Thread: How Would You Rate The Food on NCL...

Specialty restaurant - yum!
Regular dining rooms - average - but better than what I would take the time to cook!
Poolside bar-b-ques were great
Chocolate buffet- incredible

Originally Posted by Bombero

1. How would you rate the food on NCL??

2. Do you have a favorite dish??

3. Were you ever unhappy with the food??

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All of our six cruises, beginning in 2002, have been with NCL, and we have been extremely satisfied with our dining experience. We've been on board a total of 50 days, approximately 125 meals, and most them would be rated excellent.

Our breakfasts are split between the buffet and dining room, mainly for variety. Sea days we lean towards the dining room, and usually choose the buffet on port days for time purposes. The buffet selections are many, with the exception of the Majesty which is smaller, and had less space. Restaurant menus also had a wide selection, and they had slight differences each day, like maybe different pastries or pancakes.

I'm personally not a big lunch eater, so can't speak with lots of experiences, as I often choose the BBQ if available, or the bar/grill which may have burgers, fries, chicken, etc. My favorite lunch meal is the Shrimp Scampi, usually served on our embarkation day, and it is outstanding. I've never heard any lunch time complaints from any of our travel companions.

Dinner time is of course our favorite, and NCL treats us to spectacular meals on most occasions. Figuring we've had 50 dinners, and counting all our guests it would total over 250 evening meals, I can recall maybe 4 dinners that were less than satisfactory, and they each had to do with the selection rather than anything the kitchen had done wrong. That's an outstanding record if you ask me.

We prefer the Specialty restaurants over the general dining rooms, for several reasons. First, we can make reservations; secondly, we know the menu in advance as they usually do not change from day to day; and third, the service tends to me the best on board. The waitstaff is top shelf, and they are always looking for extra ways to please us.

Favorite foods include Lobster (real ones), filet mignon, grilled pork or veal chops, pasta in Italian specialty, caesar salads prepared tableside, escargot, mushroom soup in bread bowl, french onion soup, walnut baguette rolls, creme brule', chocolate fondue, chicken parm, etc. The grand kids have loved the pizza, grilled cheese, and chicken tenders.

I can honestly say I do not relate to anyone who trashes the food, though I understand everyone has different tastes, and expectations. We started out with no real expectations for food, and have been raising the bar since our first cruise, yet never disappointed. We cruise with a great attitude, and so far have not had any bad experiences to cause that to change. We feel fortunate, and would encourge anyone who has not cruised with NCL to give it a shot. If you have had significant experience with 5 star dining and luxary cruises, I also can not relate to that, so take my thoughts with the NCL grain of salt.

Good luck to all!

We've cruised with NCL five times in the past 5 years and find most of the dining room food to be good to excellent. We love the mango gazpacho. My husband and I are vegetarian and on some cruise lines that means mostly pastas. On NCL we've had a wide variety of foods and have rarely had a bad meal. On the Dream, the bread in the Trattoria is fabulous and the pastas are great (not the main dining rooms but not a "specialty" where you have to pay a cover charge). I think that some people were disappointed that lobster wasn't served and NCL doesn't seem to do the baked Alaska parade that we've had on other ships but we have never gone hungry and never felt that the food was overspiced or anything less than we'd get at a good restaurant at home. I have found the buffets to be lacking, however.

Just returned from the POAM. The food wasn`t good. The dining room, where I had higher hopes than the rest of the dining areas, was terrible. The lobster tasted strong and old. Trying to cover it up with melted butter helped some but not much. Steak was tough and dry. Creme brulee wasn`t smooth and creamy. I couldn`t finish it. Baked Alaska was a flat pancake, with a scoop of icecream and some whip cream on the top. I don`t know how they could even call it Baked Alaska. The buffet was a little better, at least there were lots of choices. The cadillac diner was good for hamburgers. Service was spotty, often with long waits. We went for the itenerary, and were pleased with that. We didn`t eat at any specialty restaurants. By the time we realized the dining room food wasn`t going to get any better, the specialty restaurants were all booked up. I was disappointed with the food, but not with the ship, which was quite pretty. I did call NCL, and they acted like few people had complained about the food. Yea, right. By the way, I have been on about 15 cruises, and have always liked the food.