Anyone enjoying the new menu selections?

[BennyandBo]

44 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

If you are OK with doubling prices maybe you need to look at premium or even luxury lines?

To expect that massmarket line can easily double prices for majority of cruises is just not reasonable.

 

If you are OK with it, try Celebrity. They also have some cutbacks, but overall they offer better food as they focus more on it than on lets say entertainment. Also maybe Holland America. Princess was also usually better in food department than Royal.

 

On land in All inclusives you also have limits, but hey, if they work better for you why not?

 

We look for all components including geography/ship design, and Royal is the best for us now overall,

I'm OK with price increase in the sense that everything is doubling so no choice. And you are 100% wrong if you think they can't double rates and maintain bookings. Look at 2024 prices. Look at extras. Photo package just doubled, beach club, cabanas, water park. All at or very close to double. 

 

And again you miss my point. There is a difference between charging more and taking things away. 

 

It's like raising automatic gratuities and cutting housekeeping to once a day. Well, if those of you who say cuts are everywhere and it's just life now. I say cut the automatic gratuities once you board and give half as much in cash tips. Hey, cuts are everywhere right. Royal is obsessed with there bottom line more then customer satisfaction, so I might have to be obsessed with my bottom line on tipping.

[nelblu]

16 minutes ago, pcur said:

It refrigerates overnight, then it's baked and served the next day.

Sorry, misunderstood as I thought that you cooked and then refrigerated it and warmed it up the next day.😊

[BennyandBo]

5 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

 And in our case the very first time it made a difference. Meat was not medium well as my husband likes. Of course we did  not film it.

 

 By the way I a have conspiracy theory. Yes.. from watching this video someone will change cruise line, however due to the other things which make RCI almost unique or unique people will just book additional restaurants more often. Who do you think will benefit from this?

I don't see a benefit from a bad reputation, cancelations, guest complaints etc. 

 

And the reviews of specialty restaurants have been bad the past few weeks as well. Plus there is a limit to how many they can handle a day and make a profit off of.

 

What I don't get is what is in this for you? Why do you argue the other side of everyone's (not just my) negative thoughts. How come this company can do no wrong in your eyes? I genuinely don't understand it. Not being smart. I truly don't get why it bothers you so much? Is it a money thing? You have stock? Or is it cult like loyalty and they can do no wrong?

[Tatka]

I am sailing with RCI since 2004 (just like with other 7 lines) just much more often lately.

People are paying more now because many are still taking the first vacation after Covid break. RCI won't be able to keep prices risen in a long time, And even now there are ways to avoid paying much more and people use it (especially experienced ones). Increasing prices on extras also have limits because those items are not mandatory.

[BennyandBo]

1 minute ago, Tatka said:

I am sailing with RCI since 2004 (just like with other 7 lines) just much more often lately.

People are paying more now because many are still taking the first vacation after Covid break. RCI won't be able to keep prices risen in a long time, And even now there are ways to avoid paying much more and people use it (especially experienced ones). Increasing prices on extras also have limits because those items are not mandatory.

Your kidding yourself. They can keep the prices up long term and will. You are in denial.

[Tatka]

9 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

I don't see a benefit from a bad reputation, cancelations, guest complaints etc. 

 

And the reviews of specialty restaurants have been bad the past few weeks as well. Plus there is a limit to how many they can handle a day and make a profit off of.

 

What I don't get is what is in this for you? Why do you argue the other side of everyone's (not just my) negative thoughts. How come this company can do no wrong in your eyes? I genuinely don't understand it. Not being smart. I truly don't get why it bothers you so much? Is it a money thing? You have stock? Or is it cult like loyalty and they can do no wrong?

 

What a cute accusation. LOL Because I can. 🙂

 

I am arguing based on my experience and the fact that I am on cruise boards and other sites for a long time (you can check my profile) to know that at any time you can find tons of bad reviews. It does not mean your experience will be bad. I read absolutely horrible reviews about cruises we were on which we did not experience at all.

 

However if we do not like something we complain right there on the ship. Of course it is always very polite, but firm. Most if not all things get fixed. One out of 8 companies we dropped completely realizing that we cannot expect something that is not there by design.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Tatka

[The Fun Researcher]

We had the new menus on the Anthem in March, and I would say my main takeaways are:

 

1. Food quality was the same.  Good temperature, well prepared.
2. I missed having the lamb chops, (my second favorite entrée behind the beef tenderloin)
3. There were just enough occurrences of the escargot and French onion soup to keep us moderately satisfied.  We did miss having those as daily offerings.
4. I miss the little tiny scallop appetizer they used to serve in the same dishes they use for Escargot
5. The "one lobster tail" restriction didn't bother us
6. Overall, if we didn't know the previous menus so well, we would have considered the current MDR offerings to be excellent.  I still think it's excellent, but there are a couple of things we each missed.

 

As a side not, not sure what sauce they were putting on the pork bao buns but it was terrible.  Not at all in line with the typical Asian flavor profile the other times we've had them.  Used to LOVE those bao buns, but couldn't even finish one.  Hopefully it was just a one off occurrence.

[cruiselvr04]

Cruise with Ben and David gave a pretty negative food review of a 12 night on Symphony.  

 

[BennyandBo]

4 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

What a cute accusation. LOL Because I can. 🙂

 

I am arguing based on my experience and the fact that I am on cruise boards and other sites for a long time (you can check my profile) to know that at any time you can find tons of bad reviews. It does not mean your experience will be bad. I read absolutely horrible reviews about cruises we were on which we did not experience at all.

 

However if we do not like something we complain right there on the ship. Of course it is always very polite, but firm. Most if not all things get fixed. One out of 8 companies we dropped completely realizing that we cannot expect something that is not there by design.

 

 

As you have pointed out in the past. The past few years have been a first in many ways. These cut backs come from the world shutting down for 2 years. That was extreme. So the cuts are extreme. I don't think you can just write off bad reviews as a there always has been, always will be. This is a new and unique situation. 

[BennyandBo]

8 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

What a cute accusation. LOL Because I can. 🙂

 

I am arguing based on my experience and the fact that I am on cruise boards and other sites for a long time (you can check my profile) to know that at any time you can find tons of bad reviews. It does not mean your experience will be bad. I read absolutely horrible reviews about cruises we were on which we did not experience at all.

 

However if we do not like something we complain right there on the ship. Of course it is always very polite, but firm. Most if not all things get fixed. One out of 8 companies we dropped completely realizing that we cannot expect something that is not there by design.

 

 

And it wasn’t an accusation. It was a genuine question. I don't understand the mindset of endlessly defending anyone or anything that is not a blood relative. Politicians, Corporations, Religions, Celebrities. Everyone and everything is not perfect and open to be questioned and criticized. Was trying to assess and understand your motivation. 

[Tatka]

10 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

1. I missed having the lamb chops, (my second favorite entrée behind the beef tenderloin)
2. I miss the little tiny scallop appetizer they used to serve in the same dishes they use for Escargot

 

 

1. We miss lamb chop.. They dropped it about a year ago. There is a lamb, but it is with large bone and very fatty.

There is no beef Wellington which I in some reason suddenly fell in love with just before it disappeared. Although we saw it in the buffet on Anthem one day.

 

2. I swear I saw Bay scallop gratin during 12 night cruise, but I cannot remember what themed night that was (we had 11 different menus on 12 nights, Italian repeated)

 

[Tatka]

8 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

And it wasn’t an accusation. It was a genuine question. I don't understand the mindset of endlessly defending anyone or anything that is not a blood relative. Politicians, Corporations, Religions, Celebrities. Everyone and everything is not perfect and open to be questioned and criticized. Was trying to assess and understand your motivation. 

 

I just don't think my opinion is  any less important than other people opinions. Do you think yours weighs less?

 

And it is not endlessly by any means. How many posts?

 

By the same token I can ask you what is with all your posts here? What are you trying to achieve?

Edited May 1, 2023 by Tatka

[BennyandBo]

1 minute ago, Tatka said:

 

I just don't think my opinion is  any less important than other people opinions. Do you think yours weighs less?

 

And it is not endlessly by any means. How many posts?

 

By the same token I can ask you what is with all your posts here? What are you trying to achieve?

Never said less important. But endlessly defending.

[Tatka]

I found Bay Scallop Gratin. It’s on this menu 

 

 

[BecciBoo]

Fortunately for my Hubs, I'm not very discriminating.  I can find something good to eat anywhere on their ships.  Not letting this change bother me, but, I will give a truthful exit review.

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, Tatka said:

 

This is a problem. Just because you are watching almost professional video you think it is somehow an absolute standard. It is not. And this is aside from the facts that 2-5-10 years ago quality of service on various ships of the same company (in this case RCI) highly dependent on particular stuff,

 

 Even food variety in buffet depended on the ship.

 

 

Sure! Only now it's served cold by untrained wait staff who could care less! And I didn't need the video to tell me... experienced it 1st had on several Royal ships this year. Have you? Or just a cheerleader.

[The Fun Researcher]

24 minutes ago, Tatka said:

I found Bay Scallop Gratin. It’s on this menu 

 

 

Good to know!  Maybe this was the evening we went to Wonderland because I certainly would have ordered the scallops as it's one of our fav's

 

Edit to add:   Looks like that menu is not on the 7 night Anthem cruise we did in March.  The nights were:

• Welcome Aboard
• Taste of France
• Taste of Italy
• Taste of the Caribbean
• Taste of Mexico
• Royal Night
• Bon Voyage

Edited May 1, 2023 by The Fun Researcher

[Tatka]

2 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Sure! Only now it's served cold by untrained wait staff who could care less! And I didn't need the video to tell me... experienced it 1st had on several Royal ships this year. Have you? Or just a cheerleader.

 

You are saying it as if this is somehow 100% occurrence.

 

For  12 days on Enchantment in March, 11 days on Anthem in January we had different quality staff (some were good, some were OK) , but we never had untrained staff. We had 5 last year and a year before. This year we also have Liberty in May  and September and Anthem in November. Only 26 out of 57 our cruises are with Royal, so we can change lines if experience becomes horrible. 🙂

 

We always do My Time Dining and ask to be seated in various locations (on ships like Enchantments, Oasis) or restaurants (on Anthem) so we get many different waiters on every cruise.

 

And ... we leave our comments in surveys most of the time about good, bad and ugly.

 

By the way, speak to their managers right away you are upset.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Tatka

[Tatka]

2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Good to know!  Maybe this was the evening we went to Wonderland because I certainly would have ordered the scallops as it's one of our fav's

 

Edit to add:   Looks like that menu is not on the 7 night Anthem cruise we did in March.  The nights were:

• Welcome Aboard
• Taste of France
• Taste of Italy
• Taste of the Caribbean
• Taste of Mexico
• Royal Night
• Bon Voyage

 

Yes, looks like it is on longer cruises.

I remember it from Allure in 2016 when I tried it for the first time, Back then there was no escargots nightly (or at all?).

Then from 2017 escargots started  appearing on first 4-5 days out of 7, 8-9 out of 12. From 2018 till this change I ate them every night. 🙂

[Nick67]

 

[nelblu]

49 minutes ago, Tatka said:

I remember it from Allure in 2016 when I tried it for the first time, Back then there was no escargots nightly (or at all?).

This was probably during the so-called shortage off escargots.  Funny thing happened on one of our cruises in February and during the week we were told over and over that there was a shortage, but on Valentine Day of that cruise, lo and behold they found a bunch.😆

[jcc1025]

4 hours ago, BennyandBo said:

I'm OK with price increase in the sense that everything is doubling so no choice. And you are 100% wrong if you think they can't double rates and maintain bookings. Look at 2024 prices. Look at extras. Photo package just doubled, beach club, cabanas, water park. All at or very close to double. 

 

And again you miss my point. There is a difference between charging more and taking things away. 

 

It's like raising automatic gratuities and cutting housekeeping to once a day. Well, if those of you who say cuts are everywhere and it's just life now. I say cut the automatic gratuities once you board and give half as much in cash tips. Hey, cuts are everywhere right. Royal is obsessed with there bottom line more then customer satisfaction, so I might have to be obsessed with my bottom line on tipping.

Reduction in tipping will not impact their bottom line one dime. I will only impact the hard working people who are trying to do thier best for our trip. If you want to imact their bottom line the only way is to not sail. This is happening throughout the cruise industry, check out some of the other company boards, so if you really want to impact thier bottom line choose a different style of vactaion. 

[Tatka]

Just now, nelblu said:

This was probably during the so-called shortage off escargots.  Funny thing happened on one of our cruises in February and during the week we were told over and over that there was a shortage, but on Valentine Day of that cruise, lo and behold they found a bunch.😆

 

 Maybe, but RCI only switched to nightly escargots later in 2010... In 2000-x escargot was only offered during the first formal night, then Celebrity started offering nightly and then Royal switched, but it was still not offered on all nights.

 

 This is why I am saying that people think that something was always classic, but it was not. I can not say when it started being offered on constant basis. Till 2016 we only had 5 cruises with Royal. Splendor 2004, Explorer 2007, 2009, 2010 and Brilliance 2013 and escargot was almost like a lobster. Once a cruise.

[allyfree]

5 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Duh! But like the guys in the video, if I sent cold food back several times with no improvement I would give up. Unlike them I would eat elsewhere and give up on MDR.

My theory is that's what they want you to do ... I'm sure they're trying to get rid of MDR completely and make people pay extra for specialty restaurants - with no intention of lowering the price to reflect the reduction in complimentary dining offered 🤨

[nelblu]

33 minutes ago, Tatka said:

Maybe, but RCI only switched to nightly escargots later in 2010... In 2000-x escargot was only offered during the first formal night, then Celebrity started offering nightly and then Royal switched, but it was still not offered on all nights.

I was referring to 2017 when there was a shortage based on the scuttlebutt from the waiters/headwaiter.  

.