Worst food item you tasted on a cruise??

For some reason all the mushrooms on Carnival tasted odd....and I love mushrooms.

Carnival's desserts are a little bland too.

Although I liked the pumpkin pie quite a lot...its not served often over here.

The ice tea as it's different to what we get back home

And their chicken parmie as is usually dry and overcpooked

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Ryndam buffets - awesomely awful!!

On the other hand their chocolate croissants were wonderfull and I had one every morning for breakfast.

ries.

Just an update on the Ryndam, really nice food in the buffet and MDR. Nov 2013 TA

I do not eat escargot on any cruise ship and it is not because of what they are. I lived in Europe for over 6 years and what I had there is nothing like what I have had on ships of the three different lines I have sailed. If I wanted something that tastes like mushy buttered garlic; I would order overcooked buttered garlic not escargot. I also pass on the Carnival frog legs, again not because of what it is; but because how they prepare it. I do not care for frog legs which appear to be properly fried; then allowed to swim in what appears to be cool clarified butter until they are cold, soggy and somewhat greasy before being delivered to the table.

Lately I have seen where Carnival is in the process of changing their MDR experience to something new, to include a new menu this year; and is refining it on several ships at present. I have also seen more complaints about Carnivals MDR experience since Jan 2014 than complements. I am not sure if there is a connection between the two or not. However, I have seen several complaints about the food that is currently being served on some of the ships I sailed last year, that I thought had very good food (except for the escargot and frog legs) in the MDR.

A last thought about the MDR food these days in general. I only started cruising in 2001 and had a period of several years that I did not get a chance to cruise. But in those years I have noticed the exoticness, quality and portion size of the food served in the MDR’s across the board has decreased. While this may be related to cost savings by the industry, the outcry by some for healthier eating, changes in their customer base or any number of other reasons; I have started to wonder how much, if any, it has to do with quietly encouraging passengers to patronize the proliferation of “for a fee" specialty dining venues that are popping up on the ships these days. It seems like the MDR complaints have gone up across several cruise lines since more of these specialty venues have appeared on their ships. I just find it strange that I am seeing or hearing extremely few, if any, complaints about the specialty dining venues on a ship; while the MDR on the same ship is getting bad reviews.

Not really bad, but utterly boring: two things on RCCL that people have raved about for years, the vadalia onion tart and the honey stung chicken. To read the RCCL boards they are INCREDIBLE. To me completely bland and a waste of calories:D

Not really bad, but utterly boring: two things on RCCL that people have raved about for years, the vadalia onion tart and the honey stung chicken. To read the RCCL boards they are INCREDIBLE. To me completely bland and a waste of calories:D

We use the "is it worth it" rule when dining.

Yeah I totally agree with the honey stung chicken. Just like honey mustard sauce chicken tenders from a fast food place.

Have to chime in about the honey stung chicken. I've had it awesome & I've had it grossly bland. Plus the dark meat tastes like a completely different dish compared to he white meat. When done properly & the chicken is crispy with honey I the nooks & crannies on dark meat??? Then it's to die for!!!!!!!!

We're going to eat at Golden Corral before our cruise so everything tastes much better in comparison.

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We're going to eat at Golden Corral before our cruise so everything tastes much better in comparison.

 

 

 

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It's all relative when I told a waiter on board a Princess ship that the meatloaf tasted different he said he knew what I meant because he'd had it at the Golden Corral and it was delicious. :D

I think it would be a tie between the "Chilled Avocado & Shrimp" soup on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth (perhaps also their Chocolate frozen yoghurt too), and the Mint ice cream on HAL's Volendam. All tasted like things you'd prank your friends into eating :) Truly awful ^^

St croquille sp, blechk and barramundi

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I usually stick to foods I know, things like foi gras and liver, and pattes never appealed to me... :p

We're going to eat at Golden Corral before our cruise so everything tastes much better in comparison.

 

 

 

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Hah that's funny! I believe if you go into it expecting the worst, then it's not such a traumatic experience. Everyone's got their own preferences.

I find it extremely hard to believe (and rather pompous) that people can cruise for a week and say they didn't find ANYTHING they liked. Seriously, people say that they want better dining and then you see them lining up day after day for pizza & burgers. Really? HA!

We cruise on all lines and enjoy all types of food including the specialties. I recently cruised on the Carnival breeze & had their fried shrimp (with different sauces) on two different nights. The 2nd night I had another meal as back up. I cannot tell you -- they were almost non-existent, limpest things ever.. and very, very greasy. If they used a bigger & better quality shrimp it would hold up better. In comparison, my Guys Burger was divine compared to those meals.

That's just my 6 cents.

Oyster fritters on Carnival!

I am revising my feelings on oyster fritter on Carnival. Yes, the only bad food I had back then on the Liberty was oysters...they were rancid at the fish and chip station, and they were equally bad as an appetizer in the dining room at dinner time. Other than that the food on that cruise was awesome.

Next cruise I swore I would never try them on a Carnival ship again, and I did not. Fast forward to 2014....ordered them at the fish and chip restaurant and they were excellent (but very small). They were just little bitty things, but they were fresh tasting.

So that leaves me with nothing to report as being the grossest thing I have tasted on a cruise ship :D As stated in another thread on this board...I love the Indian food, and I even like (dont love) but like the oft maligned breakfast buffet scrambled eggs on Carnival LOL...fire away!

Hah that's funny! I find it extremely hard to believe (and rather pompous) that people can cruise for a week and say they didn't find ANYTHING they liked. Seriously, people say that they want better dining and then you see them lining up day after day for pizza & burgers. Really? HA!

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I have no problem believing that at all. I have seen a decline in the food on the cruise ships since I started cruising back in 2001. I was on the Caribbean Princess over Thanksgiving. Except for the first night and Thanksgiving the MDR choices were between which item I disliked the least. However their burger bar had great burgers and the pizza place had the best pizza I have ever had at sea, and better than a lot I have had on shore. There were even some post cruise comments, on our CC Roll Call for that cruise about a few people getting food poisoning in the MDR.

Recently sailed another cruise with Carnival and the mushrooms were slightly better...

But I had this udon noodle dish with chicken tenders in the MDR that was disgusting. I love Japanese food but this was shocking. This is a photo of it from someone else's page:

I also found the soft serve ice cream to taste really chemically then it got better in the last week.

Hah that's funny! I find it extremely hard to believe (and rather pompous) that people can cruise for a week and say they didn't find ANYTHING they liked. Seriously, people say that they want better dining and then you see them lining up day after day for pizza & burgers. Really? HA!

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/quote]

I have no problem believing that at all. I have seen a decline in the food on the cruise ships since I started cruising back in 2001. I was on the Caribbean Princess over Thanksgiving. Except for the first night and Thanksgiving the MDR choices were between which item I disliked the least. However their burger bar had great burgers and the pizza place had the best pizza I have ever had at sea, and better than a lot I have had on shore. There were even some post cruise comments, on our CC Roll Call for that cruise about a few people getting food poisoning in the MDR.

 

 

Clarification from my OP above & stress again was that I find it unbelievable that people can't go on a cruise and say they didn't like ANYTHING on board. That includes, breakfasts, the MDR, the buffets, the bistros, Deli or specialties, etc... Really? You didn't like their bacon, or salads, fruits, or Bagels with Lox? Can someone mess up a fried egg or grilled cheese?

 

It's different if people got sick, but it as a blanket statement it feels over exaggerated.

 

Not disagreeing on the decline of food quality on board, but I have found that depending on the Cruise line, there are many straight up meat & potatoes people than there are adventuresome folks in the MDR. Many many who are not willing to go out of their hamburger & spaghetti zone that will not dare touch any fish, lamb, pork, duck, vegetarian or middle eastern inspired dish and that's including appetizers too such as frog legs, escargots, smoke fish tapenade, even mushroom ragout in pastry... etc... Therefore having pizza & burgers.

 

Sure there are plenty of dud MDR dishes out there, but there are some good ones too.

 

NOT FLAMING, just wanted to be clear it up.

 

Safe travels all.

Ahhh here's another one. ICE CREAM dispensed from a machine on board most mainstream cruise ships. It's so fake, it's not creamy, it's just not ice cream. And don't even get me started on the yogurt.

Bleccchhh!!!

Pay for Ben & Jerrys, the scooped stuff, gelato or enjoy REAL ice cream in the MDR! I enjoy the surprise of the sherbet of the day!

I was underwhelmed, to say the least, at anything I had on my most recent NCL cruise. We ate, most nights, in the MDR, and I found the food to be mediocre at best. We enjoyed the food in the French Bistro. It led me to believe that NCL is leaning towards wanting guests to pay extra for their 'specialty' restaurants. I was even underwhelmed at their "chocolate extravaganza" buffet. And their pizza by the slice was simply dreadful.

Conversely, last time I cruised Carnival, I felt they had actually stepped up their game. I was not overly enthused with their MDR steak, mine was not as tender as I might like, but the one my son had was perfect. We didn't like their orange cake.

The baby shrimps (looked like pink worms)! in the Venetian dining room on the NCL Dawn and the steak as well - tough and tasteless.

Our last cruise on the NCL Dawn we thought breakfasts and lunches were good in the Lido and in the MDR, but dinner in Lido, MDR and specialty restaurants was not good. We were surprised because our previous cruise the food was okay to pretty good. The things I remember being unpleasant were tough meat, especially in the MDR. I know the MDR isn't a premium steak restaurant, but if they serve what they claim is a New York strip, you should be able to at least cut it and chew it.

In the french restaurant on the Dawn I ordered what was supposed to be a duck "specialty" that was on the menu, and I got what looked like a tiny plain baked duck leg-quarter with three skinny baby carrots and a very tiny boiled white potato. No sauce, no garnish. I should have taken a picture, because it was about the saddest plate I have ever received at a specialty restaurant, and it did not hold a candle to the specialty French restaurant on the Norwegian Spirit, which was phenomenally good by the way. In the same French restaurant on the Dawn, my husband ordered the scallop appetizer, and when the scallops came they were burnt to the point of being charred, and they remedied that by drowning them in paprika. My husband sent them back for new ones, and when the plate came it had one scallop cut into three pieces and served practically raw. I am not exaggerating, one scallop cut into three teeny pieces. When my husband asked very nicely to speak to the Manager, the Manager came out and was smirking and being sarcastic, and basically he gave my husband an "F*#$ You" attitude. And this was a restaurant for which we paid an upcharge. We can't see ourselves going back there. There are too many ships on the sea to stay with a line that doesn't suit you.

Lorie

Recently sailed another cruise with Carnival and the mushrooms were slightly better...

 

But I had this udon noodle dish with chicken tenders in the MDR that was disgusting. I love Japanese food but this was shocking. This is a photo of it from someone else's page:

 

 

 

I also found the soft serve ice cream to taste really chemically then it got better in the last week.

What is unfortunate is that picture actually makes the dish look pretty good, although it does look like shrimp, not chicken. I really hate it when I order something because it looks tasty, but looks can be deceiving when it comes to cruise food :(

Lorie

The pirate night menu on DCL although perfectly edible, was probably the "worst" meal I have had at sea. Should have gone to Palo/Remy that night instead.

I would have to say the deep fried bacon ...... Yuck [emoji21] carnival spirit heard they cater food for us Aussies so y in the hell are they deep frying bacon wt .... That just kills a good price of bacon anyway who needs more fat in their bacon [emoji13]

Carnival Triumphs meatloaf was so inedible that I had to spit it out into my napkin. Awful! My mouth just went reject, as you might fling a spider off your arm.