CruiseRQA

Recall that dining in the buffet of a cruise ship was a "change". In the old days of cruising that we are all pining for in this thread, there was no dining at the buffet. You had a scheduled time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dining room was set up for buffet lunch on occasion. You had to dress appropriately for the MDR and the food and service were great. HAL had a small sit down service in their buffet for dinner the last few times we cruised with them. When we switched to Celebrity, I could not believe the quality and variety of food in the buffet for dinner. Especially for what seemed to be a fairly small number of diners. Not surprised that Celebrity has concluded this is not economically viable and has scaled it back. What does surprise me is the vitriol so many have for Celebrity because you might have to put on a pair of pants for dinner. Is this what living in FL does to you?

No, you can't order from any menu from any restaurant onboard. Your TA thinks that you can order the Tomahawk ribeye from Fine Cuts and somebody is going to run and get it for you? Not happening. You used to be able to order things from the MDR and BLU but some are saying that is no longer the case on Beyond due to the kitchen locations. There essentially is no dress code beyond no shorts or t-shirts. I doubt there will be any ties, a few men might wear a sport coat over a polo.

Don't want to get off topic but as a native Michigander I wondering how this cruise received by the guests? Did they enjoy the ports? The Great Lakes cruise got quite a bit of press around Michigan.

Here's the thing. Your story is an anecdote. The financial fact is that RCL (parent company of X) has record bookings and record price/booking for 2023. They must think they are doing something right and so must the majority of their customers.

We were confirmed HAL cruisers but our last HAL cruise was such a disappointed that we switched to Celebrity and haven't looked back. Our last HAL cruise had no evening entertainment other than their "music walk" which is fine for a night or two. My wife wanted to add a lobster tail to her steak (or was it a steak to her lobster?) and was charged $10 for it. The promenade deck (a major plus for HAL) was closed half of the time (and not for weather). Reading about HAL now, I wouldn't know what to expect. Club Orange??? Loved them back in the day, when you could enjoy a dance combo with hot appetizers before dinner or afternoon tea while reclining on the promenade deck. One of my best meals ever was Dover Sole in the MDR. Squeeze your own fresh orange juice in the morning. All gone. We next were in Aqua Class on Edge and found it far superior to our last HAL cruise. Better food, better entertainment. Equal service, nicer cabin. We followed with an Apex cruise last year and in a few weeks will be on Beyond. A little concerned about all the complaints on the board but we shall see.

I live in Michigan. As of this post it is 40! Not bad for January.

I would encourage people to read a Value Line report regarding RCL as a business. Some highlights from their most recent report: The company is set for tremendous growth in 2023. Royal Caribbean is expecting to return to 100% load factors by the end of the year. Bookings for 2023 are at both historic volumes and pricing levels for all four quarters . Monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve should not drastically affect the cruise operator as 70% of its debt has fixed rates. The company ended the period with $3.3 billion in liquidity, as it continues to refinance debt and improve the balance sheet. The long-term horizon has strong recovery promise and margin growth should increase into next year. At its recent quotation, shares are trading well below our 2025-2027 Target Price Range. While the company’s outlook is promising, conservative investors may want to look elsewhere due to recovery uncertainty and balance sheet risks

Heated vests and coats for 46F? 😂

I have never viewed cruising as "travel". To me it's a vacation for relaxation. Have always found the service on a cruise ship to be better than the best resort hotel.

I would hope X would strive to be a cut above its competitors not just "in line" with them.

Well, if that's the case the voices and the attached money will go elsewhere.

Yes they are. It's called the marketplace. If the line "changes" to the dissatisfaction of its customers the customers will go elsewhere.

Putting on a polo shirt and a pair of khaki pants isn't exactly dressing up.

Don't laugh. People would do that if it saved them a few bucks on their cruise fare.

People here complaining about losing the niceties of cruising in the past but want to wear shorts to dinner.

I had "steaks" in MDRs of HAL that were about 1/4 inch thick and tasted like cardboard. My wife had a "steak" on an AmaWaterWays river cruise this summer that almost was unrecognizable as a steak. Hence my skepticism about having a steak on a cruise ship. Glad to hear you found steaks in Fine Cut to be good. Eden seems to be fully booked for the week we are on Beyond in February.

Actually it has been answered only once: in post #17. Not an unusual question at all. I don't think your analogy holds. Again there is a big difference in grades of meat and so if you are advertising "prime" and charging for "prime" it had better be prime. Onions? Are there different grades? Don't think so.

Your picture looks like a wonderful piece of prime rib. Since we are arguing about meat here it is interesting that the name "prime rib" has nothing to do with the USDA grade of "prime". Glad to hear that you enjoyed Fine Cut enough to go twice. I'm sure we will enjoy it too.

The question remains. Do you think USDA prime grade steaks are being served at FineCut Steakhouse as they state on the menu?

Your $20/lb ribeye from Costco is from February 2022. I doubt that's the price today. A weekend trip to Costco is likely in the cards for me. I will report back the current price.

Yes, exactly. My question remains. The menu has "prime" ribeye and strip steaks. Does anyone know or at least care to opine if Fine Cut Steak house is actually serving USDA prime graded ribeyes and strip steaks?

I am a fellow HAL refugee. Loved the classic style HAL cruise. Sitting on the promenade deck sipping on a lemonade. Enjoying some hot appetizers while listening to a dance combo before dinner and a show after dinner. All gone. I wouldn't even know how to do dinner on HAL anymore. Orange??? And so we went to Celerity which seemed to have many of the elements we enjoy. There are some of us that are still willing to pay a little more for a little better experience. Hopefully there is still a cruise market for us.

Sailing on Beyond the first week in February. Eden was fully booked from the time I made our reservation and it looked like Fine Cut Steakhouse had limited availability as well and so I went ahead and made a reservation at the Steakhouse. I am an aficionado of steak restaurants. Never met a Ruth's Chris or Flemings that I didn't enjoy. Perusing the menu at Fine Cut shows they are offering a prime ribeye and prime NY Strip but a "certified" black angus tomahawk. My question is do you think they are really serving prime ribeyes and strips? I recognize that the term "certified" is a bit nebulous but "prime" should be clearly defined. I think "prime" makes a big difference in a steak. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a steak at Texas Roadhouse but it ain't prime. If I knew the steak at Fine Cut was really "prime" I would order one, if not I might go for the lamb chops or Dover Sole.

HAL does have that nice thermal spa (extra charge). In fact their spa is better than Celebrity (IMO). Miss the big warm hydrospa pools that are on some of the midsize Celebrity ships.

Lobster snob? Sure if the choice is Maine lobster v Caribbean lobster pick Maine. But if the choice is between Caribbean lobster and a pork chop ...