Just got back from Allure of the Seas cruise. Has food fallen off on all post-Covid?

[aubreyc1988]

5 hours ago, LATTELOVE said:

Agreed.

As much money we are paying to cruise

on Royal Caribbean specially on holiday cruises, 

something has to change. We have noticed the same

on the past 2 previous cruises. The selection and quality of

the food has gone down.

We were following one of the blogs for NCL Bliss, a few weeks ago.

It opened up our eyes as far as the food goes.  The quality, variety

and presentation of the food on Bliss were superb.  

It's time for Royal Caribbean to stop going on the cheap

and do a remake of their menus. It can be done.

Other cruise lines are doing it and so can they.

 

 

So I've done a mix of RCI/NCL cruises (Been a long while since Carnival) and have done 3 NCL since the restart and just did 1 RCI on Sept 4th. I can tell you from personal experience that the food is *so* much better on NCL, that it honestly shocked me.  Before sailing RCI on Sept 4th, I would have told people it was similar quality on both lines.

 

I will also say this: the food on RCI is good enough for me and certainly better than what I can do at home so will continue to sail both lines...but NCL has really shown me that RCI needs a big revamp. Maybe they don't feel the need to improve because most of the people who I met on RCI 2 weeks ago hadn't even heard of NCL and so many people are staunchly loyal to Royal. (I am an equal opportunity cruiser lol)

Edited September 18, 2022 by aubreyc1988

[PhillyFan33579]

38 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

So I've done a mix of RCI/NCL cruises (Been a long while since Carnival) and have done 3 NCL since the restart and just did 1 RCI on Sept 4th. I can tell you from personal experience that the food is *so* much better on NCL, that it honestly shocked me.  Before sailing RCI on Sept 4th, I would have told people it was similar quality on both lines.

 

I will also say this: the food on RCI is good enough for me and certainly better than what I can do at home so will continue to sail both lines...but NCL has really shown me that RCI needs a big revamp. Maybe they don't feel the need to improve because most of the people who I met on RCI 2 weeks ago hadn't even heard of NCL and so many people are staunchly loyal to Royal. (I am an equal opportunity cruiser lol)

Good post but I find it hard to believe most people you met hadn’t heard of NCL. Even first time cruisers usually do a lot of research before booking a cruise. At a minimum I would bet most cruisers have heard of RCI, CCL and NCL. 

[Jimbo]

7 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Good post but I find it hard to believe most people you met hadn’t heard of NCL. Even first time cruisers usually do a lot of research before booking a cruise. At a minimum I would bet most cruisers have heard of RCI, CCL and NCL. 

I hope that is not all you got out of her post, that is not what is most important about her post.

[Jasukkie]

I find it to be more of a menu problem than a preparation problem. The choices feel dated. Virgin Voyages gets it right, but it's a completely different product with all specialty restaurant dining. Royal would need to spend a lot of money to transition away from the main dining room model. 

[aubreyc1988]

9 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Good post but I find it hard to believe most people you met hadn’t heard of NCL. Even first time cruisers usually do a lot of research before booking a cruise. At a minimum I would bet most cruisers have heard of RCI, CCL and NCL. 

I mean, just relaying experiences when I talked to people at the M&M and Bars and such...whenever they found out I've been on over 20 cruises, people ask what lines and such and some people had never heard of NCL/Norwegian Cruise Line. 

[smokeybandit]

The only issues I noticed with food was supply chain issues limiting the menu and staffing issues which affected food preparation quality.

 

Both are temporary.

[tahqa]

My wife and I were on Allure at the same time as the OP and we both noted that the Windjammer, while not horrible, was certainly bland. MDR was fine, on the other hand.

[goldfish65]

I like the "dated" menu choices I see on the MDR menus, they fit the mystique of dining on a ship. At home I can go to trendy restaurant whenever I want, and the specialty restaurants have modern options.

[aubreyc1988]

1 hour ago, tahqa said:

My wife and I were on Allure at the same time as the OP and we both noted that the Windjammer, while not horrible, was certainly bland. MDR was fine, on the other hand.

I do agree with this, although I was on the Liberty. I did the 3 meal dining package (Chops, Giovanni's, Sabor) and I actually thought the MDR was better than any meal I had on the dining package...which is absurd. 

 

I will be going on Allure and am curious to how the complimentary food is there, compared to what I had complimentary on the Liberty. While at this point I would say NCL is so much better in regards to food, maybe doing another RCI cruise will change my mind.  I won't pay for another specialty dining meal on RCI though. 

Edited September 18, 2022 by aubreyc1988

[LATTELOVE]

16 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Do you mind sharing the link to that NCL Bliss blog, I think I and others might be interested to see what NCL is  offering. Might open a few eyes.😲

Sure,

It was BennyBrun,  

NCL Bliss, live reviews.  8/27/2022.

He had one of the best reviews and photos

we've seen in a while.

[Jimbo]

25 minutes ago, LATTELOVE said:

Sure,

It was BennyBrun,  

NCL Bliss, live reviews.  8/27/2022.

He had one of the best reviews and photos

we've seen in a while.

Thanks !, I have only ready 10 pages so far but you are 100% correct, the food variety and food presentation, you can tell they put a lot of thought into what they are serving their passengers. Just not throwing food out there like some of the reviews and pictures I have recently seen posted about Royal's offering.

 

@BennyBrun Should be a good judge as to what cruise line right now is serving better food on their ships. He has been on quite a few cruises since the start up. I would trust his views on the subject.

 

 

Maybe he can jump in with his thoughts

[SplashOfWater]

We just got off of Harmony and for the most part the MDR food was good. A couple of thumbs-downs were the Prime Rib (on the first night) and the Lamb Chops. They were tough. The thumbs-ups were the Beef Tenderloin (very tender), the Jumbo Tiger Shrimp and the Lobster Tails. There was supposed to be baked potato with the lobster tails, but our waiter said the chef was substituting yellow rice. You could request a baked potato. Not sure if there was a shortage of potatoes (Day 6).

 

We were not really impressed with the offerings in the Windjammer for lunch. For such a large ship, there were not that many choices. We found ourselves grabbing pizza for Sorrento's or a sandwich from Park Cafe.

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I mean, just relaying experiences when I talked to people at the M&M and Bars and such...whenever they found out I've been on over 20 cruises, people ask what lines and such and some people had never heard of NCL/Norwegian Cruise Line. 

I have been on 48 cruises and I have never talked to anyone who had never heard of NCL. I have met people who are not familiar with foreign cruise lines who don’t sail from the states, but everyone I have talked to on a cruise has heard of NCL, CCL, Disney, etc. But maybe living in Florida has skewed my perspective since NCL has a big presence in Florida and I always cruise out of Florida. 

[yogimax]

2 hours ago, SplashOfWater said:

We were not really impressed with the offerings in the Windjammer for lunch. For such a large ship, there were not that many choices. We found ourselves grabbing pizza for Sorrento's or a sandwich from Park Cafe.

I would up going for the Sicilian Sausage at the Dog House on two days.

[jenninlaca]

We were on Harmony in August, our 3rd cruise on Oasis class (first since the pandemic). Ate 4 nights in MDR and found it to be very inconsistent. Short ribs were a stand out, soups good. Didn't like the escargot (very oily), some appetizers were plated poorly and were tiny (yes I know you can order more). So mixed bag up and down. Chops was delicious overall (a few sides were misses, most notably the cheese tater tots which were tasteless). Chef's table was AMAZING. We didn't love Wonderland even though I expected to love it. Pleasantly surprised with Windjammer offerings. Favorite breakfast was Solarium - everything delicious. Next cruise on Symphony we are thinking about getting the Unlimited dining package.Specialities are a bit step up, IMO, from MDR. 

[clskinsfan]

21 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

So I've done a mix of RCI/NCL cruises (Been a long while since Carnival) and have done 3 NCL since the restart and just did 1 RCI on Sept 4th. I can tell you from personal experience that the food is *so* much better on NCL, that it honestly shocked me.  Before sailing RCI on Sept 4th, I would have told people it was similar quality on both lines.

 

I will also say this: the food on RCI is good enough for me and certainly better than what I can do at home so will continue to sail both lines...but NCL has really shown me that RCI needs a big revamp. Maybe they don't feel the need to improve because most of the people who I met on RCI 2 weeks ago hadn't even heard of NCL and so many people are staunchly loyal to Royal. (I am an equal opportunity cruiser lol)

Like you we are not loyal to any single cruise line. We have done just about all of them. But recently we have settled more on Celebrity. It has food on par or better than NCL. And it has the relaxing atmosphere we have grown to love since we are now empty nesters. But we are cruising on Allure next month for our first Oasis class cruise. Just to see what that is all about. We will find something we like to eat at every meal and be perfectly content with whatever that is. We havent been on a NCL ship in a long time. And man do I miss the waterfront on their ships. Talk about a perfect spot to relax after dinner with friends and family. Kind of makes you realize that each line has different things they each do really well.

[aubreyc1988]

7 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have been on 48 cruises and I have never talked to anyone who had never heard of NCL. I have met people who are not familiar with foreign cruise lines who don’t sail from the states, but everyone I have talked to on a cruise has heard of NCL, CCL, Disney, etc. But maybe living in Florida has skewed my perspective since NCL has a big presence in Florida and I always cruise out of Florida. 

this was on a cruise out of Galveston, NCL doesn't have a presence there yet. 

[aubreyc1988]

Just now, clskinsfan said:

Like you we are not loyal to any single cruise line. We have done just about all of them. But recently we have settled more on Celebrity. It has food on par or better than NCL. And it has the relaxing atmosphere we have grown to love since we are now empty nesters. But we are cruising on Allure next month for our first Oasis class cruise. Just to see what that is all about. We will find something we like to eat at every meal and be perfectly content with whatever that is. We havent been on a NCL ship in a long time. And man do I miss the waterfront on their ships. Talk about a perfect spot to relax after dinner with friends and family. Kind of makes you realize that each line has different things they each do really well.

that is what I told my husband...it's not bad or good, just different. 

[aubreyc1988]

8 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Thanks !, I have only ready 10 pages so far but you are 100% correct, the food variety and food presentation, you can tell they put a lot of thought into what they are serving their passengers. Just not throwing food out there like some of the reviews and pictures I have recently seen posted about Royal's offering.

 

@BennyBrun Should be a good judge as to what cruise line right now is serving better food on their ships. He has been on quite a few cruises since the start up. I would trust his views on the subject.

 

 

Maybe he can jump in with his thoughts

I went on the Bliss last year, such a wonderful ship!  will have to read that review to see if it mirrored my experience last year. 

[tahqa]

21 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I do agree with this, although I was on the Liberty. I did the 3 meal dining package (Chops, Giovanni's, Sabor) and I actually thought the MDR was better than any meal I had on the dining package...which is absurd. 

 

I will be going on Allure and am curious to how the complimentary food is there, compared to what I had complimentary on the Liberty. While at this point I would say NCL is so much better in regards to food, maybe doing another RCI cruise will change my mind.  I won't pay for another specialty dining meal on RCI though. 

 

Let's see... 

Boardwalk Dog House -- It was okay, but they have a much smaller selection of dogs and topping now than before. I thought that the Windjammer had better options for toppings.

Sorrentos -- This was the usual Sorrentos pizza. Good not great.

Cafe Promenade -- The sandwiches there were pretty good. This is also where you get Starbucks coffee on the drink package, so that line was usually pretty long

Windjammer -- Meh

Solarium Bistro -- Marginally better than Windjammer, but still bland

Park Cafe -- best breakfast and lunch in our opinion, but lines can get long

Wipeout Cafe -- only had french fries there, but they were good.

[island lady]

17 hours ago, yogimax said:

I would up going for the Sicilian Sausage at the Dog House on two days.

 

Bucky is looking for his hot dog and "you want flies with that"....lunch on Coco Cay in just a bit.  😉 

 

Actually not much flies, but wow...those "beach chickens" AKA Seagulls will surround you, and help themselves if you are not watching your plate.  😄 

[island lady]

20 hours ago, SplashOfWater said:

We just got off of Harmony and for the most part the MDR food was good. A couple of thumbs-downs were the Prime Rib (on the first night) and the Lamb Chops. They were tough. The thumbs-ups were the Beef Tenderloin (very tender), the Jumbo Tiger Shrimp and the Lobster Tails. There was supposed to be baked potato with the lobster tails, but our waiter said the chef was substituting yellow rice. You could request a baked potato. Not sure if there was a shortage of potatoes (Day 6).

 

We were not really impressed with the offerings in the Windjammer for lunch. For such a large ship, there were not that many choices. We found ourselves grabbing pizza for Sorrento's or a sandwich from Park Cafe.

 

Had dinner in the MDR last night here on Harmony, which we usually never do, but wanted to try it.  Food and service surprisingly good actually, but wow...the families with their uncontrolled screaming children were unreal.  Had one with 3 young boys next to us, of which were fussy and one that never stopped screaming.  

 

Doing 150 tonight, then back to CK for the rest of the dinners this week.  

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 9/17/2022 at 7:13 PM, LATTELOVE said:

We were following one of the blogs for NCL Bliss, a few weeks ago.  It opened up our eyes as far as the food goes.  The quality, variety and presentation of the food on Bliss were superb. 

oh, so you weren't actually eating the food - just looking at the pics?

 

The food presentation was good on our Getaway cruise, but the food itself was mostly inedible. I'll take RCI's MDR food over NCL's any time.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Itchy&Scratchy

[dada2199cc]

On 9/17/2022 at 6:13 PM, LATTELOVE said:

 

We were following one of the blogs for NCL Bliss, a few weeks ago.

It opened up our eyes as far as the food goes.  The quality, variety

and presentation of the food on Bliss were superb.  

 

 

 

 

I was an indie blogger for a famous casino chain.  I took very professional photos for years.  This was before the FCC mandated disclosing sponsorships.

 

I got a LOT of money for my photos and reviews, and they were VERY biased but folks believed it.

 

I would not put faith in blogs or influencers, even if they do disclose.

[denamo]

On 9/18/2022 at 7:20 AM, Jasukkie said:

I find it to be more of a menu problem than a preparation problem. The choices feel dated. Virgin Voyages gets it right, but it's a completely different product with all specialty restaurant dining. Royal would need to spend a lot of money to transition away from the main dining room model. 

Royal did try to steer away from the main dining room concept with the intro of the Quantum class ships when they first launched.  It was a dismal failure.  They were a bit ahead of their time.  So many complaints here on CC with this concept. Also, Royal didn't quite get it right with long waits when cruisers showed up to a dining venue.  Cruisers complained of not going to the same dining place each night.  Just on and on.  Sounded like a cool concept, but Royal buckled and went back to the main dining room concept.  We didn't cruise on the Quantum at that time, so I may not have all of the details.