I'm confused about MDR menu

Has the MDR menu changed? I haven't cruised in a couple of years and am cruising on the Pride next year. If it has changed, does anyone have any samples of the new menu?

Has the MDR menu changed? I haven't cruised in a couple of years and am cruising on the Pride next year. If it has changed, does anyone have any samples of the new menu?

The menu has not changed on the Pride yet but may by next year.

Carnival is trialing the new American Table/Feast menus on the Glory, Liberty, Inspiration and Imagination. Here are the new menu's http://www.zydecocruiser.net/menus/aNew/index.htm

They have not announced how the trail is going or when other ships will be added to the trial.

It's evolving. Right now a new menu is being tested on four ships- two 7 day itin out of Miami ( forgot which ships) and the 3/4 day cruises out of Long Beach.

No idea when it will be rolled out to the Pride and the rest of the fleet.

Thank you! Any opinions on the new menu??

Some hits, some misses

The plates are heavy to pass when loaded for 6. The menus themselves are too big to put down on the table and too awkward to hold in your lap.

The Ahi tuna appetizer was excellent.

Most of the complaints I've heard involve more the style of service rather than the taste or quality of the food.

There still seem to be plenty of choices, but since they are encouraging family style servings of side dishes the tables can be crowded with dishes and depending on how "polite" your table mates are, you might be on the short end of what's left in the bowl.

And really, what are you suppose to say "Excuse me, could we get more rosemary potatoes because the two guys at the end of the table took more than their serving".........Awkward to say the least.

We were on the Liberty last year before the change. We are sailing in September again on the Liberty and am not happy about the sounds of the new menus. Do not find much I like. Guess we will see. It is a shame because I am taking 3 first time cruisers and would hate for the food to taste as bad as it sounds for their sake.

It sounds like a lot of fried stuff to me.

I am kind of interested to experience the new menu, but more happy that it has not made its way to Elation yet mostly because of the brunch concept.

:confused: Questions pertaining to the family style-served side dishes: how do the staff handle it if only one person wants one of the dishes offered and no one else wants that same particular side dish? Will the staff bring out a large dish which could serve more than one person...or just serve that person a portion who wanted it?

This family style serving of sides seems like it would put a lot of additional work on the staff and the possibility of wasting more food if large portions are served and only one person wanted the side dish offered. Also, with passing serving dishes with sides in them...would slow down dinner even more. Especially, if the sides are all taken by only half the tablemates and then another bowl was ordered for the rest of the folks. By the time the new bowl of sides arrived...only half the table pax were able to eat them with their main entree? :confused:This does not sound like it would work out well for larger tables. This is indeed confusing to me also how the sides are handled.:rolleyes::confused:

Anyone who has already been on a cruise with the new menus...any additional info on how the sides are offered would be appreciated.

Just off the Glory today! It is true that the menus are awkwardly big, there is no place to put them down, even at a table for 9. The no table clothes wasn't too big of a deal, and the family style thing can be completely avoided. We never had anything done family style at our table. The variety on the menu is not as much as the old ones, but the food is still good. The port of call part of the menu was something I enjoyed, especially the Caribbean Pepper Pot! The American feast, which is on formal nights, had a very small selection, but the menus on those nights were much smaller at least! Overall, I didn't have a problem with the new menus like I thought I would, but I do prefer the old ones better.

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:confused: Questions pertaining to the family style-served side dishes: how do the staff handle it if only one person wants one of the dishes offered and no one else wants that same particular side dish? Will the staff bring out a large dish which could serve more than one person...or just serve that person a portion who wanted it?

 

This family style serving of sides seems like it would put a lot of additional work on the staff and the possibility of wasting more food if large portions are served and only one person wanted the side dish offered. Also, with passing serving dishes with sides in them...would slow down dinner even more. Especially, if the sides are all taken by only half the tablemates and then another bowl was ordered for the rest of the folks. By the time the new bowl of sides arrived...only half the table pax were able to eat them with their main entree? :confused:This does not sound like it would work out well for larger tables. This is indeed confusing to me also how the sides are handled.:rolleyes::confused:

Anyone who has already been on a cruise with the new menus...any additional info on how the sides are offered would be appreciated.

Our group of 12 was on the Inspiration. The large shared plates/bowls seemed to serve 6 (with leftovers), so we got two of everything. Individual servings were plated in the small, oval bowls.

The few times we ran out the item was easily replaced. Seemed that the flatbread was the one we needed more of. YMMV

I preferred the older style menu but maybe I'm just getting old and am less willing to accept change. HATED that Creme brûlée is no longer available. One night wife and I actually didn't enjoy anything offered and tried almost everything without luck. Most nights there was something good, I just preferred the old style and didn't like that they even messed with formal nights and Creme brûlée :(

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:confused: Questions pertaining to the family style-served side dishes: how do the staff handle it if only one person wants one of the dishes offered and no one else wants that same particular side dish? Will the staff bring out a large dish which could serve more than one person...or just serve that person a portion who wanted it?

 

This family style serving of sides seems like it would put a lot of additional work on the staff and the possibility of wasting more food if large portions are served and only one person wanted the side dish offered. Also, with passing serving dishes with sides in them...would slow down dinner even more. Especially, if the sides are all taken by only half the tablemates and then another bowl was ordered for the rest of the folks. By the time the new bowl of sides arrived...only half the table pax were able to eat them with their main entree? :confused:This does not sound like it would work out well for larger tables. This is indeed confusing to me also how the sides are handled.:rolleyes::confused:

 

Anyone who has already been on a cruise with the new menus...any additional info on how the sides are offered would be appreciated.

It was a bit confusing for our table of 12 to understand also. Luckily I knew what to expect so was able to help lead my friends (their first cruise). We had early tradtional dining.

It was a LOT of extra work for the servers. It was the worst service and longest dinners we have ever had on board. The poor servers were trying to always put the food out you could feel that they were trying to keep up.

So first, as mentioned the menus are awkwardly large. Some people were confused by the layout and didn't realize that many of the meals didn't come complete with sides and that you had to order the sides placed lower on the menu. I felt gluttonous ordering dinner because I like salad, app, main, and then I would also have to order the side(s).

We had a mixed bag with the appetizers, one person ordered the calamari the first day and was served a small ammount in an appropriately sized bowl. The next night 3 people (at opposite ends of a rectangle shaped table for 12) ordered the calamari and the server brought out a much larger bowl and just kind of sat it in the middle. There wasn't a serving utensil brought with the bowl so 1 person started digging in with their fork and soon the server brought the tongs. Luckily the fork hadn't been used. It was also awkward for the lone person at our end of the table to have the dish delivered over to them. I am sure it would have been easier for the servers and the guests to have just brought out individual serving as was traditionally done in the past.

First night the entrees arrived and one of our friends had ordered the steak and that is exactly what he received a plate with a steak on it and a grilled garlic clove. He had forgotten to order any sides. Once he saw that we had ordered mashed potatoes and ratatouille he then asked the server for some as we didn't have enough to share. The sides come out on seperate dishes even when sized for individuals. Of course this just caused more work for the server as he had to scamble up even more dishes for our table. By the time dinner was served for everyone there were dishes covering the table! There was confusion about who ordered which sides and some didn't get to eat what they had ordered as someone took their side for them. The usual impeccable service was not up to the usual standards. Not sure if it was just our serving team but they misdelivered many dishes and even left me without my main once for about 10 minutes after everyone else (luckily I told them to go ahead and start eating)!

I understand where they are trying to go. In theory it should be great having more options and being able to personalize your meal. In a banquet style setting thought it just isn't as easily put into practice. Perhaps this works better with anytime dining as the kitchen isn't trying to serve the entire room all at one time.

The food itself was just fine and I enjoyed that they had the port of call section. I especially enjoyed the ratatouille lasagna!

Princess Ariel, those were my fears! Thank god I read this and I do NOT have to prepare for it on Fantasy. I thought it was fleet-wide. It's so critical to have the everyday options IMHO.

One word on the awkward family style issue: you would think that with HAL ships not allowing you to serve yourself in the buffet the first day, and all the other measures the cruise lines take to reduce transmission of disease, they would NOT encourage the passing of dishes among a huge group of people. It's crazy. I can't think of an easier way to spread Noro than to have people breathing and potentially expectorating over a huge platter of food. Yikes.

It was a bit confusing for our table of 12 to understand also. Luckily I knew what to expect so was able to help lead my friends (their first cruise). We had early tradtional dining.

 

It was a LOT of extra work for the servers. It was the worst service and longest dinners we have ever had on board. The poor servers were trying to always put the food out you could feel that they were trying to keep up.

 

So first, as mentioned the menus are awkwardly large. Some people were confused by the layout and didn't realize that many of the meals didn't come complete with sides and that you had to order the sides placed lower on the menu. I felt gluttonous ordering dinner because I like salad, app, main, and then I would also have to order the side(s).

 

We had a mixed bag with the appetizers, one person ordered the calamari the first day and was served a small ammount in an appropriately sized bowl. The next night 3 people (at opposite ends of a rectangle shaped table for 12) ordered the calamari and the server brought out a much larger bowl and just kind of sat it in the middle. There wasn't a serving utensil brought with the bowl so 1 person started digging in with their fork and soon the server brought the tongs. Luckily the fork hadn't been used. It was also awkward for the lone person at our end of the table to have the dish delivered over to them. I am sure it would have been easier for the servers and the guests to have just brought out individual serving as was traditionally done in the past.

 

First night the entrees arrived and one of our friends had ordered the steak and that is exactly what he received a plate with a steak on it and a grilled garlic clove. He had forgotten to order any sides. Once he saw that we had ordered mashed potatoes and ratatouille he then asked the server for some as we didn't have enough to share. The sides come out on seperate dishes even when sized for individuals. Of course this just caused more work for the server as he had to scamble up even more dishes for our table. By the time dinner was served for everyone there were dishes covering the table! There was confusion about who ordered which sides and some didn't get to eat what they had ordered as someone took their side for them. The usual impeccable service was not up to the usual standards. Not sure if it was just our serving team but they misdelivered many dishes and even left me without my main once for about 10 minutes after everyone else (luckily I told them to go ahead and start eating)!

 

I understand where they are trying to go. In theory it should be great having more options and being able to personalize your meal. In a banquet style setting thought it just isn't as easily put into practice. Perhaps this works better with anytime dining as the kitchen isn't trying to serve the entire room all at one time.

 

The food itself was just fine and I enjoyed that they had the port of call section. I especially enjoyed the ratatouille lasagna!

Princess Ariel,

Thank you sooooooo much for this detailed info and sharing your experience concerning the serving of 'Family Style' dishes on CCL's new menus.

ITA....that this all seems....not only confusing for pax (newbies and past pax to CCL) but I am sooooooooo sorry for all the extra work that CCL is placing on their dining, cooking and kitchen cleanup staff because of all the extra dishes!!! This is totally horrible! :mad::mad::mad:

I do hope that CCL twiks the menus better and just delete all together the idea of the family style serving dishes and go back to the original way of giving each pax what they order on individual portioned plates/bowls in FRONT OF EACH PASSENGER!!!

ITA with the other comment about pax passing large serving dishes and the greater possibility of transmitting germs of any kind. Not a good thing at all.:mad:

I hope this all gets worked out before my DH and I cruise on the Dream in Dec.