Food on Royal Caribbean

[kellywhitehills]

I was on Monarch last October and the food was edible but not outstanding..The appetizers were the best part of dinner..I only sent back one thing and that was the salmon..

[exarche02]

We are going on a 12 day Baltic cruise this June on JOS and my husband is worrying about the food. He is extremely picky and won't eat anything with cheese or cream in it...and is severely allergic to shellfish. I know we will have to notify RCI before the cruise of the allergy, but he is also worried about having a large enough selection of things to eat for the whole 12 days. Also, we have heard there are themed nights - what are these like? Do you recommend Portofino over Chops or vice versa?

[travelgirlie]

I just returned from an Empress of the Seas cruise last night and was really worried about the food after reading various opinions. The morning danish tasted like they were just baked as did the rolls. The lobster tails on formal night were to die for! Thai shrimp and spring rolls were outstanding. I also enjoyed duck, lamb shanks, and veal osso bucca. I was not crazy about the soups, but there was so much more to select. The burgers from room service were great. We never waited more than 15 minutes. I did have veal chops and found that to be dry (over- cooked). I really have to say that I was more than satisfied with the food and that is pretty good since it was an 11 day cruise! What can I say--vanilla and chocolate for a reason!!:cool:

[MGilly]

We will be sailing on the Radiance in May (Alaska!), and we plan to go to Chops one night and Portofino's another. Is there anywhere that they post the week's dining room menus so that we can select the nights that seem the least interesting to us? We know that we need to make reservations as soon as we board the ship, but we'd like to be sure not to miss the prime rib or the lobster.

[Glory7]

Very surprised at mediocrity of dining room food. Service staff excellent and ambience unbelievably beautiful. Even though the menu read with an excellent selection and variety of food, the quality was far below what we've experienced on Princess. Chops & Protofinos both exceptional in terms of presentation, quality and quantity of food. Where else can you get a meal like this ... with as many portions as you like for $20 with tip in? (we added $5 pp) .

 

Coffee shop on Promenade - complimentary - delicious coffee or tea anytime (Seattle's best) and pretty good pastries.

 

Italian Restaurant on Promenade - complimentary - good pizza if you like deep dish and very nice antipasto bar

[Glory7]

Very surprised at mediocrity of dining room food. Service staff excellent and ambience unbelievably beautiful. Even though the menu read with an excellent selection and variety of food, the quality was far below what we've experienced on Princess. Chops & Portofinos both exceptional in terms of presentation, quality and quantity of food. Where else can you get a meal like this ... with as many portions as you like for $20 with tip in? (we added $5 pp) .

 

Coffee shop on Promenade - complimentary - delicious coffee or tea anytime (Seattle's best) and pretty good pastries.

 

Italian Restaurant on Promenade - complimentary - good pizza if you like deep dish and very nice antipasto bar

[Glory7]

IMHO - my comments.

 

The dining room menu and Windjammer on the corresponding night, offer lobster tails one night (Friday on our cruise) and shrimp cocktails as appetizers (small shrimps) a couple times. There is also lamb, but I don't think it's 1st cut and one of our group didn't think it was good at all.

 

At both Chops and Portofinos, we were told that the menus stay the same and don't change for about a year. In both restaurants, you can ask for as many selections of each course as you like and believe me, people do ask for 2 or 3 to try and even more. i.e. in Chops, there's a shrimp cocktail appetizer ... very large and delicious shrimp; also tuna tartare and others. I don't recall lobster on either menu; in Portofino there is a kebab with various shellfish and fish on a skewer. Definitely recommend you try these two restaurants. It's amazing at $20 pp incl. gratuity (we added an additional $5 pp tip for the quantity and quality of service and food). Re: Windjammer buffet ... there's a Jade area in the buffet which offers on a daily basis, a couple Indian & Asian veggie alternatives; also miso soup in the AM with all the trimmings; sushi at dinner (not very good).

[Glory7]

IMHO - my comments.

 

The dining room menu and Windjammer on the corresponding night, offer lobster tails one night (Friday on our cruise) and shrimp cocktails as appetizers (small shrimps) a couple times. There is also lamb, but I don't think it's 1st cut and one of our group didn't think it was good at all.

 

At both Chops and Portofinos, we were told that the menus stay the same and don't change for about a year. In both restaurants, you can ask for as many selections of each course as you like and believe me, people do ask for 2 or 3 to try and even more. i.e. in Chops, there's a shrimp cocktail appetizer ... very large and delicious shrimp; also tuna tartare and others. I don't recall lobster on either menu; in Portofino there is a kebab with various shellfish and fish on a skewer. Definitely recommend you try these two restaurants. It's amazing at $20 pp incl. gratuity (we added an additional $5 pp tip for the quantity and quality of service and food). Re: Windjammer buffet ... there's a Jade area in the buffet which offers on a daily basis, a couple Indian & Asian veggie alternatives; also miso soup in the AM with all the trimmings; sushi at dinner (not very good).

[bluewave]

Any recent reviews for food on the Radiance of the Seas? We will be going on the E Carib in a few weeks. It seem like a lot of the comments are from quite a while ago... any improvements, I hope?!

[rocket88]

Just finished my first RCI cruise on the Radience. Previously 3 or 4 NCL cruises to compare it to. I was disappointed overall, but the filet in Chops and the pastas in Portifino were the highlight. Buffet was suprisingly good for breakfast & lunch, never had dinner there or the dining room, but a walkthrough of the dining room convinced me the specialty restaurants were the way to go.

 

For mass market cruise ships it was about what I'd expect, although I'd rank NCL slightly higher.

 

Compared to land based restaurants I'd compare Chops to an Outback, Portifino to Bonefish Grille. Certainly not gourmet dining but worth the extra $20pp.

[rocket88]

Just finished my first RCI cruise on the Radience. Previously 3 or 4 NCL cruises to compare it to. I was disappointed overall, but the filet in Chops and the pastas in Portifino were the highlight. Buffet was suprisingly good for breakfast & lunch, never had dinner there or the dining room, but a walkthrough of the dining room convinced me the specialty restaurants were the way to go.

 

For mass market cruise ships it was about what I'd expect, although I'd rank NCL slightly higher.

 

Compared to land based restaurants I'd compare Chops to an Outback, Portifino to Bonefish Grille. Certainly not gourmet dining but worth the extra $20pp.

 

PS - the coffee was suprisingly good too. I think it was "Seattle's Best". We brought a small french press & ground starbucks to make our own, but we never needed to.

[newbeestl]

Ah man! You guys are making me nervous!

 

It's been 5 years since I cruised, but I just booked on RCCL again. This time on Enchantment. The last time was Majesty. Has the food really gone that far downhill? I REALLY liked the food on Majesty 5 years ago and that's the main reason I stuck with RCCL. :confused:

 

That $20 extra for the other restaurants is crazy. What did I pay for then? You're telling me the food is better there? Do those places have formal nights too?

[realent]

I was just on the Monarch B2B. I have sailed her many times and always enjoyed the food but I must say this time was OUTSTANDING. They have a new chef on the Monarch. Chef Allan. He was previously on the Explorer. I spoke with him a few times, also the sous chef. The deserts in particular seemed to have improved as well as the windjammer buffet which I normally don't eat at. The buffet was much fresher with lighter options. I was told that RCI had a food team coming in to each ship and that they were relooking at the menu's and selections. As you know they will shortly be all trans-fat free as well.

 

I am an ex-professional chef myself and VERY picky...

 

We were on the freedom in Feb and Portofino's was incredible. Can't wait to try the Radiance next month!

[meli1371]

We were on the navigator of the seas, we learned on the last day of the cruise, that the food and beverage coordinator had a degree in applied neuro science, I believe. Get that! Ant the food on the navigator was ,marginal at best.

[kelmac]

I'm with Andy and Bobby on this one. We have done five RCI cruises in the past 2 1/2 years and we can't get excited about the food any more. Large amounts of low quality food. We pretty much are sticking to Celebrity (great food) and HAL (pretty good food); that leaves RCI, Princess and NCL out of the mix.

 

With these higher prices, I hope we see an improvement in the quality of the food!

 

Enjoy!

Kel

 

We were on the navigator of the seas, we learned on the last day of the cruise, that the food and beverage coordinator had a degree in applied neuro science, I believe. Get that! Ant the food on the navigator was ,marginal at best.

 

meli1371,

 

Where did you "dredge" up this thread? My post above is over 10 years old.:eek: Things have changed in ten years; first, Royal Caribbean food has improved! Princess and Holland America have been on a steady decline over the years. I'm going to give NCL another try next month, but using the Ultimate Dining Package.

If you want good food -- Celebrity has always been a cut above the other mainstream lines; Oceania and Azamara are really good. Cunard has excellent cuisine in their MDR, but their buffet is one of the worse at sea.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[bUU]

From 2004:

We're just back, and will surely have more to say, but first impression is that all the concerns about food quality were off-target IMHO. The food was actually pretty darned incredible given how little we pay for it. Some of the food was remarkably good. Some was just-regular-good. Nothing we had was shockingly bad.

 

Where did you "dredge" up this thread? My post above is over 10 years old.:eek: Things have changed in ten years; first, Royal Caribbean food has improved!

And it was actually very good even ten years ago. The thread was off-kilter to start with. Edited February 17, 2015 by bicker

[norfolk53golf]

We have always found the food on RCCL excellent. Been on Mariner twice and last year on Radiance to Alaska and loved the food in both the MDR, Windjammer and free cafe's on board. We never eat in the paid venues as we are more than happy with the food in the "free" venues. I know it's subjective but I have never been able to understand the complaints about the food as it has, for us anyway, very good variety, abundance and flavoursome.

[Iluvcruising2]

Yeah, I've never found Royal Caribbean's food to be bad. Maybe I am easy to please.

 

Video snippets - Pimento and Oregano menus, Adventure of the Seas June 2014

[YOUTUBE]D224Qw8kdR0[/YOUTUBE]

 

Windjammer cafe - dinner on Adventure of the Seas

[YOUTUBE]n32QJIrVd08[/YOUTUBE]

[Cruisin'BusyBee]

I have request if anyone can help: I am putting together my scrap book of my Allure trip and was wondering if anyone took a pic of the Samba Menu (right outside the Solarium)? It listed all the meats for dinner. Yeah, we went but just OK for our experience..........................

 

Thanks for any help here!

C/BB

[ladytaekwondo]

Any meal I don't have to cook and clean up after cant be all bad. Always had good meals on Celebrity and RCCL

[Cruisegoer]

Most food in the windjammer is inedible, at least on the Liberty OTS, it's the cheapest ingredients of crap thrown together with no taste blahness.

[Deenie33]

Most food in the windjammer is inedible, at least on the Liberty OTS, it's the cheapest ingredients of crap thrown together with no taste blahness.

 

We were on the Grandeur recently and had no problem with the Windjammer food. We only ate breakfast there and an occasional lunch or snack. Dinner was in the MDR - No complaints for any meal as evidenced by the xtra pounds I took home with me . . .