Anyone enjoying the new menu selections?

[cruiseboy89130]

35 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

other than HOT food and/or on a cold plate, he'd return it until it was what he expected.

He will spend all night in the MDR - we send back stuff 2 x one night and

gave up on the 3rd try....it just takes too long to keep sending back!

[HappyTexan44]

5 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

He will spend all night in the MDR - we send back stuff 2 x one night and

gave up on the 3rd try....it just takes too long to keep sending back!

 

Note to self, bring a board game or books for everyone to the MDR.   🙂 

[Ret MP]

6 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

 

Note to self, bring a board game or books for everyone to the MDR.   🙂 

Well, the Internet is supposedly so good now, you can watch your favorite movie on Netflix, right!  

[HappyTexan44]

Just now, Ret MP said:

Well, the Internet is supposedly so good now, you can watch your favorite movie on Netflix, right!  

 

Thinking about this, the MDR tables are probably pretty good for board games.   Not too big.  We have early dining.   Eventually they'll need the table for late dining.   I can see the dining room manager coming over and asking why we are playing a game and not eating.   If we are polite about sending the food back, we probably won't be eating spit.   

 

[Morecruisesplz]

4 hours ago, Ret MP said:

That falls into the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" category.  My dad, if he was served anything other than HOT food and/or on a cold plate, he'd return it until it was what he expected. Don't bring him a steak if it wasn't sizzling on the plate. At home, he lived with us for the last 6 years of his life, and when he got coffee fresh out of the K cup machine (the K cup machine was set to 192 degrees/the hottest setting), he put the mug in the mic to get it even hotter.  

Wish I had known him. We can talk more about him on the Harmony in January.

[jeffporfirio01]

16 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

He will spend all night in the MDR - we send back stuff 2 x one night and

gave up on the 3rd try....it just takes too long to keep sending back!

 

That would be so infuriating, and the thought of eating spit or something worse would be anxiety-inducing. We will definitively steer clear of the MDR

[cruiseboy89130]

16 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

 I can see the dining room manager coming over and asking why we are playing a game and not eating. 

Even that guy could not make sure we don't have to send back cold food.....but he tried his best!

[moposh]

Will they use the same menus for a year or more?  So if you go on multiple cruises in a year, do you see the same menus?

[FionaMG]

14 minutes ago, moposh said:

Will they use the same menus for a year or more?  So if you go on multiple cruises in a year, do you see the same menus?

 

When I was at Captain's Corner the other week on Anthem, someone asked about the new menus and the answer that they have four different sets of menus depending on where a ship is sailing. I think (not 100% sure as I was distracted by someone near me moving about at the time) they said one set for the Caribbean, one for the Med, one for the Baltics and one for Australia (not sure why they didn't mention Alaska. I would hardly consider the Caribbean and Mexican menus appropriate to that part of the world). But, in any case, if that's correct, potentially we will see a number of new variations in the next few weeks as the ships begin their European summer itineraries.

 

The menus before these ones were introduced back in 2018. We experienced them for the first time when we were on Navigator late November/early December.

[HappyTexan44]

I really really hope they have this straightened out before our Feb cruise.  I don't want to get food poisoning by eating food that's been sitting around long enough to get too low of a temperature.  

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, moposh said:

Will they use the same menus for a year or more?  So if you go on multiple cruises in a year, do you see the same menus?

 

 Yes, we sailing on up to 5 cruises with RCI every year (now all) and menus staty the same for multiple years.

[The Fun Researcher]

I wonder how many people complained about the very same issues with the old menus? There will always be people complaining about the food. There were those before that compared it to cafeteria food.
 

Based on our experience on the Anthem in March the food was excellent, just as good as before.  I just missed some of my favorite items.

[FOXTROT]

We just got off the Serenade after an eight-day cruise. The food was very good in the MDR. We did eat in Giavanni's, Chope & Izumi's. The food quality in those restaurants had also improved. The food was even good in the WJ. 

[seasidemama]

On 5/10/2023 at 7:39 PM, fredmdcruisers said:

Yes, "good enough" is not what most of cruise for.

 

Agree 100%

[Jasukkie]

I'm cruising next week and I still don't see the main dining room menus in the app. I click on dining, then on main dining? Am I looking in the wrong place?

[Biker19]

3 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

Am I looking in the wrong place?

Sometimes the info in the app doesn't update until you are on the ship. For menus and other info, check out the current sailing on the app.

[rimmit]

On 5/12/2023 at 4:46 PM, The Fun Researcher said:

I wonder how many people complained about the very same issues with the old menus? There will always be people complaining about the food. There were those before that compared it to cafeteria food.
 

Based on our experience on the Anthem in March the food was excellent, just as good as before.  I just missed some of my favorite items.

IIRC, as with any change there was some complaining but nothing on this level.

 

The number of “I am not a foodie posts, and I’m not picky, but this is just bad.”  Is notably higher.  And really what was not an issue at all before, which was getting your food hot, has become common place.  Service has never been the issue and now it’s front and center.  The food and MDR was a big enough issue on our cruise in late February that it was one of the main topics of conversation every time we sat down with new table mates in the MDR and with just random people at the bar 

 

With the previous change, we never had random conversations with table mates about the service and food.  It was standard dinner conversation or small talk.

 

This is all anecdotal, but where there’s smoke…

Edited May 16, 2023 by rimmit

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, rimmit said:

This is all anecdotal, but where there’s smoke…

It is still seems somewhat tame compared to the uproar during the Dynamic Dining era.

[rimmit]

10 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

It is still seems somewhat tame compared to the uproar during the Dynamic Dining era.

I agree.  Although that was more on the whole system than the food quality and service I felt. I really liked Dynamic Dining but that’s just me.  They had a great teriyaki steak that I loved.  Dynamic dining was definitely a bigger controversy for sure.

 

This time around its food quality and service versus upending and going to a more NCL style dining experience.

 

That was one instance where there was enough complaining RCI did do something.  We’ll see what happens here.

Edited May 16, 2023 by rimmit

[dunrobbin]

G'day,

Just got off Brilliance of the Seas.  7nights Vancouver  to Alaska.

Staff was happy and friendly as always.

First time in a Grand Suite, so though there was no Coastal Kitchen, we did have the option to go the Chops Grill for Suites and Pinnacles breakfast. Food was similar to Breakfast in the MDR, except the chefs and food prep is right there, so after once served a cool breakfast we requested heated plates and that fixed the issue.

In the MDR for 5pm seating, we decided to go with a table for two for the first time. The main reason was,  we did not want to be waiting for 10 meal issues (if they happened)  to be dealt with on a large table.

I am not a big steak eater, but found that I ordered the New your strip steak nearly every night.  It was thinner but perfectly cooked Medium Rare and tasted wonderful.  I just could not see anything else that appealed to me, or didn't worry me that It would be too dry.  No Lamb chops,  now that is sad!  Too many weird meals, Mexican, Indian and so on.  The food was mostly warm to hot, and service was fast. In and out in an hour each day. 

 

Windjammer was a ZOO! 

Food options very limited.  Mostly cool in Temp. 

Two roasts in 7 nights, where we had a roast every day in Sept last year.  Salad ordinary, never a shrimp/prawn at anytime in the week for a salad. Tomatoes Green rather than ripe red.  Crumbled Feta available for salad for 2 days then never again. Only a few salad dressing choices.  Egg salad was mayo with small lumps that may have been egg, and the Tuna salad was mayo with small lumps that may have been Tuna!

One day they had Carrot Salad.  If you could imagine 3 large trays full of grated carrots,  just grated carrots, nothing else!  OMG LOL  People were taking photos of it! I wish I had too.

Hot food was, you guesses it, mostly Indian and weird cuisines. Mostly rice and some sort of different "Stews"  every day, and a chicken and a fish dish.  Mostly the same every day. 

The deserts were the same as always,   as they have never been that great. There was one called Berry something or other, that had two blueberries on it. The strawberry one had a half a strawberry on it.   

 

Absolutely, not what I would call special.  Was there food to eat?  Yes there was, was it what I have come to love about cruising? NO.  

All in all, the MDR was acceptable but no choices that interested me.

The Windjammer was dismal.

 

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 5/15/2023 at 10:01 AM, Jasukkie said:

I'm cruising next week and I still don't see the main dining room menus in the app. I click on dining, then on main dining? Am I looking in the wrong place?

and then you click on each dining room - one of them is bound to have menus.

[pcur]

On 5/8/2023 at 9:24 AM, fredmdcruisers said:

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

I will.  I just got off the Discovery Princess, and not a single bite of bad food passed my lips for 7 days.

[rimmit]

6 hours ago, dunrobbin said:

The Windjammer was dismal.

 

 

The lack of pizza in the Windjammer was mind boggling.  I know it’s down in Sorrento’s but it’s a staple cheap comfort food and sometimes if I can’t find something to eat I default to pizza.  Plus for kids it’s an easy option. 

 

The increasing number of Indian meals is the definition of a cost cutting measure.   They just can pull the crew mess hall Indian food and throw it on the buffet.  No extra effort required.

[bucfan2]

11 minutes ago, rimmit said:

The increasing number of Indian meals is the definition of a cost cutting measure.   They just can pull the crew mess hall Indian food and throw it on the buffet.  No extra effort required.

Well, guess we love that part of the cost cutting (if that’s what it is). We enjoy the Indian dishes immensely. 

[rimmit]

2 minutes ago, bucfan2 said:

Well, guess we love that part of the cost cutting (if that’s what it is). We enjoy the Indian dishes immensely. 

I just wish they’d pull the Filipino crew food.  They’ve made it for me in the past as a special favor.  I didn’t ask, they just see that I’m Filipino and back in the days of the 5 star service they’d really bend over backwards to impress you with what they could do.