8-Night Independence Menus (New Fleet Menus) 1/9/10 Sailing

[marci22]

Any food prepared in the kitchens must be consumed within very strict health department timeframes. The max time anything can be "leftover" is two hours - so you may get some holdovers between seatings, but once the second seating is done, anything that's left gets trashed.

 

You are telling me that none of it ends up on the WJ buffet, disguised as something else? I'm not quite sure that I believe that.

[orville99]

You are telling me that none of it ends up on the WJ buffet, disguised as something else? I'm not quite sure that I believe that.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying. We've done several behind the scenes kitchen tours, since DW and I are both chefs, and "leftovers" are a major health violation that could result in big$$ fines or even shut down a ship until the health department "re-educated staff.

[May B]

When cooking for dinner, there certainly could be a plan to be cooking a basic something and turning half into a dinner item and the other half, saved immediately in the fridge, to be used for something at lunch. Couldn't there?

 

Kind of like using the duck breast for something but the rest of the duck for something else?

[Cindy]

I find these new menus very unappealing on several nights. My first thought in looking at them is, "WHERE'S THE BEEF?" We never eat things like Prime Rib at home, and we don't eat a lot of steak either (think mostly chicken breasts here:rolleyes:), so I really enjoy those things on a cruise. The food on a cruise is important to us...we like long, leisurely dinners with wine and good company. Our biggest complaint with RCCL on most of our cruises has been about the food...these new menus certainly didn't do anything to change our opinion.:( Unfortunately, several of the things that are still there are things I've sent back in the past because they were not edible. After three attempts at the NY Strip on the last night (on three different ships!) I gave up and don't even look at that any more. I also thought the shrimp ravioli was vile...don't know if I just got an "off" batch or I just don't care for the recipe. Surprisingly, I've found the turkey medallions to be one of the better and more flavorful items on the menu.

 

...after reading hundreds of posts (and I mean on the Royal boards by RCI lovers not

opposition flamers)...that the MDR food at Royal Caribbean has become mediocre.

 

...and that Carnival's MDR food (especially quality of beef) is superior. So, with generally higher rates than CCL, why can't RCI do a little better in the food department?

 

Mitch

 

We thought there was no comparison...the food on our one Carnival cruise so far was better than on any of our RCCL cruises in selection, quality, and flavor.

 

First of all, OP thank you so much for all your work!

 

Next, a possibly dumb question - What would be different about the 8 day menu posted and the fleet's 7 day menu?

 

Third, I'm going to take a wait and see attitude. I know we will go to Portofinos one night and Chops another. This will be a menu driven decision.

We have tried NCL, Princess and five cruise on Royal Caribbean dating back to 1989. Yeah, I guess we are some of the cruisers used to the 'old days' of pretty impressive food.

 

However, I will reserve judgment. If we don't like the food and want to cruise from a port we can drive to we have other options. The first one I'd like to try is Carnival Splendor. It's only a year old and I've heard good things about that ship. I'm sure the overall experience will be DIFFERENT. Maybe not better or worse overall but different.

 

Ya pays your money and makes your choices.;)

 

We thought the food on the Splendor was outstanding!

 

Do people really choose to sail based on the MDR menus? That's can't be true, right? ;) I love the fact that there are a variety of items on the menu because as a vegetarian, I wouldn't want to just have pasta or rice every night. The Indian food is fantastic and the chilled soups are a great way to start the meal.

 

FWIW, every time you order and the waiter puts that order in the kitchen, it is tabulated and put into a report. Business is supply and demand and if more people are eating seafood and if the soups are a hit, then that is what they feed us. It's not like they are conspiring to feed us old food off of horrible menus. As for the veggies and fruit becoming soups, what do you think they do in the restaurants you frequent at home?

 

BTW, just got off a Carnival cruise 2 weeks ago and although I thought the MDR food was good, the buffet was horrendous. I'm not talking bad, but really, really bad (i.e., high school or college cafeteria might be better). By the time I got to the MDR, I would have eaten a horse. :D I really do like the variety of menus and offerings on RCL and I am glad that they mix it up. If we don't see something we like, we ask for an alternative or we can always pop up to the Windjammer or order room service.

 

Lastly, I am so lucky to be able to cruise and I'm going on the Mariner in 16 days. Quite frankly I would eat the same food every night just to be able to be on vacation. Additionally, since I booked last February, our rates went down significantly enough that we moved from a balcony to a JS.

 

Yes, MDR food factors into our decision. We would NOT happily go to the buffet or order room service as an alternative, nor would we be happy eating the same thing every night on vacation, so that impacts our opinion. We thought there was a substantial enough difference in the quality of the food to choose Carnival over RCCL for our next cruise.

We also preferred the Lido on Carnival to the Windjammer on RCCL...not so much for the regular buffet lines which we never used, but for the stations like the chicken rotisserie, burrito bar, stir fry (Mongolian Grill), deli, etc.

Here's the section of my Splendor review where I talked about the food:

FOOD: The food on this cruise was our biggest and most pleasant surprise. In our opinion everything having to do with food or food service was top notch on the Splendor. My husband and I kept looking at each other and shaking our heads in disbelief, because we honestly could not get over how much better the food was – in taste, variety, quality, and presentation than what we’ve had on our recent cruises. We thought it was very evident that the Splendor was using much higher quality meat and seafood than our recent experiences on Royal Caribbean. It’s a little harder to compare the food to Princess since it’s been over 2 years since we cruised with them, but the dining room food seemed more similar to Princess than Royal Caribbean. I also thought the food on Splendor was clearly better than the other ships we’ve been on in the Lido. We’re really not buffet people, and usually spend most cruises trying to avoid eating there. We often struggle to find something to eat and end up filling our plates with junk we don’t really want. I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the variety in the Lido. The offerings were 2 different buffet lines with entrees, soups, salads, and a carving station, a huge dessert and fruit bar, a Deli where you could get custom made hot and cold sandwiches, an Asian stir-fry station, a Burrito station, a Tandoori station, and a Rotisserie which offered chicken, potatoes, corn, and a variety of salads. Try the tomatoes and mozzarella with pesto when you visit the Rotisserie…yummy! Outside by the main pool is the Pizzeria which offers a large selection of pizzas and will do custom orders as well as calzones, and grills where they prepare fresh hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and steak sandwiches. The adults (and one teenager) ate at the Pinnacle on Tuesday night, and thought it was superb. The food was flavorful and plentiful, cooked perfectly, and presented beautifully. It was also a LOT of food! We conked out pretty early that night from over-eating! What didn’t we like? This is hard, because we found most of the food to be very, very good with some things exceptional. I thought the bread selection was a bit lacking, and on the last night 2 people in our group had soups they didn’t care for. My mom had the lobster bisque and thought it had an odd taste, which is strange because she LOVED it at the Pinnacle – they must use a different recipe in the dining rooms. Jim tried the mango soup and also thought it was a bit odd. When you consider we had 11 people in our group eating/trying everything imaginable I think that’s pretty amazing. As much as I’ve enjoyed my cruises on the Voyager/Mariner/Explorer, the food on those ships doesn’t come close to what we had on the Splendor, and in some cases it was downright inedible.

[orville99]

When cooking for dinner, there certainly could be a plan to be cooking a basic something and turning half into a dinner item and the other half, saved immediately in the fridge, to be used for something at lunch. Couldn't there?

 

Kind of like using the duck breast for something but the rest of the duck for something else?

 

This is completely different than taking portions of a menu item that was prepared, and set out in the steam tables but wasn't consumed, and then "repurposing" it for a follow-on meal.

 

Prepping (Pre-cooking) a duck (or other animal protein) that is intended to be immediately carved and segregated in the way you describe so the various parts can be used in multiple dishes is routine - the difference is the parts not intended for that meal's menu are immediately returned to refrigerated storage (suitably segregated from other pre-preps so there's no cross contamination).

[May B]

Orville, it's fun to listen to the professional talk about it. On our recent Constellation, we spoke to the visiting head chef, at a chef competition (he was host, the two contestant chefs were one from the MDR, one from the specialty restaurant) and he told us some of the regulations from the gov't. like how long the fish has to be frozen for it to be considered safe! Wow. He also told us the only food item they pick up for the two-week Panama Canal transit cruise is bananas. How does the lettuce (for one example) stay fresh for two whole weeks?

 

Last year we were on Carnival's Inspiration and the MDR dinners were also a truly pleasant surprise, similar to Cindy's post. We didn't share her excitement for the Lido, however. I always found a very satisfying lunch, but I prefer Celebrity's buffet. Next week at this time, or a day or two later, I'll know what I think of the Windjammer! Going on a five-day on the Grandeur.

 

The dinner menus as posted here and in the other thread about RCI's "new" menus have me quite excited, as there are many things that appeal to me on each night's menu. I think they were thinking of me and my tastebuds when they changed! Now if the food just lives up to some of my expectations, I'll be totally happy. Time will tell.

 

--May

[marci22]

I also thought the shrimp ravioli was vile...don't know if I just got an "off" batch or I just don't care for the recipe.

 

 

 

I have had bad experience with a few of the fish/shellfish dishes on the menu. It seemed like the fish was being used past it's prime, or maybe wasn't stored correctly.

[orville99]

How does the lettuce (for one example) stay fresh for two whole weeks?

 

--May

 

If kept at 32-34F in a high humidity environment (~90%), lettuce will stay usable for 3-4 weeks. At 40F, the useful life drops to about two weeks.