Quality of food on Royal Caribbean

[Scotty G]

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Thanks John but I already knew that ;)

[grapau27]

Agreed. I think the lowering of the quality of the food in the MDR is to save the company money, and to get more people into the specialty dining venues. So it's really a win-win for the cruise line.

For me the food is fine in MTD.

We go to the speciality restaurants at least twice during a weeks cruise for a quieter less rushed and more personal service.

[Debrad128]

I always promoted RC, but after this last cruise I cannot. As long as cruisers think the food is fine it will continue to get worse. Perhaps too, they are catering to the suite guests. We only stayed in a suite once and only ate in coastal kitchen one night because we were traveling with others. At that time we were fine with the dining room food. Any feedback on very recent sailings in coastal kitchen? I do think the cruise line is savings a great deal not only cutting back on the food quality but on quality chefs. I’m sure the hurricane has affected their bottom line. They did a very nice job fixing up Labadee. Unfortunately the shops on the islands are still struggling. I agree it is generally a great value, but if you don’t enjoy your meals, which is a large part of cruising, you think twice about going. It was suggested to us that we write to Miami about the food because they make the decisions and the chefs can only do so much with what they are provided.

[dadofjessie]

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.

 

From someone who has cruised on Celebrity, Princess and now Royal Caribbean, in my opinion, the food on Royal Caribbean is comparable to the other two and better. We just returned from a cruise on the Allure of the Seas and we found the food to be great.

[Debrad128]

Is it possible the new menu and food was only presented on oasis?

[TYMAN]

Cruised Brilliance last week and MDR food was not good at all. Been cruising since 1990 (D+), and this cruise, by far, worse meals. Prime Rib, first night, looked like and tasted like, it was from prior cruise. Pan fried Sea Bass? Mushy.

 

Did eat in Chops, very good steaks but the sides have diminished. Baked potato, which used to be huge, was smaller than what we make at home.

 

As much as I love RCCL (and I have more cruises booked) they need to upgrade the offerings.

 

 

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[grapau27]

Cruised Brilliance last week and MDR food was not good at all. Been cruising since 1990 (D+), and this cruise, by far, worse meals. Prime Rib, first night, looked like and tasted like, it was from prior cruise. Pan fried Sea Bass? Mushy.

 

Did eat in Chops, very good steaks but the sides have diminished. Baked potato, which used to be huge, was smaller than what we make at home.

 

As much as I love RCCL (and I have more cruises booked) they need to upgrade the offerings.

 

 

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I think all the 10s we give on the post cruise reviews to help the crew especially the MDR waiters where food is linked with service is giving RC the excuse to make more cuts to increase their bottom line.

[tullers]

One thing that I have to vehemently disagree with is the statement that cruising hasn't gotten cheaper. It used to be considered a good deal when you could book a cruise for under $100/day pp. I regularly book cruises on RCCL for <$60. Cruise ships are larger and have far more to offer in terms of entertainment/activities then ever before. 20 years ago, balconies were virtually unheard of except for suites. If you want the "old" MDR experience, fork over an extra $24/day pp and you can dine in the specialty restaurants for lunch on sea day plush dinner every night - or book an Oasis class ship in a suite and you get the California Kitchen and more amenities. I still believe that cruising is still good value for what you pay.

[griffy116]

We cruised both Royal and Celebrity last year. We had been told how much superior the food would be and quite honestly, we like the food on Royal better. Everyone has a different opinion. Some of the dishes on both lines, I could take or leave and I loved some on both lines, but at no time did I feel the food was inferior on Royal.

[Debrad128]

I too wasn’t a fan of the food on celebrity. The problem with the food on RC is very recent. September and October it was fine, January 2018 it was completely changed, nothing was the same.

[TYMAN]

I think all the 10s we give on the post cruise reviews to help the crew especially the MDR waiters where food is linked with service is giving RC the excuse to make more cuts to increase their bottom line.

 

 

 

I did give ten for service, but only five for food quality & presentation. It was tough to do, but I felt it needed to get attention.

 

 

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[ZandZ]

Recently came back. The menu update was much needed, however most items ranged from mediocre to inedible. I am not a picky eater but some of it tasted and looked gross. How do you mess up lasagna?? just how? I have never sent dishes back before in my life.

 

Breakfast in the MDR was not much better. French toast is not a difficult dish, it should be cooked through, not bread in the middle.

 

Never a fan of the WJ, I ended up going for breakfast (less choices) and lunch (pretty much no choices, other than hot dogs and burgers).

 

I have tried Chops in the past and thought it was very good but hated the Japanese place. I felt that any hole in the wall take out in NYC served better food. And the cost! Never again.

 

Currently looking into different lines for this reason..

[Big_G]

Just got off Allure Sunday and thought MDT food and service was exceptionally good the two nights we ate there. We jumped on Celebrity Silhouette and while we haven't gone to the dining room, so far Silhouette's Luminae has blown away Royal's Coastal Kitchen.

 

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[ZandZ]

In October RCCL rolled out a fleet wide new menu. We were on the Oasis in November and the food was horrible off the new menu. Limited choices. Both my husband and I felt like they were forcing us to go to the specialty restaurants for better food. I felt bad for the servers and they stand on their heads to please you.

 

We are NOT complainers, especially when we are on a cruise, but I will say, I don't believe we would sail on RCCL again until the menu changes again.

Exactly how I felt.. And they took away the basics that were previously available on the menu.

The one night I ordered lasagna, which was terrible, tried ordering risotto, which was also terrible, I ended up finishing my son's pasta off the kids menu - which was semi-decent. Go figure! From that night on, I took the kids' menu into consideration when ordering for myself. Now THAT is a new level of pathetic.

 

and yes, i lost weight on this cruise.

[time4u2go]

For me the food is fine in MTD.

We go to the speciality restaurants at least twice during a weeks cruise for a quieter less rushed and more personal service.

We feel like the MDR used to provide that.

[grapau27]

We feel like the MDR used to provide that.

I like l' escargots for starters and a steak for main they are labelled Always Available and unless they have changed it recently you can get those every night.

[time4u2go]

I like l' escargots for starters and a steak for main they are labelled Always Available and unless they have changed it recently you can get those every night.

Um...ok? Not sure what that has to do with the MDR previously providing a "quieter less rushed and more personal service", at least in my opinion.

[grapau27]

Um...ok? Not sure what that has to do with the MDR previously providing a "quieter less rushed and more personal service", at least in my opinion.

I was replying to the food question where there are certain items available every night so there is always something to eat.

We usually do MTD and it is a little rushed sometimes and the service is not as personal.

[icsys]

Iagree. If people are willing to pay more for the specialty restaurants, itlessens their incentive to get the "included dining" back up to abetter level.

[snip]

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

I'd be inclined to agree, but space in the speciality restaurants is limited and quite often they offer discounts mid-cruise.

Still doesn't entice us in though.

Edited March 9, 2018 by icsys

[ReneeFLL]

I think the quality has definitely gone down since I started cruising which was only 7 years ago. I am beginning to think they will continue to let it go down in hopes of more people eating in the specialty restaurants. Seems like it's working since they keep adding more.

[icsys]

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.

Whilst I agree that food is subjective, if people are not happy with the food quality, why continue to give tens across the board for the MDR on the survey? In doing so, how can you ever expect it to improve?

[icsys]

Did you read any of the threads about survey? Apparently the food rating reflects on the waiter(s) and your 6 would count against their service.

And that is the problem! Being persuaded to give a perfect score for food quality as it reflects bad against the service.

Ask the waiters and they will tell you, marking down the food quality reflects on them.

 

If the food quality is very good then by all means, score it a ten. No problems there. But on the occasions that it is not up to a previous standard then mark it down appropriately.

Write in the additional comments section.... Why should the servers be punished for the food quality? They did not cook it or prepare it, they just brought it to the table!

 

Icsys who is waiting to be told that you shouldn't hurt the hard working wait staff. ;p

[icsys]

I'mjust back from my first cruise ever, the 12/26 sailing on Liberty. My take onthe MDR and Windjammer food is that it isn't bad, it's just nothing special.That's sad, because the hardest-working staff most of us see are our MDRwaiters, and they deserve something better to work with.

 

 

As first time cruisers we were wow'ed .... now its nothing special.

[travelplus]

First of all do not buy the Give us 10s on the survey spiel I will rate them like Chef Gordon Ramsey would.If it's poor quality its 0 if its OK its a 3. If its excellent an 8 but never a 10.

 

Sorry but there is always room for improvement.

[Tatka]

We started cruising with rccl in 2004 on Splendor. Food was pretty mediocre. It was better in 2007 on Explorer. Lately we liked mdr food on Allure, Anthem and especially Grandeur, but buffets aren't great.

Overall we don't consider rccl to be a foodie line and prefer Princess and Celebrity in this regard.