Dining on W/B Magic - disappointing.

[Skallywag]

Just wonder if it is only us that were extemely disatisfied with the menu selection and preparation of food on this trip.

We found the meals supplied were either very dry and bland or over spiced.
The vegetables were never cooked and were always served raw and tasteless although we repeatedly asked for them to be cooked they never were. The menu every night was heavily biased towards shell fish and as a vegetarian there was little choice and mostly curry flavoured.

On our previous Disney cruises we have always thoroughly enjoyed the dining experience but not this time and eventually did not bother at all.

We are writing a letter to Disney as we do not want a repeat of this on our December cruise when we are being joined by our two daughters and families and know after their last cruise they will not be at all happy.

Would also like to add that we found Palo not much better

 

[Sully]

We were on the WB Magic this past May and had excellent meals including an outstanding meal at Palo's.

 

[aan1701]

I have to say that I do not share your opinion of the food on that cruise. I loved every dish I had and even ordered two sometimes even three of the same dish. I thought the food was great on that cruise.

 

[Happy99]

We actually enjoyed the food on the 15nt Eastbound much more then our previous Disney cruise in 2004. There was only one item I didn't care for but it was just because I didn't like the flavor of what it was prepared with. I do think they used polenta quite a bit and even though I like it I felt it was over used.

 

[Skallywag]

So glad that some managed to enjoy the food but all on our table were disappointed especially after the Med. Cruise last June.

Was told by some of the servers that they do not cook food to European standards but could not get more information on this.

Awaiting reply from Disney before deciding what to do about our December cruise.

Was always told we could ask for anything but it did not seem to work for us and definitely fell on deaf ears. We had first seating, perhaps this made a difference.

 

[aan1701]

We had first seating as well. I don't think that had anything to do with your bad experiance. I feal really sorry for you.

 

[A fat english gent]

We too had rubbish food,yes rubbish,compared to what we'd had on our previous 6 cruises with DCL,and it wasn't just us either our American friends didn't care much for the food either.......The cauliflower was like concrete and in the end our head server (who did a fine job) had to go in the back and cook the steaks himself....

PS....Palo was as IMHO as good as ever....

 

[Skallywag]

Thank you for replying and so glad we were not the only ones that found the food this time very bad compared with previous.

 

[tink too]

We were on WB in May, and had the earliest dining time available - 5.30pm - and we found the food to be great. I am a very picky eater and always found something that I liked. Before we sailed, I thought I'd be spending a lot of time either in Topsiders or at the fast food counter service place on deck 9, but to my surprise we only missed 2 restaurant dinners and that was due to the timing of shore excursions.

DD6 had no complaints either - Mac 'n' Cheese followed by Chocolate Pudding for 14 nights out of the 15!

 

[Skallywag]

So pleased you had good food on the W/B - we are definitely not picky eaters but found the choice of vegetables poor, raw carrots, raw brocolli and raw cauliflower and on one occasion asparagus (also raw) to be bad. Have looked back at the Menu's for our 2005 cruise and the difference is staggering.

 

[A fat english gent]

Not to mention the quality....

 

[minnieandmickey]

We too had rubbish food,yes rubbish,compared to what we'd had on our previous 6 cruises with DCL,and it wasn't just us either our American friends didn't care much for the food either.......The cauliflower was like concrete and in the end our head server (who did a fine job) had to go in the back and cook the steaks himself....

PS....Palo was as IMHO as good as ever....

This is one of the American's at AFEG's table and totally agrees with what he is saying. I didn't think there was much of an option unless you like steak or shell fish every night. We also went to Palo's and thought it was a nicer quiter dining room but food was just ok in my opinion. Brunch there however was lovely. I went on the 5 dayer that was following and had the EXACT same menu, my sister did not like the taste of their meat selections, I felt things were either very bland or over spiced. I understand it has to be difficult to do mass quantities of food, but when you order a steak medium and it comes to the table rare, they take it back and it is still mooing when it comes back. We had a gentleman at our table on the EB that had to wait at least 10 min for his steak to be correct. So by the 20th day on the ship I was ready for real food, Boma's was heaven on Saturday night.

 

[Tarabra]

I know this may be far fetched and doesn't account for steak not being done (I have a story about this), and veggies being undercooked, but I was just looking at the side effects for dramamine and other motion sickness meds. Here's one of them..."dryness of mouth, nose, and throat." Just wondered if some of the people that say the food is bland are taking any of these. I've always thought the food tasted great and I don't take the meds. It may also explain why sometimes the food "tastes so much better at the restaurants in the parks." People aren't taking the motion sickness meds then. It was just a thought.

As far as the steak not being cooked enough. We had a guy at our table one year and he wanted his steak "rare." They brought it out, nope, not rare enough. Brought out another one...still not rare enough. 2 steaks wasted. By the third steak, the chef came out to talk to him and said, "you need to ask for it "blue" (gross).

 

[minnieandmickey]

I know this may be far fetched and doesn't account for steak not being done (I have a story about this), and veggies being undercooked, but I was just looking at the side effects for dramamine and other motion sickness meds. Here's one of them..."dryness of mouth, nose, and throat." Just wondered if some of the people that say the food is bland are taking any of these. I've always thought the food tasted great and I don't take the meds. It may also explain why sometimes the food "tastes so much better at the restaurants in the parks." People aren't taking the motion sickness meds then. It was just a thought.

As far as the steak not being cooked enough. We had a guy at our table one year and he wanted his steak "rare." They brought it out, nope, not rare enough. Brought out another one...still not rare enough. 2 steaks wasted. By the third steak, the chef came out to talk to him and said, "you need to ask for it "blue" (gross).

Interesting about the meds, but I don't believe anyone at our table was on them. As for the blue steak, that is what the gentleman at our table received but had requested a medium steak I believe. AFEG's wife requested a steak that was medium or medium well, and recieved a rare. If this had been a one night thing I could understand the mistake but this was an almost nightly thing. Not sure what was going on. Our server and head server were great this cruise and always made sure everything was ok.

 

[Skallywag]

I know this may be far fetched and doesn't account for steak not being done (I have a story about this), and veggies being undercooked, but I was just looking at the side effects for dramamine and other motion sickness meds. Here's one of them..."dryness of mouth, nose, and throat." Just wondered if some of the people that say the food is bland are taking any of these. I've always thought the food tasted great and I don't take the meds. It may also explain why sometimes the food "tastes so much better at the restaurants in the parks." People aren't taking the motion sickness meds then. It was just a thought.

No medication taken or needed so that did not cause this. It was the food was just not served wth or in any sort of sauce or gravy just dry meat. Some sort of spice was added to vegetarian dishes which burnt the inside or your mouth and throat and have no idea what that was.

 

[tink too]

Just a question to the OP and A Fat English Gent - were you guys on the Repo in May or August?

AFEG - By looking at your cruise clock and your comments about being on the "5 dayer that followed", it seems that you were on the EB not the WB. because the WB was followed by a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise!

Maybe that's why we have such differences in opinion - maybe the food quality had went downhill since aan1701, Sully and I cruised on the WB in May.

 

[krisces]

IMHO, the food on the EB Repo was hit or miss. And unfortunately, there were alot of misses.....for a 15 night cruise. One night the steaks that came to the table were so bad that I couldn't cut it with a serrated steak knife!!! Shoe leather would have been easier to cut and eat. The our server was so embarrassed! We got replacements, but they were tough and had tons of veins etc...

Another night I order a salad that looked, smelled and tasted like it was out of a bag, and over the freshness date (it was brown on the edges)! We complained to the head server and his comment 20 min. later was that he went into the kitchen and they would fix it for the second seating. (well that didn't help me!), and he did not bring me a fresh salad!

On the other hand, one night we had lamb chops that were out of this world.

The desserts were very blah and in 15 nights, there wasn't a real stand out there either.

Topsiders was just gross - all the way around. Thank goodness for the paninis at Goofys!

Compared to our other DCL cruises, the food was OK. Perhaps it is a function of cutting costs, because of the rise in fuel. I don't know, but we were disappointed in the food.

However, I didn't take this cruise for the food! We loved the itinerary and loved the ship. The CM's were all excellent, and it was a fabulous trip - I recommend it to all!

 

[cmash95]

was on the WB in may and had a wonderful time and great meals. we did eat in topsiders one night for dinner and loved it there too. I think disney is used to 7 night cruises so it can be hard to make plans for cruises that are twice that and more in length. also when the magic left PC it was dealing with one distributor for it's foodstuffs It could be they were finishing up inventory from it's west coast distributor as well. That's the thing about repo cruises.

 

[Tarabra]

was on the WB in may and had a wonderful time and great meals. we did eat in topsiders one night for dinner and loved it there too. I think disney is used to 7 night cruises so it can be hard to make plans for cruises that are twice that and more in length. also when the magic left PC it was dealing with one distributor for it's foodstuffs It could be they were finishing up inventory from it's west coast distributor as well. That's the thing about repo cruises.

That's a good point. I'm always amazed at how the food stays fresh for just a week.

 

[Stepht5]

So pleased you had good food on the W/B - we are definitely not picky eaters but found the choice of vegetables poor, raw carrots, raw brocolli and raw cauliflower and on one occasion asparagus (also raw) to be bad. Have looked back at the Menu's for our 2005 cruise and the difference is staggering.

I'm sorry you had that experience! My veggies were always nicely steamed. And I ordered extra asparagus more then once.

I know this may be far fetched and doesn't account for steak not being done (I have a story about this), and veggies being undercooked, but I was just looking at the side effects for dramamine and other motion sickness meds. Here's one of them..."dryness of mouth, nose, and throat." Just wondered if some of the people that say the food is bland are taking any of these. I've always thought the food tasted great and I don't take the meds. It may also explain why sometimes the food "tastes so much better at the restaurants in the parks." People aren't taking the motion sickness meds then. It was just a thought.

As far as the steak not being cooked enough. We had a guy at our table one year and he wanted his steak "rare." They brought it out, nope, not rare enough. Brought out another one...still not rare enough. 2 steaks wasted. By the third steak, the chef came out to talk to him and said, "you need to ask for it "blue" (gross).

I know I can't be a good judge of taste when I am onthe ship -- I have to wear the patch. ANd it gives me really bad *dry mouth*. I drink water constantly and it is still dry on the cruise. I don't mind the not being able to really taste things as much as I mind the fact that I know it gives me bad breath! LOL! Which is why I also carry gum with me on the ship.