Restrictions on ordering with new menus

[schlimazel_traveler]

2 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

Here is another report and another opinion from the Enchantment.

 

 There is not one jot of crab in that cake.  It is surimi.  (DallasGuy described it; it's called surimi)  Gooey breadcrumbs and surimi.

If I had known it was surimi, I might have tried the crab cake! My friends (Marylanders) thought it was pretty good. But they noticed it was served (in the WJ) without any type of sauce.

 

The truth is, it has been a running joke with us since we first started cruising that the menu descriptions are baffling and misleading. But I loved that it didn't matter--if I was curious, I could try something and if I didn't like it, I could try something else. No opportunity cost, no buyer's remorse. I loved that the wait staff would hear us debating whether to order A, B, or C, and would just surprise us by bringing everything we'd contemplated. I imagine the wait staff loved delighting guests that way and must *hate* the new arrangements. It's sad all around. 😟

[aubreyc1988]

5 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

They marketed it as a time-saving measure for guests.... fewer dishes on the menu and fewer off-the-menu requests would mean guests wouldn't wait as long for their food.

 

But that was just putting lipstick on the pig.  The primary reason is to cut costs.

While I think you are right, I do think they are also trying to speed this along...idk if they are actually achieving that tho, as I do not have first hand experience with it yet. I had some VERY long dinner services in 2022...one was 3 hours from the time I sat down until I finished my entree and I did not order dessert because I wanted to gtfo. 

[melbur]

3rd week on Oasis with the new menu...no deviation to the menu period. My friend asked for cocktail sauce instead of Thai chili sauce with her coconut shrimp and was told no, they didn't make it today!

HW came by to reiterate no special requests. 

Kids menu always has spaghetti marinara and fruit cocktail so they accommodate that. 

Apart from cost reduction, the speed is much quicker. First week I dined solo and was in and out in under 30 minutes! Plates appear to be pre made. 

The whole experience has been "dumb downed" making it very disappointing.

[SNemeth]

9 hours ago, MD_Dan said:

I don't understand the change.  What was broken before this change?  Did these changes fix whatever was broken?  At what cost?

 

 

I listened to an interview with a gentleman in an upper management chef position with Royal recently.  Key points he made were that they were due for a menu change.  It had been more than 5 years so it is standard to make changes.  He said that inconsistency across the fleet is a major issue for him.  He feels that you should get the same dining experience and the food should be the same whether ordered on Brilliance or Wonder.  The new menus are designed so that they can do a better job with consistency.  He also said that with the pandemic closings they lost a lot of kitchen and dining room staff.  They are training lots and lots of new people and streamline menus will help them with the lack of experience both in serving and behind the scenes.  The final point he made was that Royal never set out to be an all you can eat lobster cruise.  That was never they intention to create that dining atmosphere and with the changes in the availability of the lobster supply they had to make changes.  Take all of this as you see it.  But, these were the reasons given.  

[Engineroom Snipe]

20 hours ago, Fun2snorkel said:

We are on the Enchantment now and last night’s menu had nothing that I wanted. I asked for either grilled chicken or salmon and was denied the request. They would not budge!  The beef has been awful in the dining room and not up to par in Chops!  It is really disappointing. I think the staffs hands are tied but it really makes no sense. Ou meals were no quicker than ever before. 
 

 

After reading factual feedback from recent cruisers like yourself in this thread, RCI's main reason for limiting items to the menu was to decrease the time of the total meal experience. In doing so, the assumption was the meals would be delivered faster (and hot).

 

So far, it appears that it is starting to be a change without rewards for the customers. 🤨

[Engineroom Snipe]

17 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Probably because Royal uses imitation crab ("krab"). It's not meant to be fried because it's already cooked once during the manufacturing process. 

 

I started to laugh when I saw "krab" as in Crusty the Crab's Krabby (sic) Patties! (Spongebob Squarepants)   😁

 

Except their Crabbie Patties were supposed to be delicious to the point of addiction. 🤯

[rbschultz]

Our waiter on the last cruise used to bring us so much stuff from off-menu.. My wife and I loved the Indian food dish one night and every night after that a different dish would be sent to our table for us to try. Seems like they've incorporated more of that into the menus though, so we'll see.

[Engineroom Snipe]

11 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 As long as we can get steamed rice, either as my starch or as a side dish, we'll be okay.

 

 I love rice with my morning eggs!  I will make sure to mention this to my waiter at lunch on embarkation day. 

 

 

 

If they cannot accommodate such a humble request, we are all doomed. 😉

[Engineroom Snipe]

9 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 Salad bar has disappeared the last two days; now there are just some prepared bowls of greens.  

 

 

Oh, I hope this is not the case on my cruises. If nothing else, I could always make a meal from the salad bar. 😭

[mikefromny]

10 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

Someone mentioned that everything was great, except the steak was thin

That was my comment on one out of four steaks.

 

10 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

If you want two entrees, they are not allowed to bring them out together.  You must finish one, then they can go get the other. 

I was asked almost every time whether I'd like them served together or wait until I'm done with one. I often had two entrees at the same time.

 

I'm sorry your experience was so different from mine.

[sgmn]

12 hours ago, NCMtnBoys said:

We sailed Symphony in January also, 21st-28th, and I, too, thought the MDR food was very good to great. Far better than our Mariner sailing in May of last year. No complaints regarding the new menus. I don't eat a lot of meat other than pork or chicken, and for me, if there's a non-seafood pasta option I'll sometimes choose that over the meat option. Other than shrimp, I don't eat seafood either. But all hot dishes were hot and portions were plentiful. I thought their lasagna bolognese was excellent, and I ordered two servings of that and no appetizer or dessert that night.     

Good to hear all the positives about Symphony. Hope it carries on when she comes to Europe. 

[Scotico]

Sorry for the off topic question but did anyone notice a menu in Spanish?  

[Donsyb]

The positive reviews seem to be from Symphony. I wonder if this is because she was the first ship to trial the new menus and they have had longer to get used to them?

[HappyTexan44]

12 hours ago, island284 said:

1st night on Harmony two weeks ago ordered the prime rib. Mashed potatoes were listed with the prime rib. Asked if I could substitute a baked potato instead. Was told no.  However it was listed for the thin steak plate. Ridiculous!

 

What I gather is that if someone wants to do this now, they should order the Prime Rib, not eat the mashed potatoes, then order the thin steak plate and not eat the steak.   

It sounds ridiculous.   But it also sounds like whatever savings they get by plating the foods hours ahead is worth more than the food waste cost to Royal.  

 

 

[hac82]

46 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I wonder what would happen if you ordered the prime rib with no potatoes and then the steak plate with no steak.  SMH 🙄

Sorry I messed up the quote. Here it is."

 

What I gather is that if someone wants to do this now, they should order the Prime Rib, not eat the mashed potatoes, then order the thin steak plate and not eat the steak. "  ...

Edited February 7, 2023 by hac82

[The Fun Researcher]

Even though I don't like it, I can live with the new MDR menus, but I will be incredibly upset if the food preparation and temperature is lacking. 

 

The comments that we're seeing have me concerned that they have changed a process in the kitchen that is not getting the food out as fresh and well prepped as before.

 

Hopefully this is a "learning curve" period, with this change just being implemented and the prep, quality, and temperature will improve.

[Joseph2017China]

Honestly I never thought the MDR was momma's kitchen.  I get the menu, and pick stuff off of it.  I think some of the issues as always is that special orders got out of hand, and they just put their foot down.  Like the drink packages, abuse leads to change.

[canadianjovigirl]

6 hours ago, melbur said:

3rd week on Oasis with the new menu...no deviation to the menu period. My friend asked for cocktail sauce instead of Thai chili sauce with her coconut shrimp and was told no, they didn't make it today!

HW came by to reiterate no special requests. 

Kids menu always has spaghetti marinara and fruit cocktail so they accommodate that. 

Apart from cost reduction, the speed is much quicker. First week I dined solo and was in and out in under 30 minutes! Plates appear to be pre made. 

The whole experience has been "dumb downed" making it very disappointing.

We spent 17 days on Oasis early January and first 10 days was old menu but we had dining package and then for the 7 day they switched to new menus and we only tried the dining room 3 times as even asking for sauces etc on the side was an issue and i have stomach issues but not an allergy and there was no flexibility at all.  For lunch one day there was a spicy spaghetti and i asked for sauce on the side as i couldn't have spice and didn't even ask for a sauce substitution and they brought me cold pasta and butter with an attitude.  The food did seem to be premade.  We gave up after 3 times and grabbed stuff elsewhere.  It sure was not what we had been expecting as didnt plan on asking for stuff not on the menu but there was no flexibility at all. 

[StrikeEagle]

The main limitation that I really don't like and it is confirmed from my friend who just got off the Allure last week.

When ordering the main course,  you can not order 2 main courses/ or bring it out at the same time.

You have to finish one first,  then you order/bring out the 2nd one.

In this past you were able to order 2 main courses and they bring it out at the same time.

 

Sometimes there are 2 main courses that go together/complement one another and would like to have them at the same time.  Now you can not.

[The Fun Researcher]

6 minutes ago, StrikeEagle said:

The main limitation that I really don't like and it is confirmed from my friend who just got off the Allure last week.

When ordering the main course,  you can not order 2 main courses/ or bring it out at the same time.

You have to finish one first,  then you order/bring out the 2nd one.

In this past you were able to order 2 main courses and they bring it out at the same time.

 

Sometimes there are 2 main courses that go together/complement one another and would like to have them at the same time.  Now you can not.

Trying to understand why they won't allow this.  If they are making these menu changes to speed up the meals, then NOT bringing them out at the same time is counterproductive

Edited February 7, 2023 by The Fun Researcher

[sdrocks]

We were just on the Wonder and our meals were much faster than in the past.  Really helps when ypu

have a show scheduled. A couple times we asked for baked potatoes instead of rice and they brought

it with no problem. We found the menus to be doable, although ate at Izumi one night and WJ another

night.  We had Mason Jar Brunch and our 5 pm dinner time was too soon as we were still full.

If you get the opportunity do the Mason Jar.  It was fabulous.  We didn't do the dinner, only the brunch which was so much we couldn't eat it all.

[mattg43]

9 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

While I think you are right, I do think they are also trying to speed this along...idk if they are actually achieving that tho, as I do not have first hand experience with it yet. I had some VERY long dinner services in 2022...one was 3 hours from the time I sat down until I finished my entree and I did not order dessert because I wanted to gtfo. 

 

 

Never had a dinner longer than 1 hour 15 minutes on Mariner a couple weeks ago with the new menu.  That also included a couple nights with multiple servings. 

 

I was able to customize a couple plates during that week.  For example, no rice and beans, add a second pork chop on caribbean night.

[Mum2Mercury]

On 2/5/2023 at 11:46 PM, baelor said:

For those who can’t read the fine print, “Requests for items that are not featured on this menu can only be accommodated for allergens [sic] or dietary restrictions.”

Interesting ... I've always thought this board's "Ask for anything.  Your waiter can run to another onboard venue for you" attitude was a little out of hand.  Looks like Royal thinks the same and is taking steps to correct it, but they're going too far in the other direction. 

On 2/5/2023 at 11:54 PM, happy cruzer said:

Does the fine print preclude ordering a salad with dressing on the side, the salmon without the crust with an extra serving of spinach (listed in the lamb entree)?

Dressing on the side and extra veg don't really seem like "special requests". 

On 2/6/2023 at 8:23 AM, nimbex1970 said:

I think this will be situationally specific ...

Agree.  It'll depend upon what the kitchen has that night (for example, if they didn't make rice that night, you shouldn't expect rice).  And it'll depend upon the kitchen staff.  

On 2/6/2023 at 9:57 AM, TinkBellaMom said:

That’s the problem, a garden salad is no longer on the menu.  Only Caesar w/ Caesar dressing.  Grilled chicken and salmon are gone also from the daily menu.  Escargot and onion soup were no longer on daily, only offered a few times thru the week.  If you want to eat healthy (sometimes)  it’s tough.  We really enjoy the atmosphere in the dining room.  If we need to get to a show etc., we could eat in WJ for a speedier meal.  Now that’s out of our hands.

Agree that some of the simple things are going to be missed.  Looking over the new menus, I see things that make me want to go to the MDR three nights out of seven ... but it isn't about "healthy".  It's that I think the Windjammer would have better options than the MDR on the other four nights.  

On 2/6/2023 at 10:02 AM, TinkBellaMom said:

We loved the cheese plate as well!  Also, no fruit plate on dessert menu. I kind of don’t think this is about expediting meals because of shows.  It truly felt like budget cuts to us.  This new system doesn’t benefit us at all.  We felt deprived.

We like to bring a couple ziplock bags and make our own cheese plates from the Windjammer -- this allows us to have only what we really like.  This is our favorite "in cabin" nibble.  

23 hours ago, nelblu said:

... Some at my table have threatened to go to the WJ ... Still long lines for MTD and that is the crux of the problem. 

Threatened?  Weird flex -- why would this upset the MDR staff?  

 

We prefer My Time Dining, and we saw lines of people without reservations waiting to get into the MDR -- but those of us with reservations essentially walked right in.  I think one evening we waited five minutes.  

16 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

... Don't kid yourself that the new menus have anything to do with speeding up the dinner process.  It's a budget move by Royal Caribbean ... 

Eh, the two go together.  If you decrease the number of choices, you need fewer people /less time to cook.  

16 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

... Someone mentioned that everything was great, except the steak was thin.  Yes. It is about 1/3 of an inch ... 

Not wrong, but exaggerated.  

16 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

... If you want two entrees, they are not allowed to bring them out together.  You must finish one, then they can go get the other ...

That's messed up and counterproductive.  I predict this rule will fall by the wayside, as it slows the staff and keeps diners at the table longer.  

15 hours ago, island284 said:

1st night on Harmony two weeks ago ordered the prime rib. Mashed potatoes were listed with the prime rib. Asked if I could substitute a baked potato instead. Was told no.  However it was listed for the thin steak plate. Ridiculous!

I was ready to say, "But a baked potato takes a very long time to cook" ... until I saw that they were already preparing baked potatoes for another plate.  Agree:  ridiculous.  

6 hours ago, SNemeth said:

... He feels that you should get the same dining experience and the food should be the same whether ordered on Brilliance or Wonder.  The new menus are designed so that they can do a better job with consistency ...

Impossible.  Cooking is an art form, and two chefs on two different ships will produce different end products.  

6 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

After reading factual feedback from recent cruisers like yourself in this thread, RCI's main reason for limiting items to the menu was to decrease the time of the total meal experience. In doing so, the assumption was the meals would be delivered faster (and hot) ...

Have cruisers indicated they want shorter meals in the MDR?  I haven't had that impression from these boards.  Anyway, if we want a shorter meal, we can always skip the appetizers and/or take dessert to go.  

3 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

... It sounds ridiculous.   But it also sounds like whatever savings they get by plating the foods hours ahead is worth more than the food waste cost to Royal.  

Maybe I'm just being argumentative, but I think food costs less than the staff who cook /serve it. 

 

I'm remembering that when I was in college I worked in a Frito-Lay factory -- my job was putting finished bags into boxes for shipping.  At that point, the product inside a big bag of Doritos cost .02 and the plastic/mylar bag itself cost .04 -- okay, that was the 1980s, but the bag at that point sold for $1.99 , the point being how little food itself costs when purchased in major bulk.  

1 hour ago, Joseph2017China said:

Honestly I never thought the MDR was momma's kitchen.  I get the menu, and pick stuff off of it.  I think some of the issues as always is that special orders got out of hand, and they just put their foot down ...

I'm kinda on the same page.  

1 hour ago, canadianjovigirl said:

... and they brought me cold pasta and butter with an attitude ...

Not many things would make me reduce tips, but this would do it.  

1 hour ago, StrikeEagle said:

... Sometimes there are 2 main courses that go together/complement one another and would like to have them at the same time.  Now you can not.

I don't see this "sticking".  It's unreasonable, and they will get bad feedback.  

 

Having said that, staff doesn't always get these requests right -- on our last cruise I asked for a plate with an entree-sized Caesar salad + the fish.  I got a large salad bowl with Caesar salad and the fish on top.  

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Trying to understand why they won't allow this.  If they are making these menu changes to speed up the meals, then NOT bringing them out at the same time is counterproductive

Yes, that's what I think they'll figure out as they try to make this happen. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Mum2Mercury

[happy cruzer]

so mercury mom, your observations are based on your logic.  But the reports are different.  I.e. many reports are no special requests even if the items is available like rice or a baked potato...

 

So  Rccl is going to have to decides to do no requests or certain requests..

 

what is your take based on your experience -

 

Should one be able to get a salad with dressing on the side?

A side vegetable?

A side baked potato?

 

None of those are on the menu..

 

Anyone?

[mikegrip]

6 hours ago, mikefromny said:

That was my comment on one out of four steaks.

 

I was asked almost every time whether I'd like them served together or wait until I'm done with one. I often had two entrees at the same time.

 

I'm sorry your experience was so different from mine.

 

2 hours ago, StrikeEagle said:

The main limitation that I really don't like and it is confirmed from my friend who just got off the Allure last week.

When ordering the main course,  you can not order 2 main courses/ or bring it out at the same time.

You have to finish one first,  then you order/bring out the 2nd one.

In this past you were able to order 2 main courses and they bring it out at the same time.

 

Sometimes there are 2 main courses that go together/complement one another and would like to have them at the same time.  Now you can not.

Symphony we experienced the same as mikefromny-there was not a problem ordering two entrees when initially ordering.   It appears that Symphony is being more flexible from reports and I wonder as well if it is due to them having the new menu the longest.  I do hope the other ships relax their rigidity