Carnival Food Report: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

For anyone who is following this blog, or knows me personally, you'll know that I love my food.  For those that don't, all you really need to know is that I will eat anything, anywhere, and actively seek out local cuisine to try something I can't get at home.  Since our recent cruise with Carnival left each port prior to dinner time, we had to eat on the ship each night.  This gave us ample opportunity to sample most of the menu items offered in the main dining room on the Carnival Victory.  As I am aware, the fleet wide menu is relatively consistent regardless of ship, and stays the same for quite some time, so if you are on a Carnival cruise soon, you may be likely to have some of these meals.

Now, there is something to be said about trying to produce gourmet food for 3,000 people nightly without missing a beat.  I have nothing but respect for the chefs and wait staff on cruise ships, as the endurance run for the 5 hour dinner set must match what is required most extreme sporting events, especially since these people also do breakfast and lunches as well, 7 days a week.  To me, the food can only be described as hit or miss.  What was done well, was amazing and I wanted to order seconds and thirds.  What was done poorly, sometimes I couldn't finish.

With that, I am proud to promote my list of the Carnival good, the bad, and the ugly for dinner foods from the main dining room.

The Good

Anything Seafood - We ate shrimp every single night, as well as multiple orders of the lobster on formal night, and were thoroughly impressed with both the quality of the seafood and how well it was cooked.
Chocolate Melting Cake - The indulgence of any chocolate lover, my girlfriend ate it 7 nights in a row.  For a good mix, get the fresh fruit plate and dip it in the sauce, or order a side of strawberry ice cream for a great mixture!
Black Forest Cake - The only dessert item that I thought tops the Chocolate Melting Cake, which is sad considering I do not like chocolate or dark cherries very much.  Absolutely perfect.
Strawberry Bisque - An appetizer made of strawberries and a yogurt based soup?  Never heard of it!  Could have gone for another one as dessert!
All Appetizers - Small portions of appetizers made us sad, so the fact that most were extraordinary made us want to order multiple! Entree portions of pasta could, and should, be ordered as an appetizer to afford room for the other items that are available!

The Bad

Any Entree Not Seafood - It could just be that the seafood was so good that we thought less of everything else as a byproduct, but most all other entrees lacked that certain touch that made the seafood dishes extraordinary.  I am personally ok with this, as I love seafood and wanted to eat it as much as possible while in the Caribbean.
Any Dessert Not Listed Above - A sad day indeed that I say the only good desserts were items that I would normally never get in real life.  Even so, like the entrees, it is not to say that they were horrible, it is just that the others were on such a higher scale that the rest felt bad by comparison.

The Ugly

Lobster Bisque - I jumped at the opportunity to have lobster bisque, after having great lobster the previous night.  When I received the appetizer I was met with a bowl of brown sauce that had the texture and taste of gravy, with no lobster in sight.  This was one of the few dishes I couldn't even eat.
Medium Rare Filet Mignon - I only include this on the ugly side because I expect a medium rare cut of meat to be pretty pink while not bloody as per usual restaurant standards.  My cut was brought out deep red with what appeared to be dripping blood left.  Once again, I couldn't eat it and skipped straight to dessert.

Overall Critique

I was pretty happy with the quality of the food for dinners in the main dining room overall, even with some being hit or miss.  For the fact that it was included in the price of the trip, and not extra, I can't really be too picky.  If a $50 bill came at the end and greeted me for some, I would have been upset, but I have to give Carnival a thumbs up for their food preparation overall. While I would have liked to eat local food on the shore more than I did, I was quite happy with my alternative and left the dining room full and happy every night - which is the best you can ask for!