Carnival Triumph Review
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So far, I've cruised both Royal Caribbean and Carnival. This was my 4th Carnival cruise. In the past, I've always found the food on Carnival to be much better than the food on Royal Caribbean. However, this trip was quite a disappointment in that arena.
Let me start by saying this. Just over 1 year ago, I found out that I have allergies to dairy and to gluten, along with onions and mint. In February, my husband and I took a cruise on Carnival Elation. At that time, the list of foods that I was allowed to eat was quite limited. Once I boarded the ship, I was told that if I ate all meals in the dining room, the chefs would be able to accommodate my needs. The entire dining room staff, including the chefs were quite happy to work with me. In fact, they did a fantastic job, and I was always given a meal that both tasted good and that I could eat. Not only that, the Elation had a stir-fry area for lunch on the pool deck. The chefs there were also happy to accommodate me and cook up something that I could eat. Furthermore, on that ship, the hamburgers and french fries were gluten free. (The chef checked and verified that for me.) Therefore, on a day when we were in a port, I was able to come back onto the ship and have a quick late afternoon snack that was allergy friendly. (We had a later dinner seating so a snack was necessary.)
With all of that being said, my experience on the Triumph was completely the opposite. Let me start by saying that I am now allowed to eat a huge variety of foods. My list of allowable foods is MUCH longer than it was when I cruised in February. First, Asta, who worked in the dining room tried her best, but the chefs didn't seem to be motivated to make any food that tasted good, or that was properly prepared. Almost every meal that I ate in the dining room took 2-3x as long because our waiter would bring something out that tasted awful and didn't resemble real food, or it would contain something that I couldn't eat. Mealtimes were very stressful and frustrating for me, and I'm sure that our friends who were cruising with us didn't appreciate it when dinner would take an extra hour because my food was always wrong.