Advice about food quality

[unclebobg]

I'd like to give a bit of advice about the food on a cruise.

 

You'll often hear people complain about the quality of the food in the ships' dining rooms, or their other free food stations. Remember, you get what you pay for. Or, more to the point, you get what the lowest-priced passenger pays for. On most cruise ships, with the exception of the trans-oceanic liners offering different classes of service and dining, everyone gets the same food. So you may be paying $5,000 for your top-deck wrap-around suite, but you're eating in the same dining room and getting the same food as the people in the $349 inside cabin. Naturally, on some ships, you can avoid this by eating in the extra-cost optional restaurants, but not all ships have these.

 

Now I happen to think that the cruise lines do a pretty great job in their dining rooms considering what they have to work with. For example, I was recently one of those $349-a-person passengers on a Carnival liner. The food in the dining room was consistently creative, tasty, and as plentiful as you want it to be. (You can still order as much as you want.) For my $349 I got five nights of bedroom, visits to two ports, plenty of good food and wonderful service, not to mention activities and shows every night. And more than a third of that fare went to taxes and port charges,

 

So if you want top-level gourmet food, take a cruise where the lowest fare is $1000 a week or more. But whatever you decide is more important, just have fun!

Edited October 21, 2014 by unclebobg

[MarkSeattle]

I think the size of the ship/number of passengers has more to do with it than the cost. Of course smaller ships with a higher staff ratio tend to cost more anyway.

 

A Disney cruise at twice the price of other mass market sailings is still going to have the same food. Good banquet quality meals are all you're going to get in the main dining rooms when they're serving a thousand people per hour.

[dorisis]

A very interesting viewpoint. Doesn't take in cabin size and cabin amenities. But poster is absolutely correct about the food.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Very interesting view point.

Having sailed on HAL for quite a few years and having talked to several hotel directors, they admitted that they have to order cheaper cuts of meat and etc. in order to keep the costs down.

HAL's dining room food used to be excellent and wasn't ordered because of what the lower price passenger was paying for their cruise.

[navybankerteacher]

Very interesting view point.

Having sailed on HAL for quite a few years and having talked to several hotel directors, they admitted that they have to order cheaper cuts of meat and etc. in order to keep the costs down.

HAL's dining room food used to be excellent and wasn't ordered because of what the lower price passenger was paying for their cruise.

 

It is undeniable that the quality of food on HAL is not up to previous standards- it is however, still good and well presented. This is not unique to HAL - all lines have adopted the same cost control tactic - offsetting it by offering optional extra charge restaurants. Surely no one should be surprised that lines which offer premium restaurant options (essentially all of them) would not try to have their included MDR servings compete in quality.

[ducklite]

I think the size of the ship/number of passengers has more to do with it than the cost. Of course smaller ships with a higher staff ratio tend to cost more anyway.

 

A Disney cruise at twice the price of other mass market sailings is still going to have the same food. Good banquet quality meals are all you're going to get in the main dining rooms when they're serving a thousand people per hour.

 

I have to disagree.

 

The food I had on the Disney Dream (which is the largest ship I've ever been on) was better than the food I had on the Paul Gauguin, a ship ten times smaller. The service on the PG wasn't all that, either. That said, the best cruise food and service I've ever had was on the Wind Surf.

 

The worst food I ever had on a ship--by far--was on RCCL Mariner, which is a couple thousand souls smaller than the Disney Dream.

Edited October 21, 2014 by ducklite

[cb at sea]

I think the point is that EVERYONE's share of the food budget is the same...suite passengers aren't paying a larger portion of their fare to the food costs....they budget the same "PER PASSENGER"! And each passenger gets the same selection from that smaller budget.

Edited October 21, 2014 by cb at sea

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

 

Keith

[missmoo4]

We were really impressed with the food on Serenade a couple of months ago! Admittedly we never eat in 5 star restaurants, but nor are we exclusively fast food eaters. we do eat out at good mid range restaurants several times a year and the MDR had some of the tastiest meals we've had.

[BruceMuzz]

Food budgets vary dramatically between different cruise lines.

But they can also vary dramatically within a single fleet - depending on the ship, the itinerary, and the average fare price for a voyage.

 

Most of the Carnival cruise line ships budget around US$8.50 per passenger per day, for all the food you can stuff into your pie hole in 24 hours.

NCL has a similar budget.

 

RCCL is on par with Princess, at about 11.50 to 12.50 per passenger per day.

Celebrity and HAL are a bit higher.

 

European cruises tend to have higher budgets, as do World Cruises and Grand Voyages on some lines.

But repositioning cruises attract bargain hunters who quite often pay a bit less for their cruise. On these voyages, the pricier food items are offered less often, or removed altogether.

[tigger1968]

Food is a tough thing to talk about. Taste buds are different from person to person. I may like the salad and another may think it is the worse thing ever. That being said, most new ships have lots of options to help with that.

 

I personally avoid MDR as it is just a buffet with service and a set menu. Might as well just eat at the buffet and pick and choose my meal and side dishes.

 

As long as your taste buds are happy....you will be happy.

 

 

 

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