What to do about bad FOS food? Alternatives?

[beaglesails]

I've been reading over the boards since we are going on FOS in a couple weeks. It seems that lots of recent FOS cruisers are coming back with plenty of negative reports on the food at WJ and MDR.

 

So, what to do? How expensive are the "premium" restaurants? Worth it to hit those instead? I've heard that most were happy at Johnny Rockets -- is that a separate fee or included as well?

 

Any other alternatives?

 

Thanks, all!

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

I've been reading over the boards since we are going on FOS in a couple weeks. It seems that lots of recent FOS cruisers are coming back with plenty of negative reports on the food at WJ and MDR.

 

So, what to do? How expensive are the "premium" restaurants? Worth it to hit those instead? I've heard that most were happy at Johnny Rockets -- is that a separate fee or included as well?

 

Any other alternatives?

 

Thanks, all!

 

There is an upside I found on my Freedom cruise regarding the food...this is the first time I ever took a crusie and LOST weight.

 

I suppose you could eat every night at Chops and Portofino? Might cost a bit. And there is a fee for JR, and a huge wait on our cruise.

[DarthGrady]

I've been reading over the boards since we are going on FOS in a couple weeks. It seems that lots of recent FOS cruisers are coming back with plenty of negative reports on the food at WJ and MDR.

 

So, what to do? How expensive are the "premium" restaurants? Worth it to hit those instead? I've heard that most were happy at Johnny Rockets -- is that a separate fee or included as well?

 

Any other alternatives?

 

Thanks, all!

 

I like to eat on the promenade most days for lunch. The Cafe Promenade has sandwiches and pastries, and Sorrentos Pizzeria has pizza (obviously:D), salads, paninis and desserts. They are less crowded than the WJ, which is another benefit.

 

The specialty restaurants are Chops Grille (steakhouse, $25 per person) and Portofinos (Italian, $20 pp). I've never eaten at Protofinos, but Chops is very good. I couldn't eat there every night just because of the cost. But if one could afford it, that would be the best food offerings on the ship.

 

Johnny Rockets is around $4 per person, shakes and malts are extra. Its typical fast food stuff, I probably would not pay extra to eat in there again. You can get burgers and fries in the WJ for free. You can just sit in JR and eat fries and onion rings without charge. They are pretty good if you just want to snack.

[skandls]

Depending on your ports and your taste buds. I would buy salsas, sauces and spices in port. Decide what you are getting for dinner - ask for lemons, steak sauce, horseradish etc. This won't help if the main problem is the food comes out lukewarm for both salads and entrees.

[rjjjcj]

I was on the FOS 3/27 sailing...not at all impressed with MDR. I would definitely skip the 1st night in MDR...Sea bass??? not sure what it was , so inedible...tortilla soup was nothing more than pace jar salsa with hot water. I was so worried about what we got ourselves into (being we have cruised 12 times prior with Princess), but managed to go to the MDR for 5 of 7 nights. Cannot rave for much, expect caesar salad was good and crispy, asparagas soup (maybe 3rd night??) was delicious and my daughter liked the gnocchi the last night. Hubby thought the prime rib was "decent". We are not dessert people, but after 2 hrs. really didn't want to wait to see what they offered.

We did order the chops filet but in the long run should have just eaten at chops 2 or 3 times....the service and better quality food was worth the price. Would not do portofino again, had really bad service and food was no better. Still loved the boat though, so guess we would opt to spend more time at the specialty restaurants, and the Windjammer. No matter what you will not starve (maybe lose a few lbs.!), but there is always another option out there!

[Kimmie36]

I was on the FOS 3/27 sailing...not at all impressed with MDR. I would definitely skip the 1st night in MDR...Sea bass??? not sure what it was , so inedible...tortilla soup was nothing more than pace jar salsa with hot water. I was so worried about what we got ourselves into (being we have cruised 12 times prior with Princess), but managed to go to the MDR for 5 of 7 nights. Cannot rave for much, expect caesar salad was good and crispy, asparagas soup (maybe 3rd night??) was delicious and my daughter liked the gnocchi the last night. Hubby thought the prime rib was "decent". We are not dessert people, but after 2 hrs. really didn't want to wait to see what they offered.

We did order the chops filet but in the long run should have just eaten at chops 2 or 3 times....the service and better quality food was worth the price. Would not do portofino again, had really bad service and food was no better. Still loved the boat though, so guess we would opt to spend more time at the specialty restaurants, and the Windjammer. No matter what you will not starve (maybe lose a few lbs.!), but there is always another option out there!

 

 

I said the same thing about the sea bass, I have had sea bass and what they had in the MDR was not Sea Bass. I was not that happy about the food on the FOS I didnt starve but it needs improvement. Next cruise I will factor the cost of eating at the upcharge restaurants. There are a couple of nights that I will eat in the MDR, but not every night! I did love the tiger shrimp with the white rice and spinach and the prime rib was pretty good. I Loved the ship as well

[Geema]

My daughter was on last week's Freedom cruise and after reading that people said the food wasn't good, I asked her how the food was and she said it was fine. She said one entree was a little over cooked but the food seemed fine to her and their whole party of around 25! Food is an objective opinion and it's interesting to see the opinions of others. :rolleyes:

[BrytEydBelle]

Regarding skipping the MDR the first night, is there a good etiquette way to do this? Stop in right before and tell server? I have looked at the menu, and there is nothing appealing to me for the first night so I may just have a slice of pizza or go to the buffet. I know usually if you won't be at MDR the next day, you are supposed to tell your server, but not sure how it works the first night. Thanks in advance!!

[temple1]

Regarding skipping the MDR the first night, is there a good etiquette way to do this? Stop in right before and tell server? I have looked at the menu, and there is nothing appealing to me for the first night so I may just have a slice of pizza or go to the buffet. I know usually if you won't be at MDR the next day, you are supposed to tell your server, but not sure how it works the first night. Thanks in advance!!

 

It is not required, but that is the polite thing to do if you scheduled traditional dining. The first night the staff will tend to wait for stragglers, so letting them know not to expect you the first night is the nice way to go and it really doesn't take anything out of your first day on the cruise.

[leerobbs]

My wife and I are diamond and we have cruised on Celebrity and Princess as well as RCCL. We were on the FOS sailing 4-3 and we both thought the food we very good. We did not eat at the wj everyday for lunch, some days we got pizza @ Sorrentos. Maybe we are just easy to please and don't know good or bad food. We both thought the md meals that we got were good. We ate in chops one night and it was wonderful. Compared to our Princess cruise FOS was better. We did not eat in JR but we were pleased with the food on FOS. Food is subjective.

[cello56]

We were on Freedom the first week of February. There were four of us traveling together - two couples. All four of us thoroughly enjoyed every meal served in the main dining room. Our service was beyond excellent. Our waiter was so nice, and he made extra effort to make sure that we were all happy with our dining experience.

 

I find it strange that the quality of the dining room has suddenly gone down so drastically. Maybe they got a new chef during their dry dock?

 

Now I would not say that any of us were foodies - so maybe that is the difference here? We expected a nice meal - sort of on the level of an Outback Steakhouse or maybe even Season's 52, and we were satisfied. If you go expecting gourmet food, then of course you will be disappointed with a kitchen serving 4000 people a night.

 

P.S. I wanted to add that I am a VERY picky eater. I have several foods that I do not ever eat (cheese/eggs/mushrooms) and I also have an allergy to cod and halibut fish. Our waiter went out of his way to accommodate my food restrictions.

[lucy6]

We were just on the 3/27 FOS trip, and I too was worried with all of the negative comments I had read prior to our cruise. This was our second cruise, the first being on Carnival last spring break. Although I must say, the food on Carnival was better, we certainly did not have any "bad" experiences. We ate in the MDR most nights, Chops one night. The selections in the MDR were limited, but we always had something we enjoyed. The service we had was excellent, yes, there were glitches the first night, but apparently, there was a new computer system in place, the rest of the week was fine. So please don't let it worry you too much, I know I worried for no reason. We certainly did not go hungry!!

[temple1]

I am happy to see LeeRobbs and Cello56 posts when I returned from looking at recent FOS reviews. For the life of me I couldn't find all those horrible food reviews. I did see where one of our board regulars had a not so great experience. But if you look around the RCCL board you will see that our posters tend to go to the negative extreme. To get a better balance of what regular cruisers experienced check out the Ship Reviews.

 

From my survey (and I am vested in this because I'm spending a bunch of my money to cruise on FOS in November) of reviews - the worst was - the food in the MDR was lack luster and the service was slow.

 

So for those who didn't like the soup - send it back. One of the worst items (and now I make myself remember not to order it) was the lobster bisque. It was horrid to me both times but I've seen other people praise it. Go figure. But, there are other selections so that does not make or break my dinner experience.

 

So far in my limited expereince, I've never gone hungry on a cruise ship. There are always good options available.

 

To the OP - get away from the RCCL board and go to the Ship Reviews and get a different perspective. I'm hoping the suggestion about purchasing salsa etc was in jest.

[beej]

We did the Freedom in November and the food was adequate.

 

Regarding lukewarm to cold food. Sailed on the Navigator in Feb. and the first night the food was cold, not lukewarm, but cold and the baked potato was not quite baked, like raw in the middle. My answer to this is send it back. Did this twice with the same meal. Head waiter and Maitre'D only answer was that they were busy. We had MTD and there were 3 and 4 tables empty around us. Wrong Answer to the statement. I can guarantee that we did not have cold food again. Told em not to mess with an old toad. LOL BTW, the head waiter brought the wrong meal back after we returned it. Think they really needed some new training.

[ryano]

Most of your "the food is terrible" people seem to be long time Royal cruisers that remember the free filet in the MDR and the good ol days of a more gourmet experience.

 

Those days are long gone and will never be back...The ships are much larger now and the food budget per passenger is lower.....I have found the food so far to be really good to excellent but I am not a picky eater nor do I care for the gourmet experience. Of course I havent been on a ship that has 4000 passengers yet either so I have no idea if that has something to do with it or not.

 

I will find out in April 2012 how terrible the food is on Freedom..........Im not worried in the least though. If i dont like something, I will not hesitate to send it back and get something else.

 

I have done the Chops thing once and while it was good, I dont think I will spend the money to do it again.

[timnreba]

I was on the FOS western sailing on 4/3. The food in MDR was "so-so". I would consider myself a "foodie". My wife and I enjoy nice restaurants. I would compare the food in the MDR to the quality you can get at Applebees or Chilis. If that food is good to you then you will LOVE the FOS MDR selections. If you expect better than that on a RCCL cruise then you will be dissapointed. Don't be fooled by the dinner themes.... Just because they have "surf and turf" one night doesnt mean that its fabulous. It was a tough piece of meat and 3 garlic shrimp. Not my idea of "surf and turf". LOL.

 

Again - I like Applebees and Chilis when I am in the mood for that kind of food. On a RCCL cruise I am not in the mood for that kind of food.

 

One thing i did LOVE in in MDR (besides our asst waiter) were the portions. Perfectly sized. Not too little and not too much. Just perfect to be able to have a starter, an entree, and a dessert.

 

Just my $0.02.

[rjjjcj]

I have to agree with the poster that referred to the MDR on the level of Applebees...And to clear up my post, the only time I mentioned the food was "terrible" was the first night. Being they had switched to a new computer system and things were chaotic our Waiter never once checked on us, or I would have returned my entree. The good news was that my DD did not finish her spaghetti/w meat sauce & I ate that as my dinner. BTW...in a pinch it is pretty good! The rest of the week the service improved dramatically, which is why we continued to go to the MDR. I just was never "wowed" by much. Yes, I understand they are cooking for an enormous amount of people, just wished for a little more than Applebees.

[Cruising89143]

Most of your "the food is terrible" people seem to be long time Royal cruisers that remember the free filet in the MDR and the good ol days of a more gourmet experience.

 

Those days are long gone and will never be back...The ships are much larger now and the food budget per passenger is lower.....I have found the food so far to be really good to excellent but I am not a picky eater nor do I care for the gourmet experience. Of course I havent been on a ship that has 4000 passengers yet either so I have no idea if that has something to do with it or not.

 

I will find out in April 2012 how terrible the food is on Freedom..........Im not worried in the least though. If i dont like something, I will not hesitate to send it back and get something else.

 

I have done the Chops thing once and while it was good, I dont think I will spend the money to do it again.

 

Preparing food for that many people may have something to do with it but the main issue is that RCI has cut back on the "quality" of the ingredients used to prepare the food. On the Oasis class ships, each deck of the dining room has it's own galley so they are not preparing for a large amount of guests at once when you break it down by two seatings so that excuse does not work on those two ships.

 

Does it surprise me that they continue to make cuts? Rise in food and fuel costs while pricing to fill ships are taking a cut into their bottom line. RCI has a bean counter as the President. He knows where to make the cuts and one of the easiest places to cut is the food budget. If you now want a decent meal, you pay for it in specialty dining. By the way, I have been cruising for 25 years, the food has never been gourmet on the mass market lines. It used to be much better but still not gourmet. :)

[ryano]

By the way, I have been cruising for 25 years, the food has never been gourmet on the mass market lines. It used to be much better but still not gourmet. :)

 

Gourmet was probably a poor choice of words on my part :) All I was trying to say is, the majority of the food complaints seem to come from very "seasoned" cruisers that remember the good ol days. Us newbies dont know of those days and the majority of us like the food pretty well.

 

I hate the fact that Royal Caribbean is cutting the food budget but for now, they are still providing a pretty darn good experience on par with what I would find at a local chain land based establishment.

 

If that ever changes, i will likely find another cruise line because the food is a VERY important part of the cruising experience to me. :)

 

I will say that I enjoyed the food a little better on Carnival but on the other hand, it was on a very small ship with a lot less passengers. Even much smaller that even the Monarch. Still though, I have not had anything terrible on two RC cruises yet.

[zoncom]

Have you considered changing cruise lines? Try Celebrity or Princess. Better food, probably same or better pricing.

[K1200S]

Before I went on Freedom I was reading the reviews. I came across two from the same sailing and the same MDR seating. Basically one review trashed the food and service in the MDR and the other said it was wonderful. Right then and there I said to myself to ignore food reviews and go make up my own mind which is what I did. I can't say I have ever had a bad meal on any cruise ship but then I don't expect 5 star dinning.

[ryano]

Before I went on Freedom I was reading the reviews. I came across two from the same sailing and the same MDR seating. Basically one review trashed the food and service in the MDR and the other said it was wonderful. Right then and there I said to myself to ignore food reviews and go make up my own mind which is what I did. I can't say I have ever had a bad meal on any cruise ship but then I don't expect 5 star dinning.

 

Exactly. For the most part I find some of the reviews on this site to be rather comical. I would much rather read the reviews that are posted here in this forum than I would read those. You will have 5 different reviews that give a 5 whale + rating and then one that totally blasts everything on the very same sailing.

 

Some people can just not be pleased.

 

If someone is expecting 5 star dining, they will be highly disappointed with Royal Caribbean and may want to look at a luxury line. If the basic chain places like Applebees and Chilis are exceptable, they will likely be very pleased with Royals dining experience IMO.

[IwannaGo Now]

I DO remember the cruising of 20+ years ago. The internet, and online forums were not around , of course, so there was much less feedback from cruisers, but everybody that cruised then ALWAYS raved about the food. Over the years the quality has obviously slipped, as costs were cut, and the ships got larger. I, for one, would gladly pay another couple of hundred dollars to return to the "olden days" of cruising. (I know the cheerleaders will say to go to the "additional fee restaurants on board....but I object to paying extra to eat on board.....I know, it sounds weird!) People would dress for the DR experience. People had fun, but were not rude, or disrespectful, in doing so. I do believe you WERE treated like you were special, and appreciated, "way back then".

I haven't been on RCCL for 10 years, but am embarking for a 14 day on the Grandeur, soon. Watch for my unbiased review in May.

[timnreba]

BTW - I never mentioned 5 star, nor was my "review" written as compared to a 5 star gourmet restaurant. Having said that, dinner time is a "big deal" on a cruise. You expect to have at least one memorable food experience at dinner in MDR. I can honestly say that we didnt have 1 "memorable" meal on our recent sailing. Not saying the food was bad, but I am saying that the food did not meet what I think of as "normal" expectations.

 

I started the Applebee's/Chilis thing as a way of comparison. Their food is good, but not something that you would dress up in a tux to go eat. Or for that matter, feel like you HAD to wear long pants to go eat (if you believe in the RCCL MDR dress code).

 

Hopefully that makes more sense.

[beaglesails]

Thanks for the opinions and suggestions, all. I think I've got a bit of insight now.

 

Happy cruisin'!