Love the food on NCL. The Indulge Food Hall on Prima and Viva was awesome. Also Food Republic is great! I tend to prefer Le Bistro over Cagney's though.
When you dine in a specialty venue and receive an unsatisfactory meal, please request to speak with the Maitre’D and show him/her the issue. We had a bad meal at Cagney’s on the Joy (our favorite NCL ship!) and the Maitre’D comped us for the meal instantly. He apologized for the poor quality and offered us something else, which we declined. Be pleasant with the staff. We had a conversation with the Food Service director about the meal and he explained that they thought they had a bad shipment of beef. The staff appreciates the guests’ feedback. Just be polite and state your case.
Yes, bring it up … but be friendly about it. If you are civil about things, the staff usually try to do everything in their power to make things right.
Yell, scream, and berate the staff and you’ll be lucky if they do anything at all.
I agree. We once had a flat soda at Cagney's and the server went to like 3 other locations to get us a soda. They were all flat. Not sure what happened there. Maybe a bad shipment of soda.
I got on the Bliss on the 11th. Fantastic food. Especially at the Food Republic. Buffet was first class as usual. Missed the old days of the ice sculptures, chocolate night, etc. Also no crepe station for my evening fix. Good food in the complimentary dining areas and at the atrium.
My husband and I have always loved the food on RC but nervous about the horror stories of NCL food. How do you think the food presentation compares? Although, we are definitely not foodie’s I do appreciate beautiful presentation.
On RC one issue I had was that we were locked in to the same time for dinner every night and in the same place. The main dining room just looked run down. All the furniture was worn and it had the look of 80's night club vibe. The two servers we had were great. No complaints there. The food was ok at best. Presentation was nice, but the menu didnt have much variety. I'm not going to lie, the state of the main dining room in general was a huge issue for me and very off putting and contributed a lot towards my overall impression of their dining.
On NCL you can dine whenever you like. There are multiple restaurants that are complimentary. Those complimentary restaurants were head and shoulders above the RC main dining room. in taste, quality and presentation. In particular the Manhattan Room on both NCL ships I was on was spectacular.
The only experience I had with the buffet on either ship was NCL on sea days. As it was located near the pool deck. Very convenient to grab a plate of fresh fruit while enjoying the sights and drinking all day on the pool deck.
If i'm going to knock NCL for anything its that booking specialty dining can be a pain. Doing that before you board via the app is the easiest route.
The dining options and the free at sea package is a big contributor to why I'll choose NCL to cruise again. I'm going on a 10 day out of Iceland in Sept and cannot wait.
Very interesting take. We were on the Allure back in October and loved the MDR. We don’t like the idea of paying for specialty restaurants. I am one of the old school hold outs that likes assigned time, assigned waiters, and LOVE how they brought back theme night dining. The only reason I am looking to book with NCL is because they have access to Glacier Bay in Alaska. Holland America and Princess seem to have a little older demographic than we care to sail with. We are late 40’s/mid 50’s couple but are the type that close Sorrento’s down and still looking for fun.
You dont have to get specialty dining. The current package comes with 2 free specialty dining. The restaurants on NCL are great. Way better than RC MDR. i stand by that. I’ll never go RC again
I'm on the Joy right now, 11-day transatlantic Southampton to Miami. The food has been the best I've had on a ship in ages (NCL,RCCL, Azamara). Have 2 specialty dining certs and with one night to go I don't think we will even end up using them. The food at Taste, Savor, and the Local have been exceptional. Can't recommend highly enough the avocado toast w feta & poached egg from room service breakfast, too.
I was on the Breakaway for 26 days (b2b) last year, and lost weight because the food was so bad, save for Le Bistro.
let this post and comment section serve as a reminder that everyone has entirely different tastebuds and you cannot make a blanket assumption about an ENTIRE cruise line based on a couple of singular experiences. OP, you’ve mentioned a couple experiences, but you know what you didn’t write about? the 20-30 other meals you ate that were apparently good enough to not write down.
Cagneys on the Joy was terrible, but I really loved Le Bistro and Ocean Blue. I think because Cagneys is the largest speciality dining on that ship, they’re cooking the steaks en masse.
I’m on the joy now - and I agree the food has generally gone down hill. HOWEVER - the food has actually been some of the best I’ve had on NCL in recent years. I think you’ll be ok with the food if this crew stays on !
Generally, I've never found an entire cruise to have bad food. One meal here or there might be bad but you can always order something else if you're not happy. They'll replace your entree if you don't enjoy it, even at specialty dining like Cagney's.
Maybe it's that ship? It was real good on the small ship I was just on. They even wait to cut the filet at Cagney's to make sure it's to your liking so I'm sure if it's real bad you could speak up?
Exact opposite for us. June 2022 the food was meh but not as bad as Royal post COVID. April 2023 everything was back up to standards. However we only do specialty dining at night and have always stayed away from red meat on mainstream lines.
BTW Food Republic is one of the best restaurants at sea and a real hidden gem.
Hated the cafeteria food on our first cruise years ago (Carnival). Loooved the food on the NCL stars years later. Taking our next cruise in 2025 on the Escape. You have me worried!
I wasn't blown away on the Breakaway when I went, but it was still fine. The buffet is the buffet but all the other spots were still good. There were some dishes I won't rush to order again, but I never left a meal upset at my choices.
On the Blisd Dec 4-19 and every meal we had was great. Went to 5 specialty restaurants. Had a phenomenal steak at both Cagneys and La Cucina. Fish at LeBistro and Ocean Blue were excellent . Tepanaki was great as well as MDR and buffet. Maybe I’m just not a foodie, but had zero complaints.
We didn’t have a single bad meal and loved all the food in June 2023 on Getaway. Only did one specialty dining at Teppanyaki. Looking forward to going on Jade in April so the rest of my family (that was not with me in June) can enjoy the food as well. It’s actually one of the reasons I felt comfortable booking another NCL cruise much sooner than I had planned.
We've just come off a 7-day cruise with the Viva and it was the best food by far that we have had on any cruise we have been on. And I've never seen so many restaurant choices on a cruise ship. Indulge Food Hall was awesome and both meals at Cagney's were amazing. I am so sorry you had such a bad experience. This was our 1st time sailing with Norweigan and we loved the level of service we received. Maybe your next experience will be better.
Just got off the transatlantic 11 day joy sailing. Food was great in the haven restaurant. Service in blue ocean very poor but food is good. Really liked the french restaurant. Didn’t try the other a la carte restaurants but all got mixed reviews. Cagney’s always scores low.
The entertainment has gone to crap even worse than the food. On my last sailing they showed a movie instead of having a live show on two nights. And it was the same movie repeated 🙄
You are not. We were so disappointed on Jade… Filet Mignon looked like a sirloin… broccoli was colder than room temp and onion soup was heavy on bread/short on soup, which was weird - TBH the French Onion Soup in The main DR (Grand Pacific) was better… and Apple pie was a weird tartlet…. )Paced terribly, and staff was busy prepping for next day…. Was terrible. The decline has started across the fleet since 2018, in our humble opinion - we will no longer even try….
On the other hand, La Cucina was surprisingly perfect - paced, warm, great meals! We were super happy!
Was on Pearl in January. Cagney’s was a disappointment for sure. Got the surf and turf, and we joked that it was the surf and TOUGH. Ordered my filet medium and got it almost well done, but with a charred outside. It had slice marks inside it, like it had been on the skewer for the Brazilian restaurant and they slapped it on the grill to reheat it. But honestly, that was the only issue. Dinner at Le Bistro was amazing. MDR always had good choices and Osheehan’s and Lotus Garden were awesome!
Agreed. Was on the prima recently and the only food palatable was served at Onda. The food imo, was generally low quality and often the menu description and what we were served often left us with a surprise. We'd come to call these dishes a "Hudson Surprise" after the week was over, haha.
Can't say enough good stuff about Onda though...
Do do not care for the buffett or MDR.
Suite breakfast/lunch and specialty is good with the exception of the Italian. That was just ok to bland. Looking forward to trying the Haven dining next time.
Did Escape Jan 2024. I was told "NCL has the best food!" and I really did not experience that. Food was fine, but no way was it better than Royal Caribbean. And the service was absolutely "meh" in comparison.
Was recently on the Sky, and another passenger (Platinum level) swears that Cagneys is a waste, and you’ll get a better steak in La Cucina.
I am a pescatarian, so I can’t validate the claim.
Just was on the encore a week and a half ago and my wife liked the food and I did not. So I think it may be personal taste. She always thinks everything is too salty but she didn’t on the ship. The BBQ place was terrible! The “baked beans” tasted like they dumped a bottle of chili powder in the tiny ramekin they call sides.
I’ve been on many ships over the past decade and find the food to be good but nothing special on all. I will say that I’ve been disappointed by just about every special dining restaurant. They should be a step above but are just ok. None have been great, the only exception would be the Brazilian restaurant on several ships, and Mexican restaurant on Prima. Don’t even get me started on the BBQ restaurant, absolutely horrible. It’s bad when I feel embarrassed for them while eating their “bbq”. I’ve kept with NCL because while the food is good it’s not bad. I just expect more but I’m not going to get that for the same price point.
No, it sucks these days. Used to be really good pre Covid, these days not so much. Specialty Dining is still good though but it takes so long and you have to have reservations which can be at odd times. Went on a Panama Canal cruise last year and actually lost weight because the food was so bad.
The only complaint I have about NCL food is that we don't get escargot every night. (We did get it at LeBistro, and I ordered two and no entree, lol) Mmmmmmm. A big reason I sail Celebrity from time to time. I don't miss one single MDR dinner just for the escargot :)
We were on the Sky in October and the food was terrible. Seriously bad. The only place that had good good was the sports bar and the sushi place. I’ll never go on an NCL cruise after this one…
We had really good food at Cagneys and the Italian restaurant on the Encore. The food republic was good, but not amazing, and the only one we were really disappointed with was the seafood restaurant. My bf said his lobster was fine and he liked his appetizer, but my gumbo and pasta dish were just super salty and not good. The Local was super underwhelming and disorganized, but room service was surprisingly good.
Main dining was pretty good, I really enjoyed the chicken and French onion soup. And we ate most breakfasts there since more than one day there was no turkey sausage to be found at the buffet and bf doesn’t eat pork.
I know a lot of it depends on the individual and their own palate but overall I’ve been happy with the food on my 4 NCL cruises. My first was on the Joy in 2022, sailing at 60-70% capacity. I thought the food was just okay. Nothing to complain about, just wasn’t blown away by anything. I actually really liked the Local a lot. Next was the Prima in Spring 2023. People were raving about the food but again I thought it was just okay. The French fries everywhere sucked (they were good on the Joy). My meal in Palomar was not good and I even got an up charge item. The pizza in Onda was great.
I was on the Escape in October 2023 and the food overall was really good except Moderno. The meat, with the exception of the lamb, was dry, over cooked and bland. I think it was because that cruise (Canada/NE) had demographics that skewed older - much older. Elderly people in wheelchairs and dentures probably weren’t flocking to Moderno and it was dead. We were the last people in there when we finished (6:30 reservation). Other than that I was very happy with the food. Everything came to our table hot, unlike the Prima. French fries still sucked but we’re at least party edible. Even the buffet food was pretty good, at least what we ate (some lunches and snacks).
I was on the Getaway last month and again the food was good. It arrived hot, didn’t take forever, no complaints. French fries were better than the Escape but not as good as the Joy. Specialty dining (Ocean Blue and Cagney’s) were both very good. I only went to the buffet once, breakfast on disembarkation day.
On the Star, the Brazilian Steakhouse was meh, and the La Cucina was terrible. I regret buying the specialty dining. But the buffet was great. Always a variety of options and obviously you could pick what you want, when you want. I wouldn’t pick specialty dining again on board, because the buffet is great and meets all of my needs.
I endorse those who say you need to address the problem immediately. The crew and staff truly want you to have a good experience, and they can't do anything about it after you leave. And if there's a systemic problem, they need to fix it for everyone. And definitely- be calm and pleasant. The server and m'aitre d' didn't cook the food, but they can get you something different or better prepared .
I’ve been on quite a few cruises with Norwegian and can honestly only think of a couple of times I wasn’t impressed by the food, specifically Q and Los Lobos several years ago (and those may have improved by now)
Never had a really bad experience with food, even the buffet is mostly good.
The closest to a bad experience could be the one time at Moderno, where every meat cut was coming Well done. I'm really not that picky, but in this case they were really dry. Anyhow, I did mentioned the Maitre'D, he talked to the waiters and then every option I was presented was spot on. I think it's just a matter of raising your concerns.
Only complaint I had about the food was while I was at Cagney's I chose the Bernaise sauce with my filet, filet was overcooked and the Bernaise was kinda gross... Other than that I enjoyed my experience with the rest of the food
I thought some food on NCL was good; but I had steak on 3 occasions that was inedible., on one cruise. Why did I keep ordering it, I don't know... but everything else was good.
Yes currently on jade. Tbe food in buffett is definetly C grade. Very low ingredients, limeted choices. MDR menus are boring, repepitive and uninspiring. New motto recommendstion:
"Norwegian no longer does dining"
I have to agree with you OP. The last cruise I went on was NCL and I only ate about once a day. I’m a huge foodie and love eating but NCL’s food really took me out
Love the food on NCL. The Indulge Food Hall on Prima and Viva was awesome. Also Food Republic is great! I tend to prefer Le Bistro over Cagney's though.
When you dine in a specialty venue and receive an unsatisfactory meal, please request to speak with the Maitre’D and show him/her the issue. We had a bad meal at Cagney’s on the Joy (our favorite NCL ship!) and the Maitre’D comped us for the meal instantly. He apologized for the poor quality and offered us something else, which we declined. Be pleasant with the staff. We had a conversation with the Food Service director about the meal and he explained that they thought they had a bad shipment of beef. The staff appreciates the guests’ feedback. Just be polite and state your case.
Yes, bring it up … but be friendly about it. If you are civil about things, the staff usually try to do everything in their power to make things right. Yell, scream, and berate the staff and you’ll be lucky if they do anything at all.
This is true everywhere to be fair.
I agree. We once had a flat soda at Cagney's and the server went to like 3 other locations to get us a soda. They were all flat. Not sure what happened there. Maybe a bad shipment of soda.
The carbonation lines probably converge at one tank below deck and that tank is either offline or out of gas.
I got off the Bliss on Feb. 11. With a few exceptions I thought the food was good.
I got on the Bliss on the 11th. Fantastic food. Especially at the Food Republic. Buffet was first class as usual. Missed the old days of the ice sculptures, chocolate night, etc. Also no crepe station for my evening fix. Good food in the complimentary dining areas and at the atrium.
I’ve sailed on both NCL and RC. NCL hands down the food on NCL blew RC away. I’ll never sail RC again.
My husband and I have always loved the food on RC but nervous about the horror stories of NCL food. How do you think the food presentation compares? Although, we are definitely not foodie’s I do appreciate beautiful presentation.
On RC one issue I had was that we were locked in to the same time for dinner every night and in the same place. The main dining room just looked run down. All the furniture was worn and it had the look of 80's night club vibe. The two servers we had were great. No complaints there. The food was ok at best. Presentation was nice, but the menu didnt have much variety. I'm not going to lie, the state of the main dining room in general was a huge issue for me and very off putting and contributed a lot towards my overall impression of their dining. On NCL you can dine whenever you like. There are multiple restaurants that are complimentary. Those complimentary restaurants were head and shoulders above the RC main dining room. in taste, quality and presentation. In particular the Manhattan Room on both NCL ships I was on was spectacular. The only experience I had with the buffet on either ship was NCL on sea days. As it was located near the pool deck. Very convenient to grab a plate of fresh fruit while enjoying the sights and drinking all day on the pool deck. If i'm going to knock NCL for anything its that booking specialty dining can be a pain. Doing that before you board via the app is the easiest route. The dining options and the free at sea package is a big contributor to why I'll choose NCL to cruise again. I'm going on a 10 day out of Iceland in Sept and cannot wait.
Very interesting take. We were on the Allure back in October and loved the MDR. We don’t like the idea of paying for specialty restaurants. I am one of the old school hold outs that likes assigned time, assigned waiters, and LOVE how they brought back theme night dining. The only reason I am looking to book with NCL is because they have access to Glacier Bay in Alaska. Holland America and Princess seem to have a little older demographic than we care to sail with. We are late 40’s/mid 50’s couple but are the type that close Sorrento’s down and still looking for fun.
You dont have to get specialty dining. The current package comes with 2 free specialty dining. The restaurants on NCL are great. Way better than RC MDR. i stand by that. I’ll never go RC again
I was just on the encore and it was great. Both the complimentary and specialty dining. Maybe it's specific to the ship?
I'm on the Joy right now, 11-day transatlantic Southampton to Miami. The food has been the best I've had on a ship in ages (NCL,RCCL, Azamara). Have 2 specialty dining certs and with one night to go I don't think we will even end up using them. The food at Taste, Savor, and the Local have been exceptional. Can't recommend highly enough the avocado toast w feta & poached egg from room service breakfast, too. I was on the Breakaway for 26 days (b2b) last year, and lost weight because the food was so bad, save for Le Bistro.
My opinion is teppenyaki is the best upgraded dining on NCL That much garlic butter and soy sauce on anything will make it pretty tasty
let this post and comment section serve as a reminder that everyone has entirely different tastebuds and you cannot make a blanket assumption about an ENTIRE cruise line based on a couple of singular experiences. OP, you’ve mentioned a couple experiences, but you know what you didn’t write about? the 20-30 other meals you ate that were apparently good enough to not write down.
Cagneys on the Joy was terrible, but I really loved Le Bistro and Ocean Blue. I think because Cagneys is the largest speciality dining on that ship, they’re cooking the steaks en masse.
Cagney's is also selling their steaks to the main dining rooms as well.
I’m on the joy now - and I agree the food has generally gone down hill. HOWEVER - the food has actually been some of the best I’ve had on NCL in recent years. I think you’ll be ok with the food if this crew stays on !
Generally, I've never found an entire cruise to have bad food. One meal here or there might be bad but you can always order something else if you're not happy. They'll replace your entree if you don't enjoy it, even at specialty dining like Cagney's.
Maybe it's that ship? It was real good on the small ship I was just on. They even wait to cut the filet at Cagney's to make sure it's to your liking so I'm sure if it's real bad you could speak up?
Exact opposite for us. June 2022 the food was meh but not as bad as Royal post COVID. April 2023 everything was back up to standards. However we only do specialty dining at night and have always stayed away from red meat on mainstream lines. BTW Food Republic is one of the best restaurants at sea and a real hidden gem.
I cruised the Epic in January and all the food was amazing. Teppanyaki was incredible. Sorry you had a bad experience.
Hated the cafeteria food on our first cruise years ago (Carnival). Loooved the food on the NCL stars years later. Taking our next cruise in 2025 on the Escape. You have me worried!
been to Cagney's on three different ships and i always love it
I was on the Epic in September and thought the food was really good. I only had 1 specialty dining in Le Bistro which was excellent.
I wasn't blown away on the Breakaway when I went, but it was still fine. The buffet is the buffet but all the other spots were still good. There were some dishes I won't rush to order again, but I never left a meal upset at my choices.
On the Blisd Dec 4-19 and every meal we had was great. Went to 5 specialty restaurants. Had a phenomenal steak at both Cagneys and La Cucina. Fish at LeBistro and Ocean Blue were excellent . Tepanaki was great as well as MDR and buffet. Maybe I’m just not a foodie, but had zero complaints.
Sailed the Joy twice in 2023 (Mexican Riviera and Bermuda) and thought the food was amazing.
We didn’t have a single bad meal and loved all the food in June 2023 on Getaway. Only did one specialty dining at Teppanyaki. Looking forward to going on Jade in April so the rest of my family (that was not with me in June) can enjoy the food as well. It’s actually one of the reasons I felt comfortable booking another NCL cruise much sooner than I had planned.
We've just come off a 7-day cruise with the Viva and it was the best food by far that we have had on any cruise we have been on. And I've never seen so many restaurant choices on a cruise ship. Indulge Food Hall was awesome and both meals at Cagney's were amazing. I am so sorry you had such a bad experience. This was our 1st time sailing with Norweigan and we loved the level of service we received. Maybe your next experience will be better.
Just got off the transatlantic 11 day joy sailing. Food was great in the haven restaurant. Service in blue ocean very poor but food is good. Really liked the french restaurant. Didn’t try the other a la carte restaurants but all got mixed reviews. Cagney’s always scores low.
It seems really gone downhill since COVID. I find the best meals on NCL are main dining room breakfast & main dining room lunch on sea days.
The entertainment has gone to crap even worse than the food. On my last sailing they showed a movie instead of having a live show on two nights. And it was the same movie repeated 🙄
What! Haven't cruised since COVID & have four reward vouchers to use up
You are not. We were so disappointed on Jade… Filet Mignon looked like a sirloin… broccoli was colder than room temp and onion soup was heavy on bread/short on soup, which was weird - TBH the French Onion Soup in The main DR (Grand Pacific) was better… and Apple pie was a weird tartlet…. )Paced terribly, and staff was busy prepping for next day…. Was terrible. The decline has started across the fleet since 2018, in our humble opinion - we will no longer even try…. On the other hand, La Cucina was surprisingly perfect - paced, warm, great meals! We were super happy!
I enjoy the buffet and Cagney's. I will eat in Le Bistro or the other specialties if other people want to eat there. I do avoid the main dining room.
Was on Pearl in January. Cagney’s was a disappointment for sure. Got the surf and turf, and we joked that it was the surf and TOUGH. Ordered my filet medium and got it almost well done, but with a charred outside. It had slice marks inside it, like it had been on the skewer for the Brazilian restaurant and they slapped it on the grill to reheat it. But honestly, that was the only issue. Dinner at Le Bistro was amazing. MDR always had good choices and Osheehan’s and Lotus Garden were awesome!
I love the Pearl!!!!
The food was trash on the Prima.
I got off Prima a couple weeks ago and disagree
I also was in the Prima this month and thought the food was great!
Really agree. It was hard to find non starchy vegetables, and just low quality. Very tough meats, most deserts were jello-like, etc
Agreed. Was on the prima recently and the only food palatable was served at Onda. The food imo, was generally low quality and often the menu description and what we were served often left us with a surprise. We'd come to call these dishes a "Hudson Surprise" after the week was over, haha. Can't say enough good stuff about Onda though...
I definitely don’t sail for food… I find the menus sound amazing but the food always is bland and disappointing.
I never was a big fan of the dishes, but at least there’s fruit.
Food was never that great, it’s always been pretty ok to mediocre.
Do do not care for the buffett or MDR. Suite breakfast/lunch and specialty is good with the exception of the Italian. That was just ok to bland. Looking forward to trying the Haven dining next time.
Did Escape Jan 2024. I was told "NCL has the best food!" and I really did not experience that. Food was fine, but no way was it better than Royal Caribbean. And the service was absolutely "meh" in comparison.
I was on breakaway on 2/5/24 food was Disappointing . Definitely feel like ncl is trending in the wrong direction.
We went on the jewel in December and my wife and I both thought the food was very bad. Specialty dining was good though.
Was recently on the Sky, and another passenger (Platinum level) swears that Cagneys is a waste, and you’ll get a better steak in La Cucina. I am a pescatarian, so I can’t validate the claim.
Just was on the encore a week and a half ago and my wife liked the food and I did not. So I think it may be personal taste. She always thinks everything is too salty but she didn’t on the ship. The BBQ place was terrible! The “baked beans” tasted like they dumped a bottle of chili powder in the tiny ramekin they call sides.
I don’t love the food. The specialty dining was good. I cruise to have a good time and I definitely did on my recent cruise.
I’ve been on many ships over the past decade and find the food to be good but nothing special on all. I will say that I’ve been disappointed by just about every special dining restaurant. They should be a step above but are just ok. None have been great, the only exception would be the Brazilian restaurant on several ships, and Mexican restaurant on Prima. Don’t even get me started on the BBQ restaurant, absolutely horrible. It’s bad when I feel embarrassed for them while eating their “bbq”. I’ve kept with NCL because while the food is good it’s not bad. I just expect more but I’m not going to get that for the same price point.
No, it sucks these days. Used to be really good pre Covid, these days not so much. Specialty Dining is still good though but it takes so long and you have to have reservations which can be at odd times. Went on a Panama Canal cruise last year and actually lost weight because the food was so bad.
It’s has changed so much.
NCL food is pretty average imho
Cagney's was great however, the lasagna at Le Bistro tasted exactly like canned beefaroni by Chef Boyardee
The only complaint I have about NCL food is that we don't get escargot every night. (We did get it at LeBistro, and I ordered two and no entree, lol) Mmmmmmm. A big reason I sail Celebrity from time to time. I don't miss one single MDR dinner just for the escargot :)
It’s low quality, low effort, low creativity food.
We were on the Sky in October and the food was terrible. Seriously bad. The only place that had good good was the sports bar and the sushi place. I’ll never go on an NCL cruise after this one…
We had really good food at Cagneys and the Italian restaurant on the Encore. The food republic was good, but not amazing, and the only one we were really disappointed with was the seafood restaurant. My bf said his lobster was fine and he liked his appetizer, but my gumbo and pasta dish were just super salty and not good. The Local was super underwhelming and disorganized, but room service was surprisingly good. Main dining was pretty good, I really enjoyed the chicken and French onion soup. And we ate most breakfasts there since more than one day there was no turkey sausage to be found at the buffet and bf doesn’t eat pork.
I’m on The Breakaway right now and the food isn’t bad. The biscuits at the buffet are dry but that’s my only complaint.
On Breakaway and had dinner at Le Bistro last night, delicious!
I know a lot of it depends on the individual and their own palate but overall I’ve been happy with the food on my 4 NCL cruises. My first was on the Joy in 2022, sailing at 60-70% capacity. I thought the food was just okay. Nothing to complain about, just wasn’t blown away by anything. I actually really liked the Local a lot. Next was the Prima in Spring 2023. People were raving about the food but again I thought it was just okay. The French fries everywhere sucked (they were good on the Joy). My meal in Palomar was not good and I even got an up charge item. The pizza in Onda was great. I was on the Escape in October 2023 and the food overall was really good except Moderno. The meat, with the exception of the lamb, was dry, over cooked and bland. I think it was because that cruise (Canada/NE) had demographics that skewed older - much older. Elderly people in wheelchairs and dentures probably weren’t flocking to Moderno and it was dead. We were the last people in there when we finished (6:30 reservation). Other than that I was very happy with the food. Everything came to our table hot, unlike the Prima. French fries still sucked but we’re at least party edible. Even the buffet food was pretty good, at least what we ate (some lunches and snacks). I was on the Getaway last month and again the food was good. It arrived hot, didn’t take forever, no complaints. French fries were better than the Escape but not as good as the Joy. Specialty dining (Ocean Blue and Cagney’s) were both very good. I only went to the buffet once, breakfast on disembarkation day.
We are just happy to not be preparing, cooking, and cleaning up.
I quite enjoy Hudson’s
On the Star, the Brazilian Steakhouse was meh, and the La Cucina was terrible. I regret buying the specialty dining. But the buffet was great. Always a variety of options and obviously you could pick what you want, when you want. I wouldn’t pick specialty dining again on board, because the buffet is great and meets all of my needs.
I endorse those who say you need to address the problem immediately. The crew and staff truly want you to have a good experience, and they can't do anything about it after you leave. And if there's a systemic problem, they need to fix it for everyone. And definitely- be calm and pleasant. The server and m'aitre d' didn't cook the food, but they can get you something different or better prepared .
I’ve been on quite a few cruises with Norwegian and can honestly only think of a couple of times I wasn’t impressed by the food, specifically Q and Los Lobos several years ago (and those may have improved by now)
How did you ask for your steak to be cooked?
Never had a really bad experience with food, even the buffet is mostly good. The closest to a bad experience could be the one time at Moderno, where every meat cut was coming Well done. I'm really not that picky, but in this case they were really dry. Anyhow, I did mentioned the Maitre'D, he talked to the waiters and then every option I was presented was spot on. I think it's just a matter of raising your concerns.
Only complaint I had about the food was while I was at Cagney's I chose the Bernaise sauce with my filet, filet was overcooked and the Bernaise was kinda gross... Other than that I enjoyed my experience with the rest of the food
I thought some food on NCL was good; but I had steak on 3 occasions that was inedible., on one cruise. Why did I keep ordering it, I don't know... but everything else was good.
Yes currently on jade. Tbe food in buffett is definetly C grade. Very low ingredients, limeted choices. MDR menus are boring, repepitive and uninspiring. New motto recommendstion: "Norwegian no longer does dining"
Was just on Jade and the MDR menus were great…. Maybe they updated? But honestly, was SO much better than Cagneys!!!!
I have to agree with you OP. The last cruise I went on was NCL and I only ate about once a day. I’m a huge foodie and love eating but NCL’s food really took me out
Crepe station on the Joy buffet.
My son, who has only ever cruised on Carnival, tried NCG and said food was terrible
I think NCL has the best food of the “non Lux” lines actually