Awful food on Harmony of the Seas

[Cayman1]

Being in Supply Chain for the past 10 years, here is my personal opinion on the cruise ship food decline.

 

1) Cruise lines lost a ton of money during COVID and now they are trying to cut costs everywhere to make up for that.

 

2) Many ships are still understaffed, thus the employees they currently have are trying to do the work of a fully staffed group.

 

3) Newer employees. Since the shutdown of COVID, many employees HAD to find other jobs during that time to support their families. There are many that decided not to return when the cruises started running again, because they were forced to find income locally, which who wouldn't want to be at home with your family more. So they are taking whoever they can get, while they may not have the same experience. Pre-COVID, most of the employee's have been working on these ships for years and years, thus overall tenure is probably down, resulting in lower experience in employees.

 

4) Inflation... while everything is more expensive, the cruise lines are charging more and providing less, which sums up the item listed in #1.

 

5) Suppliers are trying to combat inflation with lower quality products as well, similar to the shrink-flation issue.

 

While I am not saying that I agree, or disagree, with the route the cruise lines are taking; I understand the problem as I see it.

 

I also think it has a lot to do with the officers, from the captain, all the way down. If you have officers that accept this lower quality, then it will become the norm on that ship. Example being, we were on Allure and the Windjammer was probably the worse we ever had. Since that cruise, we went on Serenade and Explorer, and had the best Windjammer experience that we have ever had. My point is, quality can very from ship to ship as we have personally seen.

 

My hope is that everything starts to normalize and improve with time, as the above conditions improve.

 

 

[BobNoxious]

OP does not like the bacon appetizer wet and fatty.... nor the pork belly appetizer crisp and fatty...      Hmmm...  

Edited April 10, 2023 by BobNoxious

[topnole]

Inedible is very different than not great or I didn’t like it.   Done a few cruises since the restart and have it not returned one dish (in the Coastal Kitchen on Harmony).    I fully agree the quality and options seems to have gone down, but the idea that it is inedible is a huge stretch IMO.  I’ve returned dishes before and after Covid.   It is rare, but just because I do that but n a very rare occasion doesn’t mean the food is inedible.  This can happen anywhere.   

[alfaeric]

44 minutes ago, sowhat said:

When Royal Caribbean charge $6500 for a basic balcony cabin for 12 nights, then have the audacity to charge more for so called special restaurants. I expect  more

In the main dining room, I expect quality well presented, cooked to perfection ,served at the correct  temperature food ,in a leisurely manner and in nice surroundings, not low quality canteen grub

That's why  we have stopped cruising  until they receive  better reviews

 

Sorry, but how much you pay for a balcony has nothing to do with your service.  You get the exact same service as your neighbor who paid less than half of that and probably got a better location for booking at the right time.  Let alone have expectations for a 12 seat restaurant in a 3500 seat dining room.

 

As long as people are overpaying THAT much for a basic balcony, there's no financial incentive to change anything.

 

 

[GetToLivin]

We were on Harmony in Nov and unfortunately, I do agree with OP that the food wasn't great (mainly ate in specialty, never the MDR). Did we go hungry? No. Did we return any dishes? No. Were we underwhelmed? Yeah.

 

It really does seem to vary from ship to ship because when we sailed Allure the following month, food was great, not one complaint (combo of CK and specialty).

[BobNoxious]

Had some great food at specialty restaurants on Harmony last September.  MDR not too great.

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by BobNoxious

[cruiseboy89130]

6 minutes ago, BobNoxious said:

Had some great food at specialty restaurants on Harmony last September.  MDR not too great.

 

You realize your experience is WAY out of date? Significant changes since February of 2023!

[sowhat]

14 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

Sorry, but how much you pay for a balcony has nothing to do with your service.  You get the exact same service as your neighbor who paid less than half of that and probably got a better location for booking at the right time.  Let alone have expectations for a 12 seat restaurant in a 3500 seat dining room.

 

As long as people are overpaying THAT much for a basic balcony, there's no financial incentive to change anything.

 

 

I did not book the cruise  for the ridiculous  price Royal Caribbean  were asking

[jencruzin]

21 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Did you tell this to the staff when they served your food? Or did you just save it all up for a message board rant after the cruise?

I'm sure the poster did complain. They're just telling us what happened, here on cruise critic they call it a review. Most people post....reviews.

[smokeybandit]

Just now, jencruzin said:

I'm sure the poster did complain.

This is not a safe assumption

[jencruzin]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

This is not a safe assumption

mmkay, so why are you making this into a troll rant? The poster merely told us about the food on their latest cruise.

[HappyTexan44]

As a former waiter, I find it telling that they rarely asked about the food even when it wasn't eaten.  That means they knew what the answer would be, were tired of hearing it and knew that there was nothing that they could do.    That gives the review lots of credence for me.  .   

 

 

[rolloman]

1 hour ago, Kathscof said:

Well, the fact that the same dish was good once and bad the other time makes me hope it was the action of someone (the chef, the staff leaving it out too long, etc) instead of the "badness" of the ingredients and they can train that instead of continuing to buy "bad" food 🙂 

I am hard to shock these days but one thing I noticed on my recent Odyssey of the Seas voyage...they replaced real cheddar cheese with some kind of flimsy orange fake cheese (similar to the old Kraft American plastic wrapped slices) Beyond bad...What is hilarious is there is someone out there eating it and saying OMG...this is so tasty lol....

[dunrobbin]

22 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

People have always been complaining about the food worsening since I started cruising in 1996. It is not recent. Nothing to do with Covid or inflation. Mass markets lines are not cooking to order. It is banquet food on a mass scale that must satisfy the mainstream demographic. People’s expectations get somewhat unrealistic. 

Have you been on a cruise yet this year?

 

[jencruzin]

Hubby, on cruise food (he takes over keyboard here, he's off today too):

 

USS Forrestal - Absolutely INCREDIBLE!! Their pepper steak was always a hit. One night it was a shrimp curry with coconut over rice. That was fantastic. Worst was hot dog stew.

USS Sellers - The best cinnamon rolls, EVER. Our CO sat in Radio Central with us at 2am and ate them with us. Grilled ham & cheese - excellent. Midrats? A can of open peanut butter, a jar of grape jelly, and an open loaf of bread.

USS LaSalle - WORST FOOD ON ANY SHIP. This is why I came home looking so thin. The watermelon was amazing.

Persian Gulf, that 5-day TAD on Russian ship, Vinogradov: Borscht is amazing. Just do NOT look at it while eating. Sausages had veins in them. They're allowed to smoke on the messdecks? Wait....Is this bug juice? No, it's vodka made from potatoes, added to their strawberry kool-aid. Complain? NOT.

USS Charleston - Hit/miss. Turkey roll for thanksgiving dinner. Missed midrats again, found a packet of ramen noodles, I am happy.

On Cruise ship food:

It's better than US Navy dining. Be fortunate that you can all go on these cruises; bless the food you dine on whilst sailing on those big party boats, but stop and think about the people who are helping to keep those sea lanes open so you can bellyache about cruise ship food. Wonder what THEY'RE having for dinner?

 

 

[dunrobbin]

21 hours ago, pcur said:

I think the comparison is to an equivalent land-based restaurant's quality and pricing.  I know that on the Vision they accidentally charged us in Giovanni's when we had the UDP. The full price, including gratuity, was $53 per person.  So, for Italian food, I would expect it to equal what I would eat in a San Francisco Italian restaurant, like SwissLouis on Pier 39.

Yes, but you need to add the fact you had already paid for your dinner in your cruise fare. So $53 plus the cruise dinner fare you paid for equals?  What exactly?

[cruiseboy89130]

4 minutes ago, jencruzin said:

Wonder what THEY'RE having for dinner?

 

I seriously don't give a flying.....

[dunrobbin]

19 hours ago, cdlafl7 said:

we were on the Harmony this past week and ate at Coastal Kitchen every night. we found the food to be quite good. each meal was prepared per request and we tried a variety of dishes across the week. i found Coastal to be the best meal experience we've had on any of our 9 cruises. the staff was superb.

Sadly, we are on our first suite cruise on May 7th on Brilliance.

No Coastal Kitchen on Brilliance

Not sure if there is any Suite dining option on our cruise.

Coastal kitchen is only for suites, so with the prices of the cruise, they better be giving decent food!

 

[cruisegus]

41 minutes ago, jencruzin said:

On Cruise ship food:

It's better than US Navy dining. Be fortunate that you can all go on these cruises; bless the food you dine on whilst sailing on those big party boats, but stop and think about the people who are helping to keep those sea lanes open so you can bellyache about cruise ship food. Wonder what THEY'RE having for dinner?

 

38 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

I seriously don't give a flying.....

@jencruzin we can both see by @cruiseboy89130 response that they are another of those that enjoy all the Freedom and Liberty that WE FEW have sacrificed for, without having to do anything.

 

[jencruzin]

Just now, cruisegus said:

 

@jencruzin we can both see by @cruiseboy89130 response that they are another of those that enjoy all the Freedom and Liberty that WE FEW have sacrificed for, without having to do anything.

 

Yeah, I caught it. So did DH, he said, "give them an ignorant laugh emoticon....."

[Charles4515]

49 minutes ago, dunrobbin said:

Have you been on a cruise yet this year?

 

No and the cruise I will be going on next won't be on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity. It will be on Oceania. 

[PhillyFan33579]

12 hours ago, HicksRA said:

It’s obvious that Royal’s main focus nowadays is creating an amusement park for young families and kiddos - not quasi luxury type vacations for mostly mature adults like the old days where there was a focus on finer dining and special attention by the staff.  (I know those are still available elsewhere for the price)

I guess they figure the new preferred demographic will tolerate Golden Corral quality food and reduced service based on their different priorities.  
 

I don’t cruise to ride a roller coaster, slide down a lucite tube or play bumper cars and miss the quality food and service that Royal has diluted. My list of pending cruises is winding down with no real desire to look at booking more. 
 

My last cruise was so bad I was anxious to get back to port for debarkation.  

 

 

I think you would be much happier on Celebrity. I don’t think you can blame RCI for implementing changes to reflect the current demand associated with cruising, especially considering the majority of their ships are sailing at 100% capacity or more week after week, month after month, etc. The old days of being pampered on main stream cruise lines like RCI are long gone, just like the days of being pampered when flying are long, long gone. 

[rjrpar]

23 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

It is hard to ruin breakfast.
 

Royal Caribbean has the lessor quality  dining  of any of the mass market cruise lines in my opinion. I only book Royal these days with a group I cruise with. Royal is good for groups because of entertainment and activities. 

We just got off a 10-nite Celebrity cruise and both thought the food was worse than on Royal.  

[time4u2go]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

This is not a safe assumption

Um yes it is. OP stated that they did. 

[pcur]

1 hour ago, dunrobbin said:

Yes, but you need to add the fact you had already paid for your dinner in your cruise fare. So $53 plus the cruise dinner fare you paid for equals?  What exactly?

HA!  No, I wasn't thinking about that, and I have no idea, either.  But, (she says sheepishly), my sister paid for the cruise for my birthday, and she LOVED the food we ate.  That was reason enough for me to spend the extra.