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Food on Royal Caribbean


camella
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Has it improved at all? We went on Radiance to Alaska and the food was disgusting. I was really disappointed, because I had taken Princess years before and ate like a pig. I'm taking Royal to the Baltic this summer and am hoping that they have improved.

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I went on the Sovereign in November and didn't think it was that good. However, I was really anticipating excellence from reviews I had read. I guess it's all very subjective. However, I hope that you like the food better this time!

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We just came back from the explorer, western carib, considering they have to wine and dine some 3500 plus passengers for 7 nights 3 meals a day, I thought the food and the service in the dining room was exceptional, the windjammer and island grill became very boring after the second meal, same old buffet everyday, Johnny Rockets was excellent. Overall the food was very good. Some of the meals in the dining room were outstanding, others just very good.

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Well that's encouraging. When we went on the Radiance, to Alaska, no less, we didn't even have one night of lobster or anything of the sort. They didn't even have fresh salmon. They had farm raised salmon every day that was way overcooked and I was really excited the one night that they had halibut, thinking it would be fresh, but alas, it wasn't, and it was overcooked! So I'm hoping it was just the ship. Cause I've heard from others that the Radiance was awful and Brillance was great! Cause I love to eat!!! Maybe I won't gain as much weight though icon_wink.gif

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Hate to "burst your bubble" of hope but at New Years on Brilliance the food was just "average" at best.. the decent meals were had at Portofinos or Chops.. getting meats cooked anything less than medium took major effort w/wait staff... and even then it was somewhat disappointing.

Hope you have better luck.

Carolyn

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Just back from Brillance 4/9/04 sailing and the food was excellent. No complaints at all in the dinning room, the Windjammer or Seaview Cafe. Only tried Chops, which was fabulous, not Portofinos. Wait staff was also super and met or exceeded all of our expectations. Hope you have the same luck we did.

 

Cherisse

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by camella:

Has it improved at all? We went on Radiance to Alaska and the food was disgusting. I was really disappointed, because I had taken Princess years before and ate like a pig. I'm taking Royal to the Baltic this summer and am hoping that they have improved.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

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We were also on the Brilliance on 04/09/04 and while the food in the dining room was okay it certainly wasn't as good as on our previous four cruises with RCI or as good as our one cruise with Princess. In my opinion I would give the food on this cruise 3 stars down from the 5 stars on all previous cruises.

 

bob

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  • 2 weeks later...

I;m surprised to hear that so many people were dissatisfied with RCCL's food. We sailed on the Explorer and Adventure recently, and the food was very good. Maybe not superb or 5-star, but definitely better than average. No real complaints from my tamily regarding the food.

 

Home Lines Atlantic 7/88; Cunard Countess 6/89; Costa Rivera 6/90; Explorer of the Seas 8/02; Adventure of the Sea 8/03

 

countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=da70d6&cdt=2004;6;26;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500 till the Carnival Miracle

 

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I think the food in portofinos is excellent.

 

The main dining room is good. Nothing exceptional. Lobster tails, shrimp scampi, grouper were all very good.

 

I would love to try Celebrity or Disney though. Supposedly they have great food.

 

Enchanment of the Seas 4/2002

Radiance of the Seas 1/2003

Monarch of the Seas 3/2003

Adventure of the Seas 1/2004

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Also on Brilliance 4-09. My husband had a tenderlion and a strip steak, both of which were medium and nicely pink. He said they were very good. I raved about the vegatable curry. All other entres were good to very good but not outstanding. I thought the food was better in the Windjammer than Voyager's Windjammer, and it wasn't bad. Just that Brilliance had more selections. And Brilliance buffet pizza was great.I can't imagine a 7 day cruise with no lobster as the original poster stated about Radiance! Maybe it was a shorter cruise?

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I was on Navigator of the Seas in October 2003 and I thought the food was awful. We only ate in the dining room twice for dinner and once for lunch. All were awful. In fact, at lunch I sent mine back for something else. The room service was very disappointing. You could get burgers but you would get a very dry bun. The best thing we got with room service were cookies, ice water and salad.

 

The windjammer wasn't very good either, but once again you could eat enough soup and salad to get full.

 

The best meal we had was at Chops. It was worth every penny.

 

Proud member of the Purple Ribbon Cruisers!

 

NAVIGATOR 10-03

CARNIVAL 11-86

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sailed on Majesty of the Seas this month and I thought the food was great. The steaks were cooked just like I like them...medium rare and juicy. They had great appetizers. Loved the creamed mushrooms in puff pastry, the cold cucumber soup, Mmmm, now I am getting hungry. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Majesty of the Seas 5/04

 

Carnival Ecstasy 12/13/04

countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff0000&cdt=2004;12;13;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

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  • 1 month later...

I was on the Legend sailing to Hawaii in May. The menu choices at the dinners was terrible. When we finally chose something from the lousy menu, the food arrived tough, tasteless or dry. Sailing for 5 days before we got to Hawaii, I felt like a captive victim. I couldn't wait to get to our first port of call so that we could go to a decent restaurant. I don't know how the rest of RCCI's ships are, but the Legend certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

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Over the years RCCL's food has gone down in quality. I sailed on the Granduer of the Seas this past April. I was a bit disappointed. The desserts are plain BAD. We found ordering icecream with choc. syrup & cherries was a better choice. When the head waiter mentioned something about this not being on the menu, we told them it should be :)

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I don't think I will ever sail with RCCL again. Much like Doughboy, we loaded up on soup, salad & bread. EVERY MEAL was a disgrace. How can they manage to get repeat guests? All meals tasted like they were flash frozen in one of those boil in a plastic bag things. I am not kidding you the food was horrible. On the night they served lobster it so water logged and just awful. We sailed last Thanksgiving on Celebrity's Summit and it was not too much better. Their selections on their menus left an awful lot to desire. Not as bad as RCCL but not too much better. Try a different cruiseline, it can't hurt.

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Hi to ALL...

I have read your comments, but no one mentioned the budget constraints that the chefs are under. I have been told that RCCL has a budget of $1.00 per DAY per passenger for Pastries, yes, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner,all together. The food budget looks to be around $7.00 per day per passenger, IMHO. The food is very good based on that information. Raddison uses a budget of over $35 per passenger per day. I enjoy Italian pastries so Princess's bakers are the best for me. RCCL has a Franco/ German flair or at least onboard the Serenade of the Seas, which is alittle tame for me. Each to their own.......Dennis

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The desserts on Princess are very good. The desserts on RC and Norwegian tasted like defrosted things that came in a cardboard box, there's no way they were made on board. They looked very nice but had NO taste. I see the biggest difference between cruiselines food at the buffet, and Princess Horizon Court is always good with a wonderful selection. As for RC and NCL, yuch. Sort of like school food. The dining rooms on all three were very good in my experience.

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The quality of food on RCCL has gone down in the past few years (post 9-11) IMHO. We have sailed the Radiance 3 times and this last May was a let-down. The lunch buffet was so bland (a baked potatoe bar every day, meatloaf and kitchen sink casserole) We did really enjoy the sushi each evening in the Windjammer and went in before our 8:30 dinner for a little snack. We had always loved the desserts on the Radiance but they had changed head chefs and found them lacking. The food on the Navigator last year was good and we saw that the chef was from our first Radiance cruise. I wasn't overly impressed with Princess (the cooked fresh pizzas were great) but I did find NCL pre 9/11 food fresh and tasty and beautiful to the eye. We also thought that HAL had good food. Food is so subjective, so to each his own.

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I guess the quality isn't quite the same as it used to be. But, I have always found that the bigger the ship, either the food or service is lacking. I was on the Explorer in May, and the food in the Windjammer was not good. The dining room was pretty good though AND the vegetarian sandwiches in the cafe promenade were fantastic.

 

And, Dennis the chef, I believe I sat with you at dinner on the Serenade transatlantic. I thought the food was very good on that cruise. But, again, I like "tame" food.

 

The worst food, by far, was on Carnival. I got food poisoning all three times I sailed with them. The best food, IMHO, was on the now defunct, Dolphin Cruise line. Disney is a little worse than RCI and about the same as NCL. I've never been on HAL, Celebrity or Princess as they are much too laid back for me (from all the reviews I've read and friends I've talked to). Again, these are only my experiences, and things can be hit and miss depending upon the sailing and ship. Also, food isn't even in the top 10 reasons I cruise. Good luck on the baltic cruise!

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I have not posted on these boards in several years but am frustrated enough to do so again. My family loves cruising, does so at least once a year, and at one time were loyal Royal Caribbean customers. We are exactly in the Royal Caribbean demographic range. We love the ships and have been on every class at least once. However, the frustration comes from the fact that while we love the ships and far prefer them over other lines, our food experiences on Royal Caribbean became so dismal that we no longer cruise with the company and won't until the food gets better.

 

Each of our cruises featured main dining room and buffet area food that was noticably of lesser quality (and presentation) than the previous one. The dining food on our last Royal Caribbean cruise (Brilliance) was (to us) exactly as described by the poster who compared it to "boil-in bag" quality. We enjoyed, and do not have any objection paying for, the alternate restaurants. Aside from these venues however, it is galling to have these beautiful ships with excellent facilities disgrace themselves by serving poor quality food. At the very least, the main dining room food served at the formal night dinners should match the expense and effort the passengers make to dress for the occasion. It's insulting to dress for a formal dining experience only to be presented with a mediocre dinner, as if the company hopes the finery of the dress and beauty of the dining room will mask what comes out of the kitchen.

 

I know the food budget is a per diem per person, as on all cruise lines. I fully understand the complexities of serving large groups of people. I would not expect 5 star food or service on a main stream line. All that being said, we're not picky eaters and, believe me, we love to eat. To us Royal Caribbean does a shameful job and let's their fleet down with the expense and effort it puts into its dining room and buffet food. Much as we truly like the rest of the product, the company has lost us as customers and we have moved on (mostly to Princess). We'd be back in a flash if the food quality came back.

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