Main Dining Room Food Reviews?

[jbrinkm]

5 minutes ago, CatLadyFemme said:

Is your husband a hobbit? 🙂

 

Haha! I was hoping someone would catch the reference. You may see him all dressed up @CatLadyFemme at the MDR  - we're on your cruise (I recognize you from the roll call!). 

[CatLadyFemme]

47 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

 

Haha! I was hoping someone would catch the reference. You may see him all dressed up @CatLadyFemme at the MDR  - we're on your cruise (I recognize you from the roll call!). 

I have a quote from LOTRs tattooed on me! And please do come say hello if you see me; Allure in April?

[Sobro]

11 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I have not requested Indian yet, but would love to try… one question- is it hot-spicy usually?  I love non-hot Indian food!

 

No I haven't had any hot spicy Indian food aboard a Royal ship. It usually has good flavor, though, so that makes up for it somewhat. I do prefer my Indian food one notch below native spicy so my mild might be another's spicy.

[shipgeeks]

We are just back from 12 nights on Enchantment, out of Baltimore.  We both agreed that overall the food was very good to excellent, a step above all our previous RC cruises.

I had Indian food for both breakfast and lunch almost every day, in WJ.  It was mildly spicy, not extreme at all.  Quite tasty.

We had all our dinners in MDR.  The only disappointing dish was my Mac & Cheese from the children's menu.  However, the children's brownie was outstanding; I ordered it multiple times.  A risotto I ordered one night was the best one I've ever had.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

11 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Windjammer usually has the dishes being featured in the MDR but you can try as many entrees as you wish.

you can try multiple entries in MDR as well. 🙂

We checked out the dinner buffet on the Allure in 2019, and no - they didn't have the same dishes as MDR. Not even close. In general we were quite disappointed in Allure's WJ dinner choices.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

9 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

 

Haha! I was hoping someone would catch the reference.

we caught it as well! It's our favorite reference from LOTR.

 

[MadamGorgeous]

19 hours ago, scootersdad said:

if you do go to  B'more try a restaurant called the Rusty Rudder which is not in the Mall area but across the harbor, a stand alone on the water.  Especially for Sunday seafood brunch.   Thats what a cruise ship should be like.

Do they still have the gas pumps in the water right underneath the porch area? We were there years ago and sat outside. The gas fumes were so noxious we had to leave. 

[Kathscof]

10 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

 

Haha! I was hoping someone would catch the reference. You may see him all dressed up @CatLadyFemme at the MDR  - we're on your cruise (I recognize you from the roll call!). 

I noticed it too, BUT.....those terms have become normal to say in my world, so its not as exciting? hahaha

[davekathy]

13 hours ago, Ptroxx said:

Oh never thought about that.  Getting that for a side. Lol. 

Exactly. We are doing a B2B cruise in March on the Explorer and I'll again be asking for the kids menu. 

[davekathy]

13 hours ago, LGW59 said:

with lobster...maybe this won't be to controversial from all who want an total agreement post of how they have been wronged 😁🦞

No such luck. Saying that, as much as I like lobster I prefer my Mac n Cheese without it. 

[The Sunset Glow]

On 2/15/2022 at 10:57 PM, PaddleAddict said:

It’s been almost 10 years since I last cruised and we just booked a last-minute cruise on Navigator 3-day leaving Friday. 
 

Is there a place for food reviews? Or could anyone share their thoughts on foods to try or foods to definitely avoid in the main dining room? In the past my frequent MO was to order the vegetarian Indian offering, which was always incredible. Sad to see this is no longer a “thing” … sigh. I know everyone has different tastes but it’s fun to get some opinions!

 

If you go to Youtube and search for "Bill & Lisa's Food and Travel" channel they just did a cruise on Navigator last week and posted a few videos with lots of food reviews. 

[PaddleAddict]

We just got off our Navigator of the Seas three-day cruise today and overall we really enjoyed the food! 

 

We only ate in the main dining room once (the last night). This was mostly due to the kids not being hungry at 5:30 the first two days.Our one experience in the MDR was wonderful! Food was excellent. I had the lamb shank and DH had the prime rib, both really great. The kids had chicken noodle soup, burgers and fries and strawberry ice cream. DH and I passed on dessert, too full. The staff was wonderful with the kids, bringing them fruit salad right away before we even ordered so they had something to nibble on. Our server also brought us a cheese plate and bread basket, both of which were really tasty! 

 

I was surprisingly pleased with the food in the Windjammer. Most things I tried here were really good and the level of food was better than I was expecting, especially for lunch and dinner. I was thrilled to find the Indian food available every lunch and dinner and I happily ate this for most of my meals. It was excellent (nothing was spicy, not even the things labeled spicy, ha ha). 

 

Other standout items for me in the Windjammer were chicken and leek pie (individual pot pies, so good!) and the beef short rib. My kids loved the food and ate mostly burgers, hot dogs, fish sticks, chicken fingers and fries, though one night they had grilled salmon, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. 

 

Breakfast was normal buffet breakfast fare, but I found to be fine. I really liked the individual fried eggs and the breads available. My kids had cereal, pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs and fruit.

 

Twice we grabbed pizza from the Cafe Promenade. It was just OK. Also grabbed some cookies here, which are the same as in the Windjammer (the coconut cookie and the oatmeal cookie were my favorite). 

 

We tried the El Loco Fresh Mexican food for lunch one day and this was pretty gross in my opinion. Maybe because we have lots of great Mexican food living in Southern California. The best bets there were the tacos (chicken and carnitas), and the tortillas were really good, so subsequently the quesadillas were decent as well. But everything else, the rice, beans and ground beef (?) were strange, not really  "Mexican food" in the sense that I know them, just different flavors than I would expect. The  queso "cheese" was really nasty ... watery and odd tasting and I highly doubt it's actually cheese. The pre made burritos were strange and had some yellow rice inside. The salsas were unremarkable and the guacamole was weird. I don't really recommend this place as there is so much better food available elsewhere on the ship!

 

Thanks to everyone who shared their feedback prior to our cruise, it helped so much!!