Carnival Dream - guys burger buns are different

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

 

Supply issues are a huge problem throughout many if not every industry.

Not only has the food costs risen, but the quality of available products has lessened. Meat and poultry both are having size and quality assurance issues since Covid began. 

 

 

Very true, I started noticing a sharp decline in the quality of a lot of things shortly after COVID started. 

[EngIceDave]

2 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Very true, I started noticing a sharp decline in the quality of a lot of things shortly after COVID started. 

I used to be able to buy 10# bags of fresh (unfrozen) boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 a pound, untrimmed, and they were MASSIVE breasts. They were easy a half pound each....not both sides, per side, each side, per breast. Like turkey size.

 

No more, hard to even get at the price, much less those sizes.

 

Different world now. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

17 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

I used to be able to buy 10# bags of fresh (unfrozen) boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 a pound, untrimmed, and they were MASSIVE breasts. They were easy a half pound each....not both sides, per side, each side, per breast. Like turkey size.

 

No more, hard to even get at the price, much less those sizes.

 

Different world now. 

 

Must be a shortage of hormones too 🙂

 

Tom

[mom2tcdx2]

I have to say I don't really recall what the buns looked like on the Guy's Burgers, on pretty much all of my sailings.  I do feel they were possibly buttered, toasted?  I miss the bacon that was on the toppings bar.  Overall I never liked the fries, though I can't say I really noticed them being different either, but again maybe doing 1 or 2 sailings a year I can't say I could remember those fries, from any other fries when I have eaten out.  Personally I like the small, skinny, shoestring fries with seasoning salt on them, and nice and hot.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 minute ago, mom2tcdx2 said:

...  Personally I like the small, skinny, shoestring fries with seasoning salt on them, and nice and hot.  

 

I'm a larger gauge fry type of person, preferably just a tad undercooked. The fries at Shaq's Big Chicken are just about perfect!

 

(bacon = crisp, as in snap it in half.... toast = nearly burnt)   🙂 

 

Tom

[BlerkOne]

5 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Ah - a true Plain Jane!

 

 

I don't like to conceal the taste of the burger and bun. Otherwise why not just have a condiment sandwich?

[BlerkOne]

4 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

My guess is their contract likely states something close to "Carnival may make minor changes to menu ingredient items based on cost, availability, act of God, etc...."

Carnival can change the entire menu if items are unavailable.

 

As a business, Carnival sets a food budget per day per passenger. When they go over budget, eventually something gives. They could also include changing suppliers and importing more.

 

4 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

 

So over time, they change.

BTW, those burgers above, Ecstasy and Celebration, I call tell by looking those buns are not the same. Celebration's are glazed or egg washed while the other is not, so it has a flat dry look. 

I'm not surprised. The Celebration cruise was the Transatlantic and I imagine a number of products were sourced differently. The Ecstasy was the final revenue cruise for the ship. Both had excellent food.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

53 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

I don't like to conceal the taste of the burger and bun. Otherwise why not just have a condiment sandwich?

As a kid/young adult, I was known to eat sandwiches with just Miracle Whip and mustard... as well as one with peanut butter/Miracle Whip. 🙂

 

Tom

 

[DallasGuy75219]

5 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

It is supply chain issues, but is it by choice or force majeure?

 

Maybe little of both?

At least some is by choice, like the Great Bacon Debacle... Carnival says there's a bacon shortage, meanwhile none of the other cruiselines have difficulty finding bacon or putting it on their breakfast buffet every day.

 

There's a shortage of bacon at the dirt cheap prices Carnival wants to pay, so they choose not to pay market prices to buy enough bacon to put it on the buffet every day.

[EngIceDave]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

I don't like to conceal the taste of the burger and bun. Otherwise why not just have a condiment sandwich?

AGREED!!

 

How can you tell me it's a good burger when most of what your eating isn't the burger?

[IntrepidFromDC]

8 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Must be a shortage of hormones too 🙂

 

Tom

 

Don't anyone get too excited.  Tom just means growth hormones.

[IntrepidFromDC]

7 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I don't like to conceal the taste of the burger and bun. Otherwise why not just have a condiment sandwich?

Some burgers NEED concealment.  I know some of you guys love guys burgers.  I don't understand it, in fact it kinda blows my mind.  But I like you all so I accept it.

 

(fingers crossed)

[EngIceDave]

All that stuff on a burger is like Heinz 57 on a steak.

 

[n6uqqq]

On 12/28/2022 at 12:57 PM, IntrepidFromDC said:

Did you report it to Guest Services?  😁 🏴‍☠️

Nope, I just picked up the pieces and moved on 😉 

[DallasGuy75219]

14 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

The contract mentions food twice. That the fare covers "ordinary ship's food" during the voyage and a section that discusses what can't be brought back into the US. Things like ingredients and quality aren't mentioned at all. A lot of things affect this, including steps taken to control costs, but I see a lot of empty spots for common items in my local grocery store so until I stop seeing that I will continue to chalk most of these changes up to supply chain issues.

I'm pretty sure @EngIceDave was referring to the contract between Guy and Carnival.  The contract of carriage between Carnival and the passenger is a contract of adhesion that gives Carnival the right to do just about anything it wants to you and your cruise.

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

I'm pretty sure @EngIceDave was referring to the contract between Guy and Carnival.  The contract of carriage between Carnival and the passenger is a contract of adhesion that gives Carnival the right to do just about anything it wants to you and your cruise.

Ah, yes, there could be a contract there as well and likely is given the marketability of the Guy Freiri (sp) name.

[jimbob22]

does anyone have any opinion or knowledge on how much/many things are truly made from scratch on Carnival??  Supposedly, pretty much everything is made from scratch.  Some aspects that made me curious: they are clearly cutting back on some portions, but we (and others online) noticed that the chicken parm at capitano was actually pretty huge.  This made me wonder if it was pre-cooked and sealed in a bag (i.e. something where they could not actually reduce the portion size).

 

Are some foods pre-made? pre-cooked and individually vac sealed? without working in the galley, it's hard to be certain.  Nothing inherently wrong with pre-sealed foods, which is a common cost cutting measure.  Fuddruckers used to hang sides of beef, grind it in house.  Then they went to pre-made patties, then they mostly all went out of business...

 

 

[DallasGuy75219]

46 minutes ago, jimbob22 said:

does anyone have any opinion or knowledge on how much/many things are truly made from scratch on Carnival??  Supposedly, pretty much everything is made from scratch.  Some aspects that made me curious: they are clearly cutting back on some portions, but we (and others online) noticed that the chicken parm at capitano was actually pretty huge.  This made me wonder if it was pre-cooked and sealed in a bag (i.e. something where they could not actually reduce the portion size).

 

Are some foods pre-made? pre-cooked and individually vac sealed? without working in the galley, it's hard to be certain.  Nothing inherently wrong with pre-sealed foods, which is a common cost cutting measure.  Fuddruckers used to hang sides of beef, grind it in house.  Then they went to pre-made patties, then they mostly all went out of business...

 

 

I'm pretty sure they say something like "made onboard daily" or "baked onboard daily", not "made from scratch".

 

For example the breakfast pastries (danish, croissants, cinnamon rolls) are clearly the same foodservice product that hotel breakfast buffets buy frozen and bake on-site.  They're too uniform to be made from scratch daily onboard.

[serene56]

On 12/26/2022 at 12:32 PM, Ryanthe4aces said:

 

 

Also the main dining room menu is way different then it used to be. Not as good. 

when was your last cruise-   this menu has been on carnival at least 4 years now     Menu is fleetwide      

[jimbob22]

1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

I'm pretty sure they say something like "made onboard daily" or "baked onboard daily", not "made from scratch".

 

For example the breakfast pastries (danish, croissants, cinnamon rolls) are clearly the same foodservice product that hotel breakfast buffets buy frozen and bake on-site.  They're too uniform to be made from scratch daily onboard.

that could well be the case.  They typically all brag about how much flour they bring on board (and that *is* the most space efficient way of bringing bread/pastries on board).  But I'm thinking that they are pre-made.  

 

We were just on Hal and they had some of these same pastries, but also a lot of others that I think are closer to scratch/truly made on the ship. But it's possible I'm bamboozled and Hal just brings on a lot more pre-made, pre-baked pastries and breads...

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

For example the breakfast pastries (danish, croissants, cinnamon rolls) are clearly the same foodservice product that hotel breakfast buffets buy frozen and bake on-site.  They're too uniform to be made from scratch daily onboard.

They do look too uniform to the pastries on other cruise lines.

 

Carnival has some ginormous mixers in the galley, but I think a lot of dough is brought onboard and then baked.

[staceyglow]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

They do look too uniform to the pastries on other cruise lines.

 

Carnival has some ginormous mixers in the galley, but I think a lot of dough is brought onboard and then baked.

It's also quite possible that Carnival may have on board whatever equipment a commercial bakery uses to make their pastries uniform.

[cruisingguy007]

On 12/29/2022 at 10:39 AM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

As a kid/young adult, I was known to eat sandwiches with just Miracle Whip and mustard... as well as one with peanut butter/Miracle Whip. 🙂

 

Tom

 

 

We used to call those "wish sandwiches" when we were kids, get two pieces of bread, slap some mayo on them and wish you had some meat/cheese...lol. 

Edited December 30, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

39 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

It's also quite possible that Carnival may have on board whatever equipment a commercial bakery uses to make their pastries uniform.

 

 

That would be the Keebler Elves, though some of them also answer to Ketut... 🙂

 

Tom

[EngIceDave]

4 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

For example the breakfast pastries (danish, croissants, cinnamon rolls) are clearly the same foodservice product that hotel breakfast buffets buy frozen and bake on-site.  They're too uniform to be made from scratch daily onboard.

Agreed.

 

I am willing to bet when it comes to breads, they bake that. It's not that hard. A 2am bakery shift can knock all the loaf bread out.