Garavar Posted May 27, 2018 #1 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Haven't cruised Royal in over a year. Just booked December 3 night cruise on Mariner to try and get back into the RC swing. Is the MDR menu still the same? Mojo night one, saffron etc. Thanks Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted May 27, 2018 #2 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Haven't cruised Royal in over a year. Just booked December 3 night cruise on Mariner to try and get back into the RC swing. Is the MDR menu still the same? Mojo night one, saffron etc. Thanks Nope, those "spice" menus are gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted May 27, 2018 #3 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Nope, those "spice" menus are gone.We had them on the trip to Barcelona, but that is probably the end. I saved all the ones from our suite. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reallyhooked Posted May 27, 2018 #4 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Nope, those "spice" menus are gone. I never understood those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garavar Posted May 27, 2018 Author #5 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Nope, those "spice" menus are gone.Are the new menus available somewhere? I am trying to decide which nights to book Chops and Chef's. Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted May 27, 2018 #6 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Are the new menus available somewhere? I am trying to decide which nights to book Chops and Chef's. I believe Mariner is still in dry dock, and so has not started itineraries out of the US yet. In other words, no reports of menu order that would apply to your itinerary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mcatmcat Posted May 27, 2018 #7 Share Posted May 27, 2018 I miss the old menus Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted May 27, 2018 #8 Share Posted May 27, 2018 I miss the old menus I miss the old old menus, the ones before the spice named menus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LMaxwell Posted May 27, 2018 #9 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Are the new menus available somewhere? I am trying to decide which nights to book Chops and Chef's. Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app 1. Save your money on Chops, IMO. Was very disappointing last time. Many apps and sides right from Windjammer (WJ was good, so why pay extra). Desert bland (WJ better). Steak was good. Not excellent. I'd do dinner here again for $10-15 per person upcharge, no more. That's all it's worth really. 2. The MDR menus are in many of the threads here, posting mobile not as easy for me to find, but they are highly repetitive. Soups/Salads/Apps have all been condensed down into "Starter" and many fewer choices than previously overall. It is now treated as a 3 course meal; order an app, entree, and desert all at once up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garavar Posted May 27, 2018 Author #10 Share Posted May 27, 2018 1. Save your money on Chops, IMO. Was very disappointing last time. Many apps and sides right from Windjammer (WJ was good, so why pay extra). Desert bland (WJ better). Steak was good. Not excellent. I'd do dinner here again for $10-15 per person upcharge, no more. That's all it's worth really. 2. The MDR menus are in many of the threads here, posting mobile not as easy for me to find, but they are highly repetitive. Soups/Salads/Apps have all been condensed down into "Starter" and many fewer choices than previously overall. It is now treated as a 3 course meal; order an app, entree, and desert all at once up front. We pretty much only eat at specialities we find the "free" food to be terrible so if speciality has become just as bad this might signal the end of Royal for us. We have been cruising Crystal and the food has been wonderful, we are going to try Royal again because our "Member berries" is drawing us to Royal. I will log on and see if I can find Enchantment or Majesty's menus I am sure they will be similar. Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LMaxwell Posted May 27, 2018 #11 Share Posted May 27, 2018 We pretty much only eat at specialities we find the "free" food to be terrible so if speciality has become just as bad this might signal the end of Royal for us. I find the free food in the MDR "average" and find the upcharge food "average". Chops from 2013 - 2018 has declined so much they are trading on the reputation of the name. I haven't cruised on Crystal, but against traditional competition I rank RCI at the bottom of the list (NCL, Princess, MSC, Carnival; have not tried HAL). That said, I do not find the food terrible, just least satisfactory in comparison. If this is a top 5 sort of thing for you, you may want to do serious consideration. Chef's Tables in past few months I have read scattered reviews citing that has been declining with the removal of a course and sometimes wines served with little to no presentation or explanation. It seems this is another terrific product from RCI where after a few years the standards lower and the variability from one cruise to another seems to grow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LMaxwell Posted May 27, 2018 #12 Share Posted May 27, 2018 (edited) Here in post 25 you can see two nights of dinner menus just to give an idea for MDR. There is no more separate Classics section; so each night menu only a few items change (3 starters, 5 entrees, 2 desserts) compared to prior evening. https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2636461&page=2 Edited May 27, 2018 by LMaxwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjrpar Posted May 27, 2018 #13 Share Posted May 27, 2018 We pretty much only eat at specialities we find the "free" food to be terrible so if speciality has become just as bad this might signal the end of Royal for us. We have been cruising Crystal and the food has been wonderful, we are going to try Royal again because our "Member berries" is drawing us to Royal. I will log on and see if I can find Enchantment or Majesty's menus I am sure they will be similar. Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app We were on the Quantum in March. The MDR food is terrible, I think they have finally cut the quality (and service) too far. We actually skipped the MDR several times for the WJ. The specialty restaurants are much better but unfortunately, they also continue to cut quality in those venues . We also do not believe that they warrant the extra charges that keep increasing. We have started to look at more land based vacations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoopster95 Posted May 27, 2018 #14 Share Posted May 27, 2018 1. Save your money on Chops, IMO. Was very disappointing last time. Many apps and sides right from Windjammer (WJ was good, so why pay extra). Desert bland (WJ better). Steak was good. Not excellent. I'd do dinner here again for $10-15 per person upcharge, no more. That's all it's worth really. Hey LMaxwell. I'm solo in 4 weeks on Brilliance and likely skipping MDR many/most nights, in large part to yours and recent posts from others here on this forum that WJ has stepped up. I'll see for myself and report back We pretty much only eat at specialities we find the "free" food to be terrible so if speciality has become just as bad this might signal the end of Royal for us. We have been cruising Crystal and the food has been wonderful, we are going to try Royal again because our "Member berries" is drawing us to Royal. This describes me as well the last couple of years... WJ and MDR have not been good for me, specialties have been far superior. If specialties are dropping the ball now as well in order to cut costs (what isn't these days from Miami's head office) that will be a true shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garavar Posted May 27, 2018 Author #15 Share Posted May 27, 2018 I find the free food in the MDR "average" and find the upcharge food "average". Chops from 2013 - 2018 has declined so much they are trading on the reputation of the name. I haven't cruised on Crystal, but against traditional competition I rank RCI at the bottom of the list (NCL, Princess, MSC, Carnival; have not tried HAL). That said, I do not find the food terrible, just least satisfactory in comparison. If this is a top 5 sort of thing for you, you may want to do serious consideration. Chef's Tables in past few months I have read scattered reviews citing that has been declining with the removal of a course and sometimes wines served with little to no presentation or explanation. It seems this is another terrific product from RCI where after a few years the standards lower and the variability from one cruise to another seems to grow. We were on the Quantum in March. The MDR food is terrible, I think they have finally cut the quality (and service) too far. We actually skipped the MDR several times for the WJ. The specialty restaurants are much better but unfortunately, they also continue to cut quality in those venues . We also do not believe that they warrant the extra charges that keep increasing. We have started to look at more land based vacations. Oh oh, this is concerning. It just doesn't make sense to us to book Royal if the food quality will be at all time low. We book Suites only and that's around $400-500 per night plus grats. While you can get on a Crystal ship for $650 per night with all included. We sailed in November in an A1 on Crystal for 24 Nights at $625/night. I guess it makes sense if we switch to booking interior or just simply balcony because that would be $200/night. Don't know we will see what happens in December and re-evaluate. We tried NCL and hated it. The Brazil restaurant was great but all the other specialities were par. The MDR was horrible. We are booked for Princess in March to give it our first go. Would love to try Hal we are in our early 30s but old souls. Might be our next venture. Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garavar Posted May 27, 2018 Author #16 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Here in post 25 you can see two nights of dinner menus just to give an idea for MDR. There is no more separate Classics section; so each night menu only a few items change (3 starters, 5 entrees, 2 desserts) compared to prior evening. https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2636461&page=2 Thanks, it looks very similar just in a different lay out. I don't remember Suites having a breakfast menu, all I remember is breakfast in Chops. Did they add that or did I blank it out? Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LMaxwell Posted May 27, 2018 #17 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Hey LMaxwell. I'm solo in 4 weeks on Brilliance and likely skipping MDR many/most nights, in large part to yours and recent posts from others here on this forum that WJ has stepped up. I'll see for myself and report back I hope you have a good experience. If Brilliance brings their game same as Navigator did you should be very happy. This is something I think RCI should make as the standard to bring UP across the fleet and reduce variability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LMaxwell Posted May 27, 2018 #18 Share Posted May 27, 2018 We tried NCL and hated it. The Brazil restaurant was great but all the other specialities were par. The MDR was horrible. Similar demographics and location to you. Surprised you did not like NCL dining. I rank it ahead of RCI one or two notches. I thought their MDR breakfast and lunches were better. Dinners were average/OK. Honestly, I know some people just plain don't like buffets, but NCL Escape dinner buffet was phenomenal, and all the NCL ships have nice made to order crepe stations for dessert; even if we go to MDR or specialty we walk it off a bit before going to the buffet for that. And like I said the Escape dinner buffet was great. And just recently the Windjammer dinner on Royal Navigator was truly excellent in presentation, quality, and selection. Vastly superior to MDR in all ways. Surprising. Worth a look for a more casual dining experience too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisegoal100 Posted May 27, 2018 #19 Share Posted May 27, 2018 As long as RCL continues sailing at over 100% occupancy (based on 2 per stateroom) the food choices and quality will probably continue in the direction cited in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garavar Posted May 27, 2018 Author #20 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Similar demographics and location to you. Surprised you did not like NCL dining. I rank it ahead of RCI one or two notches. I thought their MDR breakfast and lunches were better. Dinners were average/OK. Honestly, I know some people just plain don't like buffets, but NCL Escape dinner buffet was phenomenal, and all the NCL ships have nice made to order crepe stations for dessert; even if we go to MDR or specialty we walk it off a bit before going to the buffet for that. And like I said the Escape dinner buffet was great. And just recently the Windjammer dinner on Royal Navigator was truly excellent in presentation, quality, and selection. Vastly superior to MDR in all ways. Surprising. Worth a look for a more casual dining experience too. We never go to Windjammer, tried it a couple of times and hated it, we do not like buffets. It's a combination of massive amounts of people hovering over the food and the quality. Our club does a nice buffet on occasion and we will go to that mainly because the food quality is extremely high but also because there are servers at every station that places the items on plate. Crystal's buffet (their Windjammer) is pretty nice as the food theme changes everyday. They do not serve you but the passengers at least don't do some of the nasty things you see at the Windjammer. So we eat their on occasion. What is great about Crystal is the MDR is open for lunch every day, not just sea days. So if you are buffet snobs like us you never have to eat at the buffet unless you are in a rush. I guess I'll report back in December on Chef's table and Chops. Hopefully it is as good as it was years ago or RC is done :( Sent from my STV100-1 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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