Lunch Menus…and a Dinner Menu Question too

[AKR2011]

Hi all. I am wondering if lunch menus are still rotating or if it varies ship to ship. Each reviewer seems to post differently. Some have posted one set menu while others show a change each day. I am hoping they still change. I know it’s just sea days, but I am a fan of MDR lunch.

 

As far as dinner menus go, does anyone have an update on the one set dining room menu going to all the ships, or is it still just on Prima? I remember it was tentatively planned to be rolled out across the fleet, but then I read the pasta options being too difficult to keep? I’m definitely a fan of rotational menus, so I am hoping that they stay.

[Dorhead1230]

On Getaway in February, the MDR lunch menu was the same each day. I’m not aware of whether any of the ships have a changing lunch menu. I have not seen any reports on here of the Prima dinner menu rolling out to other ships yet, or of a timeline for that. I can’t decide how I feel about that. It looks like a decent menu, but, like you, I do like when they change. On the other hand, with a couple nights of SDP and a couple nights of Platinum meals, on weeklong cruises I guess it wouldn’t be a big deal to me if other ships ended up with the Prima menu.

[kismetique]

Just off the Jewel on Sunday, the dinner menus in the MDR were the same as posted on professor cruises website. We only ate at Cagney's and it was truly awful. My daughter as a 3rd in our suite didn't have the dining package and it cost $108 for her to eat there. The food was FAR better in the MDR, so we decided to skip the second specialty restaurant all together. I'm not buying the dining package on the next cruise.

[YVRteacher]

What happened at Cagney’s to make it awful? We’ve had some awful meals there, too, but I’ve booked it a couple times for our upcoming Jewel cruise.  Very interested in your experience.

[kismetique]

My daughter was the 3rd in our suite and I just couldn't bring myself to buy the specialty dining package for her and decided I would just pay, in case we never made it to a specialty restaurant.  We had the conceige get us reservations and from the moment we arrived, I was berrated about one of our party not having the package. I assured the hostess, I understood and would pay. No problem at all and it was fine. Multiple times this had to be conveyed. Once we sat, the waiter started in on me about the issue. I was tempted to stand up and announce to the entire restaurant my daughter has no dining package and we will be paying full price for her meal. 🤣 It was absurd.

 

We all put our orders in and waited and waited and waited. Sitting right by the kitchen I could see the appetizers ready to be served, but our waiter kept flitting about the room.. despite having to use the conceige to get the reservations, the restaurant was NOT terribly busy.

 

Finally, the appetizers made their way to the table. The shrimp were slimy and a bit limp. The crab cake was good and it was served the correct temp. I heard the oysters were boiled, not raw as is customary... But that was at the other end of the table of 8, so I'm not positive on that issue...I just know they were not consumed.

 

I and several others had the lobster bisque. I swear it was an instant brown gravy mix with 5 lobster bits and it was barely luke warm. The waiter kept putting his hand on the bottom of the bowl to check the temp, but never did anything about the lack of warmth. It was strange. The ceaser salad was just ok. My husband said the balsamic dressing on his wedge salad was tasteless.

 

None of the steaks were prepared with ANY seasonings, although they were cooked to perfection, eating a rare piece of extremely tender meat without any seasoning was disappointing. The salt shaker was empty and although we asked to have it refilled, we didn't receive it back until the dessert showed up. The baked or grilled tomatoes were hard as a rock. The mushrooms were a variety and the shitaki's were chewy.  The mashed potatoes tasted like instant. 

 

The only dessert that anyone raved over was the chocolate cake. The rest seemed to be of the MDR quality.  My daughter ordered basically what every one else did and her bill was $108.  That meal simply was no where near worth $108.  I would have been ok paying $55 for it, no more. 

 

Food was not up to par on that cruise. We finally found "our" server in the Palace MDR and fell in love with her. Tipped her extremely well and said we'll be back the rest of the cruise. She had the hostess hold a table of 8 in her section each night and as soon as she saw us at the stairs, she ordered our drinks. She made wonderful suggestions and brought alternative dishes to the table... Just in case. She treated the 2 children in our party like royalty bringing them over the top desserts. She was like the old style servers getting to know the guests and visiting with us on a personal level. She made out quite well as each family tipped graciously each and every meal she served us. If anyone is interested, her name was Daisy in the Palace MDR. She's the best server on that ship. 

[hallux]

48 minutes ago, kismetique said:

None of the steaks were prepared with ANY seasonings

I've only been to Cagney's a couple times, on the Bliss and Joy, I don't know that any of the steaks were seasoned during cooking - relying on the sauces you can order from the menu to go with them for that seasoning.

[cruiseny4life]

3 hours ago, kismetique said:

The only dessert that anyone raved over was the chocolate cake. The rest seemed to be of the MDR quality.  My daughter ordered basically what every one else did and her bill was $108.  That meal simply was no where near worth $108.  I would have been ok paying $55 for it, no more. 

I rolled all over the office floor reading this...after your words about everyone "berating" you for not having the package. Thank you for the laugh!

[kismetique]

4 hours ago, hallux said:

I've only been to Cagney's a couple times, on the Bliss and Joy, I don't know that any of the steaks were seasoned during cooking - relying on the sauces you can order from the menu to go with them for that seasoning.

Shouldn't the waiter then query you about the sauces?  My husband's steak was so dry he asked for chimichuri, but never received it. I don't like ANYTHING on my steak but seasoning, and also couldn't even put salt on it, as the grinder was out of salt crystals. We asked for more but service was so slow, it arrived when the desserts were served. I just cannot imagine why you would ruin such a beautiful piece of meat by not seasoning it before packing for sous-vid or before searing it. If it were cooked on a wood fired grill, maybe you could get flavor from the fire, but that's not the case here. 

[thespiritmovesme]

Oysters Rockefeller are baked.They are NOT served raw. That being said, my oysters Rockefeller at Cagney's recently were very disappointing because they seemed to be absent oysters, baked or otherwise. 

[kismetique]

1 minute ago, thespiritmovesme said:

Oysters Rockefeller are baked.They are NOT served raw. That being said, my oysters Rockefeller at Cagney's recently were very disappointing because they seemed to be absent oysters, baked or otherwise. 

I don't eat oysters so I have no clue and could have misunderstood the issue with them. I was at the other end of the table and we didn't speak of the meal after we left Cagney's, other than agreed as a group to for-go the second specialty dining. We called at 4:00 to cancel the 6:45 reservation and was told we had missed our time slot and could no longer eat there.  Ok.

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, kismetique said:

The only dessert that anyone raved over was the chocolate cake. The rest seemed to be of the MDR quality.  My daughter ordered basically what every one else did and her bill was $108.  That meal simply was no where near worth $108.  I would have been ok paying $55 for it, no more. 

Yes, you could have paid $50 per for the meal if you had bought her a 2-dinner package. 

[kismetique]

 

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Yes, you could have paid $50 per for the meal if you had bought her a 2-dinner package. 

Of course I could have, but choose not to, with the knowledge that I didn't even know that we would eat in ANY specialty restaurants, due to the makeup up the group.  I find it to be a wash since we ate in only 1. There actually was a different planned trade off in place for the meal from one of the other rooms that didn't work out as planned. Ppl do things for all kinds of silly reasons. Could I have saved money? Yes, but I might also have spent $100 needlessly had we not eaten there. I really don't see $100 or even $200 as an issue. I threw larger sums than that to my Butler and Conceige, even Daisy in the MDR got more than that... It wasn't about the money. It was about the treatment I received even AFTER assuring everyone I was fine to pay for the meal.  It was absurd for a line that claims to treat their suite/haven guests as VIPs.  Why does anyone  care how much I spend? I seemed to be the only who who didn't. 🙄

[Calicoskies1234]

I find it silly that you think they served you soup made with gravy dry mix and instant mashed potatoes. You should have told your server there was something wrong with your foods, let them serve you other foods.