Cruise lines with best food

[saltyesty]

My SO and I have been on 3 cruises. The first and third were on Carnival; the second was on Norwegian. While we enjoyed our most recent cruise on Carnival, we *HATED* the food and were reminded that's why we chose Norwegian for the second cruise. Because of this issue, we don't think we will ever cruise Carnival again. 

 

What are your thoughts about the cruise lines with the *BEST* food? Norwegian was great, but we'd like to try a different line next time. 

Edited January 15, 2022 by saltyesty

[BklynBoy8]

We like Cunard like your prefer Carnival Line.

 

We once enjoyed HAL but was turned off when they changed their Dining Room Procedures.

 

We have always been satisfied with Cunard from the QE2, Caronia and now QM2.

 

We also heard Princess and Celebrity which we haven't tried yet.

[shipgeeks]

Salty,  It seems that you are not alone in thinking that Carnival's food has gone downhill.  There have been several recent posts to that effect.

We don't sail on NCL, so can't comment.

Celebrity has a good reputation (and we agree) with food.  The downside, perhaps, is that many of their cruises are now all-inclusive, so if drinks, wi-fi, etc. are not important to you, the price might be too high.

Royal Caribbean, MSC, and Holland America all get mixed reviews.  We find all of those quite acceptable to very good.  If the other features of a cruise on any of those appeal to you, I would give any of them a try.

There are also the higher-end lines, but even those are no guarantee of food that will be to your liking.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Food has always been my number one concern onboard ship.  While the old days of exceptional gourmet dining are long gone there are newer lines that have, pardon the pun, gone overboard, with fine dining and alternative options.  Celebrity and Cunard are good mass market lines with better than average dining options.  Cunard First Class is legendary.  Windstar, Oceania and Azamara are very good small ship boutique lines with exceptional dining options.  Right now Oceania is leading that pack. Then you have the luxury lines…Seabourn, Regent, Silversea and Crystal are top notch with Regent winning that race by a nose.  Although you can hear little complaints on each right here on CC.   Then you have the Yacht Club on MSC…which is a mass market line with a ship within a ship concept.  The YC is an excellent product for those who don’t want to give up the big ship experience but want an upscale experience on a mass market line.  
 

In response to Salty’s OP I would suggest Celebrity for your next mass market cruise.  I would suggest Windstar for you next boutique cruise.  And I would suggest Oceania for your purely food indulgence on your next cruise.  If you feel like spending more than $700 per night then feel free to book on one of the luxury lines or Cunard Grill Class.  

[cruiserjt]

I agree with Celebrity - the other thing to consider is your tolerance for dining packages and specialty dining. My husband and I don't appreciate specialty dining and base things on the MDR.  We like Celebrity but have had very good experience on Royal as well.  Royal has some nice restaurants and a dining package - we are trying that next.

 

[rkacruiser]

On 1/15/2022 at 12:13 PM, saltyesty said:

What are your thoughts about the cruise lines with the *BEST* food?

 

Others have posted interesting and valid comments to your question.  My opinion is a bit different.  It depends on who the Executive Chef is on any given ship.  I have enjoyed many very good meals on HAL and I have been served some disappointing ones as well on a different HAL ship.  What made the difference?  The Executive Chef in charge of the Galley.  All of the cruise lines on which I have sailed, the menus/recipes come from their Corporate Officer in charge of food and beverage and/or the cruise line's chief chef who works in the Corporate Office.  Unsure about all of the lines, but, on HAL and on Carnival, the ship's Executive Chef has the freedom to "tinker" with the recipes as he/she wishes.  Some are better "tinkerers" than others and some don't "tinker" at all.  

 

On Carnival, I have enjoyed the meals that I have ordered.  The steakhouses on Carnival are the best of any of the steakhouses that I have patronized.  They have been consistently excellent in cuisine, service, and ambiance.  I cannot say that for HAL's Pinnacle Grill.  (Recent experiences shows good improvement, however.)  

 

OP, as you continue to sail, as satisfied as you now seem to be with NCL, I would not be surprised that you will eventually find some disappointment in the cuisine with them.  Or, with any other cruise line you might sail.  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Absolutely agree with RK…the Chef makes all the difference.  How many times have I seen this.  And how many times I have found great food on the most unlikely ships!  All due to the expertise of the Chef in charge.  Unfortunately ships and lines come and go.  What is great one day can be disappointing in the blink of n eye.  Sometimes we just get lucky and happen upon a talented force in the galley.  The best food and biggest surprise I ever encountered was onboard the Regent Sea…now long gone.  Every meal, every buffet and every tea was a total triumph.  

 

 

[princeton123211]

On 1/15/2022 at 2:17 PM, BklynBoy8 said:

 

We have always been satisfied with Cunard from the QE2, Caronia and now QM2.

It got worse in that exact descending order. QE2 even until the end was spectacular cuisine and dining room service in Queens Grill. Caronia never regained quite was what she was when she was Vistafjord. QM2 from my experiences has never been as good as QE2. Close sometimes, but just lacking the fit and finish in terms of dining of her older sibling. 

 

On 1/17/2022 at 12:00 AM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Then you have the luxury lines…Seabourn, Regent, Silversea and Crystal are top notch with Regent winning that race by a nose.

Seabourn always reminds me of what Cunard's QE2 Queens Grill was back in the day. Maybe not quite as good but a modern day replica. Was never super impressed by Crystal-- always seemed a bit like fancy catering. Regent and Silversea are quite good. 

 

Oceania most likely has the best food of a premium brand.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

It got worse in that exact descending order. QE2 even until the end was spectacular cuisine and dining room service in Queens Grill. Caronia never regained quite was what she was when she was Vistafjord. QM2 from my experiences has never been as good as QE2. Close sometimes, but just lacking the fit and finish in terms of dining of her older sibling. 

 

Seabourn always reminds me of what Cunard's QE2 Queens Grill was back in the day. Maybe not quite as good but a modern day replica. Was never super impressed by Crystal-- always seemed a bit like fancy catering. Regent and Silversea are quite good. 

 

Oceania most likely has the best food of a premium brand.

Welcome to our little enclave Princeton.  Always good to hear from another sailor with extensive experience.  Yes…Oceania seems to have distinguished themselves as the culinary leader…according to all the reports I am receiving.  
 

Cruising with the premium lines is going to get challenging with all the costs going up due to Covid, fuel, food, supplies, etc. in these times of pandemics and inflation.  Crystal is already the first major casualty.  Sometimes I wonder how the lines are going to survive.  These threads could very well become a place to recount our memories of what once was excellence.  Count yourself fortunate to have experienced the glories of the Queens Grill onboard QE2.  My first meal onboard a ship was breakfast in the spectacular First Class restaurant on the original Queen Elizabeth in 1965.  That gorgeous cavernous dining room was the equivalent of the Queens Grill on steroids!  
 

For an in-depth look at Cunard luxury, back in the day, take a look at the RMS Caronia Timeline.  You can Google it to see what an entire ship was like that offered what the chosen few are experiencing in the QG.  

Edited February 20, 2022 by CGTNORMANDIE

[BklynBoy8]

On 2/20/2022 at 5:22 AM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Welcome to our little enclave Princeton.  Always good to hear from another sailor with extensive experience.  Yes…Oceania seems to have distinguished themselves as the culinary leader…according to all the reports I am receiving.  
 

Cruising with the premium lines is going to get challenging with all the costs going up due to Covid, fuel, food, supplies, etc. in these times of pandemics and inflation.  Crystal is already the first major casualty.  Sometimes I wonder how the lines are going to survive.  These threads could very well become a place to recount our memories of what once was excellence.  Count yourself fortunate to have experienced the glories of the Queens Grill onboard QE2.  My first meal onboard a ship was breakfast in the spectacular First Class restaurant on the original Queen Elizabeth in 1965.  That gorgeous cavernous dining room was the equivalent of the Queens Grill on steroids!  
 

For an in-depth look at Cunard luxury, back in the day, take a look at the RMS Caronia Timeline.  You can Google it to see what an entire ship was like that offered what the chosen few are experiencing in the QG.  

 

We truly enjoyed all our choices on the QE2 and our 12 day sailing on the Caronia...

 

We also liked the Dining Room on the Caronia to be so unique.

[rkacruiser]

On 2/21/2022 at 1:22 PM, BklynBoy8 said:

 

We truly enjoyed all our choices on the QE2

 

As I have said before, my first lunch on QE2 when my friend and I sailed from Southampton was most disappointing.  OK, we were "steerage" Tables of the World passengers.  But, when I ordered Entrecote and was served Liver--and the Steward insisted that was what "Entrecote" was--was not the start of a wonderful QE2 experience.  But, it was the start of a memorable one.  

[Hlitner]

We were also disappointed in cuisine on the QE2 although I understand it is somewhat better for those who dine in the "grill."  I think as far as the best food we can only speak to the 16 lines upon which we have cruised and rate Seabourn the best (by far).  But we have yet to cruise on Oceania and a few friends say they prefer the cuisine on "O" to Seabourn.  If I had to limit my choices to only mass market lines they would all lose if rating the main dining venues.  But Murano (an alternate restaurant on Celebrity) has the best food we have ever had on a mass market line.

 

Speaking of Seabourn, our favorite item is the Dover Sole which is finished and fileted tableside in their Thomas Keller Grill.

 

Hank

[BklynBoy8]

28 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We were also disappointed in cuisine on the QE2 although I understand it is somewhat better for those who dine in the "grill."  I think as far as the best food we can only speak to the 16 lines upon which we have cruised and rate Seabourn the best (by far).  But we have yet to cruise on Oceania and a few friends say they prefer the cuisine on "O" to Seabourn.  If I had to limit my choices to only mass market lines they would all lose if rating the main dining venues.  But Murano (an alternate restaurant on Celebrity) has the best food we have ever had on a mass market line.

Speaking of Seabourn, our favorite item is the Dover Sole which is finished and fileted tableside in their Thomas Keller Grill.

Hank

Hank,

We are sorry you were disappointed by your experience on the QE2. We did experience the several restaurants on her and did enjoy the Grill many times besides the other dining venues.

 

The best first sailings meals were on the QE2 in the Columbia Restaurant. Later it was named the Caronia. The true Midnight Buffets were Outstanding at 1130PM. There were about 11 different stations to truly feast at. Desserts plus Flamba's, Seafood, Cheeses and Outstanding Breads to name a few with Carving Boards. 

 

Our favorite dish on the QE2 and Mary2 also is the Dover Sole tableside prepared.

[GatorGirl1313]

I have sailed Royal, Princess, Carnival and Norwegian.  I found NCL to have the worst main dining room food quality, probably because they want to push everyone into the specialty dining.

[Loucat]

We have sailed on Royal, Princess,  Norwegian, Holland, Celebrity and Azamara. Sailed Azamara Quest and Journey. Out of all of our sailings, Azamara was definitely the best overall. Varied menus and high quality meats and ingredients in their servings. From their main dining to specialty restaurants, all was enjoyable. They have an outside grill area with tasty options throughout the day. Special events were just that-special! I will always remember their holiday buffets. Just incredible! Will plan on sailing with them again as I get tired of the less than good offerings. We are just off Princess and not impressed once again. 

[rkacruiser]

On 3/7/2022 at 6:43 PM, Hlitner said:

Murano (an alternate restaurant on Celebrity)

 

My experience was on Celebrity Eclipse.  The cuisine was excellent.  The ambiance was a bit pretentious.  Tuscan Grill provided excellent cuisine for lunch and dinner without the pretentiousness.  

 

On 3/7/2022 at 7:18 PM, BklynBoy8 said:

the Dover Sole tableside

 

Rudi's Sel de Mer provides that type of service for Dover Sole.  I have never been disappointed in the preparation, presentation, or service of this delicious fish.  

[aml3679]

Celebrity 

[ociana]

Just noticed this foodie forum and thought I would jump into this conversation because my hubby and I have found that Virgin Voyages is our new cruise food favorite by a HUGE margin.  For context, we have cruised on Princess and NCL multiple times each between 2003 and 2019.  After our last trip on NCL we were basically throwing in the towel on cruising because of the combination of food quality and staff happiness levels being so low that they were consistently having a negative impact on our vacations.  

Itching for a post Covid trip and seeing positive things about the food on Virgin I twisted my hubby's arm into trying again with this new cruise line.  We did a 5 night out of Miami on the Scarlet Lady in October 2021.  For those who do not know, all restaurants are included in the cruise fare with just 1 or 2 items on some menus that have an upcharge (like a tomahawk steak).  Our worst meal on Virgin was better than our best meal ever on NCL...that is how significant the food quality difference was to us.  We are looking forward to our next cruise with them this fall, but not the corresponding pant size increase.  

[CruiserFromMaine]

Setting aside luxury cruise lines, we’ve had very good meals in Aqua class on Celebrity, in Blu. We just got off the Oceania Regatta and had excellent food and wine there in several venues. 

[rkacruiser]

On 5/23/2022 at 8:36 AM, CruiserFromMaine said:

we’ve had very good meals in Aqua class on Celebrity, in Blu

 

I have not dined at Blu, but, when I sailed on Celebrity Eclipse, my lunch and dinner in the Tuscan Grill were excellent.  Cuisine and service:  excellent.  I dined in Murano.  The cuisine was excellent.  The service was pretentious.  

[baelor]

On 5/31/2022 at 5:22 PM, rkacruiser said:

The service was pretentious.  

What made the service pretentious?

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, baelor said:

What made the service pretentious?

 

The wine and table service was needlessly showy with an attempt to make my dining experience more formal in feeling in my opinion.  The ambiance of the restaurant had a "chill" feeling about it that other such specialty restaurants that I have patronized did not have.  

[yarramar]

My most recent cruise was on RCL. I don't remember the food being a stand out as I remember it was on Oceania but neither do I remember any complaints. It was quite good  with reasonably fresh and quality ingredients. The variety was excellent

Princess food was quite good but NCL was by far the worst food I have ever had on any ship. It is odd that NCL owns Oceania. I guess management have very different ideas on how to turn a profit.

[CruzinMermaid]

I've sailed with four lines now - Carnival, NCL, Abercrombie & Kent, and Virgin Voyages. Hands down the best food was on Virgin Voyages. I've seen a lot of folks who have cruised way more than I also say the best food they ever had was on Virgin Voyages.

 

There are six specialty restaurants (The Wake, Test Kitchen, Pink Agave, Gunbae, Extra Virgin, and Razzle Dazzle), none has a cover and all are creative, excellent, and clearly identify vegetarian/vegan/gluten free items. Some dishes can be made gluten free if they don't start that way. 

 

Test Kitchen is a chef's tasting menu, I understand they're coming up with a new menu at least on longer voyages so you can dine more than once. 

[baelor]

1 hour ago, CruzinMermaid said:

I've sailed with four lines now - Carnival, NCL, Abercrombie & Kent, and Virgin Voyages. Hands down the best food was on Virgin Voyages. I've seen a lot of folks who have cruised way more than I also say the best food they ever had was on Virgin Voyages.

 

There are six specialty restaurants (The Wake, Test Kitchen, Pink Agave, Gunbae, Extra Virgin, and Razzle Dazzle), none has a cover and all are creative, excellent, and clearly identify vegetarian/vegan/gluten free items. Some dishes can be made gluten free if they don't start that way. 

 

Test Kitchen is a chef's tasting menu, I understand they're coming up with a new menu at least on longer voyages so you can dine more than once. 

That seems consistent with what I have heard.  The menus on VV certainly look better quality and more refined/thoughtful than the menus on most other cruise ships.  That being said, the miniscule pools on VV and a number of other difference-for-its-own-sake factors are making me pause, especially given the price.