NCL - Downhill ?

[Seeya on the seas]

But there is one difference, yes, this is a place for us to share opinions and we all have them, you are stating yours as fact and not opinion.

Nita

 

I have an opinion. Mine is very similar to Takin. I found the buffet to be very low end for buffet food. Yes, it's buffet, but there is "buffet etiquette" and I didn't see much of that. My eggs were runny (and I love buffet eggs), the meats had been sitting for awhile and not turned or rotated to stay warm and moist. I really looked forward to breakfast buffet and love to hit buffets wherever I go (cruising, vegas, casinos, etc...). I was pretty disappointed with it. Lunch - I did fall in love with the pretzel bread sandwiches. Even though it was just lunch meat, the bread really made the difference.

 

Most of the nights, we went to Aqua. The service was decent and some of the food was very good (beef wellington, pumpkin soup), others not so good. The desserts to me where bland. I did enjoy the apple bread pudding. Guess I have too much of a sweet tooth and enjoy better desserts.

 

Only specialty we ate at was Ginza. This one, I have to say was horrible in my opinion. The entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth. We went for the all you can eat sushi. First off, our waiter was totally spaced out and as if he was on something. He was ordering food for us. Not cool. I just wanted specific things. I had been waiting all week for this. Now, I went in with mixed expectations. We had read on this board how good it was, but on the ship we had been talking to some others and they had told us don't bother. So, I wasn't expecting great, but thought it would be better than Costco sushi (no offense - I like it. Just have had 10x better too). However, it was equal or less than equal on the rolls to Costco. Now the Nigiri was another story. Took one bit of it and spit it back out. It was still partially frozen. The texture was horrible. Nothing worse than bad texture on raw fish. Sorry I have to give the sushi 2 thumbs down.

 

Overall, I really wasn't pleased with our food experience on the Star. That's just my opinion.

[willysgrandma]

The buffets were a terrible waste of food and money. There is so much waste with those. I saw them on our first two cruises and never missed them after that.

 

Almost every cruise line now has pay restaurants - it is a big money maker for the lines. And you are exactly right - since they are not used by everyone, not everyone is forced to pay for them.

 

Cruising has changed for sure from 10-15 years ago. The biggest disappointment when I cruised recently after a long gap was no more midnight buffet :mad:. It's not like I need that food, but I was looking forward to it because I just remembered those as a kid and they were fun. I thought it was just Carnival being cheapo or something, but it's just that all cruise lines have changed.

 

I have found NCL's service to be the best out of all the cruise lines I've sailed. That's their strongest point in my opinion. I'm talking about throughout the ship - just very friendly and willing to help you in any way they can. It's interesting because I remember back in the day when we sailed on Celebrity and RCI, our waiters were always from Turkey, Romania, etc. It was interesting to me when I started cruising again a couple years ago, both on Carnival and NCL, the staff members seemed to be more from Indonesia. I sort of miss the waiters being a little bit more...professional? I don't know the word but they seemed like more of connoisseurs back in the day. I think that's probably something that has changed across all cruise lines though.

 

It did surprise me at first the cover charge restaurants. That was weird to me, because cruising should cover all food, right? Now that I've gotten past it, it makes sense to me. I'd much rather them have all of those great options to choose from without hiking up the cruise fare, and if I want to experience a couple of them, I'll pay for what I want. Makes perfect sense and it's really a pretty minimal cost.

 

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that the entire cruising industry seems to have changed to adapt to market research and economic factors. I find NCL to be a great cruising experience and I think they really put an emphasis on market research, moreso than other cruise lines. That's my opinion.

[newmexicoNita]

I have an opinion. Mine is very similar to Takin. I found the buffet to be very low end for buffet food. Yes, it's buffet, but there is "buffet etiquette" and I didn't see much of that. My eggs were runny (and I love buffet eggs), the meats had been sitting for awhile and not turned or rotated to stay warm and moist. I really looked forward to breakfast buffet and love to hit buffets wherever I go (cruising, vegas, casinos, etc...). I was pretty disappointed with it. Lunch - I did fall in love with the pretzel bread sandwiches. Even though it was just lunch meat, the bread really made the difference.

 

Most of the nights, we went to Aqua. The service was decent and some of the food was very good (beef wellington, pumpkin soup), others not so good. The desserts to me where bland. I did enjoy the apple bread pudding. Guess I have too much of a sweet tooth and enjoy better desserts.

 

Only specialty we ate at was Ginza. This one, I have to say was horrible in my opinion. The entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth. We went for the all you can eat sushi. First off, our waiter was totally spaced out and as if he was on something. He was ordering food for us. Not cool. I just wanted specific things. I had been waiting all week for this. Now, I went in with mixed expectations. We had read on this board how good it was, but on the ship we had been talking to some others and they had told us don't bother. So, I wasn't expecting great, but thought it would be better than Costco sushi (no offense - I like it. Just have had 10x better too). However, it was equal or less than equal on the rolls to Costco. Now the Nigiri was another story. Took one bit of it and spit it back out. It was still partially frozen. The texture was horrible. Nothing worse than bad texture on raw fish. Sorry I have to give the sushi 2 thumbs down.

 

Overall, I really wasn't pleased with our food experience on the Star. That's just my opinion.

 

And you have every right to your opinion. As I have said opinions are one thing, posting as fact is another. You are posting, the way a post should be opinion. Food is very subjective as we all know. As for eggs on any ship, regardless of the line and we have done every mass marketed line, I always order them from the egg station and not the buffet table itself. We do not like the food on RCI, in all fairness we have usually cruised 4 dayers with them. We did a 7 day a few years ago. As we can only cruise once or twice a year, we have decided to stick with other lines, but this doesn't mean RCI is a bad line, just not for us. Again, it is all in your personal experience and preference. Oh, BTW, what the heck is "buffet etiquette"?

 

Nita

[Seeya on the seas]

Oh, BTW, what the heck is "buffet etiquette"?

 

"buffet etiquette" is about the food service. It a part of the chefs job to make sure that all the food is fresh and hot. They are suppose to rotate the food forward and stir items so that the top and bottom remain hot.

 

I LOVE buffet eggs (I know weird) but I always have. But 2 out of 3 times, they were runny. :( I was very, very disappointed. I looked forward to those silly buffet eggs. Buffet eggs and biscuits/gravy make a breakfast buffet. My spouse doesn't like them and she went for the other eggs. We didn't find the omelet station until day 6. Had no clue that they might be outside by the pool. Whatever though.

 

Sounds like there is a huge difference to you on the different cruise lines. Maybe that's why different people like different lines. Maybe for one person, the food on Celebrity is better than NCL. Maybe you like NCL but another likes the style of preparation on Royal Caribbean. I think it's about style of cooking. And overall, I think the food is declining.

[newmexicoNita]

"buffet etiquette" is about the food service. It a part of the chefs job to make sure that all the food is fresh and hot. They are suppose to rotate the food forward and stir items so that the top and bottom remain hot.

 

I LOVE buffet eggs (I know weird) but I always have. But 2 out of 3 times, they were runny. :( I was very, very disappointed. I looked forward to those silly buffet eggs. Buffet eggs and biscuits/gravy make a breakfast buffet. My spouse doesn't like them and she went for the other eggs. We didn't find the omelet station until day 6. Had no clue that they might be outside by the pool. Whatever though.

 

Sounds like there is a huge difference to you on the different cruise lines. Maybe that's why different people like different lines. Maybe for one person, the food on Celebrity is better than NCL. Maybe you like NCL but another likes the style of preparation on Royal Caribbean. I think it's about style of cooking. And overall, I think the food is declining.

you are right about that. Yes, there are many lines to choose from and what works for one may not for someone else, that is why we do have choices. Overall food on cruise line is going down hill, but we did think the Spirit in Feb was an improvemnt over our last 3 cruises. As for the omellet station, it is too bad it is so hard to find on the Star. BTW, I will add I didn't like the buffet on the Star as well as other NCL ships, but I certainly liked it better than you did. Our days of buffets have about passed us by and for dinner, we are settling on a mixture of sur charge dining and MDR. This goes for all lines.

 

Nita

[desert2mom]

I've sailed on Disney and NCL, hardly an experienced cruiser of many lines. Sailing with kids in a garden villa suite makes all the difference in the world to us. The disney rooms were tiny and cramped. The villa gave us room to spread out (not to mention 2 bathrooms). The food on Disney was on par with the food in the theme parks--not that great. The food on NCL Jade (med cruise last summer) was good. We ate at several places that had the surcharge--the Italian being the worst. We just returned from a cruise on NCL Epic. The buffet food was overal not fabulous. However, we were always able to get a good salad, wrap, and really good bread pudding. The best surcharge place for us was Cagney's. The best free was the Manhattan Room.

We spent the money and had the cruise ship do our laundry. Traveling with kids who decided to change clothes 4 times a day made that a necessary evil. Expensive, yes. Worth it, yes.

Would I cruise on RCI, Disney, Princess or Celebrity--probably not. They do not have a villa suite that can compare to NCL's. We may be missing out on better food (on some lines) but for our family, for now, NCL is a good fit. For others, it may not be.

[che5904]

[quote name='mmemichele']It is more like other lines then different .I did find the JEWELLERY people ANNOYING Grabbing me as I walked by I kept telling them I did not NEED anything but they literally dragged me in I had to ask them to stop their sales pitch THEY really have TO COOOL it
THey wwere always outside the store HUSTLING!!!!NOT PLEASANT .I tried to avoid DECK 7 as a result

Michele[/quote]

Isn't the HD responsible for the Atrium as well? I would have just contacted him and asked if that was his department and explained my issue that these solicitors were bothering the passengers. I never had that problem on the Dawn or Star and wouldn't accept having to avoid an area due to solicitation. They can set their tables up whereever they want and that doesn't bother me, but I will not be pestered.