Carnival Food Quality Very Subpar

[BlerkOne]

5 hours ago, RockHoundTX said:

 

 

The other big issue was that anything fried was literally dripping in oil. It was the first time ever that I (or my wife) did not finish (could not finish) the fried coconut shrimp. Something must have been wrong with the fryer or they had a new person running it. As such, couldn't fall back to "comfort food" even if you wanted to.     

 

On most cruises, the MDR head comes by the table at least 3-4 times during the cruise to ask how the food is, how the waitstaff are doing, etc. I find it telling that the MDR head did not come to our table (or any of the tables around us) even a single time in 7 days. 

Which cruise line had coconut shrimp swimming in oil?

 

I'm not sure table visits are so wise in the age of covid.

[RockHoundTX]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Which cruise line had coconut shrimp swimming in oil?

 

I'm not sure table visits are so wise in the age of covid.

LOL. You realize that this is a thread in the Carnival forum, correct? As I mentioned in my post, this was on the Christmas cruise on the Carnival Vista out of Galveston.

 

As for the other comments about "not holding restaurants to the same pre-covid standard", that is just insane. Of course they should be held to the same standard. My favorite Mexican restaurant had to raise prices a little but the quality is still the same. If it wasn't, people would stop going and they would go out of business (and I have seen that happen as well). Kind of works the same on cruise-ships. As noted in this thread, I have told several of my friends to NOT book with Carnival until they get their act together. Having done RCL the week before Carnival, the difference in food quality was pretty evident. Now was everything perfect with RCL? No. They had some supply-chain issues and were missing my favorite cookies as well as lamb being limited. However, the food they did serve was great (this particular RCL cruise has the second-best food I had eaten on a cruise in the last 20 years). So if RCL can get it right post-covid, why can't Carnival?   

[BlerkOne]

52 minutes ago, RockHoundTX said:

LOL. You realize that this is a thread in the Carnival forum, correct? As I mentioned in my post, this was on the Christmas cruise on the Carnival Vista out of Galveston.

 

As for the other comments about "not holding restaurants to the same pre-covid standard", that is just insane. Of course they should be held to the same standard. My favorite Mexican restaurant had to raise prices a little but the quality is still the same. If it wasn't, people would stop going and they would go out of business (and I have seen that happen as well). Kind of works the same on cruise-ships. As noted in this thread, I have told several of my friends to NOT book with Carnival until they get their act together. Having done RCL the week before Carnival, the difference in food quality was pretty evident. Now was everything perfect with RCL? No. They had some supply-chain issues and were missing my favorite cookies as well as lamb being limited. However, the food they did serve was great (this particular RCL cruise has the second-best food I had eaten on a cruise in the last 20 years). So if RCL can get it right post-covid, why can't Carnival?   

I asked because I've only seen coconut shrimp on Carnival in the Red Frog Pubs that serve food and one other place. Never in the MDR.

 

Pre/during/post COVID, I have no desire to cruise on Royal again, although they did have a good bread selection. Food aside, I don't care for a lot of cruisers that Royal seems to attract.

 

BTW, we aren't close to post-covid times 

[wesorbeth]

Dinner portions were tiny on the Pride in October. My husband and I don't waste food, we order one app, an entree and usually share a dessert.  A few nights I left still hungry.

 

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, wesorbeth said:

Dinner portions were tiny on the Pride in October. My husband and I don't waste food, we order one app, an entree and usually share a dessert.  A few nights I left still hungry.

 

I think the serving portions have been downsized some to reduce waste. Might need to double up, or get some pizza later.

[ilovesparky13]

9 hours ago, wesorbeth said:

Dinner portions were tiny on the Pride in October. My husband and I don't waste food, we order one app, an entree and usually share a dessert.  A few nights I left still hungry.

 

They are SUPPOSED to be small so you can enjoy multiple things. If you left hungry, that is on you. 

[beerman2]

9 hours ago, wesorbeth said:

Dinner portions were tiny on the Pride in October. My husband and I don't waste food, we order one app, an entree and usually share a dessert.  A few nights I left still hungry.

 

Did you not think about asking for more?  I’ve never been turned down asking for seconds, without being wasteful.

[canes20]

10 hours ago, wesorbeth said:

Dinner portions were tiny on the Pride in October. My husband and I don't waste food, we order one app, an entree and usually share a dessert.  A few nights I left still hungry.

 

[hurricane0226]

56 minutes ago, beerman2 said:

Did you not think about asking for more?  I’ve never been turned down asking for seconds, without being wasteful.

Was on the Pride this past week, and never left the MDR hungry, always have at least two, sometime three starters, the main, bread, and dessert, the crew would try and get me to order even more if I wanted, they were very accommodating , plus the ship was only at about 49 % 

[sfaaa]

1 hour ago, beerman2 said:

Did you not think about asking for more?  I’ve never been turned down asking for seconds, without being wasteful.

Especially on lobster night. Supersize everything from start to finish. 

[Guest BasicSailor]

21 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Which cruise line had coconut shrimp swimming in oil?

 

I'm not sure table visits are so wise in the age of covid.

They had the coconut shrimp on the buffet and in the MDR. It's served rather oily. The only way I can eat it is to take all the breading off the shrimp and just eat the shrimp. 

[BlerkOne]

6 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

They had the coconut shrimp on the buffet and in the MDR. It's served rather oily. The only way I can eat it is to take all the breading off the shrimp and just eat the shrimp. 

Hmmm. I still don't recall in the MDR. Like ever. They have several other shrimp preparations.

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

9 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Hmmm. I still don't recall in the MDR. Like ever. They have several other shrimp preparations.

 

 You're probably right, as I'm no shrimp expert.

[ilovesparky13]

51 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

They had the coconut shrimp on the buffet and in the MDR. It's served rather oily. The only way I can eat it is to take all the breading off the shrimp and just eat the shrimp. 

So then why didn’t you return it and ask for a shrimp cocktail instead? You can never go wrong with those. 

[staceyglow]

2 hours ago, sfaaa said:

Especially on lobster night. Supersize everything from start to finish. 

Yep.  A couple of cruises ago, I ordered the lobster, and the server himself said, "I recommend you order two of them.  They are very small."

[drjpreston]

Was on the Panorama last week.  All food was great.  Better than expectations.  Better than recent cruises.  Food is always subjective.  We feel deserts better on Princess but Carnival was better for other meals last week.  Portion size average.  Never went away hungry. Most meat provided was excellent and large portions.  Lobsters were small but have been for a long time.   They did seem to have a better flavor than normal. Soup was always hot which was not normal in the past. Bread always warm.  Butter soft.  We were not unhappy with any of our meals. 

[BlerkOne]

16 minutes ago, dcsham said:

Saw it on the Panorama this week. Probably been a while since you were on a boat, what with all the risk and all. 

Been on 4 cruises since the restart, including NYE. Still haven't seen on a MDR menu. Perhaps you could produce the menu showing them? 

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, drjpreston said:

  Butter soft.  

We were surprised when the butter on Valor on NYE wasn't soft. I don't remember it being like that on the Nov 1 cruise.

[SNJCruisers]

17 hours ago, wesorbeth said:

Dinner portions were tiny on the Pride in October. My husband and I don't waste food, we order one app, an entree and usually share a dessert.  A few nights I left still hungry.

 

You can order a salad, a soup, an app, an entree and a dessert per person with no problem at all.  And you can also make a surf n turf on lobster tail night if so desired.  If you leave the MDR hungry, you have nobody to blame but yourself.  And don't say that there are no entrees that you like since you can get a grilled chicken breast or a flat iron steak any night.

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, ilovesparky13 said:

So then why didn’t you return it and ask for a shrimp cocktail instead? You can never go wrong with those. 

The ones on Carnival?   You need about 2 dozen plates to make up a good sized portion.

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, dcsham said:

Saw it on the Panorama this week. Probably been a while since you were on a boat, what with all the risk and all. 

I don't know about being on a boat, but I do know that Blerk has been on multiple Carnival ships post Covid.

[Guest BasicSailor]

 I think I confused the sweet and sour shrimp with the Coconut shrimp.😖

Edited January 17, 2022 by BasicSailor

[Guest BasicSailor]

6 hours ago, ilovesparky13 said:

So then why didn’t you return it and ask for a shrimp cocktail instead? You can never go wrong with those. 

Cause I had already had three of those 😇

[Pellaz]

10 hours ago, ilovesparky13 said:

They are SUPPOSED to be small so you can enjoy multiple things. If you left hungry, that is on you. 

 

Yep.  A case in point is the lobster tail on Cruise Elegant night, where they EXPECT most diners to order at least two -- and plan accordingly, preparing enough in advance to satisfy that number.   So you DO often get invited by the server to get more than one, thus:  

 

6 hours ago, staceyglow said:

Yep.  A couple of cruises ago, I ordered the lobster, and the server himself said, "I recommend you order two of them.  They are very small."

 

On our cruise, my sister had two, and the server offered her a third one.  

 

Granted this was a while ago (2011) but at that time, per the Chef de Cuisine on the Imagination (r.i.p.), the record number of lobster tails consumed at one seating on Imagination stood at 18.   The fleetwide record?   23.  😮  😮     

 

So yeah.  Feel free to order more than one.  Or two.  Or three....    🙂  

Edited January 17, 2022 by Pellaz

[beerman2]

59 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

Cause I had already had three of those 😇

Our waiter knew I was going to get another shrimp , so after day 2 , they always just brought 2.