First Cruise on RCCL in 25+ Yrs... The Good & the Bad

[globe9]

Just back from Alaska on Explorer of the Seas. It's my first time back on RCCL since I was a kid in the late 80's on Song of America & Song of Norway.

 

I've been using NCL & Carnival primarily as it's most convenient from my home port of New Orleans.

 

We were expecting a lot based on comments I've heard over the years bashing Carnival in relation to RCCL.

 

I did enjoy my cruise and loved the layout of the Explorer. Everything was convenient and the ship didn't feel huge. We especially liked all of the various bars and lounges tucked away all over the ship.

 

The staff was wonderful. Some of the friendliest I've ever encountered.

 

Embarkation was smooth and hassle free. We arrived at terminal by about 10:20am and was on ship by 11am.

 

However, the Windjammer wasn't open and there were LONG lines waiting to get in.

 

This was also the case on first sea day. We got our lunch, lapped the entire restaurant area 3 times and could not find an empty seat so we just gave up & put lunch down.

We then went to dining room where the service was unbelievably slow.

 

My main issue was the food quality at the Sapphire Dining Room and Windjammer. I'm no foodie by any means and I found the food absolutely terrible. Probably the first cruise I've lost weight on and actually went hungry a few times rather than eat what was being served.

 

We tried the dining room the first night. I ordered the steak medium rare. After waiting almost 45 mins to get it, it was gray! The whole steak was gray. I've never seen anything like it. Not even at a place like Applebee's.

 

We were really disappointed overall. Carnival and NCL's complimentary food options are much better. Most of the food was lukewarm, lettuce was brown, etc..

 

Really marred the cruise line imo. I'm not sure if maybe it was the ship?

 

Even though everything else was great, the food quality really has me questioning whether I'll retry RCCL again.

[voyager70]

Sorry to hear of your experience. We sailed EX out of Seattle last September and thought the food was quite good. Hopefully this was a one off experience.

[ONECRUISER]

Yes, even though you can get on board ship at 11am or before WindJamer doesn't open until 11:30 on some ships... Food taste is subjective. I actually think when comes to NCL/CCL that Royal is slightly better overall. Though agree Royal isn't what use to be 30 years ago in Main Dining. But few Cruise Lines are now. Guess that's why not even counting inflation it's still cheaper to cruise now then in the 1980's. But OP sorry wasn't great cruise experience for you...

[Jimbo]

Did you try any of the pay places to eat?...I know you shouldn't have to pay to get good food on a cruise ship but in most cases the service and food is well worth it.

 

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[globe9]

We did not. After we gave up on lunch in the Windjammer, we tried to go to Johnny Rockets, but were told it was a 45min to 1 hour wait. We just went down and had protein bars in the cabin.

 

Should have mentioned that we're on a low carb diet, so mostly what we could eat was meat, non starchy veggies, cheese etc.

 

I found myself making salad with a bunless burger on top often however salad was a pain in the butt. One bar would have lettuce, cauliflower, raw broccoli... But no cucumber, boiled egg, bacon bits etc.... Would have to go to the back right side to find the cucumber and mushrooms. Then would have to go to the other station on the left to get bacon bits (only available like twice all week). It became a scavenger hunt for salad toppings. Very frustrating.

 

Also one evening, they had giant pieces of actual bacon instead of bits. Grabbed some and they were actually raw. I don't think they'd even touched a pan.

 

Several instances of crazy stuff like that. Ketchup and mustard out one day on condiment bar near hamburgers. Just thousand island and honey mustard out the next. Got smoked salmon one morning and asked for cream cheese. Was told it was in a fridge in the back and she didn't have a key. I mean cream cheese shouldn't be a hard request.

 

Carnival is much better food wise. More variety as well. The Mongolian grill, Guys, superior pizza, etc.

[karkee8807]

I think food varies from ship to ship or personal taste. I also think that sometimes its just a fluke. But I get that it is disappointing when the food isn't great.

 

Most of the time I have always enjoyed the food on board a Royal cruise. We eat breakfast and lunch in the MDR when it is open. We eat most our dinners in the Windjammer, with most of those being good. We snack and stop for late night eats, it just depends on the ship where we go. Like Cafe Promenade is hit or miss, but we really like Johnny Rockets. Breakfast is alright in the dining room, but it is something nice to do on sea days. Room service breakfast is also just okay. We really enjoy MDR lunch. Now that my husband and I cruise together, we prefer the Windjammer at dinner so we can eat and then take advantage of a less busy ship. As a teenager, we always ate dinner in the MDR. The food was always great, but that was also 11-16 years ago. I have severe food allergies, so that also plays into factor where we eat. If MDR or Windjammer is heavy with fish/shellfish that night, we don't risk it.

 

When we were on our Carnival cruise, we thought the food was terrible no matter where we ate. But there were a lot of other problems with the cruise as well. A handful of other people we became friendly with had commented on the poor food/bad service/dirty ship as well. Some of them were also on their first Carnival cruise (but sailed other lines), others were die hard Carnival customers. But over all that cruise was not a great experience. If we were closer to a port, we would consider another Carnival since it most likely was just a one time thing. Since we are in the Akron/Cleveland area, travel to a port is a big cost factor if not leaving from the NYC area or Baltimore. We also think a newer ship and a longer cruise with Carnival might be better. But just are worried about another bad experience.

 

I haven't taken a cruise with NCL, but we would like to try it out sometime. I like that their Bermuda cruises are longer.

 

I'd recommend giving a Royal a shot again. I believe they sail out of New Orleans with Vision of the Seas. Liberty of the Seas is based out of Galveston.

 

Also, thanks for giving your opinion on Explorer. We are sailing on her sister, Adventure in December and really looking forward to the ship itself. Our last cruise was on Liberty when she was in Cape Liberty. We loved that ship. Liberty is a Freedom class ship, so a little bigger and more features then Explorer/Adventure. But after researching Adventure, the layout and style really reminded us of Liberty.

[John&LaLa]

We did not. After we gave up on lunch in the Windjammer, we tried to go to Johnny Rockets, but were told it was a 45min to 1 hour wait. We just went down and had protein bars in the cabin.

 

Should have mentioned that we're on a low carb diet, so mostly what we could eat was meat, non starchy veggies, cheese etc.

 

I found myself making salad with a bunless burger on top often however salad was a pain in the butt. One bar would have lettuce, cauliflower, raw broccoli... But no cucumber, boiled egg, bacon bits etc.... Would have to go to the back right side to find the cucumber and mushrooms. Then would have to go to the other station on the left to get bacon bits (only available like twice all week). It became a scavenger hunt for salad toppings. Very frustrating.

 

Also one evening, they had giant pieces of actual bacon instead of bits. Grabbed some and they were actually raw. I don't think they'd even touched a pan.

 

Several instances of crazy stuff like that. Ketchup and mustard out one day on condiment bar near hamburgers. Just thousand island and honey mustard out the next. Got smoked salmon one morning and asked for cream cheese. Was told it was in a fridge in the back and she didn't have a key. I mean cream cheese shouldn't be a hard request.

 

Carnival is much better food wise. More variety as well. The Mongolian grill, Guys, superior pizza, etc.

Any bananas next to the ketchup and mayo?[emoji6]

 

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[Lionesss]

Any bananas next to the ketchup and mayo?[emoji6]

 

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TSK TSK

 

and I got your pun.

 

Yup, miss that thread.

 

Later