Discovery Princess Food Review

[taxatty]

https://www.fodors.com/news/cruises/im-a-food-writer-can-i-find-anything-good-to-eat-on-a-mega-cruise

 

The author's review matches many of my impressions of Princess' food over the year on several different ships, and provides some insight regarding what to look for and find the best food. 

[quincytoo]

I totally agree with this article 

[c-boy]

[Ellipooh]

I saw this article, too. 
The review was probably spot-on.  
While I am decidedly not a “foodie,” I generally regret spending the extra money for specialty dining versus MDR. The food seems roughly equivalent in quality to me. 

[MyriamS]

I found it a little bit groan inducing honestly. 🙂

 

I am a foodie but one that has to plan, shop for and cook almost every meal I eat. Therefore, as another cruiser put it better than I could ever have, "I'm easy to please but hard to impress." 

 

Meanwhile this article is by a food writer, someone whose job is to go to amazing restaurants, many of whom are highly experimental in nature and priced out of the reach of us mere mortals. Of course she's not going to feel a "zap of excitement" on Princess. She got a free trip to Alaska out of it though, so good for her. 🙂

[startedwithamouse]

I can't get past the author didn't even know to use the correct photo of the ship they were on.

 

But, they do use the wrong photos in other articles too, which they lose all credibility in my book.

 https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/california/experiences/news/one-of-americas-most-remote-national-parks-is-22-miles-from-santa-barbara

 

They also obviously don't know the majority of the old or midwestern cruise clientele sees Steak Tartare and thinks it's a steak. The waiter is just doing his job. 

 

 

Edited September 6 by startedwithamouse

[Shippy]

Just off the Discovery a few weeks ago....LOVED the food.

Thought the pizza on the pool deck was great.

Had eggs benedict for breakfast every morning. Almond croissants at the International Cafe were amazing.

Buffet was surprisingly good with a wide variety. Not only carving meat every night but also had things like grilled lamb chops & cornish game hens . Always a pasta station with 3 different pastas & 3 different sauces. Too many other things to list....

The last night there was all you could eat dungenous crab with drawn butter & deep fried breaded prawns.

They also have a 'Pastry Room' which I think is the largest selection of desserts on any other ship I have been on.

AND...their gelato station with many types of sundaes. Frangelico was my favorite.

Discovery is definitely a foodies delight....and that is MY review    :O)

 

[tjcletzgo]

2 hours ago, Shippy said:

Just off the Discovery a few weeks ago....LOVED the food.

Thought the pizza on the pool deck was great.

Had eggs benedict for breakfast every morning. Almond croissants at the International Cafe were amazing.

Buffet was surprisingly good with a wide variety. Not only carving meat every night but also had things like grilled lamb chops & cornish game hens . Always a pasta station with 3 different pastas & 3 different sauces. Too many other things to list....

The last night there was all you could eat dungenous crab with drawn butter & deep fried breaded prawns.

They also have a 'Pastry Room' which I think is the largest selection of desserts on any other ship I have been on.

AND...their gelato station with many types of sundaes. Frangelico was my favorite.

Discovery is definitely a foodies delight....and that is MY review    :O)

 

Oh my! Where did you find the Dungeness crab and the scallops? The buffet?

[Shippy]

16 minutes ago, tjcletzgo said:

Oh my! Where did you find the Dungeness crab and the scallops? The buffet?

Not scallops, prawns.

Quite amazing. Usually on the last full day, a sea day, Princess has a dessert extravaganza & a lot of sea food at lunch in the buffet. My husband does neither but they still have a lot of other things for him.

Anyway at lunch they did have a lot of shrimps, mussels, scallops, etc but I did not see any crab.

The desserts were amazing full size cakes they served you. They also handed out Hagen Daz ice cream.

We went back at dinner to find the crab. A GIANT pile of it. Freshly cracked legs and the middle part of the crab, my favorite. Next to it a bowl of melted butter & one of mayonnaise.Also cold shrimp. Hot breaded prawns & salmon steaks.

I had not seen crab anywhere else on the ship all week.

But remember, this was an Alaskan cruise.

Crab is hard to come by now. I live by San Francisco & for the last few years the Dungeness crab season has either been cancelled or drastically reduced for various reasons. The same for the Alaskan king crab seasons.

You used to always be able to crab on a cruise. Not anymore.

[tjcletzgo]

OMG! I hope they have this on my 9/14 Sapphire ship to Alaska🦀🦀🦀

[ravrat]

Big Shot Naomi should maybe stay on land. She fails to mention that 2 or 3 of the 5 star dinners she's so used to could easily exceed the cost of a 7 night cruise. I was on 7-13 Discovery sailing and food was good. All her article proves is she knows nothing of the cruise industry.

[CaptainPinball]

So how does a food writer looking for a “zap of excitement” on Discovery Princess apparently miss going to 360?  That has to be my favorite cruise dining experience!

[startedwithamouse]

14 minutes ago, CaptainPinball said:

So how does a food writer looking for a “zap of excitement” on Discovery Princess apparently miss going to 360?  That has to be my favorite cruise dining experience!

Her zap got zipped.

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, ravrat said:

Big Shot Naomi should maybe stay on land. She fails to mention that 2 or 3 of the 5 star dinners she's so used to could easily exceed the cost of a 7 night cruise. I was on 7-13 Discovery sailing and food was good. All her article proves is she knows nothing of the cruise industry.

Our o p , appears to be a frequent passenger on the Silver Sea ultra luxury line. Having been a guest on that line I can a test that the o p may have a slanted view of cuisine on a mega ship vs. a luxury liner. It's like comparing oranges to apples.

47 minutes ago, CaptainPinball said:

So how does a food writer looking for a “zap of excitement” on Discovery Princess apparently miss going to 360?  That has to be my favorite cruise dining experience!

I've taken the liberty of inquiring about this fine author with some acquaintance's I have in the industry. Other than the web, none had heard of her. But that's neither here nor there. I found one of her articles to be more about politics and history, rather than what the title suggested. If your going to write a published article about food and wine, it would behoove the author to comment on presentation, aroma, contents, flavors etc... 

Edited September 7 by c-boy

[gvre]

2 hours ago, CaptainPinball said:

So how does a food writer looking for a “zap of excitement” on Discovery Princess apparently miss going to 360?  That has to be my favorite cruise dining experience!

We have done it twice on the Discovery and truly a one-of-a kind experience!

Nothing like it.

[JimmyVWine]

15 hours ago, CaptainPinball said:

So how does a food writer looking for a “zap of excitement” on Discovery Princess apparently miss going to 360?  That has to be my favorite cruise dining experience!

Is 360 still by invitation only or can anyone book it?  It could be that the author could not get a reservation there. 

[Leo37]

21 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

I can't get past the author didn't even know to use the correct photo of the ship they were on.

 

But, they do use the wrong photos in other articles too, which they lose all credibility in my book.

 https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/california/experiences/news/one-of-americas-most-remote-national-parks-is-22-miles-from-santa-barbara

 

They also obviously don't know the majority of the old or midwestern cruise clientele sees Steak Tartare and thinks it's a steak. The waiter is just doing his job. 

 

 

With respect to the author, they'll have nothing to do with choosing the picture (or headline) for the article. For professional publications, those are handled by someone else. 

[CaptainPinball]

39 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Is 360 still by invitation only or can anyone book it?  It could be that the author could not get a reservation there. 

 

I was able to reserve in advance, and we don’t have Elite status and weren’t in a suite.  I booked about two months in advance for 2 people, and admittedly didn’t have a lot of reservation times to choose from.  It was a bit on the pricey side, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, food was excellent, and service was top notch!

[Sunwanabe]

Not buying into too much of  the article. It's subjective at best. Every PC I've been on, which included 2 on the Discovery, I have been very satisfied with the food offerings and quality. The Catch which we got to taste on our spring Enchanted cruise was fantastic. 

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

Is 360 still by invitation only or can anyone book it?  It could be that the author could not get a reservation there. 

Or Princess wouldn't comp it...

[Kay S]

Was this review specifically about the Discovery?  Does this author realize the food is pretty much the same on every Princess ship?  Of course, last time I was on Discovery, we ate In Reserve.  I had no complaints.

[startedwithamouse]

30 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Does this author realize the food is pretty much the same on every Princess ship?

In a word, no. Pretty evident by the article. 

 

Why would a food 'critic' not go to 360 is what I'm trying to wrap my head around.

Edited September 7 by startedwithamouse

[cruzsnooze]

It seems nasty to me that those who disagree with the authors opinion find fault with her instead of disagreeing with her opinion. I find Princess food to be run of the mill but the reserve class dining has service the way it used to be in the main dining room. 

[JimmyVWine]

5 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Or Princess wouldn't comp it...

A journalist writing a column piece would never write a review based on a comped meal. 

[Shippy]

23 hours ago, CaptainPinball said:

So how does a food writer looking for a “zap of excitement” on Discovery Princess apparently miss going to 360?  That has to be my favorite cruise dining experience!

  I forgot to mention that.

We actually went again for the 2nd time. First was a comped promotion at the beginning of the year when they gave it free if you had a suite.

This time we had to pay. Yes, it is pricey but the food was great, the wines exceptional and the experience so unique...I thought worth every penny   :O)