Bland food - Carnival Victory

[cruiser4four]

I just got off the Victory and was very disappointed with the food. The Chopsticks restaurant offered fried rice which was a level below that of fried rice offered at the mall food court. The pizza was tasteless and the crust soggy. I sailed when the new pizza recipe made its debut and I loved it back then, but it was such a disappointment now. The jerk chicken and fried rice offered at the bbq on Half Moon Cay was terrible. Jerk chicken is pretty easy to make but yet Carnival managed to screw that up. It was tasteless. The grocery store in my area sells jerk chicken seasoning in the jar, maybe I will send Carnival a few jars.

 

I did enjoy the chicken tenders, fries, and tuna sandwiches though.

Edited November 14, 2015 by cruiser4four

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

The Victory's buffet has always been hit or miss with lots of soggy watered down tasteless items and also some surprisingly good food can be found. For dinner I always stick to the MDR and the food is decent there. For lunch I just grab a piece of everything from the buffet until I find something I like.

Edited November 14, 2015 by ATL_Miami_Cruiser

[cb at sea]

They do tend towards "bland"...to try and satisfy everyone....you can always ADD stuff...you can't take it away!

[cruiser4four]

They do tend towards "bland"...to try and satisfy everyone....you can always ADD stuff...you can't take it away!

 

 

Lol I agree with you and I took my own hot sauce but that didn't help. Maybe next time I will take my own wok and hot plate to cook my own food. I'm disappointed because fried rice is a pretty simple dish to make. Also, jerk chicken is known to be spicy and well seasoned, bland jerk chicken isn't jerk chicken at all, its just chicken with a brown color.

[sanmarcosman]

They do tend towards "bland"...to try and satisfy everyone....you can always ADD stuff...you can't take it away!

That's what they tell people in assisted living, this is a cruise!

[Pellaz]

Victory is kinda the ugly duckling when it comes to food in Carnival's fleet. No steakhouse, no Mongolian Wok, no Guy's Burgers, no Blue Iguana Cantina....your choices are kinda limited. I enjoyed our cruise on Victory and both the food and the service in the MDR were on par, but you're basically screwed when it comes to specialty choices.

Edited November 14, 2015 by Pellaz

[joeyancho]

I just got off the Victory and was very disappointed with the food. The Chopsticks restaurant offered fried rice which was a level below that of fried rice offered at the mall food court. The pizza was tasteless and the crust soggy. I sailed when the new pizza recipe made its debut and I loved it back then, but it was such a disappointment now. The jerk chicken and fried rice offered at the bbq on Half Moon Cay was terrible. Jerk chicken is pretty easy to make but yet Carnival managed to screw that up. It was tasteless. The grocery store in my area sells jerk chicken seasoning in the jar, maybe I will send Carnival a few jars.

 

I did enjoy the chicken tenders, fries, and tuna sandwiches though.

 

We just returned today from the Miracle 7 day Mexican Riviera. I agree with you about the food. The buffet food was hideous. I used to enjoy the buffet food, but it was just terrible. Any and all beef dishes were as tough as calculus. The hamburgers were horrible. I cannot buy ground beef that bad. Pink slime would have been an upgrade. The chicken tenders were so salty that I took the precaution of taking an extra blood pressure pill. Except for the turkey, all carved meats were dry and tough. Why do they even bother? Seaday brunch was bad too. And the crew knows it. When I tried to order the pasta, the waiter told me, "you don't want that, the pasta is dried out." How hard is it to keep pasta from drying out? The MDR was hit and miss. Ironically, the beef dishes were excellent. Filet mignon was good. The jerk pork, which I used to look forward to, was dry. The steakhouse was a huge disappointment. Used to be the best food on the ship. The starters were mediocre, not much flavor. The lobster bisque tasted like cream of coffee soup. Everyone ordered beef, everyone ate half of it. It was tender enough but lacked flavor. I ordered the spice rubbed steak. I didn't detect any spices besides salt. I was embarrassed to take my family there to celebrate my wife's birthday. Huge letdown, having looked forward to it for several months. I could go on but I am just getting angry for wasting my money on this family cruise. The only pleasant surprise was the new pizza. I really enjoyed it. It is thin crust similar to the new trendy pizza places like Pieology or Pie Graph. We hadn't cruised carnival for a few years and it will be a long while until we try it again.

Edited November 15, 2015 by joeyancho

[mapsmith]

They do tend towards "bland"...to try and satisfy everyone....you can always ADD stuff...you can't take it away!

 

Bingo!!!! In order to cook for all the tastes that a cruise ship has,

 

Vegetarian,

Vegan,

Low Sodium,

Gluten Free,

Shellfish, Egg, Milk, etc, allergies.

 

Carnival must cook the food relatively bland. I have found that a little salt and pepper will perk up the taste. One person on a cruise a few years ago brought a small vial of garlic salt to season his food. Tabasco is readily available. Use it.

 

The food is good, they just can't season it. So you have to.

[joeyancho]

Bingo!!!! In order to cook for all the tastes that a cruise ship has,

 

Vegetarian,

Vegan,

Low Sodium,

Gluten Free,

Shellfish, Egg, Milk, etc, allergies.

 

Carnival must cook the food relatively bland. I have found that a little salt and pepper will perk up the taste. One person on a cruise a few years ago brought a small vial of garlic salt to season his food. Tabasco is readily available. Use it.

 

The food is good, they just can't season it. So you have to.

 

Land based restaurants cook for the same folks, they cook for flavor.

[jimbo5544]

We just returned today from the Miracle 7 day Mexican Riviera. I agree with you about the food. The buffet food was hideous. I used to enjoy the buffet food, but it was just terrible. Any and all beef dishes were as tough as calculus. The hamburgers were horrible. I cannot buy ground beef that bad. Pink slime would have been an upgrade. The chicken tenders were so salty that I took the precaution of taking an extra blood pressure pill. Except for the turkey, all carved meats were dry and tough. Why do they even bother? Seaday brunch was bad too. And the crew knows it. When I tried to order the pasta, the waiter told me, "you don't want that, the pasta is dried out." How hard is it to keep pasta from drying out? The MDR was hit and miss. Ironically, the beef dishes were excellent. Filet mignon was good. The jerk pork, which I used to look forward to, was dry. The steakhouse was a huge disappointment. Used to be the best food on the ship. The starters were mediocre, not much flavor. The lobster bisque tasted like cream of coffee soup. Everyone ordered beef, everyone ate half of it. It was tender enough but lacked flavor. I ordered the spice rubbed steak. I didn't detect any spices besides salt. I was embarrassed to take my family there to celebrate my wife's birthday. Huge letdown, having looked forward to it for several months. I could go on but I am just getting angry for wasting my money on this family cruise. The only pleasant surprise was the new pizza. I really enjoyed it. It is thin crust similar to the new trendy pizza places like Pieology or Pie Graph. We hadn't cruised carnival for a few years and it will be a long while until we try it again.

 

I have always enjoyed the humor you bring here. Let me see if I get the drift of what you thought about the food....hideous, terrible, horrible, slime would have been an upgrade, dry, tough, can't eat it, no flavor, wasting your money. Please post a review so I can get an idea of how much you enjoyed your cruise. Can't wait to read it.

Edited November 15, 2015 by jimbo5544

[joeyancho]

I have always enjoyed the humor you bring here. Let me see if I get the drift of what you thought about the food....hideous, terrible, horrible, slime would have been an upgrade, dry, tough, can't eat it, no flavor, wasting your money. Please post a review so I can get an idea of how much you enjoyed your cruise. Can't wait to read it.

 

Actually I did Enjoy the cruise, just not the food. And I said pink slime, not slime.

[mpdog42]

For my next Cruise in March, I am going to take Mrs Dash,.. HP steak sauce from England and some tobacco Sauce.....Any more Ideas???

 

Mike

[koss78b2]

yes i just did a back to back cruise, on glory and a 5 day on victory

did miss the Blue Iguana Cantina that was awesome, and Guys burgers

the MDR was really good. i thought, then not a picky eater. ,buffet was fine,

i think maybe being a 5 day cruise, different ships are used for everything

7 day you get different crowd of passengers, i think

 

the bars were still fun, and good drinks

[watermelonqueen99]

The food on the Magic is terrible. On par with hospital food. But we just look at it as we don't cruise for the food, it's just necessary to fuel our bodies for the fun stuff and to absorb the alcohol. LOL

[jimbo5544]

The food on the Magic is terrible. On par with hospital food. But we just look at it as we don't cruise for the food, it's just necessary to fuel our bodies for the fun stuff and to absorb the alcohol. LOL

 

The things we have to do.....

[timhoke]

For my next Cruise in March, I am going to take Mrs Dash,.. HP steak sauce from England and some tobacco Sauce.....Any more Ideas???

 

Mike

 

Pretty much any seasoning or herb you have in the kitchen at home. The ONLY food that is totally flavorless is the Indian food.

[elainmir]

I think the Mongolian Wok on any ship that has it is your best bet..they will add whatever you want to it..I get it HOT..and since it's everything I picked out ,it's fresh. I agree that the pizza can be hit or miss...you can do ok in the deli with the tuna Sammy...the MDR usually finds me with some type of steak, chicken or shrimp. Breakfast means omelet or boiled eggs , I just can't do the fake eggs. ugh. The omelet you can add jalapenos to..there are some ways to have some flavor ...I wonder how much food waste there really is due to the lack of flavor or freshness?

[simplelife]

We were on the Victory in June. Other than a snack of fries and chicken tenders from the poolside grill the first afternoon and late night dessert one night, we ate all out meals in the MDR. Sounds like that was a good decision.

[soccersharon]

Pretty much any seasoning or herb you have in the kitchen at home. The ONLY food that is totally flavorless is the Indian food.

 

 

The Indian food was flavourless? Did you mean flavourful? Carnival serves some of the best Indian food around :)

[mapsmith]

Land based restaurants cook for the same folks, they cook for flavor.

 

But land based restaurants are not cooking for 3000 people during a 3 hour window either. If you only have to cook for 40-50 people per hour, you can focus on flavor. With the sheer numbers of plates that a ship has to prepare, well, sometimes flavor enhancements fall to the wayside.

[terryinal]

Land based restaurants cook for the same folks, they cook for flavor.

 

Yes but at a land base restaurant if you don't like the food you just walk down the street.

[Havingfun2010]

We just returned today from the Miracle 7 day Mexican Riviera. I agree with you about the food. The buffet food was hideous. I used to enjoy the buffet food, but it was just terrible. Any and all beef dishes were as tough as calculus. The hamburgers were horrible. I cannot buy ground beef that bad. Pink slime would have been an upgrade. The chicken tenders were so salty that I took the precaution of taking an extra blood pressure pill. Except for the turkey, all carved meats were dry and tough. Why do they even bother? Seaday brunch was bad too. And the crew knows it. When I tried to order the pasta, the waiter told me, "you don't want that, the pasta is dried out." How hard is it to keep pasta from drying out? The MDR was hit and miss. Ironically, the beef dishes were excellent. Filet mignon was good. The jerk pork, which I used to look forward to, was dry. The steakhouse was a huge disappointment. Used to be the best food on the ship. The starters were mediocre, not much flavor. The lobster bisque tasted like cream of coffee soup. Everyone ordered beef, everyone ate half of it. It was tender enough but lacked flavor. I ordered the spice rubbed steak. I didn't detect any spices besides salt. I was embarrassed to take my family there to celebrate my wife's birthday. Huge letdown, having looked forward to it for several months. I could go on but I am just getting angry for wasting my money on this family cruise. The only pleasant surprise was the new pizza. I really enjoyed it. It is thin crust similar to the new trendy pizza places like Pieology or Pie Graph. We hadn't cruised carnival for a few years and it will be a long while until we try it again.

 

I thought the food was bad on my very last Carnival Cruise and it sounds worse. You were brave to give them another chance.

[jimbo5544]

I thought the food was bad on my very last Carnival Cruise and it sounds worse. You were brave to give them another chance.

 

Now, that is funny!:)

[SeaGoingDAD]

I just got off the Victory and was very disappointed with the food. The Chopsticks restaurant offered fried rice which was a level below that of fried rice offered at the mall food court. The pizza was tasteless and the crust soggy. I sailed when the new pizza recipe made its debut and I loved it back then, but it was such a disappointment now. The jerk chicken and fried rice offered at the bbq on Half Moon Cay was terrible. Jerk chicken is pretty easy to make but yet Carnival managed to screw that up. It was tasteless. The grocery store in my area sells jerk chicken seasoning in the jar, maybe I will send Carnival a few jars.

 

I did enjoy the chicken tenders, fries, and tuna sandwiches though.

 

There's something about that ship. Sailed her twice, 6 years apart, and the food was awful.

[SMSACE6]

We are all different in our likes and dislikes of food, but I can only say that I had no problem with the food on Victory last month. I ate in the MDR, (ytd), and the lido buffet, grill, chopsticks, deli, and room service, and had no problems with any of the food. Sure there was an item or two from the buffet, and in the mdr, that just was not something I would like to try again, but for 5 days, I sure enjoyed what I ate about 95pc of the time.

 

But; this is just me, and I am usually pretty easy to please with food. To each their own.