Anyone enjoying the new menu selections?

[Styrofoam02]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:55 AM, Rubyfisch said:

It seems like they might also have vegetarian Indian options now as well - I've seen several posts on FB of menus with italics under the meat based Indian options saying there is also a vegetarian option available on request.

I can say, I was on adventure in Feb this past year and there was an Indian dish every evening.  I am not sure if there was a no-meat option or not.  I did get the Indian dish every night, as well as one of the others. 

[The Fun Researcher]

4 hours ago, Max and Ruby said:

I also was on Anthem, but an April cruise.  I was actually dreading the MDR due to reviews, but was pleasantly surprised by some of the food. I'm not a big eater and honestly my daughter and I rarely ate an app, entrée and desert in 1 meal , but what we did eat for the most part temps were fine.  I thought the Indian was good, but I don't like spicy.  Have read that for REAL Indian food lovers, the entrées are too bland.

 

The weirdest entrée we did get was the "chicken breast".  My daughter got 2 very thick breasts that were overcooked as a choice 1 night.  There was fine print like if you didn't want Caribbean Chicken, you could get just a chicken breast. She ate some and then we stopped by Sorrento's later that evening.

 

Let me also add that our waiters were so good.  They kept asking us "is there something wrong with the food?" if we didn't eat all of it.  We said "No, we are just not big eaters."  

 

I like your comments, and I agree about the  wait staff. Ours were fantastic as well.  Above average for sure 

[chiguypaul]

I am unimpressed with the new menu. Overall quality has definitely decreased. Won't keep me from going back on Royal, but I still don't like it.

[Submariner]

I enjoyed these two dudes YouTube's analysis of the new menu. Spot on! 

 

We try Royal Caribbean's NEW Controversial Menus

[dvpaintboy]

We are on Rhapsody now and I thought I would never complain of  the food, but I was wrong. They have definitely cut back unless you love chicken, salmon, and pasta. They seem to be forcing you to go to specialty restaurants to get a great meal.The food is still OK, but has for sure lost its WOW

[Clearwater]

Does anyone have menus for a 4 night cruise?

 

I have only been on Royal twice and both times on a small, older ship - Brilliance.  Last sail was 2017.  Back then I wasn't too impressed with the Dining room food on Royal.  

 

We are booked for another easy 4 day out of Tampa (close to home) on Splendor. I know a 4 day is not known for foodie adventures but we love good food, I cook pretty darn amazing and so on any trip, we seek out the best if possible. 

 

We cruise often on Carnival and their Steakhouse and Italian restaurant is superb.  We decided to book the steakhouse and Italian on Splendor to compare and have at least two elevated meals.  May also book Sushi restaurant as I recall years ago it was nice on Royal. 

 

But ....  we are curious about the 4 night menus.  Incase we keep 2 nights to compare.  But this whole thread has me worried.  I watched the Ben and David video.  I respect their opinions but I wouldn't normally choose most of what they choose.  ie - fried chicken, spaghetti with tofu (blasphemous to this Sicilian).    I would however have chosen beef carpaccio, escargot, and other items they passed on.  So food is very subjective....  

 

My step dad has a palatte of a 5 year old and would be happy eating most of that nightly. I laugh when we cruise with my parents... he thinks the specialty restaurants are a waste of money.  My partner and I love great food and experiences so we don't mind paying. 

 

We are pickier I admit.  So should we try the dining room?  Should we book specialty each night to have an elevated experience for such a short trip?  

 

There are just two of us going (my BF and I and it's my bday weekend) for background. 

 

Thoughts? Input? 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Clearwater

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, Clearwater said:

Does anyone have menus for a 4 night cruise?

Find any ship doing four night cruises and the menu should be available in the app - set it to the closest in sailing.

[Clearwater]

8 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Find any ship doing four night cruises and the menu should be available in the app - set it to the closest in sailing.

 

Thank you!! I didn't know menus were in the app.  I will explore it more.  Appreciate the tip. 

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

14 hours ago, dvpaintboy said:

We are on Rhapsody now and I thought I would never complain of  the food, but I was wrong. They have definitely cut back unless you love chicken, salmon, and pasta. They seem to be forcing you to go to specialty restaurants to get a great meal.The food is still OK, but has for sure lost its WOW

We were on Rhapsody last August and after 2 nights of cold food complained to the Food & Beverage Manager. After that the waiting staff ensured that our food was piping hot for the rest of the cruise. Hoping that we don’t need to complain on Anthem at the end of this month.

[FionaMG]

3 hours ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

We were on Rhapsody last August and after 2 nights of cold food complained to the Food & Beverage Manager. After that the waiting staff ensured that our food was piping hot for the rest of the cruise. Hoping that we don’t need to complain on Anthem at the end of this month.

Just got off Anthem on Monday. No complaints about the food except for the limited variety. They really need to bring back the daily classics.

One of the new dishes that I tried and really liked was the salmon teriyaki from the Taste of Asia menu.

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

My wife is disappointed that the International Cheese selection is no longer  available as she isn’t really a dessert lover and always had the cheese plate whilst I had my dessert. She will have to get her fix of Brie and other cheeses in the Diamond lounge. 

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

My wife is disappointed that the International Cheese selection is no longer  available as she isn’t really a dessert lover and always had the cheese plate whilst I had my dessert. She will have to get her fix of Brie and other cheeses in the Diamond lounge. 

Not sure what ship you are on, but my last cruise was radiance and I looked for brie and never found any anywhere. Maybe they just ran out for that cruise. Diamond lounge had some other cheese but no brie. I was looking for it too. 

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Not sure what ship you are on, but my last cruise was radiance and I looked for brie and never found any anywhere. Maybe they just ran out for that cruise. Diamond lounge had some other cheese but no brie. I was looking for it too. 

We are on Anthem in 3 weeks time. Always seem to have had small pieces of Brie in the past on other ships.

[cruiseboy89130]

The food selection is really a BIG problem!

Also they sure have aproblem serving items hot!

We had to send stuff back twice and it still was not hot - even the headwaiter was not able to make sure stuff gets to the table hot!

[KaylaB]

Hi all, We sailed out of Barcelona on Symphony of the Seas on April 16th (their first Euro sailing this year) and our first time with the new menu.  We ate all dinners in My Time Dining and enjoyed most items.  Prime Rib was on the menu 3 of 7 nights and was always good  quality and cooked medium rare as requested.  The only item which was a major disappointment for me personally was the quality of the escargots.  We are Diamond members and have been sailing with RCCL for almost 20 years and have always looked forward to the escargot (not everyone's first choice I realize).  This was the first time in all these years that the escargot were inedible.  They were really disgusting.  I know, I know as my kids would say "First world problem Mom"  Other than that the veggies were nice and fresh and well cooked and all other choices were good but choices seemed more limited than in the past.  

[pcur]

I was one of the (fairly) early posters on this thread, having been on multiple ships from when the new menus were rolled out until mid-March.  My experiences weren't pleasant, but things seemed to improve, and it was obvious the quality varied up and down from ship to ship.

 

I am currently on the Discovery Princess, and I'm seeing what the competition has to offer.  To even up the apples-to-apple side of this opinion, for a solo traveler Princess is more expensive, as they have no solo loyalty discount.

 

One evening on the ship so far and I was blown away. 

 

To divert from food, I love Prosecco, and they not only had it available, but it was excellent.  RCCL says they have it, and I get their standard champagne instead many times.

 

Dinner was in Gigi's pizzeria.  I'm sailing with a group of friends, so I'm good with whatever they choose, and I budgeted for some specialty restaurants.  First surprise is I didn't walk up to a grab-a-slice kind of pizza place:  this is a full service sit-down Italian restaurant.

 

The antipasto was excellent.  You know the comments about the quality of cold cuts and deli meats in the Windjammer?  Gigi's was very thinly sliced and delicious. It also came with a small shrimp salad with dressing.  My main was thin sliced eggplant, rolled and stuffed with angel hair pasta, and wonderful cheesy goodness.

 

I skipped dessert, but I'll bet their tiramisu was great.

 

The kicker?  This was a COMPLIMENTARY restaurant!

 

So, my dilemma now is pay more / most likely get MUCH better food, or stay with RCCL and cobble my food from their selections like I did the first 3 months this year.  I haven't decided yet, and I'll probably wait until my booked RCCL cruises are over next Spring.  But, I'm looking at West Coast lower priced Princess cruises...............................

[BecciBoo]

On 5/4/2023 at 4:27 PM, Submariner said:

I enjoyed these two dudes YouTube's analysis of the new menu. Spot on! 

 

We try Royal Caribbean's NEW Controversial Menus

But most of Ben's negative comments were about the temperature of the food which has nothing to do with the content of the dish.  Second take was the blandness.  The Temp problem should be alleviated with no trouble, I'm hoping they get it right by our  Allure in Sept.  I won't complain so much about the dishes, but I'll send it right back if it's cold.

[Morecruisesplz]

@pcur see my semi-live review of MSC Seaside as a Royal D+ trying MSC for 1st time.

[sowhat]

Very disappointed  with food in windjammer on Explorer , better food in the factory canteen  at home. Food cold, dry and very little  variety. Disappointed  on first meal

[cruiseboy89130]

5 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

The Temp problem should be alleviated with no trouble,

Unfortunatly NOT - we had to send back as much as 3 times!

[sowhat]

We did MTD  last night on Explorer
Reservation  at 8.30 pm,  got seated at 9 o'clock,  very slow and disorganised  service.  Waiter never delivered  one of the courses. Food  only lukewarm.
Will try  again tonight for a better experience
Not very impressed  with  food and service on this cruise

[jeffporfirio01]

We are sailing on the Odyssey on Aug 6 from Civitavecchia (first time on RCCL after 7 DCLs), and have opted for the the UDP after reading (and seeing on YT) all the negative comments on the MDR food. We are by no means food snobs, but it would be pretty upsetting to get awful or cold food after looking forward to a nice meal together as a family.

 

So question for the knowledge base:

- As MDR food quality has gone down, has specialty restaurant food quality also suffered? 

 

Thanks

[Biker19]

8 minutes ago, jeffporfirio01 said:

As MDR food quality has gone down, has specialty restaurant food quality also suffered?

Don't assume what you read on CC will be your experience.

[FionaMG]

I have to agree with what @Biker19 said. People are far more likely to complain if things don't go right for them than they are to post a comment when things are fine.

 

I just got off a Royal cruise last week (mine was on Anthem) and my only real complaint about the new menus was the lack of choice. I'm not a picky eater by any means but there were a couple of nights when it was a bit of a struggle to find something I liked. DH is far pickier and had a far more difficult time of it than I did. I really think they need to bring back those daily classic options.

 

That said, we had no complaints about the quality of the food or about the temperature it was served at. We never had to send anything back.

 

One of the new menu items that I tried and particularly enjoyed was the salmon teriyaki on the Taste of Asia menu. The salmon was cooked perfectly and the sauce was very tasty.

[mcatmcat]

My Gf and I are really close to diamond plus and we rarely criticize royal Caribbean food but we changed our mind during our last sailing on the Harmony. But the windjammer made us change our cruise company line for the rest of 2023. The food was so bad, no taste, no presentation, that I felt I was in carnival. Celebrity is the same company, but I sailed with them twice this year, and food and service are way better. I know royal will improve but in the mean time I stick to celebrity ( cheaper 2)