Food - Hate it, love it - what's the deal?

[getupgo]

Thank you. That makes me feel better. I was always do happy with Dawn. I hated losing it to New Orleans. It always sailed full from Tampa so I don't understand the change. The cist is lower in NO too which seems strange since it takes forever to get down the Mississippi to the Gulf.

[medicalma'am]

Having been on three tours of the kitchens as part of the Chef's Table, I can tell you that meat on NCL is received frozen. All of the fruits and vegetables are received fresh. Everything is made from scratch except white bread used for toast and croissants. They even make their own salad dressings.

 

The thawing process for the meats really impressed me. They have special refrigerators to thaw the meat that take the temp up slowly and is monitored (with the checklist hanging right there for us to see) every 30 minutes or so and kept for 90 days for the inspectors that board the ship unannounced from time to time. I love those tours and have learned more each time I have been on one.

[Okmyx]

Having been on three tours of the kitchens as part of the Chef's Table' date=' I can tell you that meat on NCL is received frozen. All of the fruits and vegetables are received fresh. Everything is made from scratch except white bread used for toast and croissants. They even make their own salad dressings.

 

 

 

The thawing process for the meats really impressed me. They have special refrigerators to thaw the meat that take the temp up slowly and is monitored (with the checklist hanging right there for us to see) every 30 minutes or so and kept for 90 days for the inspectors that board the ship unannounced from time to time. I love those tours and have learned more each time I have been on one. [/size']

 

 

Thanks for the insight.

 

 

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[DMH15]

And you expect cruise food to be what exactly? Mastro's or eleven Madison park?

 

 

 

This is what I hate about CC all these people posting Haven reviews and people saying the quality stinks. We are not all rich snobby people that expect the world.

 

 

Yeah, I cruise in suites.

 

But... Even though I have a culinary education and won numerous cooking and revipe competitions, I would say I am a foodie but not a food snob.

 

My meals on NCL have been fine. From average to outstanding. I do a mix of MDR & specialties. Some of the complimentary offerings wete faves.

 

Where I could see improvement on NCL in my opinion is with their desserts. So I have more fresh fruits and berries. My waistline is probably thankful. Liked the tiramisu.

 

 

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[cruiser2015]

We were on Pride of America 2 weeks ago. Overall, we thought the food had gone down hil a bit since our last NCL cruise a few years back. But, it was not bad. Ate breakfast at the buffet (except once) - found a large variety, 3 custom omelete stations - it was fine. We were off ship most a few for lunch, but the buffet was fine; also ate at Cadillac Diner which was fine. MDR food was fair. We actually only ate there 3 times. Dines at Cagney's twice - the food and service was outstanding.

Tried their new Brazilian steakhouse and found the food way over seasoned.

 

Bottom line, this opinion is you should not be scared away by the reviews. Chances are you'll find something you will enjoy.

[Fokis]

So the consensus is tast is subjective! We go there after only 2 pages

 

I laughed out loud at this one...:D

 

I appreciate the OPs dilemma. I had the same after booking my first cruise a year and a half ahead of time. So many people writing about how bad the food is. Then come the comparisons to Olive Garden and Applebee's. I don't want to sound like a food snob, but I really don't care for either. So then, you start to think, should I cancel because I really don't want to be stuck on a ship with bad food? But then I decided to check other cruise lines threads. It was then I realized all of them have complaints about food. So I stuck with my reservation. I was happy to find the food ran from good to excellent, depending on venue or item. I do not like buffets, so can't really comment on those, but the other restaurants did quite well for 12 days. Never sent anything back.

 

So, it is very subjective. But I was happy and we do dine in the better restaurants at home and while travelling. We also enjoy a good burger, well done breakfast and great fried chicken. NCL didn't leave us disappointed.

 

Service is excellent. I supervise client relations, and observe the staff closely. They really do a fantastic job for such large venues. They also deal well with passengers. And we do expect friendly and timely service. For the most part, they hit the mark.

 

 

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Appreciate the comment.

 

 

Thanks again all for the responses everyone.

[Raleigh Traveler]

Yes, food is subjective but we fail to acknowledge how unique we are as Americans. We have variety, abundance and scores of eating out options and that can skew our perspective. I have a number of Europeans friends now and they rarely eat out because it is too expensive in GB and Europe.

Where we currently live there are no Olive Gardens or even a Mickey D’s. Needless to say the food is a highlight of our cruises. We mostly eat at the MDRs but have tried the specialty sites, Taste of India and the Chef’s Table twice. Sometimes the service is a little lacking on the first day (new crew?) but overall our experiences have been great. On our Spirit cruise out of NO we ate at one of Emeril’s places the night before. The food was a little better but the service was not that much better than onboard.

On one hand we leave the ship with menu items that we wish we had tried but never got to, on the other hand I could probably eat the cheesesteak and chips (fries) every day for lunch and be happy. Our next cruise is a 14 day TA so maybe there will be enough days to try it all.

[KeithJenner]

Yes, food is subjective but we fail to acknowledge how unique we are as Americans. We have variety, abundance and scores of eating out options and that can skew our perspective. I have a number of Europeans friends now and they rarely eat out because it is too expensive in GB and Europe.

 

I don't think that the situation generally is Europe is quite as you suggest, but in my experience it is true that options for eating out in the US are better than in Europe, and there is some truth in what you say.

 

One thing that people need to consider is that the quality of food in restaurants everywhere can be pretty bad. A restaurant near us (a Brewers Fayre for anyone that knows the chain) is really pretty well rock bottom in my experience. Lately, they have been moving across to buffet nights. In every possible way, these buffets are a long way below NCL standard (I'm tempted to say that this isn't just an opinion thing. There is little choice and the quality is extremely low).

 

The thing is, that restaurant is almost always absolutely packed. We have some really good local restaurants and pubs with great food, but generally they struggle against the cheap, eat all you can without caring what it tastes like, places.

 

It's worth considering that, as cruising becomes even more mass market, the people who eat in these places become more and more into the target group for the cruise lines. Rightly or wrongly a lot of people just don't want the same sort of food that many people on here want.

 

Having said that, and it could well be true that Americans have higher expectations than people from other countries, I still don't think that NCL as a whole fares too badly.

 

Last year, we spent about two and a half weeks in the US before getting on the Pearl for a week. During that time, we ate in a wide variety of places, fast food, hotel restaurants, and independent restaurants. We didn't eat in any really top range restaurants, but generally in places with good trip advisor reviews and some at slightly above average cost.

 

What did we find? Well, the fast food places were what you would expect (it was food, which we needed), but otherwise all of our food was extremely good. Our absolute favourite meal we had was in Cagneys. The MDR food was probably towards the lower end of the independent restaurants that we tried, and comparable to the hotel restaurants. About what I would expect for modern day cruising really.

[swedish weave]

I will offer a little insight into the comments about service.

 

The ships (all of them on any line) have a turnover of a portion of their staff every time they get to their home port and sometimes in between. They never have a complete or large percentage of their waitstaff changing at any given time.

 

Granted - some of the people who board the ship are on their first contract and may be a little unfamiliar with the ship and the procedures but they are experienced when hired and catch on rather quickly. Give them the same consideration you would give a new cruiser trying to find their way around the ship, and you will get the best service they can offer.

Edited July 25, 2014 by swedish weave

[Hikini]

 

Granted - some of the people who board the ship are on their first contract and may be a little unfamiliar with the ship and the procedures but they are experienced when hired and catch on rather quickly. Give them the same consideration you would give a new cruiser trying to find their way around the ship, and you will get the best service they can offer.

 

Excellent advice!

[galleycook]

I agree that food opinions are subjective, but the food needs to be prepared correctly and the guest needs to understand what they are asking for. As an example, on a Celebrity cruise last year I ordered French Onion Soup. It had absolutely no onions in it (I mean none). This is not how FOS is typically made or served. I order a Molten Chocolate Cake. The center was solid. Again not prepared properly or it was just over cooked. So if I hypothetically said neither of these were very good, it has less to do with taste than the fact that they were not served or prepared as they should have been (in the traditional way). The subjective quality never even became a factor.

 

In the United States, Caesar Salad is quite often served with anchovies. In Canada, typically with bacon. If someone were used to bacon, they may think the anchovie version didn’t taste right. This might lead to an unfair poor rating.

 

I would also suggest that there is a percentage of people who don’t really know what they are asking for, thereby misinterpreting the end result. This could also lead to an unfavourable review, which again may not be deserving. One example is the doneness of red meat (steaks as an example). Lots of people have no clue about the difference between rare and medium but when they get exactly what the asked for, they complain because that’s not really what they meant.

 

On our last NCL cruise we found the quality was inversely proportion to the cost for the Speciality Restaurants, ie, the cheapest was the best and most expensive, the worst. Coincidentally, the same applied for the service as well. As has been suggested a number of times, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Therefore please take my opinion with a grain of salt.