Liberty of the Seas 5 Night Mexican Cruise Food Review 1/12/2015

[Cruisegoer]

I'll keep this as short as possible. This was my first RCL cruise in some time and my first time on a "big" (> 150K ton) ship. Prior to the cruise I was very excited about the ports of call and the shipboard amenities but had read quite a few mixed reviews about the food so I was a bit trepidatious.

 

Overall: I was always able to find something on the (dinner) menu. All escargot have been removed from the menu. We dined in Chops Grille, we were informed they just began a new menu about 10 days prior.

 

Night 1: It was the Pimento menu if memory serves me correctly in the MDR. That night we opted for one of the Surcharge restaurants (Chops Grille) as they had a 20% discount promotion on the first evening. Chops is great. They allow you up to 3 appetizers/starters which would include your appetizer, soup and salad. One entree and multiple family style sides. Of the appetizers the colossal shrimp cocktail is great and so was the Truffled Mushroom soup. The sea scallops were a bit disappointing/tasteless and so was the french onion soup. The 9oz Filet was very good and so were the spicy prawns. Favorite sides were white truffle corn and seasoned mushrooms. We opted for the steam spinach which I believe was probably a mistake not taking the creamed spinach (because we found it bland not having enough garlic). Mash potatoes were good but you'll find that almost every dinner meal includes mash so it gets boring.

 

Night 2-Formal Night: We had hoped this would be Jasmine with the Fisherman's Plate but instead it was Saffron. Bay scallops replaced escargot for an appetizer which were fine. Both the Beef Tenderloin and the Roast Duck entrees were very good.

 

Night 3 - Sorry I could not find the Theme in the Culinary Press Kit but I believe it was Cilantro. We had fried calamari fritta and beefsteak tomato/Feta salad. There were lamb chops on the menu which were very good as well as an aged strip steak.

 

Night 4 - Last night we dined in the MDR, the menu included a fried shrimp appetizer which was very good, I had seconds. Another appetizer was a asian beef salad (honestly it looked like sliced roast beef with some endive and a herb/oil drizzle on it. Entrees included a very good veal osso buco and salmon en croute which was tasty. There was also a chicken satay salad entree which I was told was pretty tasty as well.

 

Night 5 -With the special pricing on the first night we moved our pre-paid reservation for Portofino to the last night. This also happen to be the Jasmine theme menu in the MDR with the Fisherman's Plate entree (lobster night). Portofino was nice but I felt a bit of a overall repeat of the best MDR entrees offered together on 1 menu so deciding is a challenge. The seafood was great, Spiedino(sp?) de Mare with some lobster, shrimp, scallop and salmon. Other entrees included lamb chops, beef tenderloin, and a crab/shrimp risotto. Here we did 2 appetizers/starters and 1 entree each and shared a risotto dish (also allowed to share a pasta). The beef carpaccio appetizer was great (but a little dry) and the ceasar salad was good also. There was a shrimp risotto appetizer which was very good. The tiramisu dessert at Portofino is also great.

 

Breakfast and Lunch: If you want Eggs Benedict you must go to the MDR for breakfast. They were good but nothing great. The MDR is very unorganized when it comes to breakfast. Forgotten juices, forgotten breakfast potato's, cereal delivered sans milk. Smoked Salmon is available by request or it may be out in the Windjammer. There are plenty of sausages, bacon, french toast, luncheon meats, assorted and made to order omlets in the Windjammer. There is complimentary OJ so only buy the fresh squeezed if its a real desire. Sadly lunch in the Windjammer was bland and disappointing. The best things most days were the small prepared sandwiches. Pizza, burgers and hot dogs all very ordinary. Most of the buffet dishes were boring and lacking in seasoning/flavors. There was a small Indian section which I would hope was robust in flavor considering the number of Indian chefs but was seemingly bland at lunch. There was Butter Chicken the last night which was very good but most other dishes were misses. It would be nice if they used Basmati and not regular white rice but oh well.

 

This is just my perspective but that's what we are here for. Overall still a great vacation and my belly was always full.

[tomtravel]

Thanks for your review--you gave us some ideas. This will be our first time on RCCL. I am raising the bar--hope Liberty will answer. Thanks

[kftw]

Thank you.

[PathfinderEss]

Thank you for the foodie review, I loved it.

[GirlGamer001]

We were on this cruise as well. We ate escargot in the MDR on the first night of the cruise.

[Cruisegoer]

We were on this cruise as well. We ate escargot in the MDR on the first night of the cruise.

 

Guess then it's just not part of the classic offerings (like the Royal Shrimp Cocktail) that it once was per the culinary press kit. Just my luck to miss the escargot and the fisherman's plate, "whaa whaaaaah".

[Kitty9453]

Does the breakfast menu in the MDR change each morning?