Surprisingly disappointed with the food on the Pearl

[PATRLR]

Ridiculous. :rolleyes: I prefer all meats to be accompanied by a sauce of some kind and I greatly enjoy trying different flavor profiles. I don't "need to", I want to and have done so in some very fine establishments as well as at home after having purchased and prepared AAA Certified Angus.

 

Typical mediocre steakhouse mentality: ever hear of sauce bernaise or red wine sauce which top-of-the-line restaurants serve on their top-of-the-line beef?

 

You folks are missing the point. There is a big difference between "needs" and "wants". The original statement talked about beef that needed something added to be edible:

 

 

Not to criticize, but to point out a difference. IMO if you have to put any sauce on a steak, then the steak is low quality, and probably not prepared correctly. A good steak should be eaten rare to med rare with nothing but salt and pepper and melt in your mouth. If it can't be eaten like that it is simply not a quality piece of beef.

 

I am well aware of various sauces that the finest steak houses serve. They always offer them as an option because their steaks are good quality and can be eaten without any sauces. They offer them as an option because some people simply like their steak with a sauce.

 

Dishes like Steak Diane, served in mass quantities are likely prepared to cover up for low quality beef. Steak Diane was originally invented to be prepared table side where the preparation was a significant part of the dish. The only reason to abandon the "show" would be to use its sauce to dress up the meat.

 

To each his own, but enjoying a sauce on a steak because you choose to does not say anything about the quality of that steak. Adding a sauce to a steak because you have to or need to in order to eat it does say a lot about the quality of the steak.

Edited September 16, 2015 by PATRLR

[PATRLR]

No real chef will ever serve a prime piece of steak with a sauce. They all know that the sauce simply takes away from the flavor and hides the lack of quality of the beef. It has noting to do with tastes, it has to do with quality. That is one reason you never see steak sauces in a quality restaurant.

These statements are way wrong. I am sure there are some chefs who are beef purists who would say such things, but, they are the minority. All of the finest steak houses offer very high quality sauces to accompany their steaks.

[jf3284]

I honestly wasn't impressed with the steak on the Breakaway. And ANY time there was a choice as to how meat was to be cooked, it was ALWAYS cooked improperly. VERY frustrating for certain !

[jf3284]

Lisa, talking about overall quality now for a minute. I feel that in general although most all the "included" restaurants were good, it seems Norwegian (and probably others) are more focused on getting you to bump up to the specialty restaurants nowadays. After all, why are we paying all that money to cruise, and not eat the supposedly great food that's included. I hate to repeat i was disappointed, but a veteran travel agent (that we didn't use) strongly suggested Celebrity when we spoke of food quality. We were pleased with Princess several times in the past and liked the fact that they had different themed nights every night at the free formal dining rooms. Whatever happened to that ? Lastly, we didn't notice crablegs or lobster in the free formal dining rooms on Norwegian. Thoughts ?

[MtreJ]

Lisa, talking about overall quality now for a minute. I feel that in general although most all the "included" restaurants were good, it seems Norwegian (and probably others) are more focused on getting you to bump up to the specialty restaurants nowadays. After all, why are we paying all that money to cruise, and not eat the supposedly great food that's included. I hate to repeat i was disappointed, but a veteran travel agent (that we didn't use) strongly suggested Celebrity when we spoke of food quality. We were pleased with Princess several times in the past and liked the fact that they had different themed nights every night at the free formal dining rooms. Whatever happened to that ? Lastly, we didn't notice crablegs or lobster in the free formal dining rooms on Norwegian. Thoughts ?

 

It can easily be argued that the industry as a whole is moving towards a multi-tier system. All that money you are paying is your ticket of admission. Only then does the real revenue machine starts churning. The quality of food has not only decreased in the MDRs and buffets but become repetitive as both a cost cutting measure and a means of getting you to frequent specialty restaurants; items like passion fruits, shrimp and lobster became rarities on most lines. From areas being cordoned off to the paying few, specialty restaurants, fee-based entertainment... The list is quite long as it is now a pay to play industry where your price of admission is relatively inexpensive when compared to alternatives with a similar offering.

[jf3284]

So how are you getting a room for $200 may i ask ? THe taxes and tips along are 200 aren't they ?

[jf3284]

MtreJ, EXCELLENT POINT, especially about now paying for entertainment also !! Thats a whole new level of (don't wanna say ripping people off) "revenue generation" we'll say !

I wonder if the "free" food on Princess (my favorite food so far) has declined and also if they've removed the lobster/crablegs from the (freefood) menus ?

[LissaSue2]

MtreJ, EXCELLENT POINT, especially about now paying for entertainment also !! Thats a whole new level of (don't wanna say ripping people off) "revenue generation" we'll say !

I wonder if the "free" food on Princess (my favorite food so far) has declined and also if they've removed the lobster/crablegs from the (freefood) menus ?

 

 

If they start making us pay for the entertainment too, then cruising will be completely off the table for me. It's bad enough that they charge $49 for three very short games of bingo. I can pay $15 and play bingo all night...not sure how many games it is but it takes a good 4-5 hrs to get through them all. And every game pays out at least $250.

 

As for Princesses food. My friends were on a princess cruise to Alaska this August and they still serve lobster and crab legs for FREE. Their food pictures put anything I was served on the Pearl to shame. Made me feel completely ripped off.

[MtreJ]

If they start making us pay for the entertainment too, then cruising will be completely off the table for me. It's bad enough that they charge $49 for three very short games of bingo. I can pay $15 and play bingo all night...not sure how many games it is but it takes a good 4-5 hrs to get through them all. And every game pays out at least $250.

 

As for Princesses food. My friends were on a princess cruise to Alaska this August and they still serve lobster and crab legs for FREE. Their food pictures put anything I was served on the Pearl to shame. Made me feel completely ripped off.

 

I can personally say after cruising almost 5 years straight in the late 2000s on Princess and being passive reader of this forum that both myself and many others noted the decrease in quality in both the MDRs and buffet. Fresh strawberries and shrimp were my go-to barometers. Princess' cost of admission is also a notch or two higher than NCL.

[mariefisher]

Fj, I was talking about the cabin price. I know prices change frequently but you could sail the 4 night Pearl out of Miami for $159.00 as of yesterday.

[weltek]

I've only had one time where i said, "the food just isn't as good on this ship," but that gave me the perspective to say that I understand people that post this!

I DO think one ship can have the same menu and provide a different experience. That udon bowl picture was a good example.

 

For us, it was the Star that disappointed, but it was just one particular year (we've sailed her three times and only once was the food generally poor). A dessert I loved on the Norwegian menu (the old bread pudding) tasted like absolute crap on that sailing. Many other dishes were either poorly cooked or lacked flavor.

 

It always makes me sad when someone experiences this because it's not the "usual" experience I have on Norwegian.

[newmexicoNita]

I'm not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination, so all the comments I'd read prior to our cruise about NCL food not being very good I took with a grain of salt...thinking those people were just more "foodie" than my very average (or so I thought) pallet...but alas! I, too, was very disappointed in the food.

 

Now, to clarify, I did NOT eat in any of the cover-charge specialty restaurants. I figured I shouldn't need to pay extra to get tasty food. I am now wishing perhaps I had tried at least one so I would know the difference.

I did eat at both MDR's, O' Sheehans, Lotus, and the buffet though. I only had two meals that I actually wanted to repeat...the Turkey Sausage Lasagna in Summer Palace, and the Chicken Pot Pie at O' Sheehans. Everything else was forgettably bland, bland, bland. Even the desserts, though very pretty, were bland. It's like they forgot to add the sugar. Haha! (Perhaps I'm just used to over sugared Americanized desserts?) but I was so unsatisfied with every dessert I tried. They also kept putting out a pot of caramel sauce that was absolutely the worst tasting thing I've ever put in my mouth. I kid you not. It tasted like burnt caramel and ashes...zero sugar. It was ghastly. I tried a little tiny sample every time I saw it just to see if it was "fixed" lol One time I saw a poor woman pouring it all over her cheesecake and I felt like grabbing her arm to stop her...then figured she'd find out soon enough how gawd awful it is. Perhaps I'm crazy, but it seems to me that caramel sauce should taste yummy...like caramel. Silly me. lol

 

When I arrived home yesterday, on my birthday, my boys had bought a birthday cake for me. Oh my, it was DIVINE!! Just a silly store bought cake tasted 100x better than the myriad fancy desserts I had tried on the Pearl. That's kinda sad to me. And the Burger King burger we ate for lunch at the airport yesterday tasted Sooo wonderful after a week of bland. Again, very sad. I'm not a junk food junkie by any means, in fact just the opposite, but I do like flavor in my food. For me NCL Pearl did not deliver. Even the eggs over easy I ordered one morning tasted bland. How can they mess up fresh eggs? [emoji15] The French toast was decent though, as well as the pork sausage, so breakfast wasn't a total wash. [emoji16]And the pizza was decent, though nothing to write home about. On the last night they had salmon, I was so happy, but it was riddled with bones. Ewww. Another night they had salmon with BBQ sauce on it. Double Ewww. Oh my, I could go on, and on...but I will stop.

 

Regardless of all my food complaints, we had a wonderful time though!!! The staff and entertainment were excellent and made up for my food disappointments. And yes I'd even cruise NCL again...but I'd probably want to spring for the dining package. Just sayin' [emoji6]

 

I am sorry you found the food to be all that bad. wow!!! Food is very subjective, as we all know. SOme of what you say, I can beleived: I think Osheehans on the Pearl is awful and the Asian restaurant, since it no longer has a fee is pretty unexciting. The same with the desserts overall, but I also think some of the MDR food is good to very good as ship food goes. We have cruised the Pearl 3 times; never been really disappointed in the food and I am considered a blue ribbon cook, using lots of spice and sauses.

 

Of course we don't know how often you have cruised in the past, say 5 years and on what lines. This is the main complaint most have: food quality. For us, the worst was Princess. That is just an opinion. Next time do try a specialty dining room, just so you can compare. Reading some of your responses I am thinking you may have let your sisters disappointment rub off on you. LOL

When I was still a Travel Agent, back in my old life, 100 years ago, I would tell people: if you are happy with what you get at TG Fridays you will be super happy with ship food: If you are expecting Ruths Chris you are going to be disappointed. This goes for most lines today.

 

I am glad you did have a wonderful time anyway.

Edited October 12, 2015 by newmexicoNita

[newmexicoNita]

I think in some ways this is one of the things that shows the ships are just getting way too big. You can't cook for 4000+ people in a reasonable amount of time and have something that everybody will enjoy.

 

Just look at my wife and I for example. I like things really sweet, she doesn't. We could eat off the exact same plate and one of us would like a dish, the other wouldn't.

 

I think the wait staff should catch things that they don't, but I think it happens because of the huge numbers of people and food they're having to get out.

 

I also wonder if sometimes it is an expectation vs reality situation (excluding the times the food truly is bad and never should have seen the table). It's not that the food was bad, but that one was expecting more and so now disappointed.

 

That said, I don't eat in the speciality restaurants for the most part. I usually do one per cruise just for the fun of it. I've enjoyed the food I've eaten, but there's not really been anything to write home about, but I'm ok with that.

yes and no: of course we have to realize MDR food is going to be, at best banquet quality. If people look at it that way they won't be as disappointed, but I do want to point out: the Pearl does not hold anywhere near 400 people.

[coffeebean]

Every time I read poster's comments that they feel they didn't need to pay extra for food because the food in the main dining room was just fine.....I chuckle and chuckle and chuckle some more. Folks really need to try at least one specialty restaurant on their cruise. The difference in the atmosphere alone is such an improvement. Then there is the attentive service and above all, the superior food quality the specialty restaurants offer.

 

As for the deserts.....Oh my goodness. It is like night and day between the deserts in the main dining rooms and specialty restaurants. Night and day, I tell ya. NCL is notorious for the ever so bland gelatin like deserts in the buffet that they do not even tempt me. That's a really good thing as I can save those calories for the absolutely decadent deserts in the specialty restaurants. I do, however, have to give NCL's main dining room their due on the chocolate night when all restaurants have additional chocolate deserts in the offerings. Hubby ordered a "chocolate bar" (I think that was the name of it) and it was a devine cake with some sort of filling that was so delicious. I loved it and so did he.

 

Hubby and I usually dine in a specialty restaurant at least five nights on a seven night cruise. The other two nights are split between the buffet after grazing all day and one night in the main dining room.

Edited October 12, 2015 by coffeebean

[coffeebean]

Norwegian isn't known for having good desserts.......

NCl's Le Bistro has two of my favorite deserts....chocolate fondue with the most decadent chocolate you will ever taste with slices of fruit for dipping and a chocolate Napoleon that is one of the best deserts at sea and on land. All my opinion of coarse. Not one cruise goes by that hubby and I don't share the chocolate fondue and I have the chocolate Napoleon.

[coffeebean]

I honestly wasn't impressed with the steak on the Breakaway. And ANY time there was a choice as to how meat was to be cooked, it was ALWAYS cooked improperly. VERY frustrating for certain !

 

Were these meals in the MDR or specialty restaurants?

[leekel619]

In our last 12 cruises with NCL we have enjoyed every meal we ordered.

 

Meals at home are obviously the best (and prepared with my magic touch [emoji10]) but we have a lot of fun trying different things on the cruise.

 

A lot of the recipes I wouldn't bother with preparing at home. (And we enjoy a very wide variety of meals in our kitchen [emoji126]🏻)

It's great! Eat out B, L, D and all the extras. No mess. No cleanup. No trips to the market. No thinking. Just relax and enjoy. We're so grateful for our own approval. [emoji106]🏻

Can't wait to go again.

[mariefisher]

I just don't want to eat bad food. Don't want to eat food that is worse than what I can make myself. That being the case we just go to the specialty restaurants or get something simple from the buffet. To me to go sit down and order a steak and it is tough or cooked to much or too little is not what I want on vacation. People state there is always something with your dinner you will enjoy. I want to enjoy what I order. This is just not with NCL, but in our experience, with all the mainstream cruise lines we have been on. The last few years we have not had a really good dinner, that was not extra charge, on RCL, Carnival or NCL. But we have had a great time and just know to figure the extra cost in to the trip.

[Moby0215]

Every time I read poster's comments that they feel they didn't need to pay extra for food because the food in the main dining room was just fine.....I chuckle and chuckle and chuckle some more. Folks really need to try at least one specialty restaurant on their cruise. The difference in the atmosphere alone is such an improvement. Then there is the attentive service and above all, the superior food quality the specialty restaurants offer.

 

As for the deserts.....Oh my goodness. It is like night and day between the deserts in the main dining rooms and specialty restaurants. Night and day, I tell ya. NCL is notorious for the ever so bland gelatin like deserts in the buffet that they do not even tempt me. That's a really good thing as I can save those calories for the absolutely decadent deserts in the specialty restaurants. I do, however, have to give NCL's main dining room their due on the chocolate night when all restaurants have additional chocolate deserts in the offerings. Hubby ordered a "chocolate bar" (I think that was the name of it) and it was a devine cake with some sort of filling that was so delicious. I loved it and so did he.

 

Hubby and I usually dine in a specialty restaurant at least five nights on a seven night cruise. The other two nights are split between the buffet after grazing all day and one night in the main dining room.

 

 

I have tried every specialty restaurant on the jewel and the breakaway as well as MDR on each and my opinion is the specialties are only worth it if there is not something on the MDR menu for that night that does not interest you. And trust me I love food and fine dining. I have always had great service (sometimes even better service) in the MDR compared to the specialties. So chuckle away but this foodie has had hardly any problems with MDR. As far as desert I cannot speak as I don't eat desert.

 

 

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[Shellbelle28]

We had the 7 night specialty package last month on the Pearl, so never ate in the MDR for dinner, but the times we had breakfast there it was decent. The specialty venues are definitely worth it (except Teppanyaki, IMHO). Cagney's was our favorite. The calamari appetizer at La Cucina was the best I've ever had and Le Bistro's French onion is amazing. I agree all of NCL's desserts leave a lot to be desired.

[newmexicoNita]

I have tried every specialty restaurant on the jewel and the breakaway as well as MDR on each and my opinion is the specialties are only worth it if there is not something on the MDR menu for that night that does not interest you. And trust me I love food and fine dining. I have always had great service (sometimes even better service) in the MDR compared to the specialties. So chuckle away but this foodie has had hardly any problems with MDR. As far as desert I cannot speak as I don't eat desert.

 

 

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We too have eaten in all the specialty dining rooms on the Jewel and the Pearl. I can only think of a couple of times where the food in the MDR was even close to the quality and service in the specialty dining rooms. It has happened a few times. We have gotten just so/so service twice in Le bistro of all places and a few times in Modernos but Modernos is understandable. The experience is just a little different than basic dining. I might add, a couple of times the service in Modernos has been better than any restaurant anywhere.

 

It is fine, if people choose to only dine in the MDR, that is a personal choice, but I have never, until reading your comment heard anyone say the quality and service was as good in the free compared to fee dining rooms.

[LMaxwell]

I'd love to eat at some of your homes!

 

I read so many terrible things about NCL MDR, I thought I'd lose weight on my cruise. Didn't turn out that way at all. enjoyed most things in MDR and thought quality and presentation were quite good. Not just dinner, but breakfast and lunch as well. Thought quality and taste surpassed Royal Caribbean easily. And I don't eat TGIChillibees at home, so that's not my metric for comparison; but when we dine out at home for 2 our bills generally are $35-$50 at most modest, casual restaurants and I thought NCL's included food certainly measured up.

 

If you ONLY eat specialty, how do you know what you are missing? I was satisfied enough to never seriously entertain spending more for specialty. So, flip side of the coin, I don't know what I was missing there, but the point is the MDR was very good and to blanket statement that it is all terrible is absurd.

[legion3]

Not a fan of any buffet, land or sea, not a fan of NCL's MDR's.

 

If not for the speciality's (we enjoyed them quite a bit) and the UDP, probably wouldn't sail or consider NCL again.

 

We have the Wave promo UDP for our 7 day cruise, will not be eating at any MDR's and buffet maybe only for a snack or quick bite.

[Moby0215]

We too have eaten in all the specialty dining rooms on the Jewel and the Pearl. I can only think of a couple of times where the food in the MDR was even close to the quality and service in the specialty dining rooms. It has happened a few times. We have gotten just so/so service twice in Le bistro of all places and a few times in Modernos but Modernos is understandable. The experience is just a little different than basic dining. I might add, a couple of times the service in Modernos has been better than any restaurant anywhere.

 

 

 

It is fine, if people choose to only dine in the MDR, that is a personal choice, but I have never, until reading your comment heard anyone say the quality and service was as good in the free compared to fee dining rooms.

 

 

You have twisted my words a little but either way what was meant is in terms of a cost benefit analysis of free MDR vs paid specialty I feel like it is only worth paying if the MDR menu isn't appealing for a given night and/or the menu of the specialty has something that you really like. The quality of service is always great for me. I always engage the servers with conversation and they are always very nice. In addition if the service ever seems slow, just relax, you are on vacation. It's never been too slow where I have had a complaint.

 

 

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[newmexicoNita]

You have twisted my words a little but either way what was meant is in terms of a cost benefit analysis of free MDR vs paid specialty I feel like it is only worth paying if the MDR menu isn't appealing for a given night and/or the menu of the specialty has something that you really like. The quality of service is always great for me. I always engage the servers with conversation and they are always very nice. In addition if the service ever seems slow, just relax, you are on vacation. It's never been too slow where I have had a complaint.

 

 

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It is a matter of what each person wants and I didn't mean to twist anything. I am simply saying there is a difference in the two dining options in my opinion and the specialty dining room do offer service and quality superior to the MDRs.This would have to be tha case or they would be closed. I do not think it is necessary for everyone to try the pay for dining. For those who are happy with MDR that is wonderful. It is like an inside cabin versus a balcony. for many there is enough difference to pay the extra charge. For other, only a balcony or suite will work.