RCCL Main Dining reached a new low

[rolloman]

I do remember my server saying he was only 2 months into his contract, so training may be his issue. On the flip side our "almost everyday" breakfast server had 20 years in and did a spectacular job. For all those saying just keep switching tables, One thing to think about is we were switched to this table after the first day screw up (not linking all of our party together) and keep in mind several people sat there the night before and also had requested a move. I will go out on a limb and say it was due to bad service, which of course brings me to my point, on a full ship if you request to change tables chances are you are justing going to fill someone elses headache.

The more I read from other folks concerning this thread, I am beginning to feel we are evolving into a "pay us EXTRA for white glove service" or settle for our buffet or our MDR glorified buffet options. I also am now even more annoyed that others have stated they were ripped off on the 14.95 steak order.

[Snoofer]

[quote name='bball4']I'm just wondering if they want you to spend extra $$ going to the specialty restaurants.[/quote]

Unfortunately, I do think this is the case.... along with eventually going to all buffet plus specialty restaurants. The era of real "cruising" is a thing of the past.

We will see more of this in the future.... :(

[Maraprince]

For the most part, RCL is getting away with a cheapening of service since only a small number of passengers contribute to CC and post their disappointment with the poor service and the quality of the food.

As long as RCL continues to fill the Oasis, the rest of the fleet be dammed!

The best recommendation to give anyone who is less than satisfied with the service and food quality in the MDR, report it. Don't just accept it or try to excuse it. If other passengers asked to have their table changed, there is a real problem.

RCL is trying to come up with excuses for the cutbacks in training and service. Passengers are paying what RCL is asking. So, why the cutbacks in service?

The correlation between whether or not a ship is full has nothing to do with poor service. Every voyage the ship's personnel knows how many passengers will be on board for that sailing. They also are notified of any VIP's. Again, no excuse for poor service.

If a waiter has to also take drink orders, this will slow down the food service. Having a dedicated bar waiter allows the food service to focus on his main responsibilities. Other cruise lines still have bar waiters going around from table to table. As anyone in the restaurant industry will tell you, money is made on the drinks, not the food. So by eliminating the bar waiters, RCL is cutting down on their revenue. People will only wait for so long to get a drink. Now it makes sense why RCL does not allow passengers to bring alcohol on board!

Princess allows 2 bottles of wine per adult guest. Passengers still order once on board. If RCL thinks passengers are not bringing alcohol on board, they are sadly mistaken.

MARAPRINCE

[Brucen]

A group of 4 of us just returned today from a 10 day on the Radiance of the Seas. We are pretty adventurous eaters and like a LOT of things. Early in the cruise we at in the MDR 2 times. I found nothing that looked particularly interesting the first time and decided to go with the always available Salmon. It was the driest, most overcooked, pathetic piece of fish I have ever tried to eat. My 3 dining companions were all very disappointed in their dinners as well. The next night we had reservations for Chops. EXCELLENT dinner. Everything was cooked perfectly, tasty, well presented and the service was great. The next night we went back to the MDR. Identical results to night one. Terrible food and unimaginatively presented. We always had OK to good lunches at the Windjammer and decided to try it for dinner. It was MUCH worse than the average lunches were. We were all surprised how truly poor the MDR was and decided to give it one more shot on the formal "lobster" night. That night was better, but only rose from bad to acceptable. We ate every other dinner in either Chops or Portabello. Maybe our expectations were to high but if the MDR was a coffee shop (I will not elevate it to "restaurant") near my home, I would not eat there if it was free.

I had a great time. The ship was nice. I would sail Royal Caribbean again but I would assume I would be paying for a specialty restaurant every night when making the decision to take RCL or someone else.

Just my opinion.

Best,
Bruce

[link99]

[quote name='sandm']I have to agree about the Independence. We are just off the March 28 sailing and were at table 430. It was absolutely the worst service we have ever had and we are diamond members. We, like others here, never received main entrees or drinks on several occasions. . Were only offered bread/rolls one time during the meal and when we asked for more they promised but never delivered. The ship was full so there was no where to go.
Our waiter would deliver only one plate at a time and would constantly refer to a cheat sheet but still he would come up short and our food was cold by the time he got around to delivering everyones food. Our water glasses were not refilled. We had to borrow from the kids or send them to the bar to get a glass.
Everyone in my extended family were very disappointed with the dining room food and service so much so they all voted to try a new line for our next years trip. Everything else about the trip was great but the dining room service was so bad it really put a sour taste in our mouths about RCCL.[/QUOTE]


WOW. I am not one that bleeds RCCL BLUE but we were also on The 4-28 Indy sailing with you. Our table had the exact opposite experience that you had. Our wait staff was excellent. The wine was delivered shortly after our arrival The water glasses were kept full and the assistant always give me two servings of bread without me asking.

We found the food to be good and delivered in a timely fashion. The head waiter was at our table each night for a chat, and the bar server came around the first four nights asking if we needed drinks. We never ordered drinks from him and on day 5 and 6 he did not come by So i will give them a C minus on the dinning room bar service.

I will say over the last couple cruises, the bar service in the dining room has gone down hill. I remember they use to really push the Love Cups each night,but that seams to be a thing of the past. I did enjoy a nice shooter after dinner with some coffee but they were not offered.

We have had bad servers on other rccl ships but this time was not one of them.

[Maraprince]

[quote name='Brucen']A group of 4 of us just returned today from a 10 day on the Radiance of the Seas. We are pretty adventurous eaters and like a LOT of things. Early in the cruise we at in the MDR 2 times. I found nothing that looked particularly interesting the first time and decided to go with the always available Salmon. It was the driest, most overcooked, pathetic piece of fish I have ever tried to eat. My 3 dining companions were all very disappointed in their dinners as well. The next night we had reservations for Chops. EXCELLENT dinner. Everything was cooked perfectly, tasty, well presented and the service was great. The next night we went back to the MDR. Identical results to night one. Terrible food and unimaginatively presented. We always had OK to good lunches at the Windjammer and decided to try it for dinner. It was MUCH worse than the average lunches were. We were all surprised how truly poor the MDR was and decided to give it one more shot on the formal "lobster" night. That night was better, but only rose from bad to acceptable. We ate every other dinner in either Chops or Portabello. Maybe our expectations were to high but if the MDR was a coffee shop (I will not elevate it to "restaurant") near my home, I would not eat there if it was free.

I had a great time. The ship was nice. I would sail Royal Caribbean again but I would assume I would be paying for a specialty restaurant every night when making the decision to take RCL or someone else.

Just my opinion.

Best,
Bruce[/quote]


You shouldn't have to pay extra for decent food on a cruise! If you want to celebrate an occasion or try something special, then it makes sense to go to a pay extra speciality restaurant but not just to have a good meal. If that is the case, time to go to another cruise line that still values good food/service and its passengers.


MARAPRINCE

[mysparky]

[quote name='sandm']I have to agree about the Independence. We are just off the March 28 sailing and were at table 430. It was absolutely the worst service we have ever had and we are diamond members. We, like others here, never received main entrees or drinks on several occasions. . Were only offered bread/rolls one time during the meal and when we asked for more they promised but never delivered. The ship was full so there was no where to go.
Our waiter would deliver only one plate at a time and would constantly refer to a cheat sheet but still he would come up short and our food was cold by the time he got around to delivering everyones food. Our water glasses were not refilled. We had to borrow from the kids or send them to the bar to get a glass.
Everyone in my extended family were very disappointed with the dining room food and service so much so they all voted to try a new line for our next years trip. Everything else about the trip was great but the dining room service was so bad it really put a sour taste in our mouths about RCCL.[/quote]


Sandm - I just re-read your post and noted that our table was in that same area....table 426. Would even venture to guess that we had the same waiter/asst waiter because the experience was very similar (bread offered once, no refill on water, appetizers & desserts delivered to some, while others waited another 5-10 mins, etc).

It's been our practice that after the first night, asst waiters just "know" what the standard drinks are around the table (milk for kids, ice tea for me, etc). This never happened for us. We asked the asst waiter for drinks and sometimes they came out 30 or so mins later, other times, not at all. In retrospect, I really should have said to the guys "hey listen, just leave us a pitcher of water and that bread basket and we'll be fine."

And under the category of perhaps this really says it all...I can't even remember our waiter's name and we actually never knew our asst waiter's name (never introduced and no tag on the table). When has that ever been the case?

[Brucen]

[quote name='Maraprince']You shouldn't have to pay extra for decent food on a cruise! If you want to celebrate an occasion or try something special, then it makes sense to go to a pay extra speciality restaurant but not just to have a good meal. If that is the case, time to go to another cruise line that still values good food/service and its passengers.


MARAPRINCE[/quote]


Maraprince,
I could not agree more with you. My point was that if I was trying to decide about taking a 10 day RCL cruise in the future, I would add $500.00 to the brochure price (10 days X $50.00 per day for dining) while weighing my options. I can tell you, I expect RCL would come up short after making that evaluation.

Best,
Bruce

[vermontvoyager]

[quote name='kewlguy']It's really just the luck of the draw. Sometimes you get excellent servers and sometimes you get lousy ones. I wouldn't assume just because your servers were horrible the majority of the other servers in the dining room were horrible also. We've experienced inferior dining room service in the past but spoke to others on the same cruise who were very satisfied with the service they were receiving. There is no point in comparing dining room table numbers as the servers rotate around the dining room after every cruise.[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]I agree Tony. We were on Independence for 2 weeks this past December and had MTD and had probably the best service we had ever had in the dining room and the food was always good. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Then we went back to Indy in February and had MTD again and the service stunk big time. The food was still good, but took forever to come and they were slow filling water glasses and everything else in general. We even left without coffee and dessert a couple of times because it was so slow. I ordered a beer first thing and it finally arrives about 3/4 of the way through our entree.:rolleyes:[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]We got fed up and only ate there 4 out of 8 nights.:([/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4]Indy was a real nice ship also. It is our favorite of all the ships we have been on and did not let the slow staff from the dining room on our last cruise ruin our opinion of our overall experience there.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Bakincakes]

Perhaps we are coming to realize that the specialty restaurants were more than just an optional venue and were instead a study in human tendencies to accept paying extra for something if it is considered "better" than what everyone else is getting?

I've read many threads about pax literally running to make reservations before you could do them online. Ya think RCI didn't notice?

MDR food has been going downhill for awhile now, especially among those that have had the good fortune to actually experience fine dining that was once included in the price of a ticket.

Lets face it....if we want better meals it is becoming obvious that we are going to have to pay extra to get them. And the fact that the newer ships have more specialty dining venues tells us that lines are making a profit at the "pay extra" game.

I've said for awhile that I believe that "ala carte" cruising is on its way. Pax will choose their cabins and then will be able to choose their dining preferences. That will determine their "sail" price. If RCI throws in an excellent wine list, from which to choose, I think they won't know what to do with the business it will generate. Those that want upscale dining will be able to have it. Those that don't will eat in the MDR and receive adequate but uninspiring meals, much as they are now.

[wayne_trisha]

We had crappy service on march 20th sailing. Every night there seemed to be something wrong, either way too much service because we complained or complete lack of service. I think this ship has issues and the people in charge are not trying to resolve them because the ship sails full.

[cruzincurt]

[quote name='Bakincakes'] If RCI throws in an excellent wine list, from which to choose, I think they won't know what to do with the business it will generate. [/quote]

What a challenge they have, in the MDR some want an "excellent" wine list, others want their buckets of beer.:confused:

[Bakincakes]

[quote name='wayne_trisha']We had crappy service on march 20th sailing. Every night there seemed to be something wrong, either way too much service because we complained or complete lack of service. I think this ship has issues and the people in charge are not trying to resolve them because the ship sails full.[/quote]


And if pax aren't complaining, why fix something if the masses are just going to accept things as they are?

[critterchick]

[quote name='Maraprince']For the most part, RCL is getting away with a cheapening of service since only a small number of passengers contribute to CC and post their disappointment with the poor service and the quality of the food.

As long as RCL continues to fill the Oasis, the rest of the fleet be dammed!

The best recommendation to give anyone who is less than satisfied with the service and food quality in the MDR, report it. Don't just accept it or try to excuse it. If other passengers asked to have their table changed, there is a real problem.

RCL is trying to come up with excuses for the cutbacks in training and service. Passengers are paying what RCL is asking. So, why the cutbacks in service?

The correlation between whether or not a ship is full has nothing to do with poor service. Every voyage the ship's personnel knows how many passengers will be on board for that sailing. They also are notified of any VIP's. Again, no excuse for poor service.

If a waiter has to also take drink orders, this will slow down the food service. Having a dedicated bar waiter allows the food service to focus on his main responsibilities. Other cruise lines still have bar waiters going around from table to table. As anyone in the restaurant industry will tell you, money is made on the drinks, not the food. So by eliminating the bar waiters, RCL is cutting down on their revenue. People will only wait for so long to get a drink. Now it makes sense why RCL does not allow passengers to bring alcohol on board!

Princess allows 2 bottles of wine per adult guest. Passengers still order once on board. If RCL thinks passengers are not bringing alcohol on board, they are sadly mistaken.

MARAPRINCE[/quote]

I agree with everything you've said. The cutbacks in service are just dollars and cents. We were a whisker away from becoming Princess fans (we are, just not as much as we've been RCI fans) until we sailed on Rhapsody and had the kind of service that has kept us coming back for more. The farther we have to travel to sail on a Vision or Radiance class ship, the less we will cruise on RCI.

The bar waiters are coming back, at least to some ships in the fleet. We saw them on Radiance in November and Mariner in January. The assistant waiters still don't know **** about serving and pouring wine, but those who like a cocktail or beer with dinner should (SHOULD) find it easier to get.

[LBcruzman]

[quote name='Bakincakes']
Maybe they do read these boards and see scores of posts like "Well it is only "banquet" food..what do you expect?" So does that mean that RCI has gotten the idea that pax are willing to accept anything in the MDR? Maybe they are and maybe they do.
There is just no excuse for poor service. None.[/quote]


Yes, maybe that is the case. I mean Royal Caribbean has never really been known for their food, but there was a time when it was of better quality, was presented in a better manner and cooked and served at a proper temperature. That is a bit hit and miss now. Some ships are definitely better than others.

But how many times do you read on these boards when posters comment on the food......at least you didn't have to shop for it, cook it and clean up after......well, sorry if I am paying to eat in a restaurant anywhere, on land or sea I expect good service and properly cooked food. If I don't get it, I usually don't return.

[rubrrick]

Evening Jean, good to see you home for a short time!!

My DW and I are not lovers of the Main Dining Room. We don't like traditional seating...........and we have opted for MTD......since it's inception.

Service is one thing.........and the taste of the food is another. Both are starting to lack in the MDR on RCCL ships. That is not good for the company.

On our last cruise.......one evening we eat at Portofino's.........and on the last formal night, we were invited to join the Captain at his table.

I must say.......that we experienced the worst meal at any Captains table......on our last cruise. The stewards were attentive, but the food was not anything like I have experienced in the past.

And without bragging........we have been at over 95 Captains tables (not all on RCCL)......and I felt so bad, not for the service......but the food itself.

We have pretty much resigned ourselves to the Windjammer on most evening........unless invited to the MDR.

Our last outing was at Portofinos.....on the Voyager.........and it was perfect.

So......for all of you that have said "hit or miss".........I think you are right on!!

I cannot describe the food ........as some has been excellent.......or OK or, just junk.

RCCL has Executive Chiefs.........that are supposed to follow recipes.........like I'm supposed to follow the Atkins diet.......but I'm still fat!:D:D

Some come up with great food..........and others......well........let's say that they need more lessons!!

Rick

[critterchick]

Hey, Rick! We're not really fans of the MDR anymore, either. Rhapsody was an exception to the rule - amazing service and very good food with some great local influences. I know Radiance isn't going to measure up (I've never liked the MDR food), so we probably won't be there much.

[Host Kewlguy]

[quote name='sportyjen']We have been on several ships and the worst service we ever had was on freedom. I wonder if it is because the older smaller ships have the more experienced wait staff. We have been on EOS and service was okay. On AOS the service was spectacular.[/QUOTE]

In fact its the opposite. You're more likely to get inexperienced servers on the smaller ships. As they improve they graduate to the larger ships.

[Host Kewlguy]

[COLOR="Black"]All I know is when I'm on a cruise I eat better than anything that I eat at home. And we do eat in the main dining room every night. Never in the specialty restaurants. While the service will vary from cruise to cruise, generally we're satisfied with the product Royal offers. I'd like to know exactly what the complainers on this threat eat at home? 5-course gourmet meals? During this difficult economic time I'm sure there are millions of fellow Americans who would love to be able to go on a nice vacation and relax and be served all week. But unfortunately they can't afford it. They're just worrying about paying their mortgage and putting food on their families table. I wonder what their reaction would be if they heard some of the whining on this thread. If you're not satisfied with a particular cruise line then go cruise on another one. Just stop the ridiculous complaining. Sheesh.[/COLOR]

[SeaCod]

Just got off the Majesty on Monday and have vowed never to cruise Royal again. The food in the MDR was horrible, the service iffy at best and breakfast a total joke. (Our one exception to our vow is the Allure as we are doing the 4 day inaugural and praying there will be enough alternative dining spots to ensure we don't have to step foot into the MDR.)

By the way, we are D+ members with 40+ cruise points so this isn't a decision we've made lightly.

[UKBayern]

All I know is when I'm on a cruise I eat better than anything that I eat at home. And we do eat in the main dining room every night. Never in the specialty restaurants. While the service will vary from cruise to cruise, generally we're satisfied with the product Royal offers. I'd like to know exactly what the complainers on this threat eat at home? 5-course gourmet meals?

...

If you're not satisfied with a particular cruise line then go cruise on another one. Just stop the ridiculous complaining. Sheesh.

 

Quite right! We own a hotel with restaurant, so we are extremely picky about food and service when we go out to eat. A lot more than other paying customers, I always thought. We have never had any complaints about any of the food served on any of the cruises we have been on. The one complaint of one gentleman on our table on our last cruise that nearly made me go balistic was the constant whining during the whole cruise "where is my lobster, I am waiting for my lobster, they are gonna serve lobster are they, I want my lobster" whilst stuffing his face with all kinds of other delicious food. He went home totally dissatisfied: his cruise was ruined because he did not get his lobster. Get a life people!

 

I don't get all this moaning and complaining about the food going downhill or whatever either. It was many years between our first and second RCCL cruise, and I cannot say that I found the food to be deteriorating or different. And like I said: we are used to good food, we were employed at some top notch 5 star hotels in the past with Michelin star quality restaurants, we cook gourmet food ourselves.

It has become all the fashion on this board to complaint about food on cruise ships. It is like people think they do not fit in if their don't complain about the food. It is like complaining about legspace on airplanes. You are not to be taken seriously if you said it was quite alright.

And maybe the majority of the passengers do not complain about the food because they actually like the dining experience. One thing everybody should understand about the way message boards and internet review sites work is that only those who are extremely dissatisfied (rightly or without any reason) voice very loud opinions. That is why I never believe Trip Advisor or any of those sites.

[LBcruzman]

All I know is when I'm on a cruise I eat better than anything that I eat at home. And we do eat in the main dining room every night. Never in the specialty restaurants. While the service will vary from cruise to cruise, generally we're satisfied with the product Royal offers. I'd like to know exactly what the complainers on this threat eat at home? 5-course gourmet meals? During this difficult economic time I'm sure there are millions of fellow Americans who would love to be able to go on a nice vacation and relax and be served all week. But unfortunately they can't afford it. They're just worrying about paying their mortgage and putting food on their families table. I wonder what their reaction would be if they heard some of the whining on this thread. If you're not satisfied with a particular cruise line then go cruise on another one. Just stop the ridiculous complaining. Sheesh.

Sorry, but most of the complaints I hear and say myself involve the deterioration of the quality of the preparation and service. These things can be improved without spending enormous amounts of money.

 

We don't eat 5 course gourmet meals , but I cook a pretty good meal most evenings, (at least my husband and kids seem to love my cooking) other evenings we go out, sometimes a chain restaurant sometimes a nicer one. Sometimes we order pizza.

 

I just think many of us experienced better in the recent past on RCL and are still paying as much (if not more) to cruise. What happened? The price of food has not gone up exponentially. It did in 2008 when oil spiked, but food prices now aren't bad. Wages haven't spiked, a lot of people are unemployed. Why can't they train good servers?

 

I am paying the most I have ever paid before for a regular balcony cabin on RCL on my upcoming Oasis sailing. If the food and service in the MDR isn't up to par, I will certainly be disappointed.

 

When we sailed NCL we had heard the MDR wasn't that good so we ate in the specialty restaurants every night. It wasn't that much more money and the service and food was very good. I was just hoping RCL wasn't going to take that route, as they tend to charge more for their cruises. But I guess that is what it is coming to.

 

It is easy to tell people to sail the more upscale lines like SilverSea, Crystal and the like. But we usually sail with our kids and that is not a realistic option for families. Kids would be so bored on such lines, if they even allow kids on those ships.

 

As far as trying to make people feel bad that they can afford to take a decent vacation, well, that is a bit of a cop out. Some of us aren't just "lucky". We have worked hard all our lives and we started with very little. Just because we can afford to take nice vacations doesn't mean we don't have the right to expect decent food and service when we pay for it without being called whiners. That is really a little unfair. Why are people whiners because at a certain stage in their life after years of working hard, making good economic decisions and sometimes doing without, they want to (and can afford to) enjoy themselves?

[djmutters]

Kewguy,

 

Of course you can exspect to eat better on a ship then when you are at home at home you are probally having one main meal in the evening not a 3-5 course meal.

 

I think it is unfair for you to try and say that because the difficult economic times we somehow should be grateful for poor to fair service I'm sure like myself there are plenty of people who are not mega rich but decide to save up all year to take that special cruise holiday.

 

If you are paying for good service then there is nothing wrong in complaining if you don't get it.

 

Nigel

 

All I know is when I'm on a cruise I eat better than anything that I eat at home. And we do eat in the main dining room every night. Never in the specialty restaurants. While the service will vary from cruise to cruise, generally we're satisfied with the product Royal offers. I'd like to know exactly what the complainers on this threat eat at home? 5-course gourmet meals? During this difficult economic time I'm sure there are millions of fellow Americans who would love to be able to go on a nice vacation and relax and be served all week. But unfortunately they can't afford it. They're just worrying about paying their mortgage and putting food on their families table. I wonder what their reaction would be if they heard some of the whining on this thread. If you're not satisfied with a particular cruise line then go cruise on another one. Just stop the ridiculous complaining. Sheesh.

[Bakincakes]

We don't know what the cruiselines are "thinking".

 

Do they realize just how many people are unsatisfied with what is happening? Do they care?

 

If their ships are still sailing full and they are making a profit on those sailings will they actually make an effort to change things?

 

I haven't sailed on Oasis...are things fabulous on that ship? How is the food and service? I've heard people say that all the better staff was pulled and put onto that ship. Is that true? We all know the prices they are charging for cabins on that ship. Are pax getting their monies worth?

 

We sail Holland, quite often. We've always loved that line and think the food is wonderful. The Indonesian crew is fabulous. But....we have also noticed a few "changes" in that line as well. Are they just "glitches" or are they a sign of what is to come on that line as well?

 

Specialties were put on ships for a reason. I believe the reason is that lines know there are still pax that do care about what they are fed on a cruise and are willing to pay extra for that pleasure. Win..win situation. They can keep dumbing down the fare in the MDR and still satisfy those people who have more discerning tastes when it comes to food.

[RevSmith]

First to answer Bakincakes; no the staff on the Oasis is not the "cream of the crops"...this time they asked for volunteers, although in important areas like public relations, the staff was hand picked.

I believe there are many reasons why the food and service is sub standard. The first is the economy...staff has been cut, hours have increased, and time off has diminished. The wait staff is over worked and it shows in service. People burn out more easily.

Also cruising is now so popular, and many new people are deciding to cruise every year. These newer people are not aware of the good food and excellent service of the past, so they don't miss it.

I too am sorry that this is the case, but cruise lines have to survive in this and every economy...in this world it's all about the almighty dollar...after all...it is just another business.