Breakfast and Lunch in MDR

[rncruiser]

I am looking at the menus posted on the app for my upcoming cruise on Odyssey and I am confused. It seems that on sea days there is brunch, rather than breakfast and lunch. The breakfast items are much more limited than on port days when the menu is listed as breakfast. The items that would be suitable for lunch are also very limited. Are these the actual menus? It is hard to imagine that they would hand me a menu at 8 am that includes fish, burgers, salad, and dessert. 

[gumshoe958]

Yes, it’s now a hybrid brunch menu on sea days served (on the current Odyssey sailing at least) between 8:30 and noon.

 

The full, separate breakfast & lunch selections are still available in the Windjammer.

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by gumshoe958

[cruiseboy89130]

3 hours ago, rncruiser said:

It is hard to imagine that they would hand me a menu at 8 am that includes fish, burgers, salad, and dessert. 

You need to work on your imagination!😝

[rncruiser]

Are the breakfast and lunch buffets gone from the MDR as well?

[Tlbecker1]

1 hour ago, rncruiser said:

Are the breakfast and lunch buffets gone from the MDR as well?

Yes.  Those have been gone since COVID.

[rncruiser]

So disappointing. I may have to reconsider my loyalty to Royal. Meals in the dining room have always been my preference. 

[cruiserhal]

3 hours ago, rncruiser said:

So disappointing. I may have to reconsider my loyalty to Royal. Meals in the dining room have always been my preference. 

I agree with you on reconsidering Royal.   We have already decided to go back to NCL and booked a trip in the Haven for April 2024.  We booked the haven a number of years ago and really enjoyed it.  The last 3 trips on the Oasis staying in a suite (2 in a GS and one A3 overlooking the water show) were a disappointment for many reasons including poor cabin maintenance.   

 

We have also booked the Odyssey New Year's cruise in 2024 which we won't cancel but that is the only cruise we have booked with Royal going forward.   We are waiting to see what additional cuts or extra charges may be coming from the Royal accountants.  

 

Good luck with whatever you decide.  

 

Hal 

[rncruiser]

I’m not sure which cruise line we will go with, but definitely not NCL. I have several friends who have had great experiences but the one cruise we had with them about 5 years ago was awful in virtually every aspect imaginable, and some not imaginable. 

[bonsai3s]

11 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Yes, it’s now a hybrid brunch menu on sea days served (on the current Odyssey sailing at least) between 8:30 and noon.

 

The full, separate breakfast & lunch selections are still available in the Windjammer.

 

Yes, we discovered this "hybrid brunch" recently on the Symphony.

 

We usually eat lunch (late) around 1:15pm...on one sea day, we wanted to try the MDR for lunch. We show up at 1:15 and both of us smiled...no queue.

 

We get to the podium and requested a table...the headwaiter said: "Sorry, we are closed". 

 

* Our fault...never even paid attention. We both looked at each other and said: "Duh!". Fortunately, there were plenty of other places to eat.

[The Fun Researcher]

Seems like they are doing this backwards to me.  Don't folks want a quick breakfast on port days so they can head into port or excursion?  Windjammer is great for that.

 

Sea days are when you would have more time to order breakfast, wait for your food, have a coffee, relax...

 

... and lunch (or brunch) are still only available in the MDR on sea days correct?

[Denversail]

Is this really new? I feel like I had the brunch menu on sea days last April on Oasis. As an early riser I personally think the breakfast hours suck. I don’t like eating breakfast in the windjammer.

[cruiserhal]

2 hours ago, rncruiser said:

I’m not sure which cruise line we will go with, but definitely not NCL. I have several friends who have had great experiences but the one cruise we had with them about 5 years ago was awful in virtually every aspect imaginable, and some not imaginable. 

I understand completely.  That is why we only book the Haven on NCL and will not consider any other cabin types.  Totally different world from the rest of the ship.  We are also looking at going back to Holland America depending on the destination.  

[gumshoe958]

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Seems like they are doing this backwards to me.  Don't folks want a quick breakfast on port days so they can head into port or excursion?  Windjammer is great for that.

 

Sea days are when you would have more time to order breakfast, wait for your food, have a coffee, relax...

 

... and lunch (or brunch) are still only available in the MDR on sea days correct?

Presumably the thinking is that people want a lie-in on sea days and are happy to eat later. Rather like weekends at hotels where the breakfast rush is later than on weekdays.

 

But I imagine the real reason is that offering one meal service is cheaper than two.

[jbrinkm]

2 hours ago, Denversail said:

Is this really new? I feel like I had the brunch menu on sea days last April on Oasis. 

 

We had separate breakfast and lunch menus last April on Allure. 

 

We really enjoyed the lunches in the MDR and I also see only brunch on current Symphony menus I've been looking at in anticipation of our March cruise. I still enjoyed dinners in the MDR and haven't complained about the new menu there, but eliminating MDR lunch is extremely disappointing to me. There were some items that were only on the lunch menu that will be sorely missed - in particular, the apple blossom dessert. 

[shipgeeks]

As I understand (or recall) it, the Brunch is only offered on one of the sea days, not all or most. All the other sea days have the standard separate breakfast and then lunch.

Our last two RC cruises had six sea and two port days, then six sea and five port days, and I only remember seeing the brunch listed one time on each.  And although I did not attend, I thought the menu was quite extensive.....and many people apparently had a morning meal and a midday meal there.

[gumshoe958]

2 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

As I understand (or recall) it, the Brunch is only offered on one of the sea days, not all or most. All the other sea days have the standard separate breakfast and then lunch.

Our last two RC cruises had six sea and two port days, then six sea and five port days, and I only remember seeing the brunch listed one time on each.  And although I did not attend, I thought the menu was quite extensive.....and many people apparently had a morning meal and a midday meal there.

I just looked at the current Symphony itinerary on the app, and brunch is the only option on all four sea days.

 

On Jewel and Anthem though, breakfast and lunch are still separate. So maybe it’s just an Oasis class thing. For now.

[rncruiser]

2 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

 

We had separate breakfast and lunch menus last April on Allure. 

 

We really enjoyed the lunches in the MDR and I also see only brunch on current Symphony menus I've been looking at in anticipation of our March cruise. I still enjoyed dinners in the MDR and haven't complained about the new menu there, but eliminating MDR lunch is extremely disappointing to me. There were some items that were only on the lunch menu that will be sorely missed - in particular, the apple blossom dessert. 

 

I will miss some of the hot sandwiches which were only available in the MDR and I always thought the desserts at lunch were better than the ones at dinner. 

[shipgeeks]

2 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

I just looked at the current Symphony itinerary on the app, and brunch is the only option on all four sea days.

 

On Jewel and Anthem though, breakfast and lunch are still separate. So maybe it’s just an Oasis class thing. For now.

Is the app always accurate, ahead of time?  I've read of "one or two" inaccuracies on the app before. (I don't use it, so just going by what I read, of things that are incomplete or not true.)

[Morecruisesplz]

On 12/5/2023 at 8:28 PM, rncruiser said:

I am looking at the menus posted on the app for my upcoming cruise on Odyssey and I am confused. It seems that on sea days there is brunch, rather than breakfast and lunch. The breakfast items are much more limited than on port days when the menu is listed as breakfast. The items that would be suitable for lunch are also very limited. Are these the actual menus? It is hard to imagine that they would hand me a menu at 8 am that includes fish, burgers, salad, and dessert. 

You can skip the salad. 

[gumshoe958]

4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

Is the app always accurate, ahead of time?  I've read of "one or two" inaccuracies on the app before. (I don't use it, so just going by what I read, of things that are incomplete or not true.)

Not always ahead of time, no. But I was looking at the current sailings for each ship, which I’d expect to be correct. Probably.