Food to try, food to avoid

[woollife]

I'm just off the Triumph (still have terrible sea legs uggggggh) and we ate in the MDR every night. I am a bit of a foodie (champagne tastes on a beer budget) but try not to let it cloud my judgment; good food is good food.

 

The duck breast appetizer on the first night was by far the best and most complex dish I ate on the entire trip, outside of our non-Carnival Cozumel cooking excursion which featured some fantastic food but was overpriced. Bitter and blanc was delicious but had very little in the way of dark chocolate. Melting cake was good two nights and basically liquid batter the other two nights. After the first night we started asking our server how thick it was before ordering. Tiramisu was tasty, cheesecake was okay.

 

Fish in the MDR was uniformly good in terms of being properly cooked/seasoned; IIRC I ended up ordering fish mains every night (salmon/lobster/redfish) oh wait, no, had veal the last night because it's something I never cook at home and it was cooked well and suitably decadent. Lobster and shrimp were as you'd expect (and we did each order two lobster tails, as did the table next to us LOL). Pumpkin/yam hash in MDR was disgusting. In general I was disappointed by the amount of vegetables in the mains; we try to eat a lot of greens and veggies at home and by the third day I was feeling a bit ehh from not enough vegetables and too much salt. My fault, I know, tried to rectify it with more salads :P

 

Blue Iguana burrito was surprisingly good to this Texan, I had two of 'em and should have had at least one more. We didn't try Guy's; every time I passed by there was either a line or sad, sitting burgers.

 

Sea day brunch in the MDR was unexpectedly bad. Blueberry pancakes were the best part, they were fluffy and moist and you can get a short-short stack (2 pancakes) if you ask. Coated french toast was not appetizing at all. Hash brown discs were overly oily, clearly frozen/processed and tasted worse than McD's. First order of bacon we got was stringy and chewy; I asked for crispy bacon and got slightly less chewy bacon. My sister's over easy eggs were fresh but I'm 50/50 as to whether my scrambled eggs were fresh or powdered. Overall I was probably most disappointed with sea day brunch after reading so many accolades on this forum.

 

Will add this all to my overall review once I stop randomly swaying lol.

Edited April 9, 2014 by woollife

[mzloolue]

I'm just off the Triumph (still have terrible sea legs uggggggh)

My sister's over easy eggs were fresh but I'm 50/50 as to whether my scrambled eggs were fresh or powdered. Overall I was probably most disappointed with sea day brunch after reading so many accolades on this forum.

 

Will add this all to my overall review once I stop randomly swaying lol.

 

The eggs are not powdered or fresh.

It is a liquid scrambled egg mix that comes in a big milk type carton.

And those scrambled eggs are awful.

[woollife]

The eggs are not powdered or fresh.

It is a liquid scrambled egg mix that comes in a big milk type carton.

And those scrambled eggs are awful.

 

That explains it! Definitely would put those on the "avoid" list.

[mnsawyer]

We are going on the Liberty in two weeks and wanted to check out the menus - my husband had the meatloaf last year on the Victory - horrible and he is not a picky eater - nice to see the pictures of the food - I typically go with fish (not fried) and is usually quite good

[rainbowflag]

 

 

It was weird, the mustardy hollandaise

 

Mustard is not an ingredient in hollandaise sauce.

[wantocruisemore]

We are going on the Liberty in two weeks and wanted to check out the menus - my husband had the meatloaf last year on the Victory - horrible and he is not a picky eater - nice to see the pictures of the food - I typically go with fish (not fried) and is usually quite good

 

Liberty has the new menus, so most of this thread would not apply. Try searching for new menu for posts specific to this.

 

Also, john heald is on glory right now and doing a live Facebook review, including the new menu.

[Nick55]

Favorites included the fried oysters and the calimari in the fish and chips station, loved the Steak and Eggs during the seaday brunch, and for the chefs table the wagu shortribs and the tuna courses were really prepared well.

[mickiemac]

Loved the zuchinni and calamari fritters at Fish and Chips. Spaghetti Carbonara and mac and cheese in MDR were great.

[familycruzinnewbie]

Wanttocruisemore - we are going on the Breeze, so we have the old menu. I went on the Liberty in 2012 and bumped up my post as the menus are pretty much the same. I was hoping to update it with that info, but my OP cannot be edited.

[frayedend]

I must be crazy because I didn't care for the Bitter and Blanc. I had to try it and recommend it to my table because of the great reviews but none of us thought it was very good.

[Tyegir]

I also agree that the jerk pork loin is a must try. It was amazing on our breeze cruise.

[SoCalKJ]

The thought of the lasagna bolognese makes me salivate like one of Pavlov's dogs. :p

[17andacruiseaddict]

Liberty has the new menus, so most of this thread would not apply. Try searching for new menu for posts specific to this.

 

Also, john heald is on glory right now and doing a live Facebook review, including the new menu.

 

This is true. most of what is in the MDR is different thanks to the new menus.

But the buffet is pretty much the same. So you can still try the stew on caribbean day.

 

Also, the potroast on the All American day at the buffet is pretty delicious too

[lmgouglas]

We are just off the Liberty's 4/19 sailing to the Western Caribbean.

 

The Mongolian Wok was absolutely fantastic - fresh and tasty! I also enjoyed the fish tacos at the Mexican place on Lido, never tried the burritos but my husband said they were good.

 

I am not a dessert person by nature, but the warm chocolate melting cake was good....I thought the S'mores Parfait was absolutely FANTASTIC...could have eaten that every night.

 

I didnt have a dinner entree that I really didnt like. The Mahi Mahi, Steak Tacos and Jerk Pork Loin from the Port of Call section were good. The Spare ribs and penne mariscos were also delicious. I was not a fan of the bacon mac and cheese, and i thought i would love that...very bland, no bacon etc....

 

Didnt have a bad appetizer....onion soup, spring rolls, cannelloni, pastelitos, fry jacks and mussels were all yummy!

 

Hope this is helpful!

[SMSACE6]

Yes thank you, this helps. I am getting more interested now in the new menu, and am actually looking forward to some new things to try. These all sound like things I would go for.

[wantocruisemore]

We are just off the Liberty's 4/19 sailing to the Western Caribbean.

 

The Mongolian Wok was absolutely fantastic - fresh and tasty! I also enjoyed the fish tacos at the Mexican place on Lido, never tried the burritos but my husband said they were good.

 

I am not a dessert person by nature, but the warm chocolate melting cake was good....I thought the S'mores Parfait was absolutely FANTASTIC...could have eaten that every night.

 

I didnt have a dinner entree that I really didnt like. The Mahi Mahi, Steak Tacos and Jerk Pork Loin from the Port of Call section were good. The Spare ribs and penne mariscos were also delicious. I was not a fan of the bacon mac and cheese, and i thought i would love that...very bland, no bacon etc....

 

Didnt have a bad appetizer....onion soup, spring rolls, cannelloni, pastelitos, fry jacks and mussels were all yummy!

 

Hope this is helpful!

 

We will be back on Liberty in less than 2 weeks. Can you tell me if they have added back the Creme brûlée and Grand mariner soufflé like JH posted a couple weeks ago. I really want those on my cruise.

[uncleg]

Only one thing comes to mind would be the Cornish game hen, tasted really gamey to me like wild quail. Heck I don't even know if it is available anymore, just was not right for me.

[sammee]

I would never try meatloaf on a cruise. It's all about the lobster and shrimp for me. I had good luck with the prime rib.

I had terrible luck with the lobster bisque. I always wanted to try it, heard so much about it. So I asked for it. It was bad, it smelled and tasted like some raunchy fish. My husband couldn't get the waiter over fast enough to get it away from me. He feared I was going to lose it at the table. A local seafood restaurant I tried for the first time after my daughters boyfriend got some. It was good, I actually ordered a bowl. But I'm afraid to do it on the cruise again.

[Barbiegator]

Just off Carnival Sunshine. Seems like we enjoyed lunch more than any other meals. Pasta Bar in Havana Bar was the best. You are given a checklist for pasta sauce and pasta. Also Caesar salad and bread. Wok is on the other side of Havana Bar and also very good.One day we enjoyed Guy's hamburger and fries. My husband loved the breakfast burritos and tacos for lunch.JiJi's oriental was worth $12 per person and we could have gone back another night.

We really enjoyed Sea Brunch. I had pork chops.Lots of choices and a good bloody mary made the way you want it.

One lunch the marketplace had Chocolate fondue and fudge. I thought the desserts were the best in marketplace.Especially cookies and cakes.Made with lots of butter and better than RC.

[dljones]

Let me ramble a bit....

 

Don't bother with the eggs benedict in the MDR for breakfast. It was virtually inedible and I am not a picky eater. It had obviously been sitting around for some time under a heat lamp. That is a dish that has to be made fresh. I ate it anyway and didn't complain.

 

Having said that, I have never had a bad meal (other than that one) on a Carnival ship. Some meals were better than others but never enough to complain over. You pay your money and take your chances.

 

The whole point of travel is to discover something new and knowing that not everything is going to go your way. It is part of the package. You will be a lot happier trying something you may not have otherwise tried and if you don't like it, well, then you learned something!

[lady_cruiser]

I like the Mac and Cheese. Its the best I have eaten anywhere, including my home-made version at home.

[Dina7]

Chateaubriand was delicious & so tender in the MDR (old menu) & Bread Pudding was also great. Ceaser Salad is another favorite, one of the best I've had. Eggs Benedict in MDR was not good due to the Canadian Bacon being way too thick & salty....just gross.

[AdmiralQ]

Got off the Glory this past Sunday. Despite the apparently rave reviews, the Guys burgers need to be avoided by anyone wishing for something other than a disgusting mass of goo consisting of approximately 97% grease. I couldn't even swallow my second bite of that abomination they try to pass off as gourmet burger. I'm willing to eat anything - I've eaten grilled beetles, ants, snails, lutefisk, foie gras, rattlesnake, etc. and that burger was seriously the most disgusting thing I've had the misfortune to try. I'd rather eat Crisco by the spoonful - it would be just as healthy.

 

The fries were excellent, though.

[QTPie68]

Hmmmmm...alligator and conch are too totally different things....kinda scary they don't tell the truth on menus. I wouldn't be upset if there wasn't alligator fritters and they substituted, but there might be some who might have allergy issues and think they were ok....perhaps they should be called mystery meat that tastes like chicken fritters? Lol

[Aplmac]

Yes, the alligator fritters were very good.

I've had the "Alligator" (if it is truly Alligator) two or three times now

it's good...quite edible...shall order it again.

 

 

The Frogs legs was like chicken, small chicken, but on the chewy side

but then what do you expect chewing on someone's leg muscle?

 

 

Carnival is clueless about preparing FISH.

Living where I do, we islanders know how to do fish. Carnival doesn't.

 

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