Anyone enjoying the new menu selections?

[vwlmember]

This was before the menu changes. Anthem cruise last April I ordered the eggplant parm in the MDR. It arrived as a single slice of breaded eggplant about 4 inches wide in a bowl with sauce on the bottom. One of my table mates looked at the dish, looked directly at the server and promptly stated " Really?"  It was the root of every joke at dinner for the rest of the cruise. 

[Pellaz]

On 3/15/2023 at 9:56 AM, welshrich said:

Maybe RC are looking at going more like the Norwegian way with having just a couple of basic free venues and then all the others for a fee to encourage people to spend more.

 

In other words, pretty much the way it's always been on Freedom-class ships. 

The "free"/included venues only include the WJ, the MDR, Sorrentos, and Promenade Café; the latter had the same limited selection of bite-sized sandwiches every day on the Freedom recently: salmon and egg.  Meh. 

Everything else* costs extra:  Giovanni's, Chops, Johnny Rockets, etc.   

 

-----

 * Freedom DID have a new "free" Mexican walk-up kiosk that was okayyyy, but the others don't have it.   

 

 

[soccer2010]

I haven’t enjoyed the new menus yet but I will soon on my next cruise. 

[rimmit]

4 hours ago, Pellaz said:

The "free"/included venues only include the WJ, the MDR, Sorrentos, and Promenade Café; the latter had the same limited selection of bite-sized sandwiches every day on the Freedom recently: salmon and egg. 

 

-----

 * Freedom DID have a new "free" Mexican walk-up kiosk that was okayyyy, but the others don't have it.   

 

 

You have forgotten the yummy classic…. Tomato and pesto.  The elimination of any finger sandwich with meat is just sad.

 

Loco Fresh is being installed on more ships in the fleet.  Not sure which ones have it yet, but just off navigator and they had it.

 

 

[smokeybandit]

I'm on my first cruise with the new menus and believe more than ever that all the people complaining just really like complaining. Food has been quite good.

[Habs_CatD]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:23 PM, Candleonwater said:

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

 

My daughter and I are vegetarian, just off Oasis of the seas. I have good news and bad news for you. I’ll post a full review later, but for now:

 

MDR has 1 vegan appetizer, entrée and dessert every night. On 2 nights there was an additional Indian main that could be made vegan. Some were excellent (Greek moussaka), some were iffy (couscous stuffed red pepper - was just a large amount of couscous). There was no source of protein in any of them. So yes, bring protein bars!

 

Other venues such as the Windjammer had several dishes that might have been vegetarian or vegan, but it was not always clear as nothing was labelled. We did ask, but the servers didn’t know. Some would go to the kitchen to ask for us, some didn’t offer. We discovered that you could ask for a veggie burger at the burger station, and they would cook it specifically for us. We relied on this a lot. Not sure how much protein there is in it, but it was good and filling.

 

We tried Playmakers for their veggie burger, but the service was appalling - no fault to our server - she was very busy, but we waited a long time to be acknowledged, then served, and never got our drinks. Johnny Rockets also has a veggie burger.

 

we had the best luck with the Solarium bistro - felafel, hummus and other dips, as well as veggie stir fry and other veggies. Ample bread available.

 

Overall it was lacking in choice and especially lacking in alternative proteins. Quality was OK. Service was in MDR was slow.

 

Do bring protein bars.

[rimmit]

56 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm on my first cruise with the new menus and believe more than ever that all the people complaining just really like complaining. Food has been quite good.

I had no issues with the food in the MDR.  It was inconsistency of preparation,  service, and argumentative nature of the waiters in the MDR.  When our order was right it tasted just fine to me and tasted the same as previous cruises.

 

I do find Cafe Promenade has taken significant cutbacks in selection such that I can’t find anything.  When the cookies are not burnt they taste the same.  Sadly they were burnt 6/7 days.  Sorrento’s tastes the same.   WJ is also lacking selection.  When I found something I wanted to eat it was fine though.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, Habs_CatD said:

we had the best luck with the Solarium bistro - felafel, hummus and other dips, as well as veggie stir fry and other veggies. Ample bread available.

we are hoping to finally try the Solarium bistro on this sailing. I cancelled our Mexican MDR night reservations and made a reservation at SB. We are not vegetarians, but my kid will not eat either salmon or shrimp, so I hope he finds enough of the vegetables to eat. I also told him we could stop by Sorento's on the way and get a couple of slices of pizza for him to enjoy at SB.

Do you know if there were any chicken kebabs? It probably wasn't on your radar at all, but maybe you noticed. 🙂

[dunrobbin]

On 3/17/2023 at 2:34 PM, pcur said:

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?

Please let us know if they actually reply?

 

[nimbex1970]

I missed the alternatives.  I know they are trying to speed up time, which is MUCH needed.  Not all of us want 2 hours for dinner and asking for a quick dinner is still 75 minutes.  Food is subjective and I found better luck with the appetizers, ordering two of them, then if I didn't care for dinner, I picked at it enough to be full.  I don't eat dessert since the cheese platter was tossed.  I don't like sweets.  So dinner was quicker.. but the mains?  meh!  Thats me and my pallet I hate, hate buffet, but went twice and it was barely luke warm.  Would have happily microwaved it myself if it was available.  So meh for me on it.. I miss the alternative menu.. but alas it's gone. 

[nimbex1970]

On 3/17/2023 at 3:17 PM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that nobody has expected a 5 star quality or choices from MDR or buffet food on RCI ships in many years.

But it's now getting even worse than 3 stars out of 5.

NAILED it!  I would be satisfied not enthralled, but satisfied with a 3.  I want better, I pay for specialty dining... which I could debate to the nth degree with the price point of the cruise.. keep it low and now provide mediocre food.  So for a lower cost of cruising (which seems crazy to say, If I wish for a better meal quality, I am paying for specialty dining), I have to be at the whim of getting the time I want for specialty dining.  As the ships are moving more to this, I would happily pay for it, provided I wasn't eating at 8 pm at night, vying for an open reservation.  There has to be a better solution as folks are obviously flocking to pay more for specialty dinning that want it, and they can't handle the sheer numbers. 

[sandebeach]

We just got off a quick weekend cruise on Liberty.  We were with friends and did traditional MDR all 3 nights. The menu was fine as was the food. Happy to report that we had excellent service. 

[LuCruise]

On 3/15/2023 at 4:07 PM, cruiseguy1016 said:

You can order more than one but you need to be a good boy and finish your first one before they will bring you a second one.

Just got off Oasis and I tried this on lobster night as one of the main meals was the cheese tortellini and that's one of my favorites, but also wanted the lobster (figured I'd have it on the side instead of rice) .  Our waiter commented the above that he can only bring it out when I'm done the lobster.  I was disappointed but said never mind then... but low and behold, he brought out both for us anyways (shared tortellini with DH), so probably at their discretion.

 

Was fine with the new menu.  The warm chocolate cookie is the best dessert!

 

For the other items...DH ordered the vegetarian Indian dish on many nights and enjoyed it.

 

I liked many of the dishes...old classics were really good...mushroom risotto, garlic shrimp, Caesar salad, French onion soup offered on a few nights (DD's favorite), and some new ones were tasty too....some tofu taco thing was tasty, DS loved enchilada, salmon was ok.  Only complaint is that one night was very salty (DD didn't eat her meal) and other nights the food wasn't always warm.  All in all, we were fine with the new menu.

 

P.S. - I don't eat beef or chicken and was happy to see that for the first time, you could get a veggie burger in the WIndjammer.  Don't remember seeing that before.

Edited March 20, 2023 by LuCruise

[HappyTexan44]

12 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Just got off Oasis and I tried this on lobster night as one of the main meals was the cheese tortellini and that's one of my favorites, but also wanted the lobster (figured I'd have it on the side instead of rice) . 

 

That sounds awesome!   When I'd looked at all the posted new menus I was grumpy that one of my all-time favorite dishes (cheese tortellini) was only offered on Lobster night.  My brain had been stuck in the SurfAndTurf rut.   

 

 

[LuCruise]

33 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

 

That sounds awesome!   When I'd looked at all the posted new menus I was grumpy that one of my all-time favorite dishes (cheese tortellini) was only offered on Lobster night.  My brain had been stuck in the SurfAndTurf rut.   

 

 

Yeah. You might get the same (original) response as me with having to finish your lobster first...or hopefully you'll be lucky and they will just bring you both at once.

 

 

[schlimazel_traveler]

When we were on Vision several years ago (2019), the hot entrees in the WJ were already in the side serving stations that hold the salad bar/fruit/antipasto selections on Grandeur and Enchantment. 

 

They also were extremely limited. Hot dogs, hamburgers, plain pasta. Probably a few other items that didn't register because we don't eat them (e.g. pork chops). The items that Grandeur offered as an *alternative* to the nice variety of entrees that changed every day. But that's all there was on Vision. I don't even remember what was in the central serving area. Dessert and salad, I suppose?

 

Since they announced Vision was coming to Baltimore, I've been hoping things have improved, but I guess not. I'll adjust my expectations.

Edited March 20, 2023 by schlimazel_traveler

[pittnh]

16 hours ago, vwlmember said:

This was before the menu changes. Anthem cruise last April I ordered the eggplant parm in the MDR. It arrived as a single slice of breaded eggplant about 4 inches wide in a bowl with sauce on the bottom. One of my table mates looked at the dish, looked directly at the server and promptly stated " Really?"  It was the root of every joke at dinner for the rest of the cruise. 

 

yeah, even with the old menu there were misses, as with the new.  We just told out waiter it wasn't what we expected and he brought out something that was much better (again, I'm looking at you Tofu Taco)

[HappyTexan44]

35 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Yeah. You might get the same (original) response as me with having to finish your lobster first...or hopefully you'll be lucky and they will just bring you both at once.

 

 

 

Ours isn't until February.   I hope other people have worn Royal down before that and they abandon treating guests like children who don't want to eat their veggies.  

I'd even be willing to move the lobster meat over to a bread plate and hand the entree plate back so the waiter didn't get in trouble for having two plates out.  I could kill time by cutting up the lobster.  

 

[cruiseboy89130]

3 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Just got off Oasis and I tried this on lobster night as one of the main meals was the cheese tortellini and that's one of my favorites, but also wanted the lobster (figured I'd have it on the side instead of rice) .  Our waiter commented the above that he can only bring it out when I'm done the lobster.  I was disappointed but said never mind then... but low and behold, he brought out both for us anyways (shared tortellini with DH), so probably at their discretion.

Just shows that you have to push back hard if you run into the "one plate" rule.....take it up the chain + make noise....

[MellowMel]

Just off Allure and I thought the food in the MDR was really good. I enjoyed everything I had as did my family and friends. We were in MDR 4 times because 3 nights we had specialty dining package. We missed Mexican Night, Italian Night and the Welcome Aboard night. 

 

Food is so subjective but we were happy.

 

Table favorites were: 

 

French Night

Escargots

Baked French Onion Soup

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Classic Beef Bourguignon

Creme Brulee

Not fond of Toasted Almond Profiteroles

 

Caribbean Night

Coconut Shrimp

Classic Caesar Salad

Garlic Herb Tiger Shrimp

New York Strip Steak

Royal Chocolate Cake

Pineapple Sunshine Cake (cake part kind of dry but pineapple and icing good)

 

Royal Night

Baked French Onion Soup

Chilled Shrimp Cocktail

Lemon Butter Baked Cod

Lobster

New York Strip

Baked Alaska

Warm Chocolate Cake

Red Velvet Cake

 

Bon Voyage Night

Mediterannean Tapas Medley

Classic Caesar Salad

Braised Lamb

Pecan Crusted Salmon

Spaghetti Bolognese

Dark Chocolate Brownie

Warm Apple Cobbler

[Itchy&Scratchy]

21 hours ago, LuCruise said:

the cheese tortellini and that's one of my favorites

we loved it on the Allure last year! Ordered it for DS, and very unlike him, he finished the entire adult plate!

[pittnh]

58 minutes ago, MellowMel said:

Bon Voyage Night

Mediterannean Tapas Medley

Classic Caesar Salad

Braised Lamb

Pecan Crusted Salmon

Spaghetti Bolognese

Dark Chocolate Brownie

Warm Apple Cobbler

 

we missed Bon voyage/Mediterranean night.  How was the braised lamb?  I miss the lamb chops from the old menu. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by pittnh

[MellowMel]

@pittnh, my friend loved it! It looked delicious. I did take a photo. 

[Magicat]

On 3/20/2023 at 6:14 AM, Habs_CatD said:

My daughter and I are vegetarian, just off Oasis of the seas. I have good news and bad news for you. I’ll post a full review later, but for now:

 

MDR has 1 vegan appetizer, entrée and dessert every night. On 2 nights there was an additional Indian main that could be made vegan. Some were excellent (Greek moussaka), some were iffy (couscous stuffed red pepper - was just a large amount of couscous). There was no source of protein in any of them. So yes, bring protein bars!

 

Other venues such as the Windjammer had several dishes that might have been vegetarian or vegan, but it was not always clear as nothing was labelled. We did ask, but the servers didn’t know. Some would go to the kitchen to ask for us, some didn’t offer. We discovered that you could ask for a veggie burger at the burger station, and they would cook it specifically for us. We relied on this a lot. Not sure how much protein there is in it, but it was good and filling.

 

We tried Playmakers for their veggie burger, but the service was appalling - no fault to our server - she was very busy, but we waited a long time to be acknowledged, then served, and never got our drinks. Johnny Rockets also has a veggie burger.

 

we had the best luck with the Solarium bistro - felafel, hummus and other dips, as well as veggie stir fry and other veggies. Ample bread available.

 

Overall it was lacking in choice and especially lacking in alternative proteins. Quality was OK. Service was in MDR was slow.

 

Do bring protein bars.

[pittnh]

1 minute ago, Magicat said:

 

couscous is basically pasta, never thought of that as a true protein source, more of a carb.