So many negative comments about the food

[MACE]

On 5/3/2022 at 8:16 PM, baelor said:

If you don't mind, how so/why not?

Smaller pieces of Escargot and just not as flavorful, lost that nice tender buttery, creamy, and herbs-like taste.

[MACE]

From the Symphony - 2nd Day at Sea April 28th, 2022 from the MDR: Surf and Turf...all was Good!

[yancycruiser]

We just returned from a seven day on the Harmony out of Port Canaveral.   The food and service was very good.  Only complaint I had was they brought me too much meat, 🙂   For the most part, we have elected to ignore the negative post and believe the positives.  Happy Cruising!

 

[shipgeeks]

On 5/3/2022 at 1:34 PM, Painter4me said:

 I’m sure the food has to do with the escalating costs of food. You can’t continue to buy quality cuts of meats and with inferior cuts, it’s hard to get the same results. The cleanliness will be an issue. 

I'm puzzled about what the quality of food products has to do with cleanliness.

[deliver42]

A lot more people post negative than positive. We got off the Wonder last month, and the ship was spotless with crew cleaning 24/7. The food, by the way was very good, and Giovanni's was excellent.

[Omax4]

I also was on the Liberty in December of 2021 and found the food to be disappointing compared to previous times. The service was fine. And I found the ship to be very clean. Just found the food quality to be lower than normal. Seems several people has commented on the Liberty on these boards. Maybe the Liberty had supply chain problems or new chefs. I am booked to go on the Allure in June and hope it is better. 

[DeputyDawg46]

I have had 3 different cruises on the Wonder, so far, to include the TA and a total of 18 cruises since last August.  I found the food selection on most ships recently left a lot to be desired. In the Wonder MDR no more baked or grilled chicken or spaghetti on the evening menu anymore.  You may ask for it and they may be able to get it for you.  There are a lot more pot pies of sort from chicken, shrimp, lamb, etc., on the menu.  In the WJ there is never any selection of nuts (walnuts/pecans/almonds) of any kind with the ice cream or at the salad bar or the times I ate breakfast in the WJ with oatmeal for breakfast there.  Several times I asked for them and they brought me a bowl full which I put the extra in a zip-lock bag for use at later meals.  I complained from the first cruise about very rarely having iceberg lettuce on the salad bar along with carrots and cauliflower at noon and evening meals.  By the third cruise they had got the message and these items were available more often at both meals in the WJ.  On the other Oasis class ships I could always get a Grilled Cheese in the Park Cafe everyday, if I wanted one.  On the Wonder that is not the case and they only have them like every third day.  Notwithstanding, that if you asked for most of these items they would bend over backwards to get them for you.  In the Park Cafe, on the Wonder, you cannot get caned drinks (Coke/Ginger Ale) and have to go find a bar to get one, thus leaving your food exposed.  There are no servers readily available to do this for you.  My point is that there is a change downward in the available selection of certain items and service (in some cases). But BL is I'm not going to go hungry or stop cruising!!

[Ashland]

6 hours ago, yancycruiser said:

We just returned from a seven day on the Harmony out of Port Canaveral.   The food and service was very good.  Only complaint I had was they brought me too much meat, 🙂   For the most part, we have elected to ignore the negative post and believe the positives.  Happy Cruising!

 

We're just off Harmony also (April 24th- May 1st) and agree with you...Wish it was that good on other RCI ships. Did you taste the amazing carrot cake the WJ had one night?...Oh my so yummy !!!

[HicksRA]

Just off Liberty and I have to say that the food in the MDR was terrible - the only time I’ve had consistently bad food on Royal. 

Last night was “steak Diane” which was nothing more than their classic menu strip steak disguised as steak Diane by pouring some peppercorn sauce on it. 
Neither my wife or I could chew it and we sent it back and just ate dessert. 

I had the lasagna one night that was so salty I couldn’t eat it. 

The only decent food that I actually enjoyed was the lobster tails. They were much better than usual. 

Staffing was very lacking. It’s obvious that Royal upped the pax complement with not enough crew to handle it. The dining room looked like they had about half the staff you usually see, with crew in Johnny Rockets and Sorrentos outfits seating passengers. They were also training crew to bus tables during MDR hours. I think they were bringing them in from other duties to try to help handle the load. 

 

The crew were running around doing the best they could but it was obvious most were overwhelmed. 
 

Just my observations. I know someone else will chime in and say they were on the same cruise and everything was perfect… 😊

[bigque]

Unrealistic Expectations! 🤷🏽‍♂️

[emory2001]

It’s true some people enjoy complaining. Others love invalidating people’s lived experiences, which I find far more annoying. 

 

The food has always been hit or miss for me. I’ve learned what I like and what to avoid. The main thing I avoid on board is fish, whether it’s in the MDR or even the sushi at Izumi (blandest sushi I’ve ever had, the hibachi is 1000x better). Some of my favorites are escargot, carpaccio, prime rib, everything at Giovanni’s Kitchen, campfire cookie at Playmakers, and the small plates at Bamboo Room. Most improved: Windjammer desserts, which were awful pre-covid but they revamped them for the restart, so they’re all new and pretty good now.

Edited May 8, 2022 by emory2001

[lenquixote66]

On 5/3/2022 at 1:34 PM, Painter4me said:

There seems to be so many negative complaints about food, cleanliness and service coming for so many people on a variety of ships now. We’re sailing in a couple weeks and all the negative comments are concerning. We were on 2 cruises in Jan/Feb and the RCCL food, service and cleanliness were excellent. I’m sure the food has to do with the escalating costs of food. You can’t continue to buy quality cuts of meats and with inferior cuts, it’s hard to get the same results. The cleanliness will be an issue. If this is what cruising is turning into, unfortunately, it’s time for another hiatus for us. I’m hoping it’s just people who can’t be made happy that are doing the complaining. 

We have been cruising since 1973 and on 6 different cruise lines.IMHO the best food is on RCI,no other cruise line comes close.

[Florida32]

We were on Freedom. Food in the MDR was good but not great. The buffet was disappointing. 

[Susan in Maine]

We were on the Anthem in April and the food was pretty lackluster.  Some of the dishes in the MDR were just.....strange. Beef stroganoff in a very dark sauce with dill pickles on top? Chicken Cordon Bleu paired with french fries (who does that?)  English trifle that was just awful.

 

Before everyone flames me, this is what my friend and I experienced.

 

The service in the MDR was exceptional and our server was very quick to notice if he thought we didn't like what we had and brought something else. "life is too short to eat food you don't like" 

 

We were on the Anthem in April 2019 pre-pandemic and had a very different experience. The food I had on Carnival Magic in November was at least as good, if not better. It was very disappointing as my friend and I only get to cruise every three years or so.

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, bigque said:

Unrealistic Expectations! 🤷🏽‍♂️

For some reason people expect 5 star dining.

[HicksRA]

43 minutes ago, Susan in Maine said:

We were on the Anthem in April and the food was pretty lackluster.  Some of the dishes in the MDR were just.....strange. Beef stroganoff in a very dark sauce with dill pickles on top? Chicken Cordon Bleu paired with french fries (who does that?)  English trifle that was just awful.

 

Before everyone flames me, this is what my friend and I experienced.

 

The service in the MDR was exceptional and our server was very quick to notice if he thought we didn't like what we had and brought something else. "life is too short to eat food you don't like" 

 

We were on the Anthem in April 2019 pre-pandemic and had a very different experience. The food I had on Carnival Magic in November was at least as good, if not better. It was very disappointing as my friend and I only get to cruise every three years or so.

My wife loves beef stroganoff and ordered it last week. Hers came with weird tasting purple cabbage on top. She sent it back. 
 

For those touting “unrealistic expectations”, I’ve eaten many meals on Royal with basically never a complaint and always enjoyed the food. 

It seems to be ok if you praise the food, but if you honestly critique it, you’re a demanding snob. 

Edited May 8, 2022 by HicksRA

[baelor]

42 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

For some reason people expect 5 star dining.

Then people should help others set expectations.  That means no more non-helpful stuff like this:

• "After all, all food is subjective!"
• "As long as I don't have to cook and clean, I'm good!"
• "I never had a reason to complain about the food, but I'll eat anything."

If the food is mediocre, people should just say that and then people wouldn't have these out-of-whack expectations in the first place.  But if people say that the food is "delicious" or "phenomenal" or "excellent" or whatever, most are going to feel disappointed or even misled if it comes out tasting like Applebee's or Cheesecake Factory or Outback Steakhouse or whatever.

Edited May 8, 2022 by baelor

[time4u2go]

44 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

For some reason people expect 5 star dining.

I don't expect 5-star dining, but I would hope that the quality of the food would not decrease over time.  In my opinion, it has.

[emory2001]

19 minutes ago, baelor said:

Then people should help others set expectations.  That means no more non-helpful stuff like this:

• "After all, all food is subjective!"
• "As long as I don't have to cook and clean, I'm good!"
• "I never had a reason to complain about the food, but I'll eat anything."

If the food is mediocre, people should just say that and then people wouldn't have these out-of-whack expectations in the first place.  But if people say that the food is "delicious" or "phenomenal" or "excellent" or whatever, most are going to feel disappointed or even misled if it comes out tasting like Applebee's or Cheesecake Factory or Outback Steakhouse or whatever.

 

Completely agree! This is one reason people need to be “allowed” to give their honest experiences. 

[Cruising89143]

A few issues on our Navigator cruise last week as we had been trying to get through for over an hour to order room service for breakfast on the sea day (it was a last minute decision). This was around 7:45 AM.  Could not get through so we headed to the MDR. We ordered pancakes with a side of Corned Beef Hash and Eggs Benedict with a side of Corned Beef Hash. My pancakes had obviously been sitting far too long. Dry and cracked. No amount of syrup could save them. CBH had so many red and green peppers it was left on the plate. Eggs Benedict was good from what I was told. 
 

Later early afternoon we decided to order room service for lunch. We were able to get through but it took one hour and forty-five minutes to be delivered. I later found out that they had crew shortage issues which affected the situation. We dined three of the four nights in specialty dining and both the food and service was very good. The remaining evening we had dinner in the WJ. Good but nothing outstanding but then again it’s a buffet so yes the food was as expected and worked. Drink service was very good as was the crew wiping and cleaning tables. 

[luckyinpa]

On 5/3/2022 at 1:59 PM, cruiseguy1016 said:

If you look for problems, you'll find them. If you look for things to complain about, you'll find them. Don't listen to all the complainers, they're the ones looking for things that they don't like then they come here and tell everyone how terrible their cruise was. If you go on your cruise expecting to have a good time, you'll make it happen.

 

amen about problems. since this is the complaint thread i may as well add some from my oasis cruise last week😁

 

1st bfast in CK i ordered a dish that included hash browns . it was a single one about the size of a quarter. sigh, disappointing

 

2nd bfast i got a single one, but now it was triangle shaped. totally confused me. whats going on here! talk about inconsistency

 

3rd bfast i decided to ask for more than the pittance they gave me. i said could i have 2 or just a few more. i got 4.count them..FOUR of the triangle ones. also i asked for 2 sausages and got them. but since i had 4 hash browns, i felt very full. worried i wouldnt be hungry for lunch.

 

4th bfast. they didnt read my mind and know i wanted ketchup with my hash browns. i forgot to ask for it all week. to make matters worse, when i finally did remember, even i forgot to ask for it till meals were brought to me. then they had to run for it and put it in the cute little cups for me. this delayed my pleasure of overeating.  also the cups were irregularly shaped, not perfectly square. i prefer symmetrical dishware. i trimmed my order down to 3 hash browns for the rest of the week

 

scan forward to disembark day. asked for just 2 hash browns so as not to be full. they went back to the ROUND ones. can you believe it? and again they didnt remember that i forgot to ask for ketchup. so more delays in my hash brown pleasures. and if i knew there were the tiny round ones. i could have gotten 4 instead of 2 so now i wasnt the exact measure of fullness that i wanted. 

 

another huge issue is they HEAT the plates in CK to the point where you get your food hot and fresh but you cannot touch the darn plate. so if you wanna change positioning for maximum pleasure you had to use your napkin.  if you forget you get a stern burn reminder. and they dont always warn you about the hot plate. you are expected to remember day to day where mcdonalds always warns me coffee is hot. also planters warns me nuts are in their peanuts. every single time! 

 

went to MDR for lunch one day and dinner another day. both times they put me next to a window. it was sooooo far a walk. then when you get there, they make you and your party scooch down different aisles because it's impossible to go between the tables or your bum will be literally on the other persons table. what reallllllly sucked is when i got up to leave, both sides of the aisle were now seated and i literally couldnt fit between the seats to get out cause i'm too big boned. (i think skinny would still touch the chairs though).  they didnt realize that sitting next to the window would cause me such a hardship. sigh. i wont even mention that the curtain on the window was literally covering up the middle of the window so it was impossible to easily see out. why would they make the curtain the focus of your attention..why why why??? pull the curtains back so we can see the full window!

 

then there's the silverware..does anyone really know why there are like 9 pieces on the table in the MDR. there arent even that many in CK!   then they start adding and subtracting them during the meal and it makes me feel like i dont know what i'm doing. what if i use the wrong one. will they kick me out to the buffet? i had to stop going to the MDR because of the silverware stress😜

 

but i did miss the cold plates and barely warm food. sigh. cant have it all i guess. 

 

in the buffet i wanted mustard on my fries...the pump didnt work till the 3rd try..again more wasted time and effort..sigh

 

i could go on..but i wont..

 

or will i....when it was time to disembark the concierge took a group of us to the elevators. turns out the people in the lower floors learned the trick to take an elevator up..to go down. to avoid the crowds. so we had to wait like 60 seconds for her to take the people down to 5 then use her key card to get priority up to 17 and back to 5. 

 

oh the forgot best part... since boarding was delayed due to marine traffic we had to wait like 15 minutes to be let in the terminal. in NJ once you are in there are comfy black chairs for the suites to sit on (far away from the dock door) which is where i sat last time but noooo, this time they sat us in the uncomfortable green chairs. and they were literally next to the dock door. meaning we were forced to be on almost first.  we had to take an empty elevator to the solarium buffet which literally had no one in for like 15 minutes. all this with nary a passenger to talk with and socialize. sigh. so lonely and all that hot food all to ourselves. except i think the burgers werent hot because there was zero cheese meltage. 

 

i was also disappointed that announcements werent made in the cabins..except the ones calling peoples names to do muster. id rather hear it's time to get off in port than some strangers name. sigh. my cabin was so sound proof i couldnt even hear any announcements unless i kept the balcony open to hear the echo of the speakers from the pool deck. next time ill get a less sound proof cabin. 

 

i really will stop now. i had to sit down and think of what to complain about given the circumstances of this thread. it took a lot of effort and now i'm waaaay past my bedtime. and it's all royals fault. im removing my gratuities now! 🙃

 

[RockHoundTX]

7 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

For some reason people expect 5 star dining.

Nope. I don't think most here expect 5-star dining but do expect 3-star (and using "stars" here to mean the generic Inedible -> Fantastic and not Michelin Star ratings that most people have never even experienced). Over the last 20 years of cruising, our expectations have generally been met or exceeded. Now if I go to a specialty dining I definitely do expect 4-star (a "wow. This is one of the best restaurants I have ever been" type experience for most people). I absolutely, positively expect the MDR to at least be better than a Golden Coral. Unfortunately, I have already been on two ships this year that did not even meet that standard.

 

I think these posts are incredibly important to past pre-Covid cruisers that are planning for future cruises. If the quality of food has gone down significantly, or if there are items no longer available, I think it is very important for folks to know that so that their expectations are set going in (or maybe they decided to use their hard-earned money for non-cruise activities until things improve). At least for me/my wife, the food is a major reason as to why we cruise. We have passed on several "good" cruise deals for no other reason than we are waiting for <mushroom soup, cranberry cookies, etc.> to officially return.               

[sowhat]

We had a meal in chops on Wonder, 3 out of 4 people in the group sent food back.
The meat was tuff  and very poor quality.

[TennisCruiser62]

Just off of Symphony and I thought the hot food in Windjammer looked unappetizing. The salads, desserts looked good. 

[baelor]

8 hours ago, RockHoundTX said:

I absolutely, positively expect the MDR to at least be better than a Golden Coral.

I was thinking that I would expect even WJ to be better than a Golden Corral, but then I did the math.

Golden Corral is around $14, from my research.  Times 7 is $98.  I am paying around $1100 for a 7-day cruise later this year.  Given everything on board, allocating $100 to food seems plausible, although I guess the "food" budget is split across the various venues.

 

 

8 hours ago, RockHoundTX said:

Now if I go to a specialty dining I definitely do expect 4-star (a "wow. This is one of the best restaurants I have ever been" type experience for most people).

That seems like a tall order, given that your own post notes that Michelin-star restaurants exist...