Cruise Food
I just returned from a family cruise to Bermuda( I normally don't go on cruises, but it was a relatives' birthday). It was on Royal Caribbean. Some of the food was good, alot of it mediocre, and some bad. Even so, just having the amount of food in front of you makes you eat. I am curious about other peoples' experiences. Any great food on a cruise?
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7 Comments:
I've found that most cruise lines offer quantity instead of quality. I've taken six cruises over the past few years (my wife loves them) and have been disappointed most of the time -- I take it back -- they lived up to my low expectations. The exception was Celebrity Cruise Lines (which is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean). It's more of an upscale line and the food was generally pretty good.
Also, a lot of the newer ships have upscale restaurants available onboard for a surcharge ($20-30 per person per meal). I have found these to be surprisingly good and worth the money. The difference is that the food is fired "a la minute" instead of banquet-style.
Regardless, I have always found the servers to be incredibly nice and accommodating.
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 1:52PM on 08/31/07
I agree that in my experience quantity was valued over quality. Every night, there were at least 3 options for each part of the meal (and you could try them all if you wanted) so I wound up ordering and eating A LOT, but none of it was downright amazing.
I did like the variety of options though....before my one and only cruise, I had never tried escargot or beef carpaccio (which was actually the one thing I would say was excellent.)
I went on Princess Cruises to the Mexican Riviera.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 2:07PM on 08/31/07
Definitely quantity over quality. I've so far only been on one cruise, so I can't really compare and contrast. It was on a Carnival ship, but it was chartered by Sixthman, a company best known for their themed music cruises.
The food was in no way bad, just not at all memorable. The best thing I remember was the Chocolate Melting Cake in the main dining room, but even that was nothing to really rave about. It was nice to be able to try all kinds of different things, but nothing really impressed me. Besides, on this cruise I wasn't there to eat, I was there to rock out with my favorite bands. I was lucky if I managed to fit in 2 meals a day with all that was going on. I actually lost weight!
kj415 at 6:27PM on 08/31/07
Our Celebrity dining experiences have been positive. It's not the best upscale gourmet NY city thing, but is solidly good food. The service is outstanding. The challenges of cooking at sea are unique, and I think Celebrity does a very good job.
pikawicca at 9:24PM on 08/31/07
Re: Celebrity
As I mentioned before, I found Celebrity to be pretty good for cruise food. I asked the head chef (during a demo) why that was and he said that they individually fire every dish as it is ordered and that he had 30 cooks working in the kitchen with him to accomplish this. Nothing is prepared banquet-style. In my opinion, it made a huge difference.
dvchurch at 3:54PM on 09/01/07
We have a wonderful cruise on Holland America (HAL) to Alaska. If you like salmon you will be a happy, happy, happy camper. You could eat salmon three times a day and they brought it in at port so it was mind-blowingly fresh.
HAL seems to favor quality over quantity. The eggs benedict, for example, was much better-even compared some places on land.
We have been on two cruises with them and they seem less interested in feeding you all the time like other cruises we have been on. Case in point, there was no daily late night buffet.
Was it five-star? No, but I didn't pay for five star. For what I pay for five-star I could pay for a good hunk of a decent cruise.
robinp at 4:19PM on 09/01/07
I concur that quantity is the feature over quality. You might be interested in checking out the message boards/forums at cruisecritics.com. There is a forum called "cruises and foodies".
Congrats on the cruise - you will love it!
vermonted at 7:39PM on 09/03/07