Food Sub-Par??

[moore523]

I'm sailing on the Disney Dream in April and my entire family is going--and we're all somewhat foodies!

I've read so many different posts about how the food is "just okay" on the Disney Cruise Line. This is our first experience--and just looking at the pictures--it looks so good!! (which I actually read as well--"looks better than it tastes").

What is your opinion of the food?

 

[huskydogg]

I've sailed twice on the Wonder and it was fantastic. There's always that one thing that may not appeal to me but overall, I love it. The food and service actually are the main reasons I get so excited about going on the cruise. Unless you are pompous and go into it with an attitude, you will enjoy it. If something isn't right, be polite to the server and let them know. they WILL make it right.

 

[PizzieDuster]

Hit / Miss. Broke a tooth on the mushroom tart appetizer.

Palo was a hit. I'd love to try Remy

I wouldn't go in with high expectations but enjoy the fact that you don't have to cook and clean

Other members will post more for ya.

 

[SleepyDeb]

Just got off our first DCL cruise this morning, on the Fantasy. Some food was great, some not. Every steak I had was subpar. Palo was wonderful. We didn't eat at Remy.

 

[Mauierlyn]

We had also read before our cruise that the food was only so so. We sailed on the dream 01/13 and could be happier with the food.
I can not see what the complaints were about, my sister really likes gourmet food and would definitely be considered a foodie in many circles, she was quiet pleased.
I used the cruise as a time to try foods that I wouldn't try at home and I was always happy.
I won't worry about what other people have said about the food, everyone has different tastes and expectations.
I hope you will enjoy it all as much as we did.
And order the cookies from room service for me! I wanted to get them for
My nephew every night but time got away from us every time.

 

[AnotherPrincess]

I consider myself a foodie and I thought the food was really good on the Dream. We did Palo for brunch but I really didn't think it was all that much better than the rest of the food on the ship, if any. The only thing I can say I didn't care for was the soft serve ice cream on the ship. The soft serve on Castaway Cay was much better. The only thing we didn't try was Remy but as much as we enjoyed everything else, we have no desire to go to the up charge restaurants in the future.

 

[jdb in AZ]

It depends on what you compare it to. Figure the ships' chefs prepare thousands of meals each day and it can't all be fresh because they load all the food for the duration of a cruise at Port Canaveral. So it's not fair to compare it to the "fresh, never frozen" food served by restaurants on land, especially those serving freshly caught seafood. Mickey and Goofy don't throw fishing lures off the back of the ship to catch enough sea bass for the masses.

Some things they do very well, but there's still room for improvement, starting with breakfast. The bacon is limp and greasy, the scrambled eggs watery. The potatoes taste like the freezer.

Passengers rave about Palo because the food is freshly prepared instead of sitting under a heating lamp or in a chafing dish for who knows how long. yet i've been on other cruiselines where the buffets are better, everyone is invited, and there's no upcharge. On another ship, we've had a stateroom down-wind of the bakery, and have smelled the fresh rolls baking every afternoon. DCL pulls their pastries out of a box in the freezer.

You don't expect top-notch food at WDW, but it's not all bad either. You could say the same of DCL. Listen to the waiters' suggestions -- they know what is popular, and what gets sent back to the kitchen.

I do wish the pastry chefs from the patisserie in EPCOT would work with the DCL chefs on better desserts. just sayin.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I've sailed twice on the Wonder and it was fantastic. There's always that one thing that may not appeal to me but overall, I love it. The food and service actually are the main reasons I get so excited about going on the cruise. Unless you are pompous and go into it with an attitude, you will enjoy it. If something isn't right, be polite to the server and let them know. they WILL make it right.

Yeap! this!

AKK

 

[luv2sleep]

Food quality is so subjective. I'm not that picky and thought the food in the MDRs was fine. Not great, just ok. People would talk about how they didn't want to miss a meal there but after experiencing 21 nights of it I don't get what the big deal is. Again, I'm not picky and don't consider myself a foodie so it was fine, edible, etc. for the most part. The desserts were so so but I'm not a big dessert person anyway. The only thingI loved was a creme brûlée I had once.

Outside of the MDRs the food in Palo was definitely better. The pizza at brunch was my absolute favorite thing on the ship. The pizza on deck was the worst pizza I've ever had. I couldn't believe people ate it. I have to admit that the spicy chicken breast on deck was sometimes better than what I'd eaten in the MDR's, lol. The grilled sandwiches and wraps were just ok. I personally liked the lunch buffet the best in general. That's possibly because I could choose a little bit of what I saw that I wanted to try and wasn't limited to an entree I ordered. In the MDRs if I didn't like something I felt stuck. Sure I could order something else but that would take more time and seems wasteful anyway. i had early dining and 5 year olds can only sit with their moms so long and be patient. I really didn't have time to order a second entree.

I will definitely continue to dine in the MDRs but for me it will be more about companionship, conversation, getting to know our waitstaff, and enjoying the entertainment. For the food I would rather eat at the buffet every night. .

 

[Yokelridesagain]

I would describe DCL's food as "tiresome". It isn't for the most part inedible; i.e., if I went to a restaurant and got their food I usually wouldn't send it back. I just wouldn't go there again. I agree with a lot of the commentary already posted (powdered eggs, bad steak, grocery store quality pastries, etc.).

These would be my major complaints:

1) Flavor profiles of dishes in the MDR are extremely bland. The food sounds (and to their credit, looks) a lot 'fancier' than it actually is. From the perspective a self-described food snob, there just isn't anything interesting about it.

2) The product, particularly proteins, tend to be sub-par. As stated, beef is certainly not of prime or even choice quality. A lot of the seafood--particularly shellfish--has an off flavor. Obviously you're going to be eating meat/seafood that has been frozen.

3) Given the assembly line nature of the MDRs, not surprisingly there are missteps related to food preparation/temperature. Meats tend to come out on the overcooked side; if you decide to order steak (which I wouldn't advise) and want it anything south of medium well, order it rare. Temperature is usually not ideal either.

I don't agree that the waitstaff can make it right, and I also haven't been impressed with the results of following their recommendations. In general, the food is just not good and I don't think there's anything to fix that can be fixed short of a cruise line wide overhaul of food service.

I agree that the buffets are easier to cope with...there's a lot of junk but usually there are one or two things that are pleasant enough to eat, and you don't have to sit through a 90 minute production to eat. Unfortunately, there's no buffet service at dinner.

I thought Remy was worth about what I paid for it. It was far better than the MDR food, but I wouldn't put it at (or near) the category of "best dining experience of my life".

 

[luv2sleep]

I had buffet for dinner at Beach Blanket. I only happened to go once. Do they not have it every night on all ships?

 

[ilovetexas]

I've had food on DCL range from excellent to gross, with most falling somewhere in between. The buffets are best avoided, they are generally bad. Remy was excellent and I agree with a previous poster about Palo, the food is better than the MDR because it's prepared fresh as opposed to sitting under a heat lamp.

On Fantasy last May, the beef dishes were consistently bad and any shrimp or lobster was overcooked.

If you're cruising for the food, I suggest picking another line. However, I don't recommend cruising for the food! Go and expect most dishes to be what you would expect from a decent land based chain restaurant (think Applebee's or Chili's) and be pleasantly surprised when several individual dishes are better.

 

[kcashner]

The food on the DCL ships is OK, but not anything to write home about. I've had better on other lines. The service is good. I suspect that part of the issue with the food is the "mass production" aspect. And my daughter has a theory on "the better it looks, the worse it tastes" especially in pastries. Don't get me wrong--it is OK. It just isn't as good as it was many years ago and isn't as good as a WDW sit down restaurant.

TO above poster, the Wonder must work differently than other ships if you found a dinner buffet there. On the Fantasy and Magic, the pool deck restaurant is NOT a buffet at dinner. It is a sit down cruise casual restaurant, no reservations required. You are seated and given a menu. It is open every night except the first and last night of a cruise. And the food quality is better than in the MDRs. Again...maybe because it is prepared when you order rather than the mass production system.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Ageed. It is subjective. I've eaten in five diamond restaurants. It wasn't up there with them, but it isn't down with Golden Corral, either.
Anything I ordered at the MDRs and Palo I enjoyed and ate most of. The only thing I was a bit disappointed in was the pastery was not that fresh. But I realize they can't have a working bakery on that scale in a cruise ship.
You have to keep in mind that they are preparing meals for hundreds of people every day and you aren't going to get the same quality as you would at the countries best restaurants that only do maybe 100 covers a night.

 

[kcashner]

You have to keep in mind that they are preparing meals for hundreds of people every day and you aren't going to get the same quality as you would at the countries best restaurants that only do maybe 100 covers a night.

I really think this is the key.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

DCL isn't in the same galaxy as the country's best restaurants. I do agree that it would be silly to expect it to be.

However, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect it to be better than Applebee's, which I would agree is a pretty good estimation of the actual quality on DCL (although the type of dishes are quite different).

Personally, that isn't the type of place I would choose to eat. To each his own!

 

[texasgirl73]

I'm a foodie who plans trips around my meals. I sailed on the Fantasy last August and found many things that I liked and several that were just okay. Palo and Remy were good (items ranging from good to excellent, nothing subpar, I've been to better restaurants on land but I am returning to both on my May cruise.) I found the dining rooms to be good enough. Some items were just okay (dull and uninspiring) but I did have a few things that were quite good and memorable. There were even some stand out items at the pool deck fast food area and the buffet. So take this as an opportunity to seek out and find the stand-outs. You can always send back anything that you don't like.

 

[super mike b]

My advice would be to enter with an open mind.

 

[super mike b]

It would be cool if you would post a follow-up in this thread after your cruise.

 

[jm106]

I have yet to cruise on DCL and I am going with open mind. I fully agree with it being subjective and really some ppl say they are foodies and are and some claim it and just like to eat. I would say I am a foodie in some ways but some might be more so. I like good home cooked food(as I am currently making fresh pasta, ravioli and cheese homemade today) but I dont think DCL will be the same- same as WDW, its not home cooked with love but you can get some good and some really bad food. I just go by taste rather then reviews bc the places everyone raves about are not always worth returning to. Besides, I am sailing, either way, I gotta eat.