Best food that you've experience at sea?

[bstodghi1]

What cruise line did you experience the best food on overall?

[RuthC]

Other. The best food I've had was on Royal Viking.
But I've never missed a meal or gone hungry on HAL. Not by a long shot.

[as41shots]

If you haven't already, you need to post the same poll on all of the other cruiseline boards. Makes it more scientific, y'know? ;)

[Mary Ellen]

Other. The best food I've had was on Royal Viking.
But I've never missed a meal or gone hungry on HAL. Not by a long shot. I was also going to say Royal Viking. Only on one of our HAL cruises was the food 'so-so', but that was about 12 yrs ago. We've never gone hungry on HAL either. I did have a meal on another line (as part of a tour), after which I walked off the ship hungry and unsatisfied. :eek: We actually bought food/beverage in the passenger terminal for the trip home.

[NoNoNanette]

I can't imagine enjoying anything more than we did on ROYAL OLYMPIA.

Greek Salads loaded with Feta and olives everynight. Baklava. Phillo appetizers, fried shrimp, fried calamari during happy hour in the bar.

(The stunningly handsome Greek waiters helped! What a warm group of guys!) That was the ULTIMATE cruise.

[seadancer]

The now defunct Dolphin Cruise lines on the Seabreeze. Rccl has been decent up until our last trip. I cant rate Hal yet but will be able to in nov:D


Seeeuuu
Jeff

[Bramcruiser]

HAL has been my benchmark up until now. I'll let everyone know if I meet better.

[bepsf]

For food during the day? HAL.

But dinner aboard MSC beats HAL by a longshot.
There are simply no bad selections on MSC's dinner menus.

[NoNoNanette]

Brian:

I'm THISCLOSE to booking an MSC Regatta cruise for 2007. Did you enjoy the Opera?:)

[popcruisers]

Sitmar - 1978. Lots of great Italian food. That's back when cruises were pretty expensive compared to today's rates (inflation adjusted, of course).:)

[Splinter]

Crystal, esp. the late lamented Crystal Harmony.

[LuAnn]

The soups were fantastic!!! Sailed again on Infinity late 2005..still good but IMO not quite as good! LuAnn

[james j feller]

CRYSTAL CRUISES by far.

JIM

[Frandick]

I agree with Crystal Cruises. I did a Med cruise last year and and am doing another Med cruise this Sept. The food was fabulous and they have 2 speciality restaurants. One Italian and one Japanese. There isn't an extra charge for these resturants just a tip to the waiter.
They will also make anything you want with 24 hour notice.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Given the choices, I picked Celebrity:) (big shock for all my friends here). But if Royal Viking was there I agree with Ruth and that would be my pick. I was considering existing cruise lines and sadly Royal Viking is lost to us forever.

[cands]

The food on our Westerdam Transatlantic last October/November was superb.

All of the food was good: Breakfast in the room or the Lido, lunch in the dining room - very civilized and tasty.
Lunch in the Lido - my least favorite, but still good. Dinner in the dining room - just wonderful.

I like that they are a bit more adventurous than some other similar lines. It's not just slabs of beef, beef, beef. (so boring). I really enjoyed the Ristafel.

Steve.

[ocngypz]

Other. Royal Viking is up there... Sitmar, too.

Of current lines: Oceania

Overall best meals through the cruise: don't laugh.. it was the Pacific Princess August 2000. Every meal, including the buffets, was a delight.
The kitchen really clicked on that sailing.

[bruce-r]

I picked Royal Caribbean, but it was from our honeymoon cruise in 1986, not from a more recent cruise. For recent cruises, Princess was better than RCI.

[thulewx]

1. Cunard QE2 Queen's Grill - ANYthing you wanted, anytime. Done perfectly.
2. Crystal Harmony - really great mass food.
3. Radisson Voyager specialty restaurants.
4. Radisson Paul Gauguin. Food just tastes better when you're in paradise. :D

[kelmac]

Dining room food and the alternative restaurant -- I would have to go with Celebrity. For buffet food, you can't beat the Lido of Holland America.:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Even though we have only cruised HAL the last couple of years, the best food we had was on the Q E II.

[Trader Ron]

Celebrity is number one. Holland America is number two.

[bepsf]

Brian:

I'm THISCLOSE to booking an MSC Regatta cruise for 2007. Did you enjoy the Opera?:)


NoNo--

You mean MSC Lyrica?
(Regatta belongs to Oceania)

I thouroughly enjoyed my cruise on Opera last year---
--- just be sure to spring for one of their 'suites' if you want any space or a tub, and bring your own cup for iced tea, water, etc. when dining in the Lido (or whatever they call it) as they only have tiny plastic cups for drinks there...

I'd be inclined to go MSC again if we could do a group (and Mario was the Maitre'd): the rates are reasonable, the entertainment is splendid, and I enjoyed the Euro-diverse clientelle. (next time I'll take the Italian language lessons) ;)

[NoNoNanette]

Thanks for the feedback, Brian. After reading your post, I got out my notebook to see what in the heck I was talking about.:o

I've got "stars" next to the Opera and Lirica for 11 night cruises, as well as Oceana Regata.

Also had my eye on Costa Magica, but decided the trip to the port wouldn't be worth it for a 7 night cruise.

Geez, this cruise planning gets obsessive.;)

I'm glad that you liked the Opera. I had such a great time on Royal Olympia, that I'd like to try an Italian line.

Thanks again :)

[rkacruiser]

"Other" for me, too.

Royal Viking is "tops" in my experience.

But, no one has an alternative buffet dining venue that is better than HAL's Lido Restaurant!

[Joanandjoe]

"Other" for me, too. ... no one has an alternative buffet dining venue that is better than HAL's Lido Restaurant!

From what we've read, and what we've seen on HAL and Celebrity, that's probably correct for mainstream lines. HAL is much better than X at buffets. Based on what we've seen on Windstar and Regent, both of which were even better than HAL, we suspect that the luxury lines excel at buffets and dining rooms. Not really a fair comparison.

[dj_crusin]

Crystal was by far the best, with all of the rest coming in a close second!

Silk Road on the Crystal Serenity offers Waygu (American Kobe) beef on their menu every night. Also you can request caviar and fois gras in the main dining room at any time.

I agree that the food on all of the larger lines has declined from days past, but I still havn't been on a bad cruise.

Dan & Judy

[garydm]

Le Champagne Dining Room on Silver Shadow.

[zlato]

(1) Seabourn
(2) My boat

[BruceMuzz]

Generally on a ship, you get what you pay for - or maybe a bit more if all goes well.
On the Titanic, in the First Class Dining Room (better known as the Ritz Restaurant), dinner cost around $200 per person per night. That year the average American earned $300 PER YEAR - before any taxes. Was the food good?? You bet it was.

In the 1970's on Royal Viking, when passengers were paying about $3,000 for a good cabin on a 7 day cruise, was the food good? Of course it was. You could buy a new car for $3,000. Royal Viking was spending about $25 per passenger per day for food, which was a lot of money back then - and even today. High Food cost was one of the factors that bankrupted the company.

Today Crystal, Seabourn, Silver Sea and a few other lines are spending around $24 per person per day for food. Is the food good? It's great. But then you are paying anywhere from $800 - $1400 per person per day to eat that food.

Today Celebrity is spending about $14 per person per day for food. Is it good? It's not bad - and the daily rate to stay aboard and sample that food is not too bad either. Since they spend more on food, they spend less on other things, like amenities.

HAL and Princess are spending about $12 per passenger per day for food. Their ticket rates are similar to Celebrity's, but since they spend less on food, they can spend more on other things, like cabin amenities. Many people think that food on Princess and HAL is as good as on Celebrity. Some do not.

Royal Caribbean is spending about $10 per passenger per day for food.
NCL is spending about $9 per passenger per day for food.
Carnival is just a bit lower than NCL.

What can we learn from this information?
Carnival spends less than anyone for food, and is rarely mentioned for gourmet dining, but is by far the most profitable cruise line in the world. Their ships are apcked for every sailing. They must be doing something right.

Crystal, Seabourn, and Silver Sea spend the most for food, and generally get very high ratings for it, yet their ships are rarely full. Silver Sea had to tie up a brand new ship for over one year, due to lack of interest. Crystal had to give their oldest and most popular ship, Crystal Harmony, back to their Japanese owners because they could not fill all three ships with their decidedly superior product. Seabourn rarely has more than 50% occupancy on most sailings.

One could conclude that the cruising public is very happy to talk about top quality these days, but is rather reluctant to pay for it.

[Mustangs]

Carnival spends less than anyone for food, and is rarely mentioned for gourmet dining, but is by far the most profitable cruise line in the world. Their ships are apcked for every sailing. They must be doing something right.
We have sailed with Holland America, RCI, Princess, NCL, Carnival and Cunard.

We must agree that Carnival must be doing something right. Actually, their food is very decent. We have sailed with Carnival several times, and have been very satisfied with both the Lido, and main restaurant.

The worst food has been with NCL.

Our best dining experience has been with Cunard in the Grills - fabulous!

[DougK]

One could conclude that the cruising public is very happy to talk about top quality these days, but is rather reluctant to pay for it.

Maybe you're right. But I think it's more complicated than that. Using your figures, the difference in food costs per person from the lowest line to the highest line is under $20/day. But the differences in fares are vastly greater than that. It seems like a line could find a very successful niche by having top-end food, yet charging only $30 or $40/day more -- that's under $300pp for a 7 night cruise. In other words, come in between the mass market and luxury lines. That's what Celebrity used to be, 10 years ago. Their food was widely recognized as superior to any other mass market line -- and I'll vouch that that food was amazingly good -- but their price differential, though it certainly existed, wasn't huge. Nowadays, their food is nothing like what it used to be, and the price differential is also smaller.

Surely I'm not the only person who is willing to pay somewhat more for quality food, but not double the cost. So why isn't anybody filling that niche? Is it because of the consolidation in the industry, with nobody really trying to create a new niche any more, but just offer the same as competitors? Or just because all the lines are now trying to appeal to everybody?

Doug

[mhshapiro]

Crystal, esp. the late lamented Crystal Harmony.

I agree. Food on the Crystal Harmony was outstanding.

We also had excellent food on the Celebrity Galaxy during its inaugural season (before they were bought out by Royal Caribbean).

On our last HAL voyage (late Spring 2005 transatlantic) on Westerdam, the food was very good but a notch below the level of the Harmony.

[fhmoore]

seadancer...

You bring up great memories of the Seabreeze....We were on her twice and both times the food was fabulous.
It broke my heart when she sank. In fact, it happened near us off the Virginia/NC border. The rescued crew was brought here to Norfolk. My nephew was in the Coast Guard at the time in Elizabeth City NC. I asked him to keep an eye out for floating memorabilia. I loved that ship!
I've always thought that food on a ship with only 350-400 people at a seating is going to be hugely better than these floating cities!

[Cruise Bug]

1) Crystal
2) Radisson
3) HAL

[missygirl]

We were on RCCL-Nordic Empress in 1991 and the food was wonderful. She was still brand new and her food and service in every area was great.:)

[BruceMuzz]

Dougk,

You make some very good points and observations.
And you ask some very good questions.

Consider this:
Carnival Cruise Line, with some of the lowest fares and lowest costs on food, gets the highest overall marks from the American Cruising Public. EVERY - not most - but EVERY independent marketing poll has shown that Carnival is considered to be the best bang for the buck, not only by the majority of Cruisers, but by the majority of Travel Agents.They also - by far - have the highest profit margins. On the other hand, niche market cruise lines rarely make a profit. The majority of them have already failed; the remainder are hanging on, usually financed by a big successful mass market line like Carnival.

So if you managed to come up with bank loans for say, $3 BILLION or so, where would you like to gamble with your money? You could choose a medium to high quality niche cruise line experiment that has a high chance for failure - or a low-end mass market line that is nearly guaranteed to not only suceed - but also make money hand over fist. As much as I dislike saying this, I would never consider gambling big money on the public's ability to discern and appreciate quality. When it comes to the American Public, lowest common denominator wins every time. Carnival, McDonalds, Walmart, Costco, Target, and many other companies prove it millions of times every day. Did you know that 7 cents of EVERY dollar spent in America TODAY will be spent at a Walmart?

You have great ideas, but in today's financial climate, they are just not viable.

[7continentKaren]

We consider ourselves bonafide foodies and our best food was on

Carnival Legend's inaugural to the Baltics - every night such fabulous food that we could not tear ourselves away to try the specialty restaurant and the wait staff was amazing. :D

Runner up - Radisson Song of Flower 3/99, Celebrity Horizon more than 10 yrs ago

Worst - no question - MSC Lirica Jan, 2006 I have no idea how they bought such low quality meat and ice cream in Florida. Lamb chops were unrecognizable - more fat and gristle than meat. I tracked down the dairy they got the ice cream from and I never heard of it. Used a powdered mix. Yuk. :eek:

Bad - Oceania Insignia 11/05, RCCL Vision, NCL Sky (now in Hawaii), old Crown Princess (lobster burned on one side, frozen on the other - also most rude wait staff) 8/94

Best idea for food - old Pacific Princess which had the traditional high style midnight buffet for lunch so we actually were hungry and ate the lovely food