Can anyone comment on foods on Costa Magica ?

[nho9504]

The majority reviews I found were not happy about the foods.

 

I like Italian foods, but I am also concerned about the quality of foods, i.e. the freshness in particular. It seems Costa relies too much on frozen foods from the reviews I read.

 

Previous Costa cruisers' honest comments are truly appreciated.

[dawcruiser]

The majority reviews I found were not happy about the foods.

 

I like Italian foods, but I am also concerned about the quality of foods, i.e. the freshness in particular. It seems Costa relies too much on frozen foods from the reviews I read.

 

Previous Costa cruisers' honest comments are truly appreciated.

 

I am on the Magica at the end of this November. So I don't know what Magica food is like but I have been on Costa twice before. It has been 2 years ago but the food was alright then. It wasn't the best I ever had and it wasn't the worst either. I think it is true Italian not American/Italian and that is what disappoints so many Americans. I know some folks who think Olive Garden is great Italian food. It is good American/Italian but, in my opinnion, it is poor Italian food. I like Costa food. Pasta was good.

 

Costa is owned by Carnival so I would suggest if you like Carnival food you will like Costa food. Carnival won't let the food drive away paying customers.

 

Just my thoughts,

 

Don

[packercruising]

I am wondering what reviews you have read as there are a lot of positive reviews about the food. It's good and there's lot's of it! Soft serve ice cream machines are all over the place. The buffet serves the same menu as the dining room and if you want something that isn't on the menu, just ask.

[PeterO]

We sailed on the Mediterrenea last January and found the food to be excellent. It leans more to true Italian as opposed to American/Italian.

We are back on Costa this January - Magica- and one of the reasons is the food.

My least favourte cruise line (as far as food and staff goes) was RCL

[joetrizeo]

The majority reviews I found were not happy about the foods.

 

I like Italian foods, but I am also concerned about the quality of foods, i.e. the freshness in particular. It seems Costa relies too much on frozen foods from the reviews I read.

 

Previous Costa cruisers' honest comments are truly appreciated.

 

it's a cruise ship, most everything is frozen even fish.

 

the food is great. some of the best i've had in my life. it's authentic italian food. not like olive garden or any other americanized italian restraunt. a lot of the nay-sayers about costa's food have never had real italian food and are not use to that type of food. they are more use to the sterotypical italian food or even american fair food on a cruise. they also tend to not be open to trying new things. this is ok, it's their vacation and if they're unhappy about something they didn't like they have the right to complain but remember food is subjective. so just kuz one person says it's terrible (or good) doesnt mean you will find it so.

 

you can't please everybody all the time but there is a much higher majority of cruisers that like costa's food than don't.

[nho9504]

It is the quality of the food that seems to be lacking on Costa from the member reviews on cruisecritic. Most reviewers were disappointed not because they expected Olive Garden type Italian foods, they were disappointed because in general the foods were "bland" "lack of taste" "not fresh" "tasted very institutional"....

 

How come there are so few reviews when comparing to other ships/lines? I was very disappointed to see so little member reviews available and most are negative...

 

While all cruiseships rely on frozen food ingredients to certain degree, by and large, most still use lots of fresh ingredients and have tasty meals. I just hope the Costa cruisers can give me more inputs than the usual "authenic Italian food" argument. If the only good thing about the foods is pasta, then I may have to re-consider whether to sail her in Dec (Magica seems to be the only ship that would let us get off and get back on Caribbean Princess the same day, instead of going home). Besides, who cares about self-served soft icecream everywhere? One can get even the most gourmet icecream for $5 a pint at home... Princess serves all sorts of gourmet icecream at each meal at the dining room, and late afternoon at the Horizon Court ... Ditto Celebrity.... Never understand why icecream is so important when cruising? (people complain about having to pay, etc etc)

 

As for the Carnival food comment:

 

Carnival keeps each brand separately managed and determined to keep it that way - a Holland America ship is very different from a Princess ship or a Carnival ship or a Costa ship or Windstar, or Queen Mary...

[joetrizeo]

again, what these reviewers are perceiving as 'bland' and 'not fresh' is their way of explaining authentic italian food. real italians do not overload their food with taste enhancing additives. We do not use a lot of salt, sugar, spices, or contrary to popular belief, overload our food with tons of cheese

 

to me the quality was excellent. the meats were tender and everything tasted fresh.

 

some of the food i thought was excellent included...

 

Gnocchi ala gorgonzola - perfect size and texture gnocchi with a true gorgonzola sauce that was so rich in flavor i had to order a second one.

 

escargot - hands down the best i've ever had. it did not taste fishy one bit. the escargot was very tender and not chewy like at most places. the garlic butter sauce NOT overbearing.

 

prime rib - an easy dish not to hard to mess up but it tasted just as any other prime rib i've had in any steak house in texas.

 

salads - were fresh and leafy. perfect with a little bit of oil and vinegar

 

fresh mozzerella and tomato basil salads - served almost every day at the buffet, i always got a plate full. the mozzerella was fresh and the tomatos did NOT taste like green house tomatos.

 

Pizza was always hot and fresh. thin, not overloaded with toppings (again, thick loaded pizza is an american adaptation, thats ok i like it too).

 

pasta was by far the best. always cooked to perfection. if you're not use to 'al denta' you will think it is undercooked. but this is the italian way.

 

i too was very worried about the food having read peoples opinions. but after the first night i could not understand them. and chalked it up to cultural differences.

 

hope that helps

[nho9504]

Good to hear some examples.

 

I looked up the menu images you have - it seems Costa does not have as many choices per course as other lines - and chicken consomme is a stable soup item, as well as lentils and beans.

 

At least I see there is Osso Bucco, but I haven't found rissotto yet...

 

I like my pasta al dente too.

[snipboy]

I have cruised RCCL and HAL in addition to Costa. We are all set to get on Costa again in a few weeks. Food is important to us...

 

RCCL was our first cruise experience. At first we were amazed by the selection. But that quickly dimmed by an overall lack of "taste" in our opinion. Yes, they have a much larger dessert selection than Costa, but the taste was often disappointing.

 

HAL was cruise number two. We had high hopes with HAL judging from other cruisers we were expecting food and service to be just slightly a step below reports of Celebrity Cruises. We were spoiled our first night. We ate at the Pinnacle Grill/Steakhouse. I had read that you could reserve seats the first night of the cruise for 10 dollars each, so I jumped on it. And the food was outstanding. I live in Chicago and I know what great steakhouses are meant to be. Prime beef, cooked to perfection. This was it. . . Then we headed to the buffett and the main dinning room. What a terrible disappointment. The buffet constantly let us down. They couldn't even get gravlocks right. Service stank. Initially friendly, it died quite quickly. Lines were long and they had some bizarre selections that seemingly were never touched. The main dinning room was only marginally better. At least you could get a New York Strip every night, if you wanted to. My wife was poked fun at because that's exactly what she did nearly every night of the cruise. I'd say it was the quality of a Lonestar or Outback grill. OK for a last minute dinner selection, but not for a special occassion. I guess that is OK. We aren't complaining about it, necessarily.

 

Then there was Costa... We read the reviews. A lot of conflicting reviews. It seemed you either hated it or you loved it. Overall, it seems most people agree that the desserts are very uninspired and unexciting. It was odd for me to see an Italian cruise line not offer more Italian pastry and gelato (at all). The Tiramisu was only OK. However, the Rhum Baba was outstanding. I can't wait to have it again. Everything else for us, however, was very good. Did we love it? Yes. We are in the "lover's camp." The pastas were simply impeccable. You could either get Americanized pastas in the buffet line, or you could get Italian pastas in the special pasta stations. They were all good and true to their origins. The meats, fishes and fowl were all delicious and cooked well. Did they have an Italian slant? Maybe. I am not entirely sure. My main disappointment was that there wasn't more beef on the menu. Ate a lot of chicken and fish. Side dishes were done well and very good. Antipasti were fantastic and genuine. The pizzas were Napoli style and very good. Yes, not Chicago or New York Style. My wife who is a very picky eater, and whom I was deeply concerned about after reading initial reviews, exclaimed Costa was the cruiseline of our future. Hence...our second cruise. Not only did we enjoy the taste of the food, but the availability of it was outstanding. You could get a pizza until 2 AM. Breakfasts were great. They are pretty similar across the lines, but consistently good every day on Costa. Costa is the only cruiseline that still does a midnight buffet every night of the cruise. And this isn't some token appetizers or canapes. This is a real buffet. I am not sure why the stopped it on the other lines. Ours was well attended. Big highlights for us was the galley buffet and the Toga Night buffet. The food was great and the experiences great, great fun. They had a special dessert night too in the main atrium. I am not a dessert person and was not overly impressed, but my wife was. I thought the community spectacle of it was well organized and fun.

 

I've written a lot here and I know it's very subjective. My tendency in life is towards organization. I am a project manager by trade. When things are not organized and standardized, I can feel it in my bones. My sense on Costa versus the other two lines is that they were well organized and highly standardized. I will be very surprised if our experience on the Magica will be different.

snip

[packercruising]

I guess I would like to know who's reviews you are reading that you came to the conclusion that the quality of the food on Magica isn't very good. It certainly wasn't one of my posts or Joe's. Most of the poeple that posted that sailed last Feb/March seemed to like to food quite well. Obviously there was some debate, which is why you go yourself and draw your own conclusions.

 

Joe shouldn't you be sittin on the dock of the bay wasting time?

[joetrizeo]

It was odd for me to see an Italian cruise line not offer more Italian pastry and gelato (at all).

The Tiramisu was only OK.

 

i'll agree, i was looking for more traditional desserts as well

the tiramisu was good but REALLY espresso-y and i don't like coffee.

 

I've written a lot here and I know it's very subjective. My tendency in life is towards organization. I am a project manager by trade. When things are not organized and standardized, I can feel it in my bones.

 

wow, the world must be a very irritating place for you! i feel your pain.

:)

 

 

all this talk about costa's food compared to others has me wondering why i booked carnival! but i know the food will be good as well. heck if i'm not cookin it, it's already good!

[kchesneylover]

Well, I can tell you what I thought.

 

I still dream of their Olive Oil. I have YET to find anything similar in the stores. I could drink that stuff right out of the bottle. I guess it helps that Costa got its start transporting the stuff!!

 

Their tea time was to die for. All different kinds of teas in those long tea bags and delicious desserts. Carnival had the kind of tea you find in the grocery store. Blah.

 

Their olives and cheeses were delicious.

 

Their smoked salmon at breakfast was so good.

 

Their steaks cut like butter.

[itsmlf]

I enjoyed the salads so much...the olives and the cheese and the italian ham......fabulous. I have not one complaint about the food and ive traveled in Europe and over 20 cruises. I cant imagine anyone not liking it. Europeans dont eat as many desserts as we do that might have something to do with the abundance of desserts. Have fun.....the food was great