C
confusedcruiser
Guest
We just returned from an Alaska Princess cruise on the Coral Princess followed by a land tour to Denali and McKinnely. The only other cruise that we have done is the Western Carribean 4 years ago on the Grand Princess. There were definitely things that we liked and disliked about the Alaska trip and I am happy to answer any questions, but our biggest surprise was that the quality of food and the service was considerably less than our first cruise and I would like to focus on that issue in this post. Some of the other passengers who had previously cruised with Princess agreed with us about the food and service. One passenger commented that Carnival had bought out Princess a couple of years ago and that the food and service in the dining room had been downgraded. I haven't really followed up on that yet so I don't know if that is true or not.
We were so happy with our first cruise experience on the Grand Princess that I did not even consider another cruise line when I booked the second cruise. I still want to cruise and I may or may not cruise with Princess again, but I have decided to do my research before I book another one.
I realize that food is subjective and it would be too long of a post to tell all of the disappointments with the food. I would just like to describe some of the things I am looking for and hopefully someone will be able to tell me the cruise line that most closely offers that.
Foodwise I would like to see:
-fresh warm bread offered
-no precooked bacon or sausage
-meat with real grill marks on it
-fish that is not overcooked
-real hot coffee
-no prepackage sweet rolls, danish or cinnamon rolls
-good hashbrowns (princess has some sort of greasy, grated blob)
-a variety of salads (one big disappointment was the ceasar salad - prepackaged lettuce and some sort of premade dressing)
-high quality chocolate in their mochas
-no preprocessed bland eggs
-they had a sort of specialty dessert day in the Horizon Court. If I remember right the Grand Princess had a really good assortment of desserts. This cruise was just a bunch of not very memorable cakes and sort of fruit torts? with tough hard crusts. REALLY SPRECIAL DESSERTS
-at least some hot items offered from room service
Food that I liked on the Alaska cruise:
fresh strawberries and bananas dipped in chocolate on deck
sushi one day for a specialty meal in the Horizon Court
reindeer chili one day for a specialty meal on deck
sometimes the fresh cooked pasta in the Horizon Court was ok
We were going to try the specialty restaurant Sabotins (sp?), but a couple at our table in the formal dining room had eaten there and told us not to bother. I really wish that we had tried it now so I could have developed my own opinion.
Service in the formal dining rooms:
I had ordered duck and it was so tough I couldn't cut it with my knife. The head waiter happened to come by and saw that I was struggling. I was expecting him to offer to get me something else. Instead, he brought me a sharper knife.
I understand that cruise lines try to sell you 'extras'. We had purchased tickets to go to the premium wine tasting the first day of our cruise from a server in the Horizon Court buffet. The waiters in the formal dining room kept on trying to sell us tickets to the wine tasting even though I told them that we had already purchased them. It really became annoying - bad enough they hound you to purchase stuff, but really bad when they still bother you even after you have purchased it.
None of the waiters really knew anything about the wines. Princess had a wine steward on the Grand Princess that was very helpful.
We often waited before we were served our next course. One night was especially slow service and when I asked for coffee with my dessert the waiter said we did not have time and we needed to vacate the table for the next seating.
I had ordered a cream of mushroom soup that was really not very good. I opted to not eat it and instead of asking me if he could get me something else the waiter chided me for not eating it.
Ultimately, we gave up on the formal dining room after the 4th night and opted for the Horizon Court. We could pick and choose up there and if nothing else we had an awesome view.
Any input anyone could give me would be really appreciated.
We were so happy with our first cruise experience on the Grand Princess that I did not even consider another cruise line when I booked the second cruise. I still want to cruise and I may or may not cruise with Princess again, but I have decided to do my research before I book another one.
I realize that food is subjective and it would be too long of a post to tell all of the disappointments with the food. I would just like to describe some of the things I am looking for and hopefully someone will be able to tell me the cruise line that most closely offers that.
Foodwise I would like to see:
-fresh warm bread offered
-no precooked bacon or sausage
-meat with real grill marks on it
-fish that is not overcooked
-real hot coffee
-no prepackage sweet rolls, danish or cinnamon rolls
-good hashbrowns (princess has some sort of greasy, grated blob)
-a variety of salads (one big disappointment was the ceasar salad - prepackaged lettuce and some sort of premade dressing)
-high quality chocolate in their mochas
-no preprocessed bland eggs
-they had a sort of specialty dessert day in the Horizon Court. If I remember right the Grand Princess had a really good assortment of desserts. This cruise was just a bunch of not very memorable cakes and sort of fruit torts? with tough hard crusts. REALLY SPRECIAL DESSERTS
-at least some hot items offered from room service
Food that I liked on the Alaska cruise:
fresh strawberries and bananas dipped in chocolate on deck
sushi one day for a specialty meal in the Horizon Court
reindeer chili one day for a specialty meal on deck
sometimes the fresh cooked pasta in the Horizon Court was ok
We were going to try the specialty restaurant Sabotins (sp?), but a couple at our table in the formal dining room had eaten there and told us not to bother. I really wish that we had tried it now so I could have developed my own opinion.
Service in the formal dining rooms:
I had ordered duck and it was so tough I couldn't cut it with my knife. The head waiter happened to come by and saw that I was struggling. I was expecting him to offer to get me something else. Instead, he brought me a sharper knife.
I understand that cruise lines try to sell you 'extras'. We had purchased tickets to go to the premium wine tasting the first day of our cruise from a server in the Horizon Court buffet. The waiters in the formal dining room kept on trying to sell us tickets to the wine tasting even though I told them that we had already purchased them. It really became annoying - bad enough they hound you to purchase stuff, but really bad when they still bother you even after you have purchased it.
None of the waiters really knew anything about the wines. Princess had a wine steward on the Grand Princess that was very helpful.
We often waited before we were served our next course. One night was especially slow service and when I asked for coffee with my dessert the waiter said we did not have time and we needed to vacate the table for the next seating.
I had ordered a cream of mushroom soup that was really not very good. I opted to not eat it and instead of asking me if he could get me something else the waiter chided me for not eating it.
Ultimately, we gave up on the formal dining room after the 4th night and opted for the Horizon Court. We could pick and choose up there and if nothing else we had an awesome view.
Any input anyone could give me would be really appreciated.
