Royal Caribbean New Menus - Expected on all ships by end of February

[Mum2Mercury]

8 hours ago, nelblu said:

You assume that Royal buys their eggs primarily in the US.  Was able to buy Eggland's Best at my local Shoprite for $4.29 for dozen large eggs.  Had a $1 off coupon, but before I embarrassed myself noticed that it had expired a few days earlier.🤪

A dozen extra-large at Lidl are $3.75 ... somehow I can't say "only $3.75" because that's still too much for eggs.  This is temporary though; eggs'll go down again.

[rhino7176]

On 1/15/2023 at 7:10 PM, BND said:

I didn't compare each one but it shows menu names repeated. Mainly because it doesn't matter to me.  Point is, they have posted them for our cruise.   ETA:  I just went and looked and yes identical, not mix and match.  The Italian menu is the Italian menu regardless of which nights it's on and same for the others.  

Then just order different things that second night.  Or, there are other options to eat at, go there and get something different.

 

I welcome the changes, so many years of the exact same menus gets old, I like the variety of ethnic dishes they have introduced.  I am looking forward to our April cruise to taste the new menu!

 

With that said, I don't cruise for a menu, so it's not a huge deal to me other than something different, which if I wanted I could find elsewhere on the ship.

Edited January 19, 2023 by rhino7176

[cruiseboy89130]

10 minutes ago, rhino7176 said:

Then just order different things that second night.  Or, there are other options to eat at, go there and get something different.

 

I welcome the changes, so many years of the exact same menus gets old, I like the variety of ethnic dishes they have introduced.  I am looking forward to our April cruise to taste the new menu!

 

With that said, I don't cruise for a menu, so it's not a huge deal to me other than something different, which if I wanted I could find elsewhere on the ship.

So you didn't even notice they dropped about 20 options and only added about 3 new ones?

So you are exited to loose 20 options and try the 3 new ones? Good for you!

[rhino7176]

On 1/17/2023 at 6:16 PM, ChC said:

The new menu reminded me of Costa Cruises. The concept is almost the same, theme night every night with a limited menu. We all can see how Costa Cruises is doing now compared with few years ago (OK debatable, but it is fun to say it this way).

 

I am sure someone likes the changes, someone feels like not a big deal, then there are someone dislikes the whole idea.

 

I am in the camp of 'oh dear the sky is falling'. To me, RCL should be competing with Princess or HAL, not Costa Cruises. The whole idea of the new dining menu reminds me so much of Costa. There is always an end game for the big business when something changes. And the end game is often not in sight for the consumers until they realise many things are taken away one by one, from limited menu to smaller portions then onto full time buffet instead of table service (AIDA cruise anyone?). 

 

Sure RCL is under pressure and needs cost cutting to 'survive', sure the CEO's bonus needs us to pay higher fares and get less service in return to get bigger, I hear you. But in the end we are all customers, don't we deserve better for what we paid? If you love the company so much, it is better to forgo your cruise, and donate your fares to the poor management who had to spend months to come up ideas to extract one more cents from you to pay themselves more bonus. It would be simpler just make a monthly $5 donation if you are so apologetic towards a company you loved so much that you will take any cost cutting measures. And in the end, you are happy because you made the management and CEO so happy, your beloved company is thriving as the paycheck to the top management and CEO is so huge, and you should be even happier knowing your cost to your beloved company is zero by donate instead of consuming.

 

Hay, but let us remember, it is your choice. Please do not come back creaming when your beloved item or loyalty recognition is taken away later on. 

 

Cost cutting on product and service to customers is bad, period.

Have you ever run a business????  It's not trying to stick it to customers, it's about making the margins.  Inflation is out of control in the entire world.  What do you expect a business to do?  I know we have raised our prices over the past couple of years due to material costs and labot costs and shortages, as well as our lead time suffering due to labor shortage.

[rhino7176]

1 hour ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

So you didn't even notice they dropped about 20 options and only added about 3 new ones?

So you are exited to loose 20 options and try the 3 new ones? Good for you!

I don't see the issue, as there are other venues to dine onboard.  As I said, I don't cruise for the food, if you do then I guess you may be dissappointed if you can't learn to alter your palette or prefernces.  There is plenty on the menus that look very good.  First world problems I suppose for some.

[Donsyb]

5 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

So you didn't even notice they dropped about 20 options and only added about 3 new ones?

So you are exited to loose 20 options and try the 3 new ones? Good for you!

Still Plenty enough choice for me. I tend to avoid restaurants on land with millions of options as that usually means it’s all been frozen anyway, so I’m used to this size menu.

[Engineroom Snipe]

11 hours ago, waverunner43 said:

I've got six cabins for a family cruise in June 2024 that I will be canceling if Royal doesn't pull their head out of their xxx.  I won't be wasting money on specialty restaurants as I'm not impressed with any of them.  Portofino's was great but it is gone.  I'm also not paying MDR prices and having to eat in the WJ. 

 

CC surveys on the best cruise ship dining venues reveals a lot.  Chops is the only RCL venue mentioned and it is mediocre at best.  There are no mentions of any of the speciality restaurants on Celebrity which in years past had always been considered exceptional. 

 

It's time to start cruising in Las Vegas again or doing an all-inclusive land vacation. 

 

 

Your money, your vacation decisions, and your time is what you control. Agreed.

 

I do what you are doing on a regular basis. During my children's younger years, my family did Disney on a regular basis. The total price of tickets, "value resort rooms", food, parking, and so much more has increased significantly, with us delaying or cancelling those vacations anymore.

 

Similar reasons are used by Disney, pandemic shutdowns, inflation, cost of labor, etc.etc. I do not try to convince Disney they should lower prices because they have almost unlimited demand with the next customer in line willing to pay. 

 

I crunch the numbers with my wife, and we just say, "Next option", like yourself.

 

This is Cruise Critic and if you cannot express a "critical" opinion here, where then? You are entitled to your opinion and I know you will do what you have to do.

 

My opinion is that you are right to stop a vacation that is going to place you in a bad mood with so many other people.

 

When I believe that my cruise vacation is not a good value for my experience, I might join you.

 

Until RCI occupancy goes down much further than it is currently, RCI could care less if you and I both decided to stop cruising today.  😐

[BND]

7 hours ago, rhino7176 said:

Then just order different things that second night.  Or, there are other options to eat at, go there and get something different.

 

I welcome the changes, so many years of the exact same menus gets old, I like the variety of ethnic dishes they have introduced.  I am looking forward to our April cruise to taste the new menu!

 

With that said, I don't cruise for a menu, so it's not a huge deal to me other than something different, which if I wanted I could find elsewhere on the ship.

I don't have a problem with the new menus.  I was responding to someone who asked me about repeating. I even said "Mainly because it doesn't matter to me" in the post you quoted.    I think you need to read the entire thread to follow what I actually said and then maybe reply accordingly.

Edited January 19, 2023 by BND

[The Fun Researcher]

I don't like these changes at all.  Much more has been removed than added, especially some of my favorites like grilled lamb chops, scallops, escargot each evening, and the fallback to a "strip steak" if needed.

 

However, I'll "deal with it".  They definitely cheapened the menu with lower cost proteins for sure.  Having said that, there are still a great number of very good appetizers and mains so I'll make due but who wants negative changes like this?  Not me.

 

It won't cause me to stop sailing Royal right now, but I just hope they readjust and add some of the more costly items back on the menu when eventually we catch back up to the inflationary pressures.

 

Dan

[Morecruisesplz]

On 1/16/2023 at 12:25 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

I am a very logical person.

Has this been verified?

[cruiseboy89130]

6 hours ago, Donsyb said:

Still Plenty enough choice for me. I tend to avoid restaurants on land with millions of options as that usually means it’s all been frozen anyway, so I’m used to this size menu.

They are all frozen meals on the ship old and new menu!

[Morecruisesplz]

32 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

They are all frozen meals on the ship old and new menu!

Humm. No.

[The sea calls my name]

I have not read through the entire thread so asking for forgiveness in advance if my question has already been answered. Is the Windjammer following the same theme night as the MDR? I personally hope not, so if you want a different selection you will have one.  

[Tree_skier]

19 hours ago, waverunner43 said:

I've got six cabins for a family cruise in June 2024 that I will be canceling if Royal doesn't pull their head out of their xxx.  I won't be wasting money on specialty restaurants as I'm not impressed with any of them.  Portofino's was great but it is gone.  I'm also not paying MDR prices and having to eat in the WJ. 

 

CC surveys on the best cruise ship dining venues reveals a lot.  Chops is the only RCL venue mentioned and it is mediocre at best.  There are no mentions of any of the speciality restaurants on Celebrity which in years past had always been considered exceptional. 

 

It's time to start cruising in Las Vegas again or doing an all-inclusive land vacation. 

 

You need to contact Michael Bayley at mbayley@rccl.com and let him know that you are planning on cancelling your six cabins in the middle of next year if he doesn't get his head out his a$$.  If you don't say something directly to them they won't know a valuable customer like you could be lost to the Vegas strip.

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

They are all frozen meals on the ship old and new menu!

Hardly

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

They are all frozen meals on the ship old and new menu!

So, in the future we mays see "Hungry-man" dinner specials on the menu.  Hope they have lots of microwaves.😆

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, The sea calls my name said:

I have not read through the entire thread so asking for forgiveness in advance if my question has already been answered. Is the Windjammer following the same theme night as the MDR? I personally hope not, so if you want a different selection you will have one.  

Yes, the always do.

[nelblu]

29 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

You need to contact Michael Bayley at mbayley@rccl.com and let him know that you are planning on cancelling your six cabins in the middle of next year if he doesn't get his head out his a$$.  If you don't say something directly to them they won't know a valuable customer like you could be lost to the Vegas strip.

The cutbacks are not only at Royal but also affecting Celebrity based on some of the comments by recent Pax.  There's a video floating around that shows that the C WJ has only 1/4 of the stations with food at dinner time.

Also, they began to charge for room service at $9.95 + 20% grats placed on these orders.  We at Royal have experienced this some years ago.

[c-leg5]

26 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Yes, the always do.

Always do what?  
 

 

[Donsyb]

3 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

They are all frozen meals on the ship old and new menu!

No they’re not. Some items may be frozen particularly on long cruises.

[Morecruisesplz]

28 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

Always do what?  
 

 

Relying to...

I have not read through the entire thread so asking for forgiveness in advance if my question has already been answered. Is the Windjammer following the same theme night as the MDR? I personally hope not, so if you want a different selection you will have one.  

 

[c-leg5]

Just now, fredmdcruisers said:

Relying to...

I have not read through the entire thread so asking for forgiveness in advance if my question has already been answered. Is the Windjammer following the same theme night as the MDR? I personally hope not, so if you want a different selection you will have one.  

 

 

Just now, fredmdcruisers said:

 

I understand what you were referring to, since you quoted it, but your answer was unclear, hence my question.

 

Are you trying to say they have the same theme in the MDR and WJ on the same night, because I asked this several pages back and to the best of my knowledge (I haven’t been alerted but I confess I haven’t read every post) the question wasn’t answered by anyone with first-hand knowledge that had sailed since the introduction of the new menus.

 

OR, are you trying to say, there is A theme in both the MDR and WJ each night. Certainly the old WJ themes were different to the new MDR menu designations. 

[waverunner43]

59 minutes ago, nelblu said:

The cutbacks are not only at Royal but also affecting Celebrity based on some of the comments by recent Pax.  There's a video floating around that shows that the C WJ has only 1/4 of the stations with food at dinner time.

Also, they began to charge for room service at $9.95 + 20% grats placed on these orders.  We at Royal have experienced this some years ago.

Just completed 21-nights on Celebrity Edge in December and can attest to the decline in their menus although they were not nearly as bad as what Royal is about to do.  Sirloin steak was a cost cutter and definitely not tender.  To me having to make dinner reservations every night and then standing in line to be seated is no vacation. We prefer the same table and waitstaff every evening. They know our likes & dislikes and can serve us more efficiently.  Will NOT be returning to any Edge class ship.

[gumshoe958]

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

You need to contact Michael Bayley at mbayley@rccl.com and let him know that you are planning on cancelling your six cabins in the middle of next year if he doesn't get his head out his a$$.  If you don't say something directly to them they won't know a valuable customer like you could be lost to the Vegas strip.

I imagine he’ll be delighted. He’ll be able to resell those cabins at twice the price to people who’ll spend more on board.

[schlimazel_traveler]

33 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

 

I understand what you were referring to, since you quoted it, but your answer was unclear, hence my question.

 

Are you trying to say they have the same theme in the MDR and WJ on the same night...

 

OR, are you trying to say, there is A theme in both the MDR and WJ each night. Certainly the old WJ themes were different to the new MDR menu designations. 

Unfortunately, the WJ is following the MDR theme on our current cruise on Enchantment. Some, but not most, of the items on the DR menu are available in the WJ. We're having three Mexican nights and two Italian nights this cruise, but no Asian night in WJ because it's not a theme in MDR. 

 

I'm not too excited about an ENGLISH themed buffet.