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Death of MDR, rise of Windjammer

LMaxwell

By LMaxwell,
in Royal Caribbean International

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island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted
MDR has been very nice the past few weeks. Neither noisy or crowded. In and out in about an hour.

 

3 apps

Entree

Souffle

 

Banana rum soup. [emoji16]

 

We are sitting as two at a four top by the window

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

That's good to hear. We have not been so lucky at all the last few years in the MDR. :(

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squadron

squadron

Posted
Posted
I think most of us would agree that we don’t want that!!! Better keep the MDR for those that prefer it.

 

 

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I don't agree that the MDR is becoming less popular . It is almost impossible to get MDR seating even as much as a year out. I booked only 3 mos out this past cruise and there was not even a place for one person - even when checking as soon as I boarded and the next day. Had to do MTD which I did not enjoy.

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cruiselvr04 Great Review Rare

cruiselvr04

Posted
Posted

Just off the Navigator. We were assigned a 10 top in the middle of the dining room on deck 3. We were looking forward to many nights of pleasant conversation. No one showed....

 

We ate in specialty restaurants day one and three. Joined another couple at a 4 top for the rest of the cruise.

 

One night we tried the windjammer. It’s was our first in 27 cruise to do so. I was not impressed. The food was similar to what had been served for lunch. I was not even offered water. The only positive was an impressive display of cakes. We were in and out quickly and I can see if you’re not into service that would be okay.

 

For us we like the service, presentation and attention in the dining room. We are sad but it does seem true that the MDR is dying. Until it’s dead we will continue to go. Those who want the windjammer can have it, just don’t expect to see us there. Dinner was never more then 75 -90 minutes in the MDR.

 

By the way we did the Chefs table and it was 4 hours but very enjoyable! Great table mates, great food and wine and conversation. Of course I wouldn’t want to spend that amount of time every night at dinner but it was a great evening.

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Lazy_river

Lazy_river

Posted
Posted

Just off Navigater, 20+ cruises. WJ best ever...manager told me was not impressed when first on ship. Had meeting with all from table cleaners to captain.

Modified bulk cooking to smaller prep and cooking.

More work and guest might have a short wait on popular items. But quality is top notch.

They were constantly monitoring available items.

Asked drink server for banana on next to last morning. Manager came back, said he went to first floor storage (we were on eleven) and there were none. That’s 100% service.

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Pstreet12

Pstreet12

Posted
Posted

The problem of having only a few people at a large table seems to have become commonplace. We've switched to My Time for that reason; at least if we are seated with others, they will, in fact, be there. If we dine alone, it will be at a table for 2, not 10. We're sorry to lose the benefit (to us) of getting to know a group, but as so many have pointed out, they simply aren't going to the main dining room, so there is a very strong possibility that a table will consistently have empty spots.

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DarthGrady

DarthGrady

Posted
Posted

I've been going to the MDR less and less over the last few years. We used to go nearly every night, but now it's the exact opposite. I prefer the casual and fast experience of the WJ over the long (and frankly boring) service time in the MDR. I do still go by there occasionally for the salad bar during lunch on sea days and breakfast.

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island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted
I've been going to the MDR less and less over the last few years. We used to go nearly every night, but now it's the exact opposite. I prefer the casual and fast experience of the WJ over the long (and frankly boring) service time in the MDR. I do still go by there occasionally for the salad bar during lunch on sea days and breakfast.

 

Agree. Love the Tutti salad bar on sea days!! :hearteyes:

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Maraprince

Maraprince

Posted
Posted

Our experience has been to eat in buffet area for breakfast if we are doing a shore excursion and need to be in and out quickly. Same thing for lunch. On sea days it is a change to eat in the MDR. We always enjoy having dinner in the MDR -- makes for a change from walking around and getting our food.

 

Even we eat out at home, we do not do buffet style restaurants. In our opinion, dinner should be different from other meals during the day when you do not have the time or only want something lite. We are on vacation and it is really very nice to have wait service and a choice of how you wish your meat prepared, share some dishes, have more than one appetizer.

 

Call us outdated, but we enjoy the MDR for dinner!:D

 

MARAPRINCE

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Judie

Judie

Posted
Posted
Our experience has been to eat in buffet area for breakfast if we are doing a shore excursion and need to be in and out quickly. Same thing for lunch. On sea days it is a change to eat in the MDR. We always enjoy having dinner in the MDR -- makes for a change from walking around and getting our food.

 

 

 

Even we eat out at home, we do not do buffet style restaurants. In our opinion, dinner should be different from other meals during the day when you do not have the time or only want something lite. We are on vacation and it is really very nice to have wait service and a choice of how you wish your meat prepared, share some dishes, have more than one appetizer.

 

 

 

Call us outdated, but we enjoy the MDR for dinner!:D

 

 

 

MARAPRINCE

 

 

 

Agree with everything! Thank you for saying it so well.

 

 

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island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted
Our experience has been to eat in buffet area for breakfast if we are doing a shore excursion and need to be in and out quickly. Same thing for lunch. On sea days it is a change to eat in the MDR. We always enjoy having dinner in the MDR -- makes for a change from walking around and getting our food.

 

Even we eat out at home, we do not do buffet style restaurants. In our opinion, dinner should be different from other meals during the day when you do not have the time or only want something lite. We are on vacation and it is really very nice to have wait service and a choice of how you wish your meat prepared, share some dishes, have more than one appetizer.

 

Call us outdated, but we enjoy the MDR for dinner!:D

 

MARAPRINCE

 

Agree totally and miss those nice quiet and romantic dinners in the MDR of old. Now...as to the flavor of this thread....things seem to have changed for many of us.

 

For me, I keep trying the MDR for dinner...and keep getting bad service, noisy, crowded, long wait for reserved table, and not so great food. That is the actual problem for me IMHO, which has sent me to the much quieter and better service WJ at night. Shame...but that is how it has played out for us.

 

Once again..it's all a matter of personal experience. We also mix it up with specialty restaurants, and adore CK.

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The Fun Researcher

The Fun Researcher

Posted
Posted

This really is a hard one, because it is not like most of us are going on 10+ cruises a year to get a good sampling of how things are changing.

 

My best RCCL dining room experienced to date was just three months ago in January on the Liberty. Consistently excellent food in the main dining room and consistent top-notch service. Yet so many here seem to think that the dining room is declining rapidly.

 

Dan

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Thetrail

Thetrail

Posted
Posted
onboard Navigator now and Windjammer has been the best...ever. Varied nightly dinners, very impressive dessert bars. Last nights cake displays would look familiar to anyone that had been to a real midnight buffet. Many MDR items on dinner buffet. Only negative is they close at 9pm. Food has been excellent in Jammer and room packed each night no matter when you arrive. Chefs and crew happy and interactive.

 

New MDR menus very limited. Dining room no wait and not more than 60% full. Had 4 different people approach during dinner in Sapphire dining room on one evening to sell me specialty dining; already have specialty dining package and constant interruption pretty annoying and put me off. Lunch in MDR food blah (besides excellent salad bar). No kids menu in MDR (we have asked and were told they don’t have anymore; which I find shocking and probably not correct)

 

Long and short; wife and I both believe it won’t be long before cruise ships offer buffet only w fare and specialty dining as upcharge, no MDR middle ground. They’ll need to physically expand windjammers and extend hours to make this work but sure seems like MDR being purposely de-emphasized w new menus and constant annoying upsell tactics

LOL Sooo very funny this post, guess you have noticed the three tier main dining room on all the new Oasis class ships> Haramony, Symphony,etc...:o
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Rewind "Live from...." Rare

Rewind

Posted
Posted

That just means they will swap MDR and WJ. Buffet will now be on decks 3-5 and the sit down restaurant will be on 16. Yes it would be an undertaking, but I think they could easily accomplish it in a drydock period.

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kruzerci

kruzerci

Posted
Posted
Agree totally and miss those nice quiet and romantic dinners in the MDR of old. Now...as to the flavor of this thread....things seem to have changed for many of us.

 

For me, I keep trying the MDR for dinner...and keep getting bad service, noisy, crowded, long wait for reserved table, and not so great food. That is the actual problem for me IMHO, which has sent me to the much quieter and better service WJ at night. Shame...but that is how it has played out for us.

 

Once again..it's all a matter of personal experience. We also mix it up with specialty restaurants, and adore CK.

 

Exactly

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