (mighty kids happy meal if you opt for the pay extra dining choice); further that $$ doesn't go quite as far as it used to.

 

/yes the numbers were pulled out of thin air but the point still stands

[BruceMuzz]

When I worked for Royal Viking in 1975, the price of a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise was the same as a new Cadillac.

The food and service were spectacular.

Our passengers were Mr and Mrs Thurston Howell III.

 

Today the price of a 7-day mexican riviera cruise is somewhat less than the minimum down payment on a new Cadillac.

Most of the passengers are now the Simpsons and Gilligan.

 

If you were willing to pay the price of a new Cadillac today, for a 7-day cruise, the food and service would be equally spectacular as they were in the good old days.