Breakfast in dining room good on Royal?

[tampadee]

How is breakfast in the dining room on Royal Princess?  Does the menu change?  Is it better than buffet?

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Princess uses a standard MDR menu fleetwide which remains fairly static for the length of the cruise.  There may be a "featured item" that changes, but that about only difference from day to day.

 

Food quality may be slightly better than buffet, or may be about the same - just depends on who is in the kitchen and how busy the MDR is for breakfast.  Service can be hit or miss for MDR breakfast.  Sometimes it's painfully slow and sometimes it's rushed beyond reason.  I've never figured out why the dichotomy (found this to be the case on multiple lines).  I usually prefer it to Buffet as long as I can get a table for just myself and my travelling companions (s).  I hate being forced to share at breakfast (which they often try) as I'm a bit of a bear before the 4th cuppa.

Edited September 14, 2022 by AtlantaCruiser72

[skynight]

It is ok. There is a menu, but you can order other standard items like scrambled eggs with bacon, cheese omelet. In my morning routine it just takes too much time, maybe an hour, when I would like to be doing other things. If you want a condiment, for example tabasco sauce or ketchup, order it first when you order the meal. Don't wait until your meal is served, it may never come.

Fresh made to order omelets are available at the buffet. Way quicker and you get them right after they are prepared. 

[disneyochem]

We ate in the MDR for breakfast once on our Royal voyage in July.  We went with a couple who had never cruised before and they wanted to eat there.  AAAFFFFTTTTTEEEERRRR an hour and a half, they decided they were done with the MDR for breakfast!  The food was okay (not good, not bad) but the glacial pace of the service was a deal breaker!

 

Hubby will eat his weight in smoked salmon so he really likes the buffet in the morning.  I don't eat a big breakfast.  I just grab an egg bite and fruit from the IC and I'm good (along with my triple shot cappucino!).

[MissP22]

There's nothing wrong with it but you have to be prepared to wait to be served.

Don't forget to ask for everything you want when you place your initial  order or it will involve the waiter or assistant going back to get it.

It's just to slow for me. 

I can go to the buffet, get the same things in 1/4 of the time & be on my way. 

 

[Kay S]

The toast is better.  Getting coffee refills is a challenge.

[Thrak]

If you order Eggs Benedict ask for extra Hollandaise on the side. They rarely have enough Hollandaise and it seems that, sometimes, the dish was prepared well in advance and the sauce has "dried" a bit. On our last cruise (May) the Eggs Benedict were the best I've ever had on Princess. Cooked perfectly, the English Muffin wasn't "tough" (from sitting) and the Hollandaise was nicely done and not at all dried out. I still enjoyed the extra Hollandaise I had ordered.

 

I'm a total freak and like a bit of Tabasco on my EB. (Yeah, I know...) I had small packets that I added and breakfast was totally awesome - both of the days we actually ate breakfast in MDR.

[Wishing on a star]

Unless they have improved, I just abhor those omelettes at the Buffett.  They are the pre-made liquid egg product.  I find them to be almost inedible.   I don't know if one could request an omelette made with fresh cracked eggs in the MDR or not?   The very few times we have done breakfast in the MDR the food and service was good!  We had a later shore excursion, had a nice breakfast, hung out at the deserted retreat pool area, and had a wonderful relaxing morning onboard!  So, it all comes down to your plans and expectations for the morning.

 

 Service in the dining rooms this year, trying to re-start, seems to have really been a challenge.

[Wishing on a star]

PS:  We have been known to bring individual or small packets/servings of extras so that we know we have exactly what we want and love.  A special tobasco.. go for it.  We bring nice preserves, and do not have to bother with lower quality or communal jam.  

[SiliconCruiser]

On the Royal class ships, if the whole buffet is used, there is greater variety to be found than in the MDR for breakfast. ... and you can pig out on bacon and smoked salmon without judging eyes 🤣