Which Cruise Line Has Best Food?

[NLH Arizona]

If food preparation and quality is an important part of your dining experience and cruise choice...the luxury lines are much better.

With the differences in fares, I certainly wouldn't expect the same food quality and preparation on Celebrity, as I get on Crystal. Just as I wouldn't expect the same food quality and preparation in NCL's MDR, as I get in Celebrity's MDR. In other words, you get what you pay for.

[Kevnzworld]

With the differences in fares, I certainly wouldn't expect the same food quality and preparation on Celebrity, as I get on Crystal. Just as I wouldn't expect the same food quality and preparation in NCL's MDR, as I get in Celebrity's MDR. In other words, you get what you pay for.

 

Yet, a Sky suite on a Solstice class ship in Europe this summer goes for about or over $1000 per night when you factor in drink packages, tax and gratuities. ( per cabin, not pp)

That's about what Seabourn and Oceania are...I prefer the former over the latter.

I'm fact, I'm paying about $900 per night for a 300 sq ft stateroom on my upcoming European Seabourn cruise. That's about what a similar itinerary would be in a Sky suite. The Mediterranean ports that the Quest is visiting are more interesting, most are places a Solstice ship can't dock...

Edited March 11, 2015 by Kevnzworld

[GOLDENBONNY]

My husband and I just came off Celebrity Constellation. HUGE disappointment with each evening meal in the MDR. Lacking flavor, presentation and variety.

 

We just came from my cousin's birthday dinner......

 

Rack of Lamb, roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, Caesar salad paired with a very nice Pinot Noir.

 

Best meal we have had in a week!

 

 

Our next cruise may be based on how good the food is.

 

What is your feedback because I am extremely disappointed.

 

I had no problem with food on X it was as good as it could be on mass market cruise line with kitchen cooking for 4000 ppl at once. But people who cruse for food always make me wonder... I will never understand it.

[Oxo]

I had no problem with food on X it was as good as it could be on mass market cruise line with kitchen cooking for 4000 ppl at once. But people who cruse for food always make me wonder... I will never understand it.

 

Sorry, disagree with your rational that 'food is as good as it could be on a mass market cruise line with kitchen cooking for 4000 people at once.'

Most X ships carry max of 3,000 people. All 3,000 do not eat at the same time. Food is subjective and most agree that it has slipped in quality in the past 5 years.

To me this is an excuse rather than a fact. JMHO!

[GUT2407]

Now all we need is the price per day to get an idea which cruise line has the best food for the price paid. Saying that the most expensive cruise lines have the best food is like saying that the best restaurants in your city have better food than fast food restaurants.

 

We just spent three weeks on Reflection dining in the Specialty restaurants every evening. The bonus for us is that we did not have to pay extra due to the construction of Luminae. The result however was that we cut back on the number of courses because we could just not handle all the wonderful offerings.

If one pays extra for eating in the specialty restaurants on every mainstream cruise line, how does the cost vs quality compare to the luxury lines?

 

This is one example of food being so personal, I was once taken to diner at one of the most Expensive Restaurants in the Country, (I was taken by one of the owners so I'm pretty sure we got their best). The next night some one else took me to a restaurant that cost about 1/8 the price.

 

One left me hungry and totally underwhelmed, the potions were minute, the sauces were much to rich for my tastes and the Chef must have had an excess of Garlic and Garnish, now I know many would have found the food great, but I much preferred the simpler food the second night, well cooked, good portions and I could actually taste the FOOD.

[Kevnzworld]

I had no problem with food on X it was as good as it could be on mass market cruise line with kitchen cooking for 4000 ppl at once. But people who cruse for food always make me wonder... I will never understand it.

 

Because, it's a vacation and what we are paying for! If I'm going to pay $600-1000 a night, I want good food.

Some cruiselines and restaurants do a better job at it than others.

Hopefully Luminae lives up to the hype...

Here's a link to the interview I had with Celebrity's exec in charge of food...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2171955

[Hlitner]

I had no problem with food on X it was as good as it could be on mass market cruise line with kitchen cooking for 4000 ppl at once. But people who cruse for food always make me wonder... I will never understand it.

 

Well, some of us "live for food" rather then the other way round :). For DW and moi, food/cuisine is an important part of our lives and travel planning. And we have passed this down to DD who has sometimes spent entire days (in Europe) at cooking schools or with restaurant chef's who give lessons.

 

But you are correct that one must lower their standards for the banquet-style food provided in the MDR's of large cruise ships (which is a good reason to cruise on small ships). But lines such as Celebrity do provide other options such as Blu or the other alternative dining venues.

 

Hank

[HokiePoq]

Haven't read all 80+ responses, but imagine the word "subjective" is in a lot of them. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the food on your recent cruise OP.

We have only cruised the mainstream lines and rank MDR food on X ships the highest. I thought the food on our recent Infinity cruise quite good...and we don't generally go to specialty restaurants.

HAL and NCL MDR food is good in our opinion...just not quite as good as Celebrity. On our two RCCL cruises the food was not at all good....all in my opinion of course, but people were sending food back a lot on those cruises and buffet was not as good as any of the other lines, either. They did have a nice salad bar at lunch time in the MDR.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

On our two RCCL cruises the food was not at all good....all in my opinion of course, but people were sending food back a lot on those cruises and buffet was not as good as any of the other lines, either. They did have a nice salad bar at lunch time in the MDR.

 

RCCL reminded me of Outback Steakhouse, decent meats, but the same sides got repetitive after 7 days. Most of the soups were just awful. Loved the rolls, Seattle's Best Coffee, and the cafe sandwiches made for good late night munchies. We'll be doing specialty dining a couple nights next time to mix it up.

[NLH Arizona]

Haven't read all 80+ responses, but imagine the word "subjective" is in a lot of them. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the food on your recent cruise OP.

We have only cruised the mainstream lines and rank MDR food on X ships the highest. I thought the food on our recent Infinity cruise quite good...and we don't generally go to specialty restaurants.

HAL and NCL MDR food is good in our opinion...just not quite as good as Celebrity. On our two RCCL cruises the food was not at all good....all in my opinion of course, but people were sending food back a lot on those cruises and buffet was not as good as any of the other lines, either. They did have a nice salad bar at lunch time in the MDR.

You are so right.....it is subjective. I have never had a bad meal on either Celebrity or Crystal (I've like some things more than others, but I have never gone hungry on a cruise), but read reviews where people think the food on both cruise lines is awful. On one Crystal review the person said that the food was too exotic and fancy for meat and potatoes folks like them....I had to laugh because I'm pretty meat and potatoes and have never had a hard time finding a fantastic meal on Crystal, plus you can pretty much ask for anything you would like and they will always try to accommodate you. I guess we all just have different likes and dislikes when it comes to food.

 

I really don't know how a cruise line can satisfy all their customers. Some like fancy food, some like plain food, some like sauces, some don't like sauces, some like highly seasoned food, some like no seasoning at all. Who should a cruise line cater to? All the cruise lines can do is try to satisfy the majority of their customers and I think Celebrity does that quite well, based on the majority of the reviews I read on Cruise Critic, as well as other publications.

Edited March 11, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[C 2 C]

RCCL : Most of the soups were just awful. Loved the rolls,

 

Subjective food tastes....

We were on both Oasis and Allure last year as well as Century, Constellation, Eclipse and Millennium. I enjoyed the choice of soups on Royal more than the repetitive and limited choice on Celebrity. We also enjoyed the warm rolls on Royal compared to the breadsticks and same baguette day after day after day....

 

Give me a good soup and sandwich every day and I'd be happy. Unfortunately the soup on Celebrity is the weakest part of their menu unless one like Potato soup every other day.... Even the once wonderful Onion soup in Tuscan, is no longer a highlight of offerings there.

 

(After eight weeks on board Reflection, including three weeks of Specialty dining, I gained one pound. I was fed to my satisfaction but my liquid calories were more to my taste). :D

[cruisequeen4ever]

This is an interesting thread. I'm pleased with the food on Princess. It's usually consistently good. I have wondered about Celebrity because it's touted as a foodie cruise line, but once they got rid of the celebrity chef, it appears that food went downhill. We do have a cruise booked with Celebrity for next year, but it's the Xpedition, so not sure if that really counts for standard Celebrity cuisine.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Subjective food tastes....

We were on both Oasis and Allure last year as well as Century, Constellation, Eclipse and Millennium. I enjoyed the choice of soups on Royal more than the repetitive and limited choice on Celebrity. We also enjoyed the warm rolls on Royal compared to the breadsticks and same baguette day after day after day....

 

Give me a good soup and sandwich every day and I'd be happy. Unfortunately the soup on Celebrity is the weakest part of their menu unless one like Potato soup every other day.... Even the once wonderful Onion soup in Tuscan, is no longer a highlight of offerings there.

 

(After eight weeks on board Reflection, including three weeks of Specialty dining, I gained one pound. I was fed to my satisfaction but my liquid calories were more to my taste). :D

 

Subjective food tastes indeed. I only liked the duck soup on RCL, the other beef brothers were ok, everything else tasted really sub-pare. Actually I had some bell pepper tomato based soup in the buffet that wasn't bad. Hands down, Royal wins on the bread! ;)

[artmc]

First, a word about Carnival: our first four cruises were on Carnival, and we were pleasantly surprised by the food quality on all four, all of them in their MDR. We switched to Celebrity because they had a South American cruise, and Carnival didn't. We've stayed with Celebrity mostly for the atmosphere - slightly older crowd (like us) but not stuffy or boring (dare I say it, like us). We found Celebrity's food to be better, but not THAT much better. We only eat in the MDR and the Oceanview Café, so offer no comment on the specialty restaurants. We'd rather spend the money on things we can't do at home and there are plenty of good restaurants here.

 

Carnival had (and one assumes one still has) chocolate lava cakes as dessert at every dinner that are incredible.

 

We were on Celebrity in 2011, 2012 and 2015. On our most recent cruise (the Silhouette) I found the overall quality of the MDR dinner food wasn't as high as before, but still good. (Try the roast duck and the jerk chicken.) However, I couldn't believe how good the food was in the Oceanview Café. We ate breakfasts and lunches there and were pleasantly surprised. We never did eat lunch in the MDR, but the breakfasts we did eat there were superb; try their smoked salmon omelettes.

[MicCanberra]

I have loved the food on each and every cruise I have done. I have had better meals on individual nights on other lines, however, Celebrity has been the best overall.:D

[BosoxI]

I have loved the food on each and every cruise I have done. I have had better meals on individual nights on other lines, however, Celebrity has been the best overall.:D

 

DW and I like properly seasoned food, me especially. For that reason we've always favored Princess, especially because the service seemed more professional and the dining venues were more restaurant-like. But last month on the Reflection the food in the MDR was as good as we've ever had on a mass market ship. The chef on the Infinity last year could take a lesson.

[GOLDENBONNY]

Well, some of us "live for food" rather then the other way round :). For DW and moi, food/cuisine is an important part of our lives and travel planning. And we have passed this down to DD who has sometimes spent entire days (in Europe) at cooking schools or with restaurant chef's who give lessons.

 

But you are correct that one must lower their standards for the banquet-style food provided in the MDR's of large cruise ships (which is a good reason to cruise on small ships). But lines such as Celebrity do provide other options such as Blu or the other alternative dining venues.

 

Hank

 

Good cuisine is very important part of my life as well. I attend best restaurants in world any time we travel and I have no problem to cook myself most exquisite meals . But I perfectly understand how mass market works and what to expect from DR . I always wonder what people like author of this tread eat at home if they hate so much food in DR.

[GOLDENBONNY]

Because, it's a vacation and what we are paying for! If I'm going to pay $600-1000 a night, I want good food.

Some cruiselines and restaurants do a better job at it than others.

Hopefully Luminae lives up to the hype...

Here's a link to the interview I had with Celebrity's exec in charge of food...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2171955

 

 

Sure if you pay $1000 a night you can expect good food but Celebrity is mass market line and you pay 1000 - 1500 per week if not less .

[SnorkelMoose]

Princess has the best desserts :D

[MicCanberra]

Princess has the best desserts :D

 

And Pizza.:D

[hulamoon]

And Pizza.:D

 

Summit pizza was rather remarkable last December, not sure if it is fleet wide at this point. They were making fresh thin crust and it was definitely much better.

[edenrayne]

Why should I be forced to eat in a specialty restaurant and pay more money? I paid for a cruise that states is higher quality than RCCL.[/quote Agree!!

[edenrayne]

Why should I be forced to eat in a specialty restaurant and pay more money? I paid for a cruise that states is higher quality than RCCL.[/quote Agree!!

[Hlitner]

Ahhh, so lets migrate to one of my favorite Princess subjects which is "Princess Pizza." Once upon a time there was a wonderful Italian cruise line called Sitmar who had Pizzerias on their ships. They were staffed by real Italian pizza chefs, had great pizza, and were fun. Then Sitmar was bought-out by Princess and quickly changed all their ships to Princess ships (i.e. the Fairsky became the Fair Princess......). Most of the Italian crew was fired (or did not have their contracts renewed) and within a few months all those old Sitmar ships were truly Princess. But lo and behold, somebody at Princess HQ had the good sense to keep-up the Sitmar pizza tradition. And now, we think that Princess still has the best pizza at sea! DW and I are pretty sophisticated diners and feel at home at the best restaurants as well as the cheapest tacos places in Puerto Vallarta (our winter home). But when we go on Princess our mouths are watering (before we even get off the gangway) for that Princess Pizza. On our most recent Princess cruise (the Ruby) DW and I immediately grabbed a slice of pizza at that first lunch :).

 

Hank

[MicCanberra]

Ahhh, so lets migrate to one of my favorite Princess subjects which is "Princess Pizza." Once upon a time there was a wonderful Italian cruise line called Sitmar who had Pizzerias on their ships. They were staffed by real Italian pizza chefs, had great pizza, and were fun. Then Sitmar was bought-out by Princess and quickly changed all their ships to Princess ships (i.e. the Fairsky became the Fair Princess......). Most of the Italian crew was fired (or did not have their contracts renewed) and within a few months all those old Sitmar ships were truly Princess. But lo and behold, somebody at Princess HQ had the good sense to keep-up the Sitmar pizza tradition. And now, we think that Princess still has the best pizza at sea! DW and I are pretty sophisticated diners and feel at home at the best restaurants as well as the cheapest tacos places in Puerto Vallarta (our winter home). But when we go on Princess our mouths are watering (before we even get off the gangway) for that Princess Pizza. On our most recent Princess cruise (the Ruby) DW and I immediately grabbed a slice of pizza at that first lunch :).

 

Hank

 

Pizza on the Diamond Princess is the best I have had at sea, close second was on the Celebrity Century, (soon to depart the fleet), followed by Infinity and then the Solstice. All are good but princess' pizza reigns supreme.:D

Edited March 14, 2015 by MicCanberra