The food was HORRIBLE!!!!

Well, my oldest son has significant food allergies. He is allergic to milk, wheat, eggs, soy and corn products. For most of his life, he has eaten mostly fruit and vegetables. Anyway, we notified Carnival's special needs department before our cruise and from the first meal, he had food he could eat that was specially prepared for him. Even at the buffet, when I asked the hostess, she was able to find out for us what he could eat and the head chef for the buffet also talked with us. Every night at the MDR, the hostess went over the menu with him and he picked out things he would like to try. The next night his meal was brought to us fixed without any of the ingredients he was allergic to. I swear he ate better on every one of our cruises than he does at home. Every night he also had a dessert made especially for him.

 

I did not expect this kind of service from any cruise line, (he can always eat salads and fruit from the buffet) but since our experience has been so fantastic, we keep continuing to cruise with Carnival. So sorry your experience was not what you expected.

Thanks for posting, this is just wonderful to hear!:)

After working 22 years in the NYC restaurant business all in fine dining and the last 12 years in corporate dining I have to throw my opinion in here. I'm not speaking against anyone I'm just assessing the market as a whole as I see it. Most people don't really know good food but they all think they do. Trying to debate that with them is grid lock. Sometimes food does come out of a kitchen substandard for various reasons and this is usually poor quality product or kitchen management/execution. I would assume that because chef's are under contract with the cruise lines, some may like the position where others feel trapped. Morale is key to build a team that produces great food. An "I just want to finish this contract and be gone" type of attitude is bad. Otherwise you have a staff that would like to learn new things but they feel like they are working in a factory putting caps on toothpaste. It is also very difficult to build a team when that team knows you may leave in a year and there will be a new chef with new ways of doing things etc... I have found food on all lines vary and ships amongst the same lines vary even though they are cooking the same menu. Consistency is made more difficult by where that ship is sitting in the world as well. Changing suppliers/quality all changes consistency. You are dealing with plants and animals which are never perfect anyway and then doing it on a scale that most wouldn't believe unless you saw what it is like to serve 10,000 meals a day. I'm not making excuses for them either. They make mistakes, I personally have seen and had bad food on cruises. I do see a serious challenge for their system. That being said customers should be able to expect good food but how good. As we all know food prices have gone up a lot in the last decade and cruise prices haven't. Times are changing but it seems like a lot of cruisers are not and expect more than businesses can give. Lastly IMHO the lines still do a pretty good job on the food for the most part. If you cant find something to eat on a cruise something is wrong with you not the ship.

For example the brisket was nothing more than a regular old pot roast. As pot roast goes it was pretty good but it was not brisket.

You do realize that brisket and smoked/bbq brisket a la Texas are 2 separate things, no?

Brisket is traditionally seared and then slow roasted in the oven with carrots and onions just like a pot roast.

It's been done that way forever and is a traditional Jewish dish as well - crispy potato pancakes (latkes) make a nice accompaniment.

Also, PLEASE, anyone..... what in the H is *rough* chicken?

Have never, ever heard/seen that word used when describing the edible factor of anything.

She did respond but have to say after about 25 cruises on about 12 different Carival ships find it hard to believe the food was so bad she had to go to great lengths to find anything at all edible.

The first cruise of the Imagination out of Long Beach was exactly that for us.

Buffet was lousy in both taste and quality.

MDR food was good but there was a 45 minute wait to get a beeper then another wait for a table. The ATD line wrapped past the elevators, at one time almost reaching the library.

Room service fajita wrap and chocolate cake were great.

Thankfully this was a short cruise.

You do realize that brisket and smoked/bbq brisket a la Texas are 2 separate things, no?

 

Brisket is traditionally seared and then slow roasted in the oven with carrots and onions just like a pot roast.

It's been done that way forever and is a traditional Jewish dish as well - crispy potato pancakes (latkes) make a nice accompaniment.

 

Also, PLEASE, anyone..... what in the H is *rough* chicken?

Have never, ever heard/seen that word used when describing the edible factor of anything.

Still had the feathers in it???? :D

I sailed on the Legend frequently and found the food pretty awful in the MDR. I wondered why people raved about the lasagna or the penne mariscos. They were just terrible!

Then one trip, same ship, the food was quite good the first night (the worst menu choices to me). I asked and sure enough there was a new chef. All week the MDR food was delicious, including lasagna and penne mariscos. The chef made all the difference.

I sailed on the Legend frequently and found the food pretty awful in the MDR. I wondered why people raved about the lasagna or the penne mariscos. They were just terrible!

 

Then one trip, same ship, the food was quite good the first night (the worst menu choices to me). I asked and sure enough there was a new chef. All week the MDR food was delicious, including lasagna and penne mariscos. The chef made all the difference.

I was thinking it had more to do with cocktails.;)

Still had the feathers in it???? :D

And they were moving:D

And they were moving:D

The feathers or the chicken?:confused:

Nothing wrong with the food in the MDR on the Fantasy last week, everything was outstanding! Brunch and dinner! Of course what could go wrong having brunch with the captain as diamond.

The feathers or the chicken?:confused:

Both:cool:

Well the only thing that matters is that I can always find something on the menu that I like, don't care if other people have a problem, its their problem if you can't find something to eat on a cruise ship. All the different things you can get. All the cruise lines get there food from the same vendor, how the chef makes it may be a difference. You are not ordering a dish that will be made for you, its a mass food line. Cruise food is cruise food and its the same every time you go on a cruise. So you should know what you like and what you don't. Some people will not be happy with it no matter what.

Also, PLEASE, anyone..... what in the H is *rough* chicken?

Have never, ever heard/seen that word used when describing the edible factor of anything.

There are always someone that doesn't like the food, or the drinks, or the coffee, or the fog horn. It's always Carnival's fault when it rains, or when it's foggy, or when the sun shines. There are multitudes of others that like what they are getting.

I usually find something to eat on board. Sure some may not be cooked to my standards, or the selection is limited, or the mashed potatoes are the wrong color, or the ice cream is too hard, but I muddle thru. One has to realize that most MDR meals are prepared ahead of time and not per order as in your local eatery and because of this some quality will waver.

If one continually has issues with this that and the other and 3K others are content, then maybe one needs to talk to that person in the mirror.

I too have issues with some of the comfort foods, especially the meatloaf (if that's what they call it) But there are a multitude of other choices, so if the OP's mentioned issues keep them away from Carnival, it just leaves room for someone that may appreciate it. :)

:D:p:D:p:D

Both:cool:

Took the words (okay.....word) right out of my mouth! ;)

Oh, you poor thing :rolleyes:

You jest.

Not in 'jest,' but that was my question as well. Why did the OP assume the same items would taste different from previous experiences. Repeating the same steps and expecting a different outcome is ...... :confused:

. Most nights I ordered the chicken ceaser salad, a plain chicken breast and fries. The ceaser salad was so bland there was no taste to it. Most nights the chicken was so rough and over cooked, I could hardly cut it.

I don't understand why you ordered the same thing every night when it was obvious you didn't care for it? I'm assuming it was one of the only things you felt safe to eat given your tree nut allergy, but if not, I don't understand sticking with something you clearly didn't care for.

I'll start by saying I'm not much of a food guy. If I find something that is relatively healthy and I think it is tasty, then that is what I would call "good food".

When we are on a regular vacation, we usually rent condos, houses, flats or stay in hotels that have kitchen facilities. We make our own breakfasts. Lunch will usually alternate between fast food and "picnic" lunches that we've packed in the morning. Dinners we'll usually just cook ourselves. We rarely make a point of "going out" for dinner. More likely, a couple times a week, we'll "stay out" and find a place, just because of where we are, or what our plans are, or because we don't feel like cooking. That said, we will rarely (never more than once a trip) go out for dinner at a place as nice/fancy as a Carnival MDR.

I also agree that food is subjective, although if someone really can't find anything to his or her liking, I do feel a little skeptical.

We were on the Breeze in July. I had no issues with the food. I never felt that I was stuck picking the only thing that appealed to me. I don't recall ever getting anything that surprised me in a negative way. I will say that I would have liked a little more variety at the lunch buffet.

I will also mention that my wife has a very minor nut allergy. This isn't the kind where if something has touched a nut and she eats it, she will die. Rather, if something has nut chunks and she eats it, it will make things uncomfortable for her for a while. Anyway, we mentioned this when we booked our B2B earlier in the year. On the first day of the first cruise, the Asst. Maitre D' came by and gave her a separate menu, had her pick her meal for the next day, and always made a point of double-checking her selection and checking with her at some point during the meal. Unfortunately (and this isn't a complaint, it was more comical than anything), Carnival didn't seem to distinguish between her minor allergy and a typical more severe allergy (and nor should we expect them to). But my wife became a little frustrated at having her selections vetted and having to choose her meals in advance. As she said, she doesn't know today what she's going to feel like eating tomorrow. But we realized why they were doing what they were doing and were fine with it. When we got to the second half of the B2B, it had been so much of a hassle that when they came to us the first day, we told them the allergy warning was a mistake and they should disregard it. She enjoyed dinners on the second cruise a lot more than she did on the first one!

We spent the last 2 New Years on the Breeze & had not 1 complaint about the food.

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Everything was horrible????

 

If you didnt like the chicken caesar salad why order it every day?

....sooooo....I'm not alone........?

....sooooo....I'm not alone........?

Number of us shaking our collective heads on this.

....sooooo....I'm not alone........?

Number of us shaking our collective heads on this.

That's pretty much the jist of it.

That's pretty much the jist of it.

I would think though if the OP would have smuggled on some adult beverages would have thought better of the food.:)