American Table & American Feast Menu

OK, so Carnival has rolled out it's new American Table & American Feast menus. And we were among the "lucky ones" to experience it first. (Actually we were on the second cruise with this new menu.) For more information about this new menu check out this link: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5632

Now for our take... We hated it. And here is why:

1) The menu is too “busy” and therefore more confusing than it needs to be. We were able to figure it out so that wasn’t the biggest negative. But it was an annoyance.

2) In the past there were always like 3 or 4 items in each category that we wanted to try. With this new menu, we were lucky if there was 1 item in each category that we wanted to try. Matter of fact, I think for the first time ever we actually skipped going to the main dining room a few nights. There just wasn’t anything on the menu worth going for.

3) If you had ordered multiple dishes, even appetizers, they would only deliver 1 plate at a time. All that you ordered was brought out to the server’s station all at once. But they would only bring over 1 dish at a time. So by the time you finished the first plate they served you, then they cleared that plate, then they served you the next plate, the food was cold or not fresh.

4) Because of the practice stated in point number 3 (food sat at server’s station while only 1 dish at a time was served), it took a minimum of 2 hours every night to eat. So if you wanted to do anything else (shows, etc.), forget about it. You couldn’t do both because dinner took so long.

In our humble opinion, it sucked… bad.

And by no means do I blame the servers. Because we had different servers as we do the “My Time Dinning”. And all the servers did the same. So this was a directive from above.

There was only 1 person / couple that we spoke to that did NOT have a negative opinion of the new menu. So if you have already experienced this new menu / service system, what is your take? Let us know.

Thanks for your review. Looking forward to our Glory cruise in February. :)

3) If you had ordered multiple dishes, even appetizers, they would only deliver 1 plate at a time. All that you ordered was brought out to the server’s station all at once. But they would only bring over 1 dish at a time. So by the time you finished the first plate they served you, then they cleared that plate, then they served you the next plate, the food was cold or not fresh.

4) Because of the practice stated in point number 3 (food sat at server’s station while only 1 dish at a time was served), it took a minimum of 2 hours every night to eat. So if you wanted to do anything else (shows, etc.), forget about it. You couldn’t do both because dinner took so long.

 

If you knew it was all sitting at the server's station, why didn't you just ask for it all to be brought over at once?

I have not been on a ship that has the new menu yet. I'm curious about how others feel about the "family style" dishes. I think it would be awkward if you're sharing a table with strangers. How big of a serving is it appropriate to take? What if I want the plate passed to me and I don't know the name of the person that's closest to it?

I have not been on a ship that has the new menu yet. I'm curious about how others feel about the "family style" dishes. I think it would be awkward if you're sharing a table with strangers. How big of a serving is it appropriate to take? What if I want the plate passed to me and I don't know the name of the person that's closest to it?

You don' t have to share with anyone :)

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Interesting.

Other reviews here have been good. The menus have been posted and seem pretty straightforward and rather good. But that's just my opinion, I do respect yours.

I don't recall anyone else saying their food sat at the server station. I too am wondering why you didn't just ask for it?

Was any part of it good for you? New dishes, table setting, other's attire, dancing...

And by no means do I blame the servers. Because we had different servers as we do the “My Time Dinning”. And all the servers did the same. So this was a directive from above.

..Wonder if this was "My Time Dining" problem?? Seems to me that the regular MDR seatings would have a more definite system for the room. With 50 different tables being served at 50 different times, I would understand if there was a certain level of chaos.

...Anyone experience the new menus in the MDR for the early/late seatings?

We have always been served that way. :confused: When we order more than one appetizer (which is most nights) we would always be served one after the other. I've never been at at dinner and had the server bring all the appetizers I ordered at one time. Is this common? It makes sense to do them the way to do, IMHO. Don't think I'd want a circle of appetizers at my place waiting to be eaten. That's just me.

If you knew it was all sitting at the server's station, why didn't you just ask for it all to be brought over at once?

The second night we did ask them to just bring it all to us. And you would have thought that we just kicked their puppy. That is NOT what they were told to do.

Hopefully for all of your sakes we are the only ones who didn't like it. But as I said, of everyone that we talked to on the ship about it (and we talked to a LOT of people about it getting their take on it) only 1 person / couple didn't have negative feedback. And that was a German couple. And they thought the menu was more "green" like how Europeans normally eat. So that's what they liked about it.

We have always been served that way. :confused: When we order more than one appetizer (which is most nights) we would always be served one after the other. I've never been at at dinner and had the server bring all the appetizers I ordered at one time. Is this common?

On our past cruises they brought us everything. We didn't have to ask for them to bring everything they just did.

And all I can tell you is that it took so much longer than it has in the past.

Now maybe as the "guinea pigs" things were not as "smooth" as they will be in a few weeks or months.

I have not been on a ship that has the new menu yet. I'm curious about how others feel about the "family style" dishes. I think it would be awkward if you're sharing a table with strangers. How big of a serving is it appropriate to take? What if I want the plate passed to me and I don't know the name of the person that's closest to it?

You don' t have to share with anyone :)

There are certain things that they do bring for the table. Now it was just my family of 5 at the table. So I'm not exactly sure how it would work with sitting with people you don't know or a table with more people (maybe 1 dish at each end of the table).

There are certain things that they do bring for the table. Now it was just my family of 5 at the table. So I'm not exactly sure how it would work with sitting with people you don't know or a table with more people (maybe 1 dish at each end of the table).

When John Heald was asked about sharing, he said sharing was not "mandatory". There's no way CCL could make strangers share :)

Since you shared a table with your family, sharing was a given ;)

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Double post

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..Wonder if this was "My Time Dining" problem?? Seems to me that the regular MDR seatings would have a more definite system for the room. With 50 different tables being served at 50 different times, I would understand if there was a certain level of chaos.

 

...Anyone experience the new menus in the MDR for the early/late seatings?

As i stated we did the "My Time Dining". So I cannot give you a first hand account of the Early / Late Seating. But we wondered the same thing. So we asked others on the ship that were doing the Early / Late Seating. Now I don't recall if we specifically mentioned the food sitting at the server's station but they did say that dinner was really slow.

And you really had to pay attention to realize that it was your food sitting at the server's station not being served as they bring out so much food and start dispersing it everywhere. But then you see some covered plates there that are not being dispersed. And you wonder what's going on. Then they take the plate from your first round and you see them go and uncover the food that's been sitting there and bring it to you. It took a couple of nights to realize that's what was going on.

Go rams

OK, so Carnival has rolled out it's new American Table & American Feast menus. And we were among the "lucky ones" to experience it first. (Actually we were on the second cruise with this new menu.) For more information about this new menu check out this link: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5632

 

Now for our take... We hated it. And here is why:

 

1) The menu is too “busy” and therefore more confusing than it needs to be. We were able to figure it out so that wasn’t the biggest negative. But it was an annoyance.

2) In the past there were always like 3 or 4 items in each category that we wanted to try. With this new menu, we were lucky if there was 1 item in each category that we wanted to try. Matter of fact, I think for the first time ever we actually skipped going to the main dining room a few nights. There just wasn’t anything on the menu worth going for.

3) If you had ordered multiple dishes, even appetizers, they would only deliver 1 plate at a time. All that you ordered was brought out to the server’s station all at once. But they would only bring over 1 dish at a time. So by the time you finished the first plate they served you, then they cleared that plate, then they served you the next plate, the food was cold or not fresh.

4) Because of the practice stated in point number 3 (food sat at server’s station while only 1 dish at a time was served), it took a minimum of 2 hours every night to eat. So if you wanted to do anything else (shows, etc.), forget about it. You couldn’t do both because dinner took so long.

 

In our humble opinion, it sucked… bad.

 

And by no means do I blame the servers. Because we had different servers as we do the “My Time Dinning”. And all the servers did the same. So this was a directive from above.

 

There was only 1 person / couple that we spoke to that did NOT have a negative opinion of the new menu. So if you have already experienced this new menu / service system, what is your take? Let us know.

I'm going on the liberty in a couple of weeks and am really dreading this new menu. Is it true there is only one dessert available most days? Also if there is nothing on the new menu that we like will they do every day selections like steak, chicken etc?

OK, so Carnival has rolled out it's

3) If you had ordered multiple dishes, even appetizers, they would only deliver 1 plate at a time. All that you ordered was brought out to the server’s station all at once. But they would only bring over 1 dish at a time. So by the time you finished the first plate they served you, then they cleared that plate, then they served you the next plate, the food was cold or not fresh.

4) Because of the practice stated in point number 3 (food sat at server’s station while only 1 dish at a time was served), it took a minimum of 2 hours every night to eat. So if you wanted to do anything else (shows, etc.), forget about it. You couldn’t do both because dinner took so long.

 

In our humble opinion, it sucked… bad.

 

And by no means do I blame the servers. Because we had different servers as we do the “My Time Dinning”. And all the servers did the same. So this was a directive from above.

 

There was only 1 person / couple that we spoke to that did NOT have a negative opinion of the new menu. So if you have already experienced this new menu / service system, what is your take? Let us know.

That's not new. We've been ordering multiples for over 20 years. Most times they put everything down at once, but sometimes they would put one plate at a time. It really always depended on the server. We actually always preferred one plate at a time.

We didn't like the "new" dining experience either. The choices have been slimmed down a lot and it was very hard for us to find something to eat each night. We did go to the dining room every night. We had the late dining and it took 2 hours every night, unless we skipped the dessert, which happened a few times. There also were times we skipped the appetizer as there wasn't anything that looked appetizing to me. I mentioned it to our waiter and of course he didn't say much, but he did let us know that he didn't like it either. As far as ordering more than one dish, they brought all of ours and sat them at the table.

I went to the Q&A with the cruise director and he asked if we were liking the new menu and there were several experienced cruisers that said they didn't like it at all. In fact, one of those people was a Diamond member. He said to make sure to let Carnival know when we get our survey.

I got the survey yesterday afternoon from Carnival and I did express my opinion on there.

With a new menu and some new serving options I would expect problems. I personally found the old menu blah on a few nights and didn't eat in the MDR. Lucky for me the new menu looks great and I am excited. One question for those who have eaten from it, how did the food that you did order taste?

We didn't like the "new" dining experience either. The choices have been slimmed down a lot and it was very hard for us to find something to eat each night. We did go to the dining room every night. We had the late dining and it took 2 hours every night, unless we skipped the dessert, which happened a few times. There also were times we skipped the appetizer as there wasn't anything that looked appetizing to me. I mentioned it to our waiter and of course he didn't say much, but he did let us know that he didn't like it either. As far as ordering more than one dish, they brought all of ours and sat them at the table.

I went to the Q&A with the cruise director and he asked if we were liking the new menu and there were several experienced cruisers that said they didn't like it at all. In fact, one of those people was a Diamond member. He said to make sure to let Carnival know when we get our survey.

I got the survey yesterday afternoon from Carnival and I did express my opinion on there.

Thanks for your response. I think you are the first (besides me) that actually experienced it that has responded here. I'm sure it's just my perception but it appears that most of the responses here think I'm a whining Negative Nancy. I sincerely don't mean to be. We have loved our cruising experiences. (All on Carnival BTW. We are pro-Carnival people not anti-Carnival people like a lot of people seem to be.) That's why we have gone 3 times in the last 18 months. (I know that still doesn't hold a candle to some hard core cruisers but we do what we can.)

Anyway, I just thought I would start a forum for those that have actually experienced it to express their thoughts just to help answer some questions from those that will soon be experiencing it.

We too went to the Q&A with the cruise director. And we heard nothing but moans and groans when he asked the question. We didn't hear a single positive response.

Thanks again for your response. I would like to hear more responses from those that have actually experienced it.

Is it true there is only one dessert available most days?

There is more than 1 dessert available every day. The Melting Chocolate Cake is available every night. (Tell them you want the Mickey Mouse and you get 2 bowls of ice cream with it. :D) And then there are at least 2 other desserts to choose from. With one being pie (apple, pumpkin, blueberry, cherry) a la mode almost every night. (Our waitress told us point blank to skip the pumpkin pie.) Here is a good example of the dessert menu: http://2c5ce52b0912fbc9a82b-84437363d509c2b38e39752997a0528e.r10.cf1.rackcdn.com/American%20TABLE%20Dessert.jpg

Also if there is nothing on the new menu that we like will they do every day selections like steak, chicken etc?

Yes they will have some steak or chicken dish daily. Look at the "From The Grill" section in the "Mains" group of this menu and that will provide you with a good example: http://2c5ce52b0912fbc9a82b-84437363d509c2b38e39752997a0528e.r10.cf1.rackcdn.com/American%20TABLE%20Menu%20Cozumel.jpg

The choices change but you will have some steak or chicken option. My daughter got a steak one night and said it was cold so she didn't eat it. But she is a persnickety 16 year old so I'm not real sure about her critique. I didn't try it so I don't know for sure.

My daughter got a steak one night and said it was cold so she didn't eat it. But she is a persnickety 16 year old so I'm not real sure about her critique. I didn't try it so I don't know for sure.

Cold food that should be served hot is my biggest peeve with Carnival's MDR service. I believe your daughter.

Was any part of it good for you?

Yes. They had a decanter of water at the table for you to refill your own glass with. That was very good. Because it was hard to get them to refill your drink if you ordered something else like tea or lemonade. And again, I don't blame the servers for that. They were running around working their butts off. It just was what it was.

And there was a stuffed portobello mushroom dish that was really, really good. When it was delivered it didn't look to appealing IMHO. (a pile of green sitting in a sea of orange) But discard the appearance and try it. It was really, really good. And I wasn't the only one at the table who said that.

The lobster is very good. The filet mignon was good (not great but good). The Melting Chocolate Cake is always good. The shark bites and crab cakes were good.

New ... table setting...

Oh I forgot to say that someone mentioned that they only used tablecloths on the formal nights. I don't care about tablecloths so that really meant nothing to me other than to confirm their observation.

One question for those who have eaten from it, how did the food that you did order taste?

Everyone is going to have their own opinion regarding taste. For example, my daughter doesn't like the Melting Chocolate Cake. Now who in their right minds doesn't like the Melting Chocolate Cake?!?! My daughter is 16 so I guess one could argue that she is not in her right mind. :D

Anyway, the stuffed portobello mushroom dish was excellent. The lobster and crab cakes were very good as were the shark bites. My daughter-in-law said the corn-dog was superb. :D

I've always thought that they struggle with potatoes except for the mashed potatoes which were very good. And I like a "normal" salad if you will. And it has been our experience that you can't simply get a "normal" salad. And the Caesar salad has way too much anchovy in the dressing.