What changes to dining?

[mjthecruiser]

Without a lot of specifics, I was told that dining choices have changed radically in main dining room. Can you please share your experiences about dining in the last few months?

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, mjthecruiser said:

Can you please share your experiences about dining in the last few months?

You can see the menu in the app.

[cruisegirl1]

The menus have all changed. Most of the changes are centered around dinner.   There is no more Classic/everyday menu.  The items that were available every day such as chicken, steak, shrimp cocktail, cheesecake etc. are no available each day.    If ordering the complimentary lobster tail, only one lobster tail can be ordered.  Extras are an additional change. 

 

As Biker19 suggested, look at the app for a current menu

M.  

[Alamana]

I saw a YouTube review of a RC sailing on a cruise channel from about a month ago -- the guys who run the channel were super disappointed that the classic menu was gone. And each night seemed to based on a regional cuisine theme, but ultimately the menu would be kinda inexplicable ... meaning that Italian night would include an Indian dish, etc. They were pretty unhappy with it. I'm on a June 17 sailing on Vision and the menu is already in the app. 

[Tlbecker1]

We have enjoyed the new menus, but things have changed.  You can always go to the Windjammer for more choices.

[sargemrs]

1 minute ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We have enjoyed the new menus, but things have changed.  You can always go to the Windjammer for more choices.

What about the dining in CK?  Have there been changes there?  We'll be on Allure in August and hoping the suite experience won't disappoint!!

[Tlbecker1]

Just now, sargemrs said:

What about the dining in CK?  Have there been changes there?  We'll be on Allure in August and hoping the suite experience won't disappoint!!

We have enjoyed CK on the Anthem, Ovation and Symphony.  The service and food has been outstanding.

[cruisegirl1]

6 minutes ago, sargemrs said:

What about the dining in CK?  Have there been changes there?  We'll be on Allure in August and hoping the suite experience won't disappoint!!

No changes in CK. 

M

[Joseph2018Baltic]

1 hour ago, mjthecruiser said:

Without a lot of specifics, I was told that dining choices have changed radically in main dining room. Can you please share your experiences about dining in the last few months?

Just read through all the pages here, it is discussed daily.

[Merion_Mom]

22 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We have enjoyed the new menus, but things have changed.  You can always go to the Windjammer for more choices.

 

Have you done that recently?  The Windjammer is a mere shadow of its former self.

[PWP-001]

17 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

No changes in CK. 

M

...YET

[joeyancho]

27 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We have enjoyed the new menus, but things have changed.  You can always go to the Windjammer for more choices.

We are going with Princess for better choices. 

[PWP-001]

1 minute ago, joeyancho said:

We are going with Princess for better choices. 

Better choices and better food on Princess.  Enjoy!

[Luxxmi]

24 minutes ago, PWP-001 said:

We are going with Princess for better choices. 

I respectfully disagree.  I think both lines have substantially gone down in quality of food and choices for the past few years now and more recently the food quality is atrocious.  

[Merion_Mom]

33 minutes ago, Luxxmi said:

I respectfully disagree.  I think both lines have substantially gone down in quality of food and choices for the past few years now and more recently the food quality is atrocious.  

The food was WONDERFUL on the Discovery Princess last month.

[Tatka]

There are 13 different menus (last time I counted).

Something like Taste of (France, Italy, UK, USA, Mexico etc) also Welcome Aboard, Bon Voyage etc. They rotate depending on cruise.

Some days are better than others, but overall I always can find something I enjoy.

[Vibe]

The food was WONDERFUL on the Regal Princess in February

[Tlbecker1]

2 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Have you done that recently?  The Windjammer is a mere shadow of its former self.

I have been on 5 cruises this year.

[smokeybandit]

Other than completely changing the menus, not much has changed.

[babchia]

4 hours ago, Tatka said:

There are 13 different menus (last time I counted).

Something like Taste of (France, Italy, UK, USA, Mexico etc) also Welcome Aboard, Bon Voyage etc. They rotate depending on cruise.

Some days are better than others, but overall I always can find something I enjoy.

I have a 14-night cruise coming up in September and have been trying to find copies of all of the different menus that are now offered.  I have only been able to identify the following:

*Welcome Aboard  (usually first night)
*A Taste of France  (usually first formal night)
*A Taste of the Caribbean
*A Taste of the USA
*A Taste of Mexico
*A Taste of Italy
*A Taste of the Mediterranean
A Taste of Royal History
A Taste of Asia
*A Taste of the UK / British
*Welcome to Royal Night  (usually second formal night)
*Welcome to Bon Voyage  (usually last night)

 

I have not yet been able to locate a copy of the Asia or the Royal History menus on the Internet, and have not found a 13th menu.  Does anyone know where to find all of the new menus?

[poocher]

4 hours ago, Tatka said:

There are 13 different menus (last time I counted).

Something like Taste of (France, Italy, UK, USA, Mexico etc) also Welcome Aboard, Bon Voyage etc. They rotate depending on cruise.

Some days are better than others, but overall I always can find something I enjoy.

I agree, sailed Harmony last month & only found one night without an acceptable and tasty choice.

[PhillyFan33579]

17 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Have you done that recently?  The Windjammer is a mere shadow of its former self.

I have been on Mariner, Freedom and Harmony in a little over the last month. The Windjammer on all three ships was good to very good. I have never thought the food in the WJ was as good as food in the MDR, but I have never had any issue with food in the WJ on any ship. 
 

Also, I cruised on Wonder twice earlier this year (once in January and once in February). I thought the food in the WJ was excellent both cruises. 

[PWP-001]

17 hours ago, Luxxmi said:

I respectfully disagree.  I think both lines have substantially gone down in quality of food and choices for the past few years now and more recently the food quality is atrocious.  

You attributed someone else's quote to me.

.

When I started cruising fairly often it was with Princess (2014-2017) and I was amazed at how every single morning there was a different menu insert for breakfast, featuring a unique breakfast-- even on 15 day cruises.  Both lunch and dinner always featured a new pasta dish.  Nothing ever seemed to repeat, except for Prime Rib or Tenderloin, and then only on a cruise >7 days.

 

In 2018 when I tried NCL, I remember thinking:  "Wait... that was just on today or yesterday's lunch menu."  

 

And now that I'm sailing with Royal since August 2022, having taken 17 cruises so far, I can say that Royal just doesn't know how to do a good dessert, and they have a number of "truth in menu" issues.  Even in CK, which is supposed to be an elevated dining experience, menu items repeat-- even the same day between lunch and dinner. 

 

I've given up on Chop's.  In Crown Grill, I can remember the restaurant sometimes filling with smoke as you could hear their sizzle on the grill.  Those are two things you'll have to look hard to find in Chop's.  Recently I had dinner two nights in a row in Chop's when sailing on Freedom.  Both nights I faced the window of the show kitchen.  I specifically had to request "HOT FOOD" and explain that while my request seemed obvious and redundant, that in my many other meals in Chop's the food was NOT HOT.  Their solution:  heat my dinner plate to an extremely high temperature.   The steak?  Just warm.  And here's why:  I watched a person who worked at the broiler to finish the steaks before they were plated.  She had a half sheet pan that she would place a pre-cooked steak, meaning seared and marked from a grill, upon and then brush with a liquid, which was probably butter or an oil.  Then she would place the the half sheet pan under the broiler to warm the steak before it was plated.  That's the Chop's experience. Ugh!

 

I'm sure COVID-Debt, as I'll call it, has infected Princess, diminishing quality and service there, too.  But they seem to have much farther to fall. 

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

18 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I have been on 5 cruises this year.

 

3 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have been on Mariner, Freedom and Harmony in a little over the last month. The Windjammer on all three ships was good to very good. I have never thought the food in the WJ was as good as food in the MDR, but I have never had any issue with food in the WJ on any ship. 
 

Also, I cruised on Wonder twice earlier this year (once in January and once in February). I thought the food in the WJ was excellent both cruises. 

 

And you actually experienced that there was just as much variety as before?

 

Certainly not the case on Oasis.  Many fewer stations, much more repetition. Very noticeably fewer choices.  Just not the same.

[Merion_Mom]

20 hours ago, Tatka said:

There are 13 different menus (last time I counted).

Something like Taste of (France, Italy, UK, USA, Mexico etc) also Welcome Aboard, Bon Voyage etc. They rotate depending on cruise.

Some days are better than others, but overall I always can find something I enjoy.

 

15 hours ago, poocher said:

I agree, sailed Harmony last month & only found one night without an acceptable and tasty choice.

 

I find this reaction fascinating.  "Only found one night without an acceptable and tasty choice."

 

And that's ok?  That you are on a cruise, paying for all of the nights of your cruise, and one night the menu had NOTHING you wanted to eat?

 

Certainly IMO, this should not happen.