All the Hullibilu on Dinning

[angela miller]

I have traveled on Viking and Regent in the last five years.Five cruises on Viking since 2018, one Regent. Viking opened up first after Covid with restrictions that worked for us. My most recent cruise was on Viking in August  Reykjavik to Bergen. I absolutely saw a difference in dining. As an example those delicious crab legs that were always huge before 2021 , now very small.  In the specialty dining that ribeye is no longer as thick.I am cruising again on Celebrity in suite in Feb after 14 cruises  because we have seen such a decline in Viking.I appreciate the difference and enjoy them all. As for as Regent we have not sailed with them since 2018 but have a May 2023 booked…. Will see. 

[SWFLAOK]

We were on Regent Splendor for B2B cruises for 24 nights from mid September to early October. We did have crab legs available, and I enjoyed them. They were smaller than in past years. But I think the problem going forward is the decrease in crab population, and harvesting restrictions going forward, which will make it even worse than it was when we were on board. Here is an something I found:

"Why is there no king crab season 2022:  In reaction to extremely low Alaskan snow and king crab populations, the state has decided to cancel the fall and winter harvest of the crustaceans for the first time in history.Oct 20, 2022."

In our local grocery stores in Florida, we have trouble finding reasonably priced Florida fish and shrimp, and Maine lobster  (as frozen tails only) are extremely expensive. We stopped buying rack of lamb in the grocery store at over 20 dollars a pound, and we rarely eat our anymore. Publix did, however, have a great bargain on prime rib over the holidays at 5.99 a pound and whole tenderloins at 14.99 a pound.

We considered our meals on our recent Splendor cruise to be excellent, and weren't disappointed on our 6th cruise with them.

Our only Viking cruise so far was a River cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest last May. It took us 3 years after we paid in full due to Covid cancellations. We enjoyed the cruise, but the food was not a highlight, nor was their dining experience. We have, however, booked a Viking Ocean cruise next December through the Panama canal, and the restaurants and cabins look like something we'll enjoy more for our onboard experience than the River cruise ship.

[WNcruiser]

On 1/14/2023 at 5:48 PM, angela miller said:

I have traveled on Viking and Regent in the last five years.Five cruises on Viking since 2018, one Regent. Viking opened up first after Covid with restrictions that worked for us. My most recent cruise was on Viking in August  Reykjavik to Bergen. I absolutely saw a difference in dining. As an example those delicious crab legs that were always huge before 2021 , now very small.  In the specialty dining that ribeye is no longer as thick.I am cruising again on Celebrity in suite in Feb after 14 cruises  because we have seen such a decline in Viking.I appreciate the difference and enjoy them all. As for as Regent we have not sailed with them since 2018 but have a May 2023 booked…. Will see. 

The ribeye in Manfredi's on the Star in October was extremely thin. They apologized but said they didnt have any thick cut even though that is the menu description. They were also out of Osso bucco. I am hoping the food on Jupiter next week is much better. For me, Regent has the best food of any cruise line. 

[CDNPolar]

We primarily sail Viking, but just recently came off an Expedition cruise NOT with Viking.  

 

To our surprise, the buffet quality and selection on this other cruise line was superior to the Viking World Cafe but the a la carte menu at dinner was substandard to Viking.

 

We just had a friend come off a Viking Australia cruise and she was very disappointed with the World Cafe food, as we were in our most recent cruise last June.

 

[molymoo]

We are recently back from a 18 day cruise aboard Neptune.  We found the food as good as ever in all of the dining venues.  We ate at Chef's Table twice and Manfredi's once.  We prefer the Restaurant to the World Cafe for dinners but did do dinner in the WC three times.  Did not note any significant changes anywhere.

 

[SteelCity Cruiser]

Like any restaurant, the quality of the food is dependent on the quality and availability of product AND on the chef.  The same will hold true for any cruise line and for the same reasons.  Our first cruise on Viking in 2018 was Bordeaux, Rivers and Wine and the food on that trip was out of this world good.  The second was the Rhine Getaway in 2019 and the food was very good, but not close to our first experience.  We've done 2 river cruises since (both in 2022) - the first had great food, the second, was really good but not great.  Our two ocean cruises to date:  Iceland (2021) was fantastic,  the Panama Canal (2022) had some real highlight meals and a few that were good, not great.  In the Chef's Table on the ocean cruises, the portion sizes on the Iceland trip were modest, on the Panama Canal they were MUCH larger (too large for a 5-course meal in my opinion).

 

FWIW - I've been browsing the Oceania board because we have a cruise booked with them in the fall.  That's a line that's supposed to be "super-duper" good with the cuisine on board, and I'm reading many of the same type negative comments regarding the food offerings on that line as well.

[lackcreativity]

I know it is tedious to keep hearing excuses about the side effects of the pandemic, but that doesn't keep them from being true. Within my non-travel related industry, we are still experiencing supply related shortages two plus years later. Greatly increased prices in many areas are very evident.  This is especially obvious in the grocery store right now.

 

Cruise lines, along with all travel sectors, have taken a huge financial hit during the extended shutdown. Trying to claw their way back to profitability will likely result in both an increase in prices and some degree of decline in services for some time. I certainly hope this does not become a permanent change, but I am willing to accept the reality for now. As we are getting older, I cannot afford to sit back and wait!

[Mike981]

We are currently doing our third staycation in a row. We are strongly considering doing our first Viking cruise in 2024, but if the travel industry is still the same in a few months, we will pass. I just cant spend $$$ for a sub par product. Then you add in that we have to fly and we all know how that has been going lately.

[biggerbearmom]

6 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I know it is tedious to keep hearing excuses about the side effects of the pandemic, but that doesn't keep them from being true. Within my non-travel related industry, we are still experiencing supply related shortages two plus years later. Greatly increased prices in many areas are very evident.  This is especially obvious in the grocery store right now.

 

Cruise lines, along with all travel sectors, have taken a huge financial hit during the extended shutdown. Trying to claw their way back to profitability will likely result in both an increase in prices and some degree of decline in services for some time. I certainly hope this does not become a permanent change, but I am willing to accept the reality for now. As we are getting older, I cannot afford to sit back and wait!

 

lackcreativity, I agree with you wholeheartedly. The side effects of the pandemic have a created a host of problems, but I am not going to wait around to travel abroad.
Yes, I enjoy great food, do I travel because of the food? No, I travel to experience new surroundings and learn about different cultures and customs. Excellent food is a bonus as is air travel with no glitches. 

[CCWineLover]

11 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

Like any restaurant, the quality of the food is dependent on the quality and availability of product AND on the chef.  The same will hold true for any cruise line and for the same reasons.  Our first cruise on Viking in 2018 was Bordeaux, Rivers and Wine and the food on that trip was out of this world good.  The second was the Rhine Getaway in 2019 and the food was very good, but not close to our first experience.  We've done 2 river cruises since (both in 2022) - the first had great food, the second, was really good but not great.  Our two ocean cruises to date:  Iceland (2021) was fantastic,  the Panama Canal (2022) had some real highlight meals and a few that were good, not great.  In the Chef's Table on the ocean cruises, the portion sizes on the Iceland trip were modest, on the Panama Canal they were MUCH larger (too large for a 5-course meal in my opinion).

 

FWIW - I've been browsing the Oceania board because we have a cruise booked with them in the fall.  That's a line that's supposed to be "super-duper" good with the cuisine on board, and I'm reading many of the same type negative comments regarding the food offerings on that line as well.

Same thoughts here, Jill and Dale.

I do remember those huge portions at CT on the Panama Canal Cruise!

Our last cruise just finished (Viking Star) and the portions were "normal" sized.  However, in our opinion the CT meals were inconsistent, and we know all the menus.  Some were over the top good and some were really sub-standard.  Same chef.   And Manfredi's was very sub-standard and they even ran out of pasta one night!  Rib-eye's are all quite thin now.  However, the World Cafe was easily the best we've had there!

My thoughts are all cruise ships are cutting back these days, trying to get by with the minimum, ordering just enough.  Perhaps suppliers also are giving less standard cuts and quality (fish, steaks, etc).  Viking managers try to manage the amounts closely now and thus there are a lot of shortages.  Likely occurs on every cruise line these days.    One probably has to lower expectations.

We'll see if things improve in 23-24.  Will be interested to hear how your Oceana cruise goes!

[oskidunker]

17 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Same thoughts here, Jill and Dale.

I do remember those huge portions at CT on the Panama Canal Cruise!

Our last cruise just finished (Viking Star) and the portions were "normal" sized.  However, in our opinion the CT meals were inconsistent, and we know all the menus.  Some were over the top good and some were really sub-standard.  Same chef.   And Manfredi's was very sub-standard and they even ran out of pasta one night!  Rib-eye's are all quite thin now.  However, the World Cafe was easily the best we've had there!

My thoughts are all cruise ships are cutting back these days, trying to get by with the minimum, ordering just enough.  Perhaps suppliers also are giving less standard cuts and quality (fish, steaks, etc).  Viking managers try to manage the amounts closely now and thus there are a lot of shortages.  Likely occurs on every cruise line these days.    One probably has to lower expectations.

We'll see if things improve in 23-24.  Will be interested to hear how your Oceana cruise goes!

So what is the best thing to order in Manfreddis? I like Veal Scalopini but on Princessand Oceania is was not very good. Not browned, little sauce or mushrooms. Tell me it is better on Viking. Not interested in the thin steak.. also is there any good Lobster on the ship? Was not good on Celebrity, Oceania or Princess. Not sure what has happened

Edited January 17, 2023 by oskidunker

[CCWineLover]

21 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

So what is the best thing to order in Manfreddis? I like Veal Scalopini but on Princessand Oceania is was not very good. Not browned, little sauce or mushrooms. Tell me it is better on Viking. Not interested in the thin steak.. also is there any good Lobster on the ship? Was not good on Celebrity, Oceania or Princess. Not sure what has happened

Good question.  Previous cruise, had a good Veal Marsala, but this time, not so.  Very inconsistent.  They had a new menu item - Tuscan Steak.  First time it was excellent, cooked to perfection, tender.  Second time it was so tough we sent it back and exchanged it for a very good Halibut dish.

Actually we often get whatever the fish of the day is.  Have had a good experience with that.  The pasta has been so so, mostly because most of the dishes are with cream and even the ones that say tomato sauce have cream in them as well.  (I like cream but it doesn't like me 🙂)

So - did you play hoops at UC Berkeley?

 

[Heidi13]

55 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Good question.  Previous cruise, had a good Veal Marsala, but this time, not so.  Very inconsistent.  They had a new menu item - Tuscan Steak.  First time it was excellent, cooked to perfection, tender.  Second time it was so tough we sent it back and exchanged it for a very good Halibut dish.

Actually we often get whatever the fish of the day is.  Have had a good experience with that.  The pasta has been so so, mostly because most of the dishes are with cream and even the ones that say tomato sauce have cream in them as well.  (I like cream but it doesn't like me 🙂)

So - did you play hoops at UC Berkeley?

 

 

On Viking Sun, on a couple of our visits, they had halibut as the fish of the day a couple of times. Both times it was excellent. Cooked to perfection.

[oskidunker]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

Good question.  Previous cruise, had a good Veal Marsala, but this time, not so.  Very inconsistent.  They had a new menu item - Tuscan Steak.  First time it was excellent, cooked to perfection, tender.  Second time it was so tough we sent it back and exchanged it for a very good Halibut dish.

Actually we often get whatever the fish of the day is.  Have had a good experience with that.  The pasta has been so so, mostly because most of the dishes are with cream and even the ones that say tomato sauce have cream in them as well.  (I like cream but it doesn't like me 🙂)

So - did you play hoops at UC Berkeley?

Played a little intramural  mostly played in the Band  

 

[katlew]

2 hours ago, oskidunker said:

So what is the best thing to order in Manfreddis? I like Veal Scalopini but on Princessand Oceania is was not very good. Not browned, little sauce or mushrooms. Tell me it is better on Viking. Not interested in the thin steak.. also is there any good Lobster on the ship? Was not good on Celebrity, Oceania or Princess. Not sure what has happened

I thought the lamb was very good. My family all enjoyed their ribeyes just a few weeks ago. We had lobster thermidor for I think Christmas Eve & all enjoyed it. There was another night lobster was served but we had a reservation at Manfredis.

[miami mama]

Fish is usually good there. The menu does change and at times they might not have a "favorite" on a particular cruise. On an expedition cruise we took,  we did speak with the restaurant manager about not being able to order chicken parm (not on the menu for that cruise). He did make a special call to the restaurant asking if the chef would prepare this dish for us and then made sure the restaurant had a table ready for us when we got there. The customer service was far and beyond what we expected. 

[biggerbearmom]

2 hours ago, oskidunker said:

So - did you play hoops at UC Berkeley?

Played a little intramural  mostly played in the Band  

And I am Biggerbearmom because my son played football at CAL, he was the starting left tackle for three years (2003-2005). 😊

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, biggerbearmom said:

And I am Biggerbearmom because my son played football at CAL, he was the starting left tackle for three years (2003-2005). 😊

Cool!  (Oski gave it away - only Cal folks know)

[Haworth]

Boarded the Star earlier today, had one reservation for each of Manfredis and Chefs Table already, used the app mid afternoon to book three more Chefs tables at either 19.00 or 19.30 

[DGHOC]

Enjoy Haworth, hope you have a fab trip!

[Mimiya11]

13 hours ago, Haworth said:

Boarded the Star earlier today, had one reservation for each of Manfredis and Chefs Table already, used the app mid afternoon to book three more Chefs tables at either 19.00 or 19.30 

 

We are boarding the Star in March.   Looking forward to any report backs about your experiences on land and sea.    Enjoy.....