Steak House & MDR Food Quality

[BadJelly]

I wish I could post from another thread, but as I don't think I can I've copied & pasted - my apologies Cruzface for quoting you in a different thread.

 

It is the advent of the specialty restaurants on all the cruise ships that has doomed the food in the MDR. You can still get great food on a cruise ship (CCL, RCI, NCL), but you have to pay extra for it. As a for profit company, it makes sense to offer average food in the MDR so that people are forced to pay more in the specialty venue. Pure business. It won't change until people, in sufficient numbers, refuse to cruise or spend the extra bucks.

 

With all the discussion lately about the seemingly lowered food standards in the MDR, one almost has to wonder how much truth is in the statement above. I don't think 100% because there is no way speciality restaurants could hold the entire passenger numbers on a single night.

 

BUT the cost of dining in the Steak House is a gratuity not an actual charge for the food, how can they afford to be offering better quality food, in larger portions, in the Steak House than they are in the MDR?

[golfadj]

I wish I could post from another thread, but as I don't think I can I've copied & pasted - my apologies Cruzface for quoting you in a different thread.

 

It is the advent of the specialty restaurants on all the cruise ships that has doomed the food in the MDR. You can still get great food on a cruise ship (CCL, RCI, NCL), but you have to pay extra for it. As a for profit company, it makes sense to offer average food in the MDR so that people are forced to pay more in the specialty venue. Pure business. It won't change until people, in sufficient numbers, refuse to cruise or spend the extra bucks.

 

With all the discussion lately about the seemingly lowered food standards in the MDR, one almost has to wonder how much truth is in the statement above. I don't think 100% because there is no way speciality restaurants could hold the entire passenger numbers on a single night.

 

BUT the cost of dining in the Steak House is a gratuity not an actual charge for the food, how can they afford to be offering better quality food, in larger portions, in the Steak House than they are in the MDR?

 

Only a portion of the 30 is the gratuity. They will not tell us the amount.

 

Still think we get a good meal in the DR.

[tassycatt]

any meal I dont have to cook or do dishes afterwards is always a good meal!;)

[Cruzface]

I also want to make it clear that I don't think the food in the MDR is bad, just not as good as you get in the steakhouse. I really don't remember having a bad meal in the MDR on Carnival. On RCI, I do remember having a few bad ones. That's why I prefer Carnival. I'll come back in about 6 weeks after our Dream cruise and let you know if the quality is as bad as some people have stated. My guess is that it's not bad at all.

[Cruzface]

any meal I dont have to cook or do dishes afterwards is always a good meal!;)

 

That's what my wife says!:D

[elcuchio24]

The steakhouse, or supper club, is not a new invention. It's been around for a while....

[Cruzface]

The steakhouse, or supper club, is not a new invention. It's been around for a while....

 

I know, the complaints about the MDR started right after the steakhouse started. Coincidence? No.

[jimbo5544]

I know, the complaints about the MDR started right after the steakhouse started. Coincidence? No.

Carnival began adding supper clubs (changed the name to steakhouse later on when they pulled back on the entertainment) in 2001 (with the Carnival Spirit). I believe the food quality issues (which I personally think are close to old standards) have been more recent (like the last 4 or 5 years). Just my 2 cents....

[Cruzface]

Carnival began adding supper clubs (changed the name to steakhouse later on when they pulled back on the entertainment) in 2001 (with the Carnival Spirit). I believe the food quality issues (which I personally think are close to old standards) have been more recent (like the last 4 or 5 years). Just my 2 cents....

 

It probably took CCL a few years to realize that the reason the supper clubs were not generating enough revenue was because the MDR was just as good for no additional cost.

[katiel53]

I

 

BUT the cost of dining in the Steak House is a gratuity not an actual charge for the food, how can they afford to be offering better quality food, in larger portions, in the Steak House than they are in the MDR?

 

 

 

The upcharge of $30 IS NOT THE GRATUITY. I know there is someone who posts repeatedly that it is, and that's probably where you have gotten your bad info. A small portion of the charge is the gratuity. The rest of the charge is for better/higher quality food. If it were all gratuity, then the same food should/would be served in the MDR.

 

Read the Carnival website--It states that the gratuity IS INCLUDED. It does NOT say the $30 is the gratuity. I don't know how many of the 45,000 posts that this person has posted that say the wrong info. You can be sure though it's a lot.

 

Posting the same wrong info repeatedly doesn't make it right or true.

[golfadj]

The upcharge of $30 IS NOT THE GRATUITY. I know there is someone who posts repeatedly that it is, and that's probably where you have gotten your bad info. A small portion of the charge is the gratuity. The rest of the charge is for better/higher quality food. If it were all gratuity, then the same food should/would be served in the MDR.

 

Read the Carnival website--It states that the gratuity IS INCLUDED. It does NOT say the $30 is the gratuity. I don't know how many of the 45,000 posts that this person has posted that say the wrong info. You can be sure though it's a lot.

 

Posting the same wrong info repeatedly doesn't make it right or true.

 

Your right but Carnival could clear this up real easily if they would only tell us how much of the 30 is the gratuity. Wonder why it is a state secret.

 

BTW ask the servers and they will say none of the 30 goes to them.

[BadJelly]

The upcharge of $30 IS NOT THE GRATUITY. I know there is someone who posts repeatedly that it is, and that's probably where you have gotten your bad info. A small portion of the charge is the gratuity. The rest of the charge is for better/higher quality food. If it were all gratuity, then the same food should/would be served in the MDR.

 

Read the Carnival website--It states that the gratuity IS INCLUDED. It does NOT say the $30 is the gratuity. I don't know how many of the 45,000 posts that this person has posted that say the wrong info. You can be sure though it's a lot.

 

Posting the same wrong info repeatedly doesn't make it right or true.

 

Thank you Katie for clearing that up. I was under the (mis)understanding that the entire $30 was gratuity. And of course I forgot to look in November at the bill as to what it actually said. I feel though, that what ever the split is it is still darn good value. The night we were there (first night), the night our friends went back (last night) and every other night that we walked passed it was basically empty - no idea how they are making any money on it, or if it was just our cruise in particular that it wasn't heavily used.

 

I don't even want to speculate on what the percentage split may be, but it still is very good value of money either way. My next cruise is as a solo and I'm wondering if I'll dine there by myself.

 

I also don't have any issues with the MDR food - having said that I've only done three cruises over the last three years. I almost wish there were some more issues and then I might not have put on as much weight as I did over the cruise!

 

Comparing the cruise on the Splendor three years ago to the one on Conquest this year I think the noticeable difference was in the service - it was obvious that the wait staff had more table to look after than in the past. We were on time every night in our arrival, but on two nights had just been served coffee when the mait're de was giving the staff (or perhaps it was those of us passengers who were still seated!) the gentle hurry up to get ready for the next sitting. We were only still there because of the waits in taking orders and the wait for the actual courses to arrive.

 

Cruzface, I'm glad you found this, it was your post that got me thinking and I didn't want to take that other thread any further off topic.

[elcuchio24]

I know, the complaints about the MDR started right after the steakhouse started. Coincidence? No.

 

I don't think that's true at all. People complained about food before the steakhouse, once the steakhouse was implemented around 2000, after the steakhouse, and recently as the menu as changed. And guess what, in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years people will still have issues with the food. Don't try to read too much into it.

[BadJelly]

Still think we get a good meal in the DR.

 

As my post above I agree with you. I did want to say that I'm like you and like the Flat Iron Steak - especially when I can get it cooked propery rare! I can't point to a cow and name each cut of steak, but I can tell you that down under here we do not have a cut called that - it will be called something else, same as tri tip (I think that is correct), that I would happily see on the MDR menu with a BBQ sauce. Not called that over here either, so I need to study diagrams of cows showing US cuts and the same of our cuts :rolleyes:

[elcuchio24]

The upcharge of $30 IS NOT THE GRATUITY. I know there is someone who posts repeatedly that it is, and that's probably where you have gotten your bad info. A small portion of the charge is the gratuity. The rest of the charge is for better/higher quality food. If it were all gratuity, then the same food should/would be served in the MDR.

 

Read the Carnival website--It states that the gratuity IS INCLUDED. It does NOT say the $30 is the gratuity. I don't know how many of the 45,000 posts that this person has posted that say the wrong info. You can be sure though it's a lot.

 

Posting the same wrong info repeatedly doesn't make it right or true.

 

The point is we don't know what it is. Could be $5, $15, $29. No one knows.

[H82seaUgo]

I wish I could post from another thread, but as I don't think I can I've copied & pasted - my apologies Cruzface for quoting you in a different thread.

 

It is the advent of the specialty restaurants on all the cruise ships that has doomed the food in the MDR. You can still get great food on a cruise ship (CCL, RCI, NCL), but you have to pay extra for it. As a for profit company, it makes sense to offer average food in the MDR so that people are forced to pay more in the specialty venue. Pure business. It won't change until people, in sufficient numbers, refuse to cruise or spend the extra bucks.

 

With all the discussion lately about the seemingly lowered food standards in the MDR, one almost has to wonder how much truth is in the statement above. I don't think 100% because there is no way speciality restaurants could hold the entire passenger numbers on a single night.

 

BUT the cost of dining in the Steak House is a gratuity not an actual charge for the food, how can they afford to be offering better quality food, in larger portions, in the Steak House than they are in the MDR?

 

it seems carnival is trying anything and everything to try to get the carnival crowd into the steakhouse, but my experience continues to find the steakhouse empty.

 

the oddest one was reading them toying with the idea of getting food at the steakhouse bar for a reduced price of $18.

 

even the test of offering pay for food in the mdr seems to have disappeared.

 

much to my chagrin, my last ccl cruise found me finding the downgrade of food on a ship that didn't have a steakhouse. we even walked out one night as our beef was so fatty. shoreside food never tased so good!

[BadJelly]

much to my chagrin, my last ccl cruise found me finding the downgrade of food on a ship that didn't have a steakhouse. we even walked out one night as our beef was so fatty. shoreside food never tased so good!

 

Why would you simply not order something else?

[H82seaUgo]

Why would you simply not order something else?

 

i tried that on night 1, and the replacent dish was no different than the first.

[djwood24]

Why are we trying to speculate/figure out what the percentage of the $30 is the tip

Really does it matter....I don`t think it is anyones business what the percentage is.

Do we ask that in a land based establishment...do you think the bartender gets a cut...hostess...kitchen staff?

 

If you want to spend the $30 on the Steakhouse then do so...we do and enjoy iy usually twice on a cruise...we do the first night for the free wine

Each time we also tip in cash above the $30/person

 

Never had a meal in the MDR that was so bad I couldn`t eat it

If I didn`t care for it I got something else

[Havinsnest]

The upcharge of $30 IS NOT THE GRATUITY. I know there is someone who posts repeatedly that it is, and that's probably where you have gotten your bad info. A small portion of the charge is the gratuity. The rest of the charge is for better/higher quality food. If it were all gratuity, then the same food should/would be served in the MDR.

 

Read the Carnival website--It states that the gratuity IS INCLUDED. It does NOT say the $30 is the gratuity. I don't know how many of the 45,000 posts that this person has posted that say the wrong info. You can be sure though it's a lot.

 

Posting the same wrong info repeatedly doesn't make it right or true.

 

Until a few years ago Carnival's website noted the $30 was gratuity. It changed sometime after our cruise in December 2007 and before our cruise in January 2009.

 

Now it says:

The $30 fee includes an appetizer, entrées, desert and the wait staffs' gratuity; additional gratuities are optional and may be extended in cash or to the guest's Sail & Sign Account, at the guest's discretion.

 

I think many people remember the original information and post it not knowing/remembering that it is no longer the case.

 

We haven't sailed in almost 13 months. The food was not as good on that last cruise as others on the same ship but was still wonderfully tasty. My complaint was the menu change not quality.

[deetrayn]

Why are we trying to speculate/figure out what the percentage of the $30 is the tip

Really does it matter....I don`t think it is anyones business what the percentage is.

Do we ask that in a land based establishment...do you think the bartender gets a cut...hostess...kitchen staff?

 

I was wondering the same thing. The charge for dining in the steakhouse is $30. I paid $30 plus tip when I dined at the Dream steakhouse, and was not concerned about how the money was split. I enjoyed my food, and that's all I needed to concern myself with. :)

[tef43]

BUT the cost of dining in the Steak House is a gratuity not an actual charge for the food, how can they afford to be offering better quality food, in larger portions, in the Steak House than they are in the MDR?

Not entirely correct. The upcharge "includes" gratuity.

[cruizemama]

Ate in the steakhouse on the Glory on our last cruise to celebrate with our older kids. 19, 16, 14 years old and was extremely disappointed. the level of service was iffy, with the server acting like we had brought a bunch of babies in there that needed high chairs. Our kids have all dined in Ruth's Chris, and we were expecting that level of food and service, also we're kind of easy to please as long as u smile at us :D. She musta had a really crappy day. I will try it again, but cautiously bc the MDR food is good and free!!!

[MissKIA]

I don't think that's true at all. People complained about food before the steakhouse, once the steakhouse was implemented around 2000, after the steakhouse, and recently as the menu as changed. And guess what, in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years people will still have issues with the food. Don't try to read too much into it.

 

That's because people will always complain. If there's one thing I've learned in life is that people love to complain!

[katiel53]

Until a few years ago Carnival's website noted the $30 was gratuity. It changed sometime after our cruise in December 2007 and before our cruise in January 2009.

 

.

 

I don't ever remember seeing that the $30 was the gratuity, however, the poster I am referring to has been told repeatedly, and I do mean repeatedly, that the $30 includes, not is, the gratuity and still posts the same wrong info.

 

I don't know how many times I have seen the postings that were wrong and I really believe that because it's been posted so many times, people believe it and then post incorrectly too.