Best food in Carnival or Royal Caribean?

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Interesting question! I've been on a lot of RCI and Carnival cruises and love to compare.

In the past, RCI was better because Carnival was really mixed, but in the last year or so Carnival really got their act together and now I think they're both good but Carnival is slightly better.

RCI:
STRENGTHS: the newer ships have an awesome selection in the casual dining buffet, full set of options for room service, can do special orders in the dining room ("hold the onions" that type of stuff), generally pretty decent meals
WEAKNESSES: bad pizza, no lobster on 3-4 night cruises, wine is much more expensive than on Carnival and the selection sucks

Carnival:
STRENGTHS: surprisingly good at "fancy" foods like escargot, Beef Wellington, lobster (even on the short cruises), wine is reasonably priced and there's a great selection, insanely good cheesecake, awesome fresh-made pizza, delicious Angus beef burgers in the dining room
WEAKNESSES: You can't custom-order anything in the dining room (though they will bring you extras of whatever you like), you can't order Kosher meals (not even in advance). Room service only has cold foods (but the roast beef sandwich is great)

One thing to keep in mind: the bigger the ship, the more options you'll have. On Carnival's Spirit and Conquest class they have a great steakhouse upstairs. And Conquest class has a really awesome fish station in the casual dining area where I had great ahi tuna one day and fish and chips another. Similarly, RCI's Freedom and Voyager class ships have steakhouses and some also have a Johnny Rocket's.

You can check out some food pictures from Carnival here:
http://www.cruisesavvy.com/journals/eric/2008/carnival_pride_mexico_407

jenneeann

Royal Caribean for sure! All around, not just for the food.

Dying to Live

Royal Carribean

Zef H

Well, I have been on three Carnival cruises and three Royal Caribbean cruises, and while both are good, I think overall the Carnival is just a little bit better.

I also have two future cruises booked on each, so I can continue my comparison of the food on both lines.

saintsfan

Royal Caribbean is better

MomSezNo

Go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards" and/or "Reviews" and browse through some of the postings regarding food. Since it's a totally subjective thing, you probably won't get any more clarification as to which is "best". Over the years I've been reading that board, it seems, in general, that Carnival's food is rated better. However, Carnival's food quality has deteriorated somewhat over the past couple of years, in my opinion. [I've never sailed RC, partly because of the poor reviews of the food.]

chevyray8

Royal is Great!

lenny.wise

Royal Caribean has much better food than Carnival however Carnival has good food. If you are traveling with kids or are a young couple or single you should travel with Carnival.
All other Royal Caribean.

dragonflygirl

Royal Caribbean. My family and some friends got food poisoning in Carnival last year and on 2006

royal caribean

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