Food on Oceania

[sailco]

17 hours ago, Debarco said:

Yes, Oceania is more expensive but we found the food considerably better and  speciality restaurants are included in that price as are soda/water at both meals and in your cabin and when you are leaving the ship for an excursion-no need for a beverage package.  Food is generally served at the appropriate temperature, as compared to the larger ships where it is often luke warm.  Also, the food on the buffet is put out in smaller portions and replenished frequently(yes, you may have to wait a few minutes for it to arrive) so it has not been sitting out for an hour; the buffet is served to you so you don't have a fellow passenger's germy hands all over the serving utensils.  Plus it's my understanding that Oceania now includes wi-fi which can be quite expensive on some ships.  

No germy hands and included wifi sure do make the food taste better 🤣

[solosport]

We were on the Nautica that ended in Jan 2020. The food in previous years was much better. The food on our cruise because it was from Dubai to India to Africa didn't have the food resources that you would have in Europe or the US so ingredients were missing and of course most everything is frozen on a long 30 day cruise. We were excited to hear about the fine food on Oceania since we just got off HAL Zaandam to South America that had mediocre food. But the food was very hit or miss on this ship, Nautica. First meal with lobster, the lobster must have had freezer burn because it was gray and tasted off. Steaks are like other people said - tough. Italian at the specialty was mainly good except again the lobster chunks or heavy dishes. Wait staff is fairly good but the ship apparently doesn't train new staff very well. Buffet food was beyond bad. Japanese food, sushi, Thai food, Pizza, Steaks, were below land-based restaurant quality and taste. Many people talked privately with the main dining room chef and food ordering officer, but little could be done except for passengers to continue to complain if something was not right. For example we complained that the Pad Thai was missing ingredients. The next time it was served they got it right. But it was missing bean sprouts and herbs since they couldn't get fresh ingredients in the Indian Ocean.  Can away very disappointed.  So the main thing is it depends on the Master Chef and also the area of the world you are in. PS. Jacque Pepin's cuisine was supposed to be featured, but there were probably only 3 items like Salmon or Roasted Chicken that were served every day from his selections.

[LHT28]

6 hours ago, solosport said:

 PS. Jacque Pepin's cuisine was supposed to be featured, but there were probably only 3 items like Salmon or Roasted Chicken that were served every day from his selections.

Very few of the dishes served are by Jacques  Pepin  unless  you are on the O Class ships & the restaurant named after him

 Some of the cooks  can ruin a simple dish  just depends who is in the kitchen

JMO

[pinotlover]

In the Army, officers had multiple additional duties besides their primary job. In one instance, one of my additional duties was mess officer for a large mess hall that served about six distinct units. I worked hard with my NCOs and soon our mess hall was recognized as the best in all of Augsburg. Good, tasty food well prepared, and the troops were happy. At the end of the day it was still an Army mess hall! We couldn’t compete with most of the nice Gasthouses located outside the posts.

 

Oceania claims to have the best cuisine “ at sea”. If you read the multiple posts about other lines, one quickly realizes that’s not an extremely high bar. Oceania serves reasonably good food to a typically older crowd. Their restaurants will, and cannot, compete with the higher end steak houses or Italian restaurants on shore, no more than my mess hall could compete against the local German restaurants. You’re at sea, with mostly frozen produce and few ( if any) of the fresh herbs and spices necessary for authentic dishes.

 

Keep things in perspective and you mostly won’t be disappointed. Polo Grill is not Fleming’s, nor is Toscana competing against great Italian restaurants in Little Italy! People that somehow believe otherwise are sitting themselves up for disappointment.