Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Embarkation day lunch

Loreni

By Loreni,
in Princess Cruises

 Share

Recommended Posts

jamscckmc

jamscckmc

Posted
Posted

My experience has always been that unless you ask no one tells you lunch is available in the MDR. They always have directed us to the buffet. Even when asking about it the have been evasive. Anyone else experience this? I do like eating in the IC before the newbies discover it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

Posted
Posted

We ate lunch three times on embarkation day on the Ruby in the past five months--twice on our b2b cruises in December and again last month. The menu was the same as posted, except maybe for the beef. If it was tenderloin, it wasn't very tender. Fortunately for me, I had ordered an appetizer size portion of the ravioli but the waiter had brought me a full one, so I did not go hungry passing up eating all of the beef on my plate.

 

In addition to the desserts listed, you can order the fruit plate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

Posted
Posted
We ate lunch three times on embarkation day on the Ruby in the past five months--twice on our b2b cruises in December and again last month. The menu was the same as posted, except maybe for the beef. If it was tenderloin, it wasn't very tender. Fortunately for me, I had ordered an appetizer size portion of the ravioli but the waiter had brought me a full one, so I did not go hungry passing up eating all of the beef on my plate.

 

In addition to the desserts listed, you can order the fruit plate.

 

I agree, kind of at a loss where this misleading info comes from. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SHayesShip

SHayesShip

Posted
Posted

I have had the same experience more than once. I love the embarkation DR lunch to decompress from the excitement of boarding.

 

My experience has always been that unless you ask no one tells you lunch is available in the MDR. They always have directed us to the buffet. Even when asking about it the have been evasive. Anyone else experience this? I do like eating in the IC before the newbies discover it!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
PescadoAmarillo "Live from...." Rare

PescadoAmarillo

Posted
Posted
No, it'll go like this:

(a) We found the two offerings to be more than enough food.

(b) There were all kinds of other places to eat on the RP.

and

© If lunch is that important to you, there are other ships on the fleet that serve lunch.

Plus, a bonus retort:

(d) Eating a smaller luncheon merely makes it easier to fit onto our smaller balcony.

Thank you for understanding my frustration in acknowledging any reality less than perfection regarding the Royal Princess, which is obviously so unfairly maligned that it needs its own self-appointed advocates. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
IECalCruiser

IECalCruiser

Posted
Posted (edited)
Is it being cut back fleet wide ?

 

Some have reported no choice of appetizers or desserts.

 

We don't eat at Horizon Court for a number of reasons, so we hope lunch is not being phased out. There is already no lunch on port days. We were assured that gluten free options would be available at the buffet. While this is true, cross contamination is possible. I was happy that the gluten free muffins at HC were kept in the back and we had to ask for one. Unfortunately, we were given the sugar-free muffin instead. Since I knew what the gluten free muffin looked like, I questioned this and it was corrected, but I won't take that risk again. It seems the workers at HC don't have the same level of training as those in the dining room, so with food allergies, we prefer the dining room.

The only reduction of selections on the embarkation day lunch menu I have experienced was on a 4 day Coastal in January on the Sapphire out of San Pedro. There was a new set of 2014 Coastal cruise menus used on that cruise. People have posted that the standard embarkation lunch menu in use since 2009 was used on the 4/5 day cruises out of FLL. We had the old embarkation lunch on the Grand out of San Francisco last month. Even though the 2014 Coastal embarkation lunch menu had reduced choices, there were appetizers and desserts, but my favorites of orange souffle and nutella ice cream were not on the dessert menu :( Edited by IECalCruiser
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Julia’s Journey’s

Julia’s Journey’s

Posted
Posted
No, it'll go like this:

(a) We found the two offerings to be more than enough food.

(b) There were all kinds of other places to eat on the RP.

and

© If lunch is that important to you, there are other ships on the fleet that serve lunch.

Plus, a bonus retort:

(d) Eating a smaller luncheon merely makes it easier to fit onto our smaller balcony.

 

 

Well at least everyone is getting some ROFL from the Royal and all the threads

ROFL ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Oy, excuse the auto correct ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Julia’s Journey’s

Julia’s Journey’s

Posted
Posted
On the Royal we had embarkation lunch at Alfredo's ...and it was an excellent choice!! It is nice to have another option for a served lunch..

 

 

I forgot or never took note on Royal but did Alfredo's have gluten free pizza? I'm booked on Regal and my son needs gluten free which is all new to me :(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Oy, excuse the auto correct ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
IECalCruiser

IECalCruiser

Posted
Posted
I forgot or never took note on Royal but did Alfredo's have gluten free pizza? I'm booked on Regal and my son needs gluten free which is all new to me :(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Oy, excuse the auto correct ;)

If ordered, gluten free crust is available at Prego Pizzeria on Lido. I would hope with a pre-order that gluten free crust is also available at Alfredo's

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
D'Shadow

D'Shadow

Posted
Posted
My experience has always been that unless you ask no one tells you lunch is available in the MDR. They always have directed us to the buffet. Even when asking about it the have been evasive. Anyone else experience this? I do like eating in the IC before the newbies discover it!

 

This has happened to us a couple of times. On our last cruise in March we went to the dining room almost a half hour before it closed and were told they were full and our wait would be longer than that. The attitude drove us to Alfredo's - a great choice!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
IECalCruiser

IECalCruiser

Posted
Posted
This has happened to us a couple of times. On our last cruise in March we went to the dining room almost a half hour before it closed and were told they were full and our wait would be longer than that. The attitude drove us to Alfredo's - a great choice!
I have not had that happen to us but we try to get there by 12:30. Lunch in the DR can take up to an hour. I believe they want to wrap up service and get people out soon after 1:30 and at times close the doors early to accomplish that.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hlitner Excellent Advice! Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted
Not documentation but it's definitely been cutback on the Royal Princess. We noticed it immediately on our October Royal Princess cruise, and thought it might be a fleet wide change, but then the Emerald Princess had the old menu all winter. Then in March we were on the Royal Princess for the BVE and had that same, cutback menu again.

 

Yes, there have been reductions but it's not fleet wide.

 

(waiting to be told I've ruined someone's memory of their Royal Princess cruise by saying this...)

 

Just had a thought that there seems to be a lot of "cut backs" on the Royal. They "cut back" the cabin balconies, "cut back" the promenade, "cut back" the central staircase, etc.

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

Posted
Posted (edited)
We just got off the CB last week and they have shortened there menu to one fish and one beef. They are trying to do away with the dining room on embarkment day

 

There is always only 1 fish and 1 beef.....

All they would have to do is close it, not eliminate the menu. :cool:

Edited by Colo Cruiser
Link to comment
Share on other sites
PescadoAmarillo "Live from...." Rare

PescadoAmarillo

Posted
Posted
There is always only 1 fish and 1 beef.....

All they would have to do is close it, not eliminate the menu. :cool:

 

The menus in place on most ships still have the ravioli, chicken (I think...cacciatore?), and more starter and more dessert options. Also the Royal Princess fish is trout (yuck- our waiter warned against it) instead of yummy salmon. Definitely a difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
capriccio

capriccio

Posted
Posted
Also the Royal Princess fish is trout (yuck- our waiter warned against it) instead of yummy salmon. Definitely a difference.

 

That's a shame - we had salmon (my favorite) on the Royal in December.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PescadoAmarillo "Live from...." Rare

PescadoAmarillo

Posted
Posted
That's a shame - we had salmon (my favorite) on the Royal in December.

For embarkation day lunch? That's strange, because it wasn't on the menu in October nor March. That implies that they switched to the more widely used embarkation day lunch menu for a period of time, and then back again. Very curious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
capriccio

capriccio

Posted
Posted
For embarkation day lunch? That's strange, because it wasn't on the menu in October nor March. That implies that they switched to the more widely used embarkation day lunch menu for a period of time, and then back again. Very curious.

 

Yes it was the embarkation lunch. About half of our party of 12 had salmon, the other half had beef tenderloins. I remember salads, fettucine (of course), a seafood appetizer, and a couple of desserts (love the souffle). It was basically the same menu we had on the Caribbean in August and the Ruby in February.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Loonbeam

Loonbeam

Posted
Posted

One thing to consider is that the Royal has the largest Pax count of any Princess ship (I think). They may have gone to a smaller menu there to account for the increased demand on staff for turnover to handle the extra passengers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
casavaha

casavaha

Posted
Posted

It has always amazed me how the employees on embarcation day always direct the

pax to the Horizon Ct. I do not ask anymore which dining room is open. I ask for the

Patter and check myself. Sometimes I have to go the front desk, sometimes to my

cabin if I have time. I try never to ask employes anything for fear of getting the

wrong answer. Check the Patter, the info you are looking for is probably there.

 

Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...