Honey Stung Chicken

[bigque]

Who has been around long enough to remember the old time honored tradition of eating honey stung chicken that was always served at lunch on embarkation day in the Windjammer! That was a must have Windjammer delicacy back in the day! I remember if you didn’t get there early enough they would actually run out of it! 🙂

[Anton]

Yes.  I always liked it.  I've been on a lot of cruises in the past two years and don't recall seeing it on the buffet line lately.

[bigque]

1 minute ago, Anton said:

Yes.  I always liked it.  I've been on a lot of cruises in the past two years and don't recall seeing it on the buffet line lately.

Yep they stopped serving it a few years ago well before pandemic. 

[silentbob007]

Oh yes. IYKYK and everyone else would try it and say REALLY? It definitely did degrade over time. 

[OCSC Mike]

My embarkation day tradition after that, which seemed to be on every ship, was paella... and sadly they didn't have that either on Wonder in June.

 

Somehow I survived and found plenty to eat, of course, but I did enjoy the paella when it was freshly made.

[HicksRA]

1 minute ago, OCSC Mike said:

My embarkation day tradition after that, which seemed to be on every ship, was paella... and sadly they didn't have that either on Wonder in June.

 

Somehow I survived and found plenty to eat, of course, but I did enjoy the paella when it was freshly made.

The only problem with the paella was that the guy in front of you in line would walk away with 30 shrimp on his plate and all that was left was half open mussels.  

[BND]

I remember before our first cruise on RCI, reading all the people raving about Honey Stung Chicken.  Boarded our first Royal ship-Grandeur, went to the WJ and grabbed some.  I found it anything but Honey Stung lol.  It was breaded chicken with a little flavor.  Nothing special at all.  We now eat in whatever Specialty restaurant is serving lunch, although Jewel in Oct doesn't have one open on embarkation day.  I guess it's back to the WJ for prob salad and whatever looks okay.

[OCSC Mike]

11 minutes ago, HicksRA said:

The only problem with the paella was that the guy in front of you in line would walk away with 30 shrimp on his plate and all that was left was half open mussels.  

 

That's why I tried to be the 1st guy, lol, but I didn't steal all the shrimp, I swear!

[long4acruise]

Loved the Honey Stung Chicken in WJ on embarkation day!

Several years prior to the pandemic era, a guest inquired during the Captain's Corner why it wasn't being served anymore. The F&B officer spoked up and said sadly their supplier no longer offered it. He said as it had been the #1 question he was constantly asked.

[farjar]

If you search Royal Caribbean Honey Stung Chicken there is a recipe on the Royal Caribbean blog.  I understand having someone else prepare it and serve it to you is half the charm!

[CruisinBanka]

Honey Stung Chicken was definitely the best chicken dish they had at the buffet and I always looked forward to it to kick off the cruise! 

[sunnyv]

28 minutes ago, farjar said:

If you search Royal Caribbean Honey Stung Chicken there is a recipe on the Royal Caribbean blog.  I understand having someone else prepare it and serve it to you is half the charm!

If you want to try it at home here is the link:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2013/07/30/royal-caribbean-classic-honey-stung-chicken

[fpcruiser]

59 minutes ago, BND said:

I remember before our first cruise on RCI, reading all the people raving about Honey Stung Chicken.  Boarded our first Royal ship-Grandeur, went to the WJ and grabbed some.  I found it anything but Honey Stung lol.  It was breaded chicken with a little flavor.  Nothing special at all.  We now eat in whatever Specialty restaurant is serving lunch, although Jewel in Oct doesn't have one open on embarkation day.  I guess it's back to the WJ for prob salad and whatever looks okay.

I always found it very dried out.

[BecciBoo]

There's no accounting for taste.  We always loved it and miss it.  Wish they'd follow their own recipe.

[Armac]

To the people who say it was dried out, yes I agree the last few years the quality went down, but when we started cruising 25 years ago it was excellent. I also seem remember it was on the room service menu for a few years.

[CruisinBanka]

7 minutes ago, Armac said:

To the people who say it was dried out, yes I agree the last few years the quality went down, but when we started cruising 25 years ago it was excellent. I also seem remember it was on the room service menu for a few years.

Yes it was on the room service menu! My teenage boys use to order it all the time. I also agree it was better long ago than when they most recently offered it. The key was to always get the freshly made pan of it they were just bringing out from the kitchen! 

[loman]

I managed to find it only once several years ago , and it was not memorable unfortunately .😔

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

That's why I tried to be the 1st guy, lol, but I didn't steal all the shrimp, I swear!

Even Pre-CV eating in WJ I was always first in and to use Utensils. Just my thing

Edited August 15, 2023 by ONECRUISER

[time4u2go]

2 hours ago, HicksRA said:

The only problem with the paella was that the guy in front of you in line would walk away with 30 shrimp on his plate and all that was left was half open mussels.  

You make it sound like that's a bad thing. 😉

[ATLgirl15]

I remember that! Our kids thought it tasted like chick-fil-a. Then the Kummelwick became the “must have” embarkation sandwich and sadly on our last cruise it had also gone downhill 😞

[OCSC Mike]

7 minutes ago, ATLgirl15 said:

Then the Kummelwick became the “must have” embarkation sandwich and sadly on our last cruise it had also gone downhill

 

At least the Kummelweck is there all cruise... and they were good on Wonder in June so don't lose all hope.

Edited August 15, 2023 by OCSC Mike

[ATLgirl15]

Thanks Mike, I’ll give it another try on our upcoming cruise.

[OCSC Mike]

10 minutes ago, ATLgirl15 said:

Thanks Mike, I’ll give it another try on our upcoming cruise.

I’d always give everything another try… especially given that it’s included. If you still don’t like it, move on.

 

Not every piece of roast beef will be a good one, not every panini will be crispy enough (even though my wife basically asks them to burn hers), etc.

[mets123]

3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

That's why I tried to be the 1st guy, lol, but I didn't steal all the shrimp, I swear!

I remember seeing half full bowls of rice with empty muscle and clam shells. There was no protein left. Nobody wanted to touch it.  And the WJ staff wouldn't replace it, saying it was still half full. Then they started getting smarter by adding extra grilled chicken thighs and shrimp when the dish was picked clean

[Jetdriver787]

Now you can get stung in so many other ways!