Do you think X is intentionally decreasing the food quality so you'll go to the specialty restaurants?

[NutsAboutGolf]

On a recent FB sailing group, one person said the food quality went down and the post blew up with comment, my guess is about 70% agreeing and 30% disagreeing.  I have sailed many times since the restart and it does indeed continue to decline.  Instead of vague blanket statements many post on here, I'll post specifics for the worst three offenders:

1.  Mast grill:  Hot dog is inedible and the burger while edible is flavorless and not worth the calories...RCL and Carnival shouldn't be able to make better burger and dogs as X but they clearly do

2.  MDR/Buffet baked desserts:  Cakes are flavorless, except for the peanut butter cookies or the Eden Cafe, all cookies are worse than Chips Ahoy

3.  MDR/Buffet meats:  Bland and not tender; often poultry dishes are way overcooked and often the steaks appearing looking medium rare (for example) are as tough and chewy as if it was cooked well done...Land based chain restaurants produce far better meats

 

Good thing we don't cruise for the food, the foods greatest value to us is its convenience

[Shiba_Lover]

We were on Apex for 28 days in May/June 2022.   I can give three examples of "issues" that I have not experienced on previous cruises.

 

One lunch, I had raw chicken in the Oceanview.  I spoke to a chef (not the person serving, an actual chef) to point this out.  He did not believe me at first, but took my plate and went back to the kitchen.  He came to find me a few minutes later while I was making a salad and apologized (and had them remove the entire steam tray of chicken).  Fortunately, I had not eaten the chicken but only cut into it and recognized it as raw.

 

Another night, in Luminae - the same.  Raw chicken.   Again, fortunately I had not eaten it, but only cut into it.

 

Also in Luminae - I had ordered a dish called Moroccan Tagine.  It is supposed to be one of the Daniel Boulud's signature dishes.  It was very dry and had no flavor.  It is SUPPOSED to be a very flavorful stew type dish.  Both myself and the woman at the next table mentioned this to the server.  We were both told that pervious people complained about the spice and "soupiness" of the dish, so they changed it.  😂  

 

We did notice the wines seemed to have gone down in quality.  Not sure if this is a supply chain issue or a cost-cutting measure.  Will be on the Summit in February, so we'll see if they have better wines back on board.

 

Cookies in the Cafe Bacio - have never been good and still were not - only tried once.  I agree - these are like some store-bought Chips A Hoy or something.  Not good.

I did get a small chocolate cake one afternoon on a sea day, and it was good.

 

The deserts in Luminae were very good on the May/June cruise.

 

I did not have any deserts in Oceanview, so cannot comment on that.  I have always thought the food in Oceanview was "ok" - and on Apex it was also "ok" (other than the raw chicken I mean).  I will say that had a special pizza oven, so the pizza was a bit better on Apex than previous ships I have been on.  

 

I did have a Turkey burger at the outdoor grill by the pool one day, and that was pretty good.

 

 

[LMaxwell]

Of course. Anyone that has first cruised 15+ years ago sees the massive difference in choice and quality of food in the MDR, service in the MDR, and overall change from shipwide "Formal" nights with dining as a central focus, to an emphasis on specialty dining and a la carte dining. So many of the items that used to be included have moved to specialty dining venues. Not all of it, some is unique to be certain. 

[BermudaBound2014]

I don't believe any cruise line is intentionally decreasing quality to push people into specialty.

 

Unfortunately, I do believe they are intentionally decreasing quality to stay in business and I suspect many changes are still on the horizon. 

[LGW59]

I sailed on Edge this fall.  Luminae - breakfast, lunch (we had 8 sea days) and dinner all were A+ and the service was impeccable.  Le Grand Bistro - ate lunch here twice and both times the meal was A+ and the service B.  Eden - Ate dinner here twice and both times meals were A++, service was B, though IMO it is hard to beat the level of serivce and attention in Luminae.  Oceanview Cafe - I will preface that I am NOT a buffet person.  I went here for lunch on embarkation day, had a mac n cheese that was really very very good, several different types of cheese and lots of flavor.  So I thought HMMM, OK I can do this. WRONG!  Decided to try it for breakfast, scrambled eggs(??), sausage, hash browns and pineapple and watermelon.  The pineapple and watermelon were good...honestly the eggs, sausage, hash browns, OMG they were inedible, I tried a taste of each and left the rest on the plate.  Mast Grill - I grabbed a burger here a few times, was it great NO, was it edible YES as long as I had lots of onions and sauerkraut and mayo.  Il Bacio - Loved everything I had there, cappucciono, pastries all very good and great service too.

[Georgia_Peaches]

I think they are trying to do more with less in order to make, instead of bleed money.  We will be on the Solstice in March and we are in a RS where all specialties are included.  I will be better able to gauge quality at that time as we will have a definitive before and after experience since our last Celebrity cruise, also in a RS was back in 2019. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

On a recent FB sailing group, one person said the food quality went down and the post blew up with comment, my guess is about 70% agreeing and 30% disagreeing.  I have sailed many times since the restart and it does indeed continue to decline.  Instead of vague blanket statements many post on here, I'll post specifics for the worst three offenders:

1.  Mast grill:  Hot dog is inedible and the burger while edible is flavorless and not worth the calories...RCL and Carnival shouldn't be able to make better burger and dogs as X but they clearly do

2.  MDR/Buffet baked desserts:  Cakes are flavorless, except for the peanut butter cookies or the Eden Cafe, all cookies are worse than Chips Ahoy

3.  MDR/Buffet meats:  Bland and not tender; often poultry dishes are way overcooked and often the steaks appearing looking medium rare (for example) are as tough and chewy as if it was cooked well done...Land based chain restaurants produce far better meats

 

Good thing we don't cruise for the food, the foods greatest value to us is its convenience

Well then I’m glad we now only book Aqua cabins and eat in Blu for breakfast and dinner, and at the Spa Cafe for lunch. So far the only time we’ve ordered off the MDR menu in Blu was when my DW orders their Chocolate Moose as Blu is pretty “health” when it comes to desserts.

 

As far as eating at the specialty restaurants, have you checked out their new $60-75 pp price tags? Uh, their SR food isn’t that great IMHO.

[grandgeezer]

The decrease in food quality does not drive me to specialty restaurants, it’s just another reason to stay home.

[DaKahuna]

Do we think… NO.  We’ve had nothing but excellent food and service since the restart.  My only disappointment continues to be with the grits.  Have yet to find good grits on a cruise ship.

 

[George C]

I wasn’t happy with food on beyond last month, by far worse food in Luminae we ever had , was also disappointed in Fine Cut , our cruise last year they were both great . Le petit chef was excellent. Hopefully summit in March will be fine .

[jelayne]

I never thought the desserts in the OV were very good.

We found the salad bar items to be as good or in some cases better than previously.  The pasta station sauces were also better than before.

 

The items at Al Bacio in December where drastically smaller that in October but my favorites were just as good.
 

We were in a Suite but also ordered off the MDR menu and didn’t notice a decline in the quality but portion sizes were smaller, which is fine for me.

 

The Mast Grill was  one place where the quality took a nose dive.  The burgers and hot dogs both, and I found about 1/4 of my order of fries were still frozen.  Not sure how you do that, but the Chef happen to be there, he was not pleased.

 

The Roof Top Grill is the other that we found disappointing.  I returned my meal, as did 2 couples seated near us.  They made another entree, which was just as over seasoned and tough.  I ate the sides which were fine and headed to the OV for pizza. 
 

So overall I haven’t noticed a decline  the quality of most  meals. 

 

 

[ISABELLA]

Last cruise we were on was in March. We ate in MDR and Murano. Food was very good, as in pre Covid era. It will be disappointing to look for different cruise line, since most prices are much higher than used to be. Doesn’t look like any thing in Blu worth $6500 for 9 days in the Caribbean .

[warmwinds]

Gosh I'm happy I saw this.

 

Umpteenth time in Blu and never before have we eaten elsewhere.  First night choices were so bad we went to Le Petit Chef (which we really enjoyed).

 

And one night I ordered exclusively off the "greatest hits" of the MDR menu (escargot, French onion soup, salmon, the waiter even suggested adding a Caesar salad).

 

I would not say that the "quality" of what they served was bad, but it certainly was "lower level" choices as I like to call them.

 

It was so disappointing I've been searching out other cruise lines for this year....but it is so confusing.

 

We know and love Celebrity, but the downgrade is really depressing.  We go on a cruise to enjoy the food, and I have to tell you I'm not sure I want to go back.

[WestLakeGirl]

Oh yes, it’s undoubtedly the well-known “shooting yourself in the foot” “business model.  A close relative of “cutting off your nose to spite your face”. Yeah, I’m sure that’s it 🤪🥸🤓

[ggo85]

Luminae was our assigned DR but I ate off the MDR menu many times.  Overall, I found the MDR food to be very good.  One night the steak wasn’t great - I didn’t care for the sauce or garnishments.  But that was the clear exception.  We ate at Tuscan Grille and weren’t that impressed.  It was free to us and we still didn’t go back.  
 

I tend to agree that any decrease in food quality is about saving money.  The specialty restaurants have limited capacity, so they can’t have everyone eating there.  

[Chardonnay Char]

Last May we were on an American Queen Mississippi River trip.  There were no speciality restaurants, just a small buffet and main dining.  The buffet did have prime rib nightly,  but perhaps only eight to 10 selections in total. (Two proteins, two carbs, two veggies, etc)  That's all.  We did main dining five nights and had second seating.    Portions were very small.  One night they ran out of baked potatoes!  How could that happen on a cruise?  And twice during the week the preferred dessert selections were gone by the time we tried to order.    

   I agree that food quality has gone downhill - our two most recent cruises were on Celebrity as is an upcoming one -- but at least there is still a wide selection on mass market cruise lines. 

[Ken the cruiser]

I think this is an interesting thread. We just finished a 38-day B2B cruise from Athens to Dubai and then on to Cape Town. During those 38 days we ate half the time in specialty restaurants, averaging about $35 pp including gratuities, while the other half was split between two MDRs. We always ate breakfast up in the buffet usually outside in the aft area as well as our lunches up there too if we weren’t on an excursion. When we finally got back home, we weighed ourselves and I had lost around 7 pounds and my DW had loss a little less than that. But the cruise was the most awesome cruise we had ever been on, and we’ve cruised all over the world!
 

But when I think about what we ate and the service we received, it was usually pretty good most of the time, but not always. But then we only paid around $260 pp/day for our aft-facing mini-suite cabin. But I guess that’s the nice thing about having multiple cruise lines to choose from and for us we now have 3, depending on what catches our fancy during a specific time of year.

 

So when Celebrity lists their Aqua cabins at around $400 or more pp/day, their itinerary better be pretty awesome; otherwise we’ll be booking with one of our other favorite cruise lines because for us all of them have tasty food. 😁
 

Edited January 2, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[cgolf1]

On our Constellation cruise last February, the MDR food was still the best MDR food we have had on a cruise ship. That said we have only sailed DCL and RCCL.

 

One or two critical posts, I would think it is picky eaters, but with as many as there have been I wonder if the food quality purchased is down or if they are trying to do less due to increasing food costs. Seeing 18 eggs for over 8$ at our lowest cost grocery store in the area opened my eyes, I only shop Costco usually and I know meat prices, etc are up. I can't even imagine what this does to the costs the cruise lines are paying. 

 

The above isn't an excuse, but could be part of the reason. To the OP I am guessing we are part of the same FB group and I wouldn't dare post the above on there lol. I am not an apologist yet, but we do have 3 Celebrity cruises booked so I am on that path.

[Pipo]

Hmmm, that sounds strange. Actually an experienced cruiser youtuber stated that specialty restaurants are being reduced or relegated because the MDR is improving the food quality, hence making specialty restaurants less attractive to guests. Celebrity is an upscale line so the need for extra cash is not as evident as it happens on the standard or popular lines. 

[LGW59]

43 minutes ago, Pipo said:

Hmmm, that sounds strange. Actually an experienced cruiser youtuber stated that specialty restaurants are being reduced or relegated because the MDR is improving the food quality, hence making specialty restaurants less attractive to guests. Celebrity is an upscale line so the need for extra cash is not as evident as it happens on the standard or popular lines. 

Celebrity's parent company is carrying approx. $19 Billion in debt, they need ALL the extra cash they can wring out of every single passenger 

[Basketball wife]

Dining seems to be an issue on both Celebrity and Royal. Been on the Apex twice since April and Royal four times including the Anthem Xmas cruise with my daughters and two grandchildren (2 and8).

Food was substandard on all of these cruises (including in Chops on the Oasis where they tried to make my lamb chops three times! overcooked and grey…) On the Apex, we loved the oysters but the “hot” dishes, not so much (cold, flavourless…)

Problems on Anthem: overcooked steaks, cold food, uncoordinated service, etc. Husband and daughter had a baked brie, it was undercooked; they took them back and brought new ones— both frozen🥴. But the offerings from the kids menu—- yuck. One night the 8 year old had fries that looked like they had been sitting overnight. She ate half of them before we noticed 🥺. Anyway, she vomited them up. She had a “grilled” cheese which had three slices of bread and two slices of cheese. The bread was white, dried, not toasted, the cheese, not melted at all. We got her soup… 

 

 

 

[Moochi]

In my opinion it’s the opposite. X’s specialty restaurants are so terrible that passengers stay at their assigned MDR. I have been at only two specialty restaurants and they both were bad.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Moochi

[Oceangoer2]

11 hours ago, ggo85 said:

Luminae was our assigned DR but I ate off the MDR menu many times.  Overall, I found the MDR food to be very good.  One night the steak wasn’t great - I didn’t care for the sauce or garnishments.  But that was the clear exception.  We ate at Tuscan Grille and weren’t that impressed.  It was free to us and we still didn’t go back.  
 

I tend to agree that any decrease in food quality is about saving money.  The specialty restaurants have limited capacity, so they can’t have everyone eating there.  

We had the same opinion with the food on our last Nov. cruise.  Short Luminae menu offerings so ordered from MDR's menu almost every evening.  Lunch and b'fast very good.  We were disappointed in Tuscan and Murano which has been our go to for almost all past cruises.  Same menu but quality was 'off'.  Service very good.  Since MDR seemed to have more menu choices and on the Equinox the Retreat isn't 100% complete, we decided the 'Suite' life (do like the larger cabin though) isn't worth the $$s being charged now.

[blackshirt]

16 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Unfortunately, I do believe they are intentionally decreasing quality to stay in business and I suspect many changes are still on the horizon.

I don’t believe they are intentionally decreasing quality to stay in business but rather are intentionally cutting costs to stay in business and it is those cost cutting moves that decrease quality. Perhaps they don’t realize how much the cost cutting is effecting quality or maybe don’t care but “intentionally decreasing quality” I just don’t believe. 

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, blackshirt said:

I don’t believe they are intentionally decreasing quality to stay in business but rather are intentionally cutting costs to stay in business and it is those cost cutting moves that decrease quality. Perhaps they don’t realize how much the cost cutting is effecting quality or maybe don’t care but “intentionally decreasing quality” I just don’t believe. 

Well they go hand in glove,