WORLD CRUISE- eat the same food for 2 months?

[RICHARD@SEA]

20 hours ago, At7Seas said:

 

And this on MSC! That cruise line is infamous for having by far the worst food at sea I ever experienced. On my last MSC cruise of 30 days the discussion at talble was what could be eatable at all. Imagine now a decent cruise line with at least good food, while most have a really great reputation...

I am booked on the 2025 MSC  WC  - I chose MSC due to the Itinerary - I have sailed on MSC several times over the last 15- 20 years on different ships - cruises 7 - 13 days.

On any ship I've been on since 1970's at one point or another I get fooded out.  On MSC its nice to have choice - I'm not a buffet person - at all - & yet the salads, pizza & pasta along w guac & chips, cheeses , prosciutto , fruits, veggies - kept me well fed when I didn't want to go to the dining room or eat in my cabin.

 

I recently was on THE HAL ROTTERDAM for a 9 day cruise(I'm 3 star w HAL).  The ship was nicely decorated, service was hit or miss to really non existent.  When I came down w food poisoning (for almost 3 days) from eating in the STeak House / specialty restaurant I met w the Hotel Mgr I mentioned gelato & pizza(it was awful on HAL) and she said how wonderful it is...I suggested HAL get the recipes from MSC.

 

I won't be sailing on HAL ever again ..that is why I chose MSC.

[RICHARD@SEA]

PS  - 

 

I always book a midship balcony cabin - the price on HAL per day was 2x as much as MSC...

 

so for those are concerned about value / cost - relate that to your posts.

 

I don't expect Ritz Carlton food & service on MSC  - but I also won't sail HAL when its been driven down market  - like a Carnival Line.

[At7Seas]

Carnival Cruise Line is not what I would consider, it is far from my style. But there are Carnival Corp & Plc owned lines I am comfortable with. Plural. Right now I am on Costa Deliziosa world cruise and regarding food the worst thing was a translation to beef rolls, which were flat. But these non-rolls had a really good taste of slow cooked beef, well spiced and perfectly tender. Simply delicious, although we joked at table that these were DIY rolls. I met a retired chef aboard and he said that he booked with Costa, because they simply have great food. Such a quality as the flat rolls I had on my last year 30-day MSC cruise from Cape Town to Venice ashore only, aboard MSC I had the worst food ever I had on a ship - including low standard ferry boats. Everybody I talked to on MSC was complaining and had as excuse the cheap price of MSC. And not only about food MSC scored as bad as possible, also regarding service, cleanliness and of course I myself caused everything what went wrong - including all lies of MSC against the pax. An Australian lady had the perfect statement I would like to quote (a bit jealous that it wasn‘t me who said): “I a no container and I don‘t like to be treated like one!“ Financially MSC is about as expensive as Costa is, but regarding quality the differences are enormous. Although my cruise just started last week I had no rude word from the staff, no bad meal, a very clean cabin and all promises are kept up to now. Not so on MSC. Compared to my last years cruise with MSC during the first week (and those that followed) it is gold compared to *****. At my table I have a couple that made terrible experiences with MSC last summer and I didn‘t say a single word before they told their story. JanR just told that there were a lot of misses regarding the food, but he was lucky enough that there were some for him acceptable alternatives. The last 10 years I returned exactly one course on Costa as inedible, on MSC it was one day in a week I did not! Might be that my expectations are higher than yours or these of JanR, for example I regard the pizza on MSC as not being food at all. Generally I am very easy to please. A clean cabin, friendly staff, good food on an itinerary I want to do is enough for me to consider a cruise. MSC offered in 2023 only one of these four, the itinerary. None of the others. Not enough for me! But if you are pleased by being cheap only it may be so.

[RICHARD@SEA]

On 1/10/2024 at 6:16 PM, At7Seas said:

Carnival Cruise Line is not what I would consider, it is far from my style. But there are Carnival Corp & Plc owned lines I am comfortable with. Plural. Right now I am on Costa Deliziosa world cruise and regarding food the worst thing was a translation to beef rolls, which were flat. But these non-rolls had a really good taste of slow cooked beef, well spiced and perfectly tender. Simply delicious, although we joked at table that these were DIY rolls. I met a retired chef aboard and he said that he booked with Costa, because they simply have great food. Such a quality as the flat rolls I had on my last year 30-day MSC cruise from Cape Town to Venice ashore only, aboard MSC I had the worst food ever I had on a ship - including low standard ferry boats. Everybody I talked to on MSC was complaining and had as excuse the cheap price of MSC. And not only about food MSC scored as bad as possible, also regarding service, cleanliness and of course I myself caused everything what went wrong - including all lies of MSC against the pax. An Australian lady had the perfect statement I would like to quote (a bit jealous that it wasn‘t me who said): “I a no container and I don‘t like to be treated like one!“ Financially MSC is about as expensive as Costa is, but regarding quality the differences are enormous. Although my cruise just started last week I had no rude word from the staff, no bad meal, a very clean cabin and all promises are kept up to now. Not so on MSC. Compared to my last years cruise with MSC during the first week (and those that followed) it is gold compared to *****. At my table I have a couple that made terrible experiences with MSC last summer and I didn‘t say a single word before they told their story. JanR just told that there were a lot of misses regarding the food, but he was lucky enough that there were some for him acceptable alternatives. The last 10 years I returned exactly one course on Costa as inedible, on MSC it was one day in a week I did not! Might be that my expectations are higher than yours or these of JanR, for example I regard the pizza on MSC as not being food at all. Generally I am very easy to please. A clean cabin, friendly staff, good food on an itinerary I want to do is enough for me to consider a cruise. MSC offered in 2023 only one of these four, the itinerary. None of the others. Not enough for me! But if you are pleased by being cheap only it may be so.

Your statements about MSC may be valid to you but they are surely not in the majority.

 

I have sailed many times on MSC ships since the early 2000's - and as far as value I believe they deliver a very good product.  As far as food - I found the variety amazing - yes there were some misses but overall I never was hungry.  MSC is an European centered line which may not appeal to everyone - I tend to prefer it.

The ships have always been IMMACULATE & constantly being cleaned & updated. 

I have sailed in  HAL, CUNARD & many other lines since the 1970's.  I never sailed on Carnival ships - they were always considered to be the bottom of quality all around.  In fact I won't sail Carnival Corp ships ever again - this after my recent HAL 9 day carib cruise onboard ROTTERDAM - tho the ship is nicely decorated - I got food poising after eating in one of the specialty restaurants(a first for me on a cruise), food was served cold all over the ship, not enough staff for the amount of passengers - forget about getting a seat at the pools & the lido was filled w tables w dirty dishes & staff just walking around doing nothing. The ship had some of the most boring entertainment I have ever seen or heard on any ship.

 

Yes MSC was started as a container ship line - well if you believe they are still container ships - you certainly need to be better informed.... or spend more $$$ on  Silversea, Viking or Regent to get the quality you require.

 

I booked teh 2025 world cruise w MSC - based  on the Itinerary

[whogo]

On 1/16/2024 at 11:47 AM, RICHARD@SEA said:

I got food poising after eating in one of the specialty restaurants

Much more likely you got norovirus

 

 

Edited January 18 by whogo

[RICHARD@SEA]

24 minutes ago, whogo said:

Much more likely you got norovirus

 

 

It definitely WAS NOT NORO VIRUS!!!!  

[whogo]

3 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

It definitely WAS NOT NORO VIRUS!!!!  

Oh? What did the lab tests show?

[At7Seas]

On 1/16/2024 at 6:47 PM, RICHARD@SEA said:

MSC is an European centered line which may not appeal to everyone - I tend to prefer it.

 

Well, I agree in this single point. MSC is a Swiss company, so it is European. At least in the geographical sense of the continent, but not in the sense of the European Union (Switzerland is not a member) and despite their obligations regarding the cruises sold through their EU based branches and representations they are breaching EU customer protection laws. MSC ignores court orders and excuse this as not being EU-European. In questions of doubt they obviously prefer paying a fine instead of effectively changing. After the service charge was declared illegal they didn‘t stop illegal behaviour, but changed the name to hotel charge and the only difference is that you can’t cancel it any more for their unacceptable “service”. But the question should be: is the food European? Definitely not, I am eating European food most of my life and that is definitely not European! Service level? Well, I personally regard the behaviour of service personal in the US often as submissive instead of being polite, so we might have different expectations. What you have on MSC, however, is below all expectations, in European tourist traps you might find a similarly turning staff against guests, but this doesn‘t make it normal. Cleanliness? I think if they would be a hotel ashore they would have been closed since long, flag state Panama might not care (only their newer vessels sail under the flag of Malta). Maintenance? I‘ve seen better in third world countries. Also blaming the guest for all and every mistake made by MSC is not a European habit. Yes, geographically MSC is European, but their product is below all European standards. But if you like that go with them.
 
I did one MSC cruise earlier and it was far from being a success. But last year I wanted to go by ship back home, because sitting ten hours in a narrow spot as a seat in a plane is nothing I am made for. And a repositioning cruise is generally cheaper than business class flights and on a real cruise line much more pleasant. I went for the route along the islands in the Indian Ocean and the choice was reduced to two MSC ships. I generally go for the itinerary, if the same is offered by more than one lines I go first for the one I like more and in second for the price. The lesser the differences are between the lines the more important is the price. Well, since I sailed MSC before I was prepared to sail on a primitive ferry and still was disappointed despite my low expectations.
 
I have no proof regarding food poisoning, so I am choosing my words very carefully. After a couple of sea days the entire table eat mussels as only common course and the entire table had serious stomach problems, while recovery was too fast for a virus. I leave the conclusions what happened to you. 2023 on MSC Sinfonia, luckily never before or thereafter on any other ship. Indeed, I didn’t go to bed hungry. Mainly because I ordered often enough after I returned main courses additionally a cheese plate - or two. I can imagine why MSC introduces now a fee for serving an additional main course! What a genial source of extra income, serve such bad food that people return and order something else and make them pay for the other course! And people take that! Everybody tells about misses regarding MSC. So did you. Mine happened on daily basis. And while I am forgivable if people do their best to solve a problem they caused this never happened on MSC. Right now I am on my own world cruise, it’s day 14 to be exact, Carnival owned line and I had no bad meal at all, some courses were good, more better than just good and the really delicious ones outnumbered the simply good ones. European or more exactly Mediterranean kitchen by the way. I just skip meals or courses, because otherwise I would eat too much. Worst things that happened aboard were mistakes in translations of the menus and once I got the plate of a table-mate. No serious problems of course. And I definitely don‘t pay more than on MSC, let alone the lines you mentioned.
 
What I didn‘t find, experience or did during my current cruise:

• returning any course as uneatable
• finding dirty plates I am expected to eat from
• asking a waiter for clean cutlery or glasses
• being served prawns undeveined and literally being expected to eat prawn sh*t
• taking pictures of mould in my bathroom or of other dirty spots
• being lied at about services and procedures
• being cheated by getting a cheaper glass of wine than I ordered
• experienced rude staff
• being ignored by staff completely or just not being serviced within acceptable time.

All this happened last year on MSC. This should be enough for the moment. On my last MSC cruise all this was normal and I simply refuse to get used to that although fellow travellers on the Sinfonia accepted all this with the ever-repeated argument “MSC is cheap”. Now I quote in full the answer after I sent my complaints to the MSC head office in Geneva: “”
 
And yes, MSC is still one of the biggest - if not the biggest - container line world-wide. Their cruise ships are a tiny fraction of their business. And again yes, containers are easier to handle than passengers, they don’t eat, they don’t complain about dirt or a neglected ship or incompetent and rude staff. The company simply does not understand the difference between passengers and containers. Just as the lady said I quoted above, I am no container and don’t want to be treated like one.

 

[RICHARD@SEA]

Well you certainly put inn a lot of thought into your rely(or did you)???

 

As far as "bad food" I would think the entire ship would of been affected - in that case if a certain percentage of passengers get sick while onboard it is mandatory for it to be reported( certainly if it was that bad - someone would of notified authorities - Health Dept, etc).

 

as far as food, service being more European - as an American that has travelled all over the world - I believe both are European in taste / nature - up to & including dining times.  I tend to go with the flow & if there are problems I address them w the appropriate management.

 

as far as the cleanliness of the ship - MSC is on top of it 24/7 from what I've seen.

 

Online posts allow people to believe their world is the only world w all the drama and exaggeration they can muster - its sorting through those bits & not wasting time on the over the top ones.

 

No need to reply - I won't read or post again on this topic.

 

[At7Seas]

Look, what I "believe".

 

 

 

 

In Europe we don't regard that as clean, if you are happy with this it is definitely not my problem. And as you can read above, I contacted the head office and they decided to ignore me.

[60s Wombat]

On 12/8/2023 at 12:14 PM, At7Seas said:

 

My concern would be another: that the cruise line wouldn’t prepare food well. The most expensive ingredients can be ruined by wrong treatment and from cheap ones you can prepare a very tasty meal. Expensive scallops need seconds from perfect to spoiled, but there are dozens of ways to prepare deliciously a quite simple thing as cod. Craftsmanship is the most critical factor.
 
About variation I wouldn’t be concerned. Ask yourself how much you really vary in daily life and how often you prepare something comparable to the destination dishes some cruise lines offer. I for example will be 61 days in ports of 34 different countries on all continents except Antarctica from January to May. Besides the possibilities having lunch ashore six overnights extend chances. And still there are favourite dishes I am happy to see back on the menu.

 

And of course a world cruise of two months simply can't happen, even those rushing around the globe as fast as possible need a bit more than three months.

At 7Seas and Rapister - You are spot on about expensive ingredients being badly abused - just back from our curtailed World Cruise - and whilst the menu's don't repeat on Viking they absolutely crucify prime quality ingredients into 'American Bland' at every opportunity.  Hot food is served warm often on cold plates, cold food is served at room temperature often on hot plates.  Vegetables are steamed to oblivion. I think the logistics and throughput of hundreds of people dining within a couple of hours mean that it can only ever be a mass catering gig at any meal time. From what I can gather, however talented the chefs, most of whom come from Asia or Indian subcontinent and do have spice handling built into their DNA, they have to follow the recipes laid down by the US office (most of the pax on Viking are US).  Menu's are built specifically for 'older' Americans - so not a lot of texture or spice - easy to chew and easy to digest. The servers will happily bring a side plate of dried chilli flakes if one wishes for any heat in a dish - but that sort of misses the point - gravy with chilli flakes added - doesn't magically make a curry!. The gelato on Viking is epic and the fried eggs at breakfast cooked to order are good. Every dish though is served up with a smile and a kind word which is just fabulous.  Not many dishes - even in the Chefs Table speciality den - get much in the way of spice added.  All that said, on a WC you don't have to shop, cook or wash up yourself for months!. The hardest task of the day is choosing off an extensive menu. Ah life's all about trade off's. Remember also to treat every port as a culinary opportunity and you can happily eat your way around the globe. Suggest you add into your WC budget a good whack of cash for on shore dining, do your research of good restaurants and book ahead - and view it as an excursion opportunity.     

[JanR]

On 1/10/2024 at 5:16 PM, At7Seas said:

<<SNIP>>. JanR just told that there were a lot of misses regarding the food, but he was lucky enough that there were some for him acceptable alternatives. The last 10 years I returned exactly one course on Costa as inedible, on MSC it was one day in a week I did not! Might be that my expectations are higher than yours or these of JanR, for example I regard the pizza on MSC as not being food at all. Generally I am very easy to please. A clean cabin, friendly staff, good food on an itinerary I want to do is enough for me to consider a cruise. MSC offered in 2023 only one of these four, the itinerary. None of the others. Not enough for me! But if you are pleased by being cheap only it may be so.

Sorry I did not see this until now.  

 

I would humbly suggest that while we all can have different opinions based upon our own personal experiences, it is probably ill-advised to attribute the differences in these opinions based upon your perceived sense of "higher expectations."  

 

Fortunately, I am not offended as I know what my expectations of food are as we regularly seek out cuisine from all sorts of venues whether it is the hawker centers in Singapore, curry stands in India, fish markets in Korea, or our regular hunt for Michelin-starred restaurants in each city we visit. 

 

So I think that the better explanation to why we might differ on the food of a particular cruise line is not due to your superior food taste (which I am sure is exquisite), but perhaps that we have had different experiences and it is the difference in these experiences that form our opinion.

 

Did I think that the MSC Poesia's food was at the top of cruise line food?  No.  Did I believe that the food on the MSC Preziosa was worthy of commendation?  Yes . . . especially in the Yacht Club-only restaurant.  

 

But likewise, we found that the food on our recent Viking Sky was far below that on the MSC Poesia--especially its buffet which I would rank as the worse I've experienced on any cruise ship since the Pandemic.  Likewise, I was greatly disappointed with the food we had on our Oceania Regatta cruise and was shocked to discover that I had better steaks on the Poesia than we had on the 24 days on a ship from a line that touted they had the "finest cuisine at sea."

 

With this said, do I believe that from my one sailing on Viking Ocean that their food will always be as miserable?  No.  Would I make the same condemnation of Oceania's food?  Absolutely not.  I am currently on the Oceania Vista and can attest that it is in the top 3 of cruises we've taken since the pandemic--as better than the Marina and Regent Splendor and just a bit below the Explora Journeys. 

 

Now, reasonable people can disagree on the ranking I put forward in my previous paragraph.  But I would chalk these differences upon solely to different experiences and would not be so bold to suggest that their food expectations might be lesser than my own.

 

My two cents . . .

Your mileage may vary . . . 

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, JanR said:

Sorry I did not see this until now.  

 

I would humbly suggest that while we all can have different opinions based upon our own personal experiences, it is probably ill-advised to attribute the differences in these opinions based upon your perceived sense of "higher expectations."  

 

Fortunately, I am not offended as I know what my expectations of food are as we regularly seek out cuisine from all sorts of venues whether it is the hawker centers in Singapore, curry stands in India, fish markets in Korea, or our regular hunt for Michelin-starred restaurants in each city we visit. 

 

So I think that the better explanation to why we might differ on the food of a particular cruise line is not due to your superior food taste (which I am sure is exquisite), but perhaps that we have had different experiences and it is the difference in these experiences that form our opinion.

 

Did I think that the MSC Poesia's food was at the top of cruise line food?  No.  Did I believe that the food on the MSC Preziosa was worthy of commendation?  Yes . . . especially in the Yacht Club-only restaurant.  

 

But likewise, we found that the food on our recent Viking Sky was far below that on the MSC Poesia--especially its buffet which I would rank as the worse I've experienced on any cruise ship since the Pandemic.  Likewise, I was greatly disappointed with the food we had on our Oceania Regatta cruise and was shocked to discover that I had better steaks on the Poesia than we had on the 24 days on a ship from a line that touted they had the "finest cuisine at sea."

 

With this said, do I believe that from my one sailing on Viking Ocean that their food will always be as miserable?  No.  Would I make the same condemnation of Oceania's food?  Absolutely not.  I am currently on the Oceania Vista and can attest that it is in the top 3 of cruises we've taken since the pandemic--as better than the Marina and Regent Splendor and just a bit below the Explora Journeys. 

 

Now, reasonable people can disagree on the ranking I put forward in my previous paragraph.  But I would chalk these differences upon solely to different experiences and would not be so bold to suggest that their food expectations might be lesser than my own.

 

My two cents . . .

Your mileage may vary . . . 

 

You are so correct that a single poor culinary experience may not be representative of the overall quality of the culinary experience due to the number of variables.

 

The cruise line's daily budget per pax is a major determining factor, but in our experience, the Executive Chef and Sous Chefs are also a major factor. On the same cruise where the Executive Chef changes in the middle of the cruise, we have seen the quality change, sometimes better, others not so much.

 

Therefore, a poor experience on a single cruise may not be reflective of the normal quality on the ship and certainly not the cruise line. With respect to Princess, we experienced their quality deteriorate for almost 40 yrs before we gave up and stopped sailing with them. It was a combination of menu planning reducing the daily cost/pax, cheaper victuals and on the last World Cruise a very poor Executive Chef.

[Mary229]

28 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You are so correct that a single poor culinary experience may not be representative of the overall quality of the culinary experience due to the number of variables.

 

The cruise line's daily budget per pax is a major determining factor, but in our experience, the Executive Chef and Sous Chefs are also a major factor. On the same cruise where the Executive Chef changes in the middle of the cruise, we have seen the quality change, sometimes better, others not so much.

 

Therefore, a poor experience on a single cruise may not be reflective of the normal quality on the ship and certainly not the cruise line. With respect to Princess, we experienced their quality deteriorate for almost 40 yrs before we gave up and stopped sailing with them. It was a combination of menu planning reducing the daily cost/pax, cheaper victuals and on the last World Cruise a very poor Executive Chef.

I think much of the issue with cruise line food is customer expectations and tastes.  Let’s face it many people are not “adventurous “ diners and enjoy a simple spice palate of sugar and salt.  Meat and potatoes describe what I see most people enjoying 

Edited April 17 by Mary229

[JanR]

53 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You are so correct that a single poor culinary experience may not be representative of the overall quality of the culinary experience due to the number of variables.

 

The cruise line's daily budget per pax is a major determining factor, but in our experience, the Executive Chef and Sous Chefs are also a major factor. On the same cruise where the Executive Chef changes in the middle of the cruise, we have seen the quality change, sometimes better, others not so much.

 

Therefore, a poor experience on a single cruise may not be reflective of the normal quality on the ship and certainly not the cruise line. With respect to Princess, we experienced their quality deteriorate for almost 40 yrs before we gave up and stopped sailing with them. It was a combination of menu planning reducing the daily cost/pax, cheaper victuals and on the last World Cruise a very poor Executive Chef.

Princess was the other line that we were considering for our WC as the cost was within our budget along with MSC. What ultimately swayed us was the itinerary. The destinations seemed much more vanilla and if I remember right the port vs sea day ratio was only about 40%. 

[MacMadame]

I've been following the "Ultimate" World Cruise and the people I follow report that they are getting cuisine inspired by wherever they are as well as the normal fare. So I think there is going to be more variety on a WC that does that (which I think is most of them?) vs. a normal shorter cruise. Though the cruise I am taking next year says they do food and events based on where the cruise is going. I guess to distinguish it from their cruises that go to other parts of the world?