Explorer food reviews, not very positive

[rjrpar]

The ship is great! We love the Explorer. But the MDR food was just super awful on our last cruise in August. Food and taste is very subjective. And it has not been that bad on our prior Explorer cruises. Having said that, the Windjammer had excellent food.

 

Been on Explorer 4 times and the food is good, but not great. we find most cruise ship food to be very similar. I think some people expect to get higher end restaurant food, but remember, they are cooking for 40000 people and their food budgets are pretty low.

[cibumcupio]

Just came off of the Explorer on the Oct 27 sailing. It was my first time on RCI, my first being on Celebrity. I have to say, I was very impressed by the food in the MDR. I was reading the boards as well before my sailing, and the comments ranged from "absolutely inedible" to "you'll not go hungry at least". That and knowing that Celebrity focused on food and RCI focused on entertainment made me feel like I shouldn't expect too much from the food.

 

All in all, I thought it was great. If Celebrity was a 10, then RCI was an 8. The food always came out hot and well seasoned. They didn't have as many high end ingredients (less lamb, duck, sea bass, and big scallops), and most meals were protein plus potato in some form, while Celebrity had more inventive sides. The steak was also not as thick, but my DH said the prime rib was one of the best he's had. Just like any large dining venue, some things were hits and some were misses. But we definitely had our fair share of very good meals. If this helps, my DH compared the MDR to Cheesecake Factory.

[marci22]

I think Ex is one of the more consistent ships when it comes to food. We liked it on our May 2013 sailing, as well as all of the other times.

[grod19]

If you have a problem with a dish or a meal speak up and tell your server. They will bend over backwards to make it right (atleast most of them will). Best time to fix a problem is while the problem is occuring

 

 

I have a travel buddy who physically can't eat a lot of food, she rarely clears a plate regardless of how good it tastes. The servers are constantly asking her if she didn't like it or if she would like a different dish etc. You can tell they are very concerned she didn't enjoy dinner and we have to convince them it is due to her health issues that she just can't eat anymore.

[jascruise]

On past Explorer cruises we have enjoyed the Indian vegetarian selections.

 

I've heard that these have been discontinued in the MDR.

 

Is this true?

[Amy from Delaware]

On past Explorer cruises we have enjoyed the Indian vegetarian selections.

 

I've heard that these have been discontinued in the MDR.

 

Is this true?

 

I hope they haven't been discontinued :( I love Indian food!

[NJcruisenewbie]

I found the food to be very hit or miss. For example, sushi was delicious and fresh one night but absolutely tasteless on another night(how sushi could rendered tasteless is perplexing to say the least but I assure you it was); salmon cooked/seasoned perfectly one night but overcooked on another night; eggs overcooked/undercooked at breakfast.

 

By far my favorite offering was the tutti salad bar. All the ingredients were very fresh and my salad had exactly what I wanted in it.

[wezie]

Is there a link to the Explorer menus or are they posted anywhere?

[cibumcupio]

I hope they haven't been discontinued :( I love Indian food!

 

Didn't see any Indian food in the MDR. There was only one tray of it in Windjammer, and it wasn't very good.

[Sandy1975]

I was on the 10.27 trip to Bermuda and to be honest I didn't think very highly of the food. On day 1 I had pork tenderloin or pork chop, cant remember but it was not good at all (apps were OK and I didn't have dessert). On the second formal night pretty much my entire meal was horrible. I ordered the mushroom pastry thing and it came out cold with the sauce completely gelatinated (not sure of spelling), main course was prime rib and it was grey looking and quite tough ( I asked for medium well and while I know it will not be the pinkish looking piece of meat most people get, it was not even close to other similar orders I have had at other restaurants so this is why I can say it was not good). On second formal night my meal was bread, soup and dessert, pretty sad IMO. Breakfast in main dining room on a couple of days was just too oily. I ate a few times in the windjammer but it was just salads as the rest of the food didn't look appetizing especially after seen how others grabbed the spoons and cross contaminated everything. For the record, my husbands choices in the main dining room were decent for the most part. He shares my opinion on the windjammer.

 

The one thing I can recommend in the main dining room that should be fool proof is the Tutti Salad on sea days for lunch.

 

I can't remember food been this inconsistent on previous Royal Caribbean cruises but EOS didn't measure up to other ships' dining experiences.

[Sandy1975]

If you have a problem with a dish or a meal speak up and tell your server. They will bend over backwards to make it right (atleast most of them will). Best time to fix a problem is while the problem is occuring

 

 

 

This is true. I told our servers what the problem was but said not to worry about it that I wasn't that hungry to begin with. I just didn't want to go through other options and then not think it was good for me.

[cibumcupio]

I was on the 10.27 trip to Bermuda and to be honest I didn't think very highly of the food. On day 1 I had pork tenderloin or pork chop, cant remember but it was not good at all (apps were OK and I didn't have dessert). On the second formal night pretty much my entire meal was horrible. I ordered the mushroom pastry thing and it came out cold with the sauce completely gelatinated (not sure of spelling), main course was prime rib and it was grey looking and quite tough ( I asked for medium well and while I know it will not be the pinkish looking piece of meat most people get, it was not even close to other similar orders I have had at other restaurants so this is why I can say it was not good). On second formal night my meal was bread, soup and dessert, pretty sad IMO. Breakfast in main dining room on a couple of days was just too oily. I ate a few times in the windjammer but it was just salads as the rest of the food didn't look appetizing especially after seen how others grabbed the spoons and cross contaminated everything. For the record, my husbands choices in the main dining room were decent for the most part. He shares my opinion on the windjammer.

 

The one thing I can recommend in the main dining room that should be fool proof is the Tutti Salad on sea days for lunch.

 

I can't remember food been this inconsistent on previous Royal Caribbean cruises but EOS didn't measure up to other ships' dining experiences.

 

Love hearing others' opinions on the same cruise! Our mushroom thing came out quite hot and tasty, and I think it had something to do with how close we were to the galley. In fact, all of our food came out hot. It might have something to do with our waiter, Kumar, who was super efficient as well. Several times we had meat come out not at the right done-ness, but we just asked and he always brought out another one that was cooked perfectly. This happened with the prime rib, lamb chops, and several beef entrees.

 

Since I love talking about food, I'll say more. A lot more. :D Might write an actual review one of these days. There were four of us so we got to try almost everything off the menu in the MDR, with each of us ordering 2-4 starters, 1-2 entrees, and 1 dessert. Our waiter also tended to bring out whatever we didn't order. I would say about one dish in every round was excellent, another 60% was fine, and the rest were not worth a second bite.

 

For starters, I enjoyed almost all of the soups, with the consummes and broths being especially good. There was also this roasted poblano and corn soup one night that was really really good. Everything else was fun to try, and nothing was too memorable for being especially bad or especially good. The salads were always mesculin greens with some kind of other thing thrown in. Hmm, the prosciutto on board is not very good, so avoid that if you like prosciutto. They also tend to throw bay scallops in everything--I guess there's an escargot shortage and a bay scallop abundance. I've had pasta, salad, everything except dessert with bay scallops in it.

 

The entrees were always a protein with potato in some form with carrots/string beans/asparagus. The sauces were very basic, nothing very creative, and the meats were always cooked well, and if not they would bring you another that was. The fish was sometimes surprisingly good for not being day-of fresh, so it's worth ordering just to see. And the last thing they had was always some sort of very cheesy/creamy vegetarian thing. Even when it says something else like eggplant parm or penne in chardonnay sauce, it was always either baked with a pile of cheese on top, or in a very heavy alfredo-like sauce. So those were a bit disappointing. Oh, the lamb shank on the very last day was excellent. It makes sense that a cruise ship could cook something that needs to be slow-cooked well.

 

Desserts were also fine. I would say about half of them are tasty and half of them tasted like cafeteria desserts. Sherbet was great, ice cream was full of ice crystals. Creme Brulee didn't have that nice crust on top, but the flavor was interesting. They were all a bit too sweet for my taste, especially after that heavy meal. They seemed to sometimes make up for lack of flavor by adding sugar.

 

I was very pleasantly surprised by the lunches in the MDR. The lunch carpaccio was better than the dinner one (which was cooked? huh?), and pastas, salads, lamb skewer, and desserts were all delicious. Better than dinner, I would say. I had a orange white chocolate flan for lunch that was probably the best dessert I had all week.

 

We only went to the Windjammer a few times, and it seemed like a pretty sad sight to me. It was just more meat swimming in sauce, potatoes of all kinds. Tried to find something to eat there, but I actually went hungry in several instances. Was very disappointed in it, especially after the Celebrity buffets. The quality was much, much lower than the MDR, in my opinion.

 

Cafe Promenade had good sandwiches, terrible pizza (especially for someone coming from NYC area), and bad desserts.

 

Portofino was excellent. Service was amazing, we received many more starters than what we were supposed to get because of our excellent waiter, and we could not find fault with any dish. Well worth the $20. The last time I had restaurant Italian food this good was in Italy (I live in Jersey, we have lots of great little Italian osterias, cafes, and gelaterias, but haven't been to many restaurants).

[edjny]

Didn't see any Indian food in the MDR. There was only one tray of it in Windjammer, and it wasn't very good.

 

We ate in the WJ every night of the Oct 27th cruise. We saw at least one and usually several Indian dishes every night. I tried some of them and enjoyed them. But, I was trying to limit myself to only ONE plate of entrees and still try as many dishes as possible. It was not easy..... :)

[Amy from Delaware]

Are there "to go" boxes in the Windjammer, so you can carry a plate if food back to your cabin?

[Sandy1975]

 

 

There was also this roasted poblano and corn soup one night that was really really good. Hmm, the prosciutto on board is not very good, so avoid that if you like prosciutto.

 

Desserts were also fine. I would say about half of them are tasty and half of them tasted like cafeteria desserts. Creme Brulee didn't have that nice crust on top, but the flavor was interesting.

 

We only went to the Windjammer a few times, and it seemed like a pretty sad sight to me. .

 

I totally agree with you on the poblano and corn soup. That was probably one of the best meals I had during this cruise. I also agree on your opinion on the prosciutto, just stay away if you like it.

 

Like you said, it is interesting to see the differences in the dining experience people have on the same trip. I had the Creme Brulee and I thought it was pretty good. Mine had the nice crust you are referring too. It was a little on the sweet side but I think for me it was the best dessert I had on board (while on other cruises I took it was the worse!!).

 

I understand that keeping consistency in a kitchen that feeds thousands of people must be difficult but it just amazes me how it can be like night/day when comparing same items during the same time.

 

Windjammer reminded me of a college cafeteria food. Pretty sad...

 

Inspite the so so food, I didn't go hungry (I am glad they had large quantities of the cheese breads, they were so yum!!). Now that I think about it, maybe that is the reason I didn't gain weight!!

[bythehex]

Last December we took our third cruise on the Explorer. Based on the two previous trips, we had a reasonable expectation as to what to the food would be like.

 

However, we were very disappointed with the food. One night everyone at the table ordered a dish with shrimp butterflied in the shells, and it was so overcooked that nobody could remove it from the shells! I ordered a steak one night that was too tough to cut, let alone eat. And my husband had the sliders one night and they were so dry and tough they also were inedible. The lobster on formal night was horrible.

 

If it was just us, I would say that it was a fluke. However, most of the other people at our large table had issues with their food as well. And yes, we did complain and the maitre'd came over and acknowledged that they were, and I quote him, "getting a lot of complaints about the food".

 

While I agree that people's tastes are very subjective, when it comes to the actual quality of the food being bad, that's beyond subjective opinion.

 

I hope that since last December the food quality has improved on the Explorer because we really do like the ship, the rooms, the crew, etc. and would like to sail on the Explorer again in the future.

[edjny]

Are there "to go" boxes in the Windjammer, so you can carry a plate if food back to your cabin?

 

Not exactly... There are no 'take-out' boxes as such. But there is nothing to stop you from loading up a plate or two and carrying it out. They do not put out trays to carry plates/drinks, but if you ask, they could get one for you. You get a tray when you order in your cabin. You could just save the tray and use it for the rest of the cruise to carry out from the WJ.

[Amy from Delaware]

Not exactly... There are no 'take-out' boxes as such. But there is nothing to stop you from loading up a plate or two and carrying it out. They do not put out trays to carry plates/drinks, but if you ask, they could get one for you. You get a tray when you order in your cabin. You could just save the tray and use it for the rest of the cruise to carry out from the WJ.

 

I was hoping for some sort of container with a lid. Carrying an uncovered plate of food through the ship and all those (disgusting, coughing, sneezing, non-hand-washing :eek::eek::eek:) passengers doesn't seem appealing. I guess if nothing else, I can put another plate upside down over food. Or keep those silver covers that come with room service...hmmm...:cool:

Edited November 5, 2013 by Three Rings