Which cruise line has the worst food?

[Smurf2017]

On 4/10/2020 at 1:08 PM, marco said:

And yes...it is subjective.  Particularly after reading the preceding post.  We were on our 4th MSC cruise this past February and it was one of the better dining experiences we've had adn we've been on many cruises on many different lines and ships.  We sailed out of Miami to the Caribbean, we have never sailed on MSC in Europe and folks who have sailed both have said the difference is practically like sailing on two different lines and the overall experience was much better when sailing out of the US..  Also, we've noticed a big difference in the dining experience on different ships of the same line.

 

 

The first of our MSC cruises was also from Miami but to Central America. The second was in the Persian Gulf. I'm not at all a picky eater, but found it difficult to enjoy any of the food on either of these MSC ships. We followed that with a one night taster cruise with Pullmantur. Pricewise they are at the lower end of the cruising market but certainly not as far as the food and customer service were concerned. Both were above what we expected at the price. We should be cruising with them again in June in Europe but cannot see that happening now of course.

[lynncarol]

Best food onboard we have experienced is on the Vantage River cruises. Worst coffee was on a Princess.

Edited April 12, 2020 by lynncarol

[GUT2407]

Princess, Celebrity, P&O, Norwegian, Cunard, Royal Caribbean all pretty similar in food. Some good, some not so good, some fantastic, some appalling.

 

[geoherb]

The most recent cruise lines we've sailed on have been Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, and Carnival. Surprisingly, the worst food out of those four was on Celebrity. It was way below our expectations. We had sailed on three previous Celebrity cruises and had wonderful food. It may have just been an off week for the ship we were on. Princess has been our favorite, but we're pretty familiar with the menu and know which dishes are best and which ones we should skip. Holland America comes in second place for us. Carnival was surprisingly good--better than our expectations but not quite as good as Princess and HAL.

[richstowe]

9 hours ago, geoherb said:

The most recent cruise lines we've sailed on have been Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, and Carnival. Surprisingly, the worst food out of those four was on Celebrity. It was way below our expectations.

Is it fair to grade on expectations ? Yes !  We went Aqua class on our last Celebrity cruise and were disappointed based on our previous experience . Nothing was poor , everything was just OK .

[George C]

My first celebrity cruise ten years ago had terrible food and service, last few were great but had dinner in suite restaurant. 

[Cruzaholic41]

3 hours ago, richstowe said:

Is it fair to grade on expectations ? Yes !  

Absolutely. I went on my last Oceania cruise with very high expectations because they touted themselves as “the gold standard” in dining. They put a lot of effort into their dining advertisements. I was very disappointed. Frankly, I had better meals on Royal Caribbean. I blame it on being owned by NCL. 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Cruzaholic41

[lenquixote66]

8 hours ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

Absolutely. I went on my last Oceania cruise with very high expectations because they touted themselves as “the gold standard” in dining. They put a lot of effort into their dining advertisements. I was very disappointed. Frankly, I had better meals on Royal Caribbean. I blame it on being owned by NCL. 

One of my daughters and her husband only cruise on Oceania .They love the food.

[ldubs]

On 4/12/2020 at 2:34 PM, GUT2407 said:

Princess, Celebrity, P&O, Norwegian, Cunard, Royal Caribbean all pretty similar in food. Some good, some not so good, some fantastic, some appalling.

 

 

Our experience is more variations by ship than by line.   Worst we've had was on Grand Princess (or might have been Crown) several years ago out of SF.  But that was a one time experience as other cruises on that ship the food was very good.  

[clo]

9 hours ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

Absolutely. I went on my last Oceania cruise with very high expectations because they touted themselves as “the gold standard” in dining. They put a lot of effort into their dining advertisements. I was very disappointed. Frankly, I had better meals on Royal Caribbean. I blame it on being owned by NCL. 

I don't dispute you at all but am really surprised. Our only O cruise was in December on Marina and the food was really really good. And I'm kinda 'into' food, both cooking and dining. I had actually been warned here to lower my expectations. Oops I will say that we never ate in the MDR due to a couple of non-food issued. So all our meals were in the Terrace Cafe and the specialty restaurants. I'm really sorry you had that experience.

[navybankerteacher]

There is a certain logic which should be considered.  The fact that: NCL seems to have the most alternative (extra charge) eating options;  combined with their aggressive marketing of alternative dining plans; together with their efforts to be “low cost” -  all indicate that their included dining would receive minimal attention.  When I add my own experience of slipshod service, sometimes cold food, and obviously lower cost provisions in MDRs   —- I believe that NCL’s included food falls well below the standards of other lines.

[George C]

Seems the obvious conclusion is ncl , but no line is immune to having bad meals, also all waiters are not created equally.  Many of us talked about the old times on the much smaller ships with obviously better service , even ncl was good 30 years ago. 

[samiam0403]

Definitely a subjective topic, as food quality varies even ship to ship within the same company. I've had a medium rare flat iron steak in a Carnival MDR that was more tender and delicious than a gristly filet I was presented with in one of their steakhouses on a different ship. I've also had an osso buco on Norwegian Epic that was simply outstanding - and that blew Oceania Riviera's osso buco at Toscana out of the water. That being said, my worst dining experiences (especially in relation to the cost) have consistently been on Royal. I have yet to experience a single above average meal on any Royal Caribbean ship. 

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

There is a certain logic which should be considered.  The fact that: NCL seems to have the most alternative (extra charge) eating options;  combined with their aggressive marketing of alternative dining plans; together with their efforts to be “low cost” -  all indicate that their included dining would receive minimal attention.  When I add my own experience of slipshod service, sometimes cold food, and obviously lower cost provisions in MDRs   —- I believe that NCL’s included food falls well below the standards of other lines.

I wouldn't dispute this and from our one experience in an NCL specialty restaurant (I know, extraordinarily small sample size) I wouldn't say that their alternative dining is "all that", either. We ate in the Italian specialty restaurant and the ambiance was nice (although I've never tasted ambiance and don't like paying extra for it), the appetizers were lovely, as was the desert. We both had the chicken parmigiana. The chicken was nicely done and very tasty but the spaghetti side was absolutely atrocious. The noodles were so over cooked they reminded me of canned spaghetti and the sauce was nothing more than tomato soup. Our following cruise was on Carnival and they offered the same dish in the MDR and it was as good as what we had paid for on NCL and the fact that it was included made it that much better.

 

(I will add that Carnival has a la carte entrees from the steakhouse on their menu in the MDR and on one cruise I decided to try the filet mignon from the steakhouse. It was okay, but I'm glad that I didn't pay the full price for it and knowing what filet costs I suppose it was worth it, but the quality of the meat wasn't the greatest and the preparation wasn't the best.) So we still aren't big fans of specialty dining. (Royal had a good number of specialty dining venues on Anthem of the Seas but we didn't see anything on the menus that attracted us.)

[ducklite]

The two "mass market" lines I've sailed on were Disney and Royal Caribbean.  On a scale of one to 10, Disney was a 6.5 (averaged) and RCCL was a 3.5.  We were so disappointed with the (barely edible) food in the MDR on RCCL that we ate in the specialty restaurants four of seven nights.

Grading all the ships I've been on (excluding additional cost restaurants):

Windstar Wind Surf: 8.5 (7) 
Disney Magic: 7 (6) 

Disney Dream: 6 (5)
Paul Gauguin: 5 (4)
Royal Caribbean Mariner: 3.5 (1.5)

The number in parentheses factors the respective no-charge buffets into the average.

Additional cost dining on RCCL was meh--maybe a 5.5.  On the Disney Magic it was an 8.  On the Disney Dream it was a 9 (Remy!).  The other two ships have no additional cost restaurants.

[richstowe]

8 hours ago, ducklite said:

The two "mass market" lines I've sailed on were Disney and Royal Caribbean. 

Not to nitpick but because of the $'s , I can't consider Disney mass market .

They charge premium prices so I consider them to be a premium brand .

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, richstowe said:

Not to nitpick but because of the $'s , I can't consider Disney mass market .

They charge premium prices so I consider them to be a premium brand .

The prices they charge are for Mickey and the rest of the characters — beyond that focused entertainment aspect there is little “premium” to the brand.  You could book the most expensive suite on one of Royal Caribbean’s heffalumps - but dollar cost alone does not automatically mean a premium experience.

[pacruise804]

I thought mainstream were Carnival, RCL, NCL, and possibly MSC.  I consider HAL, Princess, Celebrity, Disney the beginning of premium.

 

Just one person's opinion based on other threads though.

[Aquahound]

3 hours ago, pacruise804 said:

I thought mainstream were Carnival, RCL, NCL, and possibly MSC.  I consider HAL, Princess, Celebrity, Disney the beginning of premium.

 

Just one person's opinion based on other threads though.

 

I don't think there are any official categories anymore.  If you Google search cruise line classifications, every website seems to categorize them differently, and they seem to use different terms. 

[pacruise804]

Thanks.  I know on the luxury boards they are very adamant that several of the lines discussed there (Viking, Oceania, etc) are not luxury.  Premium seems anything in between.

[NMTraveller]

Hmmm.  With the cutbacks on Celebrity, I wonder if Celebrity is at the bottom?

 

They used to have one of the better mass market line selections.  Not anymore.

Edited January 29, 2023 by NMTraveller

[wcook]

I’ve sailed on all the cheaper mainstream lines. Overall quality is about the same. If I had to put one last it would be carnival, but not by a huge amount. And personally, I really like MSC food.  

[navybankerteacher]

24 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Hmmm.  With the cutbacks on Celebrity, I wonder if Celebrity is at the bottom?

 

They used to have one of the better mass market line selections.  Not anymore.

I would assume that comparable cutbacks are taking place on all lines. 

 

So, given NCL's focus on low fares and their many, many alternative (meaning extra fee) options I am inclined to think that NCL will retain its wide lead in the bad food category.

[Cruzaholic41]

Since this 3 year old thread was resurrected - I’ve sailed many times post-Covid. In current times, my worst meals were on Holland America Eurodam, and my best were on Silver Muse and Viking Orion.  I thought the food on RCI and Celebrity was pretty good with some of the specialty dinners rivaling Silver and Viking. 

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

I thought the food on RCI and Celebrity was pretty good with some of the specialty dinners rivaling Silver and Viking. 

 

As of January 1 Celebrity has made some drastic changes. They literally gutted the dinner buffet (about 20% of stations open according to those onboard). MDR choices have been scaled back as well with missing items (like prime rib) that have been passenger favorites. Cheaper fish, more pasta, etc. Oh -- and upcharges everywhere including for room service (except continental breakfast) and for any additional lobster after ordering one.

 

Not exactly "Relaxed Luxury", as they're saying on the X board....