Dining quality on the Pacific Princess

[huskerdan25]

We are booked on the August 17, 2019 Ireland, Wales and Scotland (with option Military Tattoo) cruise on the Pacific Princess and we have never been on the Pacific before. I see that the capacity is 670 so as small as some of the Oceania cruise ships. With so much fewer people, is it reasonable to expect that the quality of the food would be better than on the much larger ships? From some reviews I have read, that isn't the case. Sounds like the food quality has gotten poorer across the entire fleet including Princess' one small ship?

 

Anyone who has sailed on the Pacific recently able to confirm or deny this?

 

We still will take this cruise because of the itinerary and because we want to sail on a much smaller ship for once but kind of disappointing that our expectations for the food cannot be heightened considering the ship is small much smaller and the number of meals that need to be made are as well. Is it the ingredients, the cooks.....?

 

We just got off the Grand on the 15 day cruise to Hawaii from SF and the meals were hit and miss. Having taken our 10th cruise with Princess, it is definitely noticeable the decline in the food in the main dining room. We still find the food in the specialty restaurants to be worth the added cost.

[Pam in CA]

Overall, the dining experience on the PP is terrific. Oscar is one of the best Maitre d’s at sea. You’ll love the Pacific Princess.

[Superfragger]

It seems to me like recent dissidents are overly critic of other aspects of their cruise experience, so I just shrug them off as being picky people. We had a great time and amazing food on the Crown Princess in november last year (one of the largest ships in the fleet); we did not feel at all like the food quality has been going down in recent years.

 

People are saying that there is less and less steak and seafood in the MDR but there was either a prime rib or a filet mignon every night on our sailing. Nothing has been replaced by a burger as others have suggested, but they do have a burger in the "Princess Favorites" section of the menu now.

[huskerdan25]

Overall, the dining experience on the PP is terrific. Oscar is one of the best Maitre d’s at sea. You’ll love the Pacific Princess.

 

Thanks Pam, this is encouraging coming from you! I know food is subjective, but I would hope we could expect an uptick on a much smaller cruise ship.

[Micahs Grandad]

Like the itineraries the Pacific Princess but have always seen pricing double or even more than other Princess ships.

 

Is it really worth that much more?

[msmoger]

Overall, the dining experience on the PP is terrific. Oscar is one of the best Maitre d’s at sea. You’ll love the Pacific Princess.

 

I'll totally second this assessment. Oscar is a hoot!!:D:D

[memoak]

We were on the Pacific for 17 days in December and the meals were excellent

[paul929207]

The reason the Pacific Princess is the size of some of the Oceania chips is that all of them are former Renaissance ships.

[JF - retired RRT]

We were on the Pacific for 34 days in Dec. 2015 - Jan. 2016. Not exactly "recent", but the food was the best we've had on any of our Princess cruises (23).

Also, as noted by others, Oscar is a superb maître d'. The head waiter was also excellent (can't remember his name).

[huskerdan25]

Appreciate the responses. Not sure why some of the reviews I read gave me a different perspective but I would hope that we could expect better food. Actually we would expect it to be the best of any of our cruises as well. Is turnover on dining staff minimal as it seems from the responses that the Maitre D' has been on the Princess for quite some time?

 

For the first time in 10 Princess cruises, we actually had to have several dishes taken away while on the Hawaii cruise so while not bad, some of the meals were disappointing. Looking for a better dining experience in the Pacific.

 

Just thought of another question. Will the menus on this cruise contain dishes native to the British Isles? Or should we expect standard menu options we would find on other cruises like the Caribbean?

[Waynetor]

In Dec and Jan we did 21 days on the Crown, 14 days on the Pacific and 21 days on the Regal. Overall we did not find much difference in the food quality from ship to ship - never felt like returning any meal nor did anyone we eat with. Each ship had standard dinning room menus. The larger

ships had more options in the buffet area. I'm not impressed with any of the pizza offered. The grill (burgers etc.) is similar quality ship to ship.

As other have said Oscar, the Maitre d on the Pacific was wonderful, especially for Christmas and New Years. Every night he would come around to each table and check on how the dinner was.

[Griller]

We were on Pacific P. in November and December 2017.

 

 

We know that the food is not as good on there as it used to be but its as good as you will get on Princess now and sometimes better.

 

 

They can only work with what ingredients they are sent and have to do what they are told by the suits at Head Office.

So yes the menus are somewhat limited now, portions are smaller, favorite dishes are gone, and the steak in the MDR leaves much to be desired IMHO.

 

 

But the Chef does wonders with what he has to work with. And its easier to do that with 700 passengers than 3600.

 

 

The crew work really hard and waiter turnover is not high on Pacific, we have seen the same crew time after time over years of cruising on the ship.

 

 

As far as British menu items go then what we noticed was that in the breakfast buffet where there had been some British items these were now gone.

 

 

And the Twinings and Bigelows teabags were gone, replaced by some unknown brand I will never want to buy.

 

 

I have now realized I can cruise on a more upmarket line for not much more than Pacific P cost.and have a considerably better experience, like Princess was BITD when I started.

[flamomo]

We did 23 days on the lovely Pacific Princess a few months ago, and had great dining room experiences. The menu offerings will look familiar because they seem to be much the same as any other Princess ship, but I can't think of a single thing I ordered that was not as good as what I hoped/expected it would be, based on past Princess experiences. The dining room staff was exceptional. They worked very hard to provide excellent service.

My cruise companion has dietary restrictions, and the headwaiter was very attuned to it and went out of his way to help her have a great dining experience too.

That was my 3rd time on the Pacific (I LOVE that ship!!), and the overall level of excellence has not changed, IMO. Upon embarkation this time, I was very surprised to find out that some of the staff actually remembered me from my past cruises on her.

Edited February 14, 2018 by flamomo

[KevintheIrishDJ]

Pacific Princess is our favorite ship. Not for everyone because of less activities. You can almost touch the performers. The food is very good and the staff bends over backwards to please you. We are booked for the 2018 Christmas and New years cruise (if we don't get another Move over). Oscar is no longer on the ship.

[msmoger]

Pacific Princess is our favorite ship. Not for everyone because of less activities. You can almost touch the performers. The food is very good and the staff bends over backwards to please you. We are booked for the 2018 Christmas and New years cruise (if we don't get another Move over). Oscar is no longer on the ship.

 

I bet he'll be back after his break. :D