Best Food in the MDR - which cruise line/ ship?

I am looking for the best overall food quality in

The Main Dining Room - not talking about specialty restaurants. What has been your experience??

Almost impossible to say.

We've had good, and bad, dishes on every ship we've been on.

I've also sat and heard people rave about dishes I thought were poor, or dislike dished I enjoyed.

But to be honest most is banquette standard at best, and that is to expected when they're feeding 1000s at a time.

If you look around the boards, you will see many threads dancing aound this topic. The reason they dance is the topic is totally subjective. I am sure the answer probably resides with some of the high end luxury lines, but, again, as it is so totally driven by unqualified, personal opinion, it can't be seriously answered by anyone.

I hear you but which cruise line does the BEST at feeding thousands at a time?......In YOUR opinion. I realize that the food is not the reason to cruise but if everything thing else is more or less equal, why not let the MDR food service help decide which cruise to take.

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Without a doubt the very best food is on the luxury lines. We have sailed Sea Dream, Regent and Silversea and the food on Sea Dream is head and shoulder above anything else. I attribute this to the small size of the ship. When you are only cooking for 100 passengers you can expect high quality food. With the luxury lines the smaller ships have better food than the larger ones.

I hear you but which cruise line does the BEST at feeding thousands at a time?......In YOUR opinion. I realize that the food is not the reason to cruise but if everything thing else is more or less equal, why not let the MDR food service help decide which cruise to take.

 

 

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Not sure you get it. I think HAL does beef well, but maybe you don't like beef. So no benefit to you. You like fish (which, in reality, I also actually think HAL does well), but someone posts here that HAL does fish poorly. Your tastes are not going to align with mine, or many other people. How are you going to know whose answer is right? The better answer is FOR YOU to try a few different lines, and make the personal decision yourself.

Again, as stated almost daily here on Cruise Critic, food is totally subjective, and there is absolutely no one and final right answer.

I hear you but which cruise line does the BEST at feeding thousands at a time?......In YOUR opinion. I realize that the food is not the reason to cruise but if everything thing else is more or less equal, why not let the MDR food service help decide which cruise to take.

 

 

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Again almost impossible but of the "major mass market lines" my opinion is Princess and Celebrity. I was underwhelmed by Cunard, maybe I was expecting too much.

I think Princess dropped the ball when they abolished some of their always available items, mainly because I always thought they were the most consistent items, probably because they were made every night.

Thanks Bruce. So HAL does a good job on beef and fish. I appreciate your opinion.

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Thanks GUT2407. I recently cruised Viking Ocean and was disappointed in their food service-maybe I was expecting too much??

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When it comes to food it is very subjective.

My experience is that some of the luxury cruise lines have the best food in the dining room as does Cunard in their Queens Grill. Luxury lines include Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea and Regent although of these we have not sailed Regent.

When it comes to Specialty Restaurants we have enjoyed food on many lines that go beyond the luxury lines.

Keith

Very subjective subject. Best to try different lines and judge for yourself.

I've been in carnival, ncl and celebrity. I've liked carnivals the best and they have the best dessert in MDR

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far far FAR too subjective. besides, the menus, although the same, can vary greatly in quality and presentation between ships, let alone between trips on the same ship.

there are menus on Royal that we deliberately choose to eat elsewhere during the week, and there are menus ( and no not a Formal night one) where we insist on only eating in the MDR.

Disney does cold soups wonderfully. I think the the rest of their food is crap. their desserts especially sucked in my opinion.

if you want good quality food consistently on a mass market line, you will be very disappointed. you will find one or two items that are very well done. you will NOT find a full 5 course meal done every day to be very well done.

I am looking for the best overall food quality in

The Main Dining Room - not talking about specialty restaurants. What has been your experience??

For us...Princess.

Regal/Royal

They also have the best buffet!! :)

We have been on Disney, NCL and Princess so I will rate the quality of MDR food.

1. NCL

2. Disney

3. Princess

We loved NCL food options and thought wow this is better than DCL. DCL we have done 12 times so MDR got really boring as they serve the same menu over and over again. Princess was very good but NCL surprised us with how good MDR as we had lower expectations. Love them all though! Also when we did Princess we only went to MDR once as their buffet and other dining options were so good and fit our time schedule better.

Here is my list of best food options when you include (buffet, specialty dining, MDR, quick serve food options).

1. Princess

2. NCL

3. Disney

Thanks. I realize that MDR evaluations are subjective. By asking this great CC community, if I see a trend that would mean something.

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Thanks. I realize that MDR evaluations are subjective. By asking this great CC community, if I see a trend that would mean something.

 

 

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Food is very good on P&O Ventura and i never heard anyone complain in any of the dining rooms.

We have sailed in everything from mass market to luxury and the best food consistently in the MDR has been Seabourn and Sea Dream. I say consistently because I feel that's less subjective- they are always good. Best consistent experience on a larger ship food wise was Oceania and Cunard Grills (not Britannia). Of the mass market lines we used to like Celebrity best but they've slipped- HAL seems to be doing a better job these days.

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In addition to all of the above comments, remember that the quality of food and service on a particular cruise line can often change dramatically over time. Our first cruise was on the NCL Sun 12 years ago. The food and service in the MDR at that time were almost universally regarded as terrible - many complaints registered on CC's cruise reviews. Their only saving grace was their relatively inexpensive and decent specialty restaurants. It is my understanding that NCL's food and service in the MDR are now at least in the top five of the mass market lines.

I go to the menus and look at the always available items. If you like beef, you will see a range in the always available - from flat iron steak on Carnival to New York on Celebrity. At least you will know what is offered. Of the mass market lines, Celebrity, HAL and Princess in that order for my tastes. But with a little selection all provide a good meal IMHO.

I've been in carnival, ncl and celebrity. I've liked carnivals the best and they have the best dessert in MDR

 

 

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I've had reasonable, even good food on most lines, in the MDR, but the only outstanding and consistent one was our recent Fred Olsen cruise. That is a big selling point for the line.

I like the food on Oceania ships, but the best food was on Hapag Lloyd's Europa 2, luxury ship with a luxury price tag. Oceania's specialty restaurants are included in the price, same on Europa 2. And both ships had first rate buffet food. Lost of choices and way above Princess and HAL.

I like the food on Oceania ships, but the best food was on Hapag Lloyd's Europa 2, luxury ship with a luxury price tag. Oceania's specialty restaurants are included in the price, same on Europa 2. And both ships had first rate buffet food. Lost of choices and way above Princess and HAL.

Few people who have experienced a wide variety of cruise line meals will disagree that Oceania is clearly the gold standard for food at sea.

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My personal experience has been on: Princess, HAL, Cunard, Carnival, RCI, Celebrity, NCL, and most recently, Crystal.

I can say, that among those, Crystal's MDR food is far superior to any of the other's, and its Crystal Serenity MDR is a fairly large sized room....much larger than those on the other luxury lines...more like the size of the mainstream lines I mentioned.