Royal Food

[time4u2go]

12 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

well, if it the same menu, than the only way the quality will be different, if they buy outdated, and moldy food.  If they asked if the quality of food went down over the decade, than yes.  They downgraded the selection of food choices to a more simple, plain meal.  However from pre-pandemic to now, the menu is the same, therefore the quality is the same, unless they do as I said, either buy old chickens, or outdated food.  No one actually believes the Carnival bacon excuse.  I have seen people put a pound of bacon on a plate on some of those ships.

 

So you think the only measure of the quality of food is whether or not it is outdated or moldy?  You don't think there can be (for example) different qualities of tomatoes, depending on how they are grown, where they are grown, and how they are supplied?  Or different qualities of pasta, depending on how it's manufactured, and what ingredients go into it?

[tserface]

1 minute ago, time4u2go said:

So you think the only measure of the quality of food is whether or not it is outdated or moldy?  You don't think there can be (for example) different qualities of tomatoes, depending on how they are grown, where they are grown, and how they are supplied?  Or different qualities of pasta, depending on how it's manufactured, and what ingredients go into it?

 

I think some of the quality has changed due to the ships getting larger and them having to source more food and cook for larger numbers of people.  Back when we had a few hundred people on a ship it wasn't as big of a deal.  But, you make a good point.  I know the buyers spend a lot of time doing quality checking and even forcing changes in menus based on the quality food they can get at any of the ports.  Better ingredients, you would hope, equals better outcome.  They've done some amazing things with recipes.

 

We always enjoy trying things we'd never make at home.  For example, we can get escargot that would cost $30 at a restaurant (if you could even get it at all).  Also, for the two of us in our household, trying to make prime rib, or rack of lamb, or things like turkey, is way more of an issue because we just don't need all of the left overs.  In my opinion Royal does a great job on beef dishes and I always enjoy as many nights as they provide them.  Also, soups, lobster, desserts, and appetizers that we would just never make.

 

And, there's always the amazing breads.  My weakness.

 

It's interesting that the cost of cruising hasn't risen commensurate with the cost of living for other things.  I suspect they've kept the costs down by dumbing down some of the eccentric things we used to have like midnight buffets, chocolate parades, etc.  Everything is a give and take.

 

I do hope they have good tomatoes.  I love those roasted tomato things they make for breakfast 🙂

[LorraineP]

Definitely different qualities of beef. Example on one cruise in main dining room filet mignon (beef tenderloin) was on menu I ordered it my friend wasn’t paying attention to what waiter said & mistakenly ordered the filet which was extra $$$. It was like day & might her’s was much more tender & juicer than mine. 

[dahirsh]

1 hour ago, Joseph2017China said:

well, if it the same menu, than the only way the quality will be different, if they buy outdated, and moldy food.  If they asked if the quality of food went down over the decade, than yes.  They downgraded the selection of food choices to a more simple, plain meal.  However from pre-pandemic to now, the menu is the same, therefore the quality is the same, unless they do as I said, either buy old chickens, or outdated food.  No one actually believes the Carnival bacon excuse.  I have seen people put a pound of bacon on a plate on some of those ships.

 

 

There's a lot more that goes into quality of food than "is it moldy"  like, say preparation.  

[tserface]

1 minute ago, dahirsh said:

 

There's a lot more that goes into quality of food than "is it moldy"  like, say preparation.  

Yeah, but if it's moldy preparation doesn't matter 🙂

 

[tserface]

32 minutes ago, LorraineP said:

Definitely different qualities of beef. Example on one cruise in main dining room filet mignon (beef tenderloin) was on menu I ordered it my friend wasn’t paying attention to what waiter said & mistakenly ordered the filet which was extra $$$. It was like day & might her’s was much more tender & juicer than mine. 

 

I see on the menu for our upcoming cruise (nice that they have them in the app now) that you can get a lobster for only $29 and a steak for $19.95 in the MDR.  I guess that's a good thing, but I can imagine it would be better if you pay $20 extra for it.  I can buy 2 really good steaks at Safeway for that price.

 

Seriously, some of the beef in the MDR (prime rib, Royal steak, medallions) are pretty good.  I expect the ones at Chops would be a lot better for $50 each.  It's nice that there are so many options these days.

[djefferis]

I highly doubt the food they source improved in quality in 2021.

 

What your more likely to see is improved service as a higher crew to pax ratio makes things go smoother.

 

it’s funny how slightly more attentive service makes a meal seem “better” 

[Sunshine3601]

6 hours ago, tserface said:

We've never been on Norwegian because of stories we've heard, like yours.  We do sail on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess depending on itinerary, but tend to do Royal most often.  I'm always amazed at how great the food is especially considering the numbers of people they have to feed.

 

The only complaint I have is the specialty restaurants are way overpriced these days.  $50 each for a steak is way more than we'd ever spend on land.  It used to be such a great deal and they used to take into account that you were *not* eating in the MDR so they were saving $$$ on that.  To top it off, at Chops they want you to pay $21 each additional if you want Lobster (there isn't a surf and turf option) so that means a 1+ lobster is $71 per person.  It's just crazy expensive.

The bogo offer for speciality restaurants is a good deal or we buy the 3 night package for cruises of 7 nights or longer.  Also enjoy Chops for Lunch, i think it is $21 or $25 pp then.

[Eddie Wilson]

8 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

If the menu is exactly the same, how would the quality change?  Buying outdated chicken and bleaching it?  The food is going to be the same. 

 

 

Not necessarily, food quality is a function of several things, one of which is volume. If a galley is properly staffed and preparing 750 main dinning room dinner meals, the guality may be quite better than a larger galley preparing 5,000 dinner meals.

 

Eddie

[Eddie Wilson]

7 hours ago, Cmackdaddy said:

Speaking long term, I’d say the quality has declined a bit over the past 20 years. 

 

Certainly it has, 20 years ago a large ship served 1,000 dinner meals for each of two fixed dinning times. Now they prepare for up to 6,000 passengers over a 4 hour period. 

 

We indirectly are part of the blame, wanting larger ships, then even larger ships, my- time dinning and such.

 

Eddie

[Eddie Wilson]

4 hours ago, LorraineP said:

Definitely different qualities of beef. Example on one cruise in main dining room filet mignon (beef tenderloin) was on menu I ordered it my friend wasn’t paying attention to what waiter said & mistakenly ordered the filet which was extra $$$. It was like day & might her’s was much more tender & juicer than mine. 

 

Land your steak was cooked hours earlier and kept warm. The steak for $$$ was most likely made at a speciality restaurant minutes prior to serving

Eddie