8-Night Independence Menus (New Fleet Menus) 1/9/10 Sailing

[gemz]

Thank you for all the work in putting the menu together. Very disappointing when you compare the menus over the years and to Carnival's menus. So far I don't see Rack of Lamb or Beef Tenderloin besides the Prime Rib and Beef Shoulder????? What the heck is beef shoulder filet?? Must be a real bad cut of meat. My Mom is joining us for the first time so she will be disappointed that the menu is rather limited in "refined dining" compared to what her friends that have cruised with Celebrity and Princess.

[wetfish]

Thanks for all your hard work posting the menus - although I have to say I'm disappointed too. (Why a curry every night?)

I'm not a curry or a fish eater or a veggie - on the up side - I wont put as much weight on!

 

I went with Celebrity last summer and the food was brilliant. We were spoiled - when we couldnt decide between two things on the menu, the waiter brought them both ( Beef wellington and lobster!!) Is RC like that? And can you put in a special order for things that arent on that night's menu?

[tiggypooo]

I got off Independence in Dec. and these menus look nothing like what we had.

Looks liked they have added alot of dishes with cheaper ingredients.

I will agree with everyone else.....Where's the Beef????????????

If I sail on her again I will have to eat in Portofinos 8 nights instead of only 3.

[djneph]

I got off Independence in Dec. and these menus look nothing like what we had.

Looks liked they have added alot of dishes with cheaper ingredients.

I will agree with everyone else.....Where's the Beef????????????

If I sail on her again I will have to eat in Portofinos 8 nights instead of only 3.

 

We went to Portofino one night and the wait staff said they had a new menu too. I will post later tonight when I get home from work. FOr my wife and I it seemed that the Portofino menu had changed sinc eour last cruise (March 2007). They changed the salads (my wife loved one of the salads they got rid of). Anyhow, I will post the Portofino menu tonight and you can tell me if it is new or the same.

[smatterchu]

I think a PP may have unfortunately guessed correctly that perhaps they want us to seek out the "premium" (pay for) dining experiences...

 

Well, I had already booked one Portofino's, and I'm sticking with that. For the rest, I am really not going to give them the satisfaction of increased revinue in premium meals...

 

DH and I will do our MTD and, if necessary, eat off the 'daily steak' options...if that's not enough, we'll possibly even fill up later in the WJ or at the pizza place...

 

And like most of you, as a Mom, I'm just really happy to not have to shop for, cook and clean up dinner...so I'm really not picky. At the same time, I have never seen so many :meh: options -- and what the heck with all of the curry!!???

 

I refuse to spend more money on the ship because of their choices. I had figured on one 'specialty' night, and I'm sticking to that. I'll have plenty to eat, but it will be the food they include in the cruise.

 

The last thing I want them to think is -- "Wow, give this guy a raise...he lowered our food budget, we decreased MDR double-ordering (because most could barely find ONE entree to try, much less asking for extras) and we tripled our profits from the specialty restaurants - win-win!!"

 

I'm MTD, so I'm kind of a wild-card anyway, but I really don't want to give them the impression that this was a good move. I will definitely be voting with my mouth -- and then voting with my pen on the comment card....and finally, I'm not so far down the 'loyalty track' that I can't rethink my plans to continue with RCCL....we'll just have to see...

[sharktums]

Did they remove the Insalata Caprese from the Italian Night menu? I don't see it listed there or anywhere else. We just had that two weeks ago on the Mariner and I'm really bummed if it's gone.

[jlkarp52]

I have sailed 7 times on RCI and usually enjoy the meals though do miss variety.

This new menu is weird.

I can fix turkey medalions at home and they are one of our cheaper home dinners.

Pizza for dinner on a cruise? Mushrooms as a main dish. What happened to the lamb chops?

 

My cruises have not gone down in price so why is our food at the low end of the chain. Is this to force people to eat in the specialty restaurants.

 

On these larger ships it is really hard to get good time reservations and since I am going in 2 weeks on the Liberty I probably do not have a chance.

 

Sailing after that on Oasis and it maybe my very last RCI cruise.

[digital_curator]

Thanks for all your hard work posting the menus - although I have to say I'm disappointed too. (Why a curry every night?)

I'm not a curry or a fish eater or a veggie - on the up side - I wont put as much weight on!

 

I went with Celebrity last summer and the food was brilliant. We were spoiled - when we couldnt decide between two things on the menu, the waiter brought them both ( Beef wellington and lobster!!) Is RC like that? And can you put in a special order for things that arent on that night's menu?

 

Feel free to order as much as you want- multiple appetizers, entrees, desserts. We usually get two aps (soup/salad or soup/ap) and sometimes share a third dessert if there is something new we want to try. Portions aren't huge.

 

We haven't special ordered but I have heard of people doing it with some success- I think it depends what they have.

 

 

Also, is it just me or are the new menus soup-heavy. Now I like soup, but some nights seem to have 3-4 offerings and almost no appetizers!

[digital_curator]

Thanks for the info. We are less than a week away from our first RCI cruise and I'm trying to approach the MDR with an open mind after reading so many reviews, but really, any meal that I don't have to cook and clean up after is a good one. :D

 

My biggest issue with the menu is that the dessert menu contains dairy in most every dish. My 6 yr old DS is allergic to dairy and shellfish and he loves dessert. How many different ways can they prepare a fruit plate and keep it interesting? If the for purchase restaurants can offer dairy free desserts (brownies and apple pie in Johnny Rockets, Ben & Jerry's sorbets), then why can't the MDR? Maybe he will want to join the AO staff for dinner at Johnny Rockets some of the nights.

 

It is great that the MDR has recognized that there are those that want/need low fat or sugar free desserts. Let's see them become a bit more diverse in their offerings.

 

Have you emailed RCI to inform them of your son's dietary restrictions?

[marci22]

Also, is it just me or are the new menus soup-heavy. Now I like soup, but some nights seem to have 3-4 offerings and almost no appetizers!

 

The thing about soup is that it is a fantastic way to use leftover fruits and vegetables :rolleyes:

[smatterchu]

 

 

Also, is it just me or are the new menus soup-heavy. Now I like soup, but some nights seem to have 3-4 offerings and almost no appetizers!

 

Not just you -- I'd love to know what the logic was in the meeting that put this menu together. I think they are in for a LOT of feedback, because while at least CC posters can get used to the idea and sort of plan for the changes...the average cruiser will be totally blindsided by the information each day -- and that would really not be cool.....

 

At this point, I can get my other options figured out -- if I were the REALLY clueless person who didn't know until dinnertime -- wow, talk about a mess, lol...

[smatterchu]

The thing about soup is that it is a fantastic way to use leftover fruits and vegetables :rolleyes:

 

That was my guess as well.... :rolleyes:

 

So I guess they'll have to start looking for new ways to make some of these other choices into soups -- because I predict a fair amount of leftovers...

[marci22]

Not just you -- I'd love to know what the logic was in the meeting that put this menu together. I think they are in for a LOT of feedback, because while at least CC posters can get used to the idea and sort of plan for the changes...the average cruiser will be totally blindsided by the information each day -- and that would really not be cool.....

 

At this point, I can get my other options figured out -- if I were the REALLY clueless person who didn't know until dinnertime -- wow, talk about a mess, lol...

 

As long as we have lots of posters saying, "as long as I don't have to cook and clean up, I'm happy!" Royal is going to push us to the very brink of culinary disaster.

[marielco]

Very dissapointed in these new menus :(

 

Looks as if RCI are trying to drive people to the speciality restaurants. They need to be more careful they could drive them to another cruise line.

 

All that fish .....:eek:

[smatterchu]

As long as we have lots of posters saying, "as long as I don't have to cook and clean up, I'm happy!" Royal is going to push us to the very brink of culinary disaster.

 

Well, I only say that to mean, I don't set out to complain, but in this case - I'm not happy.... I say that to mean, -I'm not a "super-foodie" who remembers the halcyon days of nightly lobster and superior cuisine onboard.....

 

I'm not coming from a place that is trying to compare what was available 20 years ago with now -- but I do recall the last few RCCL trips as having better menus, so I'm a little anxious to see what this will be like...

 

So no - I don't accept this, and as the rest of my post indicated -- I won't sit still for it. If I am not happy with the food on this one, I'll let them know -- and there are many other options for cruising. I had planned to stick with RCCL for my "grown-up" cruises, but that's not set in stone...

 

I don't sail until March, so I'll be anxious to see what the next few months of reviews have to say.....

 

Thanks again to the OP for taking the time to share this!!

[fourkittys]

Will this menu be:D:D on all the other Rc ships? The menu is indeed strange. Most nights have very little meat selections and the one or two decent nights seems to have all the better foods on the same night limiting enjoying most of them. Of course you can order more than one but most people don't really.

Would anyone on recent cruises please give us detailed information on how they did or didn't like certain things?

I won't be using the specialty extra charge restaurnats. There's always the buffet with usually more choices but sometimes too casual.

This may indeed send us and many more to other cruiselines!!!!!

[Susie22]

DH and I don't really find much appealing to us on the new menus.

As an earlier poster stated, some of the items are things you would prepare at home when trying to stretch your budget. You hope for somewhat fancier fare at sea. Maybe they've gone a little too far this time. We have enjoyed MTD on our last several cruises, but I think we may be headed to the Windjammer. While we greatly enjoy Chops and Portofinos, they are too time consuming, and the food too heavy to do every night.

[marci22]

Well, I only say that to mean, I don't set out to complain,

 

I wasn't directing my post at you, lots of posters say it.

[smatterchu]

I wasn't directing my post at you, lots of posters say it.

 

 

It's cool :cool:-- and while your quote of me didn't have it showing, I had said it in a very recent post....so I figured you were including me in the batch... ;)

 

But yes, if cruisers say, "Oh well, at least I didn't have to cook...." and leave it at that, we'll be eating peanut butter 'n crackers out of sack lunchbags one day...

 

I think that, especially with the uber-connectedness of cruise passengers these days, we're too sophisticated to blindly accept this kind of downgrade. There are too many other options for our travel dollars, and there are other expenses in most of our lives...

 

I think, if RCCL thinks that we're not noticing, they're the ones in for the shock... :eek:

[TipsyT]

Thank you so much for posting all this info! I'm totally stoked about the offerings since we are not big meat eaters and tend to have more adventurous palettes. I can see how the new menu could be disappointing to the meat-n-potatoes crowd though.

 

As long as we're still coming off the ship heavier than we got on I guess the food is still good enough! :)

 

And is anyone else *starving* from reading all this???

[FF Woman]

Thank you so much for posting all of these menus! We will be on the Indy Feb 20th and can't wait to try some of these things. Since I'm not a meat and potatos person all the fish, seafood, pasta choices appeal to me a lot. And the rack of lamb sounds really good. There wasn't a day that I couldn't find something that sounded interesting in each category.

 

But we live in the midwest and have all the good quality beef we want while we're at home. Fresh seafood isn't readily available to us so when I can enjoy it, I do.

 

Thankfully there are lots of places for dining so hopefully everybody can find something they enjoy.

[skatie]

Thanks for the posting - it is disappointing for my family. Seems like we may be choosing off the "basic" repetitive menu for a couple of nights. I didn't want to do a specialty restaurant on our upcoming Oasis cruise, but may rethink that. So if we're on a 7 day cruise, would I just drop Day 8 of this menu or do the days rotate so I won't know which menus are on which nights for the Oasis cruise? Trying to decide which night I might head to Chops! Thanks

[HappyJan]

Dear djneph:

 

Thank you for taking the time to post the menus. I appreciate getting a chance to look them over before the cruise.

 

Yes, it appears that the menu is lacking in beef choices, but that will give me the opportunity to try other entrees that I normally wouldn't order.

 

HappyJan

 

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Independence of the Seas

March 6, 2010

[SDPadreFan]

Thank you for all the work in putting the menu together. Very disappointing when you compare the menus over the years and to Carnival's menus. So far I don't see Rack of Lamb or Beef Tenderloin besides the Prime Rib and Beef Shoulder????? What the heck is beef shoulder filet?? Must be a real bad cut of meat. My Mom is joining us for the first time so she will be disappointed that the menu is rather limited in "refined dining" compared to what her friends that have cruised with Celebrity and Princess.

 

Might want to do a simple google search on that. You might be pleasantly surprised. Of course the devil is always in the preparation, just like Arrachera Steak. When it's done right, what a phenomenal meal. Has me thinking of my next trip to Cabo.

[SDPadreFan]

...after reading hundreds of posts (and I mean on the Royal boards by RCI lovers not

opposition flamers)...that the MDR food at Royal Caribbean has become mediocre.

 

...and that Carnival's MDR food (especially quality of beef) is superior. So, with generally higher rates than CCL, why can't RCI do a little better in the food department?

 

Mitch

 

Two words. Oasis - Allure

 

RCCL's food is certainly not bad by any stretch. But it does seem like long time cruisers of RCCL have noticed a negative (declining) trend. We didn't have any bad meals on our Brilliance cruise in 2008. It fact they were actually pretty good, but none were especially memorable either.

 

We do find that Carnival does hold the edge on their Main Dining menu (in our opinion) both in terms of variety and quality but we are reasonably happy with RCCL also. Good food but nothing memorable.

 

We are still looking forward to our Mariner trip in 12 days.