Engineroom Snipe

Cannot agree more with your first statement: "Quality also depends on ship/cooks....to some extent." Someone else stated that the Calamari was heavily breaded and was lost in the batter. That was my opinion also. I love fresh calamari and prepare it often at home. I do not need it perfect, just reasonable. I could not find the Calamari in a heavy batter from RCI. I stopped ordering it. The Coconut Shrimp and Garlic Tiger Shrimp were tasty. I just wish the shrimp in the Garlic Tiger Shrimp were a bit larger on the fork 😁. Everyone has a different interpretation of food because it is SO subjective. Cruise food reviews are a hot topic but I do appreciate people trying to express their opinions without being judged or disrespected. I might have to try the "Tofu and Avocado" on Caribbean Night just to open my taste buds to a new adventure. "Try it, you might like it!"

You know I do not like to make food recommendations in general anymore but I know your style from all of your postings. I trust you to take it with a grain of salt (pun intended). You are well aware things change cruise to cruise and ship to ship. We ate every night at the second seating of MDR for nine nights in November on the Jewel for our anniversary. We were at a table for two and arrived with our choice of wine in hand from the Schooner Bar. We enjoyed listening to piano or guitar and violin. Very relaxing. My wife's favorite has always been escargot and she enjoyed it every meal that it was offered. Warning, the sauce is extremely rich. What looks to be a small portion with one stick of bread can be very filling. I tried it once during the week and it was good but I would have no room for another appetizer after it. Shrimp cocktail is always consistent. If I want salad, I would go to the Windjammer. I eat many soups at home so I did not feel the urge to have them. I had great success with all of the cuts of beef that week. The New York Strip was a nice thickness, satisfying proportion, and cooked medium rare to medium. Warm when it arrived, no gristle, maybe the smallest vein of fat (all meat needs a bit of fat for flavor so I was not disappointed in seeing it). The beef tenderloin came in two slices, juicy, cooked rare to medium rare, tender, and more than enough portion to satisfy me. My wife and I had salmon both times it was offered because the first time was excellent. Moist, cooked but not overcooked to the point of falling about with a great sauce. The fillet itself was about 6 ounces after cooking so it was a satisfying size without being overwhelming. Second salmon was with an excellent curry spice sauce. We shared one additional appetizer of tiger shrimp which had a very nice sauce but the shrimp were a 28 to 38 per pound count and got lost in the sauce. I think a 19 to 28 per pound count would have been more visually appearing but it was good. We ate a big breakfast, light lunch, and one appetizer and one entree main meal with no desserts by our second day. We are not used to eating three meals each day. We are early risers so we were first into the Windjammer, our lunch snack was about 1pm to 2p, and the MDR at 8pm. The Windjammer was the best I have seen since the opening of the Pandemic. Good salad selections, the grilled tomatoes are back, and the breakfast smoked salmon station was the best in my last six cruises. I hope this helps you in some way.

This. (my underlining and bold print on your original wording). The cruise lines are marketing their food as "high-end cuisine." At one time it used to be THE focus of the cruise because they did not have theme parks and other activities to attract customers. I find "high-end cuisine" the exception on my cruises of the past three years. I had one great experience, one good experience, and five mediocre experiences (two of them almost on the edge of "great breakfasts" but I was not too enthusiastic for the lunches or dinners). I am of the variety that I do not waste anything on my plate. If I take a serving, I eat it because there were many times in my life I made do with what I had. Push comes to shove, I can become a billy-goat in order to survive. Maybe that is why I look forward to a well prepared, delicious, and hot meal onboard ship: I know how much effort and time goes into a well prepared meal. I am satisfied with all of my three year cruise meals because of the price points I paid, I will not recommend a cruise for the food offerings anymore. I will let everyone judge for themselves.

Great find. Amazing what information is available when you ask fellow cruisers.

Very interesting as many deck mappers show there is space but it seems like about four feet at best. Looking forward to your in person assessment. Thank you for helping us understand this unique situation. Great question as I would assume from the original description that there is no direct path.

Like many posters have stated, food expectations vary wildly from one cruiser to the next. I do not recommend cruises anymore now because the great experiences I really enjoy might not be the same experience on a different ship or the same ship with a different crew. I tell them why I like cruising but I do not mention the food except to say they will certainly not starve and in most cases, they will find it more than adequate. The first time cruiser who bought a cruise based on my recommendation might get the wildcard bad meal in the MDR on the first night which sets the tone for the rest of the week. Since reopening after the pandemic, I have cruised and the meals have been adequate for the prices I paid which have easily doubled since I bought them. My 9 night cruise on the Jewel of the Seas in November was a pleasant shock. The MDR experience and Windjammer experience were the first time my wife and I experienced food quality approaching what we considered "the good-ole days." The cuts of beef, salmon, and more were of very good quality and prepared extremely well. When we talked to fellow cruisers with experience, they marveled at "this should be the way it is on all RCI ships." The food experiences are hit or miss. I am now accustomed to this but I cannot recommend a cruise line to others until I experience more consistency. For now, we are taking a hiatus from RCI and maybe cruising in general to refresh our attitudes about other experiences with our vacation dollars. I am well aware that people who are happy with a service are much less likely to post about it but I see posters who love cruising trying to tell about their experiences and expectations.

@perfect match. Ditto. Thank you @Rubyfisch.for taking your time to share with us.

Sir, Those types of questions are secret-squirrel stuff. When you figure-out this paradox. please elucidate me. Nice to know I am not alone in the wilderness. 😉

61 posts in less than thirteen hours with hundreds upon hundreds of reactions. Even more before I finish this post. Qualifies as a proverbial hot topic right next to gratuities. I must admit, I am looking for the best vacation experience for the cheapest price. I want a good sausage for the best price available. I do not care how they make it or what ingredients are in it. If the sausage gets to be too expensive. I look for a cheaper alternative. Maybe stuffed chicken? You get my point. How many cruisers are willing to put their money where their "concerns" are when they search for the cheapest cabin with double occupancy per night cost?

Your pictures and commentary are fabulous. Thank you for taking us with you on your journey.

Transparency is just so difficult in the cruise price anymore. I visit a large travel agency site specializing in cruises. Wow, a great per person price advertised that I call them about. Only for guaranteed room which is expected. Port taxes and taxes are extra and not listed on their site, anywhere on their website (why not, other agencies display the taxes?). The port taxes and taxes are listed at a much higher price because they have to pay the higher price listed at the time of original block purchase from the cruise line (sounds suspicious but not unusual or plausible). This can be hundreds of dollars. Then the agent pushes their agencies' travel insurance similar to a car dealership pushing their bank for financing. At the booking, there is no mention of expected automatic gratuities which now, at $18 per person, regardless of age adds up. RCI advertises Kids Sale for Free but the taxes and gratuities per child on a seven day cruise can be about $160 of taxes and now $126 of gratuities. Now add in the cost of a cabin that can handle more than 2 people which in most cruise cases is at least $400. The Kids Sale Free program is costing two parents about $600 more. That is not sailing free in my mind. Now, when one boards, they are expected to tip ahead of time in the anticipation of good service. I do not mind the expectation but I will never prepay my gratuities again. I would rather pay $2 additional per person per day with the option of changing the tip. I have never done so in all of the time I have been cruising but at least I have the option of doing so if service is extremely bad. This is kind of a moot point. I have one cruise left this year with RCI. I have one cruise reserved for next year. None for 2025. My time with them is coming to an end in 2024. I think it is time to move on to other vacation experiences. This topic of gratuities has been long and productive. I would like to say how "inconsiderate or unappreciative" non-tipping customers are but they bring up valid points which should be respected. Good by all. This is my last post on CC. I have been warned once too many times, I do not want to be banned and I would like to leave on my own terms. 😁

Because we do not eat out anymore because the rascals expect a tip from us! 🤣😉

I have been exposed to this type of service fee only once at a restaurant (surprised too that it was not an automatic gratuity). As we left, I got the generic how was your meal by the person at the entrance who books and sends people to their tables. I said the meal was great, the service was great, but where was the 20% fee going? There was a bit of dancing words to the answer. The fee represented increased food costs and compensated for reduced business hours because help was harder to find (they were not getting people to apply for extremely low hourly wages depending upon tips to make it up). I asked why not raise prices of the actual meals? The answer, "We might lose customers." What the ???????????? So we add 20% to the existing menus and try and sneak a larger bill instead of being up front and raise the meal prices? They just lost two more customers. 😕

Ok. That was about the about the period of the My Time Dining test bed. If you picked an early or late standard MDR, there were no prepaid gratuities. Standard MDR practices were that the gratuities were presented on the last MDR night. I would only guess if one paid their gratuity prior to that, the waiters would be very happy. Royal would not allow My Time Dining unless you prepaid gratuities because you might not have the same wait staff each night and they would split the pre-paid gratuity on a per meal basis. RCI toyed with Dynamic Dining which still required sharing tips as again your wait staff was not always the same. Again, my reasoning is that no wait staff should be dour, unhappy, or disappointed if they felt properly appreciated. If a table tipped earlier, they should be dancing about as they have a free night if guests do not show on the last night, not mope or grumble.

Cannot resist: Thor hammered his gratuities to a flat $0. 🤣

In my earlier response about wait staff being visibly upset, it was a specific time period when pre-paid gratuities did not exist. Please look at the time period of years that I quoted in my post. I was immediately judged as being presumptive and assuming guests did not leave a tip or gratuity. THERE WOULD BE NO REASON FOR ANY STAFF THAT WAS PAID GRATUITIES TO BE UPSET ON THE LAST NIGHT OF THE CRUISE IN MDR IF THEY WERE PAID EXPECTED OR ANTICIPATED GRATUITIES. Heck, if the gratuities were already paid, the staff were being given "the night off" if guests were not present and should be very happy serving a reduced workload. Why would I observe upset staff on the last night of MDR being noticeably dour, short, and otherwise unhappy if they were already compensated in the form of a tip or gratuity? If I was a waiter who received my gratuities, I would celebrate my last night off without guests. Maybe that is why I might infer that guests did not pay their gratuities when they visibly look upset on the last night of MDR at a table where guests did not appear. That would not be an unreasonable observation.

I will admit, you also bring up an interesting point: Do guest tip in advance as a bribe to get better service or more drinks at a lower or no price later in the cruise? One can only observe at many bars across the world if this is successful. The tipper is playing the odds that they will get more in return than they give. We might disagree with each other on endpoints but I can appreciate the discussion.

@Husky1987 I have witnessed this on MANY cruises long ago. There were many fuming wait staff and it was an uncomfortable environment on that last night. I mostly noticed this absentee last night from about 2002 to 2010 before My Time Dining but after they started to do Windjammer breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What were your time periods of observation?

Your experience aligns with what I would expect. Unless it affects the bottom line, RCI would "...shrug it off as expected." That is the reason I am holding on to my money for a while with current cruise pricing. Future bookings will only come down when future bookings do not meet their historical and projected quotas. By delaying my bookings, maybe I am helping others as well as myself. As you present your case, calling and complaining has limited effect and will not change RCI's course.

To add to my recent comment, if you order room service for breakfast that requires a room service fee and mandatory 18% included gratuity, you are completely covered and your logic is infallible.

Interesting, very interesting, you bring a new thought to the conversation. With the Unlimited Dining Packages charging 18% gratuity, you are being double charged for your lunches and diners if you pay the standard gratuity. Someone here might complain that you are not paying a gratuity on your breakfasts. If you do not eat breakfast, your logic sounds very plausible.

You raise a pertinent question: "Who in the 'other' gets that money?" It represents quite a large percentage of the charges. Similar to New Jersey State when they say a new tax or fee is "going into the general coffers." The General Coffers is a euphemistic black hole that lacks any specific reason except for the politicians to go to it for their pet projects.

Always amazing when long time posters try to present factual evidence only to be refuted by newly minted posters, without any type of references or evidence to back up their claim(s). The old "I am right, you are wrong, I do not have to prove anything because I know I am right and you are wrong." It is not a discussion, it is pontification at that point. @bonsai3s I have no reason to doubt that you did obtain the slip from an RCI ship from Guest Services. I have personally seen them being given out at GS to other guest while waiting in line concerning other matters. You shared with us what you received which is relevant to this discussion about "why the increase and where does it go?"

@iscruisingdunzo Agreed. So many times you will read in many threads about how RCI has to repay the loans using increased fees and prices as a reason. The CEO says for far too long, in so many words, cruises were being priced much lower than "comparable" vacation experiences. I am "comparing" vacation experiences and cruising is starting to not be very competitive. As I said, I am just going to wait on the sidelines for the dust to settle a bit before I book any more RCI cruises. I have been loyal to Royal since 1988.

Very interesting analysis and well presented. Thank you for your time and opinion on the matter. What I am seeing and listening on this particular thread is not the average complaining and moaning that some others threads contain. The opinions come from many thoughtful experienced cruisers who love cruising. We are banging the drum as loud as we can to say to RCI: "You are crossing the loyal repeat customer lines...." . I have only 7 days reserved for next year and none for 2025. Probably the first time in ten years where I did not have a minimum of 16 days per year booked well in advance. I will be doing a review of the 8pm MDR on the Jewel one week from now (not live). I have not been impressed with dining for many years. I keep hoping for the best. I hope it is not once again mediocre "SYSCO" provided foods and sauces. So far, the food except in a few circumstances has been maybe a 6 out of ten at best for the last few years. Reading these posts, I am not alone about "where is the money going" except to pay RCI shareholders after borrowing lots of money to survive the pandemic. I had to provide for my family during the pandemic. I am not going to pay what I think are additional fees for new cruises just to "help RCI survive." I am just standing on the sidelines for awhile to watch things unfold.