Fodor's blog post on cruise ship food

http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4056.html

Good overview of a very subjective aspect of the cruise experience.

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

On Jun 17, 10:55*am, D Ball wrote:
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4056.html

Good overview of a very subjective aspect of the cruise experience.

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

Thanks Diana!
I enjoyed that. (However, is MSC really considered Premium?)

Mark

On 6/17/2010 6:47 PM, Mark (SF) wrote:
On Jun 17, 10:55 am, D wrote:
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4056.html

Good overview of a very subjective aspect of the cruise experience.

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

Thanks Diana!
I enjoyed that. (However, is MSC really considered Premium?)

Mark

Similar question for Princess. And it's strange that he complains that
"the menus seemed to be planned to within an inch of their lives". What
would they expect? Everything is meticulously planned so they know they
have enough for the entire length of the cruise, based on past passenger
ordering. They can't start doing stuff on the fly and running out of
some ingredients before the end of the cruise (although I guess they do
sometimes with some fruits, but presumably those are not used for
ingredients in dishes).

Interesting article, however.

Bill

"D Ball" wrote in message
...
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4056.html

Good overview of a very subjective aspect of the cruise experience.

Hi Diana,
Interesting article as well as were the comments. Just shows you how much
people's tastes differ. He did admit however, that he had not been on many
lines. MSC, as much as we enjoyed it, is not a premier line and its menus
definitely lean towards Italian cuisine as they should, but I did not find
their food exceptional. Their forte was the entertainment and super friendly
staff who mingled with the guests...I think many times, ships within the
same line often differ and are not necessarily "cookie cutters" because they
belong to the same family. Some more than others.

I was disappointed in the comment on Oceania food as I think that line has
very good, fresh and well prepared food. They also have the largest variety
of fresh fruits that I have ever seen on any cruise line.

--Jean

Hi, all, I am looking forward to trying a few more lines, including
MSC and Oceania, so I can jump into these discussions. Although, food
is just so tough to call. Tonight, my husband and I were 180 degrees
apart on a dish....

Diana

(Bill) wrote:

On 6/17/2010 6:47 PM, Mark (SF) wrote:
On Jun 17, 10:55 am, D wrote:

http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4056.ht
ml

Good overview of a very subjective aspect
of the cruise experience.

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

Thanks Diana!

I enjoyed that. (However, is MSC really
considered Premium?)

Mark

Similar question for Princess. And it's strange
that he complains that "the menus seemed to
be planned to within an inch of their lives".
What would they expect? Everything is
meticulously planned so they know they have
enough for the entire length of the cruise,
based on past passenger ordering. They can't
start doing stuff on the fly and running out of
some ingredients before the end of the cruise
(although I guess they do sometimes with
some fruits, but presumably those are not
used for ingredients in dishes).

Our second cruise was supposed to be 5 days, but turned into 7 due to a
hurricane preventing us from returning to Florida. At the beginning of
the cruise we were told the hurricane would not affect us, but it must
have changed its course. We were assured after it became evident we were
not returning per schedule, that they would not run out of food or
alcohol. They must have planned for the contingency of the hurricane
changing course. And its hard to believe that they came up with dinner
menus on the fly.

Interesting article, however.

Yes, it was, however I think everyone's take on food will be so
different.

Here's just one example, a recent Carnival review I read by someone from
my Noordam roll call was down on Carnival food which most others find as
one of their strong points. It did go on to say she could not try the
highly recommended chocolate melting cake since she was allergic to
chocolate.

Bill

Bill wrote:

On 6/17/2010 6:47 PM, Mark (SF) wrote:
On Jun 17, 10:55 am, D wrote:
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4056.html


Similar question for Princess. And it's strange that he complains that
"the menus seemed to be planned to within an inch of their lives". What
would they expect? Everything is meticulously planned so they know they
have enough for the entire length of the cruise, based on past passenger
ordering.

He seems to say that HAL is better and I like the food on HAL better
than most other lines that I've been on. Have not been on Cunard or
Princess.

However, they told my husband that they were out of raisin bran on one
cruise (asked him if they could give him bran and separate raisins
which was OK) and also were out of milk or skim milk (which was not so
OK) and then the next day they had those items again, so we joked that
the raisin bran supply ship must have visited during the night.

They can't start doing stuff on the fly and running out of
some ingredients before the end of the cruise (although I guess they do
sometimes with some fruits, but presumably those are not used for
ingredients in dishes).

Interesting article, however.

Bill

On 6/18/2010 11:23 PM, Rosalie B. wrote:

He seems to say that HAL is better and I like the food on HAL better
than most other lines that I've been on. Have not been on Cunard or
Princess.

However, they told my husband that they were out of raisin bran on one
cruise (asked him if they could give him bran and separate raisins
which was OK) and also were out of milk or skim milk (which was not so
OK) and then the next day they had those items again, so we joked that
the raisin bran supply ship must have visited during the night.

Either they got them out of a supply galley that they could not get to
originally (or didn't want to) or they reloaded while in port (you don't
say whether you had a port in between those two requests).

I've never been on HAL but I will be sailing on Statendam in Alaska this
summer. The menus I've seen online look interesting.

Bill

Bill wrote:

On 6/18/2010 11:23 PM, Rosalie B. wrote:

He seems to say that HAL is better and I like the food on HAL better
than most other lines that I've been on. Have not been on Cunard or
Princess.

However, they told my husband that they were out of raisin bran on one
cruise (asked him if they could give him bran and separate raisins
which was OK) and also were out of milk or skim milk (which was not so
OK) and then the next day they had those items again, so we joked that
the raisin bran supply ship must have visited during the night.

Either they got them out of a supply galley that they could not get to
originally (or didn't want to) or they reloaded while in port (you don't
say whether you had a port in between those two requests).

No port - sea day and sea day. I think it was that they didn't want
to do it. Otherwise I can see no reason for them to say they were out
of milk.

I've never been on HAL but I will be sailing on Statendam in Alaska this
summer. The menus I've seen online look interesting.

Bill

On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:51:17 -0400, Jeff Gersten wrote:

Yes, it was, however I think everyone's take on food will be so
different.

Here's just one example, a recent Carnival review I read by someone from
my Noordam roll call was down on Carnival food which most others find as
one of their strong points. It did go on to say she could not try the
highly recommended chocolate melting cake since she was allergic to
chocolate.

Good point, Jeff! Here's a link that my daughter sent me from Africa!
Maybe it will clear up this Carnival mess.

http://tr.im/1f7k

--Jean