Opinions re: included food venues

[foodsvcmgr]

Lots of complaints on food quality, variety, and other cuts in Royal Caribbean and various Carnival Corp. boards.

For those recently on multiple lines including NCL how is NCL holding up in this era of cuts?

Seems like far fewer complaints here.

Considering changing Royal to NCL for Bermuda this spring.

[RocketMan275]

You'll find those kinds of complaints on every cruise line.  

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Lots of complaints on food quality, variety, and other cuts in Royal Caribbean and various Carnival Corp. boards.

For those recently on multiple lines including NCL how is NCL holding up in this era of cuts?

Seems like far fewer complaints here.

Considering changing Royal to NCL for Bermuda this spring.

NCL food is ok. NCL continues to innovate and try new things to cater to the contemporary cruise. Those younger cruisers who will sustain the cruise line for the decades to come.
 

Old folks like me complain when our old time favorite leaves. But change is good. 
 

Like when chicken noodle soup was replace with pho. Or when fish sticks were replaced with poached salmon. And who can forget the outrage when chicken fingers were replaced with rotisserie chicken. 
 

The ship’s executive chefs will tell you that if an item is not selling and most of it goes down the garbage chute at the end of arrive, it will be off the menu on the next update. 
 

Despite the white tablecloths, this is not fine dining. Unlike your local restaurant who turns 50 covers a night and can cook to order, MDR food is mass produced to turn 2000+ covers per meal.  

[ZoeyRox]

We enjoyed the MDR on the Joy. We are at Savor/Taste for dinner when we weren’t having specialty dining. All meals were good-great. 
 

We also ate at Savor/Taste for breakfast many days. I do not recommend the Local for breakfast. Smaller portions and choices and service was poor-to-fair for breakfast. 
 

We had lunch at the Local many times and still talk about the food. The food and service quality are much improved for lunch and dinner. It’s also a lot of fun to sit over the atrium and play trivia while enjoying lunch. 
 

The buffet was a typical buffet. Breakfast was better than the Local. Lots of options and multiple stations have the same food so you can walk past the busy stations and go further into the buffet so you don’t have to wait in line. We also always found good seats at the end of the dining area (overlooking the observation lounge). It is a lot quieter there. 
 

We never at at the Manhattan room because that’s not our vibe. 
 

I hope this helps. 

[SimplyAlbert]

DH and I are not picky eaters.  We found we like the food better on NCL than Carnival or RCCL.  We feel there's more variety, especially at the buffet.  While we just have breakfast/lunch at the buffet on Carnival and RCCL, we've eaten dinner at NCL's buffet more than once and found it to be pretty good.

[jdvmd]

I saw generic fruit loops cereal offered at the buffet on the Encore recently. Thought that was a cost cutter.

[J0Y0US]

Haven good

 

Regular food was fairly poor in Sept 2021 on Encore so much so I outlined I would never cruise on NCL except if I were in Haven moving forward.

 

Example the food was so bad in some instances that we thought we go the wrong chicken wings because the "buffalo" wings had zero correlation to any buffalo style ever tasted before.

[New2cruise2022]

I think you can get a feel for the food by polling boards at CC, but only you can know by trying. Food experiences are based on likes and dislikes, expectations, eating lifestyle, and body of experience.
If you are a competent home chef and you don’t eat out often because you like your own cooking, any ship is likely to disappoint … because it’s not your cooking. 

If you consider yourself a foodie and love sampling restaurants with the best reviews, it is unlikely that a cruise ship serving thousands of meals per night, as @BirdTravels mentions, is going to do better than a land restaurant that specializes in only a few dishes and serves to a much smaller dinner. 
There are some cruisers that eat the same things all the time on land that will miss them when they are on a ship. Or the same cruiser eating the same things all the time on land that feel like a whole world of food has been opened up to them. 
If you know yourself and the food you like, if you have a good attitude and welcome variety, if you order smart and find value in not having to cook for a week, there is a really good chance that you enjoy the food that hits right and don’t mind the meals that miss. 
Enjoy!

[Sugar0802]

We've found that the food post-Covid is much better than what it used to be, especially the desserts.  We've been on  many sailings, primarily NCL but also RCL and Carnival.  For us, NCL's choices and options were better than the others, but that could just be personal preference.  At the end of the day, we've never gone to bed hungry on a cruise and we also gain the obligatory 5-10 pounds so no complaints.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I have honestly never had a bad meal on a cruise.  I like variety and try new things.  I have noticed that the options in the MDRs have started to lessen though.

 

I had heard negative opinions on Cagney's in the past but I tried it anyway on my past cruise.  I did not get a filet because I had just had one elsewhere so instead I got a Ribeye.  One of the best steaks I ever had.  I tried my wife's filet and it was great but I liked the Ribeye better.  I am also a huge fan of Moderno.

[complawyer]

for me, cagney's is top of the line, with teppanyaki an incredibly close 2nd. im not crazy about le bistro, only because they're snooty and demand men wear a collared shirt. come on, what's the big deal?  and la cucina i can avoid on any cruise. just not my cup of tea. i'd like more choices on their menu.

 

to show how people differ, i absolutely hate o'sheehans, and would rather not eat than go there.

 

while i'm not trying to be an ncl cheerleader, for those who knock the food, think about what it takes to make a few 1000 meals, 3 times a day, plus buffet, specialty restaurants, for that many people. someone is bound to be unhappy. 

 

the chefs (cooks) would have to have used some of the skills in hogworths to make everyone happy.

 

the only really bad things ive ever had, was one time i ordered french onion soup at the mdr, and it was only a step up from dishwater (one time only). another time, a few years back when they were still serving lobster, i ordered it and they looked just like a shrimp on steroids, and finally, i try and stay away from the hamburgers, as no matter where i ordered one, buffet, out door grill, the buns always seem to fall apart. (lol)

[EllieinNJ]

We were just on. 14 night Princess cruise and the food was comparable to NCL. Good to mediocre.

[cruiseny4life]

50 minutes ago, complawyer said:

another time, a few years back when they were still serving lobster, i ordered it and they looked just like a shrimp on steroids, and finally, i try and stay away from the hamburgers, as no matter where i ordered one, buffet, out door grill, the buns always seem to fall apart. (lol)

I agree with everything you say here! Even where they serve lobster tails (Haven), they look (and taste) like "shrimp on steroids." Haha, I love that term. And the burgers...yep, those buns are so useless for actually holding the burger together. 

[ysolde]

Taste and Savor do a pretty good job with lunch and dinner most days.  The menus are interesting and imaginative and the food quality is good.  They also always have some classics available.  The one issue I had with them is that the food could be a little bit dry, indicating that menu choices may have been pre-prepared and perhaps sat under heat lamps during busy times.  We had breakfast at O'Sheehan's often, because it was a less crowded venue.  It lacked variety, but the options were tasty enough.  Ask for a seat in the back to avoid the noise from trivia and other atrium noise.  We just could not get into the lunch menu there.  A bit too heavy and greasy for our taste.  Breakfast at The Garden Cafe (buffet) was good.  Lots and lots of choices.  However, it is crowded and loud.  Lunch in The Garden Cafe was quite varied.  I particularly liked the soup options there, which is something I don't hear mentioned much.  But there was a lot of variety and you will find something you like.  The staff are really helpful here.

[zzdoug]

19 hours ago, Sugar0802 said:

We've found that the food post-Covid is much better than what it used to be, especially the desserts.  We've been on  many sailings, primarily NCL but also RCL and Carnival.  For us, NCL's choices and options were better than the others, but that could just be personal preference.  At the end of the day, we've never gone to bed hungry on a cruise and we also gain the obligatory 5-10 pounds so no complaints.

We are occasional cruisers and took a Carnival cruise last year (Vista) and are scheduled for NCL Escape next year. Considering it was mass produced, I was pretty impressed with the free food on the Vista, and I'm looking forward to trying the food on Escape. We were on the NCL star many years ago and I recall the food being pretty good. I am glad they all still offer a cheese plate as a dessert option. 

[PATRLR]

On 12/5/2022 at 4:11 PM, BirdTravels said:

Despite the white tablecloths, this is not fine dining. Unlike your local restaurant who turns 50 covers a night and can cook to order, MDR food is mass produced to turn 2000+ covers per meal.  

Should have said "Despite the white table clothes and NCL's claims, this is not fine dining".  Otherwise I agree with this statement. 

I make this point because I think it's an important one.  People still expect cruise line MDR's to have fine dining quality meals and they expect that in part because the cruise lines market it that way.   They really don't need to market it that way.  Applebee's doesn't market themselves as fine dining and they are about the equivalent quality.

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by PATRLR

[PATRLR]

17 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

And the burgers...yep, those buns are so useless for actually holding the burger together. 

Yeah, what's the deal with that? 

[zzdoug]

I can usually find something I like in the mdr. However I recommend these 2 hacks:

 

1. On some cruise lines, they don't serve real butter with the bread, it's margarine. But there are butter packets at the buffet. I usually cadge some of the butter packets and bring them with me to dinner in mdr if I expect to eat bread. 

2. If you want iced tea and it tastes like crap, order a glass of ice and hot tea with an extra tea bag and make your own at the table. This may be less of an issue on ncl where most people have some kind of beverage plan. 

[Markanddonna]

We were on the Epic last month and thought the food in the Manhattan Room and Taste was good to very good, the buffet was average, Cagney's, LeBistro and LaCucina were very good to excellent, Moderno was average (higher quality cuts are not frequently offered, salad bar and desserts were blah), and O'Sheehans has gone downhill in flavor and taste. 

 

Overall, we were pleased. We ate most lunches and breakfasts at Taste. Great service and a strategy to avoid illnesses.

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

Yeah, what's the deal with that? 

I have not experienced, but it amazes me that the one major consensus here are buns that can’t hold up. Seems like this would be a known criticism and would be rectified at some point. 🍔 

[cruiseny4life]

14 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

I have not experienced, but it amazes me that the one major consensus here are buns that can’t hold up. Seems like this would be a known criticism and would be rectified at some point. 🍔 

Not sure if @PATRLR has complained about it. I suspect as a good ole New Englander, they haven't...I'm more of a Karen being from NY and all, but I haven't complained either. Definitely not worth getting my dander up. First time it happened, I just stopped eating the burger. I tried one more time and again, stopped eating the burger. Now I'll remember and just not grab it from the buffet. Definitely not going to waste time talking to anyone about it though...as I waste time on Cruise Critic talking about. Difference is - I'm on the clock here and bored! 

[vacation44]

We have sailed twice since the restart.  On the latter cruise we dined in the MDR a few times and found the food to be much better than previously before Covid.    Also thought the desserts were a big improvement.

 

I just wish they would bring back mozzarella sticks in O'Sheehan's/The Local.   

[PATRLR]

26 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Not sure if @PATRLR has complained about it.

I haven't.  I'm not a fan of the burgers so don't have them often (they cook them too well for my liking). But, I will grab one when it's hand food that I want.  And inevitably I end up with a pile of crumbs and broken bun all around me.

[New2cruise2022]

5 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

I haven't.  I'm not a fan of the burgers so don't have them often (they cook them too well for my liking). But, I will grab one when it's hand food that I want.  And inevitably I end up with a pile of crumbs and broken bun all around me.

It’s too bad for NCL that you know how to write and perfectly described the hamburger fail. 😂 

[New2cruise2022]

34 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Difference is - I'm on the clock here and bored! 

This makes me laugh … I’d write more about it, but I think my boss is walking over to my desk now …