Low quality food on the islands and Cabanas

[Dopey420]

I just returned from my first cruise on the Dream and I was really disappointed with the food at Cabanas, Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay. It was very low quality SYSCO food systems kitchen ingredients.

For some reason, Cabanas had some wonky NOT Disney chicken nuggets. They were horrible. They were not Disney nuggets, which I have eaten for 30 years. They were almost like pounded pork tenderloins breaded and fried. They were disgusting.

We went back and watched Molly’s videos and they definitely weren’t the same nuggets.

At TowMatersQuick Service or whatever they had Long John Silver’s style chicken “planks” and they were horrible.

The food on the islands was inedible. The only thing that was good was the chicken. Just so low quality. I saw plate after plate full of food going in the trash. And it was all cold.

The desserts at Cabanas were Chinese buffet style. They were NOT Disney cupcakes. The “chocolate chip cookies” were not my Mickey cookies like at the Boma for example. They were straight out of a bag.

The good: Animators Palate

The rest was just garbage. I ran into Kristen from WrightDownMainStreet vlog. I asked her what she thought of the food on the islands. She said it was “pretty bad.”

Is this new? I was so disappointed. I am a Disney foodie! I expected the food to be at least the Quality of say Cape May Cafe or Boma buffet. Even the cupcakes at Vanellopes were stale and not “Disney” cupcakes.

What the heck? WAs it just a bad trip with unavailable normal food supplies? Or is the cruise line food really that bad every trip?

 

[Cfabar1]

We were on the dream a few months ago.

I have found the islands to have terrible food - we never go there.

In general we have found Cabanas to be pretty good. I do always find the lunch in the formal dining room on Day 3 of the 3 day cruise to be underwhelming and wish I had gone to cabanas, but appreciate the quiet atmosphere.

 

[Dopey420]

We were on the dream a few months ago.

I have found the islands to have terrible food - we never go there.

In general we have found Cabanas to be pretty good. I do always find the lunch in the formal dining room on Day 3 of the 3 day cruise to be underwhelming and wish I had gone to cabanas, but appreciate the quiet atmosphere.

Do you mean the breakfast on debarkation day? It definitely was underwhelming but it tasted good. Just very small portions, (like half a waffle? What the heck?) and the service vibe is "will you get out of here?!?!"

 

[SL6827]

They are probably trying to cut corners as much as they can like they do in WDW now. They shouldn't though for the prices they charge. But when they can't beat customers off with a stick, they will push that envelope.

 

[holula]

We were on the dream a few months ago.

I have found the islands to have terrible food - we never go there.

In general we have found Cabanas to be pretty good. I do always find the lunch in the formal dining room on Day 3 of the 3 day cruise to be underwhelming and wish I had gone to cabanas, but appreciate the quiet atmosphere.

I would agree with this, the food on Castaway has always been poor. However the food in Cabanas is mostly decent with a few duds.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Lhp food was terrible.. a 25 min wait for a tiny bowl of seafood rice I threw away half cause it was dry and nasty (transatlantic on the Dream) Cabanas was not what it was for example on the TA in May but more the variety than the quality.

 

[justafigment27]

We just got back from a back to back on the Dream. Another person doing the back to back told us that the chicken tenders were leftover from the European cruises and that’s why they weren’t the usual - same for the Diet Coke and sugar free lemonade being very “off”. Also, the butter pats were European as well - so I guess they were working through the stock they had from their European provisions. Don’t know if that’s the true reason, but made sense to me.

My husband and I both thought Cabanas was lacking and not great for lunch. Breakfast was fine. We actually avoided it and tried the sit down lunch for the first time ever on our second part of the back to back and we are normally embarkation Cabanas fans. They had no cocktail sauce for the shrimp and the shrimp seemed off on the first cruise (didn’t try it in the second cruise).

I actually really liked the food at Lookout Cay. We ate right at 11:30am and everything was fresh. I had the chicken, a rib, roasted broccoli and cucumber & tomato salad and thought it was all very good. My husband tried the two rice dishes and really liked them as well. Castaway Cay food was the same as always to me … we stopped there twice and ate around 11:30 both times.

 

[CamColt]

I'm sorry you had such a bad food experience. I always feel the burgers at CC are the worst burgers ever, they are hockey pucks! I usually like the rest though.

 

[juxtapose]

We haven't been on the Dream since 2021. CC food was not good, everything else on the ship was good to us, equal to the food we've had at WDW. The adults did not eat chicken nuggets or burgers on board so I can't comment on the quality of those.

 

[cvjw]

We sail DCL several times per year. I have chicken nuggets in cabanas for lunch every day. They have been the same chicken since I started cruising in 2017. We sail on the fantasy.

 

[Kwami]

I've never had good food at CC. Bad food on the islands is nothing new. The desserts at CC tend to be tasty, though.

 

[Kirsty_Lou]

The chicken tenders and fries were definitely different on the European cruises this year. I was very disappointed as I was looking forward to my Disney tenders fix lol!

 

[Dopey420]

I am literally angry that they would use the European chicken garbage tenders. The desserts at Cabanas were just like the little tasteless desserts at the $5 Chinese buffet.

I probably won’t go on another cruise. One and done. I’d rather just go stay at Fort Wilderness and eat GOOD buffets like Boma every meal for the same price.

 

[EveV]

The chicken tenders and fries were definitely different on the European cruises this year. I was very disappointed as I was looking forward to my Disney tenders fix lol!

Yes, agreed. We sailed on the Dream in June/July in Europe and noticed that the chicken tenders were different. Not great quality. We are going back on the Dream this month and was hoping that they would go back to the old tenders.

 

[Dopey420]

They had no cocktail sauce for the shrimp and the shrimp seemed off on the first cruise (didn’t try it in the second cruise).

This. They had no cocktail sauce for the peel and eat shrimp just some sort of remoulade. I took a bite of one shrimp and spit it out. It was definitely off.

 

[yowcruiser]

I am not surprised by @justafigment27 comments regarding using what they had left of their European supply. I know there were several posts about the quality of that product this year on the Dream and this isn't new. When we sailed to Iceland in 2022 on a long sailing, we had 4 different varieties of chicken tenders... and it was the 1st and only time that my daughter sent back something (as she had tenders in the MDR). I also sailed Panama Canal in 2022 and the food supply (from NOLA and Mexico) was quite problematic. Of the many cruises I have taken, these are the only two cruises I have been on where I would say the food was subpar for a Disney Cruise... so yes, the port of departure, and availability of supplies will have an impact on your dining experience... and even by venue type. Some of the best meals I've had at Palo have been in Europe... while offering the most average quick dining experience.

Now, I do have to say that some of those blogs/vlogs are also part of the problem. We now go into a cruise based on the experiences and opinions of one individual who may have very different standards to the ones we have. More and more, they create unrealistic expectations... for clicks, they sometimes "hype the hype" or "trash the trash". True, DCL does need to offer a somewhat consistent product from ship to ship and destinations to destinations... but there are times where you do have to work with local suppliers and you get what you get.

...and Cabana's has never been a "BOMA quality" type buffet... a good quality buffet, yes, most of the time, but not a premium buffet.

 

[justafigment27]

The chicken tenders and fries were definitely different on the European cruises this year. I was very disappointed as I was looking forward to my Disney tenders fix lol!

Funny thing is that I’ve never had a chicken tender on a Disney cruise … just decided to try them because of the hype. My husband and I were both like “What’s all the fuss?” … then someone told me they weren’t “normal” DCL tenders. So I still haven’t had a proper DCL chicken tender!

 

[Dreams&wishes]

Yes good was awful.
Also the ice cream machines dirty and all down with cheap syrup. The thing that upset me the most though was the speciality drink place on lookout, I was really looking forward to these drinks but they were cheap and nasty pre-made slushies that tasted chemical and weren't even served as described! If I go to he Bahamas I was real good fruit for smoothies.

 

[Dopey420]

Yes good was awful.
Also the ice cream machines dirty and all down with cheap syrup. The thing that upset me the most though was the speciality drink place on lookout, I was really looking forward to these drinks but they were cheap and nasty pre-made slushies that tasted chemical and weren't even served as described! If I go to he Bahamas I was real good fruit for smoothies.

Yes! I got one of those nasty premade slushies that were advertised as smoothies. Sickly sweet and not at all like described on the menu.

Also the only fruit they had was (green) bananas, apples and oranges. I thought for sure I would get some mango on an island (first time Ive been to the Caribbean.)

 

[Cinderella8]

Chipping in that at least part of it was the leftover European food - I was on the first Dream cruise after the transatlantic and heard a Cast Member explaining the cocktail sauce situation to someone, explaining they were using up the rest of the European stuff before switching over. I thought that was weird, but the first day was a little scuffed anyway with us boarding and leaving port very late (and a later fire situation in one of the garbage areas) so there were a few different things going on that day. I personally thought Castaway Cay was fine that trip, although coming off 2.5 hours in the snorkel lagoon, anything would've been good for me!