Anyone enjoying the new menu selections?

[dfen74]

We are on day 4 of our Southern Caribbean cruise on Voyager of the Seas.  The biggest surprise so far has been the high quality of the food.  Every night in the MDR has been fantastic.  We quite like the theme nights.  On every night, there have been at least two starters and two entrees that appeal to all of us.
 

The Windjammer has been better than expected, with multiple tasty options for all meals.  Cafe Promenade is hit and miss.  Pizza is good, other options are limited.  The only food-related complaint so far is the shortage of operating hours, but that seems to be a Royal issue across the board.

 

Up to now, I would say that this is the second best MDR food we have had, trailing only Ruby Princess ten years ago.  Only our second time on Royal (Oasis in 2017), so didn’t get accustomed to the old menu.  Have also cruised NCL and CCL.

 

As always, staff are phenomenal and all of the stops have been beautiful and so much fun.

[wreckem2013]

Food to me is the same as before. Just less options. 
 

I think the issue is staffing(kitchen and wait staff) is causing much higher rates of inconsistency which is why more and more people are complaining. Misfires leading to complaints were not as frequent before Covid compared to now.

 

This final comment might offend some but the MDR and buffet are better quality than at least fifty percent of Americans eat on a daily basis.

[Candleonwater]

11 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

They also lack choices for vegetarians and vegans. I’m not either, but liked items that are no longer available and nothing that’s considered vegetarian (only 1 vegan choice nightly)

 

This is worrisome. Before we booked, we were assured there's a selection of vegan options each night.

[rimmit]

10 minutes ago, Candleonwater said:

This is worrisome. Before we booked, we were assured there's a selection of vegan options each night.

They did have vegan chocolate chip cookies on the buffet one night.  I am not vegan but tried one.  Not for my taste, personally.  It was there though.

[Candleonwater]

49 minutes ago, rimmit said:

They did have vegan chocolate chip cookies on the buffet one night.  I am not vegan but tried one.  Not for my taste, personally.  It was there though.

LMAO, I can just see it now, my health freak daughter surviving on cookies 🙂 Guess I'll make sure she knows to bring a stash of bars, in case of emergency

 

[alfaeric]

We enjoyed the new menu, mostly.  On a 10 night cruise, we saw 9 of the menus- the English inspired one was repeated.  There was a new Asian inspired one- and it being brand new, they seemed to still be working out the bugs.  Favorite was the Mexican inspired one- the two soups were great.

 

But I do also recognize that it can be inconsistent- just like the old menus.  

[pittnh]

This was our lobster tail from the new menu.  I enjoyed it

[pittnh]

This is the much-maligned Carne Asada from the new menu.  I ordered medium rare and thought it was very good & tender.  Tasty as well.  I will hopefully put together a fuller post shortly on my thoughts of the new menu from my recent cruise.

[lovesthebeach2]

11 hours ago, Candleonwater said:

This is worrisome. Before we booked, we were assured there's a selection of vegan options each night.

Lots of people have posted pictures of the new menus so you can check them and see the option for vegan each night.  There’s usually only 1 appetizer, 1 entree, and dessert, I don’t know if only 1 because I don’t look at that part of the menu. 

[Newcruiser2012]

16 hours ago, 39august said:

Is RCI still  allowing you to order more than one main dish in the MDR? I know that an additional lobster tail is extra cost. How about anything else?

On our recent Odyssey cruise my husband and brother in law had no issue ordering more than one entree and they were brought out at the same time. Multiple apps, desserts never a problem. 

[Longford]

22 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I'm with you in that I'm committed to the nonrefundable cruise.  So, I'm closely reading the reviews hoping to spot something on each menu where people say, "Well, this item was pretty good."   So far it seems the kitchen is still getting used to the new items, so I haven't started a list yet.  

 

Food preparation isn't going to be the same across the fleet even if menu items in the MDR are standardized.  Different levels of kitchen staff experience, sourcing of ingredients onboard equipment (problems or not).  I'll be more interested in a sampling of comments from individuals who recently would have sailed on a ship  I'd be about to board.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Longford

[pittnh]

So, here’s my thoughts on the new menu after our recent Oasis cruise.  This was cruise #4, last one was on Allure with the original menu.  In comparison, of course the obvious difference is the reduced selections available, and especially the elimination of the same “classics” each night.  But in terms of quality, I didn’t see much difference from my experience with Allure.  I never ordered off the “classics” so it wasn’t something I missed.  I usually try to order the nightly special or chef recommendation.  Sticking with those selections, I had no issues, everything was very good.  The meat specials were good, including the prime rib, beef tenderloin, carne asada, and the beef bourguignonne (could have used a little more gravy).  Others in my party ordered the Indian dishes and really liked it, along with some of the vegetarian entrée’s like the creamy risotto with asparagus and the stuffed portobello mushroom.  And white meat such as the blackened pork chop and roast chicken all got positive reviews from the people who ordered them.  I posted previously, the lobster tail was also outstanding.  Important to remember, we aren’t talking Morton’s here in terms of size & quality of the meat cuts.  But to tell the truth I’m glad it wasn’t a huge portion; it was more than enough on the plate and the quality was sufficient.  Here's a shot of the beef tenderloin, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Of course, as with the old menu, there were misses.  The Tofu Taco’s on Mexican night may have been the worse entrée I’ve ever seen.  The person we were with who ordered it had to send it back and ask for something else.  And the fried chicken didn’t taste as good as it looked.  Side topic, what’s with the way RCI butchers their chickens?  Anytime it is served, it is cut in a very strange way, hard to pin point exactly what you are eating.  Get the old “parts is parts” feeling from McDonalds Chicken McNuggets.  But I will say the same chicken parts were tasty in the solarium for lunch, and when served jerk-style on the buffet in Labadee.  Here's a picture of the chicken, looks good, but didn't taste like it looked.  Note the strange looking parts, lol

 

In terms of deserts and appetizers, no real issues.  Classics like shrimp cocktail, escargot, and French onion soup were there most nights, enough to keep me happy.  And some of the other ones which I assume were new were definitely hits, especially the poblano soup (warning it has a kick), the Asian pork bao taco’s, and the Coconut Shrimp.  And I liked all of the deserts I ordered.  The warm chocolate chip cookie was outstanding.  But I think someone posted in another thread, the cookies with raspberries was very lame.  Seemed like two hard boxed cookies served on a plate with one raspberry.  That was the desert that got the biggest complaint on the cruise from our traveling party.  Here's a shot of the Asian taco's and coconut shrimp. 

 

I’m definitely not a picky eater, so I like most things.  But I can tell when things aren’t good, like any time I eat at Bravo or Olive Garden, lol.  My opinion is there isn’t any discernable decline in food quality with the MDR.  In fact, my only complaint with food that I ordered was the pasta dishes at Giovanni’s.  Not good at all.  This was my only real food disappointment on the cruise (although the filet more than made up for it).  Could a few dishes have been served a little warmer?  Sure, but when feeding that many people I’m willing to cut them some slack.

 

One final thought….cruise was packed.  Given pent up demand and staffing issues due to the pandemic, I can understand if one of the reasons for implementing the new menu was to make things easier on the staff.  Hopefully it does as this can’t be an easy job.  I will also add that the secret is out on the Solarium Bistro.  Crowded most days at breakfast and lunch.  Also, forget about Loco Fresh on sea days, line stretched for miles at lunchtime.  I’d usually run down to the boardwalk for a hot dog (very good) or Park Café for the Kummelweck sandwich (ok, I’ll make one more complaint here.  The Kummelweck lost something off its fastball from my last cruise on Allure.  The bun was too big this time, and not enough meat was on the sandwich.  And the meat that was used was somewhat tough and grisly.  So if you want to vote for something that declined from a previous cruise I would say this is my choice).

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by pittnh

[dleahy4444]

14 hours ago, Longford said:

 

Food preparation isn't going to be the same across the fleet even if menu items in the MDR are standardized.  Different levels of kitchen staff experience, sourcing of ingredients onboard equipment (problems or not).  I'll be more interested in a sampling of comments from individuals who recently would have sailed on a ship  I'd be about to board.

True. I’m sailing on the Oasis in early May so I’m especially interested in input from people that have sailed her recently 

[pittnh]

5 minutes ago, dleahy4444 said:

True. I’m sailing on the Oasis in early May so I’m especially interested in input from people that have sailed her recently 

 

check out my post #37, just made it right before your post

[dleahy4444]

12 minutes ago, pittnh said:

So, here’s my thoughts on the new menu after our recent Oasis cruise.  This was cruise #4, last one was on Allure with the original menu.  In comparison, of course the obvious difference is the reduced selections available, and especially the elimination of the same “classics” each night.  But in terms of quality, I didn’t see much difference from my experience with Allure.  I never ordered off the “classics” so it wasn’t something I missed.  I usually try to order the nightly special or chef recommendation.  Sticking with those selections, I had no issues, everything was very good.  The meat specials were good, including the prime rib, beef tenderloin, carne asada, and the beef bourguignonne (could have used a little more gravy).  Others in my party ordered the Indian dishes and really liked it, along with some of the vegetarian entrée’s like the creamy risotto with asparagus and the stuffed portobello mushroom.  And white meat such as the blackened pork chop and roast chicken all got positive reviews from the people who ordered them.  I posted previously, the lobster tail was also outstanding.  Important to remember, we aren’t talking Morton’s here in terms of size & quality of the meat cuts.  But to tell the truth I’m glad it wasn’t a huge portion; it was more than enough on the plate and the quality was sufficient.  Here's a shot of the beef tenderloin, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Of course, as with the old menu, there were misses.  The Tofu Taco’s on Mexican night may have been the worse entrée I’ve ever seen.  The person we were with who ordered it had to send it back and ask for something else.  And the fried chicken didn’t taste as good as it looked.  Side topic, what’s with the way RCI butchers their chickens?  Anytime it is served, it is cut in a very strange way, hard to pin point exactly what you are eating.  Get the old “parts is parts” feeling from McDonalds Chicken McNuggets.  But I will say the same chicken parts were tasty in the solarium for lunch, and when served jerk-style on the buffet in Labadee.  Here's a picture of the chicken, looks good, but didn't taste like it looked.  Note the strange looking parts, lol

 

In terms of deserts and appetizers, no real issues.  Classics like shrimp cocktail, escargot, and French onion soup were there most nights, enough to keep me happy.  And some of the other ones which I assume were new were definitely hits, especially the poblano soup (warning it has a kick), the Asian pork bao taco’s, and the Coconut Shrimp.  And I liked all of the deserts I ordered.  The warm chocolate chip cookie was outstanding.  But I think someone posted in another thread, the cookies with raspberries was very lame.  Seemed like two hard boxed cookies served on a plate with one raspberry.  That was the desert that got the biggest complaint on the cruise from our traveling party.  Here's a shot of the Asian taco's and coconut shrimp. 

 

I’m definitely not a picky eater, so I like most things.  But I can tell when things aren’t good, like any time I eat at Bravo or Olive Garden, lol.  My opinion is there isn’t any discernable decline in food quality with the MDR.  In fact, my only complaint with food that I ordered was the pasta dishes at Giovanni’s.  Not good at all.  This was my only real food disappointment on the cruise (although the filet more than made up for it).  Could a few dishes have been served a little warmer?  Sure, but when feeding that many people I’m willing to cut them some slack.

 

One final thought….cruise was packed.  Given pent up demand and staffing issues due to the pandemic, I can understand if one of the reasons for implementing the new menu was to make things easier on the staff.  Hopefully it does as this can’t be an easy job.  I will also add that the secret is out on the Solarium Bistro.  Crowded most days at breakfast and lunch.  Also, forget about Loco Fresh on sea days, line stretched for miles at lunchtime.  I’d usually run down to the boardwalk for a hot dog (very good) or Park Café for the Kummelweck sandwich (ok, I’ll make one more complaint here.  The Kummelweck lost something off its fastball from my last cruise on Allure.  The bun was too big this time, and not enough meat was on the sandwich.  And the meat that was used was somewhat tough and grisly.  So if you want to vote for something that declined from a previous cruise I would say this is my choice).

 

Thank you for your informative post. It was especially helpful to me since I’ll be cruising on the Oasis in 6 weeks. I’m not a foodie either. I just want food that is edible and service that is adequate. Actually I’m ok with less than that but I’ve convinced a number of first time cruisers to sail with us, ( some agreed begrudgingly) so I’d like to make a good impression 

[dleahy4444]

1 minute ago, pittnh said:

 

check out my post #37, just made it right before your post

jinx, I owe you a coke. ( old school boomer reference). As soon as I finished writing, I saw your post 😄

[Longford]

1 hour ago, pittnh said:

So, here’s my thoughts on the new menu after our recent Oasis cruise.  This was cruise #4, last one was on Allure with the original menu.  In comparison, of course the obvious difference is the reduced selections available, and especially the elimination of the same “classics” each night.  But in terms of quality, I didn’t see much difference from my experience with Allure.  I never ordered off the “classics” so it wasn’t something I missed.  I usually try to order the nightly special or chef recommendation.  Sticking with those selections, I had no issues, everything was very good.  The meat specials were good, including the prime rib, beef tenderloin, carne asada, and the beef bourguignonne (could have used a little more gravy).  Others in my party ordered the Indian dishes and really liked it, along with some of the vegetarian entrée’s like the creamy risotto with asparagus and the stuffed portobello mushroom.  And white meat such as the blackened pork chop and roast chicken all got positive reviews from the people who ordered them.  I posted previously, the lobster tail was also outstanding.  Important to remember, we aren’t talking Morton’s here in terms of size & quality of the meat cuts.  But to tell the truth I’m glad it wasn’t a huge portion; it was more than enough on the plate and the quality was sufficient.  Here's a shot of the beef tenderloin, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

Of course, as with the old menu, there were misses.  The Tofu Taco’s on Mexican night may have been the worse entrée I’ve ever seen.  The person we were with who ordered it had to send it back and ask for something else.  And the fried chicken didn’t taste as good as it looked.  Side topic, what’s with the way RCI butchers their chickens?  Anytime it is served, it is cut in a very strange way, hard to pin point exactly what you are eating.  Get the old “parts is parts” feeling from McDonalds Chicken McNuggets.  But I will say the same chicken parts were tasty in the solarium for lunch, and when served jerk-style on the buffet in Labadee.  Here's a picture of the chicken, looks good, but didn't taste like it looked.  Note the strange looking parts, lol

 

In terms of deserts and appetizers, no real issues.  Classics like shrimp cocktail, escargot, and French onion soup were there most nights, enough to keep me happy.  And some of the other ones which I assume were new were definitely hits, especially the poblano soup (warning it has a kick), the Asian pork bao taco’s, and the Coconut Shrimp.  And I liked all of the deserts I ordered.  The warm chocolate chip cookie was outstanding.  But I think someone posted in another thread, the cookies with raspberries was very lame.  Seemed like two hard boxed cookies served on a plate with one raspberry.  That was the desert that got the biggest complaint on the cruise from our traveling party.  Here's a shot of the Asian taco's and coconut shrimp. 

 

I’m definitely not a picky eater, so I like most things.  But I can tell when things aren’t good, like any time I eat at Bravo or Olive Garden, lol.  My opinion is there isn’t any discernable decline in food quality with the MDR.  In fact, my only complaint with food that I ordered was the pasta dishes at Giovanni’s.  Not good at all.  This was my only real food disappointment on the cruise (although the filet more than made up for it).  Could a few dishes have been served a little warmer?  Sure, but when feeding that many people I’m willing to cut them some slack.

 

One final thought….cruise was packed.  Given pent up demand and staffing issues due to the pandemic, I can understand if one of the reasons for implementing the new menu was to make things easier on the staff.  Hopefully it does as this can’t be an easy job.  I will also add that the secret is out on the Solarium Bistro.  Crowded most days at breakfast and lunch.  Also, forget about Loco Fresh on sea days, line stretched for miles at lunchtime.  I’d usually run down to the boardwalk for a hot dog (very good) or Park Café for the Kummelweck sandwich (ok, I’ll make one more complaint here.  The Kummelweck lost something off its fastball from my last cruise on Allure.  The bun was too big this time, and not enough meat was on the sandwich.  And the meat that was used was somewhat tough and grisly.  So if you want to vote for something that declined from a previous cruise I would say this is my choice).

 

 

Honestly, the photos almost made me sick to view.  i couldn't eat that food.  Give me the WJ buffet, instead.  🙂

[pittnh]

1 minute ago, Longford said:

 

Honestly, the photos almost made me sick to view.  i couldn't eat that food.  Give me the WJ buffet, instead.  🙂

 

to each his own.

[gavvy]

Main issues we had were being shown to a dirty table or a table that wasent set up. This happened 3 times. What's with the person showing you to the table never knowing where the table is? evetlry day we had a grand tour of the dining room before we finally got to the table 

Food was mostly MEH. The seak was not good and the few Currys we tried all tasted the same...not bad but bland I suppose. The theming was a waste of time too. Snails on the British menu etc. All very odd.

This was on anthem 2 weeks ago.

[rimmit]

4 hours ago, gavvy said:

Main issues we had were being shown to a dirty table or a table that wasent set up. This happened 3 times. What's with the person showing you to the table never knowing where the table is? evetlry day we had a grand tour of the dining room before we finally got to the table 

Food was mostly MEH. The seak was not good and the few Currys we tried all tasted the same...not bad but bland I suppose. The theming was a waste of time too. Snails on the British menu etc. All very odd.

This was on anthem 2 weeks ago.

Yes our other issue was that many times our glasses were not clean or our silverware was dirty.  And not just a little dirty.  I’m talking food stuck on the spoon and the spoon looking matted with grease.  Not like it went through the wash and looks shiny with a little food stuck, but just flat not looking like it was washed at all. It was quite disturbing, as it looked like they assumed someone did not use the spoon.

 

This was at the same brunch when I asked for BBQ sauce and apparently they no longer carry bbq sauce in the MDR during brunch?!?  Also asked for a plain cheeseburger and it came with mayonnaise and all the trimmings applied.  Totally bizarre experience.

[rimmit]

16 minutes ago, rimmit said:

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by rimmit

[joeyancho]

On 3/15/2023 at 4:21 PM, Candleonwater said:

This is worrisome. Before we booked, we were assured there's a selection of vegan options each night.

No worries,   there is.  Just talk to the head waiter.

[The Scurvy Pirate]

On 3/15/2023 at 2:38 PM, foodsvcmgr said:

Anyone been on Liberty of the Seas to see how they are handling prep and service of the new menu?

I was on a 3 night about 2 weeks ago and they had the new menu's in my time dining.  The pictures above are consistent with what was served.  We found the food to be comparable to previous cruises, which we found to be really good (again taste is subjective).  We did not have issues with multiple orders being delivered at the same time.  For example, we each ordered two apetizers each night.  They asked if we wanted them delivered at the same time or separately.  My wife got the soup before the salad.  I got my apetizers delivered at the same time.  The escargot were back to more "normal" size (they were really small the last couple of years) and were actually served hot.  In the past I frequently had to send it back to get them hot. When we ordered two different dinners they did ask which one to bring out first (because of table space issues).  When I asked for a 2 tiger shrimp dinners, he asked if I wanted two dinners or could they just add the additional shrimp to the plate.  Overall, we were pleased with the new menu and the food was delivered timely and hot.  The my time dining at 8:00 was crazy busy and always a huge line to get seated. 

[foodsvcmgr]

Thanks for the positive input, looking forward to experiencing the menus myself.

[pcur]

1 hour ago, joeyancho said:

No worries,   there is.  Just talk to the head waiter.

Depends on the ship.  The newer, bigger ships seem to have more flexibility.  Anthem, for instance.  Enchantment, Vision, Grandeur, it's a hard "no".  Only what's on the menu.

 

I sent this to RCCL yesterday:

 

Rather than give my opinion in individual surveys for each ship,  I decided to give you feedback all at once.  I have sailed with RCCL for 50 years this October, having taken my first RCCL cruise in October 1973.  I am NOT a picky eater, and will eat just about anything. 

Since mid-January of this year I have sailed on five ships:  the Enchantment twice, the Anthem, the Oasis, the Grandeur, and am now on the Vision.  That’s six cruises total since the changes in the Main Dining Room food service went into effect in mid-January.

I have found that the quality of preparation for my dinner meals in the Main Dining Room is seriously, SERIOUSLY lacking:

·        The Enchantment not only had the menus decimated by eliminating some of my favorite entrees, but the food almost always arrived either cold or undercooked.  At a table for 6, 5 of us received undercooked or raw grilled salmon one night.

·        I found the food on the Enchantment consistently to be poorly prepared, cold, undercooked.

·        A table mate on the Enchantment, who pre-ordered dinner every night for the next night to make sure it was gluten-free, had a gastric attack one evening. The kitchen had scraped off the sauce and served it to her, instead of cooking it separately.  I watched her abdomen swell up in 10 minutes after she ate a few bits.  Startling and, well, unacceptable. Luckily, she had a remedy in her cabin.

·        The Grandeur was a big problem, no matter how I tried to adapt to the main dining room changes, I had a difficult time getting a decent meal.  I gave up on my second attempt one evening when I finally ordered all appetizers.  I called the head waiter over to ask him to notify the kitchen there was a serious problem with the escargot.  It tasted way "off":  either they didn't clean the snails properly, or they used rancid butter of margarine. Same meal, different appetizer:  risotto with snow peas and mushrooms.  I had it the week before on the Oasis, and it was fabulous.  It arrived at my table on the Grandeur with lumpy risotto, and instead of snow peas the kitchen had glopped PEA SOUP over the top, and then forgot to heat the whole thing up.  It was frigid and nasty!  I gave up and went to the Windjammer from then on.

 ·        And, now on the Vision.  I told my sister in January I thought it would be best to get the Unlimited Dining Package, and it was a good decision. If what I found in the Windjammer is any indication, the situation on the Vision is pretty bad.  The Windjammer on the Vision has taken a turn for the worse.  The hot entrees were switched to the smaller serving areas on the sides, to hide the fact that the selection is so dramatically reduced they don't need to even use up the space available in the larger round serving area.  Meaning, they designed this buffet for serving a certain amount of food, and that food has been so drastically cut back that they would have obviously empty food stations. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, with their garnishes are predominant now.  But, the real shocker is the dessert area in the round serving area.  Trays and trays and trays of whole, uncut fruit (like, here's your dessert:  have an orange and peel it yourself).  Oranges, apples and bananas.  Then, 2-3 other desserts, plus cookies.

 There are three obvious problems now:  cut-backs on quantity and variety in both the MDR and Windjammer, PLUS labor shortages for preparation, AND unskilled culinary workers in the kitchens (a la my "pea soup" cold risotto). Not just one cruise/one ship, but a steady decline over 5 ships.

For a business that has been serving excellent food for at least 60 years, you don’t just “forget” how to prepare these meals, you have undertrained staff.

I am so frustrated by these changes that I am thinking of cancelling my future bookings, and waiting to see if the situation improves.  I will not be forced into purchasing specialty restaurant meals, and I will not change my bookings to just ships that have a Coastal Kitchen, since I book for the itinerary as my priority. 

 

So, if you are one the Anthem, Oasis, Allure and probably the other bigger/newer ships, your chances of avoiding the above are better.  I was on a ship when this started, and I've been on a ship pretty much since then through this Sunday.

 

My recommendation:  watch the Unlimited Dining Packages carefully in the 30-60 days before your cruise to see if they have a good discount.  We got the UDP for the Vision 10 night cruise, and Chops for lunch on embarkation and sea days, for $212, including tips, or $15 / day.  The specialty restaurants are still excellent........but, maybe that's what RCCL wanted all along...........to have you pay even more for better food?

Edited March 17, 2023 by pcur