Anyone enjoying the new menu selections?

[poocher]

It is not my intention to label anyone, merely an observation that people, in general, are more apt to post complaints than complements.  I find this to be true of all kinds of reviews not just cruises and not just Cruise Critics.  

[BecciBoo]

Well, all our favorites are still there, if they taste the same we'll be more than satisfied.  I have never been picky about food.  I pretty much like anything.  Other than being disappointed in the quality of steak, like at Chops, we've been happy.  Not going to Chops anymore, we'll get our steak at Giovanni's or Park 150.or pay the $17 for MDR's, that's a bargain.

[BecciBoo]

12 hours ago, poocher said:

It is not my intention to label anyone, merely an observation that people, in general, are more apt to post complaints than complements.  I find this to be true of all kinds of reviews not just cruises and not just Cruise Critics.  

It's called "Attitude"...makes all the difference.

 

If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude.  Maya Angelou

[Russ Lomas]

On 6/9/2023 at 8:31 AM, Georgeny said:

for now but have to wonder before that is a past thing. Had lobster for formal dinner last night clearly said additional lobster $16.99 and I’ll say lobster was good but a small tail still. 4 bites for $16.99 I think not. 
 

one evening waiter offered baked potato to replace roasted potatoes. Came back with roasted said sorry no baked potato with this dish.  One night only salad offered was ceasar I asked if I could have just garden salad with thousand island. He said all he could was give me ceasar with no dressing and thousand on side. That was fine but one tablespoon of dressing. Can you see where this is all going? No substitutions extra cost extra. I can read the handwriting. Packing day! Last supper tonight not a big sign anymore considering the food. 

 

Totally dumb on the waiter's part not to get you a baked potato.  Would not be giving him a 10 as they always ask you to do.  Guess you could have always ordered a full New York Strip Steak (which comes with a baked potato), took the potato off, eaten it and told your waiter you only wanted the potato off the entire entree because he would not bring you one on its own.  Totally wasteful, but if he does not want to bring just a potato, play the game til someone gets the message.

 

[Moon Orchid]

Don't know when people will open their eyes and say the truth of what they're seeing. You can see the video from the YouTuber that Windjammer look ridiculous empty with so little foods and choices available. That's how it was on our last cruise.

 

Our cruise on Quantum last October we still had good food and plenty of choices. The cruise from Ovation last month left a bad taste in our mouths. I don't eat that much and for the first time on a cruise I walked around in Windjammer with an empty plate while trying to look for food.

It's a shame that Royal decreased food variety too much, too fast. I never once saw any cake in the Windjammer, all they have for dessert are the stuff in the little cups.

 

I worked at a community college in my home town, they raised the price at the dining hall just like every other places but food variety and portions remained the same. Cruise line raised the prices but cut back on potion and variety.

[seasidemama]

23 minutes ago, Moon Orchid said:

 

 

I worked at a community college in my home town, they raised the price at the dining hall just like every other places but food variety and portions remained the same. Cruise line raised the prices but cut back on potion and variety.

 

This!

[Georgeny]

13 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

Totally wasteful, but if he does not want to bring just a potato, play the game til someone gets the message.

Was not that he didn't want to, in fact he offered it if I would like. When he came with entree he was apologetic, looked crushed that he couldn't provide it. Frankly I think there was strict management in the kitchen area and probably a theme of keeping substitutions to the minimum.

 

I can't blame waiters, let face it they want to please simply to get that 10 and an extra gratuity. No benefit for them not meeting your needs.

[poocher]

I had no problem mixing & matching items from other entrees on the menu that night.  I was also able to make an entree out of an appetizer by having them add a starch & a vegetable to the plate.  Apparently this varies still from ship to ship.

[Morecruisesplz]

3 hours ago, poocher said:

I had no problem mixing & matching items from other entrees on the menu that night.  I was also able to make an entree out of an appetizer by having them add a starch & a vegetable to the plate.  Apparently this varies still from ship to ship.

Apparently 

[poocher]

Like I said, the dining gods must like me 🤷‍♀️. The ONLY request they could/would not fulfill was hubby’s for a soup from a previous day’s menu.  Everything else was “no problem!”

Edited June 12, 2023 by poocher

[Norwich Cruiser]

Currently mid way through a b2b on Symphony.

Having dined in the MDR late traditional sitting every night except two when we visited 150 Central Park and Chops Grille.

 

We have found all our meals to have been good to excellent always hot no problem with the portion sizes and experienced no cut backs at all in quality from the previous menus.

 

For those that may need extra dishes we never have except for the occasional cheese plate after desert we have noted that other tables have had absolutely no issues in being served extra starters main courses or deserts.

 

Windjammer now serve ice cream vanilla strawberry and chocolate ice cream at lunch time and evening along with all other deserts Park Cafe and Solarium Bistro we have found no difference to previous sailings both very good.

[The Fun Researcher]

8 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Currently mid way through a b2b on Symphony.

Having dined in the MDR late traditional sitting every night except two when we visited 150 Central Park and Chops Grille.

 

We have found all our meals to have been good to excellent always hot no problem with the portion sizes and experienced no cut backs at all in quality from the previous menus.

 

For those that may need extra dishes we never have except for the occasional cheese plate after desert we have noted that other tables have had absolutely no issues in being served extra starters main courses or deserts.

 

Windjammer now serve ice cream vanilla strawberry and chocolate ice cream at lunch time and evening along with all other deserts Park Cafe and Solarium Bistro we have found no difference to previous sailings both very good.

They are offering the cheese plate on the menus again?  It was sorely missed from the new menus on our Anthem cruise in March.

[sgmn]

9 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Currently mid way through a b2b on Symphony.

Having dined in the MDR late traditional sitting every night except two when we visited 150 Central Park and Chops Grille.

 

We have found all our meals to have been good to excellent always hot no problem with the portion sizes and experienced no cut backs at all in quality from the previous menus.

 

For those that may need extra dishes we never have except for the occasional cheese plate after desert we have noted that other tables have had absolutely no issues in being served extra starters main courses or deserts.

 

Windjammer now serve ice cream vanilla strawberry and chocolate ice cream at lunch time and evening along with all other deserts Park Cafe and Solarium Bistro we have found no difference to previous sailings both very good.

We were on Symphony a few weeks ago . Also late traditional. Hubby asked for ice cream with his cake and got it served separately after he had finished the cake. 

Our waiter seemed to be by himself most of the time and though he tried his best he did struggle 

[FionaMG]

43 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

They are offering the cheese plate on the menus again?  It was sorely missed from the new menus on our Anthem cruise in March.

 

Yes. It showed up earlier this month. You have to scroll all the way down to the end of the desserts to find it.

[The Fun Researcher]

1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

 

Yes. It showed up earlier this month. You have to scroll all the way down to the end of the desserts to find it.

Thank you.  This is very welcome news.  One less thing to keep me from knocking the new menus.

 

I'm not a rich, sweet dessert eater, of which almost all of them are.  Love the cheese plate for a small bite after the meal (if I have room).  Most of the time I take most of it back to the room for a late night snack.

[Morecruisesplz]

11 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Currently mid way through a b2b on Symphony.

Having dined in the MDR late traditional sitting every night except two when we visited 150 Central Park and Chops Grille.

 

We have found all our meals to have been good to excellent always hot no problem with the portion sizes and experienced no cut backs at all in quality from the previous menus.

 

For those that may need extra dishes we never have except for the occasional cheese plate after desert we have noted that other tables have had absolutely no issues in being served extra starters main courses or deserts.

 

Windjammer now serve ice cream vanilla strawberry and chocolate ice cream at lunch time and evening along with all other deserts Park Cafe and Solarium Bistro we have found no difference to previous sailings both very good.

Maybe there is hope! But I care not about ice cream but rather the obvious cut backs in Windjammer entree options we experienced in Jan. 🤔 

[HappyTexan44]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

We were on Symphony a few weeks ago . Also late traditional. Hubby asked for ice cream with his cake and got it served separately after he had finished the cake. 

Our waiter seemed to be by himself most of the time and though he tried his best he did struggle 

 

That is bat-poo-crazy.   

If they are still doing this silliness by our cruise (Feb) I can see us pairing up.   Like DH orders cake and I order ice cream.   When they arrive, I dump my ice cream onto his plate, hand over the empty plate and say, "I'd like some more ice cream."  Some things just need to come together.  

 

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

5 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

They are offering the cheese plate on the menus again?  It was sorely missed from the new menus on our Anthem cruise in March.

Cheese plate was on the menu every night on our 28th May Anthem cruise. The portion size was bigger than our previous cruises. 

[c-leg5]

16 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Currently mid way through a b2b on Symphony.

Having dined in the MDR late traditional sitting every night except two when we visited 150 Central Park and Chops Grille.

 

We have found all our meals to have been good to excellent always hot no problem with the portion sizes and experienced no cut backs at all in quality from the previous menus.

 

For those that may need extra dishes we never have except for the occasional cheese plate after desert we have noted that other tables have had absolutely no issues in being served extra starters main courses or deserts.

 

Windjammer now serve ice cream vanilla strawberry and chocolate ice cream at lunch time and evening along with all other deserts Park Cafe and Solarium Bistro we have found no difference to previous sailings both very good.

 

1 hour ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

Cheese plate was on the menu every night on our 28th May Anthem cruise. The portion size was bigger than our previous cruises. 

I wonder if they are catering to the European market.

[nelblu]

6 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

 

That is bat-poo-crazy.   

If they are still doing this silliness by our cruise (Feb) I can see us pairing up.   Like DH orders cake and I order ice cream.   When they arrive, I dump my ice cream onto his plate, hand over the empty plate and say, "I'd like some more ice cream."  Some things just need to come together.  

 

On my Anthem February sail had no problem getting ice cream with any of my 

cakes at the same time. 

[FionaMG]

9 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

 

I wonder if they are catering to the European market.

 

When I first spotted it on the app I checked menus on Alaska and Caribbean sailings as well as Europe and it showed up everywhere. That said, someone sailing on Liberty out of NJ at that time said there was no cheese plate on their sailing. So I don't know if it is going to be fleetwide and is gradually filtering through to all ships or if it's ship dependent. Time will tell I guess.

[Norwich Cruiser]

The cheese plate is being offered every night on the MDR menu it’s listed right at the bottom.

 

With regards now to ordering two entrees ( we haven’t ) it seems as though it’s the servers digression.

 

We’ve noticed one waiter serves a party of four persons with their four dishes when they had finished he brought them three more different dishes we noted they never finished them.

 

Last night a different waiter on a different table served a table of four persons serves four beef dishes at the same time two salmon dishes once again however they were never finished.

 

 

[c-leg5]

5 hours ago, FionaMG said:

 

When I first spotted it on the app I checked menus on Alaska and Caribbean sailings as well as Europe and it showed up everywhere. That said, someone sailing on Liberty out of NJ at that time said there was no cheese plate on their sailing. So I don't know if it is going to be fleetwide and is gradually filtering through to all ships or if it's ship dependent. Time will tell I guess.

Thanks.
 

I don’t see it for the current sailings of my upcoming Caribbean sailing which was why I wondered.

[BecciBoo]

On 6/12/2023 at 6:39 AM, Georgeny said:

 

I can't blame waiters, let face it they want to please simply to get that 10 and an extra gratuity. No benefit for them not meeting your needs.

Nobody is getting a 10 or a tip from us if the matter of subbing a baked for a roasted potato is not accommodated.  Period.  Stand your ground.  We've come to expect good service and I'm not changing those expectations.  They will figure it out when their cruise sales crater.  I'm afraid I'd have to have a heated conversation with the Matr'd outside the dining room about it.  I am never rude, just determined. On many occasions people are just afraid to ask.  "You have not because you ask not" and as I've said many times, I ask, they can always say no, but I can always let them know how I feel about that. i.e. no 10/no tip and a bad exit survey.  That's the way the world turns these days.  As Bud and Tarjay have recently found out.

Edited June 15, 2023 by BecciBoo

[fishiecrackers]

I was nervous about the food due to so many threads, but cautiously optimistic about Enchantment in particular, since I’d read mostly good reviews about the food on this ship.

 

We’re on Day 4, and pretty mixed reviews on the WJ, but having good luck in the MDR. I would consider myself fairly picky about food, since my husband used to be a chef so my food at home is always delicious. 🙂 I’m traveling with my family of 5, and we’ve eaten at the MDR twice, once my entire family and once with just my husband and I. ALL food has been the correct temperature, good portion, and seasoned well. My husband in particular has had great luck with his food - he ordered the chicken/leek pot pie on night 1 and the osso buco last night. I got the strip steak night 1, and it was okay, kind of an odd texture but good taste, and the salmon last night, which was tasty. The chocolate hazelnut cake was super tasty, both in the WJ and the MDR.

 

Fingers crossed for more good food luck, though we are not having good weather luck, with our one sea day full of rain and wind. 😕