New RC Test Menu

[m8zenblue]

I have been following posts from different forums concerning menu changes for RC.

I have seen the tests menus and they look fantastic !

I love the idea of nightly theme in the MDR.

I am assuming and hope that X will follow suit.

We have cruised on X a lot and current menus old and outdated, need something different and new.

[blade3]

Years ago RCI had themed nights in MDR.

[Jim_Iain]

A blogger recently posted the new menus -  Looked fine to me.

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Jim_Iain

[mac_tlc]

They are test menus no more. They will supposedly be fleet wide by the end of February. The new menus no longer have the “classics” section and overall have fewer choices. 
 

For anyone interested in what the sister is up to, here are the first 7 new Royal MDR menus. 
 

[mahasamatman]

Princess has been doing this for years.

[prmssk]

We just got off the Freedom of the Seas and had a chance to try the new Welcome, Caribbean, and Italian menus. We found things to try on all the menus and many of the dishes were especially good. 

[Married90]

Wow, prime rib, NY strip steaks, crab cakes.   2 beef dishes on French night. Sure beats what I see on Celebrities MDR menus currently…

[jelayne]

While the menus on Celebrity need updating these menus

remind me of Applebees or Fridays.  These would not make me excited to book.  No veal, lamb and only pork is enchiladas.  

 

 

[NC58]

These menus have some flavor at least . The MDR menu on the March 5 Reflection. Is about as exciting as munching on cardboard . Really Celebrity ???😡

[RichYak]

Honestly, this looks way better than what I see on Celebrity's updated menus. Strip steak on multiple nights, filet of sole, beef tenderloin, a different Indian dish each night, and, oh hey, Prime Rib. What is going on with X?

[hcat]

3 minutes ago, jelayne said:

While the menus on Celebrity need updating these menus

remind me of Applebees or Fridays.  These would not make me excited to book.  No veal, lamb and only pork is enchiladas.  

 

 

we  appreciate the posted info but agree there's nothing that beats Fri night at the diner

 

.too many heavy duty upcharges for the better soundlng dishes.

 

Our last experiences dining on Royal in MDR were very disappointing..poor service, badly cooked  lower quality food.. downscale...and this fits the mold!

 

even the Specialty rest were just ok..like the Celeb mdr

 

 

 

[goofysmom99]

No tilapia in sight, although first night "pan roasted fish fillet" is definitely questionable.

[Cap_D]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

Honestly, this looks way better than what I see on Celebrity's updated menus. Strip steak on multiple nights, filet of sole, beef tenderloin, a different Indian dish each night, and, oh hey, Prime Rib. What is going on with X?

Agreed.  No mystery cuts on Royal?!   

 

Something is odd about X's menus, and the choices among the venues each evening, as well as quality.  

[LMaxwell]

7 hours ago, m8zenblue said:

I have been following posts from different forums concerning menu changes for RC.

I have seen the tests menus and they look fantastic !

I love the idea of nightly theme in the MDR.

I am assuming and hope that X will follow suit.

We have cruised on X a lot and current menus old and outdated, need something different and new.

There used to be theme nights every night in MDR; now they just gutted about 40% of the offerings. You won't starve! 

[RichYak]

31 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

Agreed.  No mystery cuts on Royal?!   

 

Something is odd about X's menus, and the choices among the venues each evening, as well as quality.  

Feels a little like RCG is trying to groom X's numbers for a possible sale. But what do I know?

[Cruising89143]

37 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Feels a little like RCG is trying to groom X's numbers for a possible sale. But what do I know?

This would not surprise me at all if it did happen. 

[RichYak]

34 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

This would not surprise me at all if it did happen. 

I'm struggling to make sense of any of this otherwise.

[Ipeeinthepools]

4 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I'm struggling to make sense of any of this otherwise.

 

This makes perfect sense to anyone that has worked for a large company with a new CEO.  The new CEO wants to reduce costs so he/she sends out an order for every department to reduce costs by x percent.  The new CEO doesn't take the time to figure out the impact of the cuts.  These cuts were probably the least impact of any that could be made in the Food and Beverage Department.

[Cap_D]

Agreed re sale except anyone doing diligence on Celebrity should find they alienated people willing to give it a try.  Meanwhile, Celebrity will send out the dancing bartenders and captain to add some glitz while the rest of the operation is crumbling....

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Cap_D

[RichYak]

17 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

This makes perfect sense to anyone that has worked for a large company with a new CEO.  The new CEO wants to reduce costs so he/she sends out an order for every department to reduce costs by x percent.  The new CEO doesn't take the time to figure out the impact of the cuts.  These cuts were probably the least impact of any that could be made in the Food and Beverage Department.

But Royal Caribbean and Silver Sea don't seem to be cutting costs like Celebrity is. Something is going on solely at the X brand and it feels like it might be hair and makeup before going to the ball.

[Honolulu Blue]

2 hours ago, RichYak said:

Feels a little like RCG is trying to groom X's numbers for a possible sale. But what do I know?

Who'd want to buy a cruise line these days?  Royal successfully sold Azamara a while ago, and there have been rumors that Seabourn will be sold/given to the Saudis.  But those are smaller fish than X.  All the big publicly held cruise lines are leveraged to the hilt and have no money available for acquisitions.  Maybe MSC wants to make a play?  They're privately held and mostly a sideline for their shipping division.  Does Viking want to go downscale?  How about Sir Richard?  Does he want throw more good money after bad?  And there's always the odd mogul with more money (or stock) than sense.

 

I shouldn't be surprised at anything anymore, especially with what has happened in the past three years, but I have to say a sale of X would surprise me.

[Salt Lifer]

Is Royal considering selling Celebrity? Perhaps. But I have another thought.  I used to work for the Home Office of a company that owned the majority of jewelry stores you see in malls.  Many people don't realize that most of those mall chain stores are all owned by the same company and have the same shareholders.  The different brands have their own management team, but at a certain level they all respond to the same C-Suite.  Company leadership would frequently make really drastic changes to operating procedures for one division and not the others.  This is done as a 'test before you invest' type of strategy with little regard for customers or employees impacted.  It is all about the bottom line.  

 

I somewhat suspect Celebrity may be falling on the sword at Royal right now for a similar strategy.  They may feel Celebrity has the most loyal passengers who will overlook this (they may have guessed wrong), or perhaps Celebrity was the least profitable division for them so they are using it to experiment.  Regardless, I suspect they are throwing all the ***** at the wall with Celebrity to see what sticks.  Whatever they can get away with without loosing too many customers or causing a PR uproar will be implemented across the fleet.  

[Ipeeinthepools]

11 hours ago, RichYak said:

But Royal Caribbean and Silver Sea don't seem to be cutting costs like Celebrity is. Something is going on solely at the X brand and it feels like it might be hair and makeup before going to the ball.

 

After thinking about this, you just might be correct.  Selling off assets is certainly something that's in the bean counter playbook, but I'm not sure it would make much of an impact on the big picture.  Azamara and it's 3 ships sold for $201 million.  What's Celebrity worth? 13 ships with 4 new E-class $4 - 5 billion?  RCL currently has about $18 billion in debt.  Doesn't seem like selling Celebrity would solve the problem.  I wonder who would buy a used cruise line.  

[RichYak]

5 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

After thinking about this, you just might be correct.  Selling off assets is certainly something that's in the bean counter playbook, but I'm not sure it would make much of an impact on the big picture.  Azamara and it's 3 ships sold for $201 million.  What's Celebrity worth? 13 ships with 4 new E-class $4 - 5 billion?  RCL currently has about $18 billion in debt.  Doesn't seem like selling Celebrity would solve the problem.  I wonder who would buy a used cruise line.  

RCG's earnings report doesn't break out performance by cruise line, at least I couldn't find it. We don't know how much of a drag Celebrity Cruises is on overall RCG performance. They may be willing to take what they can get to pay down some debt and improve EPS. Again, what do I know?

 

Another theory would be that since Celebrity is trying to shed it's loyal customer base to appeal to a younger crowd anyway, why not cut back drastically. The new passengers won't know the difference. If the food looks pretty on instagram, does it really matter what it tastes like?

[dacsmom]

Those menu's look delicious. Thank you for sharing.