Things Cruise Lines don't do well . . .

[balanceok]

We've been on many cruises and have enjoyed all of them. But over the years we've discovered that there are a few things that none of the cruise lines seem to do well. We've seen how they've improved embarkation and disembarkation to pain free status and I'm always amazed that they can prepare 2,000 flawless creme brulee's without so much as batting an eye.

 

So why can't they do the following:

 

1) make good soft and chewy cookies. Any homemaker in the world can do this. Why can't a bunch of Cordon Bleu chefs figure it out?

 

2) make good salad dressing. Most standard restaurants in the US have this figured out. Why can't they?

 

3) make good popcorn. This has become an issue with the Princess MUTS movies. Popcorn smells good, but doesn't taste good.

 

4) cook scrambled eggs. If I never see the soup they call scrambled eggs again, I will count myself lucky.

 

5) eliminate chair hogs. I'm amazed at how much this goes on. As much as they talk about it, nothing really is being done.

 

In the grand scheme of things, these don't amount to much because there is so much that the cruise lines do well. But I wanted to post these out, just for fun.

 

Can anyone name any others?

 

:D

[Toto2Kansas]

A couple of years ago we found the best of the best, huge soft and chewy cookies onboard the Caribbean Princess (at the buffet). We always took a plate full back to the cabin for snacks. Unfortunately, last August, no more Huge cookies just tiny little dinky ones.

But we have found a lot of nice soft chewy cookies at different buffets on some of the ships in the fleet before.

[GrandpaGrouch]

"We've been on many cruises and have enjoyed all of them. But over the years we've discovered that there are a few things that none of the cruise lines seem to do well."

 

:D Make everyone HAPPY!

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

I see your point but...

 

Keep in mind they are making the cookies/salad dressing/popcorn/eggs for some 2-3,000 passengers.

 

Usually when things are mass produced quality is comprimised.

[BruceMuzz]

So why can't they do the following:

 

1) make good soft and chewy cookies. Any homemaker in the world can do this. Why can't a bunch of Cordon Bleu chefs figure it out?

 

----You should try the cookies in the International Cafe on Crown Princess and Emerald Princess. They are great.

 

2) make good salad dressing. Most standard restaurants in the US have this figured out. Why can't they?

 

----You don't understand why a British/Italian Cruise (for example) with a Swiss VP of Food & Beverage and an Austrian Corporate Chef cannot train an Italian Executive Chef to produce that processed, artificial glop that Americans call salad dressing?

 

3) make good popcorn. This has become an issue with the Princess MUTS movies. Popcorn smells good, but doesn't taste good.

 

----Popcorn is as American as peanut butter and hamburgers. Nobody else on the planet eats it. How would they know how to make it the way you like it?

 

 

4) cook scrambled eggs. If I never see the soup they call scrambled eggs again, I will count myself lucky.

 

---Write your Congressman. The US Public Health Service will not allow cruise lines to make scrambled eggs from whole eggs. They are legally forced to use a terrible frozen concoction that is sanctioned by the CDC.

 

 

5) eliminate chair hogs. I'm amazed at how much this goes on. As much as they talk about it, nothing really is being done.

 

---Waiters are scared to death to touch anything placed on chairs by these "chair hogs". The minute they do, these morons complain to the management and try to get these employees fired. Would you be willling to lose your job and career to save a chair for someone?

 

In the grand scheme of things, these don't amount to much because there is so much that the cruise lines do well. But I wanted to post these out, just for fun.

 

---Like many Americans you seem to have trouble adjusting to things that are not exactly like what you have at home. Might it be easier for you to just stay home and watch the videos instead? You could save a lot of money that way - and the popcorn would taste just the way you like it.

[Pam in CA]

Just to address the scrambled eggs, why don't you just go to the egg "station" and have them prepare you scrambled eggs? Sure, you have to wait a minute or to but they are "real" eggs (they crack them in front of you) and you can have them made any way you want them. An alternative is to go to the dining room for breakfast. Why complain? You CAN get your eggs the way you want them.

 

As for the salad dressing, at least Princess offers a wide variety of dressings. On my HAL Prinsendam cruise, there was a choice of a total of three: a blue cheese (which I don't care for), a "French" that was as tasty as a bottle of opened year-old Wishbone, and some sort of "diet" dressing that was also completely tasteless.

[Fuzzyape]

---Like many Americans you seem to have trouble adjusting to things that are not exactly like what you have at home. Might it be easier for you to just stay home and watch the videos instead? You could save a lot of money that way - and the popcorn would taste just the way you like it.

 

Perhaps I'm reading too much into your comment or perhaps you are taking the OP too literally.

 

I felt the post was a good natured way to generate conversation. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

[pris993]

Having cruised for 20+ years, I agree there are some things cruiselines don't do well and I must agree baking is at the top of my list. We have found a way to have some great pastries - especially when cruising in Europe, we simply buy some in port. I am always amazed when other passengers ask us what we are bringing back and we tell them local bakery items -- their response is, "you don't like what's served on board.." That's right we don't, I am a good baker and like something other than "cream" or creamy desserts. We have found some great pastries in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Israel and Turkey. It is part of the fun of checking out the port of call.

 

We have found in a limited quantity some very small almond cookies on some ships. When we do we ask our waiter/head waiter to bring them for dessert to us in the diningroom.

[sagnellae]

So why can't they do the following:

 

1) make good soft and chewy cookies. Any homemaker in the world can do this. Why can't a bunch of Cordon Bleu chefs figure it out?

 

----You should try the cookies in the International Cafe on Crown Princess and Emerald Princess. They are great.

 

2) make good salad dressing. Most standard restaurants in the US have this figured out. Why can't they?

 

----You don't understand why a British/Italian Cruise (for example) with a Swiss VP of Food & Beverage and an Austrian Corporate Chef cannot train an Italian Executive Chef to produce that processed, artificial glop that Americans call salad dressing?

 

3) make good popcorn. This has become an issue with the Princess MUTS movies. Popcorn smells good, but doesn't taste good.

 

----Popcorn is as American as peanut butter and hamburgers. Nobody else on the planet eats it. How would they know how to make it the way you like it?

 

 

4) cook scrambled eggs. If I never see the soup they call scrambled eggs again, I will count myself lucky.

 

---Write your Congressman. The US Public Health Service will not allow cruise lines to make scrambled eggs from whole eggs. They are legally forced to use a terrible frozen concoction that is sanctioned by the CDC.

 

 

5) eliminate chair hogs. I'm amazed at how much this goes on. As much as they talk about it, nothing really is being done.

 

---Waiters are scared to death to touch anything placed on chairs by these "chair hogs". The minute they do, these morons complain to the management and try to get these employees fired. Would you be willling to lose your job and career to save a chair for someone?

 

In the grand scheme of things, these don't amount to much because there is so much that the cruise lines do well. But I wanted to post these out, just for fun.

 

---Like many Americans you seem to have trouble adjusting to things that are not exactly like what you have at home. Might it be easier for you to just stay home and watch the videos instead? You could save a lot of money that way - and the popcorn would taste just the way you like it.

 

 

Yuck. You sound like a jerk.

[PrincessMelody]

---Like many Americans you seem to have trouble adjusting to things that are not exactly like what you have at home. Might it be easier for you to just stay home and watch the videos instead? You could save a lot of money that way - and the popcorn would taste just the way you like it.

 

That was kind of harsh...for someone who lives in America, you don't seem to think much of Americans.

[dpomes]

---Like many Americans you seem to have trouble adjusting to things that are not exactly like what you have at home. Might it be easier for you to just stay home and watch the videos instead? You could save a lot of money that way - and the popcorn would taste just the way you like it.

 

uh, wow! Someone needs to lighten up! There's always one in the bunch that has to be nasty. :rolleyes:

[Ephraim]

...

 

1) make good soft and chewy cookies. Any homemaker in the world can do this. Why can't a bunch of Cordon Bleu chefs figure it out?

 

I don't like soft and chewy cookies at all. I want hard cookies without chocolate. Oatmeal (with or without raisin), Peanut, Coconut, Toffee even Lemon... don't see these around, much.

 

2) make good salad dressing. Most standard restaurants in the US have this figured out. Why can't they?

 

I'm sorry but I haven't had a good ceasar's salad dressing on any cruise and in relatively few restaurants. Mostly they used commercial dressing. So few places have the guts to use a coddled egg to make the dressing. Most commercial dressings have a horrible taste from the cheap oil that they use.

 

4) cook scrambled eggs. If I never see the soup they call scrambled eggs again, I will count myself lucky.

 

Can I add fresh warm toast to this... how are you going to eat the scrambled eggs without had warm toast to put it on. It comes either cold or soggy or both.

 

5) eliminate chair hogs. I'm amazed at how much this goes on. As much as they talk about it, nothing really is being done.

 

The rifles from skeet shooting might be useful for this. I wonder if they still have the rifles, since they no longer offer the skeet shooting.

 

Here are my additions to the list...

 

1. Coffee that isn't hot water with the word coffee whispered over it.
   
2. Marmalade that actually has some peel and orange in it.
   
3. Spicy dishes that are actually spicy.
   
4. Sinks around the dining rooms, so you can easily wash your hands before eating.
   
5. Those skeet rifles to do away with people who put their hands into the buffet and touch other people's food.
   
6. Good olives (unpitted kalamatas, for example.. not tasteless!)
   
7. Yoghurt that you actually want to eat.... European yoghurt, for example.
   
8. Caesar's salad with romaine lettuce, no tomatoes, fresh bacon and anchovies, like it should be.
   
9. PIZZA! I'm sorry, but I haven't had a single slice of pizza on the high seas that is worthy of being called pizza.

[dfishner]

So why can't they do the following:

 

1) make good soft and chewy cookies. Any homemaker in the world can do this. Why can't a bunch of Cordon Bleu chefs figure it out?

 

----You should try the cookies in the International Cafe on Crown Princess and Emerald Princess. They are great.

 

2) make good salad dressing. Most standard restaurants in the US have this figured out. Why can't they?

 

----You don't understand why a British/Italian Cruise (for example) with a Swiss VP of Food & Beverage and an Austrian Corporate Chef cannot train an Italian Executive Chef to produce that processed, artificial glop that Americans call salad dressing?

 

3) make good popcorn. This has become an issue with the Princess MUTS movies. Popcorn smells good, but doesn't taste good.

 

----Popcorn is as American as peanut butter and hamburgers. Nobody else on the planet eats it. How would they know how to make it the way you like it?

 

 

4) cook scrambled eggs. If I never see the soup they call scrambled eggs again, I will count myself lucky.

 

---Write your Congressman. The US Public Health Service will not allow cruise lines to make scrambled eggs from whole eggs. They are legally forced to use a terrible frozen concoction that is sanctioned by the CDC.

 

 

5) eliminate chair hogs. I'm amazed at how much this goes on. As much as they talk about it, nothing really is being done.

 

---Waiters are scared to death to touch anything placed on chairs by these "chair hogs". The minute they do, these morons complain to the management and try to get these employees fired. Would you be willling to lose your job and career to save a chair for someone?

 

In the grand scheme of things, these don't amount to much because there is so much that the cruise lines do well. But I wanted to post these out, just for fun.

 

---Like many Americans you seem to have trouble adjusting to things that are not exactly like what you have at home. Might it be easier for you to just stay home and watch the videos instead? You could save a lot of money that way - and the popcorn would taste just the way you like it.

 

Your reply comes across as rude and talking down to someone especially the last paragraph. If you cannot conduct yourself like a grown adult and be constructive then do us all a favor and keep your bias opinion to yourself no one on here wants to hear it.

[dclark]

On the Dawn, most of the cookies were hard because they were overbaked, almost burnt. SOmetimes we checked and got lucky.

RCL has the best best cookies.

Add to the list mexican food.On my last CCL cruise, they had a mexican buffet and the first thing to get in line was salsa. So, you scooped some salsa on your plate, grabbed a stale taco shell, make a taco, then when you sat down, you had to figure out how to get the salsa off the plate and into the taco.

[ellbon]

I thought the second poater was RUDE!

 

I had excelent pizza on every princess ship. I hate eggs and get my dressing on the side.

 

but for not doing well-i like my cabin vacaum more than once on a cruise. i am tired of seeing sand.

[Putterdude]

Princess has trouble with their eggs benedict , it is kind of a poached egg on a muffin with a slice of velvita cheese melted on top. They also produce a very limp Caesar Salad. Celebrity doesn’t seem to have great beef.

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

So why can't they do the following:

 

1) make good soft and chewy cookies. Any homemaker in the world can do this. Why can't a bunch of Cordon Bleu chefs figure it out?

 

----You should try the cookies in the International Cafe on Crown Princess and Emerald Princess. They are great.

 

2) make good salad dressing. Most standard restaurants in the US have this figured out. Why can't they?

 

----You don't understand why a British/Italian Cruise (for example) with a Swiss VP of Food & Beverage and an Austrian Corporate Chef cannot train an Italian Executive Chef to produce that processed, artificial glop that Americans call salad dressing?

 

3) make good popcorn. This has become an issue with the Princess MUTS movies. Popcorn smells good, but doesn't taste good.

 

----Popcorn is as American as peanut butter and hamburgers. Nobody else on the planet eats it. How would they know how to make it the way you like it?

 

 

4) cook scrambled eggs. If I never see the soup they call scrambled eggs again, I will count myself lucky.

 

---Write your Congressman. The US Public Health Service will not allow cruise lines to make scrambled eggs from whole eggs. They are legally forced to use a terrible frozen concoction that is sanctioned by the CDC.

 

 

5) eliminate chair hogs. I'm amazed at how much this goes on. As much as they talk about it, nothing really is being done.

 

---Waiters are scared to death to touch anything placed on chairs by these "chair hogs". The minute they do, these morons complain to the management and try to get these employees fired. Would you be willling to lose your job and career to save a chair for someone?

 

In the grand scheme of things, these don't amount to much because there is so much that the cruise lines do well. But I wanted to post these out, just for fun.

 

---Like many Americans you seem to have trouble adjusting to things that are not exactly like what you have at home. Might it be easier for you to just stay home and watch the videos instead? You could save a lot of money that way - and the popcorn would taste just the way you like it.

 

This is the least productive post I have seen in a while. I dont see what being American has to do with it... I think we have done well for ourselves... So have the aussies, brits and everyone else. Taste prefereces leading to a comment like this shows what your posts and opinions are made of.

 

Steer clear of this guy.

[teripp]

Perhaps I'm reading too much into your comment or perhaps you are taking the OP too literally.

 

I felt the post was a good natured way to generate conversation. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

 

I agree. This thread was not to be an attack. Just some honest fun conversation. Lighten up every one. Not every post is an attack.:)

[spongerob]

None of the mass-market lines seem to be very clear about how much the cruise is going to cost. I'm not talking about charges for tours or drinks or specialty restaurants, though some of that would be nice to know when booking as well. What bothers me is the steady increase of non-commissionable fees, surcharges, taxes, etc. Used to be, you'd get a price quote, and that would pretty much be the price you paid. Now, you better figure adding an extra 20 to 25% to the quoted price due to all the extras.

 

And BruceMuzz...ouch!

[rc51]

Does anyone else find that the drinks (mixed drinks) are overly sugar laden?

 

I wish they'd put a separate menu for 'real' drinks that don't use sugared up mixes. I'd rather just have plain (real) lime juice in my marg, not some kind of orange mix...but maybe people prefer them this way.

[jules79]

No matter what cruise lines do there will ALWAYS be those that can't be pleased. I agree that when you mass produce something the quality won't be as good. I don't think that such small matters are a big deal.....I don't care if the cookies are so-so, or the scrambled eggs aren't up to par. I mean you are on a cruise with a ton of food options....eat something else.

[johnmik1]

How about a cheeseburger,at the pool,that is not cooked to death(with the juice squeezed out)and the cheese actually melted!

[ladypalmtree]

No raw eggs...they cannot risk food poisening..the same with beef, or any meat not cooked to a internal temp that will take away the risk. There have been a few things I have tried and did not like. So...I do not try them again. I agree with all the choices you have for food, if you do not like it, then get something else. It is hard to please 2000 plus palates per passage! Relax...it is vacation and you do not have to cool or clean up. For our money, cruising is the best way to vacation..this will be our fourth year on a Princess cruise to Mexico for Spring break..they must be doing something right...they are always booked..lpt:)

[Druke I]

Shotguns were used for skeet shooting, not rifles.

 

I've had some great soft chewable cookies on board. I guess it depends on the Pastry Chef.

 

Royal Cruise Line (now long gone) used to have wonderful hot fresh cinamon rolls in the morning.

 

I've had some very good popcorn on HAL ships, fresh popped just before the movie.

[cruzin girl]

I have yet to find good coffee.