Until you made this comment, I was thinking that the reasons were simply the fact that the "kinks" needed to be worked out between corporate statements indicating to employees that "we are serving only what is on the menu" and the fact that some employees interpret that statement differently based on their understanding of English and the fact that, in some countries, cultural differences do not allow people to do anything but follow instructions to the letter.
You have raised a new and yet viable consideration. I have often wondered how it is that ships of the size that are being created today, are able to maintain the ability to create 30,000+ meals a day and at the same time be able to handle a "small" percentage of those meals needing to be special orders, whether they be for dietary needs and/or "off the cuff" special requests. A normal, land-based restaurant may serve about 200 - 400 meals a day based on their size and number of table rotations and they too must provide the possibility of special requests because of allergies, tolerances like gluten, dairy, low-salt, etc. and then even restrictions based on religious needs like Kosher, Halal, etc. The difference is that, on land, there are far more restaurants to chose from and as a result, the impacts are most likely spread out across the board.
On a ship with 5,000 passengers, all looking for a meal within a 3-5 hour period raises the impact on the kitchen to a much higher level. The numbers must be staggering with all the dietary needs that must come through on a daily basis and they must make sure that they are met without cross-contamination. Add to that the special requests of a piece of salmon without the crust, and other similar requests, I can only start to imagine. I do believe that the company has indicated to the wait staff that there are to be no deviations from the menu as printed but, what I do also believe is that if there is such a request as a baked potato instead of mashed, that that should be as simple as no potato, if and only if on that night the baked potato is available in the kitchen because of the menu. The same would be true if someone wants a different sauce on their steak. If the sauce is made for the menu that night, then having a steak with no sauce, but a different sauce on the side should be simple to accomplish.
I thank you for this additional insight and apologize for the lengthy response but it did make me more aware of the fact that not only does Royal Caribbean need to consider the possibility that some wait staff might take the orders too rigidly and see if there is a way to allow for some minor freedom in interpretation, we as the customer must be willing to accept some restrictions in order to allow the kitchens to make an ever increasing volume of food in a non-growing time-frame allowed to serve an ever increasing volume of passengers and, to Royal's statement, provide consistency amongst all the ships. I fear that what has happened is that they have reached a point where the kitchen can no longer be big enough (equipment and staff) to handle the volume. It appears that both sides need to compromise in the expectations. Some may not agree with me, but I am now looking at this differently and I will need to adjust accordingly when we next sail in May on Liberty. I hope that the "kinks' will be worked out by then.