How's the food? Really?

[logan1_2000]

I didn't expect gourmet, and I wasn't disappointed. My first cruise was RCCL, the now-renamed Empress of the Seas, and that food was not as good as DCL. In particular, their steaks were like something I might expect at a TGI Fridays or a Houlihans. I was pleasantly surprised at the strip steak I ordered one night on the Wonder in January, would compare it to say Longhorn or Outback--and really, that middle of the road, family-friendly, not cheap but not high end, is a fair approximation of what we get on DCL. Some dishes are better than others--DW and I both think the maple glazed salmon in AP is the signature dish of the cruise line--it is simple, and it is well executed and very high quality. On the other hand, that pasta w/ seafood dish on the Pirate menu convinced us to go to Palo's on Pirate night this coming week because we wouldn't miss the food (and, Seinfeld fans, I don't want to wear a puffy shirt).

I think different ships in the other cruise lines can differ--tht is, the newer RCCL megaships might have better food than their lousiest, er, smallest ship, the Empress. I hear good things about the newer Conquest-class ships at Carnival, but I wouldn't be looking for anything much on the old ship they sail out of Mobile. DCL is not marketing itself on food, like the luxury lines or even Celebrity does--but the overall DCL experience is not diminished by the food, and many things are nice, and well presented. Servers do make a difference in your experience--truth is we had a great waiter on the Empress, so I wonder if the food was even worse than I remember, but the positive memories of him make it seem better than it was. And our tablemates were such stiffs on the Wonder in January that the food might well have seemed worse than it was.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

We just returned from the Carnival Glory last weekend. While we found the food on the Glory VERY GOOD, we still like DCL better.

One service I'm very impressed with on DCL is that the servers will let one 'customize' his/her order. For example, I could order a veggie from one entree to have with a different entree.

Also (I forgot to mention this in my earlier post), I thought the daily desserts on Carnival were only mediocre. I'm a dessertsaholic, and found only one or two which appealed to me on the Carnival buffets. DCL's were the absolute best! (IMHO.) I also thought DCL's lunches at Topsiders were much better than Carnival's Red sail restuarant. I'm also spoiled by DCL's fresh fruit. Carnival's watermelon, berries and canteloupe weren't ripe enough. (I know it's next to impossible to satisfy 3500 cruisers, and I KNOW that they're doing the best they can.) DCL has me spoiled!

However, Carnival's 24 pizza is to die for! They also had a lunch-time fried oyster bar. I DID like their lobster tails much better too!

 

[ann-e-mator]

I want to shove my waitors and chefs in my suitcase and take them home with me so they can cook and serve for me all year round

 

[donaldsgal]

We cruised (our first one on any cruise line) in March of 2001. Land-and-sea cruise with 4 nights on the Wonder. We (my sister and I) both loved the food. I remember being all hyped up that I'd get to try lobster and not "pay" for it on the ship, and there was no lobster dish at that time. Maybe that's changed. In any event, I tried a lobster and crab cake dish as an appetizer and did not like it whatsoever. Our servers (Nora and Fiona - both excellent) were very responsive to my pickiness (I love Italian food but like it the "regular" way - you know, Americanized! ) and always took time to answer my questions. My "un-liked" dish was replaced easily with something else (don't remember what). They helped me make decisions about what wine I'd try (first time legally able to drink) and changed up menu items if I wasn't sure. They always promised me something else if I didn't like it but encouraged me to try new things.

I have read other less-than-favorable reviews of food on DCL and at WDW, but that has not been our experience. We've always loved the food. My sister lived for 6 years in a large city with lots of variety in food choices, so she developed a taste for finer foods. Now she actually looks forward to our trips to WDW and to our cruises because she knows that we'll get quality food. That may not be everyone's experience, but it's been ours and we're not complaining.

For my last point, my sister did take a RCCL cruise in May of 2002. She thought the food was "as good, but the service was better on DCL." RCCL offered escargot. She did not think there was a better variety on RCCL than on DCL. She said she wouldn't rave on the food on the buffets on either cruise line, but the meals were good. We both really enjoyed our meals when we were on the DCL cruise. We LOVE to eat (to our detriment), so it definitely passed our test with flying colors. Just would have liked to have gotten to try lobster without "paying" for it.

By the way, anyone know if pop (aka soda) is free on board everywhere now or still only in the dining rooms? We heard somewhere that it was and wanted to confirm. Thanks!

Jenny

 

[crisi]

We thought it good, but not excellent.

Its hard to say, because so few restaurants are national chains - particularly good ones. One that is that is excellent is Ruth's Chris. This was NOT as good as Ruth's Chris. Another national chain is Friday's - this was far better than Friday's. I had one pasta dish (not at Palo) was similar in quality to Macaroni Grill and better than Olive Garden.

But I'm a food snob - I only eat at places like Friday's, Macaroni Grill or Olive Garden when I am with my coworkers for lunch or have the kids along. When we go out for "good food" its little 20 table chef owned restaurants. Its impossible to feed several hundred people like you can feed 60.

Some was truly wonderful - soups and appitizers in particular.

 

[roscodog]

I thought that the food that we had on our Jan Wonder was good but not great. The food on our Magic Western two years ago was not as good. I rather enjoyed the food. It was varied, ample and well prepared. The service was good and consistent. I did not expect five star because I know the logistics that Disney has to deal with. Have sailed with Princess and consider their food to be very good. Imagine having a Palo like experience almost every evening in the main dining room.

I saw the improvement between both my Disney cruises and was thus very satisfied with the food.

 

[tvguy]

We thought it good, but not excellent.

Its hard to say, because so few restaurants are national chains - particularly good ones. One that is that is excellent is Ruth's Chris. This was NOT as good as Ruth's Chris. Another national chain is Friday's - this was far better than Friday's. I had one pasta dish (not at Palo) was similar in quality to Macaroni Grill and better than Olive Garden.

But I'm a food snob - I only eat at places like Friday's, Macaroni Grill or Olive Garden when I am with my coworkers for lunch or have the kids along. When we go out for "good food" its little 20 table chef owned restaurants. Its impossible to feed several hundred people like you can feed 60.

Some was truly wonderful - soups and appitizers in particular.

I think your post perfectly shows how much a factor personal preference is in one's belief food is good or bad. Around here Macaroni Grill is a step up from Denny's, and a step down from Olive Garden..........and we eat at all three.
Also around here, the steaks at Outback are about on par with the steaks at Friday's, but both are a step up from Stewart Anderson's Black Angus.

Of course, as my wife will attest, my mindset on pasta is "it's the stuff they give you at the charity crab feed to fill you up so you don't eat as much crab"
To me pasta is a quick meal at home, not a fancy meal.....I've been known to eat all the sauce and goodies off the pasta, and leave the pasta. It's just filler. Although, I do make a killer Macaroni and Cheese from scratch, amazing what you can do with 2 pounds of extra sharp cheddar!!!

 

[Disney Fans]

I think the food on DCL is overall Great! I think they do a great job of trying to please so many families. I also think its not 5 star but I would give it a 3.5-4.00 depending on which night. But really there aren't that many 5 stars out there.

 

[alexandrew]

I think particular dishes are outstanding, and some are just good...In 7 cruises though, I've yet to have a bad meal......Palo, BTW, is consistently excellent....my only complaint about Palo, albeit a small one, is that the service IMO tends to be "smothering" and a bit "overly attentive" at times...

 

[SweetSpot]

Any food someone else cooks for me is wonderful. That being said we found the food to be good, not great, never stopped us from enjoying every meal. My biggest complaint was that none of the food was hot. Everything was luke warm. I was lucky our server would heat my soup for me but he said the chef had a problem with them reheating his food so my meals stayed luke warm. It was wonderful going to Palo one night and actually having a hot meal. Has anyone else found their food just warm?

 

[webray]

Some of the food is good, some not so good, just like in any restaurant.
Equivalent to the upscale restaurants at disney..well, not Jiko and Artist Point for sure. Palo on the Magic would be equivalent to Jiko and Artist Point.

 

[mmouse37]

After 13 DCL cruises I have only had one meal that I really did not like and couldn't eat....all the rest were great....

One of my favorites is the veal chop with risotto...yum..yum...

 

[jrabbit]

On our first cruise we went to a cooking demo. One of the chefs from EPCOT was on board and presented along with a Magic Chef (I should say: a chef from the Magic). One of the EPCOT chefs first comment was how good the food is on the Magic considering they have to serve 450 people (in each restaurant 2 times a night) at ONE time. In his land based restaurants the don't serve that many people in an evening. And everyone is scattered out - on their own schedule. They went on to show us some modifications (tricks) that they use on the ships so that they can make and present meals more quickly than on land, without making huge sacrifices in quality (and there will be some sacrifices).

The biggest reason for the quality in Palo to be so much better than in the main restaurants is that they only serve about 120 people per evening over the course of 4 hours (30 meals per hour) so it's made to order and served hot off of the grill.

There was a question if the meals are made to order in the rotational restaurants. The answer is absolutly yes and no!! Yes, they make each meal for each dinner seating, but they "know" how many of each dish is going to be needed in each seating (statistics and probablity). So they make x number of each dish, an several extra for deviations. And they all have to be ready at the same time. They're screwed if for some reason everyone wanted the same entree one night - they won't have enough of them made and someone will have to do without. But that is very, very unlikely.

 

[rickdeni]

I have cruised Carnival, Celebrity, DCL and Princess. The food on Princess was the best. Celebrity, which is known for its food, was too fancy with too many sauces for me, Carnival was edible and Disney was mostly good. The main courses were good but their soups were strange, appetizers were good one night and tasteless the next night. I am very finicky eater and we too live in the Chicago area and are blessed with excellent restaurants. Desserts were OK - Princess's were outstanding and reminded me of the desserts served in the finest downtown Chicago Restaurants.

However, we do not cruise strictly for the food. When it is my husband and me it is a matter of which line is most convenient timewise and also moneywise. When we take the children and grandchildren it is Disney. No one can entertain the little ones like Disney and we find their staff to be the friendliest and most accommodating.

 

[allears]

I haven't read all of the posts in detail, but I imagine there is a huge range of opinions here. I thought I'd throw ours in too. We usually cruise as a family of 5, DH (43), DW (42), DD (17), DS (14) and DS (8). We have all always enjoyed all of our meals and food selections. One of the greatest things about a cruise is the fact that if you don't like something you can get a different selection. Or if a couple of things catch your fancy, you can have them all, depending on your gastric capacity!

I have eeaten at every venue and sincerely never been disappointed and have always enjoyed the variety, quality and flavors. And above all have loved the quantity and the fact we didnt' have to prepare anything.

My advice, experiment, try everything and if you're not happy with something let your servers know so they can get you something that will hit the spot.

 

[mhelsley]

I've been on a few cruises(8 total-3 on Disney). I only had what i consider to be bad food(undercooked,steaks to tough to chew and so on)and that ship is gone. I have found with the exception of Palo's the food to be good but nothing outstanding. I found the menus to be more basic than other cruiseline but i expected that when catering to families as kid tend to like there food simplier. Also i tend to judge on each ship not by cruise line as some of the best dishes i had were on Voyager of the Sea but not on Brillance of the Sea. With all this said for me the food doesn't make or break a cruise as long as i can find something to eat that is at least good. This being said my 9th cruise is booked and it's with Disney. We're finally getting to do a 7 day with Disney so it's back to the Magic were my cruising addiction got started.

 

[musicgirl]

I'll toss my opinion in. We love the food on DCL. We do not have another cruise line to compare it with because we are DCL addicts.

Anything that I don't cook is tops in my book!!! My family could eat hamburgers and pizza all week if I let them!!! Last night we were out of town with a large group of family and we ordered in pizza. Since we just got back with no time to shop, for dinner what did they want-pizza!!!

I am a very picky eater, however I was very adventuresome on the last cruise. I did not like the lobster. Not that it was bad, I found out, I don't like lobster. My server just didn't understand!!! I'm not a seafood eater. Well, I am a see-food eater, but that is different.

6 thumbs up at my house!!!

 

[kcashner]

I've done 12 cruises on the Magic.....pre Magic, I did 2 other cruises on other lines. The food on DCL beats the other line.

The worst food on the Magic is good, the best food is great. There was a comment earlier that the food isn't as good as Ruth Cris. I do agree with that, although a dinner at Ruth Cris for my family costs every bit as much as a day on the Magic!!!!

We usually do late seating. We have a favorite server, and we arrive on time and get our food quickly. Don't know how much this influences quality. Remember that if you get something and don't like it, they are happy to bring you another selection.

 

[cristit14]

I thought some things were really good and some things were just okay. I did really like the butternut squash soup. I didn't have anything that I really didn't like. I didn't really have any desserts that completely wowed me (except for the chocolate chip cookies). We were on the 4 day Wonder and didn't make it to Palo though. I am saving that for next time. I really liked the fact that they had good choices for the kids too so that they didn't have to eat chicken nuggets or mac and cheese every night. (although I think DS probably did have mac and cheese 2 or 3 nights)

 

[AladdinsPrincess]

My husband and I thought the food was very good. Not outstanding, but very good. I was a little disappointed in the variety at dinner. Also, we ate at Palo on the second night of a seven day cruise, and it's just all downhill from there!! Palo was excellent - probably the best meal I've ever had!