Grand Dining Room

[clo]

10 hours ago, Harters said:

menu a bit repetitive over the ten days

I have to remind myself that the selection is generally better than we're going to cook at home.

[stevesol6718]

5 minutes ago, clo said:

I have to remind myself that the selection is generally better than we're going to cook at home.

Sorry my wife is a great cook and her food is usually better than the Grand Dining Room.  

[clo]

3 minutes ago, stevesol6718 said:

Sorry my wife is a great cook and her food is usually better than the Grand Dining Room.  

Oh I think what we cook is better but in a ten day period we're not likely to cover all that a restaurant like this does.

[EJL2023]

7 minutes ago, stevesol6718 said:

Sorry my wife is a great cook and her food is usually better than the Grand Dining Room.  

‘usually’ , huh…gosh, on those days she doesn’t meet your standards I hope you don’t go on a social media forum to comment on her regressions! 

[clo]

2 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

‘usually’ , huh…gosh, on those days she doesn’t meet your standards I hope you don’t go on a social media forum to comment on her regressions! 

LOL. I've been known to do that myself.

[Harters]

55 minutes ago, clo said:

we're not likely to cover all that a restaurant like this does

I doubt there will be many home cooks who, for instance, offer six starters each day (even if a couple of them are always there). But I can prepare some of them better - even though I'm a better eater than cook. 

[Harters]

54 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

I hope you don’t go on a social media forum to comment on her regressions

Unfortunately, I have done in the past (and my own). I play on a food and restaurant forum which has an ongoing thread "What's for dinner" where contributors recount what will be (or has been) their dinner. 

[daydreamer62]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

I doubt there will be many home cooks who, for instance, offer six starters each day (even if a couple of them are always there). But I can prepare some of them better - even though I'm a better eater than cook. 

Some home cooks can definitely produce a great meal that is better than many singular restaurant meals in many establishments but it's a different skill set altogether to produce multiple meals for multiple people to a schedule. 

[DoulaAnn]

Another reason that service doesn't seem what it had been pre-COVID is that getting workers, training them, and then allowing them time to get the hang of whatever they're doing has been a challenge in many industries, especially the service industries. And cruise ships have another thing they have to deal with -- people who hire on thinking this traveling the "world" thing and getting paid to work and travel. Many of those people make it through one contract (usually 3 months, but sometimes longer) and decide that living away from friends/family and not getting to see each and every port because they are working through those times isn't what they really want to do after all. So then, back goes the cruise line, finding someone to hire, training them, getting them comfortable with their role, etc.

 

[Harters]

9 hours ago, daydreamer62 said:

it's a different skill set altogether to produce multiple meals for multiple people to a schedule

Absolutely. One of our regular bistro type places at home has a menu where a decent home cook could probably manage every dish on its own. But try doing six starters, six mains and six desserts so that 20 people can order them night after night and it is a very different thing. 

[roberts2005]

On 2/5/2024 at 6:42 PM, njhorseman said:

I have no doubt that it predates the movie.

I know far more than I care to about the Nevele.  My parents honeymooned there in 1945 and decided it would be a great idea to return fir for their 50th wedding anniversary..."treating" their children and their families to a weekend there. I think we outnumbered the other guests staying there that weekend. 

Do you remember the ski area and the ice skating. Use to go for winter weekends.

[jondfk]

This thread brings to mind my oat response to friends who inquire about meals on board ship.  I always reply, it’s probably not the best 7/10/15 meals I’ve ever had, but are undoubtedly the best 7/10/15 CONSECUTIVE meals I’ve ever had.

 

Our 3 sailings on O have provided some mealtime disappointments (notably Toscana which has never failed to fall short of their promise) still, en masse, meals taken onboard were some of the most enjoyable ever.

 

Some tough meat, sure, some portions which left me wanting, of course (usually solved with a nice dessert) but I wouldn’t have given up a single meal.

 

[Redtravel]

Your comments are disturbing.  I have sailed on Marina many times. Most recent Marina cruise was June 2023. My next O cruise is Marina.  Just off Vista 2 weeks ago. Food was good. Many items were excellent . There were a few dishes that could’ve been hotter.  Portions were ok.  I don’t expect perfection.  I eat breakfast in Terrace Grill.  It’s quicker than the GDR. If I get something that isn’t to my taste, there are many good options. Baristas and the Bakery are also a good breakfast venue.  

[stevesol6718]

1 minute ago, Redtravel said:

Your comments are disturbing.  I have sailed on Marina many times. Most recent Marina cruise was June 2023. My next O cruise is Marina.  Just off Vista 2 weeks ago. Food was good. Many items were excellent . There were a few dishes that could’ve been hotter.  Portions were ok.  I don’t expect perfection.  I eat breakfast in Terrace Grill.  It’s quicker than the GDR. If I get something that isn’t to my taste, there are many good options. Baristas and the Bakery are also a good breakfast venue.  

 

[stevesol6718]

We were on the same June cruise. Noticed that the food in GDR was not quite the same.  Now on this new Dec/Jan cruise food just was not good.  We also have started eating in the other venues, not because it is quicker, but because, for some reason, it is better.  We are not reviewing any other food venue on Marina.  All are good. It is just the GDR that we have noticed a steady decline and have opted to eat as little as we can. Going on Vista in March and expect to have a great time.  I think that the problem is unique and only on the Marina.

[Redtravel]

4 minutes ago, stevesol6718 said:

We were on the same June cruise. Noticed that the food in GDR was not quite the same.  Now on this new Dec/Jan cruise food just was not good.  We also have started eating in the other venues, not because it is quicker, but because, for some reason, it is better.  We are not reviewing any other food venue on Marina.  All are good. It is just the GDR that we have noticed a steady decline and have opted to eat as little as we can. Going on Vista in March and expect to have a great time.  I think that the problem is unique and only on the Marina.

Vista was great. We loved it.  Hope that Marina is as good. Marina is our favorite ship.  
On Marina on previous cruises in Europe, the food was good except in Polo.  Meat was tough. Polo on Vista was better. We sailed out of Miami. Meat was very good.  Wondering if the problem is the provision location.  Enjoy Vista.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, roberts2005 said:

Do you remember the ski area and the ice skating. Use to go for winter weekends.

Never was there in the winter.

[Harters]

2 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Europe, the food was good except in Polo.  Meat was tough. Polo on Vista was better. We sailed out of Miami. Meat was very good.  Wondering if the problem is the provision location.

Very possibly. Connected to the different way in which beef is raised here in Europe and how it's raised in the States? Grass or grain fed. And how long its hung after slaughter. I've always found American steak more tender than I'm used to but without the flavour - so I rarely order a steak when visiting the States. 

 

Of course, if you were also finding differences with pork, lamb and chicken , then there may be another reason as I would think mass catering products would have been raised in similar fashions both sides of the Atlantic. 

[Redtravel]

26 minutes ago, Harters said:

Very possibly. Connected to the different way in which beef is raised here in Europe and how it's raised in the States? Grass or grain fed. And how long its hung after slaughter. I've always found American steak more tender than I'm used to but without the flavour - so I rarely order a steak when visiting the States. 

 

Of course, if you were also finding differences with pork, lamb and chicken , then there may be another reason as I would think mass catering products would have been raised in similar fashions both sides of the Atlantic. 

Just the beef.  While I like eating beef, I actually prefer fish.  In Europe, we had amazing fish.  In the Caribbean, the fish was ok, but not as good.  It may be a difference of suppliers.  The food on Oceania is very good.  Looking forward to my next O cruise.

[rim2rimhiker]

On 2/5/2024 at 1:28 PM, stevesol6718 said:

every egg at breakfast served overdone

After a few days of getting over-medium eggs served over-hard, I learned to order over-easy and then they came the way I wanted them.

[clo]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Very possibly. Connected to the different way in which beef is raised here in Europe and how it's raised in the States? Grass or grain fed. And how long its hung after slaughter. I've always found American steak more tender than I'm used to but without the flavour - so I rarely order a steak when visiting the States. 

 

Of course, if you were also finding differences with pork, lamb and chicken , then there may be another reason as I would think mass catering products would have been raised in similar fashions both sides of the Atlantic. 

Excellent points. And at least where we are "grass fed" animals are generally done by local farmers and cost WAY more than commercial. I've had steak that didn't taste like much of anything. And I've had lamb that could have just as easily been been. But that's what some want.

[Psoque]

When we were on Riviera in late November 2023, we encountered a lot of issues in each and all of the dining venues (except for Red Ginger, where we did not dine), almost every time.  It took a very long time for our food to arrive, and when they arrived, it looked like it was sitting somewhere for a long time (cold and lifeless, in some cases).  The servers, especially those in the Grand Dining Room and Polo Grill, looked visibly stressed.  When we encountered a problem, there was a lot of finger-pointing (server blaming the kitchen, manager blaming the slow internet (*****???), etc.).  The quality of the food served was clearly inferior to what we have seen on Crystal and even on Celebrity....though our last cruise on Celebrity was a long time ago.  We've never encountered something like this on any of the cruises we have taken, and we have taken cruises from a fairly wide range of lines (NCL all the way up to Crystal, including their 62-passenger yacht).

 

We are truly hoping that this was an isolated incidence (though I don't think it is the case), and that when we do our Baltic cruise on Vista that we will not see any of this nonsense.  However, I'm starting to wonder really outstanding food and service are now only available on true luxury lines and that all cruise lines are basically declining in quality, especially in the area of food and service. 

[clo]

4 hours ago, Psoque said:

When we were on Riviera in late November 2023, we encountered a lot of issues in each and all of the dining venues (except for Red Ginger, where we did not dine), almost every time.  It took a very long time for our food to arrive, and when they arrived, it looked like it was sitting somewhere for a long time (cold and lifeless, in some cases).  The servers, especially those in the Grand Dining Room and Polo Grill, looked visibly stressed.  When we encountered a problem, there was a lot of finger-pointing (server blaming the kitchen, manager blaming the slow internet (*****???), etc.).  The quality of the food served was clearly inferior to what we have seen on Crystal and even on Celebrity....though our last cruise on Celebrity was a long time ago.  We've never encountered something like this on any of the cruises we have taken, and we have taken cruises from a fairly wide range of lines (NCL all the way up to Crystal, including their 62-passenger yacht).

 

We are truly hoping that this was an isolated incidence (though I don't think it is the case), and that when we do our Baltic cruise on Vista that we will not see any of this nonsense.  However, I'm starting to wonder really outstanding food and service are now only available on true luxury lines and that all cruise lines are basically declining in quality, especially in the area of food and service. 

I truly recommend that you send you commend to Oceania.

[Psoque]

7 hours ago, clo said:

I truly recommend that you send you commend to Oceania.

I have a couple of times.  The manager apologized to us onboard after we sent in the mid-cruise evaluation form.  Strangely enough, the manager could not explain exactly what was going on, or how they were going to fix the problem.  We reported the same issue on the final online evaluation, and we haven’t heard back from anyone since then.

[MEFIowa]

12 hours ago, Psoque said:

When we were on Riviera in late November 2023, we encountered a lot of issues in each and all of the dining venues (except for Red Ginger, where we did not dine), almost every time....

Though when we were on Riviera 10/30-11/19/2023 we had the exact opposite dining experience. We don't dine in the GDR, so can't comment on that, but the food in Jacques, Red Ginger, Polo Grill, Toscana, Waves and the Terrace Cafe was uniformly outstanding. I loved every meal. (We also had enjoyed the food on Riviera 12/13-23/2021.)