No more Dining room lunch for B2B passengers-Fleet wide change

[kruzerci]

9 minutes ago, joeyancho said:

First world problems.....😉

 

Is that not what you would expect on a website based around critiquing vacations?

[karena1]

3 hours ago, wallyj said:

Hello, I am currently on Navigator and have been since January 7, so have already experienced 4, B2B in transist turnarounds. I am staying on for the next 3 sailings and yesterday received the ‘letter’ outlining B2B procedures and testing. It is formatted differently than all previous letters. In the past, there were color blocks of pertinent sections. New letter is plain black and white.

 

The biggest change to me was there was no mention of lunch in the dining room for us B2B passengers as we have enjoyed in the past. I went to the DL to ask the concierge , and he called Guest Services and was told the ‘lunch ’ for B2B passengers has been discontinued fleetwide.

We never did that anyway.  We always get off the ship on B2B and head to our favorite beaches.  We have a B2B out of San Juan in April on Explorer and will get off the second we can and head to Isla Verde and spend the day at the beach.

[wallyj]

I just received a note sent to my cabin that the ship WILL host a lunch for B2B passengers. So, in the past couple of hours this change has occurred.

 

The concierge did mention to me earlier the B2B lunch was already discontinued on other ships but the Navigator had not implemented this change yet. Will post if they continue on Navigator after next sailing.

[radarcruiser]

2 hours ago, dswallow said:

I've found myself several times lately wandering through Windjammer at lunch time and leaving without anything. Very disappointing. There's something extremely diminished about the selection of foods there.

Anyway, every time I also get accosted by someone when leaving asking if I had a problem since they see me drop my empty plate and silverware on a table as I leave, and I tell them I found the selection very disappointing and not worth bothering with. 

 

I haven't really done much more beyond that. Mostly as I do comprehend that things are going to be different while sailing with 50% capacity or less. Doesn't mean I'm not going to find myself very disappointed about what they serve; I'm just not going to push back too much about it at the moment. 🙂 But I still think they can be doing better day to day; it's mostly like an exact repeating menu day to day -- and a bad one.

That's not to say that I don't sometimes find something. It's just that I never used to be able to not find anything I wanted.

Doug, you are so right about the lack of selection and the downward spiral of food quality in the WJ.  On Indy a few weeks ago you had to hunt for the very limited salad selections.  The hot food was either a hamburger, hot dog, low quality Mexican or Indian (often the best of the lot). 
I’ve complained on the survery after every cruise since we started back up last summer.

I guess halfway decent food in the WJ is going the way of the midnight buffet, welcome cocktails and ice carvings.  
The Carnivalization of RCL is very disappointing.

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, joeyancho said:

First world problems.....😉

Of course it’s a first world problem.
This is a site about cruising, just about everything posted is a first world problem!  
m

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

I can....the boarding day WJ actually was very busy even with only 1100 sailing passengers last week. So having it open 30 min earlier would have been nice.

Agree, it's like Fast Pass at the Amusement Parks. I never go away Hungry and WJ has lot better Food, Taste and Selection then had 5-10+ yrs ago. Even before CV was first in there for Lunch and Dinner, back then was first to touch Utensils, now not an issue. Funny thing other Passengers arrive few minutes later trying take Picture's of the pretty perfect Cake, the one I just took first piece of...

[BND]

1 hour ago, joeyancho said:

First world problems.....😉

If I had a nickel for every "comment" like this on threads about amenities going away, I'd be very rich.  

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, wallyj said:

I just received a note sent to my cabin that the ship WILL host a lunch for B2B passengers. So, in the past couple of hours this change has occurred.

 

The concierge did mention to me earlier the B2B lunch was already discontinued on other ships but the Navigator had not implemented this change yet. Will post if they continue on Navigator after next sailing.

Once again, don't believe everything you read on the internet, boys and girls.  

I wouldn't trust the SL or DL concierge to be "in the know" about things that are or aren't happening fleetwide that aren't part of their own section of the ship.  I *might* believe a head waiter, since it's within his realm of responsibility.  

The B2B lunch hasn't always been a sure thing -- some ships have it, some ships don't.  But to assume that it's a fleetwide change because the consecutive cruiser letter was a different color, that seems like a bit of a stretch.  JMO

[homedepot124]

We did b2b on Allure in October and there was no b2b lunch.  We were all taken to the WJ when we got back on the ship and told to wait there until others started to board.  But we did get to partake of the WJ lunch as soon as it was available.

We did b2b on Celebrity Reflection in December and there was a b2b dining room lunch on that ship.

[neverbeenhere]

Only been to one that had anything special(wasted our time five or six times) so generally we head to town for the day.  Always good eats someplace in town. 
 

But to each their own. 

[davekathy]

4 hours ago, wallyj said:

I just received a note sent to my cabin that the ship WILL host a lunch for B2B passengers. So, in the past couple of hours this change has occurred.

 

The concierge did mention to me earlier the B2B lunch was already discontinued on other ships but the Navigator had not implemented this change yet. Will post if they continue on Navigator after next sailing.

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by davekathy

[Morecruisesplz]

21 hours ago, kruzerci said:

 

It's been very poor this year. I have assumed it was due to the rock bottom pricepoints since the return to sailing, but like you, I have left several times without anything. Not much of a selection, low quality, and rarely any lean proteins or white meat chicken to be found.

Symphony at Christmas was the same. In 8 days only slicing beef one day. We left several times at lunch and dinner. Some of the problem was not being able to be served due to staff shortages.

[island lady]

On 1/26/2022 at 2:41 PM, davekathy said:

If we eat lunch we prefer the MDR (tutti salad) over the WJ. We have always done the consecutive cruisers lunch (limited menu) and most of them we were offered wine with the lunch (Radiance, Voyager and Freedom class ships). Nice touch. 

 

Gone..gone..gone with the cute little bow tied snacks and chocolates on our pillows.  😢

[island lady]

23 hours ago, BND said:

It also wasn't in the MDR on all ships.  On Oasis a few years ago, we had lunch in Jamie's.  On Harmony in early Dec,  it was in Solarium Bistro before it opened for everyone.  We' have two b2b's this year and aren't concerned about lunch.  We'll eat a big breakfast and I'm sure we won't starve.

 

Unfortunately Solarium Bistro was closed for all meals on our last Harmony cruise.  😥

[pcur]

On 1/26/2022 at 11:21 AM, Ashland said:

We'll be on a B2B in March onboard Explorer and could care less about the lunch...I'm fine with the WJ or any other open venue's.

Me, too.  I never enjoyed any lunch in the tomb-like dining room with a banquet style menu.  

[BND]

18 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Unfortunately Solarium Bistro was closed for all meals on our last Harmony cruise.  😥

It is a tight space which is what probably drove that, but we'd personally have no problem eating there even now.  I expect it will open back up soon as cases are falling a lot.  We had lunch there a few times in late Nov/early Dec.

[vegas7df]

We did a B2B a few years ago, the chef prepared a great lunch for us. The sad part was only 4 of us showed up for the lunch, the other B2B cruisers didn’t attend. 

[davekathy]

35 minutes ago, pcur said:

Me, too.  I never enjoyed any lunch in the tomb-like dining room with a banquet style menu.  

Opposed to the free for all WJ with a banquet/cafeteria style buffet. 🤣

Edited January 27, 2022 by davekathy

[island lady]

32 minutes ago, BND said:

It is a tight space which is what probably drove that, but we'd personally have no problem eating there even now.  I expect it will open back up soon as cases are falling a lot.  We had lunch there a few times in late Nov/early Dec.

 

I used to love Solarium Bistro.  Though seems selections are quite trimmed up now, but could be since it is not as popular as the WJ or even "Mini Bites" (which always seems busy).  

[Another_Critic]

47 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Opposed to the free for all WJ with a banquet/cafeteria style buffet. 🤣

Gotta stay in a suite but want to eat at Golden Corral.  🙄

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by Another_Critic

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Unfortunately Solarium Bistro was closed for all meals on our last Harmony cruise.  😥

It was closed the week of our Jan   9 Harmony cruise (was that your last Harmony cruise?), EXCEPT for January 9 for the 1/2 -1/9 B2B buffet lunch.   It looked ok but we didn't stay.   

M

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by cruisegirl1

[bonsai3s]

1 hour ago, vegas7df said:

We did a B2B a few years ago, the chef prepared a great lunch for us. The sad part was only 4 of us showed up for the lunch, the other B2B cruisers didn’t attend. 

May I ask which port?

[imola]

On 1/26/2022 at 12:55 PM, Ashland said:

We would have been in the "clapping" group.

Us too.  We went to the B2B on Monday. Limited menu, mostly things we were not interested in eating.  Ate a couple of bites and left. Asked why, we told them but no one seemed to care.

I will say there are many places to eat on board and all with many options. Many not to our liking but that is on us not RC.  Too much use of curry and cinnamon for our liking.  Please note we never went hungry.  Ate in MDR for lunch once, it was ok.  Never went for breakfast and always for dinner.  DH liked El Loco, Cafe had decent pizza.  Many of choices just didn't eat them.  Cookies were good. 

Anyway just have and know you can stay fat and sassy on board.  lol

 

 

 

 

[coastcat]

On 1/26/2022 at 1:44 PM, kruzerci said:

 

It's been very poor this year. I have assumed it was due to the rock bottom pricepoints since the return to sailing, but like you, I have left several times without anything. Not much of a selection, low quality, and rarely any lean proteins or white meat chicken to be found.

Good, I was starting to wonder if it was just me. I did a b2b on Navigator in December. This was my first RCI experience and I hope the current buffet experience isn't typical! Neither the selection nor the quality were worth the effort of trying to find seating when half the tables were blocked off. By the third day I was only venturing into the Marketplace to use the Freestyle machine (and then getting lunch at El Loco Fresh or Promenade Cafe).

 

We did have a b2b lunch available at the MDR, but I wanted more tacos instead.

[pcur]

7 hours ago, davekathy said:

Opposed to the free for all WJ with a banquet/cafeteria style buffet. 🤣

HA! Actually, depending on the ship, I like to explore other options than the WJ.  I just don't like the very limited offerings in the boarding day MDR. That's what I meant by banquet style food:  limited variety.