New MDR Menus being tested on Gem

[jaja]

I don't recall seeing any cold soups and I usually always looked to order a soup.

 

.

 

Just an fyi...I specifically asked the chef (1st week of June on the Gem) about cold soups..was told they are no longer on the menu.

[bangzoom6877]

Was the service slow or do you think the service was affected in any way because of a new menu? Did it seem chaotic in the MDR?

[Gershep]

Was the service slow or do you think the service was affected in any way because of a new menu? Did it seem chaotic in the MDR?

 

Service was not slow at all. We had made reservations for the MDR prior to leaving and our table was always waiting for us. Most nights dinner was completed within an hour, after eating appetizer, dinner, drinks and dessert. Sometimes a little longer. We never waited long and were never rushed. I had no complaints at all about the MDR and we ate there every night, switching between Grand Pacific and Magenta.

 

We ate once in Orchid Garden and that took a long time for the food to come out. It comes out a little at a time, family style but it doesn't really make sense to me the way they do it. People who were seated well after us got there food first and left before us. We really didn't mind because we like to take our time.

[Gershep]

Just realized I spelt dessert wrong, lol.

[Presbycruiser]

Wow the new dinner menus *sound* wonderful. Almost makes me think I don't need to try out the specialty restaurants ... but since I got a bonus upon booking ($100 credits for use in the specialty restaurants) I guess I will anyway. It's a ten day cruise after all ...

[bonniboo1]

$100 credit...nice. When I go to the Specialities I always try something that I have never had before such as Osso bucco in la Cucina. I can tell you that the main dining rooms are very good. I have always enjoyed them and they are even better now. The appetizers in the Orchid are excellent as is the pot pie in O'Sheehans. The buffet is just fine but can be hectic. I enjoy the great outdoors in the evening.

happy cruising!

 

Bonni

[davesgirl51]

Everyone is eating in the Specialty restaurants. Enjoy the MDRs.

[bangzoom6877]

Everyone is eating in the Specialty restaurants. Enjoy the MDRs.

 

We still enjoy the MDRs for the majority of our dinners, but we also like a specialty restaurant or two throughout the cruise for dinner.

 

Also love the MDR for breakfast. I don't care that the service is slower than going to the buffet, I'm on vacation and not in a rush for once! Besides, in our experience...DH, me and our two sons...the buffet ends up taking just as much time as the MDR at breakfast once we find a table, wait in line for food, everyone gets their food, etc. and leaves practically no time for conversations during breakfast. In the MDR, we find it a lot more relaxing, and the food is brought to us which is very nice on vacation!

[Sand and Seas]

We still enjoy the MDRs for the majority of our dinners, but we also like a specialty restaurant or two throughout the cruise for dinner.

 

Also love the MDR for breakfast. I don't care that the service is slower than going to the buffet, I'm on vacation and not in a rush for once! Besides, in our experience...DH, me and our two sons...the buffet ends up taking just as much time as the MDR at breakfast once we find a table, wait in line for food, everyone gets their food, etc. and leaves practically no time for conversations during breakfast. In the MDR, we find it a lot more relaxing, and the food is brought to us which is very nice on vacation!

 

Well said! No reason to rush, just relax and enjoy:D

[newmexicoNita]

Tweaking the MDR menus again? I'm surprised. Didn't they just revamp the lot of them last year.

 

But don't you think this is good, not bad. For those of us who cruise every year or more often we love to see changes in the menu, not to mention there is always room for improvement. We usually split our dinners between the MDR and the specialty dining rooms. On our April cruise we were very happy with the MDR (ok, so the desserts suck) and the new menu sounds even better. I am glad to see so much seafood. For those who are not crazy over it or do not eat it, I am sure there is plenty of other options. I would not expect prime rib every night. I think twice is a blessing.

Edited July 1, 2015 by newmexicoNita

[bangzoom6877]

But don't you think this is good, not bad. For those of us who cruise every year or more often we love to see changes in the menu, not to mention there is always room for improvement. We usually split our dinners between the MDR and the specialty dining rooms. On our April cruise we were very happy with the MDR (ok, so the desserts suck) and the new menu sounds even better. I am glad to see so much seafood. For those who are not crazy over it or do not eat it, I am sure there is plenty of other options. I would not expect prime rib every night. I think twice is a blessing.

 

I agree, as great as we've found the food to be in the MDR, there is always room for improvement. We enjoyed the old menus on the Jewel in 2011, which at the time were new menus. We thought those menus were outstanding. Then last year they revamped the menus, and I've looked at them online. They're even better than they used to be. And I'm sure any changes from now on will be positive.

 

I also agree with you that even if someone isn't a lover of fish and seafood, there will be plenty of other choices, both in the meat category and the vegetarian category. Variety is key!

[auntiemjo]

apparently this is one of the changes implemented by new leadership after the merger of Oceania and NCL holdings. Can't find the article that I read addressing the new menus beginning in July but here's a bit about the changes on land and sea.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2225164

 

 

Not sure what you mean by "her new owner" -- she was constructed by Oceania and is still owned by Oceania. Perhaps you mean the acquisition of Prestige Cruise Holdings ny NCL Holding? I can assure you, the ship did not go into the NCL fleet, the CEO of NCL Holdings (Frank Del Rio) is the founder of Oceania and the "father" of Riviera, the Vice Chairman of Oceania (Bob Binder) is a founder of Oceania, and the President of Oceania (Jason Montague) has been with the company since the very beginning. Nothing has changed, except the entertainment will be provided by NCLH, which many will believe is an improvement.

 

There have been many synergistic blendings of back office departments since the acquisition, but for the most part, they have skewed towards Oceania and Regent policies. There have been significant changes aboard NCL ships, to the dismay of some "Old Guard" NCL cruisers.

[live_to_cruise]

Menus from the Grand Pacific on Day 2 of our 6 Day Gem cruise (6/21-6/27/15):

 

 

[Gershep]

Thanks for posting a picture.

[hondorner]

Yum.

 

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Appetizer portion of Penne Arrabiata

Whole Roasted Bone-in Pork Loin

w/ Potato Wedges and Brussels Sprouts

Pecan Pie

 

Fabulous.

[bangzoom6877]

[quote name='live_to_cruise']Menus from the Grand Pacific on Day 2 of our 6 Day Gem cruise (6/21-6/27/15):

[URL=http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/live_to_cruise/media/Facebook/Cruise%20Review%202015/11403143_10204274139789085_2567017793379152098_n_zpsz7kvg6mk.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y452/live_to_cruise/Facebook/Cruise%20Review%202015/11403143_10204274139789085_2567017793379152098_n_zpsz7kvg6mk.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/live_to_cruise/media/Facebook/Cruise%20Review%202015/11692545_10204274140069092_7076451170723155546_n_zps4ad4u9ac.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y452/live_to_cruise/Facebook/Cruise%20Review%202015/11692545_10204274140069092_7076451170723155546_n_zps4ad4u9ac.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/QUOTE]

Looks good to me! I love lemon sole, one of my favorite types of fish! Now I hope the new menus are on our Breakaway cruise on July 19th because I'm sure to order that a couple of times!

[pizzalady1]

Thanks, Live_to_cruise. Do you have any of the other day's menus you can post?

[MICHLEV1974]

I was on the Gem 6/13-6/21 also. The desserts were blah...if you have a dairy allergy, you should ask ahead for nondairy or ask the staff which one has no dairy..almost everything was a pudding or a flan or a cheesecake....

I can tolerate small amounts of dairy, but evenso...there were limited items on the dessert menu in MDR...carrot cake and pecan pie and chocolate molten or melting or something like that. Trust me..i love dessert..but this ship was lacking...

[live_to_cruise]

[quote name='pizzalady1']Thanks, Live_to_cruise. Do you have any of the other day's menus you can post?[/QUOTE]

Yes I do! I'm currently posting my day-by-day review of our cruise with the menus included most of the nights! The link is below if you would like to check it out :)

[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2228155[/url]

If you would prefer me to post all of them in this thread, I can do that as well, just let me know!

[BamaVol]

[quote name='MICHLEV1974']I was on the Gem 6/13-6/21 also. The desserts were blah...if you have a dairy allergy, you should ask ahead for nondairy or ask the staff which one has no dairy..almost everything was a pudding or a flan or a cheesecake....

I can tolerate small amounts of dairy, but evenso...there were limited items on the dessert menu in MDR...carrot cake and pecan pie and chocolate molten or melting or something like that. Trust me..i love dessert..but this ship was lacking...[/quote]

I'm lactose intolerant and that has been my biggest complaint cruising. Almost every dessert has ice cream, whipped cream, cream cheese, etc. Even entrees are more buttery and cheesy than not. And a lot of it isn't apparent on the menu - you don't know until it arrives in front of you. Edited July 2, 2015 by BamaVol

[Dorhead1230]

This is just an observation, and really not meant to be a complaint at all, but there are way fewer entree choices on that new menu than on the current ones. I think there were usually 15 entree choices total on the current menus, and there's only 10 there. OBVIOUSLY, I will never go hungry on a cruise ship [emoji4], and if the food is really awesome it's worth having fewer choices, but, like I said, I just noticed there's not as much variety. There's also nothing Indian or Thai on this day's menus; a few of the Indian and Thai meals that I have had in the past in the MDR have been really incredible!

[mking8288]

Thank you for those posting the new "enhanced" menu - whew, glad to see that spaghetti and meatballs are off the daily options in the MDR - as much as it is comfort food for some, but for a cruise. Okay, food is always subjective & opinions are highly variable in nature.

It does seemed to be offering more variety in the seafood department, which is good - although, I would rather have monkfish, grouper & tilapia vs. plain generic "fillet of sole" or white fish; and, likewise, real jumbo tiger prawns vs. "large" shrimps ...

Years ago (quite a few, actually) - the highlights for sailing NCL was the variety of choices in the MDR as far as desserts go - never repeated more than once or twice for a typical 7 day sailing - and, it's been vastly simplified ... 3 nights of chocolate volcano was a bit too much for our most recent 7 nights on the BA, and, had to ask for sherbet and ice cream as it wasn't even listed as everyday choices. Hoepfully, it's both enhanced and with variety - fingers crossed, as it is now July 2nd.

Used to seeing more variety in appetizers and choice of salads ... last few years, not so much (and, the cold/chilled soups are gone) - so, one can hope & see what was promised, soon.

[pizzalady1]

[quote name='live_to_cruise']Yes I do! I'm currently posting my day-by-day review of our cruise with the menus included most of the nights! The link is below if you would like to check it out :)

[url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2228155[/url]

If you would prefer me to post all of them in this thread, I can do that as well, just let me know![/QUOTE]

I think the best way, if it is not too difficult, is to start a new thread with a title like photos of new menus, then posting them 6 at a time (I think you can load 6 pics at a time), not sure. Everyone would like to see the menus and the title will be searchable.

I am reading your thread--very nicely written and full of great info. Thanks.

[live_to_cruise]

[quote name='pizzalady1']I think the best way, if it is not too difficult, is to start a new thread with a title like photos of new menus, then posting them 6 at a time (I think you can load 6 pics at a time), not sure. Everyone would like to see the menus and the title will be searchable.

I am reading your thread--very nicely written and full of great info. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Thank you! I followed your advice: [url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=47011679&posted=1#post47011679[/url]

[newmexicoNita]

I too am glad to see Spag and meatballs gone; However hubby has ordered them a few times, of course his favorite food is pasta in any form. As for the desserts, I can never remember a time when NCL has decent ones:then I am not a huge dessert eater anyway so it is ok with me. Give me my salads, veggies and meats. I will be fine. Oh yes, and the breads.