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NCL vs RC food


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not outstanding, but SLOP..windjammer is SLOP and TERRIBLE. while no buffet on mainline cruises would be outstanding, RCI is far and away the worse one for free dining in buffet and dining room

 

i guess you must think denny's is the bomb on land and love old country buffet if you think Windjammer is not slop

 

Guessing you haven't seen MSC's. Good Pizza in the buffet......and that's the highlight.

 

You must have had a really terrible WJ experience.

I usually can find a handful of items that are appealing to me on most days.

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glad you agree that RCI is terrible for food in buffet and MDR and only reason to sail them is for the ship (notwithstanding upcharges for everything that's free on other cruise lines)
What is free on other lines that Royal is charges for?
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Room service.

Sodas (on Disney).

Well Disney is hardly a mainstream line with their pricing. Soda isn't free on all other lines including premium massmarket lines like Celebrity, Holland, Princess and Cunard.

 

Room service isn't free on NCL and MSC which are similar lines.

 

Apples to apples. Royal offers one of the cheapest Wi-Fis.

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Well Disney is hardly a mainstream line with their pricing. Soda isn't free on all other lines including premium massmarket lines like Celebrity, Holland, Princess and Cunard.

 

Room service isn't free on NCL and MSC which are similar lines.

 

Apples to apples. Royal offers one of the cheapest Wi-Fis.

You asked "What is free on other lines that Royal charges for?" On some lines, room service is free. On one line, sodas are free.

 

You didn't ask what is free on every other cruise line that Royal charges for.

 

I'm not sure what wi-fi has to do with my answer.

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You asked "What is free on other lines that Royal charges for?" You didn't ask what is free on every other cruise line that Royal charges for.
Have you ever priced a Disney cruise? I just did the other day and about peed myself. It was what RCI charges for a balcony but on Disney an inside cabin. Complete insanity.

 

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Oh I totally agree! Disney is very expensive.
I was blown away and I didn't get it. I had to go looking for answers but it turns out those prices are normal for Disney cruises. Too bad because I would love to take my son but not at those prices. I refuse to at those prices.

 

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Guessing you haven't seen MSC's. Good Pizza in the buffet......and that's the highlight.

 

You must have had a really terrible WJ experience.

I usually can find a handful of items that are appealing to me on most days.

MSC has the poorest food of the cruise lines we cruise. That includes MDR, Buffett, Specialty Restaurants. That includes quality, variety, presentation and preparation.

Their pizza is paper thin and has nothing on it.

RCI food is great compare to MSC.

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You asked "What is free on other lines that Royal charges for?" On some lines, room service is free. On one line, sodas are free.

 

You didn't ask what is free on every other cruise line that Royal charges for.

 

I'm not sure what wi-fi has to do with my answer.

On Silver Sea and RSSC everything is included - drinks, tips, additional restaurants. Why not bring these lines into equation. :)

Apples to oranges.

Royal offers the same level of "free" things as other mainstream lines.

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MSC has the poorest food of the cruise lines we cruise. That includes MDR, Buffett, Specialty Restaurants. That includes quality, variety, presentation and preparation.

Their pizza is paper thin and has nothing on it.

RCI food is great compare to MSC.

I agree. As much as I loved our cruises on Poesia and Divina, food is weaker than on other massmarket.

They do have own strong points.

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They make you pay $150 each pre-paid gratuities. So $300. Vastly less expensive than paying for it outright.
I think cheaper.

It's 20% off of $89per day.

 

But cabins with free at sea are usually more expensive, although we got our cabin for the same price.

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Just in the past 2 years, if been on RCCL twice, NCL, twice and Princess twice. I would rate the food in MDR

1. NCL

2. RCCL

3. Princess

 

I was very unhappy with food on Princess in January. I don’t think I’ve had a bad MDR meal on NCL and love their speciality restaurants.

 

Just my opinions. In a week I’ll be on RCCL for a b2b, February on Princess for 12 days and hopefully Windstar in 2020. (Might throw in another cruise in fall of 2019. 🤣)

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On Silver Sea and RSSC everything is included - drinks, tips, additional restaurants. Why not bring these lines into equation. :)

Apples to oranges.

Royal offers the same level of "free" things as other mainstream lines.

Nope. Room service is free on Carnival (except for late night). Also, Guy's Burgers on Carnival is free, which could be compared to Johnny Rockets (not free) or to Royal's poolside food options (nonexistent). Apples to apples.

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I agree. As much as I loved our cruises on Poesia and Divina, food is weaker than on other massmarket.

They do have own strong points.

 

Divina is probably the prettiest ship I've been on and the wings in the pub were good. Whenever I hear/see someone beaking about how bad RCL food is I think back to my Divina experience.

Still never went hungry tho

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Have to take a NCL cruise (NZ) this January on the Jewel; as we have a significant amount of credit coupons from the NCL Star disaster in Jan 2016 :mad:. Ship kept breaking down. Missed about 1/2 the ports.

Abandoned ship a week early in Melbourne.

 

 

After the Jewel we will get on the Explorer for an Australian cruise.

 

I must admit that NCL has been better in the food category a "B+" vs "C+" for RC.

I was told by DR head waiters that much of RC's food is prepared off the ship and Microwaved. Thus the lower quality.

 

Anyone can offer a response about this?

 

The food on RCI ships is much better than MCL ships,especially the pizza.

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MSC has the poorest food of the cruise lines we cruise. That includes MDR, Buffett, Specialty Restaurants. That includes quality, variety, presentation and preparation.

Their pizza is paper thin and has nothing on it.

RCI food is great compare to MSC.

 

Haha, I like how people either think the pizza on MSC is the best, or the worst. Nothing in the middle. I really want to try it for myself.

 

I bet it's a decent example of Neapolitan pizza, and is just not what American's expect out of pizza. How was the crust? did it taste good? are you someone who normally eats the crust of a pizza?

 

It's so hard to parse food reviews on this forum. People come from all different backgrounds and tastes. I think it would be helpful to give a comparison to what you think is equivalent on land.

 

edit: I personally thought the pizza on NCL escape was inedible. I literally could barely even swallow the one small bite i took. dense mushy crust. the super thin outside rim of crust did not rise at all. it looked like it was somehow even thinner than the center. No browning at all. tasteless thin layer of toppings. but i didn't get too far into tasting the toppings because of the crust.

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I think cheaper.

It's 20% off of $89per day.

 

But cabins with free at sea are usually more expensive, although we got our cabin for the same price.

 

It must have gone up a little. We are never in the cabin, so we get a inside cabin and get the UBP. It's pretty reasonable.

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It must have gone up a little. We are never in the cabin, so we get a inside cabin and get the UBP. It's pretty reasonable.

 

 

 

We are too in insides.

3 weeks ago we paid 20% on “free at sea” UPD package for 2 of us, and it was $250 for a week for both of us.

More than reasonable.

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Haha, I like how people either think the pizza on MSC is the best, or the worst. Nothing in the middle. I really want to try it for myself.

 

I bet it's a decent example of Neapolitan pizza, and is just not what American's expect out of pizza. How was the crust? did it taste good? are you someone who normally eats the crust of a pizza?

 

It's so hard to parse food reviews on this forum. People come from all different backgrounds and tastes. I think it would be helpful to give a comparison to what you think is equivalent on land.

 

edit: I personally thought the pizza on NCL escape was inedible. I literally could barely even swallow the one small bite i took. dense mushy crust. the super thin outside rim of crust did not rise at all. it looked like it was somehow even thinner than the center. No browning at all. tasteless thin layer of toppings. but i didn't get too far into tasting the toppings because of the crust.

 

 

 

I am not pizza eater and I am pretty familiar with European food.

On our 2 sailings here in US it was not a European food really...

and quality was weaker than on other lines. Especially it was noticeable in preparation of meats in MDR. My husband honestly tried to cut “steaks” every night and it was tough and dry, plus made from lower quality of meat.

 

We actually enjoyed many aspects of cruising on Divina and Poesia. Beauty of these ships, great entertainment, cozyness of cabins, international crowd, multiple languages, but food was weaker than on other lines (we sailed with 7 more lines multiple times)

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Nope. Room service is free on Carnival (except for late night). Also, Guy's Burgers on Carnival is free, which could be compared to Johnny Rockets (not free) or to Royal's poolside food options (nonexistent). Apples to apples.

 

 

 

Yes, I haven’t sailed with Carnival in 5 years for many other reasons.

 

RCCL has other free venues not only buffets and MDR, depending on the ship. Park cafe, Sorrentos Pizza, sandwich shops on Quantum class ships.

Again, there are pool side options on numerous Royal ships near solariums.

Which other massmarket lines offer free room service outside of breakfast? NCL, MSC, Costa?

 

But when you say “nope”, please check again what was written to me.

1) first message sounded like majority of massmarket doesn’t charge for what Royal charges

2) Soda in Disney!

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