Symphony review, lousy food.

[Blauelini]

14 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

We cruised on the Navigator last month. First RCI cruise in eight years. We had lunch in the MDR once and found it to be good. Not great but good as expected. Service was very good. We dined in the WJ for breakfast one morning. Had no issues with the food. Plenty of choices for everyone. Servers everywhere to refill beverages and clean used dishes. 
 

We usually dine in specialty restaurants for dinner. On this four night cruise we dined in Jamie’s twice and Chop’s once. Both restaurants beat expectations in both quality and service. Actually one of the best experiences dining at Chops that I can remember as it was always up and down. Not consistent. We also had dinner one evening in Playmakers. For simple bar food, again very good. 
 

After over thirty-five years of cruising I have taken my expectations in the MDR down a few notches due to the number of guests being served at once. Also, everyone has different tastes, likes and dislikes. Hard to please everyone. My worst MDR/buffet experience still stands with NCL. 

Reviews like these are so subjective they are almost useless. 

[Jimbo]

People have to understand that Royal Caribbean is not a premium cruise line, so know going in that the food may not be great.  You pretty much get what you pay for.

[alyssamma]

27 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

The very small number of people who complain about the food online is less than 1 percent of the passengers who cruise on RCI every week. Food is very subjective so there is no reason to doubt that the OP didn’t like the food on his cruise. However, my experience has been far different. Since last August I have cruised on Adventure, Mariner, Odyssey and Freedom three times. The food has been good to excellent on all my cruises. With the exception of Wonderland on Odyssey, I have not had one item I would consider below average. For what it’s worth, I have also been on several Celebrity cruises and their food has been outstanding. 

Celebrity is the best food I've had at sea. MSC yacht club is a close second.

 

[firefly333]

5 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Celebrity is the best food I've had at sea. MSC yacht club is a close second.

 

Most people I know claim HAL has the best food of the bigger cruiselines. They cruise HAL for the better food. 

[Sunshine3601]

We have sailed 3 times this year and found the food in MDR on Anthem to be good.  Outstanding items were the rack of lamb, lamb pita, pork tacos, short rib, ahi tuna, barramundi as well as many good deserts. 

[PhillyFan33579]

19 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

People have to understand that Royal Caribbean is not a premium cruise line, so know going in that the food may not be great.  You pretty much get what you pay for.

That is a very good point. I don’t consider Celebrity a premium cruise line. I think most people would agree RCI is a notch below Celebrity, so passengers need to keep expectations realistic. Having said that, I think the food on RCI ranges from good to very good, both pre and post COVID. 

[alyssamma]

10 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Most people I know claim HAL has the best food of the bigger cruiselines. They cruise HAL for the better food. 

Interesting....never heard anyone say that before 😀

[kpwhalen830]

2 hours ago, Cdude said:

“Tens of thousands sail every day...a handful come here and complain about the food”

Exactly! That’s why RCI needs to monitor their surveys. I would have loved it if Applebees was served in the MDR on my recent cruise. It would have been a nice upgrade.

Applebee's would have been an upgrade and applebee's isn't that good. 

[kpwhalen830]

I forgot to mention Coco Cay. It was our first time there and it was very nice. It did rain and we had to go back on the ship but we all really liked it. The food was better than the ship food as well. 

[kpwhalen830]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

People have to understand that Royal Caribbean is not a premium cruise line, so know going in that the food may not be great.  You pretty much get what you pay for.

When I cruised with Royal Caribbean in 2006 and 2008 the food was much better than it is now. 

[loman]

Im cruising in a few months on the Allure. 

Hope i dont go hungry 😄

If i lose a few pounds because of all the bad inedible food on board i will post. 

[Biker19]

Seriously, where’s @Beeline Cruiser?

[sjb317]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

That is a very good point. I don’t consider Celebrity a premium cruise line. I think most people would agree RCI is a notch below Celebrity, so passengers need to keep expectations realistic. Having said that, I think the food on RCI ranges from good to very good, both pre and post COVID. 

We enjoy sailing on Celebrity for many reasons but food is not one of them😂. They do seem to offer more choices and the food presentation is an improvement over Royal’s, especially in the buffet but I think the two lines are comparable in quality and taste.  And I really prefer the specialty restaurants on Royal to the ones on Celebrity.

 

Sherri🙂

[Joebucks]

I always take food criticism with a huge grain of salt. Especially when they complain about how dishes are plated.

 

I went to dinner with a group of 20 people last night. Everyone enjoyed their food. One person's dish was too salty. They sent it back and got something else. The next entree was also too salty. That's the type of person writing these reviews.

[baelor]

4 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

I always take food criticism with a huge grain of salt. Especially when they complain about how dishes are plated.

Why?  Plating is important.

 

Also, OP, can you specify what you did not like about the food?  Like was the meat overcooked or the lobster rubbery?  Did they serve steamed/boiled vegetables?  Were things not seasoned or seasoned only using salt and pepper? 

 

I disagree that "food is subjective," at least as far as quality is concerned, but reviews kind of need details about the dishes themselves to be useful, otherwise it really is just "I didn't like it."

[chiguy67]

1 hour ago, loman said:

Im cruising in a few months on the Allure. 

Hope i dont go hungry 😄

If i lose a few pounds because of all the bad inedible food on board i will post. 

Was on the Allure in February and the food was great, friends ate in the MDR and said the food was very good. We had the UDP and ate dinner in the specialty restaurants, and all were great. We had breakfast a few morning in the MDR and it was very good.

[davekathy]

5 hours ago, kpwhalen830 said:

The ongoing trend I am noticing with Royal Caribbean is the food going downhill. The menus have not changed much over the years, the presentation and quality reminds me of an Applebees or worse. 

Disagree. 

[happy cruzer]

1 hour ago, kpwhalen830 said:

When I cruised with Royal Caribbean in 2006 and 2008 the food was much better than it is now. 

Well that adds a twist...  Cruising has changed, food supplies have changed, cruisers have changed (maybe even you and your memory).  If your review was based on comparing back to 2006 and 2008, thanks for the added incite 🙂

 

 

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Most people I know claim HAL has the best food of the bigger cruiselines. They cruise HAL for the better food. 

Agree HAL food was much better then Royal's

[loman]

31 minutes ago, chiguy67 said:

Was on the Allure in February and the food was great, friends ate in the MDR and said the food was very good. We had the UDP and ate dinner in the specialty restaurants, and all were great. We had breakfast a few morning in the MDR and it was very good.

Ya , thats what i usually find when cruising RC . No complaints from me regarding food. I get the Costal Kitchen on my next cruise , so it will be a new experience for me. Sure hope i dont get bad food . LOL 😁

[bmc alabama]

4 hours ago, Blur said:

That's sad to hear Oasis didn't improve by Jan, since it's an excellent ship.  The best food I found on Oasis was port side bbq...  But that's probably cause I love burnt ends!

Funny you mention that.  In March, we tried Carnival Mardi Gras.  All of us liked it better than Oasis, especially in terms of food.  Full disclosure, we are not "upcharge" food people, so we usually only do included options.  You mention portside BBQ.  We never tried it because it wasn't included.  However, on Mardi Gras, the Guy's Pig and Anchor IS included and was very good.  Also, their burger place (Guy's) is included as was Shaq's Big Chicken, which IMHO lives up to the hype it gets.

 

Also, currently, in addition to Pig and Anchor, 2 of their other restaurants that are normally an additional charge (like Cucina del Capitano) are also included.  I know that for years, maybe Carnival, especially the older ships, have been a notch or more below other lines, but we thought Mardi Gras was outstanding.  I think it definitely changes the game for them.

 

Plus, the soft serve is 24/7 (they also had gelato in the lido), unlike Oasis that shut the ice cream down at 5:30pm...

Edited April 17, 2022 by bmc alabama

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, Blur said:

I thought the same and normally eat at specially as well but since I was taking a bunch of cruises on the cheap during double points promo I decided to see if MDR was any good.  Oasis sort of reinforced my expectation but Anthem was a good surprise.  Assuming head chefs and staff make a big difference there.

 

I also did a windjammer for dinner all cruise experiment on anthem (Mar 20) and I thought that was a complete failure until near the end of the cruise.  Caribbean and Indian nights were really good!  I was really surprised by Caribbean night since it was the same night as lobster in MDR... Why would they put the best wj night against lobster!  Place was empty but it was the best food all week.  For perspective I am Korean so love my spices... And I find most MDR options bland normally.

 

Fascinating how folks can have such different views. For me Caribbean night is the worst night in the Jammer. 🤣🤣

[PhillyFan33579]

5 hours ago, kpwhalen830 said:

When I cruised with Royal Caribbean in 2006 and 2008 the food was much better than it is now. 

I think the food quality on all cruise lines has gone downhill over the last decade or two, although the food in most speciality restaurants is very good in my opinion. In the future I would stick to cruise lines that you prefer food wise. There is one cruise line I won’t go on because I am not a fan of their food, so I simply stick to cruise lines where I enjoy their food, which includes RCI. The good thing is there are a lot of cruise lines out there. If you live in Florida like I do, you can cruise out of 5 different ports within a 4 hour drive, although I have never cruised out of Jacksonville and I doubt I ever will. 

[John&LaLa]

5 hours ago, loman said:

Im cruising in a few months on the Allure. 

Hope i dont go hungry 😄

If i lose a few pounds because of all the bad inedible food on board i will post. 

 

I gained 8 on Harmony a week ago🤣

[Blur]

8 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Fascinating how folks can have such different views. For me Caribbean night is the worst night in the Jammer. 🤣🤣

My favorite was the jerk chicken!  Chicken was dry every night in the WJ except for when it was jerk chicken!  To make sure it wasn't a fluke I ate two more pieces!  Very moist and seasoned perfectly... But yes everyone has different opinions on flavor.

 

Oh and the oxtail... Yum.

Edited April 17, 2022 by Blur