Food quality/selection need changes?

Hello,

I myself have found over the years that Carnival has cut back as all other cruise lines when it comes to the area of food....whether in the dining room, buffets and specialty restaurants I found Carnival to cut back more than any other cruise line.

I like to hear your opinions as to this topic regarding all areas of dining aboard Carnival ships, what you found to be cut back the most in what area and how and what IMPROVEMENTS do you feel Carnival needs to make to meet your expectations/needs? (regarding quality/selection) What else do you feel Carnival needs to provide to make dining a better experience?

I agree. They used to be among the best as opposed to Princess and RCL. Now the portions are greatly smaller and some of the recipes have changed. The escargot and stuffed mushrooms aren't nearly as good as they used to be. I got the smallest 2 lamb chops in the history of lamb chops. 4 bites of meat altogether.

On my last trip the food was coming out just slightly warm, including the salad which used to be served nice and cold. I said something to the waiter so he'd nuke my food which really messed it up. Had to send several dishes back asking it be hot from the kitchen, not the microwave. Ruined some really nice meat.

The menu cycle needs to be longer. It's the same over and over.

Remember to get hollandaise on the side of eggs benedict or it's baked hard under the warming lights.

Did a Behind the Fun tour on Inspiration and the Chef argued with 16 of us that the coffee was just how people like it, tar black. Everyone complained and added hot water to it. On the next trip on the same ship I saw a man in uniform telling the chef how he was to do things. That trip the food and coffee was improved.

What are those things called scrambled eggs? Can't stand it, I always get fresh eggs from the deli guy.

The tiny ramiken of yummy mac 'n cheese is way too small.

There is just nothing special about it anymore.

Portions are definitely smaller, but you can order as much as you want. This cuts down on unnecessary waste and therefore cost.

The quality seems to be hit or miss - but if it's not up to what you like you get something different.

We had food one cruise where cold things were warmer than they should have been and hot things were cooler than they should have been and after speaking to the waiter about it we also had to speak to the maitre 'd and then the problem was corrected.

I think they do need more servers in the MDR, though.

With all this being said I still feel that Carnival is a terrific value.

Noticed that Carnival has changed some of their recipes. Some for the better, some worse and some just rearranged. The Pepper Pot soup on the sea day lunch menu has been changed to a cream(?) based soup. It was lousy. But the Mongolian Steak Salad was rearranged, as in served differently) and was still very good.

I agree that the portion sizes have decreased but as PP mentioned, you can order as much as you would like. The portion size decrease is to cut back on wasting food, rather than try to make guests feel like they are being skimped out.

We've only been on a couple cruises and I have to agree that I think the portions decreased, but I was glad to see that because the first cruise --- soooo much waste. I've not probably had long enough to compare, but we've enjoyed the meals and variety for the most part. I do wish there would be different variety for different ships or that it might change up a bit on the same ship, but either way, we're happy with it. I'd rather keep it as it is if it means increasing prices.

The portions may be a little smaller but no problem with extra starters or main course if you choose.

I think the food is excellent considering they are cooking for so many people.

Do agree the coffee is way to strong and we add hot water and the OJ is awful.

Has anybody experienced or found the selection types of food that is served now is downgraded....I find that Carnival during lunch buffets took away the meat carving...they also mainly have hamburgers, not dogs, fries, pizza...where is the healthier good foods that they used to include in the buffets...its like they gearing towards serving an abundent of fast food type foods rather than healthier/carvings, more diversified in vegetables and sides....the salad and fruit bar area have gotten smaller and not as fresh...any comments to this to?

Why do you think they took away the meat carving on lido?

Have cruised on three different ships in the past year and all three had it every day. Alternated between Roast beef, Turkey, Lamb and perhaps one or two others.

We had salads most days and were very happy with their offerings. Thought fruit was good but perhaps not as much variety as in the past.

Don't mind the smaller portions - but I think they got a new hot dog supplier? The couple I tried on the Destiny were nasty - mushy and salty - nothing to look forward to anymore! :( And I agree the stuffed mushrooms were definitely not as tasty!

...and I would love to see the menus changed more often!

Well, food is subjective isn't it?

I find the quality of the food on Carnival to be just fine and in no way droppiing.

I find the choices in the dining room, with it's varied menu, to be just fine with something for just about anyone...with a good selection for meat, fish, pasta and vegetarian.

I find the buffets and other dining venues to be fresh with a varied selection to please anyone.

I find the food well prepared, presented well and very, very good.

I find the portions have become smaller - with regard to side dishes particularly. It hasn't lessened my enjoyment, however, because I could order as much as I want....if it wasn't enough.

I find that, upon request, the galley will prepare just about anything you want, any way you want it prepared.

I find that, no matter how much someone complains about the food, they are still ordering 6 shrimp cocktails and 4 lobsters or a double entre and 4 desserts......

I am just off the Miracle and once again was amazed at the service and quality of food provided by Carnival. When you consider the number of people being served in such a relatively short period of time, it is truly amazing. During the cruise we had lobster, prime rib. lamb, shrimp, scallops, a variety of wonderful soups and appetizers for dinner. At lunch there were an Asian bar (which was wonderful), Italian bar, deli, salad bar, fresh fruit, burgers, dogs, and tacos - not to mention the desert bar and 24-hour pizza bar. At the invitation of friends, we dined the final night in the steakhouse and found it comparable to any top restaurant. I know food is a personal taste, but I find Carnival, especially Miracle, to be superior in food quality and variety to other cruise ships we have been on. As others have mentioned, the portions may be smaller but you can get as much as you want, and I always left the dining room stuffed.

I agree with the smaller portions as there are too much waste and you always can ask for a second but what I am trying to get have you noticed that they serving "fast food" type foods much more on cruises than they did in the past?

Perhaps I am one of few that not eat hamburgers (unless my own that I know has extremely little fat in the burger, the last burger I tried I took a bite and had to throw it out it was like a hockey puck and didn't taste like even just fair to good beef), I not eat hot dogs you know whats in them and the sodium content in them, maybe that not matter to most people...then there are the fries and sandwiches to me that is less quality of food compared to years ago. Maybe I am the only one who prefers to eat better things this is why I am asking because I won't cruise on carnival again until they add better healthier selections of food and I am asking here because I wonder if its just my eating habits and then I should not blame Carnival for having only these type of foods. Last cruise in May on Carnival, I found it totally difficult to eat something that was healthy, it was fast food and I not want a sandwich. That was all there was then there was the salad bar which the salad was not cool, the tomatoes were warm.... three or so years ago it was very fresh, crisp and cool. Maybe things are the way it is because society eats fast food?????

Golfadj- I did not have one day of a carving of meat, I had asked and was told they no longer offer this on the ship. I took a 5 day cruise so perhaps they cut back more on the shorter cruises?

I also realize that they have to cook for thousands of people but granted they have served many people for years now on cruises the quality and the selection is what is lacking....then I went during the evening for a bite to eat around 11:45pm, again, hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and pizza! You would think that they offer some cheeses, or fruit or a salad (they used to serve ceasar salad at the pizzeria this also was taken away).

I do agree the oj is horrible yes, Royal Caribbean was the only ship that I have to say had great orange juice...about the coffee I can't comment because I love dark strong coffee....but I guess you can add some hot water to your coffee, put less coffee in and then it be maybe what your looking for.

Cruisinpsychrn- I agree with the eggs, I go to where they make the omelets and ask for over medium/fried eggs there. :) Your right, the salads used to be nice and cool now they not. The beef used to be better than what it is now, I eat much better quality meats than what they serve on Carnival, so you see what I am saying, the quality is lacking and they cut back drastically which will affect whether I choose Carnival or another cruise lne in the future.

They need to know that I am not the only person who wants to avoid fast food type foods...and they need to restructure their buffets for lunch to meet everybodys needs. That includes the nighttime foods available.

I agree with the Hot Dogs on the Destiny and the Buns were hard..and honestly we tried to avoid that buffet as even the kids didnt care for it...However the MDR food was excellent every night and in 5 nights we never had a bad meal...:) and We loved the Stuffed Mushrooms although we have never had them before so for us they were delicious maybe its better that we hadn't had them in the past..This was our 2nd Carnival Cruise 1st was a cruise to nowhere back in 03..and honestly we were so drunk I dont remember the food for the Weekend..LOL Now we barely have any alchohol on board..

Having just come off my 1st Carnival cruise I don't have past experience with them to compare their changes, but I found the MD food to be not very good. Especially anything beef. No matter how rare you asked for it it was way over cooked and tough. DW liked all the fish dishes she tried. But no matter what it was nothing was every really hot either. On the other hand we all liked the pizza, deli, and mongolian wok. The buffet food, in my opion, was better than the dining room food. The warm melting cake that every one raves about, was like a brownie one night, hot fudge sauce the next and very good another

Your absolutely right the beef/meat dishes are touch and not good at all I just rate them fair and I also hate seafood, and cannot have pastas (I cannot eat gluten) so that leaves me with no other choices but the tough meat even the chicken was tough lol

I have read some information recently that they are changing the set choices on the MDR menu. (Can't think of what they call that.) Making ribs a choice again every night and fried chicken.

My honest opinions...

The decrease in serving sizes is a good thing.

I have had the bad orange juice, but on the last cruise it was good.

I have noticed that the beef seems to be of lower quality.

(Good thing that I like chicken)

The scrambled eggs on the Lido are like "hospital" eggs.

The Lido breakfast has good oatmeal, boiled eggs and grapefruit and that's about it.

And I have noticed that the baked goods are not as good.

The cakes look pretty, but there is not much taste...

Chocolate should taste like chocolate and orange like orange.

I even had something that was mango and had no taste.

Sometimes the cakes and pastries are still really cold, like right out of the freezer.

As for fruit, they serve a lot of melons.

In fact most of the fruit plates are mostly melon.

I notice this because I am allergic to melons.

Berries seem to be used only for garnishes.

And the menus do get a bit too familiar.

It's not only that the menus repeat, but that the same sauces are used every day. Especially tiresome is the beef sauce and the chocolate ganash.

duplicate

The menus on Carnival do seem repetitive after 16 CCL cruises - yet I have never gone hungry. I have never eaten a hot dog, burger, or pizza on a CCL cruise either.

I just cruised Disney for the first time and was amazed at how much better their food was in quality and selection. The welcome on board luncheon buffet had baby lamb chops, crab legs, shrimp, etc. e.g., but at a much higher price. So you get what you pay for. I'm looking to try Celebrity next, since many of their cruises have pricing similar to CCL and their menus attempt to appear more sophisticated.

Portions are definitely smaller, but you can order as much as you want. This cuts down on unnecessary waste and therefore cost.

 

I think they do need more servers in the MDR, though.

 

That's part of the problem- ordering more might be an acceptable compromise IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN OVERWORKED SERVER!!!

Quite often, we have ask for either an additional portion (or something different) and either the server was no where to be found or it just took a long time (try 30+ minutes) to get it.

We must be in the minority. We just got back off the Dream (our fifth Carnival cruise) and we found that the servings were much larger than before. Their fried chicken was delicious. I had the ribs one night and they had two six inch long slabs piled on top of french fries. The meat fell off the bone.

I must agree about the scrambled eggs on the buffet. They remind me of yellow watery cottage cheese. They need to cook them about a half hour longer. One thing we did notice was that they had Italian sausage for breakfast instead of regular sausage links or patties. On the last day of the cruise, they finally had breakfast sausage and hash browns instead of potato chunks cooked with onions and peppers.

One night I had lamb and duck. There were two large pieces of lamb on top of three pieces of duck. Nephew had Alfredo one night and it came out in a huge bowl almost full. Maybe it was just on the Dream, but we felt that they had increased their proportions instead of decreasing them.

Hello,

 

I myself have found over the years that Carnival has cut back as all other cruise lines when it comes to the area of food....whether in the dining room, buffets and specialty restaurants I found Carnival to cut back more than any other cruise line.

 

I like to hear your opinions as to this topic regarding all areas of dining aboard Carnival ships, what you found to be cut back the most in what area and how and what IMPROVEMENTS do you feel Carnival needs to make to meet your expectations/needs? (regarding quality/selection) What else do you feel Carnival needs to provide to make dining a better experience?

I personally find there is no need for change there is more than enough food choices for everyone on every ship.. in the dining room.. buffet and steak house.. if someone can not find something they like then I think they should not cruise... I recently cruised with a very vegetarian person and she enjoyed every meal in the dining room .. buffet and steak house... so I dont think Carnival needs to change a thing.. I think people need to adapt to what is offered and enjoy THAT;)

KruznKel Your right there is always something for everybody but not for those who cannot eat gluten....I cannot eat gluten at all and when I go out for dinner I look for meats, veggies, salads as that will not get me ill.

But Carnival had no carvings for lunch not one day, it was the usual hockey puck fat meat burger, salty hot dogs, good pizza, sandwiches...again which I cannot have. There are so many people in these days with the same problem as I and other cruise lines are adding gluten free foods to their menu/buffet but Carnival. So for instance after 10pm I want to eat something, well, the burger is out, the hot dog is out the pizza is out and there is nothing else being served....so as a result, there is nothing for me to eat. Up until two or three years ago they did serve ceasar salad where the pizzeria is but they no longer do this.

This is one reason why I had post this just like to see what other people out there think....but it also appears that people not mind eating fast food type foods on their cruise as nobody agreed with me that they need to add healthier better quality and more selection of foods for those who have gluten problems or those who want to avoid that fast food stuff and eat better. Other cruise lines offer healthier options but Carnival...

We all have different tastes in lets give an example in beef....for me the beef/steak in the dinner on Carnival is fair and tough (I eat a much much better quality and better tasting steak at home) but to others who may not eat beef at home or may not buy superior cuts of beef for whatever reason will think what they get on Carnival be wonderful....so we are all different. I not complain about that just happy they remain to keep the steak so I can eat something (I not eat seafood, cannot eat pasta dishes)

This is one reason after taking so many Carnival cruises I prefer now to take Royal Caribbean because that cruise line definately has everything for all something that Carnival needs to pay attention to because I see the drastic decline in the selections of types of foods Carnival offers compared to other cruise lines. I understand the cutbacks but to cut it that much is ridicious!

You can say there is a salad bar in the buffets but the salads are not cool any longer, the tomatoes generally are soggy and the salad bar has been cut down also with less choices....I like to see Carnival address these issues so that I can remain taking a Carnival cruise.

I think the fast food industry is part of the problem its what us americans eat but think of how many americans now have cholesterol problems and heart problems I blame the fast food industry, then you have people that can't help their weight and are overweight why because these fast food places are "biggie size" it!

The trick is to eat the proper and eat the right foods, good quality and stay healty and avoid having health problems. I wish everybody here good health and happy crusing!

It sounds like you should stay home and prepare your own meals.