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Quality of food on Royal Caribbean

cruzgryphon
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Clarea

Clarea

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Posted
I am also very interested in hearing from experienced cruisers on this topic. I have been reading a lot of trip reports in preparation for my first cruise and it seems somewhat discouraging.

We've seen Prime Rib and Sliders disappear off the nightly MDR menus.

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JimAOk1945

JimAOk1945

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I wonder whether it would help improve the quality of food if people who are dissatisfied or disappointed would express their opinions verbally while on their cruise and again in their post-cruise survey?

 

As I said in my previous post, I don't have a problem with the food. However, if I experienced a continuing downward spiral, I would politely voice my opinion.

 

By the way . . . we were offered fresh pepper from the elusive pepper grinders in the MDR on our Liberty cruise. :D

Edited by JimAOk1945
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gkbiiii

gkbiiii

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I agree. If people are willing to pay more for the specialty restaurants, it lessens their incentive to get the "included dining" back up to a better level.

 

I felt like the MDR used to be a pretty nice dining experience. If I compared the quality of steaks only- it used to be that the MDR would be like going to a Longhorn. Solid quality, but affordable run of the mill. Chops was like going to Ruth Chris. As people started shifting their focus to the specialty venues, the food folks made the MDR steaks like a Golden Corral steak and you paid the upcharge for a Longhorn steak. The waiters may dress like Ruth Chris, but the food is more Longhorn quality IMO. I don't care to spend extra money for what used to be the basic.

 

As long as people are willing to fork out the money for "specialty" the food in the MDR won't get any better.

 

I have bolded key points, that I fully agree with you on. Before Christmas I called the executive offices at RCCL and had a discussion on just the MDR, Buffet, and room service: this included a general decline in quality of all venues, serious staffing issues, and an overall decline, of the quality of the food being served.

 

The room serve menu is nothing like before: one small piece of chicken, for the "honey chicken"? Everything always took 1 1/2 hours plus it always arrived cold.

 

The MDR no steak on the menu for a 5 night cruise and stopped service the "always available strip steak" and have stopped serving the New York strip. I was told by a manager, that corporate did this to encourage us, to by the upgraded steak (but at $35+, are they crazy?). Everything was severely downgraded, the Maitre d' begged in his final speech to his diners; not to down grade him or the staff, based on the menu or the quality on what was offered.

 

The Windjammer Buffet was seriously downgraded as well, with NO Asian section and no Indian food whatsoever. The new menu removed many liked dishes and reduced meat selection. Really a D- to F to Royal on this!

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1cruise2U

1cruise2U

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[quote name=gkbiiii;51880128

 

The Windjammer Buffet was seriously downgraded as well' date=' with NO Asian section and no Indian food whatsoever. The new menu removed many liked dishes and reduced meat selection. Really a D- to F to Royal on this![/quote]

 

On Freedom 12/18 it was a diverse cruise,,,,,but there were several Indian dishes, and a few asisian dishes everyday in WJ

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Pipo

Pipo

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No doubt the food quality and variety has decreased over the time on RCI. But still very good on specialty restaurants. My experience on Harmony's 150 Central Park has been the best so far on any cruise.

 

Those with previous cruising experience may feel disappointed (including myself), but I'm pretty sure a first timer will be delighted with the current menu and offerings.

 

My suggestion for those with "food nostalgia", is to try Celebrity, their current menu is what RCI used to be some years ago.

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robandlil

robandlil

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I object to the misleading descriptions. It leads to a feeling of disappointment. Just be real and I'll know how to order with no disappointment.

key lime soufflé, got a square of lime jello

Seafood soup, it was broth, empty of seafood

Iberia ham, it was a thin slice of regular ham folded over on a piece of lettuce.

Lobster bisque with sherry, no lobster, no sherry

In fact anytime a liquor was listed, usually as part of a desert, it was omitted.

 

Do they think we won't notice? Are they using old menu descriptions and just found a way to do it cheaper? Is the kitchen too lazy to do the real preparation described?

Edited by robandlil
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QE2_Fan

QE2_Fan

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I have no complaints. I've never sent anything back for being inedible, under cooked, etc.

 

 

 

While the meals in the specialty restaurants are sometimes more tasty, meat more tender, presentation nicer, I have still enjoyed every meal in the MDR.

 

 

 

Same here, whilst have had a few things that didn't rate so well we have never had to send a meal back at all!

 

We have cruised mostly Celebrity and can tell you similar threads exist over there, although I also ready many options that the food on Celebrity is superior in general to that on Royal ships.

 

Yes the menus don't change as often as we'd like being repeat cruises, but then again there is more than enough to choose from to say I can't face having to choose from the same menu I last saw 12 mths ago!!

 

And I ALWAYS look forward to getting my fix of French Onion Soup! [emoji3]

 

Beats the same menus repeating in our house on a weekly basis - oh no, not sausages again [emoji43][emoji13]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited by QE2_Fan
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cementhands

cementhands

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Posted
I'll start off by saying I'm not an employee of Royal Caribbean, don't have any relatives who work for Royal Caribbean or anything like that. I just wanted to start this thread to get a feel for what others think of the food quality on Royal Caribbean.

 

I've been cruising for 10 years - predominantly with Royal Caribbean but have also tried some other cruise lines as well. Over the last couple of years it seems to me that the food quality in the main dining room (not the specialty restaurants) - variety, quality of food itself - has decreased on Royal Caribbean.

 

People who I've talked to onboard seem to feel the same way - new cruisers, cruisers who have cruised other cruise lines and loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers.

 

Do others find this as well? How does the quality of food compare to say Princess these days? Be interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

Based on January 2016 sailing on Anthem I could not agree more. We've been on many cruises, diamond on RCL and Elite on Celebrity, also upper members on Princess and NCL, recent Anthem sailing was the worst food and service ever.

I'm a healthy 60 year old male, yoga and walks daily, and I eat right low sodium etc. My feet and ankles swelled from food on Anthem. I did my legs up the wall yoga pose, nightly to Drain My Legs!

Once home legs were fine. We loved the Anthem for activities, but food was an issue. Prior cruise was Celebrity Equionox, excellent food and services.

We're going to try Grandeur, from reviews food and services seem great. And anthem continues to struggle in this area based on CC reviews.

You never know what a Corporation like RCL may be doing or trying with Anthem. I agree that it might be a training ship, so service stinks, the waiters were amateur hour on our cruise.

I've been on NCL Spirit once food was just okay but loved ship, year later went again food was amazing. Met the new head chef and he turned it around. Food and services were on par with celebrity's.

And I know it's a very subjective thing, so take all reviews , including my thoughts with a grain of Salt!

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schlimazel_traveler

schlimazel_traveler

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I object to the misleading descriptions. It leads to a feeling of disappointment. Just be real and I'll know how to order with no disappointment.

key lime soufflé, got a square of lime jello

Seafood soup, it was broth, empty of seafood

Iberia ham, it was a thin slice of regular ham folded over on a piece of lettuce.

Lobster bisque with sherry, no lobster, no sherry

In fact anytime a liquor was listed, usually as part of a desert, it was omitted.

 

Do they think we won't notice? Are they using old menu descriptions and just found a way to do it cheaper? Is the kitchen too lazy to do the real preparation described?

 

This has been our complaint on Royal as well. It was good for a laugh every night.

 

I think new cruisers are disappointed, too. Before I had ever been on a cruise ship, one thing I "knew" about cruising was that the food was supposed to be both great and excessive.

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

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Combine a 'I don't have to cook it or clean up' mindset with people being guilt tripped into providing perfect surveys and you end up here; mediocre food. RCI food is "okay". I've never had anything terrible that I couldn't or wouldn't eat, but as far as comparable cruise lines go I rank them at the bottom consistently.

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griffy116

griffy116

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Just returned from cruise on Enchantment. This is our 15th cruise with Royal and YES...the quality and selection of the food has declined. While I don't have to prepare it or clean up afterwards, dinner used to be something we were excited about in the MDR. THEN the specialty restaurants happened and people were willing to pay for better food. I don't think the quality will ever improve as long as people are willing to pay for BETTER food. The service in the MDR is impeccable and our waiters were fabulous, but the food was just okay. We have a cruise booked for June on Celebrity. I'm hoping the food will be better, but I'm not counting on it, since they have the same parent company. I never went hungry but there was not a single night that we raved about anything on the menu like we used to do many years ago.

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existentialtraveler

existentialtraveler

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This has been our complaint on Royal as well. It was good for a laugh every night.

 

I think new cruisers are disappointed, too. Before I had ever been on a cruise ship, one thing I "knew" about cruising was that the food was supposed to be both great and excessive.

 

My first cruise was the Song of Norway back in 1984. The food was not just great,but it was, to me at the time, SHOCKINGLY GREAT!!! For years afterward, one of the reasons we chose to cruise over other types of vacations was, indeed, the food, which was truly gourmet. Now we cruise for reasons that have nothing to do with food. Disappointing? Yes.

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forkcreek

forkcreek

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I wonder whether it would help improve the quality of food if people who are dissatisfied or disappointed would express their opinions verbally while on their cruise and again in their post-cruise survey?

 

As I said in my previous post, I don't have a problem with the food. However, if I experienced a continuing downward spiral, I would politely voice my opinion.

 

By the way . . . we were offered fresh pepper from the elusive pepper grinders in the MDR on our Liberty cruise. :D

Many of us have done exactly as you suggested as well as written directly to Mr Goldstein and Mr Baily. This was also brought up with Miami HQ staff on the Presidents cruise this past Sept. Simply put, doing so has always been a waste of time.

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George C

George C

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In last 3 years we have done 4 RCCL cruises and 3 Sandals (Whitehouse) vacations food is Sandals was way better than RCL WJ and MDR and sometimes as good as RCCL specialty restaurants, Sandals also enforced a dress code in certain restaurants

Edited by George C
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KarenR122

KarenR122

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I find the food on Royal the some of the worst we have encounter on any vacation, whether other cruise lines or land based vacations. There was not one dinner on the last 3 cruises we have taken on Royal that we would consider great. Some were acceptable, others were just nasty. I do not care for the choices in the apps, entrees or desserts. Of course food is subjective but we don't go in expecting 5 star meals. I go with the expectation of Diner food since they are cooking for so many. If they made simpler dishes and executed them well, it would be more pleasing than trying to make "fancier" dishes, lying about ingredients and executed poorly. This is just for the Main Dining Rooms and buffets. I do not have a problem with the specialty dining. Oh and just another food pet peeve. How can you have a buffet, that serves so many kids (since this is family friendly line) and not have chicken fingers or pizza as food options.

 

We still cruise with Royal because we love the ships and other activities but we know going in that the food will stink!

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