New YC menus - underwhelming and disappointing

[LadySpoilt]

On a Facebook page one of the posters has been posting daily the new YC menus that started this week from the Seaside.  I know food is suggestive BUT the degree to which they have changed the menus is as I said above " underwhelming and disappointing". Below is my response to the facebook menus.

 

 I am very disappointed and underwhelmed at the menus. This will be our 4th YC cruise and I can attest to the fact the the previous menus offered more in both the selection and number of apps and entrees. Being a non-seafood eater the pickings for me are quite slim and if you are a beef or chicken eater forget it. The way it looks I'll be looking a ordering a Filet Mignon or Prime Rib (and NO not a flank steak or something cheap like that!!) One of Hubby's main reasons for doing the YC had a lot to do with the YC restaurant and menu. Another cut or two to the menu and we are gone.

 

 

[Fogfog]

With no menus posted here--there isn't anything to comment on.

Saw menus of a recently MED sailing from YC here on CC and there were many choices.

[Fredric22]

Can you please post the menus you saw here so we can see?  Thanks!

[Toofarfromthesea]

1 hour ago, LadySpoilt said:

On a Facebook page one of the posters has been posting daily the new YC menus that started this week from the Seaside.  I know food is suggestive BUT the degree to which they have changed the menus is as I said above " underwhelming and disappointing". Below is my response to the facebook menus.

 

 I am very disappointed and underwhelmed at the menus. This will be our 4th YC cruise and I can attest to the fact the the previous menus offered more in both the selection and number of apps and entrees. Being a non-seafood eater the pickings for me are quite slim and if you are a beef or chicken eater forget it. The way it looks I'll be looking a ordering a Filet Mignon or Prime Rib (and NO not a flank steak or something cheap like that!!) One of Hubby's main reasons for doing the YC had a lot to do with the YC restaurant and menu. Another cut or two to the menu and we are gone.

 

 

 

I can't speak to this change, but the YC menu (and frankly the quality of the ingredients and the preparation of the food) on our Baltic cruise on Meraviglia was extremely disappointing to me.  Which was sad because I really enjoyed the YC restaurant on Divina in the Med the year before.  Generally there was only one offering that was not seafood or carb loaded pasta/rissotto.  And the results were not great when I ordered off the Available Every Day menu.  It should not be hard to cook a filet mignon to medium rare, but I got everything from completely dead to blood-rare.  In my whole 60+ years of life I have probably sent back a steak 3-5 times at most.  I had to send it back on both trips to the Butcher's Cut.

In their partial defense, I think the ship had just come out of a short drydock and there may have been turnover and the attending disruption, as a new routine is forged with new people.  That certainly seemed to be the case with the service lapses in the lounge.  But that only explains execution, not something structural, like menus.

IAC, these lapses didn't ruin my cruise at all.  But between this experience and the new bidding system I think it will be a while before I consider YC again.  And I wouldn't cruise MSC outside of the YC.

[floridian1]

We were on the seaside 2 weeks ago and the YC dinners were pretty bad. Slow service and tasteless food. Plus the descriptions didn't even match what was served sometimes. It was dissapointing to say the least. The rest of yc was great though.

[rkacruiser]

Difference in Executive Chefs, Hotel Directors, Food/Beverage Directors, etc. can have a major influence on what appears on the MDR menus.  Geographic location and the demographics of the guests may also have some influence.

 

As a HAL 5 Star Mariner and a Platinum Elite Princess Member, I have booked Meraviglia's YC looking for a different cruise experience.  The YC Restaurant's performance is part of my expectation.

 

 

[kodesthemoose]

From what I've been able to glean, the menus have definitely changed.  This post shows a typical YC menu on Seaside in 2018.  The new menu seems to just have less choices overall.  I did a screengrab.  

[WonderMan3]

???? When you add in the healthy selections there are 5 starters (same number as old menu) and 6 entrees (1 more than old menu). The only thing not shown are the everyday items. The selections look good to me.

[kodesthemoose]

I don't find the menus too terribly different but the removal of the "every day items" does make me wonder whether they are going to be removed altogether.  I don't know.  This menu is very similar to what we had on the Seaview in the Med in May, actually, I think this screengrab is an exact copy of the menu I had one night.  

[WonderMan3]

Just now, kodesthemoose said:

I don't find the menus too terribly different but the removal of the "every day items" does make me wonder whether they are going to be removed altogether.  I don't know.  This menu is very similar to what we had on the Seaview in the Med in May, actually, I think this screengrab is an exact copy of the menu I had one night.  

 

Have everyday items been done away with? Or was that part of the menu just not shared?

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I haven't found either the food or the service to be exceptional in the Yacht Club.  The rest of the experience is awesome.  But if prices continue to rise and food quality and service deteriorates, then I probably won't be returning.

[SailBreakaway]

The new VP for Food and Bev is in position now. Several speculated this would be the result.  

[nikkiw60]

We didn’t see any “every day item” on the menu at all on the Divina last month, just the menus I posted.

And apart from the steaks the rest of the food was nothing special just ok nice. But the service was lovely!

Edited June 22, 2019 by nikkiw60

[LadySpoilt]

13 hours ago, Fogfog said:

With no menus posted here--there isn't anything to comment on.

Saw menus of a recently MED sailing from YC here on CC and there were many choices.

 

The new menus only began this past week on the Miami Seaside sailing

 

 

12 hours ago, Fredric22 said:

Can you please post the menus you saw here so we can see?  Thanks!

 

The menus have been posted daily on a closed YC facebook group. Sorry but I do not know how to share them from there.

Edited June 22, 2019 by LadySpoilt

[sidari]

Click on the picture, when it opens right click on it and then click Copy Image, right click on this box on CC and then click add image. The photo should show right away, then click submit reply as normal.

[Formula280SS]

Agreed that food quality and range of offerings are declining; not only on MSC in the Yacht Club, but NCL (Haven), RCCL (Coastal), etc. AND specialty restaurants (more inconsistency re: such).

 

With a specific plant based  diet (with allowable fish and meat proteins), I look at the menu with our waiter/waitress on day 1 or 2 for the B2B, and select dinners we'll be at specialty restaurants, days we'll order off the menu, and days that "we requested substituted protein mains" (basically, offered on other nights, just special ordered ahead of time for the selected nights).

 

We've also been lucky that in our many YC cruises we've had Arthur or Allessandra; over the top, whatever you want, and how you want it service (they've even sent a runner out to the buffet to find a 'green banana to make my green smoothie in the mornings).

 

In the YC specifically, when they are 'cooking live on the floor, I can get "anything" added or done the way I want just by asking; spicy marina on bed of baby spinach instead of pasta for example.

 

This seems like work, but it is just dealing with what has evolved across the lines re: food which is also highly subjective.

[Fredric22]

The food in the YC restaurant in December was very good to excellent.  It was actually an improvement from our cruise previous to that one so I felt the quality had increased not decreased.  I would find it hard to believe that MSC would make drastic changes to the YC menus both in quality and quantity.  YC is one of their most successful offerings and they continue to make investments to grow and expand it (and even build new, smaller ships completely based the concept).  I will say that I really do appreciate that MSC is constantly changing the YC menus.  We used to cruise Celebrity and dined in Blu and Luminae (aqua class restaurant and suite class restaurant) and they have barely changed those menus in probably 8+ years.  We could recite the menu every night just by knowing what day of the cruise it was.  That gets incredibly boring and is one of the main reasons we stopped cruising on Celebrity.  On MSC, I feel like I am constantly being presented with new dishes to try and while all of them aren't "hits", I do appreciate the variety and the experience of trying new things every night. 

[Fogfog]

2 hours ago, sidari said:

Click on the picture, when it opens right click on it and then click Copy Image, right click on this box on CC and then click add image. The photo should show right away, then click submit reply as normal.

@ LadySpoilt   I was just about to post the same as sidari says here

Yes Click on the pic to get to its source/poster (who posted it into the group). Right click. And then download/save image to your device. Upload here as normal

Edited June 22, 2019 by Fogfog

[WonderMan3]

3 hours ago, Fredric22 said:

The food in the YC restaurant in December was very good to excellent.  It was actually an improvement from our cruise previous to that one so I felt the quality had increased not decreased.  I would find it hard to believe that MSC would make drastic changes to the YC menus both in quality and quantity.  YC is one of their most successful offerings and they continue to make investments to grow and expand it (and even build new, smaller ships completely based the concept).  I will say that I really do appreciate that MSC is constantly changing the YC menus.  We used to cruise Celebrity and dined in Blu and Luminae (aqua class restaurant and suite class restaurant) and they have barely changed those menus in probably 8+ years.  We could recite the menu every night just by knowing what day of the cruise it was.  That gets incredibly boring and is one of the main reasons we stopped cruising on Celebrity.  On MSC, I feel like I am constantly being presented with new dishes to try and while all of them aren't "hits", I do appreciate the variety and the experience of trying new things every night. 

 

Not to be picky but Luminae only came onto Celebrity ships in 2015 so they haven’t been around for 8 years. And the menus are getting an overhaul this year in addition to adding an everyday item menu which I believe has already started.

[Toofarfromthesea]

17 hours ago, kodesthemoose said:

I don't find the menus too terribly different but the removal of the "every day items" does make me wonder whether they are going to be removed altogether.  I don't know.  This menu is very similar to what we had on the Seaview in the Med in May, actually, I think this screengrab is an exact copy of the menu I had one night.  

 

Good point.  The everyday options were right in the menu, on our Divina cruise, but they were a separate insert on our Meraviglia cruise.  And they weren't given out - you had to ask for it, and if you didn't know that was an option, nothing they did would have informed you.  

[Beamafar]

4 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

Not to be picky but Luminae only came onto Celebrity ships in 2015 so they haven’t been around for 8 years. And the menus are getting an overhaul this year in addition to adding an everyday item menu which I believe has already started.

 

We experienced Luminae very soon after its introduction (on a 14 night cruise);  we ended up dining in the MDR as the service was so bad.  Something we have never done when in YC.

[Fogfog]

So no posts of the "new" menus from the OP?

 

What about the other ships? Was this fleet-wide change? 

 

When there is no pic it makes it seem like a troll post --and we aren't seeing lots of complaints. If this has been a change for the last two weeks, I'd be interested in hearing from MSC loyalists and also those who sail MSC and other lines how this impacts YC

 

Hoping there is more than conjection

[Cruisergal1208]

26 minutes ago, Fogfog said:

So no posts of the "new" menus from the OP?

 

What about the other ships? Was this fleet-wide change? 

 

When there is no pic it makes it seem like a troll post --and we aren't seeing lots of complaints. If this has been a change for the last two weeks, I'd be interested in hearing from MSC loyalists and also those who sail MSC and other lines how this impacts YC

 

Hoping there is more than conjection

There have been lots of pictures of this weeks new menus and lots of complaints on Facebook threads.  Lots of fish/seafood choices.  So not a "troll post".  I'm not savvy enough to post the pictures.  Well as you can see below, I found the way to post them here.

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by Cruisergal1208

[Cruisergal1208]

[Cruisergal1208]

Edited June 22, 2019 by Cruisergal1208