Can people tell me which cruise line they prefer for dining, Celebrity or Princess? I really enjoyed the Princess free seating and am nervous about Celebrity's fixed seating when I am someone who requires several small meals a day.
Celebrity's food is excellent; whether it's better or worse than Princess is very subjective, and I'm sure people will come down on both sides of that issue.
As for needing several small meals a day, don't worry. There is always food being served somewhere on the ship, including 24 hour room service. You won't have to go far to find food at whatever times you want it.
That's a tough one, as food reviews are highly subjective, as Sandy stated. Generally, the food on Celebrity is excellent, although there was one cruise last year on which we thought the food was not up to par. Yet, the food we had on our Century cruise a couple of months ago was superb.
As on any cruise, if you don't enjoy the entree you ordered, let the waiter know and s/he will be happy to bring you something else.
As for fixed dining times, I wouldn't be too concerned. I have a teenager who eats many times a day, and there was always something available at the buffet, including lighter snacks for myself. Additionally, we attended a few afternoon teas, where there were finger sandwiches and other offerings.
To which I can add that sometimes the quality of the food has a lot to do with the chef in charge as well.
So the food on a ship gets great reviews, you book, the chef has gone to another ship. So when people ask is the food on Maasdam better than the Statendam...you know what I mean.
But in general, the best way to find out which line's food is to your preference...guess you just have to try them all and sort it out for yourself. DARN!
Seriously though, My wife and I love Celebrity food...particularly their fish, which my wife says is the best she has had in any restaurant - land or sea. High praise!
Having travelled on both ( Coral Princess, Century ) I would give a small edge to Princess, more varity attention to small details etc.The same applies to the service in the dining room. but no question both are very good. Hope this helps
Having sailed with most of the major cruise lines I would say princess is far and above better quailty food. I would also say H /A Carnival,Cunard and several others have better quality food. I am not at all impressed with Celebrity since they were bought out by Royal Carribean. They are not the same as they used to be..
Posts: 498 | Location: cape coral fl usa | Registered: December 11, 2003
I have to disagree with Mr. Stanton. While Princess offered the same type of food and selection as Celebrity, the Celebrity experience has been much better in my opinion. Royal Carribean bought Celebrity years ago and we enjoy Celebrity just as much as we ever did. In fact we leave tomorrow for Hawaii on the Summit! Can't wait! The real difference for me between Princess and Celebrity was the service and while the service on Princess was good, the people on Celebrity are much more personable, friendly and capable.
Posts: 6 | Location: Oakland, CA | Registered: July 27, 2007
Ray we were talking about quality of the food. Not the quality of service. I will say and have always said the dinning room service on Celebrity ships is very good. I do not dispute that, I do however think that the food quality is not as good.You are welcome to your opinion as wll as I. I hope you have a wonderful cruise.. Tom
Posts: 498 | Location: cape coral fl usa | Registered: December 11, 2003
Seriously though, My wife and I love Celebrity food...particularly their fish, which my wife says is the best she has had in any restaurant - land or sea. High praise! QUOTE]
I love fish, so your comment has made me very happy! Thanks.
My brother has just come off an east coast Carnival cruise and described the food as plentiful, adequate and rather boring. Good food, prepared by someone else, is for me one of the great pleasures of cruising. Boring and adequate I can get at home
My son, who will turn 18 next month thinks Chef Boy'R'Dee and McDonalds are the best eating a guy can have. My tastes are a little different. With any discussion of quality of food on land or sea there are going to be differing opinions. This is the hardest area for me as a T/A to advise clients on. All I can do is pass on my own experiences, which seem to vary each sailing, even when sailing the same line. And to pass on the feedback I get from clients. There are lines like Celebrity AND Princess that get very good reviews in the food and service area consistantly. There are some lines that I won't mention that can be all over the board with reviews. Even these lines have amazingly loyal passenger bases that can find no wrong with their cruiseline of choice. Personally, I've never had bad food on any cruise I've taken. I do have my preferences as does everyone else who cruises. Give us a review when you get back and let us all know your thoughts on the quality of food and the service.
I have had very good food on both in the dining rooms, and somewhat mediocre food in the buffets of both. In my opinion, overall, the food quality is equal in most respects. I found the lobster on Princess much better, and I am a lobster freak LOL.
For the most part, Celebrity food is supposed to be better. Buffets are generally mediocre on most cruise ships. I know what you mean about the free style seating though. We thought that was great on NCL and now Princess is doing it! I hope they all catch on to this!
Celebrity food is supposed to be better, at least according to Celebrity. However, after cruising on more than 60 different ships (11 cruise lines) we have found that food quality is more dependent on the specific ship, cruise, and the current executive chef. In the past 18 months we have cruised with RCI, Celebrity, HA and Princess. Based on those recent cruises, the food on HAs Noordam was heads and shoulders above the rest. Our 14 day cruise on the Infinity was really disappointing (in the food category) and our tablemates (29 Celebrity Cruises) called it the worst food they had ever had on any ship (I think this might have been an exaggeration). On our most recent RCI cruise (15 day transatlantic) the budget cut-backs were very obvious in the food department where they did not even have lobster, real veal, and the shrimp was smaller than we have seen on other ships. We are still trying to understand if this reflects a complete degradation of quality on all RCI products, or if it was just those specific cruises. We will soon be going on Azamara (March) and will be very curious to see the quality on that Celebrity off-shoot. One other interesting tidbit was that while on the Brilliance of the Seas, we were told by one of the entertainers that RCI had also cut-back their entertainment budgets for next year (that would be 2008) on all ships and might even have some "dark nights" on a few cruises. We hope this is not true.
I have to say I was disappointed with the quality of the food on Celebrity (we cruised on the Constellation last month), but delighted by the service. My main complaints were: 1) the dishes served were not correctly described by the menu - e.g. some ingredients were missing or misidentified; and 2) I think the quality of the starting materials were not as good as other cruises - e.g. cuts of beef were tough even if cooked properly. It wasn't bad food, but HAL's was better. Funny, I did not know that Celebrity was bought out by RCCL, but that is what I would have equated the food to.
On the topic of room service, Celebrity had - by far - the fastest room service I have ever seen on a cruise ship. Ordering was done on your TV and delivered by your cabin steward. Just amazing speed.
Posts: 22 | Location: Chicago, IL | Registered: January 10, 2008
But in general, the best way to find out which line's food is to your preference...guess you just have to try them all and sort it out for yourself. DARN!
I've had different couples on the exact same ship that both filled out the survey we send out from our agency at the completion of a cruise. It evaluates our performance and the cruiselines performance and includes dining and service among the questions with a dialog box for comments. More than once I've had different clients with totally different cruise experiences. Same ship, same sailing date, same dining room, everything. This is just to say that food is subjective and service can vary by simply having a different waiter than someone at another table or a different cabin steward.
I agree with the post I copied above. Sail 'em all and find which is best for you. Then start the process over in case you didn't get the right waiter the first time!
