Thoughts on recent food on Princess

[bigguy6]

We have sailed Princess a number of times and recently about every 2 years. We are sailing again on Emerald in March. Two cruises ago (4yrs) we felt we noticed a falling off in the quality of the food. Then 2 years ago on the Island Princess we felt there was an even greater drop. As an example I will use Beef Wellington. It always was very good until 4 years ago. Then 2 years ago the meat in it was actually tough as was the meat in general on that cruise. Also before our last cruise 2 years ago the Horizon Court buffet always had a bowl of peel and eat shrimp every night. Last cruise they never had it. Also 2 years ago every night they had a reception for Platinum members. They handed out a menu at the beginning of the cruise that told what would be served at each reception during the cruise. Two nights listed shrimp. My wife is a huge shrimp lover, so the first listed night we went. Lo and behold no shrimp. We complained to the hostess and she had no reason. She did check and confirm that the second listed night would have the shrimp and called us to confirm that. In general though we felt Princess had cheapen up on the food. What do people think about more recently? Especially would like to hear from people who have sailed with Princess over the years.

[OCruisers]

We had not been happy with the food in the MDR (especially the beef) for the past several years. When we wanted beef, we would go to Crown Grill.

 

:) Happily, this year in January on Emerald Princess everything was actually very good. We still liked to go to Crown Grill and Sabatini's ... but we didn't feel forced to do so.

 

LuLu

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[Pam in CA]

There's no doubt that dining has changed on Princess (and other cruise lines) over the years. They have become more mass market and dining options changed to reflect mass market tastes. You would never have seen a "homestyle" entree option or hamburgers on the menu every night even five years ago. But that's where passenger demands and expectations have gone. Princess and other lines are adjusting to passenger demands.

 

That said, the Head Chef can have a big impact on food preparation and dining. You can have the same menu item with the same ingredients but different results depending on the chef. Sometimes, supplies dictate what's offered on the ship in either the dining room or buffet. Color me strange but I love cottage cheese and mixed fruit for breakfast. On the Diamond last May, there was no cottage cheese anywhere on the ship.

 

On the Royal last month, there were several days and evenings with giant bowls of shrimp, the beef Wellington was delicious, etc. Towards the end of the cruise, the fruit, which had been great throughout the cruise, wasn't nearly as good. They had obviously gone through the supplies.

 

So, the shrimp isn't gone... it just wasn't offered on your cruise or perhaps you missed the times it was. I took three Princess cruises this year for a total of 41 days and there was shrimp prepared in a variety of ways in the buffet at either lunch and/or dinner.

[cruiseman111111]

Food, food, where is the FOOD...

[Coral]

We had not been happy with the food in the MDR (especially the beef) for the past several years. When we wanted beef, we would go to Crown Grill.

 

:) Happily, this year in January on Emerald Princess everything was actually very good. We still liked to go to Crown Grill and Sabatini's ... but we didn't feel forced to do so.

 

LuLu

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I agree about the beef. We have even had problems at Crown Grill and Sterling Steakhouse on my last several sailings. I probably have high standards as I live in a beef state. My TA sent us a gift to Sterlings on our last B2B2B. We received it on our 2nd sailing. We had been to Sterlings on the first leg and didn't want to go back so we turned it in for credit. It was that disappointing.

[aquilegia]

The only dish I had a problem with on our recent cruise was the Beef Wellington, but oddly enough the meat was very good and cooked medium rare as I'd requested. It was the pastry that was poor, it was heavy and soggy. I've come to the conclusion that Beef Wellington isn't a dish that lends itself to mass catering.

 

Overall, we found the food very good as usual. We did eat dinner in Horizon Court more often than we've done on previous cruises, because we didn't always find the choices in the MDR very exciting. I have to admit that these Homestyle options don't appeal to me, but they are obviously designed for American tastes and that's fair enough, it's an American cruise line. Between the MDR and the buffet, we always found plenty to enjoy.

[tjcletsgo]

We just returned from our first Princess cruise on the Golden. We were very disappointed with the food after reading rave reviews for certain dishes. Disgusting "scrambled" eggs in the Horizon Court, all beef dishes in the MDR had a weird flavor and not in a good way. Ceasar salad in the parmesan cheese bowl-the cheese was over cooked or old. Rubbery and barley chewable. Having said that, I was always stuffed to the gills and could always find something good to eat.;)

 

I'd sail Princess again in a heartbeat~ :D

[Infi]

There's no doubt that dining has changed on Princess (and other cruise lines) over the years. They have become more mass market and dining options changed to reflect mass market tastes. You would never have seen a "homestyle" entree option or hamburgers on the menu every night even five years ago. But that's where passenger demands and expectations have gone. Princess and other lines are adjusting to passenger demands.

 

I have to respectfully disagree with this. We first started sailing Princess in 2008, and the homestyle entrees had just been introduced then. So, like them or not, they have been around for quite awhile.

 

To comment on the OP's post, I do agree that Princess has dumbed down their food and skimped on the quality lately. The "new" menus that were rolled out at the end of 2012 were pretty bad, using noticeably cheaper meats and fish and offering less options in general. However, I haven't sailed Princess since they revised them, so I can't comment if things have improved.

[MaggieMe]

Cruising on Caribbean Princess on November 30 out of Houston. If I can find my way back to this thread, I will, as a "foodie" report back.

[Sea Hag]

We were on the 10/19 sailing of the Grand, and the food quality varied quite a lot. Some of it was fantastic - goat cheese soufflé for instance. Some of it not nearly as good in the past - pad thai. The pad thai used to have a sunnyside egg on top, which you could mix into the noodles and veg. Delicious. On the 10/19 sailing, the sunnyside egg had been replaced with about a tablespoon of dry, overcooked scrambled eggs.

 

There was also a lack of attention to details on several items in terms of garnishes being left off.

 

Over all, not too bad, but certainly not as good as on some past cruises.

[Jim Avery]

On the Star recently the food was ok but not great. Not bad but no 'wow" moments. One other passenger put it best calling it good banquet food.:eek:

[vent1020]

This thread is depressing me. One of the reasons I picked Princess was because I heard the food was better than some cruise lines. My wife just said to me yesterday, "Is there anything else you are looking forward to this cruise BESIDES the food." (We ship off in 3 days on the Golden) Heck, I even started a thread of "Must have foods on Princess" so I knew what not to miss.

 

I sure hope the food is better than some are describing it on this thread. :(

[blackfoot]

Just returned from the "Fall Colors" cruise a couple of weeks a go( 6th cruise w/ P). The beef in my opinion tasted like range beef and would not be surprised that it graded at less than" Choice " grade that most of us purchase in our local marts. This was everyday. My wife ate fish most days and was pleased w/ just about every meal.

 

The breakfast buffets were substandard in my opinion. So much so that I asked to see the Food manager,he brought the Chef/Cook who had responsibility for breakfast. I walked them around and pointed out about 4 hot items that were stone cold, cold soup, greasy corned beef out of a can and several more items that escape my mind. I asked what they thought of the food I pointed out and asked them if they would eat it-no comment!

 

Seems to me that there was a lot of throw the food out there and they will eat it. Truth said , most did!

 

We as paying customers should raise hell when we see substandard food - it's an insult.

[caribill]

You would never have seen a "homestyle" entree option or hamburgers on the menu every night even five years ago.

 

I could be wrong, but I doubt there were very many requests to Princess to add hamburger to the dinner menu every evening.

 

I suspect there are more requests, yet to be answered, to have a decent steak on the dining room menu every night.

[caribill]

I agree about the beef. We have even had problems at Crown Grill and Sterling Steakhouse on my last several sailings. I probably have high standards as I live in a beef state. My TA sent us a gift to Sterlings on our last B2B2B. We received it on our 2nd sailing. We had been to Sterlings on the first leg and didn't want to go back so we turned it in for credit. It was that disappointing.

 

Last year we were on a B2B.

 

First segment was USA to Europe and the dining room steak was very tough and had little flavor.

 

Segment was around the Med. Steak in the main dining room was great.

 

The resupply in Europe meant better beef. Not sure if that beef came from USA or not.

[lvhh]

We were on the Sapphire last month and i thought the beef was better than in the past, the scrambled eggs however, not so much.

[Coral]

Last year we were on a B2B.

 

First segment was USA to Europe and the dining room steak was very tough and had little flavor.

 

Segment was around the Med. Steak in the main dining room was great.

 

The resupply in Europe meant better beef. Not sure if that beef came from USA or not.

 

This doesn't surprise me. I assume you probably had European meat for your second segment. Italy has some pretty good beef actually. A friend was on a ship in Tahiti and said their beef on their ship there was the best they had on Princess, ever.

 

My experience was over a year ago (just saw that the title of thread was recently).

[hillslife]

Just off the Emerald...we didn't go hungry, but even my husband, who will eat anything, complained that the food was just mediocre. A few nights there was nothing I liked on the dining menu , so got the always available fettuccini.

 

I asked about Halubut on day one, and never saw it on the menu once in ten days. The nightly fish they did offer, I had never heard of most of the types, and often it was wayyyy too overcooked.

 

I stopped eating the desserts years ago...they are always beautiful, but tasteless....

 

So yes, in my opinion, the food has definitely gone down in quality and taste...just my experience after 23 Princess cruises....

[lovey1103]

Recently off Golden - food was bland and served luke warm to down right cold.

Even the Crown Grill was not very good. Steak undercooked (sent back) and the mashed potatoes a blob of goo.

HC had a limited choice with really unappetizing vats of yuk.

Ate in Sabitinis each morning where even the french toast was burned - I am not kidding.

Salad bar fresh as always - Pizza undercooked and full, and I mean full of grease. Did I say the drinks were watered down????

 

Emerald this past Spring had the best food ever on a cruise -go figure...

[RLK33853]

Pam as usual has the answer - the food quality in the Dining Rooms over the past twenty plus years has changed - but more to the point is the chef and their team can make the same meals on different ships great, so so, or just plain bad. Something as simple as French Onion soup can be fantastic on one ship and watery/tasteless on another.

 

We must remember that unlike restaurants that serve 150 people a night - the ship caters to 3000 different cruisers of various ethnic and personal tastes per night. This is not an excuse for unremarkable or substandard food but certainly is a fact when people make their opinions known on these boards.

 

As far as the beef goes - I have had both great beef and bad beef in high end restaurants and the same occurs on the ships.

 

I can't really comment much on the Horizon Court food as we only use it for breakfast and then it has always met our needs (unless you are fortunate enough to be in a suite and use Sabatini's for breakfast which is worth the price of the suite!!!).

 

Trident Grill and pizza again are very much tied to the workers - some take the time and others don't.

 

Overall we enjoy the food, attention to detail and service on Princess. We usually are on 3 or 4 Princess ships a year and only once in the past several years did we go away disappointed with the food.

[Tarpeian Rock]

We were on the 10/19 sailing of the Grand, and the food quality varied quite a lot. Some of it was fantastic - goat cheese soufflé for instance. Some of it not nearly as good in the past - pad thai. The pad thai used to have a sunnyside egg on top, which you could mix into the noodles and veg. Delicious. On the 10/19 sailing, the sunnyside egg had been replaced with about a tablespoon of dry, overcooked scrambled eggs.

 

There was also a lack of attention to details on several items in terms of garnishes being left off.

 

Over all, not too bad, but certainly not as good as on some past cruises.

 

 

 

We were on the 10/4 sailing of the Grand (Hawaiian Circle) and were actually quite pleased with the MDR dinners, taste, and presentation, except the last night of the cruise wasn't up to the prior 2 weeks. Horizon Court, however, was another matter - in 2 weeks were only ate there twice, and walked through several other times and decided to take a pass and head to International Cafe instead. We ended up doing MDR breakfasts most days also. I believe the 10/19 sailing was a one-week California Coastal. I wonder if the provisioning and menus are that much different based on length of cruise, of if we were just lucky. I certainly thought that our MDR dinners were superior to our last experiences on Holland.

[ASeaPrincess1]

Cruising on Caribbean Princess on November 30 out of Houston. If I can find my way back to this thread, I will, as a "foodie" report back.

 

Come join our Roll Call!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1778871

[caribill]

I stopped eating the desserts years ago...they are always beautiful, but tasteless....

 

 

One dessert that really has gone downhill is the Loveboat Dream.

 

Gone is the crunchy bottom, replaced with soft cake.

 

Gone is the Godiva chocolate on top, replaced for a while with a chocolate stick and now with no replacement.

 

Gone is the nice rich taste of chocolate, replaced with what seems just to be chocolate pudding.

 

Other foods haver also undergone changes and not for the better. As an example, the bread sticks used to have sesame seeds on them. The seeds disappeared a couple of years ago.

[4cats4me]

I agree about the beef. We have even had problems at Crown Grill and Sterling Steakhouse on my last several sailings. I probably have high standards as I live in a beef state. My TA sent us a gift to Sterlings on our last B2B2B. We received it on our 2nd sailing. We had been to Sterlings on the first leg and didn't want to go back so we turned it in for credit. It was that disappointing.

 

Agreed, the beef had taken a dive on our last two Princess cruises in 2011. Perhaps it has improved since then.

That is one of the many reasons we decided to jump ship to another line, at least temporarily

The beef medallions used to be so delicious, but a definite difference in 2011, very tough

[Boyshockeymommy]

We are travelling on the Emerald, March 2014, and in the past 4 cruises I have been on, I have NEVER been disappointed with the food. Yes, I have noticed changes over the years. We were surprised to see a hamburger on the menu in the MDR to say the least, but this was never a choice we made, as there were many other choices to eat.

 

Perhaps, it's because I make minimum wage at my job and I save for more than a year to take a cruise. Perhaps, it's because, I spend my family grocery money on basic products and cheaper cuts of meat to make my dollar go farther. Perhaps, I don't have the "foodie" standard in me. I certainly ENJOY my food, as anyone can see by my picture............ LOL

 

I will agree with Pam. On any given day, no two chefs will cook the same dish the same way. I use basic products at home and have never had anyone but myself disappointed with a dish I have made. (We are our own worst critics ) I use recipe books and a variety of spices and herbs, so that we don't have to have plain, tough, uninteresting dishes.

 

That said........maybe, I am too easily impressed. The dishes on the cruise ships are plentiful, artfully arranged, and................delicious. I am travelling this next cruise with three other women , who have never cruised before. I am extoling the virtues of the chef's and the amount and variety of foods available. Since we all work at the same place for the same wage, I am betting that they will be just as impressed as I am with the food variety and quality.

 

Kimm