Cruise experiences?

I'll be taking a 7 day cruise in February - probably on Princess, though that is not set in stone yet - and am concerned about the food. Though people I know who have been on these cruises swear up and down that the food is "excellent," I am concerned that on a ship that is serving 2000 people, the food will be as middle-of-the-road as possible, uninteresting, mediocre, impressive only to those who rarely stray from the Outback/Fridays/Red Lobster genre of chain restaurant.

Does anyone have any experience, on any cruise line, that they would like to share?

I have sailed 3 times on ships of the Costa line, an Italian line now owned, I think, by a US company. I stuck mainly with Italian food, but there was a wide assortment of other fare, most very edible at dinner, but nothing memorable. Breakfasts, lunches, and snacks they put out between meals were usually pretty bad.

The Costa ships had a small "premium" restaurant (reservations required, extra charge for dining there). On the first Costa cruise which was a family reunion, we celebrated my wife's birthday in the premium spot. The chef and staff bent over backwards in every way to produce a first class meal - everyone in the family still talks about that feast. On the second cruise, we tried the same thing and it was terrible.

Costa is not one of the top lines, so I'm sure other lines have better food.

Bill/SFNM

Hi

I have been on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, my parents have been on these and also on Princess.

The best way to think of it is "upscale banquet." It's fine, and some of it can be quite good (especially at the specialty restaurants, all of which charge a nominal fee). But mostly it is fairly ordinary stuff.

Lee

HI,

Since I haven't been on a cruise, I certainly cannot address the food aspect. Though I knew of a woman who lost 20 pounds in advance so she could eat like a pig. None of her clothes fit when she departed the boat, she wore her husband's sweat pants home.

There is only one cruise itinerary that has sparked my interest. A friend took a transition cruise, which is when the ship is traveling to another market region, from Europe to Hong Kong. This was a 3-4 week trip with multiple port stops as well as a few days of traveling the high seas. She paid less than $4000 for this trip including airfare about 10 years ago.

While she paid for the cruise's package to see the pyramids. She would often forgo the package side tours and with a little studying ahead of time, would hire a taxi for her private excursion. She indicated there were taxi's at every port willing to play tourist guide at a greatly reduced fee.

Enjoy your trip and report back on the food.

Regards,

IMO, the upscale cruise lines have good food and wine selections. I've been on Holland America and the meals were great. I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

I have taken two cruises one on Princess and the other NCL. I would say that the food on both was average with Princess being the better of the two. There is a lot of food with 24 hour buffets, room services, and cafes/snack counters everywhere.

The food at the specialty restaurants is usually worth the extra fees. They tend to have more upscale choices along with better wine and service. But be sure to book the tables at the specialty restaurants early. We ended up at the buffet several nights becuase we could not get into the other restaurants. We were able to enjoy some nice local restaurants when we were in port and it was a nice break from the ship's food.

I sailed Princess for an Alaskan cruise and NCL for Hawaii.

Beth

Radisson Seven Seas and Seabourne regularly are rated among the best cruise lines for dining year in and year out.

Radisson/Seabourne are definitely in a different class, much smaller ships, and a level of luxury that none of the "mega-ships" reach. The boyfriend is concerned that if we did one of those cruises that others around our age (mid-20s) would be "priced out" and we would be the only younger people there. Which is not such a big deal to me, but I sort of see his point. The whole cruise vacation in general sort of goes against the way that I prefer to travel - but, our last vacation (a very hands-on, do-it-yourself trip to Trinidad & Tobago) was my choice.

Anyway, we're now almost set to sail on the Celebrity Century. Apparently their menus are designed by Michel Roux, for whatever that is worth. I will definitely report back. But in the mean time, please continue to share your experiences!

You might be interested in getting a tour of the galley, especially during dinner service. When I asked, I was told that passengers were not allowed there, but a $20 bill slipped to the restaurant captain did the trick . The only proviso was that I couldn't take pictures.

I have been in many restaurant kitchens, but nothing prepared me for the scope of one to serve 1200+ per seating. It was very quiet with what looked like at least 50 cooks smoothly and calmly preparing gobs of food with skilled and practiced hands.

Very impressive.

Bill/SFNM

Bill,

A few years ago, I did a video project for Royal Caribbean when they launched the first of their mega "of the Sea" vessels. The project was called Academy of the Sea and it gave guests a chance to see behind the scenes of the ship(s). There were several choices of "curricula", one of which was working in the kitchen. I never got a chance to take one of those cruises, and I don't know if they still offer the Academy of the Sea program, but if I were to take a Royal Caribbean cruise, I would definitely be looking into that program.

Ms.Paris wrote:Anyway, we're now almost set to sail on the Celebrity Century. Apparently their menus are designed by Michel Roux, for whatever that is worth. I will definitely report back. But in the mean time, please continue to share your experiences!

Celebrity used to be known for having GREAT food. It is no longer great, but it is fine. I think it is a notch above Royal Caribbean, though they are owned by the same company. If there is a specialty restaurant on Century you should go to it - that will be a very old fashioned dining experience, they try to make it like cruises used to be. My parents like Celebrity better than Princess over all.

My first (and last) experience on a cruise ship was the old Costa Riviera to Alaska about 10 years ago. This was before the Costa line decided that they had better update their ships and their dining options.

The food was not bad - there was always a number of entree and food selection - but it was not as good as home. Very ordinary. For a cruise line that claimed it was "cruising Italian-style" the pasta was not as good as I could get everyday in St. Louis.

My only advice is that you scour the internet and look at reviews from REAL people. Most of the various books about cruising seldom, if ever, have a negative word about any of teh major lines. You have to do the research as to what cruiseline will meet your needs.

We've pretty much settled on Holland America for cruising, for reasons that pretty much have to do with food. Lox and bagels on the breakfast buffet -- most other lines only offer lox for dining room or room service breakfast. No charge for espresso drinks at their "Java Cafe" coffee bar (unless they've changed this policy), popcorn at the theater, and other treats that other lines nickel and dime you on. Decent fresh fruit in your stateroom. And because the crew is mostly Indonesian, they always have entrees with some heat to them in the Lido and on the dinner menu. No, none of the food is terrific, "upscale buffet" is a good descriptor, but keep in mind you're always free to order two entrees, extra appetizers, etc. -- not because of gluttony, but because food can be hit or miss and if you don't like what you're served, they'll gladly bring you something else, or let you make a meal out of the appetizers if nothing strikes your fancy of the plated entrees.
>>Brent

I went on a Princess cruise of Scandanavia and Russia in 1989, when I was but a teenager. What I remember most was the bread pudding with creme anglaise that was always around. Because this was back in my fish allergy days, there was a lot I couldn't eat on the trip (particularly off the ship), so I basically lived on bread pudding, and lost ten pounds in two weeks.

I have just returned from a Cruise on Costa's parent line - Carnival. Along with most of my postings here in recent months, there is a great one in my head, tentatively titled "Dining my way through the seven decks of hell," but I am not sure it will ever see the light of day.

I will not steal my own thunder by sharing much of that post now, but will share a couple of details that could apply to this thread.

d's cruise FAQ's

- Would I ever cruise on Carnival again? No. Not that it was terrible, but it was not exciting, either.
- What did you think of the food? There was a lot of it, and I really need to work on self-control when faced with unlimited and easily available, but profoundly mediocre, food. Avoid buffets, but then I feel that way when not on a cruise, too.
- Why did you choose Carnival? Because it seemed likely to offer the 18 & 20 year olds the most options for entertainment and company. Most other cruise lines seem to skew older, demographically speaking.
- How did you go about selecting the cruise you selected? Lots of Internet research. I liked this web site: http://www.cruisecritic.com/index.cfm
- Would I ever go on a cruise again? Yes. I would choose a small ship from a more upscale line. The reasons are many, but one is definitely that it is easier to make a good meal for 200 people than 2000. You also get into this whole question about whether a meal that will please my passengers would please me. My feeling is that Carnival hit their mark and pleased their audience mightily, but left me cold.
- What was the high point of your cruise? It is always nice to visit Mexico again, even if visiting a place while on a cruise is not a very good way to visit it. Still, the Beach south of the port at Costa Maya was good. But we really loved Belize - it seemed very cool and we all want to go back. The Cayman Islands, on the other hand, was way too American and upscale for my tastes.

Hope this is of use and would happily answer any other questions. Our cruise really was not bad, everyone enjoyed themselves, and it was not a bad deal for a weeklong vacation for four. But I aim for more than not bad.

I took a cruise on Princess through the Eastern Caribbean over the holidays (also owned by Carnival, the 800 lb. gorilla of the industry).

General impressions:

Food was pretty good at the sit-down dining rooms, but not especially adventurous. Think the fine dining restaurant at a reasonably nice hotel in, say, Wichita or Syracuse. Not adventurous, but nicely presented, and harder-to-time items like seafood were well prepared, not oovercooked. (Not sure how they do it for 2,000 people x 3 meals/day + 1,000 crew members.) Definitely not banquet/rubber chicken stuff. Wine prices weren't bad, with a number of decent bottles in the $20+ - $30+ range. Waitstaff was uneven, but generally good - better if you sit at the same table and get to know the servers.

The surcharge restaurants were good. The Italian restaurant ($25 pp extra) had a nice Northern Italian 8 - 12 course tasting menu. Not overly conservative; it included a pulpo course.

The grills, pizzerias etc. were similar to what you'd get at a marginally competent independent hot dog/hamburger stand or pizzeria.

Buffets were better than similar operations I've had at all-inclusives on land, and reasonable only if you need an extra food fix at 3:30 am. Otherwise rely on the sit down dining rooms for your 3 a day.

Princess' materials will tell you you're limited to bringing aboard one bottle of wine, booze etc. They don't tell you that they only check your carryon luggage, not your checked stuff. We "smuggled" aboard 5 other bottles of wine in suitcases.

There's a $15 corkage fee if you bring your own wine to a restaurant - not bad if you want to bring something good. Obviously, no corkage fee if you have a cocktail party in your stateroom before or after dinner.

If you shop the duty-free liquor stores at a port of call, your carryon wll be inspected as you re-board the ship. They'll confiscate any hard liquor (you get it back at the end of the trip) but you can take a bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer per person back to your stateroom from each stop. If they're busy as you re-board, and you're feeling surreptitious, you may be able to "happen" to miss the liquor inspection table (at your own risk, of course ... but it happened ... my brother, afterwards: "but nobody told me to go over to that table ...")

Entertainment, lectures and demonstrations were uneven; mostly worth skipping.

Of course, all this applies only to the Princess cruise I was on; YMMV.

I'm also going on a cruise in February. More than the food, I'm concerned about those crazy stomach viruses I always read about. Any tips what food to avoid?

On my cruise, they were heavily into hand-washing; you could hardly walk into any eating place without getting a squirt of some sort of alcohol-based cleaner to rub into your hands. Their literature said that, like the cold virus, the germ that causes the stomach problem is transmitted via the hands. At any rate, I got the impression that the cruise line was much more concerned about the spreading of germs than most passengers were.

fela wrote:I'm also going on a cruise in February. More than the food, I'm concerned about those crazy stomach viruses I always read about. Any tips what food to avoid?

Don't worry about avoiding the food, its not the problem. Lack of handwashing is. Wash your hands regularly and don't touch your mouth after touching door knobs, handrails, casino chips, etc.

We're cruising for the first time ever in September on Crystal. They are always the highest rated by Travel & Leisure, especially for food. Anybody out there with experience on this line.

I had a very interesting food experience on my last cruise. My wife and I took a Princess cruise with both of our parents (we are all Indian.)

We requested Indian food be served once we arrived on the ship (with no advance warning or planning.) Apparently, there are many Indians who work as staff on the ship and there was not problem with the request.

For the rest of the 7 day trip, every night at dinner, we were served some very good Indian cuisine that I have eaten. Everynight was something different and it was mostly vegetarian. By the end of the week, my wife and I had stopped ordering off the menu and were just eating the Indian food with my parents.

Surprinsing, but I thought it was great that even cruises can have "secret menus."

The rest of the food was passable.

RevrendAndy wrote:We're cruising for the first time ever in September on Crystal. They are always the highest rated by Travel & Leisure, especially for food. Anybody out there with experience on this line.

I haven't cruised Crystal, but here's a link to the site that I used to research our first cruise Cruise Critic. Mary and I chose Holland America.

Where are you cruising and for how long?

Bruce wrote:Where are you cruising and for how long?

It's 12 nights and we start in Venice, then Dubrovnik, Corfu,Mykonos,Istanbul, Kusadasi(Ephesus), Santorini, and end up in Athens. There's 2 premier restaurants on the ship-Chinese/Japanese by Nobu and Italian by Valentino from Santa Monica and Vegas.

RevrendAndy wrote:

Bruce wrote:Where are you cruising and for how long?

It's 12 nights and we start in Venice, then Dubrovnik, Corfu,Mykonos,Istanbul, Kusadasi(Ephesus), Santorini, and end up in Athens. There's 2 premier restaurants on the ship-Chinese/Japanese by Nobu and Italian by Valentino from Santa Monica and Vegas.

I hope you get to get away from the boat and try the food from thoses wonderful cultures!

RevrendAndy wrote:

Bruce wrote:Where are you cruising and for how long?

It's 12 nights and we start in Venice, then Dubrovnik, Corfu,Mykonos,Istanbul, Kusadasi(Ephesus), Santorini, and end up in Athens. There's 2 premier restaurants on the ship-Chinese/Japanese by Nobu and Italian by Valentino from Santa Monica and Vegas.

Looks like a great cruise. The Cruise Critic boards do have a discussion about food. I've not looked at it much though. My limited experience and reading about the food on cruise lines is that the higher end lines have better food and wine selections. Crystal is definitely in that category. We enjoyed the meals we had on Holland America, but that was 4 years ago. The biggest benefit is that if there is something you really like they will bring you as much as you want. From what I recall many ships do have great wine selections.

The problem much of the time is that you get off the ship, have great local food for lunch, then have to be back on the ship by 5 pm. So unless the ship food is great (which Crystal's may be) it's not as much fun.

Of course, now (unexpectedly) it turns out that we'll be going on a similar cruise to the Rev's later in the fall on Celebrity. The main draw (other than a vacation with my mom) is that this one does two docked nights - one in Ephesus and one in Istanbul - and a stop in Egypt where we hope we'll be able to meet up with some cousins who live there - my husband hasn't seen them in years.

So we'll be able to compare (my guess is the food on Crystal will be better).