Disappointed with food.

[rakkor]

I know food is a subjective thing and what one person likes another will not, but if you can't find anything you like from a choice of seven appetisers and entrees from the Dinner Menu, then you really should be looking at yourself and not Cunard. I've just done 17 nights on the QE and there was never a meal that I did not thoroughly enjoy.

 

I posted the menus on my blog from my last cruise and can be seen here:

 

https://blog.rakkor.uk/or-how-we-started-cruising-on-cunard/britannia-dail-menus/

[iandjm]

We have just returned from our first Cunard cruise, a 3 nighter on QE. Had a great time but we were really underwhelmed by the food in the MDR. The portions were small, we didn't mind that too much and everything was tasty, however the choices were limited and what we had was very ordinary. It was not a patch on the excellent food that we had on Princess a few years ago. We are on QE in March on a section of World cruise. Do you think they lower the quality on these shorter cruises or has quality of food generally deteriorated?

 

I was on a 3 nighter in November and noticed exactly the same. The main restautraunt food was nowhere near the quality, or had the choice available that I have experienced on Cunard in the past. In my opinion the highest quality food on the ship was either room service or the self service in the evening. This was the first time in over 60 cruises that I chose not to dine in the main restaurant after the first night. Such a shame. I found the food in the Golden Lion was as good as ever though.

[AnnieC]

I know food is a subjective thing and what one person likes another will not, but if you can't find anything you like from a choice of seven appetisers and entrees from the Dinner Menu, then you really should be looking at yourself and not Cunard. I've just done 17 nights on the QE and there was never a meal that I did not thoroughly enjoy.

 

I posted the menus on my blog from my last cruise and can be seen here:

 

https://blog.rakkor.uk/or-how-we-started-cruising-on-cunard/britannia-dail-menus/

 

I was on the same cruise as you and agree that the food in Britannia was outstanding - best I've had in 10 years cruising with Cunard. However, there have subsequently been several posts critical of the offerings on later cruises - wonder if it depends on who's in charge of the kitchen? The consistency of the comments would seem to indicate there's a problem now.

[Carnevale]

Many thanks rakkor for sharing the menus - they look great!

[Alibobs]

A couple of years ago we did a 17 night trip round Norway that encompassed a 3 night trip on our return to Southampton, picking up in Hamburg. We noted that the 'atmosphere' changed on the ship, more of a party vibe from the 3 nighters and I would say the food served seemed less 'grand'

Our table mates were on board for a month as they had done a T/A from NY and were returning. They said the food served on the T/A was different again

 

Havin returned from a trip on the QV in November we had excellent food , we often chose to eat in the MDR at breakfast and lunch because of the fact the portions are more controlled, we can't be trusted at the buffet!

[Tothesunset]

That's good to know as there has been some grumbling about a reduction in choice in PG since the refit.

Of course, the TA we have just completed was our first (and, likely, last) Cunard voyage so we had no experience of the grill before the menu changes. But I would say that while there might not have been a colossal choice, it would be a picky individual that wouldn't find something in each course to savour.

 

Furthermore, on a couple of evenings there would be 2 main courses that were particularly attractive to me so I'd ask the waiter for his recommendation. Easy answer? Have both. So I did!

 

We also thought the food in the King's Court looked attractive although we chose not to eat there.

[intel]

I have just caught up with this post. We have travelled Cunard in BA to QG. Over the last 10 years the choice and quality of the food has diminished. Grills is not 6 star and does not compare with its competition, choice is available. The MDR the menu is now a lot smaller and items that were available every night are gone. If you want off menu it has to be approved by the Head. Not happy doing this. We like the ships and the staff are first rate. We are not wedded to Cunard and they are not on our list now.

[Aussieflyer]

I have just caught up with this post. We have travelled Cunard in BA to QG. Over the last 10 years the choice and quality of the food has diminished. Grills is not 6 star and does not compare with its competition, choice is available. The MDR the menu is now a lot smaller and items that were available every night are gone. If you want off menu it has to be approved by the Head. Not happy doing this. We like the ships and the staff are first rate. We are not wedded to Cunard and they are not on our list now.

I think you would find that the quality and choice of menu items had been one area which had suffered in most (all?) cruise lines as they feel the pressure to deliver a product which meets the budget's bottom line. Given that the price of cruising has fallen dramatically from what it was, this is not surprising. People demand more and more facilities but are not willing to pay so something has to give. I have read similar complaints about Seabourn, Silversea and Regent, let alone the mainstream cruiselines.

[Loveboat1995]

Of course, the TA we have just completed was our first (and, likely, last) Cunard voyage so we had no experience of the grill before the menu changes. But I would say that while there might not have been a colossal choice, it would be a picky individual that wouldn't find something in each course to savour.

 

Furthermore, on a couple of evenings there would be 2 main courses that were particularly attractive to me so I'd ask the waiter for his recommendation. Easy answer? Have both. So I did!

 

We also thought the food in the King's Court looked attractive although we chose not to eat there.

 

Is there any reason this is your last Cunard voyage? You seem from this post to have enjoyed yourself. Did you post earlier? If you did, sorry for asking. I'll go look for your earlier post.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Loveboat1995

[Ubarrow]

For us, the portions were perfect. Very few Cunard passengers give the impression of being underfed and most are at an age when they are battling the tendency to put on weight.

[Tothesunset]

Is there any reason this is your last Cunard voyage? You seem from this post to have enjoyed yourself. Did you post earlier? If you did, sorry for asking. I'll go look for your earlier post.

Yes. While we found the QM2 to be most impressive and the food we found to be excellent we didn't think it suited our needs as well as our usual cruise line - Silversea. We were in PG and liked the cabin a lot, the food was great and there was plenty to occupy our time (although we don't do shows so that passed us by); however, the main things we didn't like were the constant nickel and diming for just about anything not nailed down and the lack of intimacy that we get on the smaller ships of SS.

 

The trip worked out at around £400 pp per night plus maybe £50 each per day for incidentals. That, to me at least, is poor value compared to the £200-300 pn we pay on SS. So we think - and I stress that this is only a personal view - that not only is the price a bit cheeky but that a large ship is not our natural habitat.

 

Having said that I would not for one minute try to dissuade anyone from sailing Cunard because, clearly, it suits a lot of people. It just doesn't suit us as well as Silversea does (or Seabourn or Regent for that matter).

 

Horses for courses.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Tothesunset

[CruisinNJ]

We just returned from the 12 N Holiday Voyage - 5 of us in 2 PG Suites.

 

The assessment of "quality", "quantity", "style" is always going to be subjective - so lets just agree upfront that all will never agree.

 

A couple of observations from our voyage.

 

1 - The five choices for entrees provided each night is the same regardless of whether you are Britannia, Britannia Club, Princess or Queens - I compared on a number of occasions, this did not waiver.

 

2 - Dining in the PG, you get 3 of the 6 special extra choices that need to be arranged in advance (at lunch or breakfast for that evening). While we did not miss the thermodor, the Dover sole or the wellington that was available on the QG list, they did come about on the menu each at least once. We leads me to my real "complaint".

 

3 - The variety is really lacking. Night to night the choices seemed more derivative of the prior evening or of lunch than original and different. We experienced mushroom soup at least a half dozen ways (mushroom garlic was good), but also had mushroom this and mushroom that on everything else. I have been on cruises in which the original / daily choices are closer to 8 to 10 entrees, with none repeated (or very closely resembling another) over longer periods.

 

4 - The ingredients used were of lacking quality - particularly with regard to produce, tomatoes, etc. I know you can argue this point, but I have been on some cruises in remote areas, with long stretches at sea, and this area did not suffer - it is really a matter of what the cruise line organizes and is willing to pay for.

 

These are all choices that the line makes, and we will live with them until it impacts the line- and a lot of time can pass between booking to your sailing date to next booking, so these changes, cutbacks, improvements, however you want to phrase it, and not going to be measurable for a while.

 

That all being said, it was a fine cruise, but because of the "limp" food choices, I am going to pass on Cunard for the foreseeable future.

[fantasy51]

My only disappointment food-wise was that the battenberg cake at afternoon tea was dry and tasteless. I only ever eat this cake on Cunard but in December it tasted just the same as the store-bought variety I tried and rejected. However, on the bright side, they had some lovely almond and raspberry tarts the same day so I went to the Lido and got extra to replace dessert and supper that day.

 

While talking about battenberg cake, I have a lovely story to tell. On one cruise I kept going to the Queens Room to see if this cake was being served. The person in charge told me I could speak to my head waiter at dinner and ask for one to be made for my dessert the next day. I did not feel I could do that. (I'm only in Britannia.) A few days later he told me the same thing, then said he would arrange it for me. He asked for my room number. I went back to my room and about 20 minutes later there was a knock on the door. Someone had arrived with a freshly-made battenberg cake for me. They'd had the Queen's Grill kitchen make it specially. Freshly-made was definitely best. It was moist and I could taste the almond.

[rsquare]

 

3 - The variety is really lacking. Night to night the choices seemed more derivative of the prior evening or of lunch than original and different. We experienced mushroom soup at least a half dozen ways (mushroom garlic was good), but also had mushroom this and mushroom that on everything else. I have been on cruises in which the original / daily choices are closer to 8 to 10 entrees, with none repeated (or very closely resembling another) over longer periods.

 

4 - The ingredients used were of lacking quality - particularly with regard to produce, tomatoes, etc. I know you can argue this point, but I have been on some cruises in remote areas, with long stretches at sea, and this area did not suffer - it is really a matter of what the cruise line organizes and is willing to pay for.

 

Based on our recent TA in Britannia, I can endorse these observations. Add meat to the less-than-stellar ingredients. We had lunch in Verandah and I ordered a filet medium rare. It arrived closer to medium, and proved utterly tasteless. No comparison at all to our meal in Todd English last year, much less to an outstanding filet that I had had on Crystal a few months earlier.

 

Incidentally, while we're on the subject of food, I wonder why Cunard does not serve a sugar-free dessert each night like HAL (or at least a sugar-free ice cream like Crystal). If you are diabetic, low-sugar doesn't work, only sugar-free.

[rakkor]

The Britannia certainly offers a low sugar dessert on every sitting - I just had a look through the menus on my blog and they are there every day. I know there's a special menu generated for diabetics, on our first cruise one of our table companions was diabetic and he received a menu for the next night's dinner while we ate. I assume the sugar free options are there.

Edited January 5, 2017 by rakkor

[rsquare]

The Britannia certainly offers a low sugar dessert on every sitting - I just had a look through the menus on my blog and they are there every day. I know there's a special menu generated for diabetics, on our first cruise one of our table companions was diabetic and he received a menu for the next night's dinner while we ate. I assume the sugar free options are there.

 

As I said, low-sugar is not the same as no sugar; the first is suitable for dieters, the second for diabetics. Also, your assumption that Cunard hides the sugar-free stuff and only discloses it to diabetics is incorrect (and would be a silly policy if it were true).

 

I have been at table with others offered this facility, and it is simply a way of allowing them to request modifications to menu items in advance, eg getting a meat without a sauce, or deleting a high-carb side like rice for a helping of a green vegetable. This could be done for reasons of health or religious constraints; the point is that the menu is the same one that everyone else at the table will see the following night.

[jburton59]

There are special menus beyond modifications of the regular menu. I don't know about diabetics, but there are special vegetarian and vegan menus.

 

Sent from my SM-J700T using Forums mobile app

[rakkor]

A quick trawl through the Ask Cunard pages shows they do cater for diabetics

 

Q. Which diets can you cater for?

 

Share with your friends and family

 

All ships can cater for the following diets;

 

Vegetarian

Pescetarian fish

Low /no fat

Low salt /no salt

Lactose intolerant /dairy free

Gluten /wheat free /coeliac

Low cholesterol

Diabetic

Kosher

Vegan

 

I don't know why you would think otherwise.

 

 

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[CruisinNJ]

There are special menus beyond modifications of the regular menu. I don't know about diabetics, but there are special vegetarian and vegan menus.

 

Sent from my SM-J700T using Forums mobile app

 

We had one vegan in our party of five. They must have been hiding the "special vegan" menu from us!!! Frankly, they had a hard time understanding how vegan is different from vegetarian!

 

We traveled in the PG, and the best they could "do for us" after some heated discussions over several days, was provide a copy of the next day lunch and dinner menu and ask us to "modify" the items we would like to have. Very hard to modify a filet steak into a vegan entree. For example, the basic veggies that were "vegan" (forget the daily potatoes) offered were only the basic 4 our so offered with that evenings entrees (which changed little from day to day). Without getting into the details of 12 days and nights, lets just say, that they were less than accommodating and the most difficult to deal with.

[BA001]

 

While talking about battenberg cake, I have a lovely story to tell. On one cruise I kept going to the Queens Room to see if this cake was being served. The person in charge told me I could speak to my head waiter at dinner and ask for one to be made for my dessert the next day. I did not feel I could do that. (I'm only in Britannia.) A few days later he told me the same thing, then said he would arrange it for me. He asked for my room number. I went back to my room and about 20 minutes later there was a knock on the door. Someone had arrived with a freshly-made battenberg cake for me. They'd had the Queen's Grill kitchen make it specially. Freshly-made was definitely best. It was moist and I could taste the almond.

 

Now if only I knew this was the way to get Battenburg Cake on our QM2 TA's we seem to miss out on this each and every voyage despite asking or wandering through the KC or Queens Room..

On QE last May the Staff in the BR & Lido were fantastic, we had 12 nights of superb food selection, it almost seemed better than the QM2 TA menus, which if you travel frequently you will know the menu selection is rotated just in different rational placement each voyage.

 

The only items I'm becoming bored seeing on the Cunard menus are

*Lobster tail served with tempura prawns and spicy rice

*Mushroom risotto with asparagus (consistency similar to Pollyfilla on some occasions)

*Baked Alaska... I've only ever had a decent one of these on QE when they were individually baked rather than sliced as per the current offering

 

Re-reading before posting does make me realise how lucky I am to be bored of lobster and baked Alaska however i will just add that on a serious note we have noticed the food portions becoming smaller and the quality in BR less than 5* but have put this down to economics and the need to save money.

 

(Don't get me started on the recent trend for lack of caviar and ice sculptures on our TA Captain and senior officers parties! ;) ... )

Edited January 8, 2017 by BA001

[CruisinNJ]

the quality in BR less than 5* but have put this down to economics and the need to save money.

 

(Don't get me started on the recent trend for lack of caviar and ice sculptures on our TA Captain and senior officers parties! ;) ... )

 

To be clear - the main daily courses in the PG are the same as in the BR, thus draw your own conclusion on the quality in PG / QG...

[Host Hattie]

We had one vegan in our party of five. They must have been hiding the "special vegan" menu from us!!! Frankly, they had a hard time understanding how vegan is different from vegetarian!

 

We traveled in the PG, and the best they could "do for us" after some heated discussions over several days, was provide a copy of the next day lunch and dinner menu and ask us to "modify" the items we would like to have. Very hard to modify a filet steak into a vegan entree. For example, the basic veggies that were "vegan" (forget the daily potatoes) offered were only the basic 4 our so offered with that evenings entrees (which changed little from day to day). Without getting into the details of 12 days and nights, lets just say, that they were less than accommodating and the most difficult to deal with.

 

 

A shame you were disappointed on QM2, we have had previous good reports from Cunard's dealing with Vegan diets. I'm surprised you needed to have "heated" discussions - who was the PG Maitre D' ?

 

Vegan Trip Report

[CruisinNJ]

A shame you were disappointed on QM2, we have had previous good reports from Cunard's dealing with Vegan diets. I'm surprised you needed to have "heated" discussions - who was the PG Maitre D' ?

 

Vegan Trip Report

 

To be honest, I do not recall his name - he was a very proper Asian gentleman - to be clear, he was very polite. He did what he could, but he was limited to the provisions provided and the knowledge (or lack thereof) of the kitchen team (which we never met - unlike other lines that "parade" a chef out to the table to discuss dietary restrictions and preferences).

 

I hold not malice towards the team - my point is that Cunard was not as flexible as one might think, even when traveling in the "grills".

[CruisinNJ]

I'm surprised you needed to have "heated" discussions

 

Vegan Trip Report

 

To be further clear - the "heat" was a result of the process - we were asked what we would like - and were told that was not available - after several rounds, we said "instead of playing this game, please tell us what you might have available" - to which the response was "we cannot do that, please tell us what you would like" - this gets very tedious, as they cant just go to the corner store to pick it up - the process seemed pointless!

[roscoe39]

To be further clear - the "heat" was a result of the process - we were asked what we would like - and were told that was not available - after several rounds, we said "instead of playing this game, please tell us what you might have available" - to which the response was "we cannot do that, please tell us what you would like" - this gets very tedious, as they cant just go to the corner store to pick it up - the process seemed pointless!

 

sorry that this was your experience - on my recent experience with Grills they were willing to bend over backwards for us and couldn't do enough. We had a lady at the table that was what I called a Vegetarian, she couldn't eat anything from an animal....so no eggs or fish..(doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me) ..I would have thought that was limiting but she seemed very happy with the content stream of varied dishes they presented her.

 

It also wasn't my experience that the menus in brittania were the same as Grills, but maybe its different on the QM2?

Edited January 9, 2017 by roscoe39