Just off the Jewel

[Eastern flygirl]

I am not a expert, but I have sailed quite often and am  Diamond Plus on RCL.  I have never complained and have enjoyed all my past cruises.  The Jewel was clean and the staff was efficient.  The Diamond Club was enjoyable and the host and staff were excellent.  
The dining experience was not one that I look forward to on a cruise.  I felt like I was eating at my junior high cafeteria in the Windjammer.  The selections were limited, no meat carving station and poor quality.  The MDR tried to do a good job, but the meat was so bad, it was hard to eat.  I do miss the old menus and the new items were not up to standard.  The Park Solarium beef sandwich was good, but I could not have a bag of chips until after 9pm.  Pizza was only served after 9pm.  
I am not a snob, but RCL needs to do better.  

[Montanagirlalways]

When I was on the Jewel we were also disappointed with the dining in the Windjammer for dinner. The only thing that I really cared for at lunch was the pasta station. It was delicious!!!! I usually go for the curry at  lunch but even that left a lot to be desired.  But that was just at lunch in the Windjammer. We were very happy in the dining room. Waiters were so attentive and if something wasn't right they fixed it.  

[Biker19]

3.....2.......1.....till @Beeline Cruiser

[OnTheJourney]

I suspect most if not all lines have compromised on certain aspects of their product over the years and certainly since the pandemic. Food quality appears to be one of them based on CC threads. I’d say it’s more a case of inconsistency rather than an across the board decline. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[smokeybandit]

Since Jewel only has a tiny cafe and not a Sorrento's/Cafe Prominade, it's no surprise you can't get pizza until after 9pm. Just comes with the territory for a smaller ship.

[CruisingNole]

36 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

I suspect most if not all lines have compromised on certain aspects of their product over the years and certainly since the pandemic. Food quality appears to be one of them based on CC threads. I’d say it’s more a case of inconsistency rather than an across the board decline. 

No, Royal has definitely had an across the board decline. Without a doubt.

[OnTheJourney]

We’re on X in spring so it’ll be interesting to see what we think. On the Enchantment back in March I seem to recall we were fairly well  pleased with the food. 

[CanadaRob]

8 hours ago, CruisingNole said:

No, Royal has definitely had an across the board decline. Without a doubt.

Hmm I guess I haven’t seen it, 9night Odyssey in Oct was pretty much exactly like the last 4 years on any other ship, I’ll see what Oasis holds 8n a couple of weeks, loved Jewel the last time too, but that was afew years back

[Spurschick]

I have found several windjammers to be sub par post Covid compared to pre Covid. That said always found something I could compromise with. I would call it high school cafeteria bad though.

[Spurschick]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

We’re on X in spring so it’ll be interesting to see what we think. On the Enchantment back in March I seem to recall we were fairly well  pleased with the food. 

We just did X and found their food to be night and day far superior to Royal. 
already planing ours meals for next year on X as unfortunately can’t fit any more cruises in this year.

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, Spurschick said:

We just did X and found their food to be night and day far superior to Royal. 
already planing ours meals for next year on X as unfortunately can’t fit any more cruises in this year.

Reading other cruise lines boards, I think food standards may of slipped on other lines too. We've done three Celebrity ships since lockdown and we're excited as we had heard the food, especially the buffet, was better than RC. But we were disappointed. It was ok but nothing special 

We haven't been on Royal Caribbean since restart. Looking forward to Symphony in May as we haven't done Oasis class before (accept 5 day short cruise five years ago).  Looking forward to trying out the new menus 

Edited February 4, 2023 by sgmn

[OnTheJourney]

3 hours ago, Spurschick said:

We just did X and found their food to be night and day far superior to Royal. 
already planing ours meals for next year on X as unfortunately can’t fit any more cruises in this year.

How can you plan specific meals for a 2024 cruise?!  I see what you mean about not being able to fit any more cruises in after looking at your list!  Yikes! That’d be way too many trips for me. We’ve done 4 cruises since March (some due to covid rescheduling) and I’m about cruised out till the next one on spring. Ready for a few months at home to get caught up on other things. 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[CruisingNole]

7 hours ago, CanadaRob said:

Hmm I guess I haven’t seen it, 9night Odyssey in Oct was pretty much exactly like the last 4 years on any other ship, I’ll see what Oasis holds 8n a couple of weeks, loved Jewel the last time too, but that was afew years back

You’ve noticed no decline whatsoever over the past 4 years? Nothing? You’re either not paying attention or you’re fooling yourself.

 

And it’s not just Royal, it’s an industry-wide trend.

[royal29]

We, too. just got off of the Jewel and totally agree with the original post and others who report the food -- both Windjammer and main dining -- is mediocre at best. WJ food quality is substandard, variety is lacking (example, never saw any paella), cheeseburgers just sit there and get cold, fruit doesn't taste fresh and those who order omelettes must wait for a server to find your table and they serve it cold. And yes, where is the pizza? Finally, on the last day, it's available for lunch. Otherwise, 9  p.m. in Solarium. What good is that?

In MDR, turkey dinner paled in comparison to prior years. Who puts crunchy nuts in dressing? And what were those light orange potatoes; they were not sweet potatoes or mashed. (My wife returned her dinner, a rarity!). Lobster tail portion quite small and overcooked (that makes it difficult to remove the lobster from the shell); plus, servers no longer help remove shell (although staff was excellent). Other dishes were uninspiring.

We are on X for Panama cruise in April and expect MUCH better.

 

 

[sjb317]

We discovered on Jewel in December a big change in the Solarium cafe.  With the exception of the roast beef, the sandwiches were all pre made and about the size of a small slider with very skimpy fillings. Each day you had 4 to choose from plus the roast beef sandwich.  One small salad which was mostly iceberg lettuce was available.  They did have bags of potato chips on a few days!😂

 

Pizza was available in the WJ but they were not keeping up with the demand which created a long line and wait.   You had a choice of pepperoni, cheese or the daily specialty.  A staff member would bring one out and by the time he got back with a different one, the first one would be gone. People waiting in line were getting quite grumpy.

 

Sherri🙂

[orville99]

10 hours ago, CanadaRob said:

Hmm I guess I haven’t seen it, 9night Odyssey in Oct was pretty much exactly like the last 4 years on any other ship, I’ll see what Oasis holds 8n a couple of weeks, loved Jewel the last time too, but that was a few years back

RCL redid all of the menus in both the MDR and WJ in January of this year, and they will be implemented fleet wide by the end of the month so any dining experience prior to that unfortunately is now just a fond memory. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by orville99

[Spurschick]

6 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

How can you plan specific meals for a 2024 cruise?!  I see what you mean about not being able to fit any more cruises in after looking at your list!  Yikes! That’d be way too many trips for me. We’ve done 4 cruises since March (some due to covid rescheduling) and I’m about cruised out till the next one on spring. Ready for a few months at home to get caught up on other things. 

 

We look at each cruise, look at itinerary, literally sat there the other night discussing the restaurants, and made a list for each day. You can look at menus in the app for specialty restaurants and some of the mdr menus are already showing for our sailing.

we do our list as day number, whether it is a port or sea day any excursions, then restaurants we want to eat at that day and the time we want to eat. It fun. Yes we might tweak it a little closer to the time, but it helps us decide if we want any specialty dining packages, especially on longer sailings.

 

love cruising, nice to get away every few weeks. I think if we stuck to same ship/same line might be a little more cruised out, but since restart doing a lot more variety of both ships and lines to keep it fresh.

Edited February 4, 2023 by Spurschick

[Reijo]

22 hours ago, Eastern flygirl said:

I am not a expert, but I have sailed quite often and am  Diamond Plus on RCL.  I have never complained and have enjoyed all my past cruises.  The Jewel was clean and the staff was efficient.  The Diamond Club was enjoyable and the host and staff were excellent.  
The dining experience was not one that I look forward to on a cruise.  I felt like I was eating at my junior high cafeteria in the Windjammer.  The selections were limited, no meat carving station and poor quality.  The MDR tried to do a good job, but the meat was so bad, it was hard to eat.  I do miss the old menus and the new items were not up to standard.  The Park Solarium beef sandwich was good, but I could not have a bag of chips until after 9pm.  Pizza was only served after 9pm.  
I am not a snob, but RCL needs to do better.  

OMG....we're on Jewel next month.  I have heard that the new menu was not good....fleetwide and we were considering just eating in Windjammer, but sounds like it isn't much better.  No chips at the Park Solarium until after 9pm?????  WTH!!!  No pizza until after 9pm?????  We're Diamond plus also and due to our age not many more cruises in store for us.  Hate to see this happening.

 

[kruzerci]

Returned from the Jewel last month also after Harmony and Serenade. All three were appallingly poor quality in the Windjammer and fair at best in the MDR. 

 

We are sailing the RC cruises we have booked but not booking anymore until they turn it around (if that ever happens). 

[crzndeb]

I will be on the Jewel for 14 days in Sept. I’m not to worried about chips, because I think at one point a chip was implanted in my brain, and when I step on a ship I crave Pringles. Now I just take a couple tins. 🤣 I never want them at home. 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

I eat most dinners in the WJ, and again not really worried. I know I will find something to eat, even if it’s just salad. Just don’t ruin the mashed potatoes. 

[Eastern flygirl]

salad bar in Windjammer was good, and great mashed potatoes.

forgot to mention, a Nurovirus outbreak caused the servers to serve all the food.  

[KathyPee]

We sailed on the Jewel back in 2019 walked away with the same feeling about the food.  We were on a 9-nighter and never had what we considered a good meal.  We sailed on Allure 2 weeks ago, and if not for Coastal Kitchen, we probably would've starved.  We never tried the MDR, but we tried several of their specialty restaurants and room service and all were disappointing.  Thank goodness the service throughout the ship was top notch.

[ONECRUISER]

Did B5B Spring 2002 and Jewel Food was really good in WJ. Overs on here agreed. Had Carving stations multiple days and even Pizza was good, better then was couple yrs preCV. Too bad if it's changed. Have noticed selection is better on longer Sailings then shorter, this on all Radiance Class

[ONECRUISER]

NA

Edited February 4, 2023 by ONECRUISER

[ZoeyVictoria]

I cannot even remember the last time I was impressed by the food on a cruise ship.  We cruised fifteen times in 2022, on three different cruise lines, and the food was uniformly mediocre on the majority of them. The only memorable, truly excellent foods were some of the lunch spots on the Mardi Gras and a few specialty restaurants. We have accepted mediocre cruise food as “normal” and don’t get excited about it one way or the other.  Just another Covid casualty, similar to staffing and supply shortages. We hope it will improve in the future, but believe it will be like this for a while. 
 

@royal29. A few of the really horrible foods were memorable, and those pale, sickly sweet potatoes on the Christmas sailing of the Jewel are at the top of the list!