Dining changes

[seaman11]

12 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Apparently a lot of people have no problem paying $48 per person for a meal on a ship where your meals are included.  For us, there are still several steakhouses around us where we can get an excellent steak meal for $25.  We've paid more for steaks before, but those places certainly were no better than the ones where we paid $20-25.  In fact, they weren't really as good.  So we will just let others pay that if they choose to do so.

you are correct , no way im paying $50 out of principle.    ill go to the italian place till they jack that up too i guess, 

[2wheelin]

9 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

I have to wonder instead of making so many 'nickel and dime' changes recently, why Carnival didn't just make a quiet $5 or $10 raise in cabin prices instead. It's very easy to bury extra costs for food and fuel in the cabin fares. Even a $20 raise across the board for a week would not have been very noticeable. 

 

Seems Carnival has been on a continuous roll of making changes with ports to save fuel and raising individual fees. Sometimes it's better to the rip the band aid off all at once, make one set of major changes and move on. A small $5-$20 total raise in the price of the cabins over a week would have more quietly covered the extra costs they are looking for. 

In spite of all the complaints on here, I would rather these new limits than upping the cruise price. I don't partake in the steak house or extra entrees so no extra for me. Let those who want them pay extra. Un fortunately I know people who order every entree because they just want to see what the different things taste like. Couple bites of each. Now if they could figure out a way to cut waste at the buffet. Maybe allow people to cut in line for seconds so they don't overload the first time. Lol

And the idea that the steakhouse is cheap at any price because you would pay more on land is beyond comprehension. Some people are pretty poor at math.

 

Now if it is changing a port because of fuel costs, that is a different story that affects all passengers.

[Badfinger]

1 hour ago, ctlyf said:

I agree that going out for steak where we are is setting yourself up for disappointment... my husband has BBQ or smoking down to a science, and even if we go to a high end steakhouse, we always feel that it wasn't worth the higher cost. Had the Wagu Rib-eye at Hell's Kitchen in Vegas (US$89) and honestly felt like we could have bought a "regular" rib-eye at our local Costco for CAD$25-30, and had just as good of a meal at home. 

 

That being said, we have started treating ourselves to the steakhouse for one meal each cruise, but it is also only 2 of us. I couldn't imagine doing it for us and our kids (who are now adults and fully appreciative of a great cut of steak).

 

Here in south Texas, I have grilling down to a science.  I would compare my burgers, steaks, salmon, pork tenderloin and chicken breast to most any restaurant around San Antonio.  So...when we go out to eat, it is usually something I cannot make as well at home (pizza, thai).  And of course sometimes we just don't feel like cooking and will hit a fast food like Chi FiLa, Whataburger or numerous TexMex places purely for convenience.

That said, regardless of the Carnival Cheerleaders, these dining cutbacks and prices increased are real, and do degrade the overall cruise experience.  It was not uncommon for 2 in our family to order 3 entrees at the MDR, especially when the appetizers were less than appetizing, or they were offering our favorites all on the same night.  Next will be the servers at the buffet, scanning your S&S card as you enter the queue.  After all, what is the sense of limiting entrees  in the MDR if one can go hog wild at the buffet for many of the same entrees?  I can actually see the day when all dining will bar controlled by your S&S card.  Pay as you go or buy dining packages for various levels of gastric indulgence.

 

But none of that matters to us anymore.  Given the horrible service,  long lines, and stale entertainment on our June cruise, unlikely we would pick a cruise as our vacation anytime soon.

 

 

[linga]

All the small changes seem reasonable to me.   I love the steakhouse and it's still a great deal!  I just did a RCL cruise and it was $75 per person in their steakhouse!  I didn't do it, but try to always go to the steakhouse on my Carnival cruises, it's just so good!! 🙂  Going on Panorama in December and already have it booked! Can't wait! YUM!!

[pjhootch]

I do not care about these changes.  I presume food costs have increased for the cruise lines the way they have for everyone else in the U.S. and elsewhere.   I would rather see the dining costs increased than overall cruise fare.   The steakhouse is okay.  I have paid for it a couple of times and been sent by the casino a couple of times.   It is good food, but just far too much of it.   Probably not as good as our local upscale steakhouse… but we don’t really eat there either because my husband, son and I all cook pretty mean steaks ourselves.

 

I don’t see the point of closing down the ice cream machines at midnight.   It doesn’t impact me since I don’t eat it often even during the day, but we wander through the area where the ice cream machines are left open late, and have never seen much mess or traffic.  
 

If my husband decides he wants a 2nd little lobster tail to go with his lobster entree and prime rib or steak entree… I will pay the $5 and not complain.   I agree that more food goes to waste from the buffet area than main dining room- and sometimes I am stunned to see people pile up huge servings and not eat them.   Don’t get me wrong, I have wasted food here and there when I didn’t care for something or my eyes got bigger than my stomach.   But I am sometimes really surprised to see what people do with the food they think of as “free”.   

[sanmarcosman]

29 minutes ago, pjhootch said:

If my husband decides he wants a 2nd little lobster tail to go with his lobster entree and prime rib or steak entree… I will pay the $5 

We're hoping the second lobster tails will still come out unasked 🙂 

Edited November 3, 2022 by sanmarcosman

[LatinaInTexas]

Like others posted I can grill my own steak better than most places can so rarely order steak at restaurants, unless I'm in Vegas lol. Tried the steakhouse twice, once on the Dream and once on the Panorama. Wasn't impressed with the ambience, the service, or the food so would have been hard pressed to ever book it again, the 2 price raises will seal the deal for us. I have never had ice cream on my cruises or ordered multiple entrees.

Love Carnival but since the restart things just aren't the same and after trying MSC I'm open to trying other lines for new and better experiences.

[mz-s]

Carnival's current MDR food is not worth a $5 upcharge. I have been on 4 Carnival cruises since the restart and I can unequivocally say I get a better meal at the local Golden Corral.

 

It's a matter of time before Carnival outsources their MDR food to Denny's or TGI Friday's.

[Badfinger]

8 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

Like others posted I can grill my own steak better than most places can so rarely order steak at restaurants, unless I'm in Vegas lol. Tried the steakhouse twice, once on the Dream and once on the Panorama. Wasn't impressed with the ambience, the service, or the food so would have been hard pressed to ever book it again, the 2 price raises will seal the deal for us. I have never had ice cream on my cruises or ordered multiple entrees.

Love Carnival but since the restart things just aren't the same and after trying MSC I'm open to trying other lines for new and better experiences.

 

I have said it before...Carnival just does not do beef very well.  But I figure that is because they have to cook with electricity.  Open flame is just so much better.

[BarbieGee]

The letter we all received said "In the main dining room, we will continue to offer lobster on itineraries of six days or more" Does this mean no lobster offered on 5 day cruises? In the past, those I've asked have said this WAS offered on 5 day cruises. And the Paradise has no specialty restaurants which is the ship I'll be sailing on.

I prefer seafood to red meat.

I understand economy and dislike to see waste but as many have mentioned, the dining experience is a large part of the cruise experience.

[LatinaInTexas]

2 minutes ago, Badfinger said:

 

I have said it before...Carnival just does not do beef very well.  But I figure that is because they have to cook with electricity.  Open flame is just so much better.

Really? I wasnt aware. No wonder most of the pics I see of the steaks don't look very appealing. 

[IntrepidFromDC]

Since they're only limiting the entrees to 2 for free there is an easy work-around, which I'm sharing here with all my fellow gluttons-anonymous members.  Just order 8 or 10 shrimp cocktails.  The juvenile lobsters they serve are only a little bigger than a shrimp anyway.  If you already order 4 or 6 shrimp cocktails, just add an extra 8 or so.  

Edited November 4, 2022 by IntrepidFromDC

[mz-s]

22 minutes ago, BarbieGee said:

The letter we all received said "In the main dining room, we will continue to offer lobster on itineraries of six days or more" Does this mean no lobster offered on 5 day cruises? In the past, those I've asked have said this WAS offered on 5 day cruises. And the Paradise has no specialty restaurants which is the ship I'll be sailing on.

I prefer seafood to red meat.

I understand economy and dislike to see waste but as many have mentioned, the dining experience is a large part of the cruise experience.

 

Carnival hasn't served lobster on 5 day cruises for years now. You can order it for a price but you won't get it included on elegant night.

[BarbieGee]

58 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Carnival hasn't served lobster on 5 day cruises for years now. You can order it for a price but you won't get it included on elegant night.

Are there any seafood offerings on the MD menu? Salmon perhaps? I've see that on some sample menus but now I am not sure even that would be offered on Paradise.
I could order shrimp cocktails, salmon and then pasta carbonara and make my own culinary dish! 😁🐟

[Sailin_Pirate]

10 minutes ago, BarbieGee said:

Are there any seafood offerings on the MD menu? Salmon perhaps? I've see that on some sample menus but now I am not sure even that would be offered on Paradise.
I could order shrimp cocktails, salmon and then pasta carbonara and make my own culinary dish! 😁🐟

I believe Salmon is on every MDR menu under the "From the grill" section.

 

Edit- there is also random fish dishes , shrimp dishes spread around the menus also.

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Sailin_Pirate

[pjhootch]

We were just on a 10 day and one night there was  Seafood Newburgh and maybe fried Oysters too?  

[Clarasgrandma]

If I order a second entree such as another lobster tail, I just want the tail! I wish there was a way to do this without getting all the sides that normally come with it. Same with other entrees…..I’m trying not to eat a lot of rice or pasta, or I may just not like the side so that gets wasted. I know it would be too time consuming for them to tweak every order. I do like the smaller portions on most of the meals which helps me eat less lol. The grilled shrimp entree only comes with 4 shrimp. Like, I want 8 shrimp but no rice! I do hate wasting food and I try to avoid it when I can, but sometimes it happens. 

[Ellaleah]

7 minutes ago, Clarasgrandma said:

If I order a second entree such as another lobster tail, I just want the tail! I wish there was a way to do this without getting all the sides that normally come with it. Same with other entrees…..I’m trying not to eat a lot of rice or pasta, or I may just not like the side so that gets wasted. I know it would be too time consuming for them to tweak every order. I do like the smaller portions on most of the meals which helps me eat less lol. The grilled shrimp entree only comes with 4 shrimp. Like, I want 8 shrimp but no rice! I do hate wasting food and I try to avoid it when I can, but sometimes it happens. 

I think it is pretty common to ask the waiter to just bring extra tails.  I know I have done it more than once.

[Clarasgrandma]

2 minutes ago, Ellaleah said:

I think it is pretty common to ask the waiter to just bring extra tails.  I know I have done it more than once.

I will try again on my next cruise. So far I have been unsuccessful with this request. 

[Sailin_Pirate]

2 minutes ago, Ellaleah said:

I think it is pretty common to ask the waiter to just bring extra tails.  I know I have done it more than once.

I think it depends on the dish , the night and the staff. I'm guessing a lot of stuff is pre-plated and it would ruin the flow if they replated/scraped stuff off a dish. Its easier just to grab an already plated plate.

[hurricane0226]

59 minutes ago, Sailin_Pirate said:

I think it depends on the dish , the night and the staff. I'm guessing a lot of stuff is pre-plated and it would ruin the flow if they replated/scraped stuff off a dish. Its easier just to grab an already plated plate.

 

1 hour ago, Clarasgrandma said:

I will try again on my next cruise. So far I have been unsuccessful with this request. 

I like extra tails

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, Clarasgrandma said:

If I order a second entree such as another lobster tail, I just want the tail! I wish there was a way to do this without getting all the sides that normally come with it. Same with other entrees…..I’m trying not to eat a lot of rice or pasta, or I may just not like the side so that gets wasted. I know it would be too time consuming for them to tweak every order. I do like the smaller portions on most of the meals which helps me eat less lol. The grilled shrimp entree only comes with 4 shrimp. Like, I want 8 shrimp but no rice! I do hate wasting food and I try to avoid it when I can, but sometimes it happens. 

We were just on Royal Caribbean the 1st week of October. On elegant night or whatever they call it, the menu had lobster tail as one entree and beef tenderloin as another.

 

The waiter comes to the table and says I recommend the lobster tail and the beef tenderloin together. I said OK! My wife says I can't eat all that so the waiter says, I'll bring you 2 lobster tails. She said no just one, so the waiter says OK, I'll bring you 2. 

 

When the food came we got 1 plate each with our 2 entrees on each one.

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, Clarasgrandma said:

If I order a second entree such as another lobster tail, I just want the tail! I wish there was a way to do this without getting all the sides that normally come with it. Same with other entrees…..I’m trying not to eat a lot of rice or pasta, or I may just not like the side so that gets wasted. I know it would be too time consuming for them to tweak every order. I do like the smaller portions on most of the meals which helps me eat less lol. The grilled shrimp entree only comes with 4 shrimp. Like, I want 8 shrimp but no rice! I do hate wasting food and I try to avoid it when I can, but sometimes it happens. 

I've never had a issue just asking for 2 lobsters and not 2 sides for both. 

[Honolulu Blue]

One interesting thing I noted about these changes is that the plan to move Lobster Night to the second elegant evening means that there's no immediate plan to eliminate the second elegant evening.  There had been chatter about that possibly doing that.

[ProgRockCruiser]

38 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

One interesting thing I noted about these changes is that the plan to move Lobster Night to the second elegant evening means that there's no immediate plan to eliminate the second elegant evening.  There had been chatter about that possibly doing that.

That will happen in phase 2.  "Mark my words!"

 

I'm joking, but now that I've typed it, it does seem like a logical next step...