Ship: Elation | Sail Date: 07/03/08 | Destination: > Baja Mexico

I just got back from the San Diego/Cabo San Lucas/San Diego trip with my husband for our anniversary. I have sailed on Carnival once before about 15 years ago and most recently on Royal Caribbean 4 years ago. The food and main dining service on this trip was nothing short of horrible. Breakfast and lunch was almost inedible. Breakfast consisted of reheated previously frozen pancakes that had sat too long and were hard on one side or the other, runny scrambled eggs, pastries that were on par with the prepackaged variety you get in convenience stores, made to order omelets containing undercooked vegetables and cold shredded cheese and an assortment of what tasted like precooked breakfast meats (bacon, sausage, etc.). Lunch was precooked hamburgers (think high school cafeteria), hot dogs and a variety of potato and macaroni salads. We did go to the main dining room for lunch one day where I was greeted with a wilted salad (the lettuce was either about to turn slimey or it had sat in dressing for a while back in the kitchen) and my husband was served the same high school cafeteria type burger that they had up on deck. We also tried the lunch buffet one day. I ended up going back to the deck and settling for a hot dog. The fish and chicken was dry as a bone and the seasoning was terrible. The only thing palatable was the rice. Dinner was hit and miss. Generally, the starters were usually pretty good, but the main courses were unpredictable. My husband had chicken one night that as he described it "tasted like an old rooster." He could barely cut through it with the knife provided. None of the main courses were great, but some were okay and others we would not have eaten had it not been for the fact that we hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. The main dining service also was not what I expected based on past cruises. There were times you had to hunt down a server to fill a drink order and one night I ordered coffee after dinner and they forgot. Then I had to go find someone to get it for me because the server never returned after dropping off dessert. All in all, I would go on a cruise again though I don't think I will be able to convince my husband, this being his first experience with it. I would however, choose a different cruise line.