Changes to main dining room menu

[luckybecky]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

Have to disagree.  Previously if there were 5 choices per night, that would be 35 different entrees over the course of a 7 day cruise.  If the new standard menu consists of 10 choices, then you lose 25 over the course of the week.

 

Excellent point. This is what I was thinking too. 

 

8 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

Wrong. If the menu choice for beef is Filet for example. That means during the week you no longer see beef wellington, Prime rib or Shepherds Pie as an example. No you get Filet. Every single day. 

 

Exactly!

 

The NCL CEO said "there aren’t 14 good ways to make beef and chicken,” and implied that on some nights the rotating dishes won't be good, because it's just impossible to make something good every night. Which is total BS. There are a million ways to make delicious beef and chicken dishes. If they can't come up with a dozen recipes, they need a new chef. 

 

It is true that we need to see what the menu is, exactly, before jumping ship. But it's hard to imagine that it is going to include many more choices than a typical menu now. Maybe a few more, but certainly not 35 different entrees as SNJcruisers pointed out.

[oteixeira]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

Quit waving your Norwegian pom poms and being snarky.  It's their decision to cruise on RCI and Princess because of the marketing decision that NCL made.  They should not be denigrated for making that choice to change cruise lines.

I have no idea what you are talking about, I was truly saying it is great to have so many different choices.  Maybe you should stop trying to read between the lines of my posts?

[cc-riderslc]

On 3/8/2022 at 12:03 PM, MrsTocko said:

When they tried this before, were there as many specialty dining options as there are now?

 

We started cruising with NCL in 2016, so I dont have the knowledge/first hand experience as some of you have

Not as many as there are now.  Back then it was an 11 day cruise and I think we ate in 4 specialty restaurants.  I think the concept can work, it is just that the everyday entrees they had on the menu were not that great.  If the menu is a bit more upscale it would be fine.  But you can see how disappointing it can be if "your" favorite menu items are left off never to be seen again.  Just glad they are not implementing this fleet wide until 2023.  We shall see.

[ClevelandCruisin]

8 hours ago, deliver42 said:

There's always the buffet.

The buffet is hit or miss.

 

It's tolerable most of the time since you're hungry.

[ClevelandCruisin]

8 hours ago, PC Skier said:

 This is our goodbye to NCL. We are sapphire and NCL keeps taking away things right and left. We will be cruising only RCCL and Princess from now on. 

Now they will have to remove those bar snacks since you're leaving.....

 

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, oteixeira said:

I have no idea what you are talking about, I was truly saying it is great to have so many different choices.  Maybe you should stop trying to read between the lines of my posts?

I get burnt too often over on the RCI boards by the Loyal Royals and I inferred incorrectly that you were being snarky.  Apologies.

[LadyBerard]

IF NCL does this fleet wide, I will be sure to cancel my 60th btd. cruise on the Pearl in Aug. 2023, and book another line.

 

[Oxo]

26 minutes ago, LadyBerard said:

IF NCL does this fleet wide, I will be sure to cancel my 60th btd. cruise on the Pearl in Aug. 2023, and book another line.

 

Like others have said

It's a good thing we have choices.

Let us know how the other cruise lines are. 

[ziggyuk]

16 hours ago, cabincop said:

Wowww grammar police & CC bully all in one

 

Nothing new, bullying is all that poster appears capable of.

[DrSea]

16 hours ago, Rob_H said:

 

Maybe not, since you can always find new customers who don't know what they're missing (although it drives up your marketing costs).

 

There could be a market for a completely unbundled cruise line, where there's a room rate, then you pay for every meal (at varying price levels), pay for shows, pool access, and so on.  Makes the headline rate even lower, perhaps even "free rooms" at times. But it would be a pity if Norwegian was the line to try that. 

 

 

Easy cruises did that where the cruise only included room. You had to pay for food and etc. They had orange décor and they went under. 

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, Oxo said:

 

Let us know how the other cruise lines are. 

What would you like to know?  I don't put all of my eggs in one basket.  Prefer to sail on the brand new or newer builds on various lines.  Last 3 cruises were on Carnival Mardi Gras, and Celebrity Edge and Apex.  Future bookings include Discovery Princess, RCI Oasis, Carnival Celebration, RCI Wonder,  and Celebrity Beyond as well as Encore and 3 Prima sailings.

[Oxo]

36 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

What would you like to know?  I don't put all of my eggs in one basket.  Prefer to sail on the brand new or newer builds on various lines.  Last 3 cruises were on Carnival Mardi Gras, and Celebrity Edge and Apex.  Future bookings include Discovery Princess, RCI Oasis, Carnival Celebration, RCI Wonder,  and Celebrity Beyond as well as Encore and 3 Prima sailings.

How was the Apex compare to the Edge. Were on the Apex in Nov. Were on Edge last Nov.

[scootersdad]

3 hours ago, LadyBerard said:

IF NCL does this fleet wide, I will be sure to cancel my 60th btd. cruise on the Pearl in Aug. 2023, and book another line.

 

Sure puts a damper on b2bs.

 

[nferr]

Maybe people should at least wait and see what the new menu looks like.  You know before making sweeping statements.

[Cruising Lynne]

 

 

The new main dining concept sounds interesting. On one hand, it takes away the chance of missing favorite MDR items when you have specialty dining booked for the same night. On the other hand, it may be a way to push people to specialty dining for more variety. It will definitely be easier on the staff to not have so many different dishes to learn. Maybe more cost effective for provisioning. As long as they still have some of my favorite appetizers I will be happy. NCL has a lot of appetizers I really like, but they are only available certain nights. To have the best ones available every night would be great if they really choose all the "best" items.

[luckyinpa]

2 minutes ago, nferr said:

Maybe people should at least wait and see what the new menu looks like.  You know before making sweeping statements.

Unsure about that. Many people on the forum are not currently on a cruise n need something to ***** about. Plus generalizations about an entire subject are more fun to criticize. Enjoy😁

[Crazy planning mom]

Personally, this change doesn't sound appetizing to me.  However, I will wait to see what the choices will be and if this decision sticks before deciding one way or the other on booking further NCL cruises.  Still hoping to go on our planned October cruise.

[Lionkingrichard]

GRUEL every night!

 

Buffet has something like 25 choices every night! I know that it is the worst food in the world, but they sure do serve a lot of it?

 

I know somebody said the Haven menu had only seafood, NOTHING ELSE?

 

The Burger was great, The french dip was excellent, Veal was tender and great tasting. I did not try the Chicken or the Pasta. Sometimes you have to take a second look?

[Oxo]

8 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

GRUEL every night!

 

Buffet has something like 25 choices every night! I know that it is the worst food in the world, but they sure do serve a lot of it?

 

I know somebody said the Haven menu had only seafood, NOTHING ELSE?

 

The Burger was great, The french dip was excellent, Veal was tender and great tasting. I did not try the Chicken or the Pasta. Sometimes you have to take a second look?

Really, how does Haven Dinner food compare to the Specialty Restaurants?

TIA

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, Oxo said:

How was the Apex compare to the Edge. Were on the Apex in Nov. Were on Edge last Nov.

Very comparable.  The theater was upgraded with better screens, the casino bar was replaced with a more sports oriented one with a larger beer selection and the dinner sections at Eden changed for the better.  It's no longer a A or B choice but multiple choices for appetizers, entrees and desserts.  One of the best meals I have had over 39 cruises.

[R&G1996]

Do not think it is a good idea. Especially now when they have to get people to cruise again.   We are not foodies or gourmands, but find MDR menu a bit boring and plain as it was.  Now without rotation it will be more so.  

[TominNC]

22 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

A menu does not need to have 25-30 choice for you to be able pick something different every night on a 5 night cruise.  Again you are not FORCED to so anything.  You are CHOOSING to limit yourself.

How are they not limiting my choices when we go from 7 different menues with 5 or 6 non repeated entress per night over 7 nights, to one menu with 6, or 8, or 10 or even 15 options.  How is that not limiting.  As pointed out by a few, we don't know what it's going to look like yet, but I'm fairly confident there won't be as many option over the week.

[TominNC]

2 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

 

 

The new main dining concept sounds interesting. On one hand, it takes away the chance of missing favorite MDR items when you have specialty dining booked for the same night. On the other hand, it may be a way to push people to specialty dining for more variety. It will definitely be easier on the staff to not have so many different dishes to learn. Maybe more cost effective for provisioning. As long as they still have some of my favorite appetizers I will be happy. NCL has a lot of appetizers I really like, but they are only available certain nights. To have the best ones available every night would be great if they really choose all the "best" items.

I checked out the MDR menus in advance and book my specialties accordingly.  Best of both worlds.

[Oxo]

Does anyone have the old menus?

If you do, look at each menu and see how many times the same Entrée was offered during a 7 night cruise. 

If I had access to these menus, I would run a spreadsheet on each Entrée to see how

many different Entrees were listed and how many were repeats.

This would really help all this anticipation.

TIA

[clskinsfan]

6 hours ago, Oxo said:

Like others have said

It's a good thing we have choices.

Let us know how the other cruise lines are. 

The majority of them are great. I have tried just about all of them.