Just off Navigator - food in MDR is so so disappointing

[sanchoucsb]

I know this has been discussed ad nauseum, but until I saw it for myself I wasn't prepared for the decline in quality of the food in the MDR since I last sailed on Navigator on only 18 months ago.

 

At least 50% of the dishes in the MDR are now barely edible impersonations of what you might get at a nice restaurant. Sure, you can order prime rib, but it's sliced as thin as deli meat. You can order pea risotto, but you are going to get soggy rice with some frozen peas thrown in. It goes on and on. My wife works at a large hospital and when I said to her, "It's like we are eating at your cafeteria," she said, "Oh, our food is much better than this."

 

A few of the dishes are decent, but they tend to be the more casual options - the fried chicken, the enchilada, and the spinach and artichoke dip appetizer were all something I would order again. Also, the Indian option was consistently good.

 

Overall, the entire concept is a failure now. There is still formal dining room ambience - massive chandelier, white linen table cloths, and the assistant waiter who comes to your table before dessert to wipe your crumbs away. But budget cuts have resulted in food that has no place in such an upscale setting. There is a reason that upscale casual restaurants on land don't try to offer risotto or escargot - it's impossible to provide at high quality at the price point they need to hit. Yet RC seems to insist on offering these options even though they are incredibly disappointing when they are placed in front of you. If RC is going to insist on this new, lower cost per meal, they would be better off abandoning any pretense of formal dining (perhaps except for formal nights) and converting the MDR to a nice, upscale casual restaurant. It would be unfortunate, but at least we could have consistently good food, even if we lose the formality of a three-course meal. It would also distinguish RC from other cruise lines and allow people to "vote with their pocketbook." If a formal dinner every night is important, people can choose Celebrity (which recently recommitted to the MDR and added certain dishes back). If people want a more casual experience while on vacation, they can choose RC. Because at the moment it's just smoke and mirrors - the illusion of fine dining.

 

[john91498]

What a difference 18 months make...

[WeMissSeaView]

It is not just the Navigator.

[paradise4me]

We were a few weeks ago and said the exact thing. It was so much better a year ago . I am really sad it has gone so far downhill. We are by no means food snobs but expect much better from the main dining room.

Edited December 30, 2023 by paradise4me

[Tatka]

Menus are more limited now, yes. We are ok with it.

Quality varies in quality from ship to ship. We sailed on 3 since menus changed.

[time4u2go]

1 hour ago, WeMissSeaView said:

It is not just the Navigator.

Very true. 

[Dolby1000]

We were on the Allure 3 weeks ago and the dining room menu and execution of the menu items I rated as a 1 on the survey. Not only was the selection very poor, but they couldn't even correctly cook the dishes they offered.

I wish they would read the surveys and at least train the kitchen staff better and bring back higher quality too.

[Morecruisesplz]

23 minutes ago, Tatka said:

Menus are more limited now, yes. We are ok with it.

Quality varies in quality from ship to ship. We sailed on 3 since menus changed.

Limited is not enough to describe actual entree to entree comparisons. If you compare today's MDR prime rib to pre-covid, its night and day. One night a dinner choice was chili. I used to love Royals root vegetables but now you get 6 little pieces! The turkey was sliced thin like in a deli and was so dry that the 2 teaspoons of gravy was lost. Cranberry sauce was served in a 1" diameter tiny dish similar to those used in a doll house setting. Terrible... not limited.

[ZoeyVictoria]

1 hour ago, WeMissSeaView said:

It is not just the Navigator.

And it is not just Royal Caribbean. 

[Morecruisesplz]

7 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

And it is not just Royal Caribbean. 

Well, I can tell you MSC has almost exactly the old Royal menus in MDR and it was all tasty and plentiful. On Virgin, all specialty dining is included and the galley is a huge food court with table service or grab and go. Have you tried either of those?

[ZoeyVictoria]

4 minutes ago, Morecruisesplz said:

Well, I can tell you MSC has almost exactly the old Royal menus in MDR and it was all tasty and plentiful. On Virgin, all specialty dining is included and the galley is a huge food court with table service or grab and go. Have you tried either of those?

Yes, we were on MSC in May and July and found the food to be better than on Royal. I had sailed on the Divina twice in 2014 and still remembered some of the special touches in the buffet, as well as the fantastic shows. Sadly, the things I looked forward to the most were eliminated by the same cutbacks that have affected most of the industry. We still love cruising, but so many things are just not the same as they were even a few years ago. 

[Tatka]

2 hours ago, Morecruisesplz said:

Limited is not enough to describe actual entree to entree comparisons. If you compare today's MDR prime rib to pre-covid, its night and day. One night a dinner choice was chili. I used to love Royals root vegetables but now you get 6 little pieces! The turkey was sliced thin like in a deli and was so dry that the 2 teaspoons of gravy was lost. Cranberry sauce was served in a 1" diameter tiny dish similar to those used in a doll house setting. Terrible... not limited.

 

We cruised with Royal several times per year up to Covid and 14 times after.

Before the end of  January 2023 menu was the same, and then new menus came to play.

Themed menu for every day, Classic selection was removed and some other changes.

I think most dishes are still there.

 

As I said quality really varies from ship to ship with the best on Anthem out of Anthem twice, Enchantment and Liberty twice.

 

If something is not enough please order more...

I am  trying to stay in shape so on some nights I do not even order main entree, only several appetizers.

 

Royal lost about 22 bill and kept losing up until the end of 2022. Hopefully they will regroup. I am fine as is, but some people are upset, although later I hear less complaints.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Tatka

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, Morecruisesplz said:

Well, I can tell you MSC has almost exactly the old Royal menus in MDR and it was all tasty and plentiful. On Virgin, all specialty dining is included and the galley is a huge food court with table service or grab and go. Have you tried either of those?

 

I cannot imagine MSC being better... I like just about everything about them, but food was probably the weakest out of all lines including Carnival and NCL.

[bretts173]

Geez must be the quality of produce, the quality I've had in Australia is still there. No discernible difference from 5 years ago. 

 

Sure the menu is different and portions may be slightly smaller but being negative is contagious, once one person says it easy to follow. 

[amindu]

Have to agree with OP we were on Odyssey a couple weeks back and echo the sentiments regarding the quality of food and mentioned in the survey as well.  I actually got really sick a couple times due to the food which has never happened before.  
 

Also ate at CK a couple times and the food quality was definitely better there. 

[HappyTexan44]

Well, according to their own bean-counter reports, they are spending less on food per passenger.    Considering how much inflation has hit my grocery bill, it seems impossible for the quality to have *not* tanked if the food budget has gone down.  

Reminds me of a place I used to work.    A manager would get a great idea for a morale booster, once they cooked steaks for everyone for some company anniversary.   A high-up manager mandated that the steaks be 'huge, as in hang off the edge of the plate."  The steaks were less than a 1/2" thick and shoe leather.  I took it home thinking my eat-anything cat would enjoy it.  Nope.  He didn't recognize it as food.   One other time they got everyone white polo shirts with the company name on it.    Fabric was so thin and transparent that even men wore a undershirt underneath.  

 

[WeMissSeaView]

7 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Well, according to their own bean-counter reports, they are spending less on food per passenger.    Considering how much inflation has hit my grocery bill, it seems impossible for the quality to have *not* tanked if the food budget has gone down.  

Reminds me of a place I used to work.    A manager would get a great idea for a morale booster, once they cooked steaks for everyone for some company anniversary.   A high-up manager mandated that the steaks be 'huge, as in hang off the edge of the plate."  The steaks were less than a 1/2" thick and shoe leather.  I took it home thinking my eat-anything cat would enjoy it.  Nope.  He didn't recognize it as food.   One other time they got everyone white polo shirts with the company name on it.    Fabric was so thin and transparent that even men wore an undershirt underneath.  

 

Did it survive the first laundry trip?  I had one that fit my six year old after being washed once in cold water.

[steveru621]

Is it preparation and quantity, or quality?

[Morecruisesplz]

25 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

Is it preparation and quantity, or quality?

Quantity is not important, imho. Lower quality of the ingredients (beef, chicken, vegetables, etc) + preparation so far ahead of serving seems to cause issues. To me, serving lukewarm/coldish food makes it so unappealing. 

What do think?

[ddvgww]

On 12/30/2023 at 4:55 PM, bretts173 said:

Geez must be the quality of produce, the quality I've had in Australia is still there. No discernible difference from 5 years ago. 

 

Sure the menu is different and portions may be slightly smaller but being negative is contagious, once one person says it easy to follow. 

I agree with you.  We were on Brilliance 2 weeks ago,  it was our first cruise on Royal post covid.  The food was just as good as we remembered it to be.  In fact, the food was one of the highlights of the cruise.   We are sailing on Ovation on 29th January and I am excited to reorder quite a few dishes in the MDR that I particularly enjoyed on Brilliance.

Either the quality of the produce is better here in Australia or perhaps we Aussies are more easily pleased.  Either way, we are lucky as we are coming off our cruises happy chappies. 

[Lakelife4me]

I'm on Wonder in March. I cruised Celebrity twice before Covid - 2017 and 2018. Top notch in every aspect. Specialty restaurants were fantastic and the MDR was very good as well.

It will be interesting for me to gauge food on Wonder but quite frankly, my bar isn't set very high with the MDR to start. We did the 3 night dining package, will eat at CK one night and playmakers one night.

 

That leaves 2 nights for MDR, maybe one depending on what we do the first night.

 

Back to why my bar for MDR isn't set high. I work for a large corporation that has a couple of company events per year. Trying to feed 5000 to 7000 people at once is ridiculously difficult. We always referred to it as our "rubber chicken dinner" so I avoid it if I can. Even spreading it out over 3 or 4 hours, good luck.

 

A couple of other things to note. "Foodie" is a thing. If you don't know what it is, it's someone who is used to fine dining experiences and or cooking fine food themselves. It really makes you appreciate when you have a fine dining experience.

 

Also, while I agree that crappy food is crappy food, it is also very subjective as previously mentioned. I have friends in NYC that absolutely laugh at the pizza I like where I live. Does that make my pizza suck? It doesn't to me. To them? Yes, it sucks. Tomato, tomahhto...

 

At any rate, I look forward to reporting all of my dining experiences post cruise in March.  

[cruiselvr04]

I think it is somewhat dependent ship to ship.  Allure early this year was bad on 2 cruises. Radiance in Alaska was bad.  A new chef came on and by October on Radiance the food had greatly improved.  A chef can only do so much with the quality he’s given but a good chef can probably still make improvements.  

[Morecruisesplz]

6 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

I think it is somewhat dependent ship to ship.  Allure early this year was bad on 2 cruises. Radiance in Alaska was bad.  A new chef came on and by October on Radiance the food had greatly improved.  A chef can only do so much with the quality he’s given but a good chef can probably still make improvements.  

Exactly!

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 12/29/2023 at 10:17 PM, Morecruisesplz said:

Well, I can tell you MSC has almost exactly the old Royal menus in MDR and it was all tasty and plentiful. On Virgin, all specialty dining is included and the galley is a huge food court with table service or grab and go. Have you tried either of those?

I read the MSC forum on another site as it's nonexistent on Cruise Critic and the complaints about the food sound much like these complaints here.

[Lakelife4me]

27 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

I read the MSC forum on another site as it's nonexistent on Cruise Critic and the complaints about the food sound much like these complaints here.

And lastly...as for "foodie" being a made up thing?

 

Every word in our language was "made up" at some point and time. 🥂

 

Hope you have a very happy new year and you find some good food! 😇