Food on Princess Cruises

[Laurab23]

We will be going on our first Princess cruise,on the Crown Princess.We've only been on Carnival Legend and loved their food. I figure we will enjoy Princess food as well. As long as my SO can have steak every night if he wants it,he'll be happy. We are not hight class food eaters,our favorite restaurants are Olive Garden and The Outback,just to give you an idea of our tastes. I worry over some of the food reviews I've read about Princess but i read the same thing about Carnival. As long as they have lobster and escargot,I'm happy.And I will ask if I can have escargot a couple nights.

 

Laura

[LICRUISER2GO]

Hi Twinsmomct!

We were on the second sailing of the Caribbean Princess. We didn't feel there was a great choice of appetizers or entrees. We had the same thing many nights. Tried to go to a buffet about midnight, but there wan't one. You had to sit & be waited on. Lots of time wasted just to get a light snack. Didn't like paying for ice cream either. Carnival & Royal Caribbean had Princess beat by a mile. Can't believe we're going on this same ship again. Certainly isn't for the food. It's the Eastern Caribbean itinerary with Princess Cays.

Have fun!

Barb

I was on Princess Star last year and thought the food was great.

Maybe the food on Carnival and Royal Caribbean is better but they should try harder at keeping their passengers from falling overboard:rolleyes:

[senatorgirth]

It is admittedly difficult to evaluate the quality of food on board, especially when one considers the very reasonable cruise fare charged and the very large amounts one can spend on truly fine dining. The best way I can describe it is as follows: the dining room is better than most mainstream chain restaurants but not as good as one would find at a quality, big-city bistro with entrees in the $20-30. range. Despite Princess marketing intimations, there will be no Michelin stars awarded to their kitchens for haute cuisine. But neither will there be many diners who leave their table without a happy tummy.

 

Those who eat frequently at, say, Denny’s or Applebee's will likely find the Princess experience to be spectacular. However, those who are regulars at Alain Ducasse will almost assuredly be disappointed.

[rho88]

I just came off the Golden Princess. I actually didn't like the food at all. Desert was excellent, but the entree was only good, not great. I prefer the food I had last year on NCL Sea.

 

Breakfest was much better on NCL too. The croissant for example on Princess is similar to what you'll have in any North american bakeries, the NCL croissant was what you'll find in a French bakery in France. Now to those who has never been to France it might not make a difference, but trust me there is. And no waffle/omellet stations on Princess.

 

I think the chef on each ship makes a difference. But I also think that each ship receives different supplies from their ports so maybe that makes a difference too.

[kaffybear]

I've been on RC and Princess, and I think Princess has the best food. Try the specialty restarauants too. They charge a small fee, but are worth it. And the people who worked the buffets were the nice people we met.

[flynrph]

Listen, if somebody else is going to cook it, serve it, and clean it up, it's gourmet to me!

By that criteria, I'm a gourmet chef! :D (Not!):cool:

[scootepie66]

When ordering room service coffee for two, do they bring you a pot or just two cups of coffee?

 

Thanks,

When we ordered room service coffee we got a pot with 2 cups/saucers and we would put a 4 for cream (we like alot of creme). We also would order crousants (spelling??) with orange marmalade very yummy. On sea day we called down to room service around 10 am and was able to order hashbrowns, bacon, and omelettes, we were surprised since this was not on the room service menu. So ask for something from room service you never know you might get it.

[normanb]

We were on the Star two weeks ago and I posted a review entitled Just of the Star Jan 22. We cruise ever year and have been on most major lines. We did RCL in 2004 and 2005 (Radiance and Brilliance). I do agree with the posters that say food is subjective. However I feel that Princess's dining room food is definately better than RCCL's. The buffet in RCCL has a better layout than Princess. And there's no question that Princess's food by the pool (pizza, burgers, sausages) tops RCCL's. Princess offers NY Sirloin, Fillet, Salmon, etc. every night, plus their nightly offerings. The pasta dishes on Princess are great for the most part. The dining room food on RCCL is fair to good while Princess's is good to very good (considering that you are eating with 500 other people). We have been on Celebrity a couple of times and their food is as good or better than Princess. We would rate it Celebrity, Princess, the RCCL.

[Katie333]

I enjoyed the food on Princess quite a bit, and more so than the other two lines I've cruises (RCI/Carnival). Princess did a better job of keeping food hot on the buffet, and I enjoyed the burger/pizza places.

 

A nice touch for me was the Caribe Buffet which I think they only have on Caribbean Princess and on the new Crown. This is a casual venue which features lots of seafood and themed menues.

[cruzin girl]

I think that Princess has very good food. Although it is not 5 star quality, for something that is prepared in mass quantities for so many people it is just fine. For me it's the whole cruise experience that keeps me coming back.

[Sasadoo]

We were on the Golden Princess 1/21/06-1/28/06. We felt the food was a huge disappointment. :( We chose the anytime dining and was happy with it.:) We never had to wait for a table in the dining room and were able to get a table for two. :) We ate between 5:30-6:30, not sure if this would be the same for a later time.

 

The quality in the Horizon Buffet is not very good. Breaksfast was okay, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and usual fare, we didn't like the breaksfast pastry, it was not homemade, grocery store frozen type. The fruit was lower grade fruit. Lunch wasn't much better and at times didn't know what is was they were serving and it did not seem fresh. The cold cuts were poor quality. Beware, stay away from the midnight buffet, it is just plain nasty.

 

The dining room food had a nice presentation but was nothing spectacular. There were no memorable meals and if you like desert, forget it. Shrimp cocktail was very tiny almost salad type shrimp. If you are the type of folks that eat box or frozen foods this may be acceptable food but for anyone that is a foody, forget this cruise line. The food is cheap and low quality but they will give you a lot, but it is not that good. We had better food off the ship. We will probably cruise Celebrity or Holland to assure we get a better grade of food. We didn't go to the speciality restaurants since we didn't feel we should have to spend $40 a couple for perhaps a decent meal.

[nednrom]

17 Princess cruises and the food just keeps gettin better and better!

 

Ron

 

I disagree Coiran. This last cruise on the Star, I find the food in the dining room to be just OK nothing spectacular accept for lobster night. I had RCI Explorer to compare it to the same year.

 

We took the Grand in 2000 and I can honestly say, at that point, the food was "GRAND" on Princess and above other cruise lines. But again, as many have pointed out, this has been discussed many times and it is very subjective.