Cruised Oasis last week...

[capecodcruisetime]

Hi there everyone...

 

Just came off Oasis and I am a little less than impressed based on my usual RCCL experiences. I was on Oasis for the naming ceremony (1 night) and have been on Navigator a pile of times and it was always great.

 

Food quality and service seem way down in the MDR. We ate at Chops one night and it was very good but the MDR just wasn't amazing. It wasn't terrible but if I never ate there again I wouldn't care. Our waiter never even took the time to find out our name. The burgers at Johnny Rockets appeared to be just as bad as the ones at the Windjammer. I found this not to be the case on Navigator - Johnny Rockets was always well worth the stop.

 

I'm curious if they have changed food quality to encourage specialty dining. Head waiters were absent but that didn't bother me too much. I'm honestly unsure if we will return at this point which is disappointing because I have had so much fun on RCCL over the years. This was my fiancé's first cruise and it didn't live up to the hype.

 

Derek the piano bar guy was also less than fun. Schooner is always one of my favorites. We did have an amazing stateroom attendant and enjoyed plenty of quality time by the pool but there were times when we stared at each other wondering where we could go onboard to find something good to eat. Would love to get feedback from others.

 

Thanks!

[Tyler80]

It seems as though food is of great importance to you. Is that what ruined the cruise? Did you see any of the shows, enjoy any onboard activities? There was a fleetwide menu change in 2012. For having sailed RCCL so many times I'm surprised you would let 1 bad cruise change your mind about the entire brand.

[capecodcruisetime]

We did see some of the shows and they were great and we are admittedly food snobs sometimes but avoiding the MDR and settling for the Windjammer is really less than ideal. If the MDR food wasn't great and the waiter took the time to make a personal connection with us it would have been better.

 

I'm starting to wonder if we should be on Celebrity next time. We are 36/34...

[papaflamingo]

We did Oasis in Sep. and had a great time. I found the MDR food on par with other ships. Is it "five star?" No. But it was always good. We had great experiences in Chops, 150 Central Park, and Giovanni's. We had great service all around. In fact our Head Waiter was the best ever! He was remarkably attentive to us.

I think it's just "luck of the draw." We have had great service, average service, and ok service. But mostly it's been great.

Sometimes certain meals aren't as good as others. But they are cooking for 3000 per sitting.

We did Chops on Allure in March. We did a table for 10 at 5:30. It took nearly 3 hours! But that's because it opens at 5:30 and there is no "flow" to the service. Every other time it's been great.

So, expectations play high on the list of perception, and luck of the draw does too. Don't give up base on one experience. You could do Oasis next week and find it totally different.

[LMaxwell]

I don't think these big ships live up to the service standards many expect or have encountered on smaller ships or before cutbacks/reductions.

 

I generally found MDR food Fair to Good to Very good on the Allure, but I found service Sub-optimal to Fair. And this was not a knock against the friendliness or professionalism of the staff. They are running like crazy the whole time and the process is just so slow.

 

They really need more staff in the MDR and a way to reduce the 2.5-3 hour dinners down to 75 minutes - 2 hours. Not that you need to be rushed out or can't relax and enjoy if that is your pace, but as it is service is slow and it impacts the overall enjoyment.

 

I don't know what the right number of addtl staff is, but whatever it is now doesn't seem to cut it.

[REDSOX04]

I haven't been on Oasis; but cruised Allure 3 times. I have found the food and service on the Allure excellent. Where do you live on Cape Cod; I have lived there all my life.

[setsail]

 

I'm starting to wonder if we should be on Celebrity next time. We are 36/34...

 

You know the chef's are probably saying the same thing. Being how they cook for 8500 crew and guest 3 times a day 7 days a week

[dacruiser12]

We were on Oasis a few weeks ago and overall found the food to be tasty & good quality. Our problem with the MDR was that each menu had so many things that we don't enjoy (seafood, lamb, pork, curry) that we ended up going elsewhere. We had no problem with that as there were many options in WJ etc. The 2 times we did eat in MDR we had excellent servers.

[capecodcruisetime]

We are in Sandwich.

 

I just spoke with a friend who thought their Allure experience may have been better than Oasis. The ship and the entertainment are great but the food is really part of the WOW to put it in RCCL's own terms. These guys are pros and they do work hard and I am sure they are just cooking with the food they are given to work with.

 

I also wonder if the automatic tipping to your Seapass account has impacted some of the service from the waitstaff as the tip is more assumed. Typically I tip way above and beyond.

 

I know I sound like a big complainer but the difference was so noticeable. Plus this isn't going to help me convince my other half to go on a cruise again!

[REDSOX04]

We are in Dennis

 

I thought the same might happen; that the automatic tips might affect the wait staff service. We were very pleased with the service on the Allure last Dec. We had late seating and our waiter always asked if we had any shows or plans later that night; if we did, they would hurry up our dinner orders. I can say the same for our cruise last May aboard the Explorer.

[capecodcruisetime]

We had late seating as well. I haven't tried My Time Dining because I like making a personal connection with the waitstaff.

[janetz]

Food is subjective. We found the food in the MDR on the Oasis and the Allure to be very good. :)

[caneguy]

I have been on Allure twice. Found that MDR is OK, but I enjoy eating in the special restaurants, Chops, Giovanni's Table, Izumi and Samba Grill. Ate in MDR twice on each cruise and it was good, not great but what I expected. Going on the Oasis in March and will dine in MDR twice again, the rest in Chop, Izumi and Giovanni's and add 150 Park instead of Samba Grill.

 

By the way, to you Cape Cod residents. IF you travel to Chatham you must go the Del Mar restaurant. A really great place, went there two nights in a row while on vacation, and I never eat twice in the same restaurant while on vacation.

[molsonschooner]

We cruised on the Oasis a couple of years ago. Out of the 5 cruises we have been on so far we found the food on the Oasis was the worst of all. The service by the wait staff on the Oasis was so poor that I mentioned it both the survey that is filled out on the last night as well as survey that was emailed later on. Since then we have been on the Freedom and the Radiance. Both had the new menus(I am not that found of the menus) but what I had was quite good and the waiters were excellent. Maybe it is just the ship.

[kruzerci]

We really loved the Oasis last month. I did think the main dining room was pretty bad. The service and the food. It's funny, we made the same remark, "they must be killing the MDR to encourage people to go to the specialty restaurants." After two nights, we had seen enough. The food was cold and the waiters were ridiculously understaffed. We ate at specialty restaurants for the rest of the week, aside from the WJ the night of St. Thomas.

 

Other than that, the cruise couldn't have been any better. We actually thought the WJ was much better than the MDR. Probably because the food was warm-hot instead of cold. I know people always say "food is subjective." Quality and temperature is not, though.

 

We loved our cruise, but it is a shame that the MDR is so bad. I think they're just slashing quality wherever they can to cut costs. From now on, we will just plan on dining in specialty restaurants table 4-5 nights, but that does add a good bit of cost to the cruise.

Edited January 21, 2014 by kruzerci

[riclop]

Hi there everyone...

 

Just came off Oasis and I am a little less than impressed based on my usual RCCL experiences. I was on Oasis for the naming ceremony (1 night) and have been on Navigator a pile of times and it was always great.

 

Food quality and service seem way down in the MDR. We ate at Chops one night and it was very good but the MDR just wasn't amazing. It wasn't terrible but if I never ate there again I wouldn't care. Our waiter never even took the time to find out our name. The burgers at Johnny Rockets appeared to be just as bad as the ones at the Windjammer. I found this not to be the case on Navigator - Johnny Rockets was always well worth the stop.

 

I'm curious if they have changed food quality to encourage specialty dining. Head waiters were absent but that didn't bother me too much. I'm honestly unsure if we will return at this point which is disappointing because I have had so much fun on RCCL over the years. This was my fiancé's first cruise and it didn't live up to the hype.

 

Derek the piano bar guy was also less than fun. Schooner is always one of my favorites. We did have an amazing stateroom attendant and enjoyed plenty of quality time by the pool but there were times when we stared at each other wondering where we could go onboard to find something good to eat. Would love to get feedback from others.

 

Thanks!

Everything seems to be going downhill.

[Miamia65]

OMG I'm going to be flamed BUT I can't believe the complaints on here .... I live in Australia, we have 3 Royal Caribbean ships that come here for 6-8 months of the year, Rhapsody, Radiance and Voyager.

Other cruise lines operate here like P&O and Carnival, I think all year round.

 

In the US the number of choices in ships is amazing and I suppose this is due to the population. Australia's population is 25 million .... if one of the big ships, ie. Oasis or Allure came to Australia WE would be so happy. We travelled to the US and cruised on Oasis in December on a B2B, had the best time and had nothing to complain about.

 

Perhaps you just take for granted what you have there! Sorry just sayin !!!!

[Tyler80]

OMG I'm going to be flamed BUT I can't believe the complaints on here .... I live in Australia, we have 3 Royal Caribbean ships that come here for 6-8 months of the year, Rhapsody, Radiance and Voyager.

Other cruise lines operate here like P&O and Carnival, I think all year round.

 

In the US the number of choices in ships is amazing and I suppose this is due to the population. Australia's population is 25 million .... if one of the big ships, ie. Oasis or Allure came to Australia WE would be so happy. We travelled to the US and cruised on Oasis in December on a B2B, had the best time and had nothing to complain about.

 

Perhaps you just take for granted what you have there! Sorry just sayin !!!!

 

Thank you. It is called "First World Problems". I don't think Royal Caribbean would consistently win awards for their brand if everything was "going down hill".

[LMaxwell]

Perhaps you just take for granted what you have there! Sorry just sayin !!!!

 

That's pretty subjective. Dining taking three hours and being mostly chaos is objective.

 

The dining room on the ships is understaffed. If your competitors slip further, faster than you do you can still win awards and not be as good as you were years before.

 

Is slow service on a cruise ship a first world problem? Yes. But we're on cruise critic. This entire website is devoted to first world problems and discussing them as well as solutions.

[kruzerci]

That's pretty subjective. Dining taking three hours and being mostly chaos is objective.

 

The dining room on the ships is understaffed. If your competitors slip further, faster than you do you can still win awards and not be as good as you were years before.

 

Is slow service on a cruise ship a first world problem? Yes. But we're on cruise critic. This entire website is devoted to first world problems and discussing them as well as solutions.

 

Well said.

[capecodcruisetime]

My comments are entirely based on a reflection of what was and what is. RCCL created my expectations and my disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a big fan - I doubt we will rush back on an Oasis class ship.

[neptune18]

We have sailed Allure twice and Oasis once. We usually eat 3-4 times in specialties and the rest in MDR (always my time). We have loved all cruises but never expect great food in MDR, just average to above average. We still enjoy MDR because we like the atmosphere and have fun with our wait staff.

[LindaO]

Since you are admitted "we are admittedly food snobs" I'd suggest on future cruises that you purchase the specialty restaurant package... and try the Chef's Table. I think you will be happier.

[CntPAcruiser]

My comments are entirely based on a reflection of what was and what is. RCCL created my expectations and my disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a big fan - I doubt we will rush back on an Oasis class ship.

 

We've found, now that we've tried both Oasis and Allure, that we don't care for them as much as we did Adventure and Freedom. It may be the ratio of crew to passengers, but the service just does not seem as good on Oasis/Allure, and the food was definitely not as good as on the other ships. We did go to Giovanni's Table and Chops and weren't impressed. While there were a few things that were better, overall the experience wasn't worth it for us. We'll likely stay away from Oasis/Allure from now on.

[GalCruzer]

Question...What is MDR ?