Grandeur-noticable decline in food quality

:( We recently returned from a 5 day Bermuda cruise on Grandeur from Norfolk, VA. The embarkation and debarkation at the new Norfolk cruise terminal were flawless. The terminal staff is excellent.

The ship's staff in all areas was excellent as usual and the ship was very well maintained, as usual.

What was extremely disappointing was the quality of the preparation of the food in the dining room for dinners. We're Diamond Plus members, so we have lots of experience with RCI's food services. The 6 passengers at our table aren't foos snobs, but the amount of food we sent back due to poor quality or preparation got to be ridiculous after a couple of evenings. We felt sorry for our waiter but he gladly took care of any problems we had. 3 people ordered salmon one evening and when it was served, we were trying to figure out if it was really salmon. There wasn't any pink to be seen. When tasted, it was disgusting and all 3 servings went back. The same thing happened the next night with sea bass and a highly processed NY Strip. The risotto served one night was so pasty that it took several glasses of water to clear our palates. The creme brulee was more like creme soup. Turkey breast was so highly processed that all you could taste was the salt used in the processing.

Yes, we did have some good meals, the filet and duck were excellent and

the breads were very good.

I guess that the most disappointing thing was that not too long ago, you could count on excellent food across the board with RCI. If there were 6 entrees for dinner, you could count on all six of them being good and properly prepared. You may not have cared for one due to personal taste prferences but if you tried it, the taste may have actually persuaded you to try it again.

With RCI now owning Celebrity and Azamara, I'm beginning to wonder if Royal Caribbean is being turned into the lower level cruise line among the 3 with Celebrity being in the middle and Azamara at the top or visa versa.

Oh no! :eek: We leave on that same cruise this Saturday with 20 relatives to celebrate my inlaws 50th anniversary. We really sold them on the cruise idea and hope we won't be despised when we come back because they are disappointed with the food. I had heard that the seafood was pretty good on th Grandeur. Was the lobster at least decent? How can you screw that up? Were the breakfasts OK? Did you eat at the buffet at all?

The first thing I noticed was this was a first time post. So can't put much credibility in the post at this time. However, I did have a similar experience on the Navigator in December 07. We are diamond Plus members also and we were very disappointed in the quality of the dining room food as well as Chops Grill. The Windjammer was much better. We have always enjoyed RCI's dining room, but this was really bad. We asked several head waiters why there were so many problems and they all said there were cutbacks and even though they complain about it nothing is corrected. We are regulars at Chops Grill and it was very disappointing. Based on this experience we weren’t sure what to expect for our upcoming Vision cruise in February 08. What we found was the old Royal Caribbean. Everything went extremely well. The dining room and Windjammer were excellent. Some of the best food and service we have ever had an RCI cruise. Don’t really know what to say other than it was like night and day between these cruises.

We recently returned from this same cruise.

The food was mediocre in our opinion.

I will agree the strip steak was inedible - so tough.

One night the head waiter kept chanting to our waiter to check my son's chicken - he must have noticed something. When he did - they noticed the chicken was not cooked. I thought it was interesting that they even thought to check it - when my son had barely cut into it.

We too noticed a little decline in the dining room food from previous cruises, not that it was bad, just a decline.

There was no lobster on the five night cruise.

We still had an excellent cruise though - ship, entertainment and Bermuda were all great! My only complaint would be that they do not open the top in the adult pool solarium. With two days at sea, it would have been nice to be away from all the children running around the regular pool and still be able to get some sunshine.

We are going on the Grandeur out of Norfolk in August for a 9 night cruise. I am hoping the food is not as bad as the post made it seem;)

First post or not, DH and I agree with the OP 100%. ;)

I've asked the question in the previous post about lobster on the 5 night cruise on the Grandeur. The response I received is that it was included in the fisherman's platter and was still availabe, even on a 5 night. Maybe it depends on the cruise. We are out of Tampa on the Grandeur so I'm hoping to have the lobster in January. As far as a first time poster perhaps the same thing happened to them as to me. In between cruises and being on this site I changed my email and forgot my log-in. Had to create a new identity. But as a diamond plus I would think they would get on this site more than I do as I'm no where near that elite status! :confused: :eek: :rolleyes:

The first thing I noticed was this was a first time post. So can't put much credibility in the post at this time. However, I did have a similar experience on the Navigator in December 07. We are diamond Plus members also and we were very disappointed in the quality of the dining room food as well as Chops Grill. The Windjammer was much better. We have always enjoyed RCI's dining room, but this was really bad. We asked several head waiters why there were so many problems and they all said there were cutbacks and even though they complain about it nothing is corrected. We are regulars at Chops Grill and it was very disappointing. Based on this experience we weren’t sure what to expect for our upcoming Vision cruise in February 08. What we found was the old Royal Caribbean. Everything went extremely well. The dining room and Windjammer were excellent. Some of the best food and service we have ever had an RCI cruise. Don’t really know what to say other than it was like night and day between these cruises.

The poster said that s/he is Diamond Plus.

Like you.

So s/he didn't know about the existence of Cruise Critic.

So what?

You only have 25 posts in 8 years.

The comments can be read and weighed by people booked on or considering booking on the Grandeur, and they can make up their own minds.

This poster does not deserve to have anyone hint at "trolldom". :rolleyes:

Weird comment.

 

The poster said that s/he is Diamond Plus.

 

Like you.

 

So s/he didn't know about the existence of Cruise Critic.

 

So what?

 

You only have 25 posts in 8 years.

 

The comments can be read and weighed by people booked on or considering booking on the Grandeur, and they can make up their own minds.

 

This poster does not deserve to have anyone hint at "trolldom". :rolleyes:

Amen!

Food tastes are unique to each individual. On Grandeur, in April, 3 of 11 at our table ordered the NY Strip steak, 2 of us were perfectly happy, the third, his wasn't done enough to begin with, so he sent it back, then it was too done, then finally on the third try, he accepted it, but wasn't happy. Later that week, he didn't like something else when they first brought it. Three others at the table at that time had no problem with the same meal on the first try. He also had issues with the creme brulee' while everyone else who ordered it was happy with theirs. Point I'm trying to make, one persons opinion doesn't mean anything to what I will find. I've never had a bad meal, and I'm a picky eater. Make up your own mind when you get there, and don't stress over it before you get to the ship.

Wow! Don't be angry. The first time post thing was just an observation. I had an expierence once where two RCI crew members bragged about going on a Carnival board and bashing Carnival, so I know it happens. I guess everyone has to post a first time. Sorry! I knew someone would catch on to my 25 posts in 8 years. All I can say is I visit cruise critic frequently, but I very rarely post as I use Cruise Critic for information. In this case I posted because I had a similar expierence. Unfortunately I don't have the time like others to post 18,000+ in 4 1/2 years. I'm going to retire soon, so maybe I can catch up. This should be post #26!

Very interesting food comparison discussion here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=801013

No doubt cost pressures are part of this, but that's not an excuse for cold or uncooked food.

We just returned from this cruise, 6/21 - 6/26 out of Norfolk) as well and felt the quality of food and entertainment was lacking compared to our last 2 cruises. We did not eat in the dining room, but needless to say, the evenings we ate in the Windjammer wasn't anything to write home about. We didn't even bother to go during lunch time; just went down to the Solarium and had either the cheeseburger or hot dog.

We were also disappointed with the entertainment. The cruise director, Dan, was okay. We never saw the captain - not one time!! We had expected an evening with cocktails and the captain (as before). We did, however, receive two Crown & Anchor Society caps as gifts. Hubby loved them as he collects caps.

Bermuda was absolutely beautiful. The first day we arrived, we basically just walked around and shopped at the dock and then took the ferry over to Hamilton for lunch and more shopping. We only did one excursion to Horseshoe Bay Beach. Words and pics can't describe it. Our tour bus driver, Glenn Simmons, was the best!! He promised us a site to see if we all were back on the bus by 1:15 p.m. We all were and got a look over the cliffs at The Reefs. OMG, thought I had died and gone to heaven. What beautiful water and coral reefs. We figure the next time we visit, this would be the place to stay.

Weird comment.

 

The poster said that s/he is Diamond Plus.

 

Like you.

 

So s/he didn't know about the existence of Cruise Critic.

 

So what?

 

You only have 25 posts in 8 years.

 

The comments can be read and weighed by people booked on or considering booking on the Grandeur, and they can make up their own minds.

 

This poster does not deserve to have anyone hint at "trolldom". :rolleyes:

Thank you Carol!!!!! Couldn't have said it better myself... :D :D

:( We recently returned from a 5 day Bermuda cruise on Grandeur from Norfolk, VA. The embarkation and debarkation at the new Norfolk cruise terminal were flawless. The terminal staff is excellent.

The ship's staff in all areas was excellent as usual and the ship was very well maintained, as usual.

What was extremely disappointing was the quality of the preparation of the food in the dining room for dinners. We're Diamond Plus members, so we have lots of experience with RCI's food services. The 6 passengers at our table aren't foos snobs, but the amount of food we sent back due to poor quality or preparation got to be ridiculous after a couple of evenings. We felt sorry for our waiter but he gladly took care of any problems we had. 3 people ordered salmon one evening and when it was served, we were trying to figure out if it was really salmon. There wasn't any pink to be seen. When tasted, it was disgusting and all 3 servings went back. The same thing happened the next night with sea bass and a highly processed NY Strip. The risotto served one night was so pasty that it took several glasses of water to clear our palates. The creme brulee was more like creme soup. Turkey breast was so highly processed that all you could taste was the salt used in the processing.

Yes, we did have some good meals, the filet and duck were excellent and

the breads were very good.

I guess that the most disappointing thing was that not too long ago, you could count on excellent food across the board with RCI. If there were 6 entrees for dinner, you could count on all six of them being good and properly prepared. You may not have cared for one due to personal taste prferences but if you tried it, the taste may have actually persuaded you to try it again.

With RCI now owning Celebrity and Azamara, I'm beginning to wonder if Royal Caribbean is being turned into the lower level cruise line among the 3 with Celebrity being in the middle and Azamara at the top or visa versa.

bad guy, was there really no Crown & Anchor party or reception of any sort?

:( With RCI now owning Celebrity and Azamara, I'm beginning to wonder if Royal Caribbean is being turned into the lower level cruise line among the 3 with Celebrity being in the middle and Azamara at the top or visa versa.

Not trying to be mean but Celebrity has always been considered a class above RCCL

Very interesting food comparison discussion here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=801013

 

No doubt cost pressures are part of this, but that's not an excuse for cold or uncooked food.

I started that thread.My daughter ordered the "black angus" sirloin steak on RCL and it was like rubber.

My older daughter thought the soft serve on RCL tasted nasty, worse than CCL. As I type,she is at her job at Sonic, car hopping- she knows her soft serve;)

i think a common answer to when the food is bad is to ask for something different. Well, that is easier said than done. For example, on one night, my wife and I ordered the soup and one entree, our kids ordere just an entree. The service was so slow that other tables got their desserts before we got our entree! We got there on the nose at 6:00pm, got dessert at 7:45, the time when we had to go for the returners party.

On the last night, we got family sized bowl of cesaer salad, whihc, though is a nice idea, was inedible because it was drench with dressing.

All in all, I feel sorry for RCL and I predict that they'll be bankrupt or bought out in another year or so. I say this because they have a huge debt load, fuel costs are out of control, air traffic will keep people from cruising as will the economy. Looking at their stock price, I am not the only one who thinks this. So, expect more cutbacks in food, along with other areas on RCL.

In fairness, I will mention the culinary highlights- the chicken marsala was the best main dish (good, not excellent) and the low fat peach/blueberry cobbler (excellent). Don't let the low fat thing scare you off from ordering it; it was the best dessert on the ship (not counting the oreo cookie sundae at Johnny Rockets).

thats too bad...its always odd when you notice a decline in one ship and the opposite in another...when we were on Monarch the food was great, probably the best we have had

All in all, I feel sorry for RCL and I predict that they'll be bankrupt or bought out in another year or so. I say this because they have a huge debt load, fuel costs are out of control, air traffic will keep people from cruising as will the economy. Looking at their stock price, I am not the only one who thinks this. So, expect more cutbacks in food, along with other areas on RCL.

Don't count on it. They are still making a decent profit per share and ... well ... I think the "blood in the streets" on the stock price right now is more due to a public overreaction. Yes, there is a large debt load and fuel is an issue ... but unless Oasis tanks, I don't see RCCL folding anytime soon ... remember that cruising is seen as a decently "recession-proof" industry because of its perceived value ... people can see cruises as a way to stretch the dwindling vacation dollars. I guess time will tell.

All in all, I feel sorry for RCL and I predict that they'll be bankrupt or bought out in another year or so. I say this because they have a huge debt load, fuel costs are out of control, air traffic will keep people from cruising as will the economy. Looking at their stock price, I am not the only one who thinks this. So, expect more cutbacks in food, along with other areas on RCL.

You're certainly not the first to make this observation and prediction. Other cruise forums and some media financial analysts have said the same thing. Seems that Oasis and the other megaship are coming in at the wrong, wrong time. Some say that if RCI and known "then" what they know "now", they'd never have signed the contracts...but now they are stuck with them.

I've read and heard some consensus that while Oasis may have a great first season or first year that it will flop-out. Either RCCL will have to raise the prices and people won't pay the fare or people will realize that these type of floating parks and amusements aren't what they want when cruising-especially if many venues are going to have a fee..

While this type of cruise is not what I would enjoy, I hope RCCL can make it OK. They've been around a long time and do a good job. However,if they cut onboard services, food quality and service and other "niceties" cruisers expect, it can only bring trouble for them.

Very interesting food comparison discussion here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=801013

 

No doubt cost pressures are part of this, but that's not an excuse for cold or uncooked food.

I read that comparison and took it with a grain of salt. The OP of that post stated that she does not care for RCI so that alone plays into the overall review. Also who compares one of the oldest ships in the fleet against one of the newest? That would be like comparing the Freedom of the Seas against the Holiday of Carnival.

You're certainly not the first to make this observation and prediction. Other cruise forums and some media financial analysts have said the same thing. Seems that Oasis and the other megaship are coming in at the wrong' date=' wrong time. Some say that if RCI and known "then" what they know "now", they'd never have signed the contracts...but now they are stuck with them.

 

I've read and heard some consensus that while Oasis may have a great first season or first year that it will flop-out. Either RCCL will have to raise the prices and people won't pay the fare or people will realize that these type of floating parks and amusements aren't what they want when cruising-especially if many venues are going to have a fee..

 

While this type of cruise is not what I would enjoy, I hope RCCL can make it OK. They've been around a long time and do a good job. However,if they cut onboard services, food quality and service and other "niceties" cruisers expect, it can only bring trouble for them.[/quote']

 

 

And we all know that you would love to see that happen.:rolleyes: Can't let an RCI thread go by without coming over and giving your two cents of doom and gloom. Thought you posted here last week that you were done? Guess not.

 

RCI is not going anywhere even though you and a few others would love to see it happen.

We've found the food varies significantly from ship to ship and from crew to crew. We sailed:

Grandeur in '04 food & service quite good (9 day W. Carib.)

Explorer in '06, food just awful & service barely OK (7 day E. Carib.)

Mariner in '07, food only OK & service quite good (7 day E. Carib.)

Adventurer in '08 food & service both excellent (7 day S. Carib.)

Brilliance in '08 food & service both excellent (12 day E. TransLant)

... Cal

We were on Grandeur this month. The food certainly wasn't bad, but it sometimes did take more than one try to find something we liked. The meats 'to order' usually came underdone. We learned to up our estimate ... if you wanted medium rare, you asked for medium, if you wanted medium, ask for well-done.

We'd been Celebrity cruisers before, and knew the differences, so we weren't particularly disappointed. I'm pretty picky, but other than one really bloody "medium" prime rib, I didn't find anything I ordered to be inedible. If I wasn't completely enjoying something and someone at the table highly recommended something they had, I did switch my order a couple of times.

We found the Windjammer selections to be fairly similar in quality, though they seemed to constantly have half of the seating closed off ... one day at breakfast, we ended up on the pool deck clear back by the Solarium ... half of the inside was closed for cleaning at 8 am on a port day.

Actually, space management (in the Windjammer and the Centrum) was our only complaint on our cruise. It was always difficult to find a seat in either place, due mostly to large sections being closed off (in the Centrum, over half the seating was taken for art auctions and photography every sea day, and we were on an itinerary with several sea days).

P.S. Does anyone know what kind of accent Chef Marcus has? He says he's from Melbourne, but he sounds more like he's from Turkey or Lebanon or something like that.

I read that comparison and took it with a grain of salt. The OP of that post stated that she does not care for RCI so that alone plays into the overall review. Also who compares one of the oldest ships in the fleet against one of the newest? That would be like comparing the Freedom of the Seas against the Holiday of Carnival.

Go ahead and take it with a grain of salt. However, what does the size or age of the ship have to do with food quality? I went on the Ecstay and the food on it was better than anything I had on a previous seven day RCL cruise. How would you explain that? My teenage daughters noted the same differences, like asking why the shrimp were not the same size on CCL, why was the soft serve only available in the afternoon, why aren't there hamburgers,etc. Are you saying that the quality of seafood and beef on the 4 day cruises is lower than what is found on the 7 day cruises? I don't believe it.

As for the financial future of RCL, I believe it is bleak.Unlike the airlines, they can't afford to park ships. I also believe that CCL is not far from them. The busines model of main stream cruising is as gone as that of the large SUV. Seaborn and the other upper lines will survive, RCL,CCL, followed by their other lines will go down. I hope the financial aspect of why food quality is down is not a thread spinner, but it is something to remember and despite whatever you think my feelings about RCL, I would miss them and hope the best for RCL, CCL as well as all their employees. Yes, I'll likely never sail RCL but the same can be said for any other line. Because of airfare, this xmas will be the first time in 6 years I won't be on a cruise ship:mad:. I have a CCL cruise booked for next year, but will likely cancel that in April if I can't find affordable airfare:eek::mad::(:eek:.