Which cruise company has the best food?

[fishmaniac]

Which cruiseline offers the best tasting food with the most variety?

 

Dining room (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and buffet meals specifically.

 

Thanks.

[martinimadam]

By far, Crystal Cruise Line has the most exquisite food. The variety is tremendous, and if you ask 24 hours ahead, they'll make you just about anything you want. The service is unbeatable. And all the sodas, lattes, etc., are included in your fare. I often ask the headwaiter what his favorite thing is, and go with that!

[fishmaniac]

MM, I checked out Crystal Cruises before our first cruise and I recall them being about 3 times the price of Princess' fare. The food better be damn good for $1300 additional per person. hehe..! :)

 

MM, outside of Crystal, who gets your nod?

 

Thanks

[sharks48]

Celebrity's food was great the two times we went. Holland America is also good. Carnival used to be decent but has gone way downhill between the first time we went ['01] and the last ['05]. Haven't tried any other lines, but of these three, Celebrity was definitely the best.

[melika091900]

weve been on NCL, carnival, and celebrity and our favorite was Celebrity then carnivalthen NCL

[Krazy Kruizers]

Food is very sunjective. What one person thinks is great someone else may like that item.

[CC Help Michell]

This type of question is unanswerable with any certainty, because "one man's meat is another man's poison." Were I a true "foodie," I'd be saving my money to sail one of the top of the line, have what you want, when you want cruiselines, such as Crystal or Seabourn.

 

If, as the OP indicates on this thread, cost factors in (as in "what line has the best food for a reasonable price?"), then it's all up to personal preference and there is no "right" answer that's best for everyone.

 

I've never taken a cruise on any line where I thought the food was "horrible." I actually LOST weight on our NCLA cruise this summer, but not because the food wasn't good -- we thought it was just fine -- but because the itinerary lent itself to very active shore excursions and I did a lot of them.

 

To the OP, unless you know the food preferences and standards of everyone replying to your post, there's no way to know what weight to assign to their opinions and/or how their opinion might reflect yours. We are not big "foodies" -- at home an Olive Garden or Red Lobster dinner for a "night out" (not necessarily a super-special occasion) usually makes us very happy, even if it's not the best food we ever ate. But we can also find SOMETHING to eat that's satisfying at Golden Corral, Cracker Barrel, or any other local restaurant -- we just aren't that picky, and see no reason to suddenly become Paula Deen, or even Rachael Ray (let alone Julia Child) when on a cruise.

 

Measured against OUR standards, on NCL we find the food in Le Bistro to be mouthwatering and memorable -- a highlight of any cruise. On Carnival, I thought their fruit soups were to die for. I loved the beef dishes on RCCL. Based on that, I know I can find SOMETHING to eat that I will remember on any cruise. For that reason, we book cruises based on itinerary and price, not food. :)

[cruisead]

On Crystal, you're getting food that's not mass prepared hours ahead of serving. Your meal is prepared when it's ordered. You are able to order off the menu, which means if you want something not on their menu, you just ask and it gets done. You cannot do that on a mass market ship. On any mass market line, your food is prepared and cooked hours early and kept warm. No mass market line is going to give you anything better than banquet food. That's not a condemnation of the cruise lines, but when you're preparing more than 10,000 meals a day with lunch and dinner, you cannot get gourmet food. From our experience, and we've been on more than 60 cruises on all the lines out there, we've not found truly a significant difference in any cruise line food, except for Costa and NCL, which we found to be not good at all. But when it comes to Carnival (who's greatly improved over the years), RCCI, Princess and Celebrity, there's not all that much difference. They serve basically the same kinds of food, but with different names. They all prepare steak, seafood and poultry the same ways. They all have pretty much the same salads and soups and their desserts are similar. Years ago, when the bottom line wasn't nearly as important, you did find much better food on Celebrity and Princess. But, in our opinion, over the past 4 or 5 years, we've seen a downgrade in all aspects of food, on all lines, which includes smaller portions, more inferior cuts of meat, less imagination in recipies and things like that. Cost cutting on cruises hits the food department first. But in the end, food is subjective. What one passenger finds sublime, another thinks it's garbage. It's all up to your own taste.

 

Again, with Crystal, they are serving less than 1000 passengers. They serve a much higher quality of food including superior beef and seafood. Many of their main courses are prepared tableside to your own taste. Their desserts are unbelieveable. And as I said, all it takes is one word to your headwaiter as to what you'd like for dinner the next night, and it will be there. My DH loves a certain pasta with three sauces, and it's made for him whenever he wants. If you want caviar every night, you can have it. If it's escargot, no problem. If you want a special sauce on your fish, again, no problem. All at no extra charge. And, unlike the mass market lines, there's no huge $30 per person charge for their alternate restaurants on Crystal---just a small suggested gratuity for the servers since they don't serve in the main restaurant where the waiters get tips. Is Crystal worth the higher cost? That's up to you, but I will tell you that once you try Crystal once, other cruise lines won't look the same.

[newmexicoNita]

Best food as mentioned is so subjective, just like your local dining estabalishments; your neighbor may swear by X steak house and you may think Y Italian dining room is the best place. That being said, it is hard to judge without knowing what class of cruise line you are talking about. Everyone talks about Crystal, yet, probably 80% of those who post on CC can not or will not pay the prices. This goes for Silver Sea as well and SeaDream. of course the food is superior, the prices are 2 to 4 times higher than mass marketed lines.

 

As for mass marketed lines we beleive HAL is far superior to other lines, again our opinions only. On the basic lines like RCI, Carnival, NCL and yes, Princess, there is little difference. One has great desserts, one better entrees, one outstanding soups. None are 4 or 5 star quality and none are bad.

 

 

NIta

[fishmaniac]

...but I will tell you that once you try Crystal once, other cruise lines won't look the same.

 

That's what I'm afraid of! lol

 

Thanks for the informative post btw.

[fishmaniac]

I know I can find SOMETHING to eat that I will remember on any cruise. For that reason, we book cruises based on itinerary and price, not food. :)

 

We're just like you! I remember a few dishes that were very tasty on the Golden, but some were just ok. I'm not complaining...just pointing it out.

 

I would do poorly in the Crystal lines since I'm not a chef and have no idea what to have them make. lol. I just know if it tastes good or not. :)

 

Thanks

[martinimadam]

"MM, I checked out Crystal Cruises before our first cruise and I recall them being about 3 times the price of Princess' fare. The food better be damn good for $1300 additional per person. hehe..! :)

 

MM, outside of Crystal, who gets your nod?"

 

Didn't know how to quote, so I copy/pasted. You're right that Crystal is more expensive. Cruisead covered the food subject quite well. There's more than just the food, though. I finally figured out about 3 years ago that, because their single supplement is so low (and I always cruise solo), it made darn good sense for me to try Crystal. I became immediately "Crystalized".

 

As to the mass market lines, I think they're all about the same. I've been on HAL, Carnival, and Princess and couldn't really tell any difference. I've also been on NCL and didn't like it at all....

[richkinkade]

Of lines I've cruised on, I regard Celebrity and Holland America as having much better food then NCL and Carnival. YMMV.

[newmexicoNita]

Of lines I've cruised on, I regard Celebrity and Holland America as having much better food then NCL and Carnival. YMMV.

I agree, HAL has the best, but we were not impressed in any way with Celebrity food except for the meats. They were outstanding, otherwise we just didn't see any difference.

 

Nita

[4 cruisers]

Oh oh, we have a strong feeling about the meat flavor here! We have had "strange tasting" red meat (even in the sauces) on HAL and then recently on Princess! Have never had that "flavor" on NCL, RCI, Celebrity, or Crystal.

 

Presentation on Princess WAS really nice...but that darned taste came through. It is a flavor that obviously many don't notice, but it really bothered us...so take this with a grain of salt! LOL! On HAL, we finally asked what the heck it could be ....even though we were in the Mediterranean, it was Canadian beef! We are thinking that it is a taste we aren't used to in So. Calif. We weren't popular with the maitre d' for asking and he wasn't too happy answering.

 

Nita, I'm still looking forward to your Star review!!!!! :cool:

[4 cruisers]

Oh...short of Crystal (which you sure pay a lot more for...), the specialty restaruant on Celebrity is by far the best food we have ever had on a ship! (Crystal, Cunard, Princess, HAL, NCL, RCI)! Worth every penny extra and you can get some great deals on Century in the Caribbean! Then again, are you looking for food, ports, schedule, or a combination?! We cruisers are certainly a diverse bunch!

[Leafpeeper]

We like cruiseships for more than food. I like all the restaurant choices on NCL new ships. We like eating in a different venue each night: Italian, Mexican, Steak House, American, Japanese, etc. DH felt his best cruise food was at the Japanese restaurant on NCL Star. We'll be sailing NCL Pearl in November so we'll check out the Japanese restaurant on that ship.

 

We loved the food on our Crown Princess cruise last Fall. However, we didn't like that both "anytime" dining rooms were decorated exactly alike. We would have preferred a different theme to each one. They could at least have different drapes and tablecloths.

 

The Carnival dining room has excellent food but their buffet had only one dessert one night. We prefer to eat dinner in the dining room and then grab dessert at the buffet. RCCL has the best buffet with lots of desserts to choose from. We like that we can select fish, chicken, or steak and have it cooked in front of us at the buffet. DH enjoyed having his steak exactly how he wanted it and most of all HOT.

 

I just may book HAL for the first time since reading all these positive posts.

[ce2000]

Of the seven cruises that I have been on, I like the food on the Celebrity Summit best. I have never cruised with HAL, but will be correcting that issue in about 7 weeks. After reading this thread I am really looking forward to the dinning experience on HAL.

[glgolfer]

Been on RCI, NCL (the Norway), HAL, Crystal and the QM2.

The best food was on the QM2 only because we were in a Princess Grill cabin and were part of the class system and in the PG restaurant with only 10 other PAX and everything was cooked to order and you could get pretty much whatever you wanted.

 

Next was Cystal. The food was exellent, but again I was glad we had a 2 for 1 deal as that and the afternoon tea were the only things significantly better than the others. We were in a cabin that was supposed to be the equalivilant of a JS on RCI. The layout and storage apace were not as good as a D1 on RCI. Every cabin steward we've had on RCI (23 cruises) have been better then the one on Crystal.

(Now every Crystal cruiser will tell me how wrong I am).

 

RCI, NCL and HAL were all comperable for food. But, the Norway was not typical NCL as it was the traditional 2 seating, not freestyle.

 

Again, every one's idea of what is good is different. We're mostly happy with RCI lately as it has improved after a down period for a couple years. We started on RCI in 87 and have been thru the excellent to the ranch steak to the modest improvement lately.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[fishmaniac]

Oh oh, we have a strong feeling about the meat flavor here! We have had "strange tasting" red meat (even in the sauces) on HAL and then recently on Princess!.....Presentation on Princess WAS really nice...but that darned taste came through. It is a flavor that obviously many don't notice, but it really bothered us...so take this with a grain of salt!

 

Hi 4 cruisers,

You know what? When you say "strange tasting", do you mean gamey? Cuz we felt that all the beef items on our cruise was gamey. Some more so than others; like the prime rib we had the first night...it had a strong gamey flavor.

 

Anyway, thanks everyone for all the responses!

 

I didn't think there would be a "right" answer to my question when I asked. However, after enough responses, one can sorta guess at who is the general favorite and whos the least liked. :D

[spongerob]

Presentation on Princess WAS really nice...but that darned taste came through. It is a flavor that obviously many don't notice, but it really bothered us...so take this with a grain of salt! LOL! On HAL, we finally asked what the heck it could be ....even though we were in the Mediterranean, it was Canadian beef! We are thinking that it is a taste we aren't used to in So. Calif. We weren't popular with the maitre d' for asking and he wasn't too happy answering.

 

 

Hi 4 cruisers,

You know what? When you say "strange tasting", do you mean gamey? Cuz we felt that all the beef items on our cruise was gamey. Some more so than others; like the prime rib we had the first night...it had a strong gamey flavor.

 

I grew up in Canadian "beef country". I have lived in the US for quite a while now, almost 20 years. When I first moved down, the big difference I noticed was the beef. It didn't taste "right". I was used to pastured and range-fed beef, most American beef is corn-fed and there IS a difference.

 

Give me a steak from Longview any day...so long as it's the Longview in Alberta, not Texas. :)

[4 cruisers]

Thanks for confirming that we DID taste the difference. I think "gamey" might be the perfect term. I love the taste of lamb, but not mutton. I think mutton is "gamey." The beef had "that kind" of taste.

 

Spongerrob, I appreciate your "appreciation" for that taste as well as your understanding of our lack there of! (WOW what a horrible sentence! Sorry!). :o This really has been an interesting thread! Thank you!!!!! I imagine it has a lot to do with what you are used to! I think we're all in agreement on the margarita though!!!!!!!

[Bluwaterz]

Leafpeeper,

 

Just off the Crown and the 2 anytime dining rooms, DaVinci and Michelangelo weren't decorated the same. Are you sure you went into both of them?

[cruiserbryce]

as much as we love RC...the best food we have had was aboard Princess...the presentation and taste was just a step above the other lines we've been on..but thats just my opinion...something like food that is so differently percieved by everyone can be all over the board as far as favorites are concerned

[newmexicoNita]

"MM, I checked out Crystal Cruises before our first cruise and I recall them being about 3 times the price of Princess' fare. The food better be damn good for $1300 additional per person. hehe..! :)

 

MM, outside of Crystal, who gets your nod?"

 

Didn't know how to quote, so I copy/pasted. You're right that Crystal is more expensive. Cruisead covered the food subject quite well. There's more than just the food, though. I finally figured out about 3 years ago that, because their single supplement is so low (and I always cruise solo), it made darn good sense for me to try Crystal. I became immediately "Crystalized".

 

As to the mass market lines, I think they're all about the same. I've been on HAL, Carnival, and Princess and couldn't really tell any difference. I've also been on NCL and didn't like it at all....

Again, a matter of preferance: we think NCL is better than RCI but see little difference. Clients of mine that have cruised almot all lines, upscale as well as mass marketed think everything about SeaDream is the best. We did, as I mentioned think HAL had much better food (dinner particularly) than other mass marketed lines, but thought Celebrity was a disappointment and our biggest disappointment was the specialty restaurant on HAL> It certainly wasn't worth $30.00.

 

Nita