All right, here is my problem with cruises!

[dcguy9]

So, I have been on about 8 cruises including RCCL, Celebrity, HAL, and Carnival. We have an upcoming cruise on Celebrity.

 

Here is my problem: In the last year or so, dining in the MDR takes absolutely forever with pretty mediocre food. We wait twenty minutes for appetizers and they are just so-so. Then another thirty for the main entree and it is also just fair. It is like eating at a decent medium priced restaurant in any big city. But, it takes over an hour and a half to 2 hours to complete your meal.

 

This just seems fake to me. The cruise lines are still acting as though dining in their beautiful dining rooms is still elegant, yet they are serving fairly cheap food. So, then they have pay restaurants that used to be a nominal charge up to $45 a head on Celebrity. That is lame.

 

I still enjoy cruising but the dining is pretty fake and weak.

[MisterBill99]

Some of the food on Celebrity (and all lines) is certainly better than others and it is unfortunate that you need to pay specialty dining prices to get top quality food. Are you sitting at large or small tables? If you sit at a small table and tell your server that you want to eat quickly, they might be able to get you served faster. The server is not going to the kitchen just to get your food, they get for a dozen people at a time, and that takes time to get ready. So you're generally not going to have stuff coming out just for you as you might at a normal restaurant. Eat at the buffet if you don't want the dining room experience and are in a hurry.

 

Personally, unless I'm in a hurry to get somewhere (which is rare, especially if I'm at a normal seating), I don't mind having a leisurely diner, even if the food isn't all that spectacular.

 

Oh, and I see you have an NCL cruise coming up. They're the kings of mediocre food unless you pay.

Edited November 9, 2013 by MisterBill99

[Cassicruiser]

Everyone is welcome to their opinion. I completely disagree with yours.

 

For us the main dining room is a lovely experience each night, where the waiters are working hard to make you feel spoilt and special, and the food is beautifully presented and usually wonderful. I don't feel the need to eat at the specialty restaurants unless I just feel like trying one.

 

I am very pleased that I feel this way, and look forward to and enjoy the dining experience each and every night.

[Despegue]

If you want to receive chew and swallow everything without waiting, Buffets are better for you.

Any sit down dinner requires some waiting time between courses, a minimum of 10 to 40 minutes is normal. It is. Used to talk, muse and enjoy the environment and company.

 

We find the food on Celebrity very good for the amount of passengers they have to serve. Is it top notch. No, bit it certainly is enjoyable, well presented and does compare favourably with a lot of shore side restaurants, and I am not talking about chains like TGIFridays etc.:rolleyes:

[Scrapnana]

Personally, I like the experience of eating in the MDR and have no trouble with the length of time it takes. After all, it's not like there is something else I need to be doing. As suggested above, try eating in the buffet if you want to "eat and run". Maybe you will find that NCLs free style dining is just what you are looking for.

[rdler]

"We find the food on Celebrity very good for the amount of passengers they have to serve. Is it top notch. No, bit it certainly is enjoyable, well presented and does compare favourably with a lot of shore side restaurants, and I am not talking about chains like TGIFridays etc."

 

Celebrity's food doesn't compare favorable to chains like Fridays?

[ladylemondrop]

This would only be a "problem" if you did not have the option of a Buffet to go to?

[Spursgirl]

I agree that the food isn't as good as it once was but the dining experience for us is more than this. We enjoy chatting to our usually delightful fellow guests and conversing with the fantastic wait staff who do everything they can to please you.

[MicCanberra]

I have no issues with the time taken or quality of the food served in the MDR. I think, Dcguy9 that maybe you try Select Dining and get a small table for two. Otherwise the Buffet is quite nice for fast food of good quality and variety.

[sevenseasnomad]

The quality of food on any cruise is probably the most subjective area of service on a ship. What one passenger raves over, another may complain of.

 

For us, MDR provides a time-out where none of us have to plan the meal, shop for the food, prepare/cook the food, set the table, serve the food, clear the table, or do the dishes. That in itself is a win for us. While I agree that food quality on most cruise lines has suffered due to cutbacks in recent years, the food overall is still pretty darn good for the amount of dinners they must prepare, and it is, in most cases, beautifully presented.

 

DH & I look forward to a table for two and reconnecting with each other. On those cruises we take with our 27-year old DS, we enjoy his company (when he joins us for a meal). We generally don't mind the time it takes for the courses; however, if there's some evening event that we don't want to miss, we'll order room service or we'll head up to the cafe. There are options other than MDR. Usually, however, when we dine in an alternative restaurant, we're observing a special occasion, not fleeing the MDR.

Edited November 9, 2013 by sevenseasnomad

[4774Papa]

Everyone is welcome to their opinion. I completely disagree with yours.

 

For us the main dining room is a lovely experience each night, where the waiters are working hard to make you feel spoilt and special, and the food is beautifully presented and usually wonderful. I don't feel the need to eat at the specialty restaurants unless I just feel like trying one.

 

I am very pleased that I feel this way, and look forward to and enjoy the dining experience each and every night.

Agree,

We enjoy dining with our new cruise friends. What is the hurry.

Also, I have eaten in five star Michelin restaurants in Europe and find Celebrity's MDR food to be excellent. It is certainly not like eating at Ruth Chris steak house, but to us it is excellent.

[xrayjng]

When ever we go out to dinner we always eat so fast. My husband always says "take your time" but we are always finished so quickly. I enjoy the leisurely service, and engage in nice conversation with our tablemates most of the time.

[dkjretired]

I compare dining in the Specialty restaurants now to what Celebrity's MDR experience was 20 years ago.

 

With that being said however, I still find it an enjoyable experience, the food excellent, neither my wife or I have to cook it and we are on a cruise, what could be better.

[hcat]

we now only cruise in AQ & dine in BLU--that means we can arrive when we want to & eat at our own pace... we do not order every course most nights.

Maybe OP can try this next time around.

 

Dinner buffet on Celeb is not great but for a night when we are looking to relax & be very casual, it works OK!

 

Once or twice we go to a specialty restaurant and savor the food/wine over a longer time frame.

[cynbar]

Dinner on a cruise ship these days is not "The Event" it was even a few years ago: food isn't as good, waitstaff is spread thinner, dress code is more casual, many traditional dining tables sit half empty due to multiple dining options. Some cruisers still want the traditional experience of a leisurely dinner in an elegant atmosphere, but many don't. The world is changing and overall is moving at a faster, more casual pace. To the OP, there are options out there that will allow you a quicker, more casual dining experience and NCL certainly does this (I don't mean this in a totally negative way as some posters here do.) It doesn't mean you need to give up cruising, just make an educated decision about the kind of cruise you are buying. I do wish, however, that the food in the MDRs on most of the ships these days would improve, it really seems as if we are getting pushed to a specialty restaurant for the kind of meal we used to get nightly for no extra charge.

[gw2fll]

Since we started using Select Dining, we are able to eat faster than we did when dining at a large table. We are able to complete dinner in under an hour if we desire.

 

Our experience has been that when dining at a large table the server moves from course-to-course when the rest of the table is ready. This is not an issue when you are at a table for two.

 

Of course, the drawback to Select Dining is you do not get the opportunity to meet other people. Although most tables are close enough together where you can socialize with those around you.

 

Just a thought as an alternative option to speed the dining process.

[Gonzo70]

Agree,

We enjoy dining with our new cruise friends. What is the hurry.

Also, I have eaten in five star Michelin restaurants in Europe and find Celebrity's MDR food to be excellent. It is certainly not like eating at Ruth Chris steak house, but to us it is excellent.

 

There is no such thing as a five Michelin star restaurant - three is the highest. A meal at a three star runs about $300 to $500 per/person. Celebrity does a great job with their budget (about $15 per/person per/day for included food) and constraints (lack of fresh ingredients, cooking so many meals at once) but even the specialty restaurants are not even remotely close in quality to a Michelin one star.

[sabookkeeper]

I actually enjoy the pace that dinner is served in the MDR. We do not eat out at lot at home so this is always special. We have sat at tables from just the 2 of us to 8 people. When sitting with others, we enjoy discussing how our days were etc. We do not have a problem having conversation when it is just the two of us. We do the traditional dining so we also take the time to get to know our wait staff as well. If you are at a table for 2, you could probably ask the courses to be served quicker, however, I don't believe you would be able to do it if you are sitting with other guests.

[miched]

I think everything is relative.

 

When McD came out they had the best hamburgers and French fires.

 

Dunkin Donuts had the best coffee and donuts.

 

Competiton came in. What I thought was the best is no longer that great. Did the quality go down or was the competiton better? Or did my taste and preference change? I haven't been to either in ages.

 

The first cruise that I took for me the food was fabulous. Others who were seasoned long time cruisers complained. I still find the food to be great but naturally it doesn't compare to my first impression.

 

Like anything else of you do it enough the luster amd fascination kind of disappears and we look for something new. That is one of the reasons that things have to constantly change.

 

You may be tired of cruising and need to look for a different experience.

 

 

🎄🎅

[runner15km]

When we sail with friends and dine in the MDR we almost always are the last to leave. We enjoy conversation, wine and good times. You can always do anytime dining and tell the wait staff you are in a rush and they accomplish that request.

[Scrappytraveller]

Had the opposite problem on the Solstice recently with select dining - the service was so rushed that we began dreading going to the MDR. We had a running joke about not putting your fork down to take a breather or your plate would be gone.

[wallie5446]

As this drags on an on, you will get comments from A-Z about this an that, but none of it means a hill of beans as to how you feel.

IMHO, if we felt as you say you do, we would cancel the cruise and find another type of vacation.

[dkjretired]

Agree,

We enjoy dining with our new cruise friends. What is the hurry.

Also, I have eaten in five star Michelin restaurants in Europe and find Celebrity's MDR food to be excellent. It is certainly not like eating at Ruth Chris steak house, but to us it is excellent.

 

Love Ruth Chris Porterhouse for two and the sweet potatoes. Went to Cagneys on NCL, no comparison, really about the same as Outback. Just had open heart surgery a couple of weeks ago, looking forward to a nice steak.

Edited November 9, 2013 by dkjretired

[PTMary]

I compare dining in the Specialty restaurants now to what Celebrity's MDR experience was 20 years ago.

 

I am relatively new at cruising. My first cruise was five years ago. My exposure to cruising before that was the Love Boat on TV. :D

 

Based on my limited knowledge of cruising, I always thought that twenty years ago the MDR was a large dining room for hundreds of people and not a dining room for only 30 or so people like a specialty restaurant, that twenty years ago in the MDR you always sat at a large table with other passengers and NOT at a smaller table for just you and the people you were with, that the meals in the MDR twenty years ago were prepared ahead of time banquet style and NOT cooked to order like in a specialty restaurant today, that twenty years ago the servers in the MDR had a group of tables to serve and NOT have just two or three tables at a time like a specialty restaurant, and that the scheduling in the MDR was set seating times and NOT variable times like in the specialty restaurants.

 

Please explain to this newbie because I am confused by your statement - how could the MRD of twenty years ago be comparable to the specialty restaurants today with all those differences? I am trying to understand what I actually missed out on. :confused:

Edited November 9, 2013 by PTMary

[sandancer]

We have been cruising for the past 24 years and see a huge difference in food quality, choice and of course the demise of the midnight buffet. However, in real terms, because of the competition between the mass market cruise lines, we are not paying much more than we did years ago. I always think a good way to think of the value of cruising is to compare with a land based hotel. Take the nightly cost of the cruise and compare with for instance a Sheraton type hotel. Add in the cost of three meals a day, room service, coffee and tea a couple of times a day and perhaps tickets to a show. Add it all together and I doubt you will find better value than cruising. I also have eaten in some wonderful restaurants in Europe - do I compare them with cruise line food. No. Do I still love to cruise. Very definately yes.