Cruising in the Eastern Caribbean

[ocshooter]

I am planning to book a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean in the next couple of days, and I wonder if anyone has an opinion on which of the major lines serves the best food. I would rather be based on land at St. Thomas, but the cruise is a compromise, and I am OK with the whole floating mass of humanity concept. But I would like to eat better than the average Hometown Buffet. I know that the food on the smaller ships can be quite good, but this is about the big boys, Celebrity, Carnival, Norwegian...

So, any opinions on what is good or terrible?

[Veggo]

Norwegian is clearly the high end of the 3 you mentioned.

[Jordan]

I'm assuming you mistyped. Of those three lines, Carnival and Norwegian (and Royal Caribbean) are considered more low-end, and Celebrity is on the higher end (along with Holland America) of the big lines.

[Veggo]

I'll take your word for it. I thought Norwegian was more high end than you indicate, perhaps I was misinformed.

[ocshooter]

Have you been on the Holland America ms Eurodam? It has the date and itinerary I want (need to double check availability though).

[Jordan]

I have not, but if food is a top concern, Holland America is most likely better than Carnival or Norwegian.

[ocshooter]

Thanks all. We ended up on a Princess boat because of the itinerary. The food was OK. We ate in the steak house twice ($25pp extra) and the Italian place once ($20pp extra). Food was competent throughout. I liked that they had lox on the buffet every morning. Deserts were good. The steak house was good but not great. The menu for the Italian was not really to my liking that night, but I went with the flow. For the regular dining, the food was good, but I would stay away from anything that sounds expensive but is on the regular dinner menu. The standards were netter prepared. The 'fancy' stuff just was not up to quality.

Probably the one think on board I actually like the best was the pizza by the pool. Thin crust, with the right proportions of cheese and sauce. It is not up to NY standards, but it was actually pretty good. Not the best thing I ate on the boat, but relative to my expectations for the pizza, it was really a cut (or a slice) above.

[arp29]

I went on a Norwegian cruise and afterward vowed never to cruise again because of the abominable food, amongst a few other issues. Fast forward a few years, and my parents convinced my husband and I to give cruising another shot because they enjoy it so much. We went on a Princess cruise and the food was leaps and bounds better than my experience on Norwegian.

While I didn't leave the cruise dreaming about the food, it definitely was enjoyable. I agree with ocshooter that the pizza on deck was actually pretty tasty! I am a New Yorker and a bit of a snob about pizza (as are my parents) and we all ate a slice almost every night.

Have fun!

[ziggylu]

My folks took everyone on an Alaskan cruise for their 50 year anniversary. We went on Princess. I have to agree the pizza was pretty tasty!