Disappointed over menu choices in MDR

[BobbyD]

OP - I also respectfully disagree. We just came off Anthem last Saturday - I assume the menu is similar to Harmony. We are long time cruisers, but this was our first RCL cruise and I enjoyed every meal I had in the MDR, and the service was excellent! The menu is varied each night and there are a few staple appetizers and entrees. These are necessary in case a person does not like the nightly offering. Our group of 16 had no complaints whatsoever.

 

Good to hear! I am on the Anthem in 2 weeks and I thought I might have to order Uber Eats!:cool:

[starrcards]

The most stars you can have via the Michelin rating system is 3.

 

Like I said, top Michelin restaurant are not my normal haunts. Thanks for the correction.

[Geema]

We were on the Harmony last week and ate in the main dining room every night and enjoyed every meal! Our wait staff was one of the best we've ever had and the suggestions made were usually right on the spot for those that got their suggestion. No one came out of the dining room hungry or disappointed. We were a group of 12.

[DonnaK]

Does anyone have copies of the new 7-day MDR menus?

[born_in_detroit]

We are just off Harmony and had a wonderful time except for the menu in the dining room. The menu remains the same every night with the change of one or two items. Desserts were the same except for one (usually no sugar) dessert every night.

 

This became almost a joke for our group. It seems they want you to eat mostly in special restaurants.

 

We were on this same ship in December and had much more varied menus. Has anyone else noticed this change?

 

We noticed the change to the MD menus on our last cruise on the Majesty of the Seas earlier this month. We were totally disappointed when we found out that this was a fleet wide change, because the new MD menus are terrible compared to the old spice menus.

 

The old spice menus had a lot more variety and most of the items I loved off the old menus were not added to the new menus which is extremely disappointing. I ended up eating the Cesar salad and the cheesecake all 4 nights on the MOS because the other choices were so terrible. I loved ordering the fruit soups and they are no longer available in the MD. This was a terrible change on the part of RCCL. I really wish they would go back to the old menus.

[Merion_Mom]

No! but us cruisers weren't happy with it so they canned it

Speak for yourself.

[LMaxwell]

On the main dishes it is maybe 2 or 3 items that change, same with the apps. But if you like variety that is very lacking. I was hoping less dishes would mean an increase in quality, but it is still fair/average. Even when the dishes change they are not very different or unique. The choices just feel a bit outdated. But it is the MDR and can't exceed a certain level.

[cb at sea]

They have lowered the dining room standards to make the "specialties" more attractive. Eventually, they will only "include" a buffet....I'm sure of that. My guess is within the next 8-10 years.....maybe sooner!

[Merion_Mom]

palette:

 

 

 

pallet:

 

 

 

PALATE:

 

 

Palate: a term used to denote "taste" - a person's appreciation of taste and flavor, especially when sophisticated and discriminating.

"a fine range of drink for sophisticated palates"

[coaster]

On the main dishes it is maybe 2 or 3 items that change, same with the apps. But if you like variety that is very lacking. I was hoping less dishes would mean an increase in quality, but it is still fair/average. Even when the dishes change they are not very different or unique. The choices just feel a bit outdated. But it is the MDR and can't exceed a certain level.

 

I agree with your analysis. The way I combated the lack of variety on the updated MDR menus was to order multiple appetizers to get more variety. Also, went to Windjammer a couple of nights later in the cruise to get more variety. A first for us to go to a buffet for dinner on a cruise, but it was a good choice after multiple nights of staring at many of the same items every night.

[Merion_Mom]

Does anyone have copies of the new 7-day MDR menus?

Donna, I only took a couple of pictures.

 

Here you go:

 

 

[DonnaK]

Thanks Carol

[katiel53]

I guess I don't understand the thinking of the food is bad to make everyone eat in the specialty restaurants. If everyone onboard tried to eat in the specialty restaurants, some would be having dinner at 2PM and others at 2AM. There is not enough room in all these restaurants combined to have all passengers eat in them.

 

I do believe that no matter which main stream line you are used to, there will be complaints about how far down the food quality/choices have gone in the last few years. Although prices of cruises are rising, they are still not far from what they were when I first started cruising in an inside cabin and then an outside as there were no balcony cabins at that time.

 

Now, having said that, we do go to the specialty restaurants. The noise in the dining room takes away from the experience and the specialty restaurants have more ambiance and are far more quiet. The service is far less rushed than in the dining room. If we order drinks, we get them before dinner, not with the entree. The choice of food is better and it is worth it for us to pay for that.

 

When we go out to dinner at home, we choose places the same way we do on the ship. For many, the cruise food is great and especially for new cruisers, the options are far more than they see other times. As food is very subjective, we all do what we feel is right for us, but saying that any cruise line is purposely giving poor food to send everyone/anyone/some to the specialty restaurants is not something with which I agree. I doubt most people at home have filet several nights a week or Branzino ever.

[kruzerci]

The MDR is terrible now. We haven’t dined in the MDR regularly in quite a few years now but we try it a night or two per cruise. Unfortunately, all-inclusive resorts that we go to seem to be going down the same downward sloped path.

 

It’s definitely frustrating. I don’t eat TGI Fridays/Applebees quality food at home and I sure as hell don’t want to when I’m on a vacation. You’ll get people popping in on these threads saying they think the food is good. Sure, you can generally find something that tastes decent on the menu, but it is going to be buffet quality meats and sides presented as a sit down meal.

[FionaMG]

Does anyone have copies of the new 7-day MDR menus?

 

MDR menus in post 1, kids' menu in post 7. I'm going to bump the thread up so more people get the chance to see it as it seems to have gone largely unnoticed.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2636232

[ptf2009]

OP what were you expecting in the MDR?

 

I always think hotel banquet while in the MDR. A fish, chicken, beef and vegan entree. An occassional lamb, lobster or special cut meat from fish, chicken or beef. A potato, rice or pasta and some veggies.

 

Like some one else mentioned if all you eat is say chicken, yeah you might eat the same thing twice. But if you have a nice palette you will be fine.

 

Day 1 chicken

Day 2 seafood

Day 3 beef

Day 4 pasta

Day 5 Lamb

Day 6 pork

Day 7 special cut of beef prime rib

 

And the other thing is TRY SOMETHING NEW! My cuzn only eats steak and potatoes. He tried my lamb shank and loved it.

 

OP what do you eat at home for dinner on a typical 7 day week?

 

This week for me:

Sunday beans n cornbread

Monday Mexican food

Tuesday leftover Mexican

Wednesday smothered Turkey legs n rice

Thursday smothered Turkey leg n rice

Friday provably pizza night

Saturday bbq at BFFs

 

So yeah, I'm not complaining about the MDR.

 

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Oh My! I just love this post...it’s sounds soooo familiar...the home meals I mean:) So for me also, the MDR is just fine....I don’t have to cook or do the dishes!

 

One opinion: Wonderland is a pretty restaurant, but the food’s presentation is strange and the food tastes awful, except for the ice cream dessert...not worth $50pp.

[cantwait2cruise926]

We recently cruised on Adventure of the Seas. We cruise about every 8 yrs or so. I noticed a difference in the quality of the food. We never went hungry but some dishes could have used a little more flavor. The lamb shank wasn't great and you couldn't even tell it was lamb. My favorites were the mushroom risotto, tiger shrimp, and prime rib. I did enjoy the strip loin too. The appetizers were small but tasty. The coffee terrible!! We left full and it was fine. I would never pay for the specialty restaurants but i think since these have come around, the quality of the food has decreased in order for you to pay for the specialty restaurants.

[karl_nj]

I wasn't a big fan of the 'Fish of the Day with Chef's Vegetable Choice'. On Anthem a few months ago they rotated between 2 or 3 fish, with the exact same sauce and vegetable sides ever day. On several nights they had another fish option, but not always.

 

Most nights the only salad option was the Caesar Salad. On a few nights they had more interesting salads. My wife and I missed having the option of a rotating salad, as they had in the old menus.

 

They still have the cold strawberry soup one night, but they used to have a different one every night. I miss that option.

 

They used to rotate the ice cream flavors, now they only "advertise" the basic flavors. I've been told that you can special request your old favorites, however. I plan to try that on my next cruise in Aug (thanks for the tip Merion_Mom!)

 

I often found the bread basket on the table had fewer choices, and the bread was often stale. I really enjoyed it when there were more choices and the bread was fresh.

 

It was nice to have creme brulee ever night, but half the time it came out very cold. I would have preferred it if they offered it once during the cruise, but served it at the correct temperature.

[John&LaLa]

Why do you need to eat at specialty restuarant when there is Lido buffet with theme nights at no extra charge?

Maybe because WJ is awful

 

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[Cachecara]

Thank you for the links to those menus. I can certainly find something yummy every night.

[Iamcruzin]

palette:

 

Ironically your photo of the palette matches the menu with the repeating of the same colors with the one or two single colors representing the special, or change for the day.

 

For what it's worth I have been looking at the current menus that have been posted in other threads. Yes there are repeats. However there were days where I would be torn between two entrees or two desserts but as the week progressed those items were back on the menu on another day. Personally I like that. I also noticed that the menu doesn't differ much from the Celebrity or Princess menu which all serve the same classic entrees and deserts. Prime Rib seems to be served on day one on all three lines. I suppose if you cruise many times a year you probably get sick of the menu. Unfortunately for me I don't have that issue. I have more variety on a cruise than I do at home.

Edited July 27, 2018 by Iamcruzin

[Cruise-y]

I'm sure someone here who has cruised a lot can answer this. Thank you. Does the "no sugar added" dessert mean exactly that - no sugar added? Or does it mean that they have used an artificial sweetener like Splenda?

[little britain]

We are just off Harmony and had a wonderful time except for the menu in the dining room. The menu remains the same every night with the change of one or two items. Desserts were the same except for one (usually no sugar) dessert every night.

 

This became almost a joke for our group. It seems they want you to eat mostly in special restaurants.

 

We were on this same ship in December and had much more varied menus. Has anyone else noticed this change?

 

I think you actually mean that the menu changed every night with the exception of one or two times which are always available???

Deserts are also always different every night.

 

#36 .... lets spot all the items that are the same.....

[vacationlover_mn]

Was on Radiance this June, and MDR food was fine for us. Could find something we’d like every night (well, sometimes I’d have just 2 apps and a cheese plate, but it was just because that was what I felt like :). However, on SOS next Feb we’re going to do the ultimate dining package, because we’re curious to try all of the restaurants :), and want to do something new and fun with the OBC we had :). Why not do the WJ? We just don’t like buffets anymore. Not sure why, but we don’t.

 

 

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[Clarea]

I'm sure someone here who has cruised a lot can answer this. Thank you. Does the "no sugar added" dessert mean exactly that - no sugar added? Or does it mean that they have used an artificial sweetener like Splenda?

Usually means artificial sweetner.