How do you rate MDR menu these days?

[volk904]

The root cause of the food cut backs is the RCCL Chairman who seems to be on a mission to cut every possible cost to make back all the money lost during covid.  As a stock holder this is good but as a cruiser this is bad. Royal as a large base of loyal cruisers but cutting things is not going over well. My thought is why not add $100 to the price of the cruise and keep the quality of the food up? I will say our last cruise was on the Beyond and the food was good but the portions very small so we just ordered extra. MY next Royal cruise is in 2 weeks on the Harmony and I will see how the new menu is, From what i Have seen I am not excited. Not enough choices.

[Eddie Wilson]

2 hours ago, volk904 said:

The root cause of the food cut backs is the RCCL Chairman who seems to be on a mission to cut every possible cost to make back all the money lost during covid.  As a stock holder this is good but as a cruiser this is bad. Royal as a large base of loyal cruisers but cutting things is not going over well. My thought is why not add $100 to the price of the cruise and keep the quality of the food up? I will say our last cruise was on the Beyond and the food was good but the portions very small so we just ordered extra. MY next Royal cruise is in 2 weeks on the Harmony and I will see how the new menu is, From what i Have seen I am not excited. Not enough choices.

 

Right on.

 

DW and I Chaired an annual charity event years ago.  The planning started not quite a year in advance. 

During Planning meetings, accountants suggested we lower the quality of the give away prizes to “Net more money than past years.”  

We did the exact opposite of that suggestion thinking....this is the one event we want everyone to remember all year, and anticipate for next.

it worked well.

 

The CC boards used to be full of reviews of spectacular cruises, unbelievable meals, large tips to fabulous staff.....and anticipation for the next cruise

 

But what are the boards themes now? Obviously not entirely, but lots of threads about... Food is worse, glacier cruises without glaciers, removing tips, moving to Virgin, fewer and fewer staff, lesser services, unmotivated staff, ....I suspect the accountants have been given too much input.

 

Oh for the times of fondly remembering and anticipation for the next.

 

Eddie

[Morecruisesplz]

3 hours ago, volk904 said:

The root cause of the food cut backs is the RCCL Chairman who seems to be on a mission to cut every possible cost to make back all the money lost during covid.  As a stock holder this is good but as a cruiser this is bad. Royal as a large base of loyal cruisers but cutting things is not going over well. My thought is why not add $100 to the price of the cruise and keep the quality of the food up? I will say our last cruise was on the Beyond and the food was good but the portions very small so we just ordered extra. MY next Royal cruise is in 2 weeks on the Harmony and I will see how the new menu is, From what i Have seen I am not excited. Not enough choices.

This is not good for stock holders. The pissed off customer will not come back. They will get comfortable with the new cruise that they trief and Royal will start all over with new customers. 

[goldfish65]

Recent cruise on Grandeur: 4/10. 

My first two cruises 2022 old menu: 8/10.

 

I went in with an open mind, but in reality the food quality and variety was mostly mediocre. I can get lasagne in the employee cafeteria where I work...on a cruise I want something better. The MDR food and experience is an important part of the cruise for me. The service staff I had was quite attentive, but I found myself becoming less and less excited about going to the dining room. 

 

Escargot, shrimp cocktail, and fish were all good on Welcome Aboard menu, but meals went downhill after that. Bread was good. Breakfast in Chops was good overall except for cold pancakes. The Kummelveck Sandwiches in the Park Cafe were wonderful. Like magic, a chef appeared and took over for the young lady who was inexperienced in slicing the roast beef. 

 

Surf and Turf was disappointing. Something you pay extra for, should be good. Has anyone received a steak with a proper sear on it? (Even in Chops you could barely see the grill marks.)

 

Another negative aspect is the menus being the same sequence on similar cruises. Upcoming cruise on Freedom, identical day-to-day to what I just had last week.

 

Doing a Canal cruise on Carnival in March. Will be interesting to compare. Too bad they don't use tablecloths in their MDR. 

 

May try Celebrity after that. 

 

 

[Morecruisesplz]

5 hours ago, goldfish65 said:

Recent cruise on Grandeur: 4/10. 

My first two cruises 2022 old menu: 8/10.

 

I went in with an open mind, but in reality the food quality and variety was mostly mediocre. I can get lasagne in the employee cafeteria where I work...on a cruise I want something better. The MDR food and experience is an important part of the cruise for me. The service staff I had was quite attentive, but I found myself becoming less and less excited about going to the dining room. 

 

Escargot, shrimp cocktail, and fish were all good on Welcome Aboard menu, but meals went downhill after that. Bread was good. Breakfast in Chops was good overall except for cold pancakes. The Kummelveck Sandwiches in the Park Cafe were wonderful. Like magic, a chef appeared and took over for the young lady who was inexperienced in slicing the roast beef. 

 

Surf and Turf was disappointing. Something you pay extra for, should be good. Has anyone received a steak with a proper sear on it? (Even in Chops you could barely see the grill marks.)

 

Another negative aspect is the menus being the same sequence on similar cruises. Upcoming cruise on Freedom, identical day-to-day to what I just had last week.

 

Doing a Canal cruise on Carnival in March. Will be interesting to compare. Too bad they don't use tablecloths in their MDR. 

 

May try Celebrity after that. 

 

 

Try MSC. We were very happy with the food. Menus have the old Royal classics side menu.

[vacationlover_mn]

We did a B2B on navigator after the change.  Did UDP for the 7 night part, and MDR for the 4 nighter.  We were ok with the new menu.  Food was good.  I had grown tired of the old menu, and we had been doing UDP for several of our other trips because of this.  On my next cruise with my mom (her first one), we're going to do the MDR every night.

[karena1]

On 8/17/2023 at 6:55 PM, thefog said:

I was not to happy with the quality of the food on our cruise in May.

We have no problem with it.  Husband is totally happy with the choices.  We are not 5 star diners .  He thinks the food is just fine.