New Princess Lunch Menus

[JF - retired RRT]

4 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

But the MDR is usually only open on sea days.  How many of those 54 days are you in port?  Between the buffet, the Lido and the MDR, there's lots of options for variety.

31 sea days.

[cruzsnooze]

Just off a 28 night cruise on the Island Princess and the food was awful. I had reserved class and the service was outstanding. The menu choices were cheap items and the lunch menu never changed in 28 days. Who orders a large plate of french fries for lunch one of the menu options. 

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Yeah...I'm excited NOT. We have a 54-day cruise booked in '26. Same menu every day on 7, 10, 15 day cruise...OK. But, 54 days? ☹️

First — congrats on the many days you will spend at sea. Second — I agree. The same way that smaller cruise ships can offer something different than a large ship, extended length cruises really should be run differently than the short ones. It’s a very different kind of an experience. I like the idea of staples on the menu, but with 31 ports, they should have great opportunity to have a variety of provisions and new flavors across nearly 2 months at sea. 

[New2cruise2022]

39 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Just off a 28 night cruise on the Island Princess and the food was awful. I had reserved class and the service was outstanding. The menu choices were cheap items and the lunch menu never changed in 28 days. Who orders a large plate of french fries for lunch one of the menu options. 

I believe the hope — well placed or misplaced — is that passengers will embrace the buffet and lido offerings over MDR or choose to pay more for casual and specialty dining. 

[wallyj]

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Just off a 28 night cruise on the Island Princess and the food was awful. I had reserved class and the service was outstanding. The menu choices were cheap items and the lunch menu never changed in 28 days. Who orders a large plate of french fries for lunch one of the menu options. 

Just off 18 days on Sapphire and we had 11 Sea days. Actually the lunch menu DOES change, slightly. You have to pay attention. I believe 1 starter and 2 mains will change, for the new ‘mains’ they will usually be the bottom two items on the right side, because everything else is the same, it is easy to conclude it is the same menu everyday.

 

I still prefer the old sea day lunch menus that offered chimichangas, albondigas soup,  beef satays, Frito Misto platter, tuna melt, eclairs , etc. on a rotating basis.

[PacnGoNow]

3 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

31 sea days.

It does get a little boring. We just did 47, and mixed it up with SD, CD, MDR, UBD, pop ups, lido grill, Buffet, IC, RS, etc.  I get bored with the repeat of MDR dinner about every 7-10 days.  I wish they would rotate every 14 days on these longer ones.😘

Edited January 5 by PacnGoNow

[Senga]

We LOVE the look of the new menu; so many choices!

[memoak]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

It does get a little boring. We just did 47, and mixed it up with SD, CD, MDR, UBD, pop ups, lido grill, Buffet, IC, RS, etc.  I get bored with the repeat of MDR dinner about every 7-10 days.  I wish they would rotate every 14 days on these longer ones.😘

That’s strange we do a lot of 16 day cruises and they have always had 16 different dinner menus 

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

That’s strange we do a lot of 16 day cruises and they have always had 16 different dinner menus 

You know it might be the ship, because I always thought we had more variety.  But, recently, the Sapphire repeated about every 10 days.  So, we knew the menu and planned our SD, CD etc.  I’m sure it’s just me.  😳

 

Now, that I’m home, missing those prepared meals. 🥴

[Coral]

8 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

From @mrell345 Panama Canal full transit

Uninspiring.

[Hlitner]

8 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Yeah...I'm excited NOT. We have a 54-day cruise booked in '26. Same menu every day on 7, 10, 15 day cruise...OK. But, 54 days? ☹️

This is a problem with Princess.  We were surprised, on our recent 14 day Sky cruise, to find that the MDR lunch menu never changed!  Never!  And some of the options like the usual burger were just not very enticing.  As others have mentioned, the MDR was not even open on port days.

 

No question that all the mass market lines (including Princess) have found various ways to "cut back" and limit their cost.  As an example, we used to enjoy the Pub Lunches, but that is no longer an option.  The Pepperoni used in Alfredos and at slices is not real pepperoni but rather some kind of meat that reminds me of bland ring bologna.  

 

Long cruises are always a problem on mass market lines.  As a general rule, the same menu items are simply repeated, again and again.  Even when we take long cruises on luxury lines there is too much repetition.  Part of the problem is that cruise lines have "segments" and many folks are not aboard for an entire longer cruise.  So, the galley has no problem repeating things.  

 

Hank

[memoak]

25 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

This is a problem with Princess.  We were surprised, on our recent 14 day Sky cruise, to find that the MDR lunch menu never changed!  Never!  And some of the options like the usual burger were just not very enticing.  As others have mentioned, the MDR was not even open on port days.

 

No question that all the mass market lines (including Princess) have found various ways to "cut back" and limit their cost.  As an example, we used to enjoy the Pub Lunches, but that is no longer an option.  The Pepperoni used in Alfredos and at slices is not real pepperoni but rather some kind of meat that reminds me of bland ring bologna.  

 

Long cruises are always a problem on mass market lines.  As a general rule, the same menu items are simply repeated, again and again.  Even when we take long cruises on luxury lines there is too much repetition.  Part of the problem is that cruise lines have "segments" and many folks are not aboard for an entire longer cruise.  So, the galley has no problem repeating things.  

 

Hank

Lunch in MDR is always only open on sea days on Princess.  It has been that way for years. 

[Hlitner]

36 minutes ago, memoak said:

Lunch in MDR is always only open on sea days on Princess.  It has been that way for years. 

Yep, and having cruised on Princess for over 30 years we are aware :).  But once upon a time, Princess would change the lunch menu every day (when it was open).  I go understand, that on long cruises, having the same limited menu for a few months can get somewhat boring.

[cadien]

On 1/5/2024 at 6:03 AM, Coral said:

In the dining room - they only know how to make the James Beard French toast. If I ask for regular French toast, they don't know how to make it. Though they can make it in the buffet. Makes no sense. I don't like the greasy taste of James Beard French toast. They don't understand the word crepe. I have had this on other lines. They understand "blitzes" but only in blueberry. They don't realize you can put other fruit into it.

 

They do blintzes? That's fantastic. I never see them where I live now and they're a favorite of mine.

 

I generally like French Toast but won't be ordering the James Beard because I can't stand the cornflake coating. It's increasingly common in restaurants. It's an innovation and I recognize many people like it but it's not for me.

[Coral]

13 minutes ago, cadien said:

 

They do blintzes? That's fantastic. I never see them where I live now and they're a favorite of mine.

 

I generally like French Toast but won't be ordering the James Beard because I can't stand the cornflake coating. It's increasingly common in restaurants. It's an innovation and I recognize many people like it but it's not for me.

You will often see blueberry blitzes up in the buffet. No other flavor. I wish they varied flavors.

 

I agree about the French Toast. It used to only be offered on the last day and I hated flying home with the greasy flavor. It is offered more often now but I prefer normal French toast.

[coo359a2]

Post #80 is how we found the lunch menu on our 63 days on the Grand Princess.  We had to look closely to see what the 2 or 3 changes were each sea day or either ask the MDR hostess.

[New2cruise2022]

41 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

Post #80 is how we found the lunch menu on our 63 days on the Grand Princess.  We had to look closely to see what the 2 or 3 changes were each sea day or either ask the MDR hostess.

The menu doesn’t excite me much, but the other options on the ship provide a good variety and no one ever starves on a ship. 

[Kamfish642]

As long as I don't have to make lunch, I'm good!

[coo359a2]

5 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

The menu doesn’t excite me much, but the other options on the ship provide a good variety and no one ever starves on a ship. 

You're right about starving.  Too many options for food to starve or be on the very skinny side.

[conifercruiser]

Do they still post the day’s menus (lunch and dinner) outside the MDR’s in the late morning every day so you can decide if it’s worth it that day?

[Leo37]

4 minutes ago, conifercruiser said:

Do they still post the day’s menus (lunch and dinner) outside the MDR’s in the late morning every day so you can decide if it’s worth it that day?

They are published in the App every day. Possible to look at lunch and dinner at same time to decide which (or both, or neither) you want to do.

[Thrak]

28 minutes ago, conifercruiser said:

Do they still post the day’s menus (lunch and dinner) outside the MDR’s in the late morning every day so you can decide if it’s worth it that day?

 

We check them out on the TV but, once in a while, the dinner menu isn't quite exactly the same as the one posted on the TV. Can't comment on the accuracy of the lunch menu on the TV.

[wallyj]

34 minutes ago, conifercruiser said:

Do they still post the day’s menus (lunch and dinner) outside the MDR’s in the late morning every day so you can decide if it’s worth it that day?

Yes.

[helenb]

We just got off 11 days on Regal. The lunch menu was this new one every day except embarkation day. If there was a pub lunch, we missed the announcement. The menu was 90% the same every day, with maybe 3 or 4 items changing, none of which were the desserts.

 

We liked the calamari appetizer, and LOVED the mac and cheese entree. The chicken and waffles entree was great too. My go to lunch was the mac and cheese with the chicken from the chicken & waffles on the side.

 

i hope they would change it up for cruises longer than 14 days though.

Edited January 7 by helenb

[Cruisintimer]

4 minutes ago, helenb said:

We just got off 11 days on Regal. The lunch menu was this new one every day except embarkation day. If there was a pub lunch, we missed the announcement. The menu was 90% the same every day, with maybe 3 or 4 items changing, none of which were the desserts.

 

We liked the calamari appetizer, and LOVED the mac and cheese entree. The chicken and waffles entree was great too. My go to lunch was the mac and cheese with the chicken from the chicken & waffles on the side.

 

i hope they would change it up for cruises longer than 14 days though.

We were surprised by how good the Mac and cheese was on the Discovery a couple months ago.  Agree, the chicken and waffles were good too.  We both thought the food was really good on the Discovery.