Food: What's best and worst of Princess food?

[Ugly Betty Fan]

Even though my first cruise is just under 1 year away (I'm sailing July 1, 2008), I'm still very excited to learn as much as I can about Caribbean Princess.

 

What are the best and worst foods on Princess? For example, skip the scrambled eggs because they're powder or don't miss the prime rib. Things like that..

 

I guess I'm asking what are you favorites and least favorites...

 

Also I keep reading that if you're going to "skip" a night in the dinner room and go to alternative restuarant that Caribbean night is the one to miss. May I ask why so many hold this opinion?

 

Thanks!

[coombs2]

Personally, I liked all of the food I had except on the night of "Italian" night. I ordered the pasta fagioli soup and when it came it looked and tasted like chili.

Perhaps on the night of Caribbean night I ordered off of the "always available" menu b/c I dont recall disliking any other dinners I had except on Italian night. And even then, I dont remember what I ate as my entree.

I think the loveboat is the best dessert available.

We went on CB in April 2006 and are going again on it June 22nd, 2008.

[DiazLoves2Cruise]

One of my favorite topics! Food! :D

 

In general, and this is strickly my opinion and personal taste, I find breakfast and lunch better in the dining room opposed to the buffet.

 

I like Italian night, love the eggplant appetizer.

 

I also like Commodore Night - which is Twin Lobster Night YUMMY!

 

The only night I'm not crazy about is French night, that's when I"ll hit the alternative restaurants.

[ldoc31]

The eggplant appetizer is something that I wished I had ordered as an entree. Try lunch in the dining room now and then--you can always get ice cream for dessert there.

[Druke I]

Princess usually does rack of lamb well.

 

I don't care for their Beef Wellington -although I am a beef lover.

[MercedMike]

Clearly a matter of taste and opinion!

 

I am the seafood fan, DW is the meat eater. We both find plenty to satisfy us.

 

Lobster, of course, is a classic favorite. Strangely I have had it many different ways on various Princess ships. Always good, but on a few occasions magnificent. Sun Princess to Alaska a few years ago was, for some reason, the best!

 

I love the way they do the crab legs -- each leg carefully cut exactly in half so it is very easy to get to the meat without hammers, tongs, picks and all the stuff you usually have to do on crab.

 

The shrimp fra diavolo on Italian night is also wonderful, as is the penne pasta with sun dried tomato sauce! (And PS I love the pasta e fagioli -- it is a spicy bean soup, so I guess it is pretty much like chile!)

 

Princess also has some wonderful appetizers and salads, and excels in desserts. The famous Love Boat Dream is available every night, so be sure to try it at least once! And positively don't miss the dessert souffles. Their Grand Marnier Souffle floats across the tongue!

 

Ah, do you get the feeling I could go on and on ...? You're right!

 

I know a gastronome will have a GREAT cruise on Princess!

[PescadoAmarillo]

My least favorite is probably their beef. Although there are exceptions, I've only found it to be excellent on formal nights. Sometimes it is pretty tough.

 

My favorite is their souffles and cold soups...they are excellent!

[jbrambach]

I also like the Eggplant appetizer on Italian night. I also like French night which I think they now call Continential ??? It has items like escargot, french onion soup, chicken kiev YUMMM!!!

[cindep]

The cookies on the Caribbean Princess are AWESOME! They are available in the Horizon Court, but you can also have a plate of them delivered to your stateroom (be sure to give the person who delivers them a tip).

 

I agree with others -- the food in the dining room at breakfast and lunch is much better than the Horizon Court. Unless you are in a big rush, treat yourself to the dining room.

 

Most all of the soups, but especially the cold soups are very good as are most of the pastas. It all depends on what you like. After 13 Princess cruises, I actually look forward to most of my favorites. Oh, and don't forget the Fettuccini Alfredo. If you like it, Princess makes some of the best!

 

Other than the coffee and syrup iced tea (which I personally detest), there aren't many things I've tried that were ''yucky''.

[lasifguvui5uh]

During breakfast and lunch in the dining room can you sit where you want or do they fill up the tables as you come in?

[drpack]

I love the fact that peel and eat shrimp at the buffets are large and already peeled.

[MeMe4A&J]

I always love to read your responses.........you are so informative. I have to ask............what is the Love Boat dessert, please?

Many thanks!!

MeMe

[teripp]

Fettuchini!!! In this parmesan cheese bowl... YUMMY Hope they never get rid of that dish!!!!

[PhoneGoddess]

The french onion soup is fantastic and my BF really liked the eggplant parmigiana. I thought that all of the seafood appetizers were really good especially the one in the avocado boat.

I also thought that all of the pasta dishes were delicious.

I really love beef, but I no longer order it on either Princess or Carnival because they use Australian beef which tastes like liver to me. Yuck!:eek:

[Nick Needs To Know]

One of the things I love about Princess - specifically in the buffet - is that they always have pasta in some form available for lunch. Sounds silly but, for me it's nice to know it's there as an option.

 

If I remember correctly the onion soup is excellent. And, the lobster was cooked just right :D

 

In the specialty restaurants, I enjoy the Spinach and Artichoke Dip and the Porterhouse in the Sterling Steakhouse

 

And Sabatini's - what's not to love :D

[cindep]

At breakfast and lunch, they will seat you in an area. The only choice you have is whether or not you are joining others.

 

The love boat dream is a dark chocolate mousse upon a bed of something similar to chocolate rice crispies. From what I recall, it has Godiva liquor in it, so it is pretty good stuff! :)

[ggprincess2004]

During lunch and breakfast in the dining room they will seat you. If you don't ask for a table by yourself, you will be seated with others. We have met some wonderful new friends over breakfast and/or lunch in the dining room.

My favorites - I tenth (or eleventh or whatever) the eggplant parmesan. Yummm...., they do souffles quite well, lobster always great, the king crab legs, a number of the ice creams are lucious. Also, the chilled fruit soups should be served with a straw. They are sweet smoothies, decadent, and I try to avoid them since they are loaded with calories. Getting hooked on them is a bad thing. Once, Mom and I decided to have the chilled blueberry soup for dessert, as a sauce on our ice cream. Yummm.

Be creative with the menu choices. You can have any course in any order.

That includes the fruit plate that is actually always available - appetizer, entree, or dessert.

Generally, the menus on the formal nights are, IMHO, are the best on the cruise.

If you feel like a salad, they do a nice Cobb salad at lunch some days. I like the spinach with pine nuts and parmesan, with the sun dried tomato dressing - it works well together.

Also, you can't go wrong with the fettucine alfredo, an always available.

There are some favorites of mine that just depend upon who is doing the cooking. Different chefs interpret some of the dishes in their own unique style.

Caribbean night - just don't find most of the appetizer and entree choices appealing to me, after being spoiled most of the time. So, if we want to take a break from the formal dining rooms, we do it that night.

Breakfast, oh my. There is one item in the dining room I live for, but they make it only one time a week. It is a sweet bread dough that is rolled up into a loaf, and filled with cinnamon, sugar and ground nuts. In my experience it has never showed up before Wednesday morning, and more often Thurs or Fri morning. That morning, forget everything. Just give me that pastry.

Non-dining room - pizza. I really enjoy Princess pizza. Most concur, some disagree. Try a slice. See what you think.

Buffet - I don't spend much time there, but it is perfectly acceptable. There is one thing I have found on the buffet that - well, if it's there, forget everything else, give me the cauliflower gratin. Ok, that's a weird one, but I love it.

So much of the food thing is highly subjective.

Sabatini's and steakhouse - Sabatini's is a great evening out. You will be stuffed, you will get lots of great service. They changed the menu about the end of 2006. Some of my favorites are gone. Steakhouse - again, you will be stuffed, lots of great service. They have some unique offerings that are very tasty. I can have a great time on a cruise without visiting either, but to celebrate, it's a lot of fun.

 

Enjoy your cruise, and enjoy the anticipation. It is a great way to start the trip really early!!!!:)

[LidoLiz]

1. Pesto linguine with potatoes and green beans (stomach now rumbling!)

2. Seafood in avocado appetizer.

3. The "International Cheese Plate"

[Nick Needs To Know]

Sabatini's is a great evening out. You will be stuffed, you will get lots of great service. They changed the menu about the end of 2006. Some of my favorites are gone.

 

Oh don't tell me that!!! Does anyone have the newest Sabatini's menu? We've been talking over our plans for the holidays for 2008 and, are giving serious consideration to switching from Explorer of the Seas to Grand Princess -

 

Sabatini's was one of the arguements used to get me think about switching

 

Is it still as good?!?!

[ggprincess2004]

Nick,

that is soooo subjective. It was great - we did it for my DSS b-day on the Sapphire this May. What I missed was the gnocchi in asiago cheese sauce ( oh my god - bliss) and the scallops with a Grand Marnier sauce. They do lobster tail, but it is a bit different, and they do the scallops, with a more Mediterranean flair now. All the cold and hot appies were wonderful, next time we go I will have the veal chop or something other than the lobster or scallops for an entree (like we have room to eat it after the appies?) and the desserts are wonderful, service was great.

So we will go again, it's just the personally the menu change wasn't an improvement. My taste buds were programmed for some things that didn't make an appearance.

But, the pastas were great...etc.

And those guys can sing!!!!!:D

Have a great cruise, whatever you choose.:)

[Clarkk W Griswald]

On our Caribbean Princess cruise last February, the first night was the seafood buffet in the Horizon Court. All you can eat lobster claws, shrimp, and crablegs. Delicious! It's worth skipping the dining room for this!

 

Also, the Fettuchine Alfredo on the appetizer menu in the dining room is the best I ever had. I even ordered it one night as a main dish and got a larger portion.

[fathercop]

MMMMmmmm.... food!!! What a yummy topic!

 

I can't really say I had anything tremendously bad on the ship. Their was one entree which I ordered, but cannot remember what it was, that I absolutely did not like. I am sorry I do not recall it. The waiter saw I did not like it, apologized and brought me a second entree with a smile.

 

Overall, I guess if I didn't like the food, I would not have put on the typical 7lbs per cruise, okay maybe it was an extra 9lbs.:p

 

As this is a very subjective issue, I can say my favorite has been, beef wellington, prime rib, of course the lobster, or crab, and just about every appetizer, especially the duck, and the pate. I have tried almost every soup and have loved them all.

 

For dessert, creme broulee is my favorite. I do ask the waiter to bring me one that has the least fruit in it, usually pineapple on the CB. He was able to bring one without any fruit. That was a terrific waiter.

 

I think you will enjoy the food overall.

 

The seafood buffet on the first night was terrific.

[LARGIN]

Since food is subjective, there is no best or worse..

[Lucky 13]

I've only cruised once so far but I loved the fruit in the Horizon Court. That was my breakfast every morning along with some type of fish.

 

The only thing that did not taste good was the coffee, no matter where we got it from. But DH and I like really strong coffee.

 

Other than that I'm looking forward to eating myself into oblivion on our next cruise! :p

[boatlover]

Ugly Betty Fan,

 

Love your screen name! Glad you started this thread as I am trying Princess for the first time in a few months, Grand / Western Caribbean. Can anybody tell me:

 

1. Might the Grand have the seafood buffet on the first night, or any other night?

 

2. Are the speciality resturants open for lunch?

 

3. Are the main dining rooms open for breadfast and lunch?

 

4. What is the room service menu like for non-suites?

 

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! 4 months to go. We usually book cruises last minute, I have never had to wait this long!!