Recent food experiences on the "spirit" class ships?

[William142]

On another board, two posters, one on miracle and one on spirit, about how the food was basically inedible.

 

Is this accurate? Anyone been on a spirit class ship lately, care to comment about the food.

 

Sailing miracle end of July on a 10 day.

[staceyglow]

Why would the class of ship determine the quality of the food?

Edited May 18, 2023 by staceyglow

[William142]

Well they are both spirit class ships and both alaska cruises, so I would think there would be some overlap on the food. Also two posters both are saying the same thing.

 

Let me clarify. Has anyone been on miracle or spirit lately and care to comment about the food?

[luvs2beachit]

Just got off the Spirit last week from an Alaska cruise.  For me it was the perfect  cruise.  All staff encountered were outstanding.  Everyone of the staff was friendly, helpful and took time to chat for a few minutes.  The ship is a perfect size.  Not too big and not too small.  Rarely did I encounter lines with more than a few people.  Regarding the food I found it to be good to very good.  I did  encounter a few items that I didn't like so I just ordered something else.  I did really like most of the fish dishes and thought the Beef Wellington was outstanding! I thought the Italian food was just ok but then I live in an area where great Italian food is standard so my opinion is slanted!

I loved the Spirit and would book her again in a heartbeat!

[William142]

That is great to hear!

2 minutes ago, luvs2beachit said:

Just got off the Spirit last week from an Alaska cruise.  For me it was the perfect  cruise.  All staff encountered were outstanding.  Everyone of the staff was friendly, helpful and took time to chat for a few minutes.  The ship is a perfect size.  Not too big and not too small.  Rarely did I encounter lines with more than a few people.  Regarding the food I found it to be good to very good.  I did  encounter a few items that I didn't like so I just ordered something else.  I did really like most of the fish dishes and thought the Beef Wellington was outstanding! I thought the Italian food was just ok but then I live in an area where great Italian food is standard so my opinion is slanted!

I loved the Spirit and would book her again in a heartbeat!

 

[bguppies]

Did the Pride and Sunshine less than a year ago and the food on Carnival as a line, has taken a large step back in quality the past few years. (along with service and amenities)

I wouldn't call it inedible, but it definitely isn't as good as it used to be quality-wise.

Lesser cuts of meat, lesser quality ingredients, etc.

 

That being said we will be going on the Pride again this December, with majorly lowered expectations.

The excellence of the design of the Spirit class ships, makes the lowered experience on Carnival more tolerable. (We definitely won't be doing the Sunshine again for sure)

[pe4all]

I have never starved on any CCL ship.  Have always found something I liked - even if I just made a salad for myself.

[asalligo]

Inedible is an extreme description of the food quality and unwarranted, but it was a much lower quality than any cruise we had taken pre covid. Unfortunately, I can also attest to the class of the ship making a difference in the food. We did the Pride three months ago and the Celebration last month and the difference in food was amazing. If Carnival would put the effort into other ships like they do the flagship, then few would complain. I am sure this is a calculated decision though based on their budget. I suspect that a cruise on the Celebration in a few years will be a sad decrease in quality also, but I hold out hope. 

[pcvtmom]

We cruised to Hawaii on the Miracle in January.  While the food wasn't quite as good as it was pre-pandemic, we had some delicious food every night. At lunch, I tend to eat salads and desserts (guilty pleasure reserved for cruises!!). I really think Carnival has upped their game on the lunchtime desserts, particularly the funfetti cake! 😋

[Avalon35]

6 hours ago, bguppies said:

 

 

That being said we will be going on the Pride again this December, with majorly lowered expectations.

The excellence of the design of the Spirit class ships, makes the lowered experience on Carnival more tolerable. (We definitely won't be doing the Sunshine again for sure)

Why would you not go on Sunshine again?

[staceyglow]

4 hours ago, pe4all said:

I have never starved on any CCL ship.  Have always found something I liked - even if I just made a salad for myself.

Anyone who says all the food on the ship is "inedible" is either grossly exaggerating or the world's pickiest eater.

 

Overall, think the food is good.  I would consider several of the items in the MDR (short ribs, brisket, soups, bitter and blanc, etc) to be great.

 

I would never let one or two anonymous opinions on a public website (especially negative ones, complainers like to complain) set my expectations. Tens of thousands of passengers board Carnival ships every week as repeat guests.  If the food was truly that bad, why would so many people choose to sail with them again?

Edited May 18, 2023 by staceyglow

[havanadaydreaming]

Food was fine.  MDR > buffet, and im a big fan of cruise buffets.  

 

I wear suit at work and loooove chillin casual at sea.  

[knagl]

We did two weeks on the Spirit this past December, and ate dinner in the MDR every night. Most of the items ranged from good to very good. There were a couple of misses, but overall I thought the food quality was decent.

 

As far as the rest of the options, the buffet was hit-or-miss (but it usually is) -- a few really good items, and a few that didn't look that appetizing. The omelette station for breakfast was always great. The deli had plenty of solid choices and the workers allowed some flexibility with minor modifications to the posted menu items (i.e. substituting the cheese used in a sandwich or adding bacon).

[AllgoodOnTheRoad]

Everyone should go take an MSC cruise before your Carnival Cruise like we did this year. MSC makes Carnival look so good. All the food will seem amazing after them. 

[paulco]

Thought the food was fine on Spirit last June. Love that they still use tablecloths in the MDR, was told it’s the only ship in the fleet to do so.

[bguppies]

On 5/18/2023 at 10:32 AM, Avalon35 said:

Why would you not go on Sunshine again?

She has turned into a scary rust bucket. I'm gonna guess zero routine maintenance was done during the shutdown and the rust and generally poor caretaking showed EVERYWHERE. (one of the main atrium elevators was broken the entire cruise and one of the crew said it had been for weeks)

 

Had a rustspot on the floor of our balcony that if anybody accidentally stepped on it, would probably break through. (lots of other rust all over the balcony walls and floor, that was just scary)

 

Looking down from our balcony, the pulleys, wheels and other equipment for the lifeboats were so rusty, I seriously doubt if any of the equipment functioned properly.

 

The toilet stalls thoughout the ship had mold and fungus growing in the corners of every public restroom I tried to use. (cabin restroom was fine though)

 

There was more issues but thats just a few off the top of my head that I recall.

It was mostly the extreme rust on the decks that I found so alarming.

[janm8144]

Food on Pride in January was all good. I’m always glad when someone cooks for me!

[jennas_mum]

We were on the Spirit last August and the Legend last week. Food was actually pretty good. When someone uses the word inedible, I totally discount their opinion. 

[RockHoundTX]

On 5/18/2023 at 10:25 AM, staceyglow said:

Anyone who says all the food on the ship is "inedible" is either grossly exaggerating or the world's pickiest eater.

 

Overall, think the food is good.  I would consider several of the items in the MDR (short ribs, brisket, soups, bitter and blanc, etc) to be great.

 

I would never let one or two anonymous opinions on a public website (especially negative ones, complainers like to complain) set my expectations. Tens of thousands of passengers board Carnival ships every week as repeat guests.  If the food was truly that bad, why would so many people choose to sail with them again?

Not necessarily the case. I was on the Vista 2 years ago where "inedible" truly applied. About half the people on the roll-call came down with food poisoning at some point in the trip (including myself). Anything that was deep fried was literally dripping with oil. We picked up a tampura shrimp and had a game of watching how many times it dripped oil (I think we gave up at about 10 or so). It was the first time I every saw my wife spit something out after taking a bite (and she did this with multiple items). I remember one of the dishes still being frozen in the center. We gave up on sending things back since the staff were already frazled. Un-eaten/half-eaten food was piled up in the MDR like I have never seen before in 30+ cruises (and hope to never see in the future).  

 

Was everything inedible? No. The pizza was good, Guy's Burger and the Iguana Bar were great, as well as the sandwich area was still good (but sometimes had to have them cook things twice since the meat was still cold in the middle). We went to the MDR every day just to see what they had and would try several dishes to see what was OK. We then went to the sandwich area for our "main dinner". First time I ever lost weight going on a cruise. So why was this particular cruise so bad? It was a combination of supply chain and half the kitchen staff being in quarantine.

 

We have been on the Vista twice since then (already had them booked at the time of the "bad food" trip). On one Vista cruise the food was actually pretty decent and on the other it was decidedly "below average" (lower quality, missing ingredients, etc.) but we did not find anything "inedible" like the one trip.

 

Just pointing out that when folks post that some of the food was "inedible" it is unwise to just dismiss them. Now if they said everything was "inedible" then likely being a little over-dramatic but it still represents a bad cruising experience. Food (particularly eating things we normally don't eat at home) is a big part of the cruising experience for my wife and myself. The down-trend in food quailty is one of the main reasons we only have 1 cruise booked this year instead of our normal 5-7 cruises (combined with the increase in pricing).   

[CruiseHealing]

We were on the Spirit on May 2nd.  The food was a strong C minus or a D plus. We ate at the Steak House (Nouveau Restaurant) and was hugely disappointing.  We ordered our steaks to be medium, but both were rare almost mooing.  Tried to get the waitress or staff to help fix the problem, but they were too busy flirting with a ships officer and his friends.  We will never eat in that restaurant (on any Carnival ship) again. 

[Italy52]

On 5/17/2023 at 7:51 PM, luvs2beachit said:

Just got off the Spirit last week from an Alaska cruise.  For me it was the perfect  cruise.  All staff encountered were outstanding.  Everyone of the staff was friendly, helpful and took time to chat for a few minutes.  The ship is a perfect size.  Not too big and not too small.  Rarely did I encounter lines with more than a few people.  Regarding the food I found it to be good to very good.  I did  encounter a few items that I didn't like so I just ordered something else.  I did really like most of the fish dishes and thought the Beef Wellington was outstanding! I thought the Italian food was just ok but then I live in an area where great Italian food is standard so my opinion is slanted!

I loved the Spirit and would book her again in a heartbeat!

We are going on the Spirit to Alaska next year -- thanks for your post.  Is it possible you could answer a few questions for me about the cruise --- in particular, I was wondering if Carnival offered any excursions in ports since it is early season.  Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.

[slo mo]

On 5/17/2023 at 7:55 PM, William142 said:

Well they are both spirit class ships and both alaska cruises, so I would think there would be some overlap on the food. Also two posters both are saying the same thing.

 

Let me clarify. Has anyone been on miracle or spirit lately and care to comment about the food?

Myself and family were on the spirit in March.The prime rib,and filet steak were awful, They came out done as ordered,but the quality of the meat was terrible.We have travelled on Carnival for many years and this was just the worst.I don't expect the filet to be steakhouse quality,but in the past they were fine.Their pasta dishes were the best thing on the menu.While I enjoy pasta I didn''t want to eat

it all week.Went to the steakhouse,and of course the quality of the filet was good.We did b2b so the food was a problem for us.It really is making us rethink are 2024 cruise.

[jamscckmc]

On the Spirit last month. Ate dinner in the MDR every night but one on a 8 night cruise. We had MTD and always got a table within 15 minutes. The food at dinner was always hot and mostly good especially the beef dishes. Guys burgers were just as good as always however as mentioned before the fries are now frozen. The pizza was good. Ate seaday brunch all 3 sea days. It was very good but service was slow. The buffet was good at breakfast and lunch but seriously lacking at dinner. Did not do any specialty restaurants. First cruise since Covid and didn’t feel the quality had changed. You might miss the the variety of specialty restaurants that the newer ships have.

[EngIceDave]

Just finished 22 days on Luminosa, a hybrid Spirit class ship.

 

"Inedible" is very subjective. Stuff I didn't care for, sure, but it was all edible and many enjoyed things I did not. Lasagna comes to mind for me, I do not care for Carnival's version, the bechamel is too thin and odd. Others loved it.

 

It's like arguing Carrabba's vs Applebee's.

 

Best food is the pizza. Was same on Celebration back in Feb as well. The pizza is the hottest, freshest thing you can get, made right before your eyes.

 

Buffet was fine, nothing special, not even the Aussie bacon was special.

MDR is subjective

Deli was ok, nothing "fresh," special or made to order.

[WhiteOptima]

This topic has had me thinking since we came back from our Celebration cruises where there are many choices.  We did Pride for 14 days and it was “fine”.  We were with friends who eat in MDR every night but we did maybe 3 times.  Lunch for me is usually salads and I like the soup options.   Now have Spirit booked for 14 days Alaska in 2024 and thinking about switching to Norwegian Jewel.  But then again the Spirit cruise is port intensive and can eat off the ship so don’t want to make food options my deciding factor 🤷🏻‍♀️