redhotfill

Food in MDR has improved today Captains Dinner maybe IDK if that was reason, veg was better done, beef tenerloin was pretty good, dinner was about an 8/8.5 tonight.  Windjammer was better too with lamb dish, and salads 7ish today. 

The upcharge in the MDR on HAL must be since last time I was on pre covid. Perhaps after they changed their wine policy.  I'm probably going to avoid HAL because of their Karen attitudes re covid which I knew as a former NBC officer in the army that some stupid face mask was not going to be effective against a virus. Cruise lines lost lots of money but still pused the narrative rather than pushing back.  Might just give up on cruising all together.  Have not been that excited about it in a long time. 

Thanks to Blackrock, Statestreet, and Vangard putting their drones on boards of directors lots of stuff no longer matters.  Different names of companies but still same core ownership, no real competition.  They all follow the narrative they are given. Just like that Demolition Man movie ..."All restaurants now are Taco Bell."   

First time on RCC.  I have done most of my cruising on HAL and a one off on Carnival because of friends.  

I am not at all impressed with RCC.  2nd day on Grandeur of the Seas. Nothing Grand, nothing Royal.  Food is slop. I've had Sysco food better.  MDR food so far has been about a 6.5 of 10.  Windjammer buffet OMFG!  Hit and miss with what is gluten labeled free.  I had seen photos of previous cruises with a hot station of what was labeled gluten free. Nothing like that anymore on this cruise.  First day's lunch and dinner things were labeled GF.  This morning different chef, and nothing labeled had to waste time with chef and ask what was safe to eat. His excuse was other passenger could use wrong tongs and contaminate the GF food.  OK why not put it all at it's own station?  Seriously even hard boiled eggs in the shell were not labeled which made me think are they recycling water from boiling pasta to boil eggs?  It doesn't make any sense. 

Aside from the labeling of GF stuff at the Windjammer the food was super low quality ( Mexican Butter was pretty good)  The burgers were the lowest of the low grade beef, Sysco would even blush about how bad it was.  To add insult to injury they were all cooked well done or more, could have doubled as a hockey puck. Only the center of the patty on some wer soft enough to eat and thats when I figured out how bad a quality of beef it is.  I am from Montana, I eat local beef. I know what good beef is supposed to be like. The chicked too was all overcooked to the point of being dried out, and hard. Bright spot was the "sticky ribs" those were edible and not too bad.  Fries were soggy, potato wedges bland and not quite cooked right. MDR had the prime rib, mash taters, w veg.  Veg was barely cooked, and it harder than aldente. 

Prime rib was ok not great buy ok, but I'd say 3/8th of an inch at best I've had prime rib specials at nealy every casino in Vegas/Reno/Lake Tahoe for the last 40 years and never got anything even close to that thin! I've heard the joke about reading the newspaper through one but this was absurd. 

I don't know if the Head Chef is involved in the purchase of the produce, but the fruit has been pretty poor.  Featured fruit was Cuco-melon, looke like a water melon tastes like a cucumber. Some of the greenest pineapples I've ever seen on a cruise, most with little to no flavor. Cantelopes were slightly better in that they didn't taste like cucumber but were hard as baseballs, would not pair well with even kroger prosciutto.  Strawberries and blackberries were satisfactory. Salads were ok, nothing exceptional the salad I got delivered to the hotel the night before the cruise from Dominos was slightly better than ships fare. 

Deserts, well they had a GFpineapple  upsidedowncupcake that was decent about a 7/7.5 edible.   The custards and creme brulee were not well set to downright runny. If your not going to include a spoon in the silverware set don't give me runny custard!

Iced tea is something from a fountain, it is tasteless I've given up on it and now go outside to get cups of ice and make double strength hot tea to pour over it.

Also first time in the MDR where they had things on the menu for an UPCHARGE. Never experienced that anywhere else.

A cruise shouldn't be this difficult. Foods should be labeled, and Iced Tea quality should be like flavorless mud colored water. 

So far MDR get 6.5/10  Windjammer well you won't starve to death but you won't enjoy eating any of it so 3.75/10.  

I don't think I be back on this line ever.  I don't care how good the service is if the food is basically bad Jr. High cafeteria food.  If there is a dramatic uptick in food quality worth noting I'll up date this. 

ANY LUCK ON HAL SHIPS? Best I'v done was on a quarter machine on Zaandam hit for $200 max bet I think was $1.25 Must say the quarter fliper on that ship was the biggest rip ever I know they are mony suckers in the first place but that one was constantly "tilting" and keeping ALL the coins that fell not just on the sides.

*** UPDATE *****

Hit the 5X pay 25 cent machine for 6000 coins on Zaandam on the first pull! Casino on Westerdam no fun though.

ANY LUCK ON HAL SHIPS? Best I'v done was on a quarter machine on Zaandam hit for $200 max bet I think was $1.25 Must say the quarter fliper on that ship was the biggest rip ever I know they are mony suckers in the first place but that one was constantly "tilting" and keeping ALL the coins that fell not just on the sides.