New dinner menu

[BamaVol]

41 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

Why does it disappoint you to have extra options available? 

I see it as the start of a trend.  The day is coming when you will pay for anything better than a baloney sandwich in the MDR. And we will have seen the last of these items in the MDR at no charge. 

[Coral]

I actually don't like the extra fees item in the dining room menu. Not sure why but I think it looks tacky. That is just me.

[Torfamm]

35 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

I see it as the start of a trend.  The day is coming when you will pay for anything better than a baloney sandwich in the MDR. And we will have seen the last of these items in the MDR at no charge. 

I see your point. I was thinking more about how this could disincentivize going to specialty restaurants. I can see people thinking -,Why pay the specialty charge when you can order a similar item at half the cost in the MDR?

[BamaVol]

51 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Unfortunately, I think that you have convinced yourself that you will not like Princess cruises before you have even stepped foot on a ship. There are things that I’m not happy with, but this is my favorite line. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but you may want to give it a chance before you decide that you hate it.  I also think a lot has to do with the ship you are on. I love the Royal class, but some do not. 

I do try to keep my expectations low so I can be delighted.  I think the problem is it won’t come close to living up to the hype.  There was a much better set of menus, IMO, prior to this change.  I saw them on CC.  The MDR has always been my favorite part of any cruise.  The juice bar was hyped.  Then in reality, it’s a couple of 5 ounce concoctions that may not be available when I sail.  I don’t care about the desserts, but they may also not be available.  I thought the medallion was cool, but the app has been awful.  I’m not alone in that thought. I’m still hopeful and I’m sure I will enjoy myself.  But I can’t help thinking about all those menu choices I’ll never see. Will I sail in Princess again after this?  I do not know.  But it may turn out I don’t enjoy cruising like I once did.  The last cruise as a minor disaster.  So it’s been 6 years.  I want this one to be relatively fabulous.

Edited February 26, 2023 by BamaVol

[caribill]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Why is that disappointing? There are times that I would love to order a steak, but the people that I am with do not want to go to the specialty dining venue. I consider that a win.  Also, this was available pre-pandemic.

 

Pre-specialty dining, there was a beef entry (of good quality) on the dining room menu each night and at no extra cost.

[startedwithamouse]

3 hours ago, BamaVol said:

I see that “specialty dining” has crept into the MDR.  Another disappointment.

There were Specialty dining options on the MDR menu a few years ago too. Nothing new. 

[startedwithamouse]

2 hours ago, tdkdak said:

How can I take advantage of this deal?

Casino invite 

[BamaVol]

I hate to sound like a crabby old person, but an awful lot of change has taken place between booking and sailing.  And that’s less than 3 months.  I’m trying to cope.  Still waiting to see whether the drink prices have increased as predicted here.

[Princessfan20]

12 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

I hate to sound like a crabby old person, but an awful lot of change has taken place between booking and sailing.  And that’s less than 3 months.  I’m trying to cope.  Still waiting to see whether the drink prices have increased as predicted here.

 

Not in the least.  Princess is charging way more for less post Covid and new leadership.  They have cutback in many ways and they may not be done for all we know.   Obviously the new menus are just a shell of what they use to be.  As the ships get larger their international itineraries will be shrinking too.  

[c-boy]

50 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Pre-specialty dining, there was a beef entry (of good quality) on the dining room menu each night and at no extra cost.

since that time things have changed .....

 

18 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

I hate to sound like a crabby old person, but an awful lot of change has taken place between booking and sailing.  And that’s less than 3 months.  I’m trying to cope.  Still waiting to see whether the drink prices have increased as predicted here.

anxiety .

[Ombud]

On 2/24/2023 at 3:39 PM, cjpj said:

I'm not telling my husband there is no shrimp cocktail or sorbet. He'd order sorbet every night - didn't even bother looking to see what it was. I'll miss the Onion soup. Fettuccine and the ceaser salads were already gone. Now ceaser said with kale (yuck).

The 1st menu has orange sorbet. 2nd menu just lists it as 'daily sorbet.'

 

On 2/24/2023 at 7:00 PM, JimmyVWine said:

I don’t spend any time reading any other cruise line boards on CC but out of curiosity, are there any lines where the loyalists are routinely posting: “I’m so happy that there haven’t been any cutbacks since the restart”? It might be that you will have to pay luxury cruise line prices to get what the mass market cruise lines used to provide. For some that will be a good trade. For others, paying mass market prices still works even if the Fettuccine Alfredo has now transmogrified into Lasagna. 

😅🤣😂

 

On 2/25/2023 at 7:24 AM, Torfamm said:

The menu in the first post was served on my cruise last night. Here are tonight’s options for those who would like another example. It is a formal night

IMHO Its a good move to have SD main dish options available in MDR. Would you prefer to pay $40 in SD instead @BamaVol? Or maybe just not have the option? 

 

1 hour ago, BamaVol said:

Will I sail in Princess again after this?  I do not know.  But it may turn out I don’t enjoy cruising like I once did.  The last cruise as a minor disaster.  

It's not too late to cancel.  I would never throw thousands of dollars at something that I expected to disappoint me. 

 

 Who was it who used to say a bad day at sea is better than a good day at home? That's still true for me

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Ombud

[BamaVol]

23 minutes ago, Ombud said:

The 1st menu has orange sorbet. 2nd menu just lists it as 'daily sorbet.'

 

😅🤣😂

 

IMHO Its a good move to have SD main dish options available in MDR. Would you prefer to pay $40 in SD instead @BamaVol? Or maybe just not have the option? 

 

It's not too late to cancel.  I would never throw thousands of dollars at something that I expected to disappoint me. 

 

 Who was it who used to say a bad day at sea is better than a good day at home? That's still true for me

 

 

Sailing in 3 days.  It’s too late to cancel.

 

I’ve never tried specialty dining.  One of the main attractions to cruising when I started was a decent MDR experience included in the price.  

[BamaVol]

38 minutes ago, c-boy said:

since that time things have changed .....

 

anxiety .

Anxiety?  Not really.  I’m resetting my expectations lower so that I can still be delighted.

[Ombud]

Just now, BamaVol said:

Sailing in 3 days.  It’s too late to cancel.

 

I’ve never tried specialty dining.  One of the main attractions to cruising when I started was a decent MDR experience included in the price.  

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that. I've got CFAR insurance so I'm protected. As someone addicted to caffeine I'm not 100% happy with this week's changes but not unhappy enough to let it spoil my voyages. Hopefully you can find something enjoyable on your voyage as well

[Dreamcruiser185]

2 hours ago, BamaVol said:

I do try to keep my expectations low so I can be delighted.  I think the problem is it won’t come close to living up to the hype.  There was a much better set of menus, IMO, prior to this change.  I saw them on CC.  The MDR has always been my favorite part of any cruise.  The juice bar was hyped.  Then in reality, it’s a couple of 5 ounce concoctions that may not be available when I sail.  I don’t care about the desserts, but they may also not be available.  I thought the medallion was cool, but the app has been awful.  I’m not alone in that thought. I’m still hopeful and I’m sure I will enjoy myself.  But I can’t help thinking about all those menu choices I’ll never see. Will I sail in Princess again after this?  I do not know.  But it may turn out I don’t enjoy cruising like I once did.  The last cruise as a minor disaster.  So it’s been 6 years.  I want this one to be relatively fabulous.

I am with you on this topic. We picked Princess since it presents itself as a “upscale” cruise line.  With all these cutbacks it certainly takes away that feel. I mean, no shrimp cocktail or French onion soup and drastically cutting the menu. Where is the “ upscale” on your cruise?

[TexasBrit]

On 2/24/2023 at 9:00 PM, JimmyVWine said:

I don’t spend any time reading any other cruise line boards on CC but out of curiosity, are there any lines where the loyalists are routinely posting: “I’m so happy that there haven’t been any cutbacks since the restart”? It might be that you will have to pay luxury cruise line prices to get what the mass market cruise lines used to provide. For some that will be a good trade. For others, paying mass market prices still works even if the Fettuccine Alfredo has now transmogrified into Lasagna. 

30 or so years ago a 7-day cruise on most of the MM lines was around $700 or so. This is about $1600 in today's money. But a 7-day cruise is still $700 or less now. Food prices and other costs have increased substantially over this time period. This is why things are not as good as they used to be. So yes, the alternative is to go to the higher priced lines if you still want this level of service. I imagine we will be doing so also, but this will mean less frequent cruises than we have been used to recently.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

IMHO Its a good move to have SD main dish options available in MDR. Would you prefer to pay $40 in SD instead @BamaVol? Or maybe just not have the option? 

 

 

Any menu that has the SD items listed on it is a menu that had reduced other choices to make room on the menu for the SD items to be listed.

[Ombud]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

Any menu that has the SD items listed on it is a menu that had reduced other choices to make room on the menu for the SD items to be listed.

As a vegetarian,  I am only mildly upset that there might not be a separate vegan menu. But I've got 2 starters, 2 entrees, and sorbet!! 😁

[MissP22]

Currently on the Enchanted the meats at the buffet have been hit or miss. One time they could be really good but at the next meal,  totally different. Their quality of beef has really taken a turn to save money. 

That's not to say it's bad, but we can definitely see a difference from pre Covid days where just about everything was top notch on the Royal class ships. 

[cjpj]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

The 1st menu has orange sorbet. 2nd menu just lists it as 'daily sorbet.'

 

😅🤣😂

Thanks for that @Ombud!

[BamaVol]

That last menu posted:  there’s more desserts than mains. I’ve never seen that on a menu before - on land or at sea.  Ok, maybe at Dairy Queen.

[jwattle]

12 hours ago, Coral said:

Though they make the items ever single week for years at a time.

A menu with too many items, even if they make them "every single week for years at a time" will be serving a lot of them from frozen wholesale premade.

[Coral]

19 minutes ago, jwattle said:

A menu with too many items, even if they make them "every single week for years at a time" will be serving a lot of them from frozen wholesale premade.

Their menu is not that large...... It is a minimal menu.

[c-boy]

2 hours ago, BamaVol said:

Anxiety?  Not really.  I’m resetting my expectations lower so that I can still be delighted.

  😉  I see whatchya did there.  Once ya hit the bottom there's only one direction to go 

[Coral]

52 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

That last menu posted:  there’s more desserts than mains. I’ve never seen that on a menu before - on land or at sea.  Ok, maybe at Dairy Queen.

I ran into issues on my last cruise where the app on the phone listed far more than what was listed in reality. Not only that - some of the main items were not listed. I said something to my head waiter at breakfast that "tonight was banana fosters night" and he said "no, but I will make it for you tonight as another table wants it". My app was not very accurate in reality on what was offered. The pics I have seen have been from the phone app.