Food Disappointment BIG Time...

We had the most awful lukewarm burger on our first try on deck, so we thought it would be a safe bet to get the pizza which is cooked right there on the spot. *gong* Wrong. It was tiny, flavorless, and get this...they used a "butter spray" from an aerosol can (think spray paint) over the top as a "finish" on some of them. It passes for food just barely. After that I only went to Goofy's Galley for wraps and sandwiches (wraps were better, IMO) and fruit if we needed an "off schedule" meal. Hubby got the pizza a couple times more in desperation, since most every sandwich option at Goofy's has tomato on it (he might as well be allergic--any taste or smell of tomato can ruin a sandwich). *shrug*

Even my pizza loving 7-year old did not like the pizza on the Wonder last week. She ended up eating a lot of chicken fingers and hot dogs.

We had many of the same thoughts about the food on the Wonder last week. Bland, luke warm, etc... One of our table mates even had a dish one evening that she described as tasting like feet! She sent it back and got something else. I will say that our severs were great and even admitted towards the last night that they know the food is not the best in the cruise industry. If I'm not mistaken, I thought the comment cards had separate sections for food quality and service. I distinctly remember marking food quality down but service high since we had an incredible team.

Regardless of the food quality, we will cruise DCL again. With young kids, it really is the best cruise line in the industry and you can't beat the entertainment. DH and I have also cruised NCL and RCCL and of the two we would definitely cruise RCCL again, but probably not with the kids. The food quality was better than DCL in my mind, but we did note that the children's activities and programming were lacking.
 
The point is--at least according to the common perception here (and seemingly confirmed by the service staff on the ships)--the servers are 'marked down' if you don't give the food excellent ratings, despite the fact that there is a separate section for service.

Last time I gave the food the 2 of 5 stars that it deserved and wrote a comment clearly indicating that I wasn't blaming the servers (or even the people cooking the food, for the most part) for DCL's poor food product...I don't know what I'll do the next time.

As for the comment about astronomical expectations...no. I expect banquet food...but there is a difference between good mass produced food and bad mass produced food. It is possible to serve a decent T bone steak medium rare, even if you're making 300 of them. My expectations are a little higher for Remy, but I'm certainly not going in there expecting Per Se or Alinea.
 
you can have astronomical expectations for Remy. We have dined there 4 times (3 dinners, 1 lunch). There are never many diners in there, they keep the numbers low. It is never even half occupied, if that, from my observations and they don't turn a table over for another seating. The food does not come off mass produced by a long shot.
 
The point is--at least according to the common perception here (and seemingly confirmed by the service staff on the ships)--the servers are 'marked down' if you don't give the food excellent ratings, despite the fact that there is a separate section for service.

Last time I gave the food the 2 of 5 stars that it deserved and wrote a comment clearly indicating that I wasn't blaming the servers (or even the people cooking the food, for the most part) for DCL's poor food product...I don't know what I'll do the next time.

As for the comment about astronomical expectations...no. I expect banquet food...but there is a difference between good mass produced food and bad mass produced food. It is possible to serve a decent T bone steak medium rare, even if you're making 300 of them. My expectations are a little higher for Remy, but I'm certainly not going in there expecting Per Se or Alinea.

Is there a section on the comment card to add additional comments?
I would guess that the chef's cook or partially cook the food in advance, then the cooks warm them up again, and from the sounds of it their ability to do so without cremating them, or spoiling them is lacking?
It's not uncommon to precook or partially cook food when serving to many people, and even only having electric as a cooking source over gas, it should still be possible right?
I say get Gordon Ramsey in there to sort it out! (but I guess he isn't so "Disney" with his language!) :rotfl2::rotfl::lmao:
 


Is there a section on the comment card to add additional comments?
I would guess that the chef's cook or partially cook the food in advance, then the cooks warm them up again, and from the sounds of it their ability to do so without cremating them, or spoiling them is lacking?
It's not uncommon to precook or partially cook food when serving to many people, and even only having electric as a cooking source over gas, it should still be possible right?

There is a section for additional comments...but if memory serves it's about four lines long.

Overcooking and moisture content of meats is an issue, and probably one they could do something about with additional training.

But none of that would change the fact that management buys a lot of low quality frozen product--it's really a garbage in, garbage out kind of scenario.
 
you can have astronomical expectations for Remy. We have dined there 4 times (3 dinners, 1 lunch). There are never many diners in there, they keep the numbers low. It is never even half occupied, if that, from my observations and they don't turn a table over for another seating. The food does not come off mass produced by a long shot.

I'm sure it's not, but it's still not fresh, and there's no way that the kind of talent in the kitchen or the kind of presentations necessary to get even one Michelin star--much less two or three--are going to appear on a cruise ship.

The definition of astronomical expectations may differ from person to person, of course.
 
I work as a nurse so unless I bring my lunch I get cafeteria food. My hubby whom used to work for RCi has extreme standard. I am just thrilled when someone brigs food to me. I do like the buffets on the ship sometimes they have items that I do not like but there is always the fast food areas. Looking forward to going on the Dream very soon. The ice cream is very good.
 


The last time I was on DCL was back in 2000. The only thing I remember about the food was eating lunch at one of the sit down restaurants and ordering pasta with butter.

I was served pasta with butter, however it was cold (like from the fridge) so the server went to get me a new one. Returned with pasta with chili peppers (didn't even try that) and the server took it and returned with pasta and garlic butter. I managed to choke down a few bites, but was wondering how on earth can a cook not prepare pasta with butter. I so wanted to go down where I could see him making it and do it myself.

The dinners in the main dining rooms must have been good, I'm sure I would have remembered if they weren't.
 
Not a super big foodie but do enjoy decent food at times. The food always seemed pretty good to me- most of the time... except it was kinda lacking on Fantasy this summer, and the service was as well. I think maybe they are stretching themselves thin in a myriad of ways with the new ships. IDK :confused3 Stretching themselves thin with staff and so many people on the ships they are taking some shortcuts on food preparation and such? idk
 
We've done several Disney cruises and as a PP pointed out, the best move in the MDRs is to always select one of the server's recommendations, provided it is something you can eat, not allergic or an aversion to it. He knows what is good at any particular time, as not everything is, as you can see from this thread.

In an ideal situation, everything on the menu would be great, but it isn't. We've seen tablemates select chicken or fish or steak because they know they like chicken or fish or steak, but if it isn't one of the items the server recommends that night, it turns out to be a bad choice. We learned our lesson after our first cruise and have taken our server's advice ever since with good results. No, it isn't gourmet cuisine, but it's been good. It would be great if DCL could find a way to bring all their offerings up to par, but since they've been getting by as is, I don't see that happening.
 
I'm sure it's not, but it's still not fresh, and there's no way that the kind of talent in the kitchen or the kind of presentations necessary to get even one Michelin star--much less two or three--are going to appear on a cruise ship.

The definition of astronomical expectations may differ from person to person, of course.

How is it not "fresh?" Surely they don't have to freeze everything.
 
How is it not "fresh?" Surely they don't have to freeze everything.

I am confused by that, too. Not fresh meaning what? It is obviously prepared just before served and prepared to order particularly in Palo or Remy. Fresh foods come on the ship every time it returns to home port so perhaps more fresh at the beginning of the week than later? :confused3 Not sure what else you'd like them to do...grow their own lettuce on board? Bring on the cows?
 
We have cruised the Magic 2x and Wonder once, along with RCCL and Carnivale. None of them provided amazing food. People who think they are going to be wowed with the food are setting themselves up for dissapointment.

Regardless of whether you eat in the MDR or Buffet, its all mass produced food. Fine dining experiences are different, food is fired as the order comes in, cruiselines, food are produced in mass. Quality goes out the window.

With that said, we have no complaints from the last cruise we were on, steaks were cooked to the temp we asked, it was hot, it was not bad by any means. It was not great but not horrible.
 
How is it not "fresh?" Surely they don't have to freeze everything.

At the kind of restaurants I would score 9.5-10 on a ten point scale, the fish you were eating was in the water yesterday, if not sooner. Serving anything frozen would be unthinkable.

I guarantee you that the oysters, escargot, elk, etc. that were served on Disney's Alaska cruise were delivered frozen to the ship. And honestly, by the end of a seven day cruise the produce is not exactly farm to table either.

To some extent this is unavoidable...I was just pointing out that I have no expectation of any food on the ship being on par with the best food I have ever eaten...or even that close to it.
 
I am confused by that, too. Not fresh meaning what? It is obviously prepared just before served and prepared to order particularly in Palo or Remy. Fresh foods come on the ship every time it returns to home port so perhaps more fresh at the beginning of the week than later? :confused3 Not sure what else you'd like them to do...grow their own lettuce on board? Bring on the cows?

It's not shown on the blueprints, but there is a cattle hold near the bow. The problem was that cows get seasick, so they stopped using it.
 
DH and I got off the Dream after a 5 night cruise and we enjoyed dinner every day. The scallops I had at the Enchanted Garden were as good as any I've ever had!

Bobbi:thumbsup2
 
Nobody should be expecting the best food they've ever eaten on a Disney cruise. Probably not on any cruise except the supreme high end ones. But for the most part it isn't bad, and I love Palo and Remy.

One thing DCL sucks at is breakfast. They even make bad pancakes.
 
We were on the Wonder for the MR cruise this past February/March and have to agree the food wasn't the best. We had late seating so I don't know if that has anything to do with it or if mediocre food was consumed across both dinner seatings.

They do need to work on their breakfast. We usually go through the buffet line at Beach Blanket, but have had a sit-down meal for breakfast in the past. DW wasn't that impressed, but my DD and her friend (both 11 at the time) didn't really care one way or another on the food.
 

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