Dining Review after recent return from 2 sailings

[LobsterStalker]

Just back from a 4Nt sailing on Freedom followed by 7Nt on Harmony and with all the recent talk of changes to the MDR I figured I'd share my observations .

Firstly I was thrilled on Embarkation to find out that I actually had a table assignment as I was supposed to . This broke the streak from my last 3 cruises of arriving to find out that my Early assignment I was booked for was non existent , so that was a good start . Had 2 completely different experiences on the 2 ships.

Firstly Servers ; as always were excellent, Although , for some reason I did  find the assistants not as attentive as they used to be , but the waiter seems to pick up the slack. Not sure if the assistants are doing more behind the scenes , as this seems to be more of a trend lately. 

Food Quality ; Freedom seemed a bit more hit or miss than Harmony . We're not really fussy eaters at all and I don't think we have ever not eaten what is in front of us , so this was a first to have something this bad , but DW had a chicken Parm on Freedom that was horrible. Looked like it came out of a frozen dinner box . Overall , food on Harmony was a step up , with the exception of steaks. The cuts on both ships are almost embarrassing . I have also given up on what used to be a favorite , the Prime Rib . When it comes to Beef the Tenderloin seems the only sure hit , but you better ask for extra as the portion is child size . 

Serving policy; On freedom everything was brought 1 at a time if ordering multiple apps/entrees. On Harmony I ordered multiple apps every night and they were always brought together , however when I wanted to surf and turf on lobster night was told it was 1 at a time . 

MTD ; ...The lines stretched around the corner and down the hall. Should definitely be renamed to TTD..(Their Time Dining)

Overall still enjoy the dining experience. I realize Food and Dining experience is very subjective . These were obviously my observations only .

One other thing to note . On Wonder last winter the 2 tops were so close you had to put your A$$ on someones table to squeeze through to your seat . This was not the case this time around.

 

Cheers

[travelchica915]

Thank you! We’ll be on Harmony in Feb and was wondering about the MDR. This is helpful. 

[HappyTexan44]

27 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

TTD..(Their Time Dining)

 

I have to remember this.  

[swoopy2110]

Off Liberty last week and felt similar. The food was "ok". Wasn't really hot enough.

 

My Mum had the steak too and it looked pathetic. She said it wasn't good.

 

Comments made to the staff and on the survey.

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, swoopy2110 said:

Off Liberty last week and felt similar. The food was "ok". Wasn't really hot enough.

 

My Mum had the steak too and it looked pathetic. She said it wasn't good.

 

Comments made to the staff and on the survey.

Ya , a few passing comments to wait staff , but in most instances unfortunately there is very little they can do  ( though they will try their best ). I'm not willing to waste my time returning a steak that is just a subpar steak , to find what will likely arrive being another subpar steak . I'll just eat what I have and be glad I'm fortunate enough to be there . The survey ratings were low for sure though . Now as horrible as my wifes meal was we definitely should have said domething and got something else... But we didn't . I would feel differently about what I would accept if eating at specialty

 

Cheers

[Nick67]

We were on Harmony last month on a B2b. We had reservations each night at 7:30. We ate in the main dining room 4 nights in two weeks because the lines were so long that you would have to wait at least an hour with a reservation. On one of the four nights we dined I returned my main entree three times for it to achieve room temp. The waiters were excellent but the food was subpar. 

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, Nick67 said:

We were on Harmony last month on a B2b. We had reservations each night at 7:30. We ate in the main dining room 4 nights in two weeks because the lines were so long that you would have to wait at least an hour with a reservation. On one of the four nights we dined I returned my main entree three times for it to achieve room temp. The waiters were excellent but the food was subpar. 

Something DRASTICALLY wrong with this . 

They need to find a solution to their disastrous dining mayhem . Yes , that's as nicely as I can put it . 5:15 is generally earlier than most want , but going to MTD is not an option as far as I have witnessed , so we're stuck 

 

Cheers

[goldfish65]

Thank you, this is disappointing. We board Freedom in a few weeks. It will be my fourth and perhaps final Royal cruise. Food is worse new vs old menu. 

[HappyTexan44]

I think it is a good thing that we got early traditional dining.    So, we'll have time to send back crappy food and switch to something else if the quality is bad.  

[cruiselvr04]

For us the food is dependent on the ship and the chef on board.  On Radiance in July it was the Chefs first week.  The food was barely edible. 8 weeks later on Radiance with the same chef and we enjoyed every meal for 16 nights. The quality, food temp and taste had vastly improved.  I feel the Chef had worked hard to make improvements.  2 Allure cruises earlier this year and again the food was very disappointing. It proves to us that the chef can make a difference.  It’s important to make constructive comments on your survey. 

[The Fun Researcher]

14 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

Something DRASTICALLY wrong with this . 

They need to find a solution to their disastrous dining mayhem . Yes , that's as nicely as I can put it . 5:15 is generally earlier than most want , but going to MTD is not an option as far as I have witnessed , so we're stuck 

 

Cheers

Amen.  Nowadays, you have a choice of the lesser of two evils.  Do early dining at 5pm, or wait in a packed line that goes past the elevators for MTD.  This past cruise in July, on the Quantum to Alaska, was particularly bad.  The buffet and other eateries did not open for lunch until 12pm.  Early seating is 5pm.  So, you are lucky to get done with lunch by say 1pm, and then you need to turn around to get ready and eat early seating at 5pm.  We weren't hungry yet by any means.  They need to open for lunch at 11 or 11:30am if they are going to force early seating to be 5pm, or preferably do both, move lunch earlier and dinner back to at least 5:30.   I made it clear in my survey that currently is a terrible way of doing it.

 

The old way worked SO much better.  Dedicated space in the MDR for MTD.  Early seating was later, and you could prebook MTD for whatever times you wanted (as long as you did it well ahead of your cruise).  Even if you didn't prebook you could show up at any time from the start of early seating until late seating.  How is this new method saving time when folks with MTD are waiting 30 minutes or more before they even enter the MDR?

 

Regarding your food review, the only thing that has me concerned is the comments about the quality of the cuts of beef. We were fortunate not to experience that in March and July (other than prime rib being overcooked in March), but if they are trying to fool guests with cuts that aren't as advertised, now we have a real issue.

 

[LobsterStalker]

2 hours ago, goldfish65 said:

Thank you, this is disappointing. We board Freedom in a few weeks. It will be my fourth and perhaps final Royal cruise. Food is worse new vs old menu. 

Unless you consider yourself a "foodie" I wouldn't go into it with a negative attitude . However if you do consider yourself a Foodie , then I wouldn't even recommend you hit the MDR .

 

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

The buffet and other eateries did not open for lunch until 12pm.  Early seating is 5pm.  So, you are lucky to get done with lunch by say 1pm, and then you need to turn around to get ready and eat early seating at 5pm.  We weren't hungry yet by any means.  They need to open for lunch at 11 or 11:30am if they are going to force early seating to be 5pm, or preferably do both, move lunch earlier and dinner back to at least 5:30.   I made it clear in my survey that currently is a terrible way of doing it.

 

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Regarding your food review, the only thing that has me concerned is the comments about the quality of the cuts of beef. We were fortunate not to experience that in March and July (other than prime rib being overcooked in March), but if they are trying to fool guests with cuts that aren't as advertised, now we have a real issue.

I personally would prefer Early to seat in the 5:45-6:15 range. It may not seem a big difference to some , but the extra hour is a lot for us as we find ourselves cutting pooltime short at the end of the afternoon to go get ready for dinner. If there was a functional "MY time"option I would definitely choose it but not after what I have seen recently

The Steak on both ships ( ordered multiple times ) , were horrid cuts , so thin they looked hammered out like a chicken parm or something.... Very disappointing !

 

Cheers

[Scottdalfonso]

7 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

Unless you consider yourself a "foodie" I wouldn't go into it with a negative attitude . However if you do consider yourself a Foodie , then I wouldn't even recommend you hit the MDR .

 

Exactly. We've had two cruises with the new menu and had one dish we thought was bad. Everything else has been good to great. We are no foodies, but found something to eat every night and enjoyed them all 

[The Fun Researcher]

24 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

 

I personally would prefer Early to seat in the 5:45-6:15 range. It may not seem a big difference to some , but the extra hour is a lot for us as we find ourselves cutting pooltime short at the end of the afternoon to go get ready for dinner. If there was a functional "MY time"option I would definitely choose it but not after what I have seen recently

 

Cheers

Couldn't have said it better myself.  Cheers

[ajtaylor29]

The quality of the food is almost secondary to me after the quality of the service. By that i mean: We cruise for so many other pleasures, and eating is sort of important but necessary. I have come to expect mediocre food in the MDR and the buffet - it's food mass produced for thousands of people, how can we expect it to be super-high quality??? - but i can always find something to eat and get full. What i CAN'T accept is bad service, slow service, waiting in line forever for "my time dining". To me, that is wasting my valuable cruise time when i could be doing other things!!  When i don't get that service, that's when i get frustrated.

I agree with another poster above who observed that Carnival has their MTD figured out MUCH better than RC....

Last few cruises, my DH and I average 1 meal in the MDR and 1 meal in the buffet all cruise long. The rest of our meals are either specialty restaurants, Coastal Kitchen (if we're lucky enough to cruise in a suite!), even sandwiches or pizza for a meal or two.

ALso, fyi - most people want to eat at 7 pm, or close to it. So, if you can be flexible, eat early or late....and avoid the long lines at MDR and always get a table at the specialty restaurants.

 

[loman]

We had 6:45 MTD  , deck 3 , on the Harmony last month .

We showed up around 6 pm , no lines , and the door man checked with other floors if there was any no shows from early first seating . We needed a two top.

We were seated right away on different floors every night . 

Different waiters each time and they were all great.

 

I didnt care for the Mexican night meal . Every thing else was good enough for me.

[Cruise Girl Forever]

Just back from having the new menu for the first time.  Our waiter and assistant provided outstanding service.  I was so happy with them.

As for  the new menu.   Usually one entrée would appeal to me. Served hot and tasty. But wow was the portion small.  You can't help but notice that.  The New York strip steak that was mentioned previously in this thread is very accurate.    That was the only thing I was served all week that was impossible to eat.  So I can not really complain.  Everything else I enjoyed very much.

 

I did not roll out of the dinning room,  but left satisfied.   I lost 2 lbs.   I am happy about that

Honestly,   I think I can contribute that to all the walking I did on the Oasis. 

 

 

[trihawks1]

I agree that service is as important as the food quality.  The change in menus was suppose to help the wait staff get tables in and out faster.  Most reviews had been stating they were getting most tables finished 45 minutes to an hour.  I also loved our cruises on Freedom class ships pre-Covid.  Now Oasis class is what we prefer basically because we have way more options for eating on the ship.  

[patattack]

2 hours ago, Cruise Girl Forever said:

Just back from having the new menu for the first time.  Our waiter and assistant provided outstanding service.  I was so happy with them.

As for  the new menu.   Usually one entrée would appeal to me. Served hot and tasty. But wow was the portion small.  You can't help but notice that.  The New York strip steak that was mentioned previously in this thread is very accurate.    That was the only thing I was served all week that was impossible to eat.  So I can not really complain.  Everything else I enjoyed very much.

 

I did not roll out of the dinning room,  but left satisfied.   I lost 2 lbs.   I am happy about that

Honestly,   I think I can contribute that to all the walking I did on the Oasis. 

 

 

I had the New York strip steak twice on the Radiance Panama Canal cruise.  It was good, but much thinner than I have ever seen it.  

 

Pat

[time4u2go]

9 hours ago, goldfish65 said:

 Food is worse new vs old menu. 

I definitely agree with that. 

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, trihawks1 said:

The change in menus was suppose to help the wait staff get tables in and out faster

Are you able to expand on how changing the menu's the way they have is going to help the wait staff be quicker ?

[trihawks1]

Everything I have read the past couple months basically states Royal was trying to speed up the MDR so it wasn’t taking 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Their goal supposably was to serve within an hour or less.  But I assume size of the tables (2&4 should be quicker) and whether people chat a lot could make a difference too.  Plus it’s less dishes to prep.  We are disappointed with not being able to always have shrimp cocktail and our favorite French Onion soup in the MDR.  A few of videos also have said most were served within an hour now…I don’t like spending close to 2 hours to just eat.  

[LobsterStalker]

3 minutes ago, trihawks1 said:

Everything I have read the past couple months basically states Royal was trying to speed up the MDR so it wasn’t taking 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Their goal supposably was to serve within an hour or less.  But I assume size of the tables (2&4 should be quicker) and whether people chat a lot could make a difference too.  Plus it’s less dishes to prep.  We are disappointed with not being able to always have shrimp cocktail and our favorite French Onion soup in the MDR.  A few of videos also have said most were served within an hour now…I don’t like spending close to 2 hours to just eat.  

I'm quite certain I have never had a sitting that lasted over an hour , with the exception of possibly the first couple cruises ever where we would sit at larger tables and dine with new people . Now we rarely order dessert so we are in and out faster than I would like . I can definitely feel the fact that I am being rushed !

 

Cheers

[The Fun Researcher]

We usually take 1.5 hours at least but our tables are usually 7-10 folks