Main Dining Room FOOD

[daka]

We are just off a REGAL PRINCESS 8 day cruise...

Love the SHIP

Love the STAFF

Love the MEDALLION 

Embark and Debark were EXCELLENT

However, we found the food in the MDR was generally terrible.

Food in the Buffet was just OK

I think the food has been much better on our last cruises...Pre Covid..

We have cancelled our next Princess cruise and are switching back to CELEBRITY,

****** Finished with Princess*****

 

[dog]

I agree that there has been a decline in quality of food in the MDR over the past few years.

[RNRcruisers]

I'm surprised to hear that. We cruised on the Regal last January and found the food quite good. 

 

[chrysalis]

We were on the Regal for 48 days in Oct/Nov/Dec and also found the MDR food to be quite good.

 

As a matter of fact, the Executive Chef changed after a couple of weeks and the food generally improved. Had some prime rib a few times and each time, I thought the meat to be better than the filet at the CG.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, daka said:

We are just off a REGAL PRINCESS 8 day cruise...

Love the SHIP

Love the STAFF

Love the MEDALLION 

Embark and Debark were EXCELLENT

However, we found the food in the MDR was generally terrible.

Food in the Buffet was just OK

I think the food has been much better on our last cruises...Pre Covid..

We have cancelled our next Princess cruise and are switching back to CELEBRITY,

****** Finished with Princess*****

 

But you will pay much more with Celebrity.

We were on Regal in June, and felt the MDR food was more than acceptable. 

[Coral]

I would agree that the food is not as good as before COVID. There definitely are cut backs and the menus I saw in 2022 reflected that.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, daka said:

We are just off a REGAL PRINCESS 8 day cruise...

Love the SHIP

Love the STAFF

Love the MEDALLION 

Embark and Debark were EXCELLENT

However, we found the food in the MDR was generally terrible.

Food in the Buffet was just OK

I think the food has been much better on our last cruises...Pre Covid..

We have cancelled our next Princess cruise and are switching back to CELEBRITY,

****** Finished with Princess*****

 

I agree that the quality of food was not up to par on the Regal in October.  Of course, I think there is a new par at Princess.  I would not term it "terrible".  There was a NOTICEABLE difference in preparation, etc, of food on Island in early November over what we had experienced on Regal.  I did note that Island had a quite good exec chef from what I understand.  I imagine all ships are ordering the same quality of meat, etc.

[Coral]

5 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I agree that the quality of food was not up to par on the Regal in October.  Of course, I think there is a new par at Princess.  I would not term it "terrible".  There was a NOTICEABLE difference in preparation, etc, of food on Island in early November over what we had experienced on Regal.  I did note that Island had a quite good exec chef from what I understand.  I imagine all ships are ordering the same quality of meat, etc.

We were told on our TA cruise that the source of food would change once they got to the US to the US vendors. There were some things I found different and they said it was because they are using European vendors. I am picky about salad dressings and that was one of them.

[enyliram]

was on regal dec 2 to dec 9   the menu was changed.  been on regal 3 times before this cruise.

definite decline in MDR  food

[wowzz]

19 minutes ago, Coral said:

We were told on our TA cruise that the source of food would change once they got to the US to the US vendors.

From what the OP said, it appears that food quality has gone down due to the switch to US vendors.

[Coral]

7 minutes ago, wowzz said:

From what the OP said, it appears that food quality has gone down due to the switch to US vendors.

They also often change employees (contracts end amongst senior officers) once they switch locations. I know there were a ton of people who left our ship in Portugal and many more who were going to leave in FLL once our ship arrived. A lot of variables. They are also changing menus right now. 

Edited December 22, 2022 by Coral

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Ohhhh, please say it isn't so!    We are looking forward to sailing on the Regal.   I had recently posted about the new menus that seem to being put in place on the Regal.    Hoping some current or upcoming Regal cruisers would chime in.   If there has been changeovers in food supplies and also the top Executive Dining staff,  then this isn't good.  I think we will try again today to get one reservation in at Crown Grill.

[sonomaphil]

3 hours ago, daka said:

We are just off a REGAL PRINCESS 8 day cruise...

Love the SHIP

Love the STAFF

Love the MEDALLION 

Embark and Debark were EXCELLENT

However, we found the food in the MDR was generally terrible.

Food in the Buffet was just OK

I think the food has been much better on our last cruises...Pre Covid..

We have cancelled our next Princess cruise and are switching back to CELEBRITY,

****** Finished with Princess*****

 

Bye!

[memoak]

It seems like a lot of posters lately have been disparaging Princess and playing up Celebrity. I have always found food to differ from ship to ship regardless of lines

[iamaqt2]

Been back on Princess 3 times post Covid.  And will definitely agree that food quality in the MDR has declined.

Also Ruby Panama Canal in February buffet was awful and every time I ordered something from room service half the items weren't available.

I see that Princess is trying to revamp their menus, so hopefully some nice new changes come out of it.  Will be on Discovery over New Year's and looking forward to seeing what they'll do for Gala Dinner.

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

It seems like a lot of posters lately have been disparaging Princess and playing up Celebrity. I have always found food to differ from ship to ship regardless of lines

I agree from ship to ship! I also think when an executive chef leaves and a new one comes onboard. Plus location of ship. 

[startedwithamouse]

 

QUALITY of ingredients is a MAJOR difference. Even if they are using the same menus (not ones being phased in), the taste is NOT the same. 

 

We've been on seven cruises since cruising resumed in 2021, the last 3 in November and December (just off Discovery yesterday), and the food quality is lacking.  The menu selections were the same, but the taste was not.

 

We had the best food on Majestic.

[startedwithamouse]

7 minutes ago, Coral said:

I agree from ship to ship! I also think when an executive chef leaves and a new one comes onboard. Plus location of ship. 

If the chef has to plan and their focus is on budgeting food costs, there's no way dishes will taste the same. Consider EGGS - they've DOUBLED in price.  The desserts in the MDR are tasting like the buffet.  

[iamaqt2]

21 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

If the chef has to plan and their focus is on budgeting food costs, there's no way dishes will taste the same. Consider EGGS - they've DOUBLED in price.  The desserts in the MDR are tasting like the buffet.  

Heck, sometimes the buffet has better dessert than the MDR.  You're correct that the biggest issue is consistency.

[Oceansaway17]

53 minutes ago, memoak said:

It seems like a lot of posters lately have been disparaging Princess and playing up Celebrity. I have always found food to differ from ship to ship regardless of lines

yes I agree.

I did 6 RCI cruises this year and each one ha various small differences and or issues.

 

Overall I do not cruise for the food as on land there are many excellent restaurants.

But when on any ship, I feel that there will always be salad options, and veggies as well as usually great bread.  Sometimes the main entree can be off in flavor or temp, so just tell the waiter.

 

 

[telecheck]

45 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

 

QUALITY of ingredients is a MAJOR difference. Even if they are using the same menus (not ones being phased in), the taste is NOT the same. 

 

We've been on seven cruises since cruising resumed in 2021, the last 3 in November and December (just off Discovery yesterday), and the food quality is lacking.  The menu selections were the same, but the taste was not.

 

We had the best food on Majestic.

 

I know someone who was just off Discovery yesterday also. He was also on a similar 4-day cruise out of LA back in mid-November. He said the food quality was much better back in November, and the menu selections were much bigger also. Not only the MDR but the buffet also. They had a big seafood bar with shrimps, mussels, octopus, calamari, scallops at that time, but this big seafood bar disappeared completely in his December cruise.

 

It was kind of shocking that only one month could make such a huge difference.

[wcflats]

Just off discovery….did not go to MDR…bistro ser la  mer and was very good 👍.  360 dining experience is hard to describe…absolutely fantastic.  Food is always so dependent on the person’s choice of what they like.  We have always found something to like somewhere on board.  

[Wishing on a star]

Telecheck,   I totally agree!

Sometimes the changes and differences are just too obvious.

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Well,  I am trying to readjust my expectations for the food on the Regal now.    Still haven't been able to use the app to make dining reservations at Crown Grill.    We had a couple of bad dining cruises before.  I was hoping this would be better for the food. 

[startedwithamouse]

2 hours ago, wcflats said:

Just off discovery….did not go to MDR…bistro ser la  mer and was very good 👍.  360 dining experience is hard to describe…absolutely fantastic.  Food is always so dependent on the person’s choice of what they like.  We have always found something to like somewhere on board.  

360, yes, hard to describe. It's one of those things that you just have to experience for yourself. We devoured every moment, taste, sound and aroma!