OK, I admit it -- my wife and I cruise because we love to eat. We have sailed on over 15 cruises, including 3 prior cruises on the Ecstasy. In the past the food has mostly been good with some being great, and occasionally being poor. This time the food was mostly poor. I'll start with breakfast and lunch, and then I'll do a day-by-day breakdown of dinner. Note that this was a 5 day cruise, leaving on Monday and returning on Saturday.

Breakfast: As with most cruises, breakfast is the same each day. On this cruise, the bacon tasted "old" and not very flavorful. The eggs benedict was overcooked; I prefer runny yokes. My wife had a omelet and asked for salsa, and instead was given pico-de-gallo -- not the same thing at all. The orange juice was watered down. Overall breakfast was poor.

Lunch: Very poor. The Lido buffet had several choices, but few were really good. The tomato soup was excellent -- thick, and flavorful. Other soups often had way too much onion. Entrees were usually dry, presumably from being set out too long. Entrees were not very hot, so I don't think they were drying because of heat lamps. And the entrees often had little to no taste -- even the jerk chicken. Note that on Carnival, the lido buffet lunch has different selections on the port and starboard sides (unlike RCCL which usually has the same selections both sides), so check out both sides before you make your selections. The pizza was OK, but drier than in the past (read that as "needed more sauce"). The made-to-order sandwiches were good -- don't miss this at the back of the Lido deck. Out by the pool, there was a hamburger grill (they will also grill chicken); this was OK. So were hot dogs. The french fries were OK if you got them hot from the frier, but the ones that have sat a while were tough and dry. I did not try the Mongolian grill also by the pool area (new to this ship). We ate in the main dining room for lunch on Friday. The wife had fish which was terrible. I had the ribs which were OK but room temperature. Read more