Dining question?

[BrownCalico]

The hubs and I just cruised our first time on NCL [sky] in May (had always done RCCL prior) and LOVED it. My question is: the primary menu in the main dining room was the exact same every night of our cruise and only had a very few specials that were different each night. We are planning to take another cruise for his birthday in September, and I am looking at NCL Gem, Jade, or Pearl. Will the menu likely be the same each night for a 7 night cruise, or is that just because Sky was a 4 night that the menu repeated exactly? Also, will it be the same as it was on Sky? [Hope the question makes sense!] In other words, how often do they switch up the menu and is there more variety in the main dining room for longer cruises.

 

Thanks in advance! The answer to this question will be key in deciding whether to go with NCL or RCCL.

 

Thanks again!

[eiffeltower07]

It would be the same main menu every day and then a few daily specials.

[bakerintn]

The MDR dinner menus have two sides....the left side is the "always available" selections and the right side changes each day (5-6 different entrees and different appetizer and desserts. The lunch menu stays the same each day, as I remember.

[BrownCalico]

Will it be the exact same menu as what we had in May? Or is there any way to know? I can deal with the same menu for the week as long as it isn't the exact same as before.

 

Thanks again!

[luddite]

The fleetwide menu doesn't change very often.

I would expect the same menu that you recently had.

[BrownCalico]

Thanks everyone! That helps a bunch! :-) For a couple foodies two cruises within a couple months of each other with the exact same menu may be a little much... may wait and do NCL next time around... :)

[Sauer-kraut]

My parents just did Royal Caribbean on a transatlantic and then a Med so a 15 day and 7 day and the menus were the same, so I don't think RCL really mixes them up much either. Mom said the menus repeated at least 2 in those 3 weeks. :)

[psbtrvlr]

Thanks everyone! That helps a bunch! :-) For a couple foodies two cruises within a couple months of each other with the exact same menu may be a little much... may wait and do NCL next time around... :)

 

During a galley tour, the chef told us that they have 14 different daily menus fleetwide and that they can choose from the 14 or do a set of 7 suggested in their guidelines.

[SliceOfLife]

I have pictures of 7 days of menus from the Breakaway. The link is in my signature if you wanted to look through them and get an idea of what's on a 7 days cruise.

 

Like the previous posters said, one side of the menu always stays the same (favorites or classics) and then the other side is the daily specials. Usually 3 appetizers, 4 entries, and 3 or 4 desserts.

[KeithJenner]

One thing to remember is that the set menu is different between the MDR's.

 

I have spent 14 days on NCL ships in the last month and the only meals I have repeated were in the Noodle Bar and the Pub, and they were because I wanted the same thing again, or because they were for lunch.

 

If you use the same dining room every night then you could well struggle to keep it interesting though, and it is probably more of a challenge on smaller ships, or of you don't want to use the speciality restaurants. I only used the pay restaurants a few times though.

[vols_159]

There's around 14 different menu so u may or may not have the same one

[GORDONCHICK]

There is a menu of items on the left that are "always available" items. This menu does vary slightly between the aft MDR & the midship MDR. For example, one MDR will have a strip steak, the other a ribeye. There are other subtle differences.

 

Then there's a 14 night menu. This menu is fleet-wide but ships will used their own rotation of those menus, though almost always, lobster is offered on the first night of the cruise.

 

Since the OP took a 4 night cruise, they only saw 4 out of 14 possible dinner menus. If they take a 7 night cruise, it's possible to see a few of those menus again, but at the very least, they'd see 3 new menus but they'd probably see more than that.

 

BTW, we sailed RCCL in March of 2012, and they also had a menu of items that were available every night along with selections for that particular evening. However, they did not have all the other dining options.

[mtwingcpa]

On my NCL cruises I've also found that about half the menu remains constant and half changes on a daily basis. Sometimes (rarely) there just isn't anything that sounds good, so I avail NCL's MANY other dining opportunities, including buffet, specialty restaurants, room service, fast food, etc.

 

I was once on a 19 night cruise. After 14 days they started producing a custom photocopied menu so as to avoid an exact repeat of the regular 14.