Anyone enjoying the new menu selections?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

24 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

 

That is how you plate a salad when you want to do it hours ahead of time.   

 

I agree.  This would save the waiters time by not having to carry around dressing when a salad is served. But this is a poor way to dress a salad.  . . . and what about the passenger that wants more dressing?  

 

I can just see a large group of people at corporate sitting in a room brainstorming all of the ways they can cut costs and save time for kitchen staff/waiters. [which saves money] They put most of these into practice with the new menu.  As criticism gets too much regarding something, they pull back on those.  It will be a few months before the dust settles. JMHO

[Lady Hudson]

Sister started a cruise 2 days ago.  Again food is only lukewarm.  She will speak with someone tonight.  And I know she will fill out the post cruise survey with appropriate facts about the dining.

[HappyTexan44]

Personally I think food needs to be sent back if there is something objectively wrong with it.  Lukewarm qualifies.  That will be the real way to get Royal to pull back on the petty stinginess, when it backfires in the moment.  

[Lady Hudson]

11 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Personally I think food needs to be sent back if there is something objectively wrong with it.  Lukewarm qualifies.  That will be the real way to get Royal to pull back on the petty stinginess, when it backfires in the moment.  

I am sure my sister will.  Third trip in a few weeks for her.  Only place to get decent food for dinner was Coastal Kitchen but that is not an option for most.

[smokeybandit]

Just off an 8 night cruise.  No difference in food quality compared to the old menus. In and out in less than an hour

Edited March 25, 2023 by smokeybandit

[cruiseboy89130]

4 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Personally I think food needs to be sent back if there is something objectively wrong with it.  Lukewarm qualifies.  That will be the real way to get Royal to pull back on the petty stinginess, when it backfires in the moment.  

+1 make them walk until their feet burn....

 

[poocher]

NVM

[sailor05]

22 hours ago, keishashadow said:

How was the steak?

Actually it was better than on most previous cruise. They now only have 2 options, medium-well and medium-rare. They have perfected the time on them. I can't tell you have many times mine was undercooked as I like medium-well but this tie they were spot-on! Everyone in my group liked them.

[poocher]

So now we have a choice between under cooked and over cooked.  Does medium well have any pink at all?

[smokeybandit]

6 minutes ago, sailor05 said:

Actually it was better than on most previous cruise. They now only have 2 options, medium-well and medium-rare. 

That wasn't true this past week on Jewel.

[Cruise>Work]

Were were on Odyssey 3/11 sailing, steak could be ordered med-rare, med, med-well, we did not ask about other options. Usually came as requested but had one med-rare that was very red rather than full pink but they were very apologetic and quickly got us one that was correct.

 

We though most of the meals were actually pretty good. No issues with asking for second app or entree or dessert if someone wanted it, did not try ordering more than 1 lobster tail per person. The salmon was excellent both versions that I had. Can't speak to the lamb as I was talked out of it due to my kids having issues with ordering something "cute" for dinner. 

[fair-winds39]

We were on Anthem March 12-19. We did MDR. After 27 cruises, only 3 with RCL, we found the food to be on par with other lines. We’re not foodies, but if something were lukewarm, or tasteless, we would just politely mention it to the waitstaff. All the meals we had on the Anthem were good. We were also able to order extra appetizers or desserts if we wanted. 

[keishashadow]

Looking at the menus for upcoming cruise, there are nights I’d prefer to the skip the entree entirely and have 2 (or 3 appetizers such as salad, soup and escargot or shrimp), then skip directly to dessert.  

 

Wonder if it’s even worth asking if they could accommodate that request now?  Last thing I want to do is over stress the waitstaff.  I’m sure they have their hands full explaining the new rules to guests.

[Cruise>Work]

I think your best chance of success is just to politely ask the waitstaff at the meal and I would be surprised if they did not grant it, my experience trying to arrange anything specific to dining in advance of the sailing (other than seating time) is that I have been told to ask the dining team onboard

[Mum2Mercury]

On 3/18/2023 at 2:27 PM, shofer said:

When I saw the new menus online, my first thought is none of this is new ... 

True, many of the things on this "new" menu were on the "old" menu, but they're rearranged and interposed with new items.  But, no, they didn't really start from scratch with the new menus.

On 3/19/2023 at 12:06 PM, latebuyer said:

Thanks for those posting your favorite dishes. This is more helpful then hearing the same complaints about the food over and over.

Yes, I definitely appreciate hearing what was good /what we should skip ... and details about WHY so I know whether I'd share that opinion or not.  

On 3/19/2023 at 10:58 PM, Tomnsgirl said:

Food selection is horrible, same options everyday. Sailed on vision 2/27-3/10/23

But the menus aren't the same for every day?  Are they not serving what's on the menu?  

On 3/20/2023 at 7:56 AM, rimmit said:

... Loco Fresh is being installed on more ships in the fleet ... 

I absolutely love Mexican food ... seems like most people do. 

Fish & Ships on Independence seemed to be popular too.  

On 3/20/2023 at 7:58 AM, 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.

You're right that some people just like complaining.  

On 3/20/2023 at 2:35 PM, LuCruise said:

... The warm chocolate cookie is the best dessert! .... 

You're not the first person to say that on these boards, and I wouldn't have guessed it from the name.  I'm going to have to try that on our next cruise.  

On 3/24/2023 at 12:15 PM, latebuyer said:

I don’t understand the point of this thread. If you are unhappy with food, switch to another cruise line.

Well, many of us would like to know which dishes most people prefer ... ahead of time.  

On 3/24/2023 at 7:32 PM, Russ Lomas said:

Asked for a baked potato last week instead of rice and got it no questions asked.

Who doesn't love a good baked potato?  Of course, I'm American, but I have Irish ancestors on both sides of my family -- and some stereotypes are true.  

 

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Mum2Mercury

[gagirl7143]

They are mostly bad

 

[poocher]

40 minutes ago, gagirl7143 said:

They are mostly bad

 

Could you give more details?  What ship were you on?  Which dishes were bad and why?

[Bizaro86]

On adventure of the seas right now for my first RCL cruise. I had read they changed the dining room policy (after we booked) but thought it was only entrees that were limited?

 

We had our first meal tonight and I was denied a second appetizer, so royal saved the 8 tortilla chips and 2 tbsp of spinach dip that would have come with a serving of that. I'm not generally someone to complain but thought that seemed ridiculous. Is my waiter correct in the rules (in which case the solution for me will just be never cruise Royal again) or is it a poor training of the waiter issue (in which case I'll say something while on board).

 

 

[JamesEM]

I was on the Symphony, ordered a chicken dish in the MDR and it was tough and over cooked, I said to myself "life is too short to complain and get upset" so I excused myself and walked out of the MDR.  Then I had someone in a black jacket following me into the casino trying to get me to come back.

[shipgeeks]

9 hours ago, keishashadow said:

Looking at the menus for upcoming cruise, there are nights I’d prefer to the skip the entree entirely and have 2 (or 3 appetizers such as salad, soup and escargot or shrimp), then skip directly to dessert.  

 

Wonder if it’s even worth asking if they could accommodate that request now?  Last thing I want to do is over stress the waitstaff.  I’m sure they have their hands full explaining the new rules to guests.

We did exactly that, a couple of times, not because there was nothing else appealing, but because we felt like eating light.  Not a problem at all.

To answer the original question, we were quite pleased with everything we had in both WJ and MDR on our recent Enchantment cruise.  Not a single disappointment, and lots of variety.

[HappyTexan44]

13 hours ago, Cruise>Work said:

Can't speak to the lamb as I was talked out of it due to my kids having issues with ordering something "cute" for dinner. 

 

This might help for the future.   Tell your kids that sheep are so dumb, the babies can die of fright.  Some friends of ours have a sheep herd.   When they got their first lambs they weren't planning on eating them because they wanted more sheep.  The mom was washing dishes and looking outside.  She saw two lambs just keel over dead because a car back-fired.  Which explains why eating lambs is a thing.   Normally farmers want an animal to at least be fully grown.  

 

[Mum2Mercury]

8 hours ago, Bizaro86 said:

... We had our first meal tonight and I was denied a second appetizer ...

Hmmm, we've heard of people being told, "You must finish one before you can have a second", but we haven't heard, "NO, you cannot have more."  That's worse, and I'd like to hear whether this is a pattern over the rest of the cruise -- or just one waiter who made a mistake.  

7 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

This might help for the future.   Tell your kids that sheep are so dumb, the babies can die of fright.  Some friends of ours have a sheep herd.   When they got their first lambs they weren't planning on eating them because they wanted more sheep.  The mom was washing dishes and looking outside.  She saw two lambs just keel over dead because a car back-fired.  Which explains why eating lambs is a thing.   Normally farmers want an animal to at least be fully grown.  

Reminds me of my girls having lobster on a cruise for the first time.  One asked, "Do they kill the lobsters or just wait for them to die?"  Apparently she hadn't considered that animals are food previously.  

Um, Sweetheart, we have to face some facts.  She got over it, and she's a hard-core carnivore.  

[Pratique]

8 hours ago, JamesEM said:

I was on the Symphony, ordered a chicken dish in the MDR and it was tough and over cooked, I said to myself "life is too short to complain and get upset" so I excused myself and walked out of the MDR.  Then I had someone in a black jacket following me into the casino trying to get me to come back.

This made me chuckle. Many years ago my then-girlfriend and I went to a nice restaurant for lunch on my birthday. It was intended to be a good day but the service was horrible. The only time we saw our server was when she took our order. She didn't bring out the food or even the check - those were done by others and only after we had to ask for them. We paid the bill but left a zero tip. No sooner had we walked out did the manager come chasing after us, daring to accuse us of shorting the server on her tip. When I explained the situation, saying essentially life is too short, he said that I should have come to him first. Of course, we never saw him either, until we left. Getting up and leaving is the only thing that works.

[gavvy]

16 hours ago, keishashadow said:

Looking at the menus for upcoming cruise, there are nights I’d prefer to the skip the entree entirely and have 2 (or 3 appetizers such as salad, soup and escargot or shrimp), then skip directly to dessert.  

 

Wonder if it’s even worth asking if they could accommodate that request now?  Last thing I want to do is over stress the waitstaff.  I’m sure they have their hands full explaining the new rules to guests.

 

I did this with no issues, ordered 2 apps and asked that it came out the same time as the others main course- was no issue at all.

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

2 hours ago, Pratique said:

This made me chuckle. Many years ago my then-girlfriend and I went to a nice restaurant for lunch on my birthday. It was intended to be a good day but the service was horrible. The only time we saw our server was when she took our order. She didn't bring out the food or even the check - those were done by others and only after we had to ask for them. We paid the bill but left a zero tip. No sooner had we walked out did the manager come chasing after us, daring to accuse us of shorting the server on her tip. When I explained the situation, saying essentially life is too short, he said that I should have come to him first. Of course, we never saw him either, until we left. Getting up and leaving is the only thing that works.

Getting up and walking out of the MDR just doesn't have the same effect............you're not being charged so it's not like you're leaving without paying.........