What's going on with Royal Caribbean?

[nelblu]

36 minutes ago, flahagan said:

Just off the Harmony on Saturday and the onion soup, which was offered on two of the nights, was truly inedible.  Watery, tasteless broth smothered by a glob of tasteless cheese that couldn't be cut with a knife.  Worst ever, and I love French onion soup.

Funny, I had Onion Soup as a staple every night on my December 4 Oasis and all of my other sails.  Unfortunately, no longer offered every night on the new menu.  I was so disappointed when they stopped offering it in Chop's and glad that it wound up in the MDR afterwards.

[nelblu]

7 hours ago, bigque said:

I know it’s cruise critic and what that is about but that is not the statement I was making. People can complain about it hate we they want to complain about but my point was why continue to keep spending money on a subpar product which according to some is continuing to decline and can amount thousands of dollars a year. But like I said that’s just me from my observation. 

The complaining about quality of food has been going on for more than 10 years.

I've copied a post from January '10 and corresponding quote regarding a new (?) menu introduced in late '19 or early '20.

•  

 

• #35  

Posted January 10, 2010

  sek0910 said:

 

The lobster is on the Fisherman's plate on 6th nite (the second formal dinner)

 

In general, the food quality seems to have gone downhill (both in quality and number of selections) from cruises several years ago.

 

The food in the specialty restaurants I went to (Giovannis Table and Chops) was excellent however and worth the extra $$

 

Don't overlook the "unadvertised" sit down, waiter served lunches in the Main Dining Room. Both the number of dishes and the quality seemed much better than dinner for some reason!

 

Avoid the always available top sirloin steak though. It is not a very quality piece of meat. You might try requesting a strip steak and see if they will give you one.

 

 KnittinggGirl 6.5k

 

Looks like the same menu we had on the Jewel and Voyager. Have to agree with you. They used to be fancier. I wonder if it's because they've added Portifinos & Chopps

Edited January 23, 2023 by nelblu

[BecciBoo]

2 hours ago, flahagan said:

Just off the Harmony on Saturday and the onion soup, which was offered on two of the nights, was truly inedible.  Watery, tasteless broth smothered by a glob of tasteless cheese that couldn't be cut with a knife.  Worst ever, and I love French onion soup.

So sorry for you,. Odyssey's was fantastic, so good the tables around us were raving as well.

[Morecruisesplz]

8 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

So sorry for you,. Odyssey's was fantastic, so good the tables around us were raving as well.

It is amazing what some kitchens can screw up while other ship kitchens can excel.

[time4u2go]

3 hours ago, flahagan said:

Just off the Harmony on Saturday and the onion soup, which was offered on two of the nights, was truly inedible.  Watery, tasteless broth smothered by a glob of tasteless cheese that couldn't be cut with a knife.  Worst ever, and I love French onion soup.

That's what I've encountered recently as well.  A glob of cheese on top, but not much flavor and no onions on the inside.

 

Edited January 24, 2023 by time4u2go

[BecciBoo]

3 hours ago, flahagan said:

Have to say food is MUCH better on Carnival!

And I'd have to say...NOT IMHO.  After being excited to try their pizza on the Lido, I was so disappointed I couldn't finish my slice.  I didn't even like the chocolate cake everyone raves about...no accounting for taste is there?

[BecciBoo]

One thing I'm sure of is....if every ship talked about here had the same food, many of us would be sorely grieved.  I'm happy the ships we've cruised have had mostly great food, some misses, but not enough for me to complain.  I am one of the best cooks I know and I mess stuff up every once in a while, I guess I can give them a break. 

Edited January 24, 2023 by BecciBoo

[time4u2go]

3 hours ago, flahagan said:

Have to say food is MUCH better on Carnival!

Agreed. 

[BecciBoo]

23 hours ago, bigque said:

One thing I will never understand is why the people that complain how bad the food quality is and service is, etc, etc, etc. on Royal continue to spend their money cruising on Royal year after year and for some multiple times a year. I just don’t get it but hey that just me!

I agree with you entirely.  Don't understand why dis-satisfied cruisers come here to complain when they can be happier on Carni or other lines they rave about.  It's OK people.  Variety is the spice of life.  Sure I remember when food was better quality back in the day when we started, but that was then, this is now.  I am excited to try the new menu and glad they made an effort to make things more interesting.

 

One thing I don't do is go to the Carni board and complain about their food and we hated it.  We did one cruise with them and I can say HERE, it convinced us to rule out a second even though recently the newer ships have piqued my interest.  I wouldn't waste a wooden nickel on one...but I don't go over there and dish.  I am not a "cheerleader", just a happy cruiser satisfied with my line of choice.

 

And the rest of you are welcome to your opinions just as I am.

[Ret MP]

37 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

I agree with you entirely.  Don't understand why dis-satisfied cruisers come here to complain when they can be happier on Carni or other lines they rave about.  It's OK people.  Variety is the spice of life.  Sure I remember when food was better quality back in the day when we started, but that was then, this is now.  I am excited to try the new menu and glad they made an effort to make things more interesting.

 

One thing I don't do is go to the Carni board and complain about their food and we hated it.  We did one cruise with them and I can say HERE, it convinced us to rule out a second even though recently the newer ships have piqued my interest.  I wouldn't waste a wooden nickel on one...but I don't go over there and dish.  I am not a "cheerleader", just a happy cruiser satisfied with my line of choice.

 

And the rest of you are welcome to your opinions just as I am.

Back when I was a big fan of Rustbucket Cruise Lines I was very active in John Heald's blog.  People from CC, et al, would come into his/Rustbucet's blog and just make crap up about Rustbucket (once again I just want to remind folks, the use of rust in the name has nothing to do with actual rust) and bad mouth Rustbucket relentlessly.  They became known as the CC Malcontents.  Well, the rest is history, after many years of not being a part of CC, I joined back in June or July last year.  Guess what, I find the same going on in here but in reverse.  So, the bottom line for me, no matter where you go, there's going to be the chronic complainers and malcontents.  Some actually mean no harm and don't realize what they are doing and others that just want to do as much damage as possible.  It's usually easy to pick out which is which.  

[graciekelli]

21 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Back when I was a big fan of Rustbucket Cruise Lines I was very active in John Heald's blog.  People from CC, et al, would come into his/Rustbucet's blog and just make crap up about Rustbucket (once again I just want to remind folks, the use of rust in the name has nothing to do with actual rust) and bad mouth Rustbucket relentlessly.  They became known as the CC Malcontents.  Well, the rest is history, after many years of not being a part of CC, I joined back in June or July last year.  Guess what, I find the same going on in here but in reverse.  So, the bottom line for me, no matter where you go, there's going to be the chronic complainers and malcontents.  Some actually mean no harm and don't realize what they are doing and others that just want to do as much damage as possible.  It's usually easy to pick out which is which.  

And people who like to put you in your place....

[Ret MP]

3 hours ago, graciekelli said:

And people who like to put you in your place....

I don't know if I've seen that, yet!

[goldfish65]

Covid still affecting, as on land. I missed a week of work myself last month when it spread through my workplace.  A lot of the experience workforce retired or changed jobs. Imagine any international company being shut down for two years. Costs have increased sharply.  Everyone is working their butts off. I don't find the cruising experience to be bad at all, and am just glad Royal is back up and running as strongly as they are. If we keep our daily gratuity in place and tip extra it will help retain crew. 

[nelblu]

36 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

I don't know if I've seen that, yet!

You've got to roll with the punches, unless there's a personal attack.  Remember, this whole thing started out as the lesser selections & changes in the new daily menu.  And of course, it morphs to other aspects of dining, eg. quality, time, etc.  The complains about quality of food preparation has been around for a long time.  I can't compare it to my early sails on The Oceanic, Leonardo Da Vinci and even the rust bucket "Bermuda Star."  Those meals would compete with top notch stateside restaurants.  With the Bermuda Star all you heard during the day was maintenance which was titled : Chip & Paint.  But the worse part of the early sailings was the ugly soot that spewed and wound up on loungers, clothing and other areas of the ship.  Pure ugly stuff.

 

When I began cruising other than tea times in the AM and PM there was basically nothing open during the day.  However, we always looked forward to the midnight buffets.

 

 

[Ret MP]

1 hour ago, nelblu said:

You've got to roll with the punches, unless there's a personal attack.  Remember, this whole thing started out as the lesser selections & changes in the new daily menu.  And of course, it morphs to other aspects of dining, eg. quality, time, etc.  The complains about quality of food preparation has been around for a long time.  I can't compare it to my early sails on The Oceanic, Leonardo Da Vinci and even the rust bucket "Bermuda Star."  Those meals would compete with top notch stateside restaurants.  With the Bermuda Star all you heard during the day was maintenance which was titled : Chip & Paint.  But the worse part of the early sailings was the ugly soot that spewed and wound up on loungers, clothing and other areas of the ship.  Pure ugly stuff.

 

When I began cruising other than tea times in the AM and PM there was basically nothing open during the day.  However, we always looked forward to the midnight buffets.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I don't know if I've seen that, yet!

We may be talking past each other here, I'm not sure. But, my intent was that I don't remember seeing anybody admitting to being "put in their place".  Most of us are firm in our commitment to our opinions, likes, and dislikes.  And we don't mind stating our opinions, likes and dislikes.  So, why would anybody like that, me included, feel like they've been put in their place if it doesn't change their opinion, likes, or dislikes.  

[Morecruisesplz]

5 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

 

We may be talking past each other here, I'm not sure. But, my intent was that I don't remember seeing anybody admitting to being "put in their place".  Most of us are firm in our commitment to our opinions, likes, and dislikes.  And we don't mind stating our opinions, likes and dislikes.  So, why would anybody like that, me included, feel like they've been put in their place if it doesn't change their opinion, likes, or dislikes.  

The new icon is not your best choice, IMHO. 😉

[Ret MP]

4 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

The new icon is not your best choice, IMHO. 😉

Well, it is kinda contemporary as related to this board, right!

 

[Morecruisesplz]

3 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Well, it is kinda contemporary as related to this board, right!

 

 

Okay, now I get it!

[gkbiiii]

On 1/23/2023 at 6:17 PM, fredmdcruisers said:

Easy... nothing better for the price once you are D or D+.

To be fair (one cruise away from D+), the benefits on Royal are much better than Elite on Celebrity Apex!  You can have any drink you want, rather from a cheap list, during 3 hours, etc.

[Spurschick]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:48 PM, neverbeenhere said:

Jump on a Carnival Cruise, either you’ll be back to Royal quickly or you’ll find your new love ❤️ 

The problem is Carnival are more expensive than RC now on some sailings so Carnival cruisers are jumping to RC. Which is essentially making Royal the new Carnival on some ships.

 

we cruise every month and recently we have noticed a much more prevalent presence of security around the ship, especially around bars and the Promenade just stood there monitoring.  The vibe and overall experience is definitely changing.

 

We even had a guy banging on our cabin door at 4 am on one cruise as he couldn’t get into our cabin, so drunk that he was trying to tell my husband that we were in his room. Like seriously not what we go on a cruise to be yelled at in the middle of the night by a stranger that doesn’t even know his own room.
 

We are pretty loyal to Royal but are booking far more cruises now that are not Royal than are Royal.

Edited January 26, 2023 by Spurschick

[Beeline Cruiser]

On 1/10/2023 at 6:29 PM, ksuyen said:

 Food quality is going downhill.

 

Seriously warned this was coming!! 🐝 🍲 👎

[nelblu]

1 hour ago, Beeline Cruiser said:

 

Seriously warned this was coming!! 🐝 🍲 👎

Heeeees back.  The gloom & doom bee person.😢

Edited January 26, 2023 by nelblu

[Beeline Cruiser]

49 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Heeeees back.  The gloom & doom bee person.😢

 

No I’m not saying things have to stay gloom and doom BUT I saw it coming right here right now!!  And yes there is a new menu so I'm HOPEFUL! So maybe you don’t have to spend a lot of money on upcharge dining ok then.

[CFLRetired]

While my recent 8 day Jewel cruise was not as good as previous cruises I've come to realize it's not Royal, it's just common place.  As a whole most industries are not as good as they once were.  Where I live it's rare and surprising for someone or someplace to be above average.  The days of going above and beyond are far between.  Even people doing what they say is less common.  Something as simple as being on time, not so much.  Society has a new standard for par, and it's sub par in my opinion compared to what it used to be.  So at least Royal is trying and changing hopefully for what it once was? 

[bellytour]

Just over a year since this topic started and I'm here to report that the food quality isn't any better than a elementary school cafeteria. 

 

We're on the Wonder of the Seas right now and everything that was offered in the dining room was also available in Windjammer. I should have brought my own food haha.