We had made 9 previous cruises with Holland America and overall had been very satisfied. However on our most recent cruises, we felt that the quality of of our meals had diminished and maybe it was time for a change. After some research we became impressed with the Oceanic line which fancied itself as a "luxury cruise", specializing in delightful cuisine. This self praise was seconded by the Oceanic agent I spoke to who said "if I wanted good food then this was the cruise line I was looking for." We decided to give it a shot and chose the "Mayan Mystic" cruise: 10 days, Miami to Miami stopping at Mexican(Yucatan), Central American, Grand Cayman and Key West ports. well overall, we made a poor choice. To begin with the food served in the main dining room was only average and never more than lukewarm. The service for breakfast and lunch was so slow that after 2 visits we took these meals in the buffet areas where service was far superior. One breakfast I had in the main dining room is worth describing: lumpy scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, so tough that swallowing would be risky and exceedingly bitter tasting pancakes. truly a meal as bad as it gets!!

There were 4 specialty restaurants: Polo Grill, where I had an excellent steak, The Asian Restaurant, where I had superb Chilean Sea Bass, The French Restaurant was fairly good but with

lukewarm Bouillabaisse and the mediocre Italian restaurant. You could only eat at the speciality restaurants once each during the cruise so for better or worse we were stuck with the main dining room or the buffets. Read more