Does Oceania have the best food of all cruise lines?

[eddmel]

We will be going on our cruise next month and we're starting to get excited!

 

We've been on a number of Oceania cruises in the Mediterranean and Asia.

 

I remember reading that Oceania has the best food of all cruise lines and I'm sure that's true. I was just reading through the menus again and remembering how much we love the grill in the Terrace on the Riviera. Those shrimp!

 

I've been dieting all winter long and intend to eat whatever I want!

Edited April 16, 2014 by eddmel
misspelling

[LHT28]

Best is subjective;)

 

Not having tried all the cruise lines I would say of the ones we have been on Oceania has better quality food than some other lines

 

Although we did a cruise on a small ship the food was very good,

homey style (if that is a word) the ship was crap but the food was very good

It was not a foody type cruise just well made comfort food

 

 

Enjoy the cruise

 

Lyn

[Mura]

Well, we think it is ... but our experience is limited at best.

 

The old Bergen lines (1 Norway cruise) in 1975

QE2 twice (April 03, Dec 04)

NCL twice (Jan 02 and April 10)

Renaissance thrice ...

Oceania 10 times ...

 

Clearly we are biased!

 

Mura

[pacheco18]

The food is excellent.

"Best" is what they advertise.

Judge for yourself. Food is very subjective.

[MVPinBoynton]

I can't wait to finally be able to find out for myself how good O food is starting on Saturday. :)

[Travelcat2]

Agree that food is subjective. I compared Oceania food to Regent and Silversea and found Oceania's "specialty" restaurants to far exceed what we've had on those two lines. However, we also found that The Terrace café and the MDR is not equal to exceed Silversea or Regent. Just my opinion.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Travelcat2

[agnesd]

Agree that food is subjective. I compared Oceania food to Regent and Silversea and found Oceania's "specialty" restaurants to far exceed what we've had on those two lines. However, we also found that The Terrace café and the MDR is not equal to exceed Silversea or Regent. Just my opinion.

 

 

I thought Crystal was better but then I haven't been on an oceania cruise in 4 years. But there are such slight differences, it's really a difficult question. I seem to remember some oceania meals arrived cold.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[alexandra cruiser]

ea ship in ea line can be very different.

Have been on different ships(in same line)and noticed the difference.All was GOOD,some just GREAT IMO of course.

PS.managed to gain weight on ALL of them,whew.

PS.just a note,the best service I ever received was on a Seabourn ship(bordered on over board,haha) .Escorted us to dinner table,even back if you left for restroom,odd. Seadream was also fantastic but dining room very small and limited outdoor dining.Regent,loved it too,but service was not as attentive on the 2 ships.So it VARIES.;)

[orchestrapal]

But of course! :D

[Paulchili]

In my (subjective) opinion O does have the best food at sea (overall).

I am comparing this to Regent, Seabourn, Silversea, Cunard, Azamara and some others.

As always, YMMV :D

[Hambagahle]

In my (subjective) opinion O does have the best food at sea (overall).

I am comparing this to Regent, Seabourn, Silversea, Cunard, Azamara and some others.

As always, YMMV :D

 

I have not cruised on Seabourn, Silversea or Azamara but I thoroughly agree that Oceania' food is better than on Regent and Cunard. (My Cunard experience though was a long time ago...)

 

I found the food in ALL dining venues on Oceania's Riviera to be better in terms of variety, presentation and taste than any I have had on Regent. I loved the Terrace Café and its very varied lunches and the grills at dinner. MDR I found excellent - their Châteaubriand and Béarnaise sauce was as good or better than any I have eaten here in Switzerland in our top restaurants. Just seriously good food throughout!

[Hawaiidan]

I have not cruised on Seabourn, Silversea or Azamara but I thoroughly agree that Oceania' food is better than on Regent and Cunard. (My Cunard experience though was a long time ago...)

 

I found the food in ALL dining venues on Oceania's Riviera to be better in terms of variety, presentation and taste than any I have had on Regent. I loved the Terrace Café and its very varied lunches and the grills at dinner. MDR I found excellent - their Châteaubriand and Béarnaise sauce was as good or better than any I have eaten here in Switzerland in our top restaurants. Just seriously good food throughout!

 

I too have found that the food presented are as good as many Michelin rated European and American places.

While things can vary, I think where Oceania excels is in that it has more top quality restaurants than other lines ..almost twice as many. So quality and variety is a hard combination to equal. That alone is food for thought.

[Hawaiidan]

I have not cruised on Seabourn, Silversea or Azamara but I thoroughly agree that Oceania' food is better than on Regent and Cunard. (My Cunard experience though was a long time ago...)

 

I found the food in ALL dining venues on Oceania's Riviera to be better in terms of variety, presentation and taste than any I have had on Regent. I loved the Terrace Café and its very varied lunches and the grills at dinner. MDR I found excellent - their Châteaubriand and Béarnaise sauce was as good or better than any I have eaten here in Switzerland in our top restaurants. Just seriously good food throughout!

 

I too have found that the food presented are as good as many Michelin rated European and American places.

While things can vary, I think where Oceania excels is in that it has more top quality restaurants than other lines ..almost twice as many. So quality and variety is a hard combination to equal. That alone is food for thought.

[durante]

Regarding food comparisons, my most recent cruises were on Cunard ( Queens Grills on QV Dec 2013 and Britannia on QE Jan 2014) and Azamara Quest(transatlantic Mar 2014). Have cruised many times on Oceania, most recently PHS on Marina Jul 2013. The Queens Grill restaurant on QV was great however I still thought the food was better on Oceania in the Dining Room. On Azamara, the food generally was comparable to Oceania, however my meat was always over cooked, and the fish mushy. I never had that issue with Oceania luckily.

[pacheco18]

On Azamara, the food generally was comparable to Oceania, however my meat was always over cooked, and the fish mushy. I never had that issue with Oceania luckily.

 

Azamara's food is not nearly as good as Oceania's -- not the buffet or the GDR. I did not try their specialty restaurants although I have heard good things. Maybe next time.

 

Best food I have had at sea was on the Paul Gauguin. The themed buffet lunches were beyond extraordinary. But unless you are lucky Wendy (LOL), how many times can you sail on the PG?

[sugarbird]

My wife and I have sailed more on Silversea and Seabourn but have done 5 Oceania cruises.We think the food on Oceania is excellent---but slightly behind Seabourn--maybe equal to Silversea today--but not in years past.

The cruise experience on Oceania is excellent and a good value.

[Travelcat2]

Just a reminder that food is subjective. Plus, expectations from one part of the country or world is totally different than in another part. For instance, I have read complaints about food in Red Ginger. People claim that it isn't authentic Chinese or Thai or Japanese.......or whatever. Well, it is Asian fusion and they do an amazing job. But, that is our opinion. Some people from Texas feel that their beef is the best in the world but other people claim the same for their area. For that reason, there are mixed reviews for beef on Oceania. And, if you are from Italy, or from New York, your reviews of the Italian food may be mixed.

 

As I mentioned previously, we felt that the food preparation and quality was excellent in the specialty restaurants. We felt the quality and preparation were off the mark in the Terrace Café. Yes - they serve lobster. tails..... but, again, if you are looking for Australian lobster tails -- these "ain't" them:) Salads were lacking -- not enough ingredients for my DH who is a salad nut at lunch time. Sushi was good but not great by any means (at least not for someone like myself who eats sushi every weekend). Lastly, we only found Bolognese sauce and fresh pasta one time in the Terrace Café (it was wonderful). I have to wonder why it isn't offered every day.

 

We went to the MDR once -- for lunch. We had some specialty salad. Once was enough -- we never returned. Admittedly, this was not fair and we do intend to try it again on our next Oceania cruise. Obviously we are returning to the Riviera. It is the most beautiful ship we have sailed on. The service was amazing. Is the food the best at sea? Well, have any of us sailed on every cruise line? I hear that specialty restaurants on Crystal and even Celebrity are the best. This question is just about impossible to answer but it makes me hungry thinking about it.

 

Note: This was our first Oceania cruise so this is an opinion for a newbie:-)

Edited April 18, 2014 by Travelcat2

[wripro]

There is no such thing as best. There is only what you prefer.

[hypercafe]

There is no such thing as best. There is only what you prefer.

 

I agree 100%. We have only sailed on the large ships. I believe Oceania uses very high grade groceries to start with however I find the Italian rest lame and have never been impressed by a steak in any rest. We have had some great dishes but the best at sea, no. As good as most, yes.

[CintiPam]

Azamara's food is not nearly as good as Oceania's -- not the buffet or the GDR. I did not try their specialty

restaurants although I have heard good things. Maybe next time.

 

IMO, Aqualina on Azamara Quest is the equal of Oceania's shipboard restaurants but the rest of the venues fall below Oceania's amazing standards. However, I thought on the whole that Azamara's food was very good, much better than I anticipated.

[JimandStan]

I agree 100%. We have only sailed on the large ships. I believe Oceania uses very high grade groceries to start with however I find the Italian rest lame and have never been impressed by a steak in any rest. We have had some great dishes but the best at sea, no. As good as most, yes.

 

I notice that you don't mention any Lines which you believe to have better food than Oceania, but I suppose that that would entail saying something positive.....

 

-and you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks- :p

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Azamara's food is not nearly as good as Oceania's -- not the buffet or the GDR. I did not try their specialty restaurants although I have heard good things. Maybe next time.

 

Best food I have had at sea was on the Paul Gauguin. The themed buffet lunches were beyond extraordinary. But unless you are lucky Wendy (LOL), how many times can you sail on the PG?

 

Ah well, it *was* the best food at sea, but has gone up and down over the years. I'm hoping it's on an upturn this September! (It'll be our 5th trip there, officially our 6th cruise since one was a b2b.)

 

I thought the food on Riviera was terrific. I'm paying the price for it still!

[hypercafe]

I notice that you don't mention any Lines which you believe to have better food than Oceania, but I suppose that that would entail saying something positive.....

 

-and you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks- :p

 

As I said I can only say what I prefer, I really do not believe there is the best or worst ship at sea. I had my best French meal on the NCL Dawn in their French rest, best Asian food in Red Ginger, best steak on Celebrity Summit, best buffet experience on Oceania, and my best brake fast experience in Aqua class on Celebrity. Hope this clarifies my post to your satisfaction. When you publish your book be sure to let my know.

[S O B]

Just a reminder that food is subjective. Plus, expectations from one part of the country or world is totally different than in another part. For instance, I have read complaints about food in Red Ginger. People claim that it isn't authentic Chinese or Thai or Japanese.......or whatever.

 

It's a personal pet peeve whenever people argue that the food they are being served isn't "authentic." Well, so what? I'm reminded of the following passage from a favorite foodie:

 

"...When a reviewer starts explaining how the preparation of a quiche Lorraine at the restaurant he has visited differs from the way one prepared a true quiche Lorraine, I always want to interrupt. "But did you like it?" I want to shout. "Did it make you happy? Did you clean your plate?" ... I was eating some homemade gazpacho and talking about how it differed from the more authentic gazpacho one got in Seville. The more I talked about the difference the faster I wolfed down the gazpacho - until I realized that one way what I was eating differed from authentic gazpacho was that it tasted better." - Calvin Trillin, "American Fried"

Edited April 20, 2014 by S O B

[Dr. Cocktail]

Food is such a subjective area ....

 

I have not been on Crystal, Silverseas or Seabourn.

 

Aside from that, I have sailed on basically everyone and, for the most part, Oceania wins hands down with some exceptions.

 

As someone who makes a full dinner every night after seeing a full patient load (hint on my avatar!), I have no patience (bad joke ...) for so called self-professed "foodies" who couldn't boil a pot of water if their lives depended on it.

 

Where Oceania truly excels is in the superb quality of their raw ingredients ... it really is true - you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I enjoyed each and every one of the specialty restaurants on Oceania, the Terrace Cafe, Waves Grill and and La Reserve. The only let-down I had was the GDR which I found to be wretched on the two times I ate there. Disorganized and rushed with hot items served cold - it actually reminded me of RCI.

 

My food standouts over the few years remain the classic French pastries on L'Austral (abandon hope all ye who enter the dessert buffet), the main dining room on Azamara Quest (the first truly thermally hot items I have had on a ship in years) and exceptional items in all of the many restaurants on Riviera and Marina.