Might QofS (RCI) be trying to shed guests with specially dietary need?

[Loreni]

I ask because I have read all the Quantum reviews. It seems like DD isn't really set up to accommodate those with special dietary needs. I have read the following:

 

- waiters deny that a Simple Taste menu exists, some past passengers recommended that you print the one from the website as proof

 

- one woman asked for either mashed or boiled potato as a side dish, this was denied.

 

- another asked for vanilla instead of chocolate ice cream with the brownie, and was told it was IMPOSSIBLE

 

- another asked for a few slices of plain tomato and was scolded by the Maître 'D for not having informed him the day before about that she had Celiac disease (even though there is no mechanism to do this).

 

- another ordered the plainer chicken from the Simple Tastes menu, was tersely told that it was the same as the chicken dish on the regular menu, she pointed out that this was not true and was still served the chicken from the regular menu.

 

- Eliminating the assistant waiters and streamlining food options on QofS is not consistent with providing careful and attentive service to those with food allergies. It looks like DD will (eventually) go fleet wide.

 

It would be better for QofS to honestly state that those with special dietary needs cannot be accommodated (except in Coastal Kitchen). Such cruisers are only a small portion of all potential cruisers; perhaps they are not worth the cost of extra staffing. I know crew don't get paid much but they must still be expensive in terms of the space they and their provisions require. DH and I were intrigued by QofS and DD but we need special diets. Some people really will become ill if their needs are not accommodated. I think DD could work if it had assistant waiters and maybe additional capacity so that reservations could be easily made and honored without long waits.

 

I just read that a person with lemon allergies was competently (and cheerfully) accommodated in Coastal Kitchen and that vanilla ice cream was also cheerfully provided even though it was not on the menu. So I guess RCI does know how to do this. The writer said it reminded them of the main dining room service. So while RCI says DD is an improvement over the main dining room, they still provide main dining room level service to their guests who spend the most.

 

I hope that what I have read in the reviewers about the other dining rooms represents the exceptions, not the norm in these venues. It is only based on a handful of reviews. Anyone want to try a test and report back? If so, try asking for a few cut up vegetables instead of rolls because you have diabetes or maybe a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream or sorbet for dessert because the desserts offered seem too heavy for you. Then we would get a bigger sample size to see if simple requests actually can be accommodated. Just kidding. Pleases don't do this, dinner is already reportedly taking too long and people have show reservations to get to. However, I would be very interested to hear reports from more people with special dietary needs to get a truer sense of what is happening.

[mikemartin774]

I just got off Quantum

 

I ask because I have read all the Quantum reviews. It seems like DD isn't really set up to accommodate those with special dietary needs. I have read the following:

 

- waiters deny that a Simple Taste menu exists, some past passengers recommended that you print the one from the website as proof

 

The Simple Taste menu was on the bottom of the regular menu

 

- one woman asked for either mashed or boiled potato as a side dish, this was denied.

 

I asked for different potatoes in The Grand, Coastal Kitchen and Silk and was not a problem

 

- another asked for vanilla instead of chocolate ice cream with the brownie, and was told it was IMPOSSIBLE

 

My son asked for vanilla ice cream for desert in all the restaurants and was never a problem

 

- another asked for a few slices of plain tomato and was scolded by the Maître 'D for not having informed him the day before about that she had Celiac disease (even though there is no mechanism to do this).

 

My wife has Crohns and can only eat certain things so every meal there

was changes to the menu without any problem

 

- another ordered the plainer chicken from the Simple Tastes menu, was tersely told that it was the same as the chicken dish on the regular menu, she pointed out that this was not true and was still served the chicken from the regular menu.

 

My son ordered the chicken on the Simple taste menu twice and got exactly

that

 

- Eliminating the assistant waiters and streamlining food options on QofS is not consistent with providing careful and attentive service to those with food allergies. It looks like DD will (eventually) go fleet wide.

 

We had an assistant waiter in every venue except Coastal Kitchen

 

It would be better for QofS to honestly state that those with special dietary needs cannot be accommodated (except in Coastal Kitchen). Such cruisers are only a small portion of all potential cruisers; perhaps they are not worth the cost of extra staffing. I know crew don't get paid much but they must still be expensive in terms of the space they and their provisions require. DH and I were intrigued by QofS and DD but we need special diets. Some people really will become ill if their needs are not accommodated. I think DD could work if it had assistant waiters and maybe additional capacity so that reservations could be easily made and honored without long waits.

 

As I stated my wife has Crohns so there is a long list of things she can not eat but we explained the to the server and was not a problem at Coastal Kitchen and all the other venues, we had assistant waiters, and no waits at all just showed up 5-10 minutes early and were seated right away

 

I just read that a person with lemon allergies was competently (and cheerfully) accommodated in Coastal Kitchen and that vanilla ice cream was also cheerfully provided even though it was not on the menu. So I guess RCI does know how to do this. The writer said it reminded them of the main dining room service. So while RCI says DD is an improvement over the main dining room, they still provide main dining room level service to their guests who spend the most.

 

My son asked for vanilla ice cream for desert in all the restaurants and was never a problem

The service was better in Coastal Kitchen due to the fact that it was a smaller venue with a smaller pool of people that went there.

 

I hope that what I have read in the reviewers about the other dining rooms represents the exceptions, not the norm in these venues. It is only based on a handful of reviews. Anyone want to try a test and report back? If so, try asking for a few cut up vegetables instead of rolls because you have diabetes or maybe a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream or sorbet for dessert because the desserts offered seem too heavy for you. Then we would get a bigger sample size to see if simple requests actually can be accommodated. Just kidding. Pleases don't do this, dinner is already reportedly taking too long and people have show reservations to get to. However, I would be very interested to hear reports from more people with special dietary needs to get a truer sense of what is happening

 

 

We did this on many occasions and was never an issue

[tmart011]

thanks for that follow up. my significant other has celiacs and its great to hear a positive take on the accomodations. help set the mind at ease

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

We were asked in several restaurants before ordering if we had any dietary restrictions. We didn't but it was nice of them to ask. Any substitutions we asked for were provided, such as different potatoes or sides. Dinner never took longer than the typical MDR experience. We had great service and food and would go back in a minute!

 

 

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[mikemartin774]

I also forgot to mention how many times were we asked if we had any allergies

to anything or any food restrictions

[cruisenfever]

All the dining venues that we ate in (Chic, American Icon, Grande, Silk and Coastal Kitchen) went out of their way to prepare our order the way we wanted it. No task was too difficult for them.

 

We were able to pick and choose to create our own plate and if we wanted something that was not on the menu, they did their very best to accommodate us.

[mikemartin774]

It's nice to see that some people has the same experience that we did

[crayon78]

We had a number of issues with food allergies and dietary restrictions on the 12/1 sailing but it's good to hear that things seem to be getting better. Also it's a nice improvement that the Simple Tastes menu is part of the regular menu (something we all mentioned in our surveys) so now people won't get blank stares when they ask the wait staff for it (which happened to us multiple times).

[Loreni]

Thank you all for reporting your experiences. It sounds like things are getting better.

[orknot2be]

Can someone tell me if vegetarian options are easily available in the Grande, Coastal kitchen and Chic? I have been a little concerned about various comments I've read on other threads about having food prepared that was not specifically listed on the menu. I'm also extremely concerned about food allergies. Two of our family members eat fish but two other members are allergic to shellfish and the menus seem to be "shellfish heavy" (and none of us eat meat or chicken but we do eat cheese/eggs). I would appreciate knowing experiences from those who needed to make special requests. After 30+ cruises, I am so used to the dining room experience and any special requests being easily accommodated and I'm very concerned that dynamic dining will present difficulties in this area.

 

I've also been concerned about comments made that the actual menus onboard differ from those posted online as I made our reservations based on the sample menus and food choices that look appropriate for us.

 

Thanks to anyone who can supplement the limited information I have found on the Quantum threads.

[kevinyork]

Can someone tell me if vegetarian options are easily available in the Grande, Coastal kitchen and Chic? I have been a little concerned about various comments I've read on other threads about having food prepared that was not specifically listed on the menu. I'm also extremely concerned about food allergies. Two of our family members eat fish but two other members are allergic to shellfish and the menus seem to be "shellfish heavy" (and none of us eat meat or chicken but we do eat cheese/eggs). I would appreciate knowing experiences from those who needed to make special requests. After 30+ cruises, I am so used to the dining room experience and any special requests being easily accommodated and I'm very concerned that dynamic dining will present difficulties in this area.

 

 

 

I've also been concerned about comments made that the actual menus onboard differ from those posted online as I made our reservations based on the sample menus and food choices that look appropriate for us.

 

 

 

Thanks to anyone who can supplement the limited information I have found on the Quantum threads.

 

 

I would also like this info as we are booked on Anthem. Nothing on the menus has a V to confirms its vegetarian. Many items that may be vegetarian have cheese but not all cheese is vegetarian. Any Vegetarians have experience of Quantum Restaurant?

 

 

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[mivama]

We just got off the Quantum and although the majority of our dining experiences were wonderful, I definitely feel that there was a lack of vegetarian options. I have sailed RCCL several times before and have always had several vegetarian options to choose from. On Quantum, they were lacking. On some menus, there were no choices at all except for the pasts primavera from the anytime menu. That gets old after a couple days. Most venues were very nice and willing to come up with a vegetarian option but not all those hit the mark for flavor.

There were plenty of seafood options everywhere for pescatarians but vegetarians and vegans may have issues. I would recommend visiting the venue ahead of time and letting them know your dietary needs before showing up for dinner.

The windjammer was also hit or miss. On the first day, there were veggie options such as lentil salad and refried beans for tacos, but that disappeared until near the end of the cruise. We had to specially request veggie burgers and it was a challenge to get them. There were lots of vegetable choices (ie, salad) but not much for vegetarians needing more protein intake.

We definitely didn't go hungry at all and always found something. I hope they make menu revisions in the future to accommodate non-meat eating guests, as on other ships. Still had a fantastic cruise!

[Deely]

Can someone tell me if vegetarian options are easily available in the Grande, Coastal kitchen and Chic? I have been a little concerned about various comments I've read on other threads about having food prepared that was not specifically listed on the menu. I'm also extremely concerned about food allergies. Two of our family members eat fish but two other members are allergic to shellfish and the menus seem to be "shellfish heavy" (and none of us eat meat or chicken but we do eat cheese/eggs). I would appreciate knowing experiences from those who needed to make special requests. After 30+ cruises, I am so used to the dining room experience and any special requests being easily accommodated and I'm very concerned that dynamic dining will present difficulties in this area.

 

I've also been concerned about comments made that the actual menus onboard differ from those posted online as I made our reservations based on the sample menus and food choices that look appropriate for us.

 

Thanks to anyone who can supplement the limited information I have found on the Quantum threads.

 

I would also like this info as we are booked on Anthem. Nothing on the menus has a V to confirms its vegetarian. Many items that may be vegetarian have cheese but not all cheese is vegetarian. Any Vegetarians have experience of Quantum Restaurant?

 

 

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just wondering if you'd since been on your cruise and have any further info please

[mistyraj]

We were on Quantam on the Dubai- Singapore leg and are all vegetarians. We also had a vegetarian baby. On the first night we had to choose veggi options from the menu- I don't remember what these were but they were limited. The same night the head waiter would ask us where we were eating the next day and ask what we would like prepared for us. They could make almost anything with 24 hrs notice (ie you need to decide the night before). It was difficult to come up with options of what you wanted to eat and they were no help so might be useful to go with ideas. We found the food boring and repetitive. Food for my 1 year old was also difficult but they did make steamed and blended veg for her whenever needed. This took around half and hour to prepare

[kevinyork]

We were on Quantam on the Dubai- Singapore leg and are all vegetarians. We also had a vegetarian baby. On the first night we had to choose veggi options from the menu- I don't remember what these were but they were limited. The same night the head waiter would ask us where we were eating the next day and ask what we would like prepared for us. They could make almost anything with 24 hrs notice (ie you need to decide the night before). It was difficult to come up with options of what you wanted to eat and they were no help so might be useful to go with ideas. We found the food boring and repetitive. Food for my 1 year old was also difficult but they did make steamed and blended veg for her whenever needed. This took around half and hour to prepare

 

 

That sounds a little silly of them. Why not do as some cruise lines do and present a Vegetarian menu to select from for the next night. Asking guests to think up dishes they want must create more hassle than is really necessary for them.

 

 

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