Sorry but it’s aweful

[Motegi]

Additional photos:

 

And the wings are from the Sports Bar on Deck 8:

 

Hopefully this makes the "food police" in the forum happy!

 

My opinion of the food onboard the MSC Seaside and Divina remains the same as I described in my post #74

Edited October 15, 2019 by Motegi

[Huntingdon1701]

I'm a bit late to the thread. Those don't actually look that great, especially the burger and whatever is above the wings. Is that the standard in the MDR?

[Fogfog]

41 minutes ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

I'm a bit late to the thread. Those don't actually look that great, especially the burger and whatever is above the wings. Is that the standard in the MDR?

??

The plate above the wings has eggplant, pita, something that looks like artichokes or caponata among other items. Whats not to like?

Burger with grilled mushrooms ? Why is that bad

 

I think these look great...  

Yes food is subjective -- however traveling gives people an opportunity to try other things. 

I wonder how many complainers are decent/great cooks and what they eat in a month.

 

Pizza comments always make us roll our eyes... when we hear folks who have never lived in Italy (several regions) and KNOW what pizza should be... and think they are experts....

yes pizza varies from forno to forno in a single village...

However what people "think" is a pizza..and especially Americans... is often NOT...Toppings are not heavy, sauces aren't heavy...and a couple minutes. That Unos Chicago thing isn't even close to Napoli's style.  

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Fogfog

[DCGuy64]

We just got off the Armonia. The food was inedible. I lower my standards for mass-produced food, but this was still off the charts terrible. One night we left the dining room in the middle of the meal. As an example, the "pecan crusted" fish had absolutely no pecan crust. It was garden variety Sysco bread crumbs placed in a baking pan. (the chicken parm was the same). The homemade lobster ravioli had clearly been sitting out for a long time after it was cooked. It was completely dried all around the edges and they simply slopped the sauce on top of it.
 
I've had hit or miss dining room nights on all of my cruises--I get it. But this was such a sub-par experience overall. We eventually paid extra for the surf and turf restaurant so we could get a decent sit-down meal. (As an aside, MSC charges extra if you want another appetizer ($7) or another entree ($15) at the specialty restaurant. Neither Celebrity nor Holland America did that).
 
As for the buffet, we were able to cobble some things together to make it a decent meal. But the salad bar options were sorely lacking. A bowl of greens and then like 4 or 5 veggie mixers. But no chicken salad, tuna salad etc. I guess I'm spoiled by my experiences on other cruise lines.
 
For this reason, we will never sail MSC again. And no, I'm not taking any other problems out on the food. It was objectively bad.

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion and food tastes are subjective, but I confess I simply can’t understand someone swearing off an entire cruise line on the basis of lackluster food on one cruise. But that’s just me.


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[tnt10]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion and food tastes are subjective, but I confess I simply can’t understand someone swearing off an entire cruise line on the basis of lackluster food on one cruise. But that’s just me.


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I understand your feelings.  We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise where we both lost weight, (not on purpose), the food was really that bad.  Have been on other RCI cruises both before and after where the food was considerably better. 

Sorry to say, "it" happens!!

 

[DCGuy64]

I understand your feelings.  We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise where we both lost weight, (not on purpose), the food was really that bad.  Have been on other RCI cruises both before and after where the food was considerably better. 
Sorry to say, "it" happens!!
 

I think you misunderstood what I wrote, I wasn’t disputing whether someone might not like the food on one cruise. But you continued to cruise with Royal Caribbean even after having bad food once. You didn’t swear off the entire cruise line based on bad food one time. It does happen, yes. You’re right.


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[Motegi]

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

??

The plate above the wings has eggplant, pita, something that looks like artichokes or caponata among other items. Whats not to like?

Burger with grilled mushrooms ? Why is that bad

 

I think these look great...  

Yes food is subjective -- however traveling gives people an opportunity to try other things. 

I wonder how many complainers are decent/great cooks and what they eat in a month.

 

Pizza comments always make us roll our eyes... when we hear folks who have never lived in Italy (several regions) and KNOW what pizza should be... and think they are experts....

yes pizza varies from forno to forno in a single village...

However what people "think" is a pizza..and especially Americans... is often NOT...Toppings are not heavy, sauces aren't heavy...and a couple minutes. That Unos Chicago thing isn't even close to Napoli's style.  

 

 

 

Exactly,  thank you.  
 

And you were correct about the items in my photos.

 

The one with the pita bread was an appetizer.

[Huntingdon1701]

9 hours ago, Fogfog said:

??

The plate above the wings has eggplant, pita, something that looks like artichokes or caponata among other items. Whats not to like?

Burger with grilled mushrooms ? Why is that bad

 

I think these look great...  

Yes food is subjective -- however traveling gives people an opportunity to try other things. 

I wonder how many complainers are decent/great cooks and what they eat in a month

 

 

 

I'm glad you think they look great, but compared to food on my regular line, and the restaurants I normally eat in, they look decidely lacklustre. And since I will try any food once, it's nothing to do with a reluctance to try other things- I'm just back from Peru where I had guinea pig and alpaca. Perhaps it's you who needs to broaden their horizons and try something different?

[citizenfrank]

29 minutes ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

I'm glad you think they look great, but compared to food on my regular line, and the restaurants I normally eat in, they look decidely lacklustre. And since I will try any food once, it's nothing to do with a reluctance to try other things- I'm just back from Peru where I had guinea pig and alpaca. Perhaps it's you who needs to broaden their horizons and try something different?

Is you regular line a secret? Or can we all share gastro heaven on the high seas?

As for Peru ...bravo, but they serve nice steak there you know over kids pets.

I've no doubt over stepped the mark so I'm off.....

Having a canary and next doors cat for breakfast 

[deliver42]

I'm really late for this party, but I went back to look at the pictures if the food, and, for the life of me, couldn't see anything wrong with them. 

[emmas gran]

2 hours ago, citizenfrank said:

Is you regular line a secret? Or can we all share gastro heaven on the high seas?

As for Peru ...bravo, but they serve nice steak there you know over kids pets.

I've no doubt over stepped the mark so I'm off.....

Having a canary and next doors cat for breakfast 

Frank it looks like NCL is the line of choice. 

I have been to Peru (Cusco & Machu Picchu) didn't eat pets went to McDonalds !!!

[citizenfrank]

32 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

Frank it looks like NCL is the line of choice. 

I have been to Peru (Cusco & Machu Picchu) didn't eat pets went to McDonalds !!!

Nothing against a little global fast food for sure 👍

But as Simon Cowell would say it's a no from me regarding 🐕🐩🐈🐀🐢🐦🐗🐸🐧🐘🐺🐒🐛🐜🐝🐞

[NCTribeFan]

Oh, let me chime in on cruise ship food!

 

My past 3 sailings have been on MSC - Divina last December, Armonia in May and again a month ago.

 

I'll be on my 30th Carnival cruise in 10 days.  I've also sailed 3x HAL, and 1x each on RCL & NCL.  First X coming up in early 2021.

 

Sometimes the food is good.  Sometimes you get a dish that is very good.  Sometimes it is just barely OK.

 

I certainly didn't think the food on Armonia (either time) was inedible.  I almost never eat from the buffet and I rarely have dessert.

 

Think MSC's burgers on the pool deck on Armonia were better than the highly-praised Guy's Burgers on Carnival (but not better than the burgers on HAL's Koningsdam).  Guy's has a great toppings bar but the burgers themselves are usually over-cooked and over-charred.

 

I gave up even trying to eat the pizza on Carnival.  MSC's is miles better!  I like Carnival's deli for lunch.

 

It's subjective.  It can vary greatly within one cruise line from ship to ship and sailing to sailing.  I personally think the food tends to be better overall on the smaller ships although you have fewer dining options.  JMHO.

[Beardface]

15 hours ago, Fogfog said:

??

The plate above the wings has eggplant, pita, something that looks like artichokes or caponata among other items. Whats not to like?

Burger with grilled mushrooms ? Why is that bad

 

I think these look great...  

Yes food is subjective -- however traveling gives people an opportunity to try other things. 

I wonder how many complainers are decent/great cooks and what they eat in a month.

 

Pizza comments always make us roll our eyes... when we hear folks who have never lived in Italy (several regions) and KNOW what pizza should be... and think they are experts....

yes pizza varies from forno to forno in a single village...

However what people "think" is a pizza..and especially Americans... is often NOT...Toppings are not heavy, sauces aren't heavy...and a couple minutes. That Unos Chicago thing isn't even close to Napoli's style.  

 

 

 

 

I think the big problem is that people have this expectation that MSC is going to serve American style offerings for all their meals.  But then the same people will have the expectation of having American styled meals when sailing NCL or RCCL in the Mediterranean.

 

MSC is a foreign line.  Their cuisine is going to be based on what their region likes.  Sure, they might offer some options for Americans, but you're on a European ship, you're going to get the European experience.  I have found through my own experience, that there are a lot of people who just don't like that not everything is catered to them specifically.

[Beamafar]

I have to say that I really like MSC's burgers (and I'm not really a burger person)

[DCGuy64]

38 minutes ago, Beardface said:

 

I think the big problem is that people have this expectation that MSC is going to serve American style offerings for all their meals.  But then the same people will have the expectation of having American styled meals when sailing NCL or RCCL in the Mediterranean.

 

MSC is a foreign line.  Their cuisine is going to be based on what their region likes.  Sure, they might offer some options for Americans, but you're on a European ship, you're going to get the European experience.  I have found through my own experience, that there are a lot of people who just don't like that not everything is catered to them specifically.

Quite so. Indeed, it reminds me a bit of Americans who complain that Mexican food in Germany doesn't taste like it does in Mexico (or Texas, California, etc.) or that coffee in Italy isn't like Starbucks. My wife and I actually enjoy the fact that while we might be departing from a US port, our experience has a distinctly European feel.

[Beardface]

1 minute ago, DCGuy64 said:

Quite so. Indeed, it reminds me a bit of Americans who complain that Mexican food in Germany doesn't taste like it does in Mexico (or Texas, California, etc.) or that coffee in Italy isn't like Starbucks. My wife and I actually enjoy the fact that while we might be departing from a US port, our experience has a distinctly European feel.

 

If anything, that's what drew my wife and I to MSC.  We went to Italy on our honeymoon and absolutely loved just removing ourselves from the typical American day to day.  The food was excellent regardless of what venue we went to (well, except for one place in Venice we later learned was a bad hotel restaurant) and the general laid back ambiance fit our personality to a T.  We have generally alternated between cruises and European vacations, and jumped at the chance to book on the Seaside because it seemed to be a perfect blend of the two.  I'm not expecting a very Americanized trip, and will be a bit disappointed if that ends up happening.

[Motegi]

On 10/16/2019 at 4:52 AM, deliver42 said:

I'm really late for this party, but I went back to look at the pictures if the food, and, for the life of me, couldn't see anything wrong with them. 

 

Some people have had a negative dining experience on their MSC Cruises.  

 

My experience was the opposite.  I was posting photos of the food I had on the Divina and Seaside as a point of comparison.

 

I found the food overall to be on par with NCL while Pam says that she preferred the food on MSC.  Both of us agree that MSC is miles ahead of Carnival in all aspects of dining.

 

As another point of comparison here is some entrees we had in Rome over the summer at a restaurant that was recommended to us by a local: