Wondering about food on NCL

[stevebeme]

We are considering a cruise to somewhere this winter and I seem to be hearing a lot of b+tching and moaning about NCL food.

 

I'm not really what you would call a high end eater. Is the dining room quality something like Applebees or Chilis and the buffets like Old Country Buffet? I would be happy with that.

 

Thanks for responses in advance.

[BalconyBumz]

In my opinion, NCL food is the worst of all the lines. I'd take another cruise line over NCL any day.

[tlovesdis]

I just got off the Star and loved the food (except for the dinner buffet). It was all good, especially Cagney's and Endless Summer! The food in the dining rooms was perfectly fine. I had chicken breast one night and a steak the other and they were both very good. Breakfast and lunch in the dining rooms was good too! The breakfast buffet is very good too! WE really liked the food in Blue Lagoon for a light lunch or snacks as well as the pool grill for lunch. The burgers and sausages out there were great!

[CruiserFromWV]

We are considering a cruise to somewhere this winter and I seem to be hearing a lot of b+tching and moaning about NCL food.

 

I'm not really what you would call a high end eater. Is the dining room quality something like Applebees or Chilis and the buffets like Old Country Buffet? I would be happy with that.

 

Thanks for responses in advance.

 

Unlike the above poster we thought the food on the Norweigan Jewel was very good. If you enjoy Applebees, Chilis and Old Country Buffet I think you will be pleased with NCL food. And if you want to spring for the extra charge dining rooms, the food and service are excellent. We ate in every dining room on the ship and only had 2 items that I didn't care for over the course of a 10 night cruise and I can sometimes be a picky eater.

We have cruised with Disney at a far greater cost and the food was not any better.

[mrose1120]

In my opinion, NCL food is the worst of all the lines. I'd take another cruise line over NCL any day.

 

I'm guessing thats what you normally do also?

[tarjan]

I'm not really what you would call a high end eater. Is the dining room quality something like Applebees or Chilis and the buffets like Old Country Buffet? I would be happy with that.

 

Well besides the "Oh man.. seriously, go out and find some better local restaurants at home" thought :) Yes the food is fine.

 

I consider myself a foodie, but I am just as comfortable with a 9 course event as I was at the now defunct chili place down the street. !@# raising rents!@$

 

None of the food on an NCL cruise is anything better than middle of the road, including the steaks. That being said, it is middle of the road which means it is perfectly edible, you just won't be thinking "that was the best meal of my life." If you are.. we should get together and find you some killer eats close to home :)

 

The sushi is ok, but I would get it the day after setting out (for obvious reasons).

 

Getting back to the steak. Cagney's is better than outback (which does still have the best, for the price, sirloin out there) but not close to the better morton's or palm restaurants. Then again, there are a few Morton's I have eaten at I wouldn't go to a second time... It is all down to individual chef's ability to cook. The other restaurants follow suit with decent meals, but little imagination, including le bistro. I'm sorry, escargot is NOT extraordinary or special, might taste good but still nothing out of what should be bare minimum. Now if they had this braised oxtail soup I had once with a beet salad and goat cheese starter.. That would be a step in the right direction. Not to mention that the bread is "blah" and that honestly, bread is the cornerstone of any high end restaurant imo.

 

Now, about applebees.. find yourself some local restaurants. Not "americano" style, just local. Could be the thai place down the street, or maybe that nice pakistani family's restaurant. Something where the chef's are part owners and REALLY care about their food and are not interested in high priced fluff that doesn't make your food better.

 

That's where you go eat with the family. That stuff, well you aren't going to get it on the ship. Save that expectation for when you dock and leave the tourist area and hunt for where the rest of your shipmates are NOT.

[ute_fan]

We also eat frequently at places like Applebees, Chilis, Outback -- and we've seldom had any problems with the food on NCL. I don't think my DH would routinely gain 10 pounds on a 7 day cruise if the food was as bad as some people indicate.

[bob brown]

I just got off the Jewel and even though I had low expectations, I was still disappointed with the food in general. Last year I was on the Dawn and the Italian and Mexican restaurant were complimentary, not this time.

The sirloin steak served in the regular dining rooms was of the lowest quality--about what you'd expect in a Country Buffet. Speaking of buffet's, I found the ship's Garden buffet to also be very poor.

It seems that NCL lures you aboard with rock-bottom fares, and then tries to recoup by trying to get you to spend extra for a decent meal in Cagney's or one of the other extra fare restaurants.

 

Since NCL has the strongest schedule of sailings out of NYC, I'll probably try them again, but I would prefer most other lines as far as food quality goes.

[Suni99]

:confused: gee we are going on the pearl soon and it sounds like alot of dissapointments with NCL reguarding food.I am not too picky tho.

[Ron & Kristy]

We are considering a cruise to somewhere this winter and I seem to be hearing a lot of b+tching and moaning about NCL food.

 

I'm not really what you would call a high end eater. Is the dining room quality something like Applebees or Chilis and the buffets like Old Country Buffet? I would be happy with that.

 

Thanks for responses in advance.

 

We're not high end eaters, our meals are usually pretty basic. High end meals like one of the other posters mentioned usually means high end calories and for someone with a weight problem it doesn't work. At least Applebee's has a weight watchers menu. :D We sailed on the Sun and found the food to be pretty good actually and on our 11 night cruise we managed to do enough damage pounds wise! LOL I think you'll find that the food is not a problem. We did eat in two of the specialty restaurants, Il Adagio, twice and East Meets West twice. I had Osso Bucco in the italian restaurant and thought it was excellent. We did stay away from the buffet for dinner. I'm not a fan of buffet food for dinner under any circumstances, not even the highest end in Vegas. That being said we did do the buffet 9 mornings out of 11 for breakfast and I thought it was excellent. The two cooked to order breakfasts that we had in the main dining room were not the best. I wouldn't stress over it, I think you'll be fine.

 

Kristy

[jpcdds6]

we have been on many cruises, on many lines. yes, there are lines that have world class cuisine, but for $800 more per person it's expected. we now sail only on ncl, and consider the food just fine. have i had bad meals? yes. but believe me, it happens on ALL lines.

[uppitycats]

We had perfectly fine meals on our NCL Jewel cruise a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of spectacular ones, including a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding meal in Azures, one of the "regular" dining venues.

 

I really would avoid NCL's pizza -- neither the room service nor the Italian Restaurant pizza was good (I think they were the same..both awful)...but other than that, every other meal was excellent. We really enjoyed Le Bistro (a speciality restaurant..but we went when they were having a 2/l special), where I had the best rack of lamb I've ever eaten.

 

I do agree with another poster here, though -- try to avoid the chain restaurants at home, and find yourself a local "mom-and-pop"kind of place, if you don't want to spend a lot eating out, but want to have a truly great meal! We've never eaten at Applebees, Old Country Buffet or Chilis, for example.

[cadmille]

In my opinion, NCL food is the worst of all the lines. I'd take another cruise line over NCL any day.

 

 

He goes on one NCL cruise and now is the expert on fine dinning, I know, I know STOP FEEDING THE TROLL, I have to keep reminding my self of this.

 

I know everyone gets an opinion,but it's just funny if you look at BalonyBumz posts 2/3 of them are slams on NCL you would think that if he HATED NCL so much he wouldn't,t spend so much time on the NCL boards.

 

Makes you wonder doesn't it.....

[98Charlie]

:confused: gee we are going on the pearl soon and it sounds like alot of dissapointments with NCL reguarding food.I am not too picky tho.

 

And for every ``disappointment'' you read there are many that were not disappointed but did not chime in for their vote.

 

DH & I have also cruised NCL many times as well as several other cruise lines and have rarely been unhappy or disappointed with the food in the main dining rooms on any of our NCL cruises. Have had some not-so-great meals on Princess as well as RCL and have had some fantastic meals on those lines as well. Same goes for Carnival and Celebrity.

 

I can't comment much on dining quality in the different ships' buffets however since we avoid the buffet areas as much as possible. DH & I have to eat on the run all too often in our daily lives. When we're on vacation we really enjoy having the food brought to us in a more relaxing dining style like the sit down restaurants aboard ship.

 

Dianne

[Greymeowsr]

Unlike the above poster we thought the food on the Norweigan Jewel was very good. If you enjoy Applebees, Chilis and Old Country Buffet I think you will be pleased with NCL food. And if you want to spring for the extra charge dining rooms, the food and service are excellent. We ate in every dining room on the ship and only had 2 items that I didn't care for over the course of a 10 night cruise and I can sometimes be a picky eater.

We have cruised with Disney at a far greater cost and the food was not any better.

 

That's certainly good to know. I think sometimes folks expect luxury cruise gourmet food on a cruise line that is not a luxury line. Thanks for your evaluation.

[terrymtex01]

Listen.. bottom line is some people love bashing NCL. The food in NCL's main dining room is great. Not world class maybe, but it is very good food and if you don't like what they are offering that night they do have a menu that is available every day that has steak, chicken and salmon. The speciality restaurants have terrific food and if you ate at one every night probably wouldn't make up the difference in the cost of cruising with NCL and high end cruise lines mentioned. We just got off of the Pearl and as much as I hate buffets, theirs was excellent. Book with NCl and I really believe you won't be disappointed in the food. Of course there are things we tried that we didnt care for, but there are always other choices and they will be glad to bring them to you. When ever you read something online that someone has posted about a cruise or cruiseline, if it is all bad or all good, move on. Every cruise and every cruise line has it's good and bad. Hope you have a great time no matter what you choose. 8-)

[gcdogwalker]

We loved the food! The buffet was crowded but the food, in my humble opinion, was very good, better than the buffets around here and always a pretty good selection. I am no foodie either but I think that if you can't find something good to eat on an NCL cruise, well, I guess you're pretty fussy and you should go to another cruise line and pay more money. So much food and too often is my only complaint!:)

[jollycruise]

When we sailed on the Dawn the food was great. We had one bad meal in Salsa but it didn't ruin our whole cruise or our like of NCL. Sh#% happens some people just need to learn how to deal. We liked the main dining rooms as well as the pay ones. Cagney's was excellent and so was Le Bistro. We ate at Cagney's, Le Bistro, Venetian, Aqua, Bamboo, Blue Lagoon, Buffett and Salsa. Would I go back on the Dawn, oh yes in a heart beat. I would even try Salsa again. Everyplace has off nights. I'm just thrilled to not being the one cooking and cleaning. Go with a open mind. Food and service are the most subjective thing out there. Everyone expects a different level. I bet you will enjoy your cruise and the food.

[WinnieinWA]

I like NCL overall and I have never had to send any meal back to the kitchen for any reason. I liked the main dining rooms for breakfast and dinner and the buffet for lunch. We also enjoyed the pool BBQ's.

 

Don't worry...there will be lots of great food for you to eat.:) Keep in mind that NCL does have a Cooking Light menu and vegetarian courses too. They also are cooking for several different nationalities and try to make some different foods each day to fit their other customers likes.

Happy sails.:)

[cdeck23]

The sushi is ok, but I would get it the day after setting out (for obvious reasons).

 

I am an avid sushi lover and was looking forward to have sushi on the Gem. Could you please elaborate on why it is obviously better the day after setting out? Any tips on the sushi would be appreciated.

[stevebeme]

Thanks everyone for your opnions it has been a great help. I drive truck and eat out of my cooler for weeks at a time. I probably will be in heaven no matter what the meal taste like. You can only eat so many Subways sandwiches.

[TxnAquarian]

You have absolutely nothing to worry about in regards to the food, despite what many of the reviews say.

 

I just took my first trip with NCL, after years of previous experience sailing on the luxury ships. We completely enjoyed our meals and were always full! Admittedly, the main dining rooms (Versailles and Aqua on our ship) were not amazing, but were satisfactory. However, if you pay the cover charge for the alternative restaurants, you will have food that is as good as on the high-end ships.

 

Oh, and I had sushi on the 3rd day out, and it was some of the best I've ever had.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Michael

[uppitycats]

I am an avid sushi lover and was looking forward to have sushi on the Gem. Could you please elaborate on why it is obviously better the day after setting out? Any tips on the sushi would be appreciated.

 

I'm not the one who posted this but I'll guess that the first day the fish is the freshest...although I'd be surprised if they dont simply have the fish frozen and defrost it as needed. Besides, not all "sushi" is raw fish based. There are plenty of pickled fish, and non-fish types.

[Jamrenjer]

I love food! :) With that being said-- and along the same lines as so many previous posters-- you will really enjoy the your cruise and the food... I am sure there are true experiences of bad food-- but we have never experienced it... sure there have been a few "courses" that we could have missed-- that were not anything to write home about-- but on a ship-- there is always somewhere else to eat-- or something else to eat! :) You will have a great time!

[janymac]

I am a chef and have sailed on the Sun and Dawn. I have gone to the pay restaurants and had excellent meals but am love the dining rooms as they have such a great variety and I am always impressed that the food that they put out is so good since they have to feed so many....

 

I love to watch the entire dining room to see what everyone is eating and how the staff works the room!! It is an experience in my mind, not just the food....

 

I am not saying this is high end dining as they only put out @ 200 - 300 meals a night so they can be slower but to serve that many people on a cruise ship and have the food come out as nice as it does is impressive.

 

Hey, I love my fine dining food but love my wings too.....

 

You make the cruise what you want it to be and that includes your dining experience!!!

 

janymac:p