New Dinner Menu in GDR

Has anyone seen the new dinner menu for the GDR currently on Riviera? Appreciate any thoughts/comments.

From what I know, the roll out of the new GDR menus are happening throughout June across the fleet. I'm betting that timing of provisioning ports (e.g., Insignia now headed to Honolulu) will be a factor.

We left Riviera a week ago. We weren't impressed with the new menus (I'm including lunch). More repetition than before, fewer items. As a result we had dinner in our suite or in Terrace more than we ever have more. (We were on a 15 day B2B.)

By repetition, I mean that for both main courses and appetizers there were items that were on the menu 3-4 times a week -- at least.

Mura

We left Riviera a week ago. We weren't impressed with the new menus (I'm including lunch). More repetition than before, fewer items. As a result we had dinner in our suite or in Terrace more than we ever have more. (We were on a 15 day B2B.)

 

 

By repetition, I mean that for both main courses and appetizers there were items that were on the menu 3-4 times a week -- at least.

 

 

Mura

Although we seldom dine in the MDR except for occasional breakfast, this is not good news in general.

Sign of further cost cutting measures?

Sign of further cost cutting measures?

Good grief - just my luck. When I upgrade to a new (for me) cruise line they start major cost cutting :mad:

there was a link to the sample new menus but I cannot find it now

Anyone have the PDF file or a link to them??

I did not notice they repeated so often

Maybe you need to be looking at them each day to notice! Unfortunately I didn't take a snapshot of any of them ... We have tended to dine in the GDR more than the specialties in the past, so we were unhappy at not liking the new venture.

Still, there was the usual fare of more expensive meats on these menus, so I'm not sure if it's cost cutting. Then again,maybe it is -- if more choices were available in the past, then perhaps you are saving money if you have to prepare fewer dishes.

It's still hard to not find enough to eat, however.

By the way, we also noticed the Terrace menus show fewer choices for lunch and dinner. I don't mean that there ARE fewer choices. It's just that they used to pretty much list everything that could be found there and they seemed not to be doing so this time around.

The biggest problem we had on this cruise was our long paid for Bourgeois menu in La Reserve. They lost it! I booked it as soon as I could but I don't have a record of when that was. I went through my invoice updates and didn't see it, however some months ago (3-4 maybe) I received a call changing the date of our dinner from the first leg of the cruise to the second. And it was shown on my final invoice.

However, our butler was on top of it. When he heard that we were going to La Reserve that night he checked the reservations and discovered that we weren't on the list. Uh oh ... But it all worked out just fine. They substituted the Connoisseur menu at no extra charge to us, so we were pleased.

So let's see what others say about the new menus. As I said, we weren't that happy with the changes.

Mura

Day 24 on Insignia and some GDR and Terrace Café menu items have only just begun to repeat.

In addition, exec chef Farid is occasionally outside at the Terrace Café cooking regional dishes.

Two nights ago it was fresh yellow fin tuna (250 lbs worth acquired that morning in Nuka Hiva). This afternoon, he was doing a variety of stir fry for lunch.

BTW, we hardly ever eat dinner in the GDR. We prefer the casual atmosphere and al fresco opportunities at the Terrace Café as well as the specialties on occasion. On this 38 day journey, we'll make it to the GDR about half a dozen times.

I found the PDF file on my computer it had 3 of the new menus

Seems the same or more dishes offered as before

6 appies 2 soups 3 salads 6 entrees plus the always available dishes Salmon, steak & chicken

some new items that are not too our tastes but I am sure we will not starve

We are Marina in July so will see what is offered in the GDR

Mura;

Glad your La Reserve worked out. Appreciate your comments on the new GDR menus. We are on Riviera again this August and it looked like O might be attempting to "spruce up" the dinner menu in the GDR. We typically dine in the specialties or the Terrace, especially when we leave port late and can dine Al Fresco on the fantail. Thought the GDR might be worth trying now. Guess we'll see.

Has anyone seen the new dinner menu for the GDR currently on Riviera? Appreciate any thoughts/comments.

We booked Oceania because being "foodies" & having a large food service bus., we wanted to see how much of Oceania's "Best Cuisine at Sea" was real or hype. Definitely, the specialty rest. were outstanding overall. The GDR was much better than what is offered by mainstream lines, but not outstanding. More like say.. Cunard/Celebrity from 15 years ago. Still the food was good enough to book another 14 days next Jan. We did not have a substandard meal in any dining venue this past Jan. the GDR does seem to have a pretty decent but more standardized menu overall. I look forward to see what new items will be offered in the new "Bistro" tryout that is starting to take place. Do understand there will likely be a few "hiccups" as this gets rolled out. For those who've tried Princess in the past, they made a big splash with the "Curtis Stone" menu. It has been a pretty big failure. The main reason, is the quality of ingredients was not that high. A good chef can do well with substandard ingredients, but not wonders.

Our objections were not the number of offerings. Yes, that is pretty much the same. Our objections were to the fast repetition of several of them. I'm not talking about an entire menu repeating every 14 days or so, which was our perception in the past. It's that you can see some of the same items if not on the menu every day,. every third day or so. Sometimes more often than not. So in the end your choices ARE reduced. I had prime rib in the GDR one night and it was very good (not as good as Polo's but extremely satisfying), but two nights later there it was again.

In case people think I consider Terrace to be a desperation measure, that's not true. We like Terrace very much for the variety of offerings (whether they are listed on the menu itself or not) and the fact that it doesn't take 2 hours to finish the meal.

We did notice larger crowds on Riviera this time. A few times we went into dinner at Terrace around 8pm and had trouble finding a table. That's not been our experience in the past -- earlier in the evening, yes.

Anyway ... just my two cents.

Mura

Although we seldom dine in the MDR except for occasional breakfast, this is not good news in general.

Sign of further cost cutting measures?

That ain't all Paul...their re-adjusting schedules, changing ports ( probably based on better port charges) and canceling cruises with no notice....unless you discover it.... The Terrace and Main Dining Room has been my go to for years. After 2 or 3 cruises the specialty menu 's become a rather routine experience with far better possibilities in the Non-Specialties.. All except Jacques ....

Personally, I don't care what the menus are in the GDR on Marina/Riviera I avoid it at all costs because I dislike dining in a catering hall atmosphere.

On the Oceania Cruises blog where they announce the new Grand Dining Room menus they have a link to the menus and you can print them

Personally, I don't care what the menus are in the GDR on Marina/Riviera I avoid it at all costs because I dislike dining in a catering hall atmosphere.

First I have seen that GDR is catering hall. I’ll report in two weeks.

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Tonight's Insignia GDR menu:

Tonight's Insignia GDR menu:

Is this the new menu?

Looks like the old ones to me

Is this the new menu?

 

Looks like the old ones to me

Not a clue as to whether it's "new."

As aforementioned, we seldom eat in the GDR (unless invited by some Oceania officer or other manager).

The new menus have soups and salads under one header. On the old menus they are under separate headers.

Right, this is an example of the old menu.

First I have seen that GDR is catering hall. I’ll report in two weeks.

 

 

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This is jmo. Others may not feel that way.

On the Oceania Cruises blog where they announce the new Grand Dining Room menus they have a link to the menus and you can print them

I just checked O blog re: above post. The link to view/print menus is no longer there. Glad I printed them when 1st announced. Sorry for prior incorrect info.

This is jmo. Others may not feel that way.

On the Riviera?? Boy, you have some imagination! It's true that in La Reserve you have "banquet" style seating. This is simply the way the food is served in a "Table d'hôtel" style wine paired dinner.

There was an article posted about the new menus here on CC at the beginning of May and a corresponding thread created. There are three sample menus on the bottom of the article (they take a few seconds to load). There does seem to be repetition in some of the appetizer items. I'm a little disappointed not to see any foie gras, which I thought I recalled seeing in the current menus (it's in the current sample menu on their site). Since these are only a few of the menus, hopefully it's in some of the others. Or maybe it's an example of cheapening of the menu items.