Just off the Epic, boy has the food gone downhill!

[ready2cruzagain]

2 hours ago, Laszlo said:

If you are looking for the best food you need to sail Oceania

Not looking for the best, just looking for decent food that is edible

[ready2cruzagain]

43 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Ready - hope MSC works for you.  We sailed YC eight times and would say except for last food was pretty good.  October we sailed 11 nights and walked out of YC restaurant twice and skipped it another couple.  My go to filet was rubber on six of eight I tried.

 

Hola's was good as was BC.  Buffet was o.k. but they ran out of some stuff like lettuce.

Yes, MSC does, we have sailed 14 cruises on MSC.

[schmoopie17]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

Already know the wings at O'sheehan suck these days. It used to be one of our favorite spots to go for a simple quick bar type meal. Will probably give them one more try and ask for the wings to be crispy and see what we get.

Crispy with sauce on the side...from what others have reported. I'll find out in a couple weeks.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Not looking for the best, just looking for decent food that is edible

First off, I'm a little jealous: 3 weeks on the Epic. Wow, that's awesome. Now on to the food. I am so sorry you had a disappointing experience. We sailed on the Epic in Dec 2022 and the food was exceptional. I was particularly delighted with Moderno, Le Bistro and Teppanyaki. La Cucina and Cagney's were good, too. We also ate at the included Asian place twice and loved it! I thought the portions were fine. I wonder sometimes if the amount of food waste causes the cruise lines to cut back on the portions. But again, so sorry the food wasn't up to scratch. Like you said, food taste is subjective. Perhaps after nearly 60 cruises, your standards have evolved? (Nothing wrong with that, BTW-mine have, too.) I REALLY loved the burgers and the fish 'n chips at O'Sheehan's. The wings were decent. Not the best in the world, but certain edible. Good luck on your next trip, wherever it may be!

[breetai3]

I agree, just did the Getaway in December and it was our first time back since the pandemic and the food quality was in stark contrast to what we were eating pre-pandemic.  Food price increases have definitely caused NCL to cut a lot of corners.  Le Bistro, always the highlight meal of our cruise, was a disaster this time.  I literally watched as every diner chuckled at the scallop presentation, the waiter pouring a carafe full of sauce onto 3 tiny scallops as if we were supposed to be impressed. I asked for rare duck  and was given medium, when I asked they said they were not allowed to serve below medium (even though they said nothing when I asked for rare and always had it that way previously). It was rubbery and awful. I think even just by giving away Speciality dining now to everyone it has allowed them to reduce quality since the incentive to pay more for high quality food has been removed.  The Main Dining room was just awful.  Weak choices every night and the quality was so bad.  Also just weird choices made especially with the desserts, a lot of gelatin thrown in things probably to cut costs but made them all taste horrible. Honestly the lunch food in the Garden Cafe was usually better than the sit down Main Dining Room dishes. I feel like NCL takes advantage of having the low paid labor that is working their butts off because it makes you feel bad to complain about cold, bad dishes being served because it's a lot of work to have them returned. Platinum cruiser definitely looking into alternatives now as food is an important part of our experience.

[FredZiffle]

4 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

We are looking at Oceania and Regent for our next cruise! 

Us too!  We have a transatlantic on Regent next January and one on Oceania in Nov. of 2025.

[FredZiffle]

22 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

We sailed on the Epic last month for 3 weeks. We both can't believe the decline in the food on the Epic. We usually gain at least 7 lbs each on a 3 week cruise, we both lost a couple of pounds.

 

On a positive note, the less you eat on the Epic, the less time you have to spend in the weird cabin bathroom.

[rebeccac]

Our first NCL sailing was in 2018 (our most recent in 2021) and I have never liked the included food.  For my tastes, it is too bland and not adventurous enough.  

[ready2cruzagain]

2 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

Our first NCL sailing was in 2018 (our most recent in 2021) and I have never liked the included food.  For my tastes, it is too bland and not adventurous enough.  

 

Well, it is really bland now. When asking the maitre 'd why, his response was that they do not add a lot of spices to the food anymore due to complaints from many people saying they do not like it. We must be a minority because I love spices and flavor in and on my food!

[UKstages]

properly seasoning food and making it spicy are two very different things.

 

a case could be made (not by me) for making sure food is not too spicy.

 

there is no excuse for not seasoning food.

 

of the one or two good MDR meals i had recently on the getaway, a standout was the chinese BBQ pork "stir fry" (at least they called it stir fry, but i'm sure it wasn't. it was delicious,. aggressively spiced, with all the right flavor profiles. 

[rebeccac]

While I do like spicy, I was more referring to flavor being bland.  I have a hard time imagining the food getting more bland.  The last NCL cruise we did, we only did specialty dining for dinner and I will be really sad if that has gone downhill as well.  

[LatinaInTexas]

Wow sorry to read this. Even though I have only sailed NCL once which was last May I was very impressed with the food in the MDR for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the same on MSC.

Your descriptions were closer to how I had been finding the food in the MDR on Carnival. It had gotten to the point that my last 2 cruises with them I only ate at specialty restaurants.

Will be interesting to see what I find on my upcoming cruise on the Encore 😮

[oteixeira]

6 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

I'll be hopping on Epic in ~2 weeks, so we shall see if this is a perception issue, just bad luck of the draw, the new norm, an exaggeration of reality, or somewhere in between.

Already know the wings at O'sheehan suck these days. It used to be one of our favorite spots to go for a simple quick bar type meal. Will probably give them one more try and ask for the wings to be crispy and see what we get.

So, the last time we sailed I told them I don't like the new wings, because I like them naked (no sauce) and they were still spicy.  I got lucky and the manager at that time was one of the Haven restaurant folks and came out and told me they marinate all day in some type of pepper sauce.  If you tell them you can't have that, they will (or did for me) go get fresh chicken wings and cook them.  They were the way I remember them when we loved them.  Of course, they took over 30 minutes to come.  LOL  

[ready2cruzagain]

43 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

While I do like spicy, I was more referring to flavor being bland.  I have a hard time imagining the food getting more bland.  The last NCL cruise we did, we only did specialty dining for dinner and I will be really sad if that has gone downhill as well.  

 

I was referring to bland also. I might have gotten my wording across wrong. There was basically no seasoning used. I even remember their breads having spices such as Rosemary. Thyme, etc, not this time. Our bread that we received in the MDR was plain rolls each night. I use a lot of seasonings, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano and these are not used anymore due to the dislike and complaints of customers according to the maitre 'd. I can understand not using spicy as in hot but why would they not use herbs!

[FLAHAM]

Took a Mediterranean cruise on the Viva in October.  Food was generally quite good.  Particularly liked Indulge—a nice new food venue.

[laudergayle]

2 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

I use a lot of seasonings, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano and these are not used anymore due to the dislike and complaints of customers according to the maitre 'd. I can understand not using spicy as in hot but why would they not use herbs!

Plain is cheaper.  They think we won’t notice…lol.  Wrong!

 

What’s funny…MSC has historically been known for bland lackluster food.  I feel like MSC food has become as good, if not better, than NCL.  Don’t know if MSC has gotten better or NCL is much worse.  Regardless, IMO they are equal.
 

NCL has absolutely ZERO differentiators vs any other midclass cruise line.  In this case, price, length and itinerary prevails.  Not a good positioning for any brand.

Edited February 13 by laudergayle

[Sailing12Away]

17 hours ago, oteixeira said:

So, the last time we sailed I told them I don't like the new wings, because I like them naked (no sauce) and they were still spicy.  I got lucky and the manager at that time was one of the Haven restaurant folks and came out and told me they marinate all day in some type of pepper sauce.  If you tell them you can't have that, they will (or did for me) go get fresh chicken wings and cook them.  They were the way I remember them when we loved them.  Of course, they took over 30 minutes to come.  LOL  

We'll have to try getting you guys naked wings along with a bunch of other munchies and have the wings as the 2nd course rather than a starter. So long as the pretzel rolls are still good I'm sure we'll be ok.

 

Looking forward to the Shanghai noodle bar thing again too. That will help break up the week with options if O'Sheehans is a miss. 

 

12 days to go.......

[dshefter]

23 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

First off, I'm a little jealous: 3 weeks on the Epic. Wow, that's awesome. Now on to the food. I am so sorry you had a disappointing experience. We sailed on the Epic in Dec 2022 and the food was exceptional. I was particularly delighted with Moderno, Le Bistro and Teppanyaki. La Cucina and Cagney's were good, too. We also ate at the included Asian place twice and loved it! I thought the portions were fine. I wonder sometimes if the amount of food waste causes the cruise lines to cut back on the portions. But again, so sorry the food wasn't up to scratch. Like you said, food taste is subjective. Perhaps after nearly 60 cruises, your standards have evolved? (Nothing wrong with that, BTW-mine have, too.) I REALLY loved the burgers and the fish 'n chips at O'Sheehan's. The wings were decent. Not the best in the world, but certain We edible. Good luck on your next trip, wherever it may be!

We sailed on the Epic in October 2022 (Barcelona to Rome) and the food was excellent. Only bad experience was LeBistro. Just came off the Viva and the food was outstanding. 

[david_sobe]

I am not rebuking the OP's opinion.  But 3 weeks on a cruise ship would make me tire of the same meals. One week you cant taste everything in all the restaurants.  But 3 weeks would definitely have you get to taste everything and the same menus would get tiring IMHO.

I watched a video of a couple that lives part time on a cruise ship.  One of their peeves is the same food choices day after day.  On the flip side perhaps being on board for 3 weeks lets you examine the food more closely?

[pezgirlroy77]

I will be on the Breakaway in two weeks and I am a bit worried about the food but then I remember that I will not have to cook for myself or others for a week so you know what I am fine with it. 🙂

[iguana64]

Just sailed on the Epic Feb 4 - Feb 11th.  I appreciate your review of the food you had on the Epic.  We ate at the Manhattan several nights and the NY strip was wonderful (cooked medium rare).   Le Bistro was very good.  My friend had the Coq au Vin and it was very good.  The salt and pepper calamari we had a Shanghai's was the best I've ever had.  My filet at Cagneys, again medium rare, was divine.  The sides and soups were hit or miss but overall the entree's were great.  Had burgers and wings, fish and chips as well as hot dogs at Sheehan's and all were good.  I've sailed Norwegian several times and agree the portions have gotten smaller but I appreciate that as I'd rather not overeat and I don't like to waste food.  Overall and great food experience and my friend who was on his first cruise was very pleased.

[cruiseny4life]

4 minutes ago, iguana64 said:

Just sailed on the Epic Feb 4 - Feb 11th.  I appreciate your review of the food you had on the Epic.  We ate at the Manhattan several nights and the NY strip was wonderful (cooked medium rare).   Le Bistro was very good.  My friend had the Coq au Vin and it was very good.  The salt and pepper calamari we had a Shanghai's was the best I've ever had.  My filet at Cagneys, again medium rare, was divine.  The sides and soups were hit or miss but overall the entree's were great.  Had burgers and wings, fish and chips as well as hot dogs at Sheehan's and all were good.  I've sailed Norwegian several times and agree the portions have gotten smaller but I appreciate that as I'd rather not overeat and I don't like to waste food.  Overall and great food experience and my friend who was on his first cruise was very pleased.

Smaller portions in the included in your fare restaurants are fine. Smaller portions, for larger prices (if ordering a la carte and not Free at Sea/Platinum meal) is not a good thing unless one likes to be robbed.

[iguana64]

Just sailed on the Epic Feb 4 - Feb 11th.  I appreciate your review of the food you had on the Epic.  We ate at the Manhattan several nights and the NY strip was wonderful (cooked medium rare).   Le Bistro was very good.  My friend had the Coq au Vin and it was very good.  The salt and pepper calamari we had a Shanghai's was the best I've ever had.  My filet at Cagneys, again medium rare, was divine.  The sides and soups were hit or miss but overall the entree's were great.  Had burgers and wings, fish and chips as well as hot dogs at Sheehan's and all were good.  I've sailed Norwegian several times and agree the portions have gotten smaller but I appreciate that as I'd rather not overeat and I don't like to waste food.  Overall and great food experience and my friend who was on his first cruise was very pleased.

[iguana64]

I agree.  That wasn't my experience at Cagney's or Le Bistro which were the two specialty restaurants we had dinners at.  

[zqvol]

8 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Smaller portions in the included in your fare restaurants are fine. Smaller portions, for larger prices (if ordering a la carte and not Free at Sea/Platinum meal) is not a good thing unless one likes to be robbed.

Then don’t go to the specialty restaurants.. problem solved, and that is one less thing to complain about.