Adventure of the Seas Food Quality

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, Maraprince said:

If RCL reads Cruise Critics posts I hope they hear what is being said regarding the food quality and selection available in the buffet area and wise up that they are not fooling anyone even the first time cruisers.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

 

RC won't do anything until it affects their bottom line. 

[Maraprince]

29 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

RC won't do anything until it affects their bottom line. 

Is that why they had an employee at the entrance using a counter as people entered the buffet?

 

MARAPRINCE

[pcur]

On 6/14/2019 at 1:13 PM, stevetod said:

Just off the Adventure of the seas today after a six day cruise to Maine and Canada. Although my wife and I enjoyed the cruise entertainment, bar service and housekeeping, the food quality in both the dining room and the buffet was below what we have experienced on other Celebrity cruises. The Buffet was cafeteria quality with no dishes that stood out at all. We kind of expected this from other friends who had traveled on this ship but were completely taken off guard by the Dining room food. the first night we were served cold fish but excused it off as a first night issue. What came next was worse. We ordered pasta with seafood. I was expecting the dish would taste something of the seafood in the sauce. Well what we got was pasta in a watery white sauce with a couple of pieces of small seafood thrown on top. It was obvious the seafood was just put on top and not part of the cooking process and the fish pieces were hard. A big clue they were not cooked in the sauce. We both decided we had enough of the dining room and ate out each port to avoid it. The last night we dined in Chops and it was very good. 

 

One other point worth mentioning is the ship is large and with the amount of people that were going to breakfast they were too much for each venue and caused people to wait on lines in the dining room. When we docked in Maine my wife and I headed to the buffet at 6:55 am to grab something quick and head out to the tender boats. Well there was 1/3 of the buffet closed off and no tables available anywhere. We observed several people holding plates of food with nowhere to go and yet they never opened the 1/3 of the buffet that had closed off. Not exactly great service.  I would like to know if this is common on Royal or was it a ship issue. Comments welcome as we are planning our next cruise and are hesitant to go near Royal again.

Steve

 

We were on the Adventure for 34 nights from April to the end of May 2019.  We experienced about 3-4 dinners the whole time that weren't to our liking, and we've sailed on Celebrity also.  

 

It is very important to the dining staff that YOU TELL THEM if your dinner is not right.  Your dining staff (yes, we had this verified by two head waiters, and our waiter on the Jewel in April, plus our two waiters on the Adventure in April and May) are held accountable for your survey score of the dining room food.  Weird and unfair, since they don't cook the food.  They want to take care of it immediately, and they do.

 

The Windjammer food tasted great, but it was repetitive.  I usually took whatever fish or chicken they had for the day, and put pasta sauce over it.  That sparked up the flavor buds!! I would also do this with veggies:  make ratatouille.  If you go into the Windjammer for lunch when it first opens at 11:45, there are lots of empty tables.  Noon -1pm it's very crowded.  After 1pm it thins out again.

[time4u2go]

32 minutes ago, Maraprince said:

Is that why they had an employee at the entrance using a counter as people entered the buffet?

 

MARAPRINCE

Probably not.  I would guess it was for another reason, but I certainly don't know for sure.

[pcur]

20 hours ago, LXA350 said:

The buffet experience on Adventure was probably the worst I experienced fleetwide and this was on seperate cruises, one in 2013, the other in 2015 and last one in 2018. Concerning the MTD it was ok, not the worst but also not the best experience. The Chef last year was from the US, so that didn't help, however I am sure that each time I sailed on Adventure it was a different chef.

 

The quality has much improved, but the selection is repetitive.  I just posted on another thread about the amazing dessert bonanzas they have at least 3 times during the cruise.

 

I was on the Adventure in October 2018 and was not impressed.  A whole different experience this past April and May, 34 nights.

 

A general BYW:  if there is not seating, all one has to do is find a "shirt" (management) and tell them.  They will find seating for you, and probably open up an additional section.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

2 hours ago, Maraprince said:

If RCL reads Cruise Critics posts I hope they hear what is being said regarding the food quality and selection available in the buffet area and wise up that they are not fooling anyone even the first time cruisers.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

RCI does neither read nor care.....🙄

[mlmc424]

We were on Adventure the first week of June and concur with the OP.  We are usually Jammer eaters for all meals but have to say the quality, choices, presentation and temperature were the worst we’ve experienced recently.  We finally opted for the MDR for dinner on the last two nights where we experienced a bit better food  but certainly not up to the usual cruise standards.  I will say that the MDR service was outstanding.  In my opinion, we should not have to pay additional funds beyond our cruise fare to obtain a decent meal in a specialty restaurant.  Unfortunately we are booked for two more future cruises on the Adventure - love the ship but I certainly am not looking forward to the food!

[stevetod]

Maraprince:

 

Your posting on this topic was so spot on to what I experienced I could have written it. 

[JTBCruiser]

We only sailed on the Adventure once, have another booked this Nov.  Our experience in the MDR was pretty good but the Windjammer food temp was cold by the time we got our plate to sitting down to eat.  We heard the same from our sailing friends on the same cruise.  Again, food is very subjective but cold food is still cold food.

[pcur]

On 6/14/2019 at 9:51 PM, Maraprince said:

We sailed on 5/31 down to the Carb. on Adv. of the Sea.  Buffet first day had food that you would find in a school cafeteria for kids -- hamburgers, hot dogs, mac and cheese, spag.  Fixings for burgers and not even potato salad, beets.  We , etc. that would expect to find to make a decent salad.  Every day chicken prepared 2 ways, but always the same dark meat parts except for the one port day that they had a whole roasted chicken and you could get some white meat.

 

Food selection was very poor.  By comparison the Explorer had more selections overall.  Having sailed on the Anthem a mere 7months ago --  no comparison, no way!  Plus, food options were limited to the buffet (in port) or Cafe Prom. where the food choices and pizza were better!  On sea days, we ate all 3 meals in the main dining room. And even in the dining room, the choices were more limited than on the Anthem.  At least we were able to have hot food and get out in about 1 hr. for breakfast.  We would go down around 10-15 mins. before the dining room opened for breakfast and have some coffe from the table set  up outside while we waited for it to open.    The last morning only food from the food trays on warmers  was available and it was either cold or not prepared well.  But on Anthem, the last morning they still made food to order.

 

Some tried to blame the fact that there were almost 600 kids on board for the poor food selection/quality.  Not so.  When you consider how much money you paid to sail on the ship, it is not unreasonable to expect food that is correcctly prepared, different daily menus.

 

Also, the pool area only had frozen yogurt and no food at all.  If you wanted to eat something, you had to go to the buffet area.  The burgers, dogs should have been outside in the pool area.  Too much space was wasted by it being in the main section of the buffet.

 

MARAPRINCE

 

 

 

We got off the Adventure on 5/31 after being on the ship for 34 nights.  Turnaround day buffet was their full menu on all 4 of our turnaround days, so you must not have looked everywhere in the buffet for the selections if you found only hamburgers and hot dogs.  

 

I found the salad selections very good in the buffet:  all kinds of dressed vegetable salads, plus the full salad bar.

 

There are a few RCCL ships that have (had) the walk-up hot dogs out on the pool deck, but I haven't seen those in several years.

Quote

 

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by pcur

[mikenbon]

We loved the Adventure of the Seas and are excited to be going back in March. Although there were not as many menu choices in the MDR each evening as Carnival offers, we were pleased with our dinners each e, except one. Mt husband ordered a "rare" steak, and was served a well done one. On the 3rd attempt, he was given a steak cooked just rare. We found the Windjammer to have a huge variety every day for breakfast and lunch. Any day that the Windjammer was really busy, a closed off section was opened so guests were able to find seats quickly and easily.

The promenade was so different from anything we have seen on a ship before, and we loved it. The shops selling cruise attire and souvenirs didn't offer much for choices, but we enjoyed having an evening coffee and treat while sitting at the little restaurant in the promenade. 

The cruise director, a fellow Canadian was a disappointment - we rarely saw him all week, and when he was on stage or hosting an evening event, he was not outgoing, relaxed and fun like the CDs we've had on other ships. It certainly didn't affect the great time we had onboard, and we can't wait till we cruise again.

[stevetod]

Sorry pcur but a large majority of these posters feel as I do regarding the food quality. By the way I went up to a crew member the day we went to the buffet before 7:00 and found no seats anywhere as many others did and asked why was the left side closed and his response was they had begun cleaning it. Seems like that should have been done before they opened. If you were happy with the food for 34 days then that's fine. This was not my first cruise but number 16 so I am aware of service and surveys. That being said I will stick with Celebrity going forward. Its just a overall better cruise experience.

[mugtech]

On 6/14/2019 at 7:23 PM, CapeGal said:

We were just on Adventure in May and found the food in both MDR and Windjammer very good!  I know food is a subjective item, but I found this write up very negative.  I think each person must decide for themselves.  

We were on the 5/5 Cruise to ABC and then NJ, found good food for all 12 days.  Eating is not considered entertainment for me.  Some live to eat, but I eat to live.

[holiday-shrek]

38 minutes ago, mugtech said:

but I eat to live.

That is a pretty low standard to meet! Good for you!👍😎

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, holiday-shrek said:

That is a pretty low standard to meet! Good for you!👍😎

Thank you

[Maraprince]

On 6/17/2019 at 8:46 AM, pcur said:

 

 

We got off the Adventure on 5/31 after being on the ship for 34 nights.  Turnaround day buffet was their full menu on all 4 of our turnaround days, so you must not have looked everywhere in the buffet for the selections if you found only hamburgers and hot dogs.  

 

I found the salad selections very good in the buffet:  all kinds of dressed vegetable salads, plus the full salad bar.

 

There are a few RCCL ships that have (had) the walk-up hot dogs out on the pool deck, but I haven't seen those in several years.

 

On boarding day, we were directed to a table by staff based upon the number in our party.  We did not pick the section or the tab le.  Part of the buffet was closed off (front section) and we were seated in the back area right near one of the other buffet sections.  No plates were available and we had to wait for them to come out.  We were limited to what was available in the areas open and serving food.  Only after we were done eating and on our way out did they open the front section with selections other than was made available to  people entering the buffet when we did.  Those around us at nearby tables had either pasta, hamburgers, fries, hot dogs and mac and cheese on their plates.  I did find fish hidden behind the fries and some breaded fried chicken that was mostly bone under the breading and fixings for the burgers.  One passenger asked about cold cuts wanting to make her own sandwich.  What sections that were open in the area had limited choices.

 

We passed off the poor selections being only the first day.  But you could count on the same selections -- 2 types of chicken, pasta (different shape), same fish, etc.  Very repetitive and disappointing.

 

MARAPRINCE

[pcur]

15 minutes ago, Maraprince said:

On boarding day, we were directed to a table by staff based upon the number in our party.  We did not pick the section or the tab le.  Part of the buffet was closed off (front section) and we were seated in the back area right near one of the other buffet sections.  No plates were available and we had to wait for them to come out.  We were limited to what was available in the areas open and serving food.  Only after we were done eating and on our way out did they open the front section with selections other than was made available to  people entering the buffet when we did.  Those around us at nearby tables had either pasta, hamburgers, fries, hot dogs and mac and cheese on their plates.  I did find fish hidden behind the fries and some breaded fried chicken that was mostly bone under the breading and fixings for the burgers.  One passenger asked about cold cuts wanting to make her own sandwich.  What sections that were open in the area had limited choices.

 

We passed off the poor selections being only the first day.  But you could count on the same selections -- 2 types of chicken, pasta (different shape), same fish, etc.  Very repetitive and disappointing.

 

MARAPRINCE

 

I'm just saying on the 4/27, 5/5, 5/17, and 5/25 sailings this is not what we experienced on boarding day.  
We found a full buffet available.  What you are describing is not the norm.

 

 Yes, during the cruise the offerings were repetitive, but I found something good to eat every day.  

[KG1924]

We were just on the Adventure last month and thought the food was just fine. We usually grab an egg and some toast for breakfast so it's hard to mess that up. It was crowded at certain times but there was always a seat at the bar in there and a mimosa makes breakfast taste even better. MDR was fine for us as well, there was always something that we liked and if we didn't then they always offered to bring something else. But we go into a cruise knowing that it isn't going to be gourmet by any means and we are hardly foodies either so our opinion will differ from yours if you were expecting higher quality.

I do think that the larger ships (Oasis class in particular) has better daytime options for food. I don't generally enjoy a buffet anywhere so we enjoyed being able to grab a quick lunch in the multiple other venues.

[Maraprince]

We had no problem with the food served in the MDR.  Wait staff went out of their way to please.  Sea days we had lunch in the MDR but on port days we were limited to either the Promenade Cafe (better than buffet!) or the buffet.

 

MARAPRINCE

[pcur]

On 6/17/2019 at 10:22 AM, stevetod said:

Sorry pcur but a large majority of these posters feel as I do regarding the food quality. By the way I went up to a crew member the day we went to the buffet before 7:00 and found no seats anywhere as many others did and asked why was the left side closed and his response was they had begun cleaning it. Seems like that should have been done before they opened. If you were happy with the food for 34 days then that's fine. This was not my first cruise but number 16 so I am aware of service and surveys. That being said I will stick with Celebrity going forward. Its just a overall better cruise experience.

 

I can see your experience was different than mine, and Celebrity is more to your liking.

 

I always want to check how recent the poster has been on a ship, especially the Adventure.  We were on her in October 2018 and not impressed with the food.  It has improved significantly.  But, obviously something changed the first part of this June.  Perhaps new crew in the kitchens?  I don't know, except we just spent 75 days total cruising on the Jewel and the Adventure, and found the food on both to be just fine, except repetitive in the Adventure Windjammer.

[Maraprince]

4 hours ago, pcur said:

 

 

 

Quote

I can see your experience was different than mine, and Celebrity is more to your liking.

 

I always want to check how recent the poster has been on a ship, especially the Adventure.  We were on her in October 2018 and not impressed with the food.  It has improved significantly.  But, obviously something changed the first part of this June.  Perhaps new crew in the kitchens?  I don't know, except we just spent 75 days total cruising on the Jewel and the Adventure, and found the food on both to be just fine, except repetitive in the Adventure Windjammer.

It is boarding day and most of the new passengers will be heading to the WJ for lunch.  So why would you close sections and direct passengers to the sections that only have very limited choices?  This not the way it was handled on the Explore or on Anthem.  The full buffet (hot entrees, soups, etc.) was available.  We would have been better off going to Cafe Promenade if we knew what the limited offerings were.  I did not pay over $1000 plus to eat hamburgers and hot dogs.  It really makes a bad impression on day 1.

 

MARAPRINCE

Edited June 19, 2019 by Maraprince
addition

[bananawindnj]

What  I find ironic is that most people   Probably eat the same foods at home all the time and yet these people complain about the choices in the buffet and MDR.  If some people can't find a different choice in the buffet for 7 to 10 days, they are just too fussy.  Poor quality and cold food is another issue. Shouldn't happen.

Food and entertainment are so subjective 

[MyBrandNewObsession]

My husband and I try to avoid the buffet as much as possible on any cruise. Can anyone discuss the quality of food in the Adventure MDR for breakfast or Lunch? We have plans to eat in CHOPS one night for our anniversary and the rest of the nights in the MDR for dinner. We are cruising in a few weeks. 

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, MyBrandNewObsession said:

My husband and I try to avoid the buffet as much as possible on any cruise. Can anyone discuss the quality of food in the Adventure MDR for breakfast or Lunch? We have plans to eat in CHOPS one night for our anniversary and the rest of the nights in the MDR for dinner. We are cruising in a few weeks. 

 

No noticible difference betweeb breakfast in the Adventure MDR vs the MDR on other Royal ships.

[broberts]

On 6/16/2019 at 10:55 AM, pcur said:

The Windjammer food tasted great, but it was repetitive.

 

In my experience dining room mains are also served the same night in the Windjammer.