NCL Dining Vs. Princess

[warb]

Just off NCL Dawn Bermuda Cruise. Quality of Dining Room food was very good. Not what

 

we expected. Good portions, nice strip steaks, five medium shrimp with pasta. They

 

told us that improvements were made the past few cruises. Our last NCL cruise was in

 

2007. They seemed to be steering you to pay for better food back then. The new

 

Royal Buffet is way better than NCL. We still prefer the Princess Experience, but NCL's

 

dining room food was much better. The coffee was awful,though.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

It's doubtful that many on this Princess board will agree.

[TracieABD]

The food in the MDR on the NCL Spirit was both slow and cold.

 

I have not had this experience on any Princess cruise.

[Loonbeam]

As always, the biggest factor in food quality is not the line (though that is a large one since they set the menus and purchase supplies), or even the food itself, its the Executive Chef and Maitre'D/Headwaiters.

 

A talented crew can make a bad menu palatable or can kill a good menu.

 

Cold food, for example is almost always the fault of a poorly managed wait staff, its very rare (albeit possible) the kitchen staff serves up consistently cold dishes that should be hot. And if it is a technical issue with the warmer, the wait staff should be trained to check and report.

[rdsqrl]

5 shrimp?! Wow -- that had to have cost NCL a whole fifty cents. I guess they'll be raising fares soon if they're serving that kind of largesse.

[swedish weave]

5 shrimp?! Wow -- that had to have cost NCL a whole fifty cents. I guess they'll be raising fares soon if they're serving that kind of largesse.

 

I suppose you don't know they will bring you more if you ask.

[swedish weave]

It's doubtful that many on this Princess board will agree.

 

 

I have sailed both Princess and NCL recently, and like the food on both lines. Some items are better than others on either line. but I don't try to compare.

 

You can experience as much difference in food on two ships of the same line as you can on a ship from each cruise line.

Edited June 9, 2014 by swedish weave

[warb]

About a 1/2 lb of Linguine. I was on The Royal in November, the food in the Dining Room

 

was good , but the beef quality is not great. Also, a few carrots , a few potatoes on

 

the plate. I'm just saying that NCL has improved their Dining Room Food on The Dawn.

 

Princess has improved the Buffett on the Royal and Regal. Just my opinion.

[KruzPrincess]

Just off NCL Dawn Bermuda Cruise. Quality of Dining Room food was very good. Not what

 

we expected. Good portions, nice strip steaks, five medium shrimp with pasta. They

 

told us that improvements were made the past few cruises. Our last NCL cruise was in

 

2007. They seemed to be steering you to pay for better food back then. The new

 

Royal Buffet is way better than NCL. We still prefer the Princess Experience, but NCL's

 

dining room food was much better. The coffee was awful,though.

 

Good to hear that. I've been thinking of trying an NCL cruise.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I have sailed both Princess and NCL recently, and like the food on both lines. Some items are better than others on either line. but I don't try to compare.

 

You can experience as much difference in food on two ships of the same line as you can on a ship from each cruise line.

 

I know your cruise history and you're one of the few that does like both lines. NCL is still a good cruise line for my taste but Princess is slightly better & besides we have more cruises built up on Princess & get better perks. ;)

[gooch47]

NCL is rolling out new menus so any info I provide might be bogus.

 

Anyway, maybe it was burnout but our numerous recent cruises on the NCL Jewel left me unimpressed with the MDR food. We really enjoyed Le Bistro, a French theme. But we got those meals free due to our tier status.

 

I enjoyed the food on our last Princess cruise.

 

I didn't like the buffets on either ship, but then we just don't care for buffets in general.

Edited June 9, 2014 by gooch47

[fabby50]

I've enjoyed our cruises on both lines - don't really have a preference, but book based on route and enjoy the "special features" of whatever line we're on. I agree that the head chef and staff make the difference and the same menu on two different ships can really vary in quality, especially the hot versus cold stuff. I will say I like the variety of specialty restaurants on NCL and am glad to see Princess is branching out a little past the steakhouse and Italian and trying things like the Crab Shack and the bar-b-que. My husband also really enjoys the pub lunch on Princess and we go everytime that's offered. He'd never tried a Scotch Egg before and now we have pictures to prove it - according to him, what a wonderful thing - eggs covered in sausage :)

[SteveH2508]

<snip> He'd never tried a Scotch Egg before and now we have pictures to prove it - according to him, what a wonderful thing - eggs covered in sausage :)

 

There are Scotch Eggs and Scotch Eggs - supermarket mass-produced cheap Scotch Eggs are not brilliant;) - a fresh made Scotch Egg with proper eggs and proper sausage meat is a wonderful snack with a pint of proper English beer:D.

 

Scotch eggs made with black pudding are rather good as well (though that may be a step too far for some:rolleyes:).