RCL food has gone downhill fast

[MtnSeaGirl]

3 hours ago, travelberlin said:

On my cruise with the Explorer, no fried chicken, no short ribs… menus repeating. Food at MDR nothing to crave for.

 Wow. We were there April 5 - 14,  2024 .  I guess we ate it all???  Sure had the chicken and the short ribs then.   The soups were really good as well.  I don't always eat dessert so can't comment on those.  I am not a fan of the steak in the MDR no matter the cruise line. 

[travelberlin]

5 hours ago, MtnSeaGirl said:

 Wow. We were there April 5 - 14,  2024 .  I guess we ate it all???  Sure had the chicken and the short ribs then.   The soups were really good as well.  I don't always eat dessert so can't comment on those.  I am not a fan of the steak in the MDR no matter the cruise line. 

They had the fried chicken on the menu on the welcome dinner but after I have ordered the waiters apologized and produced a different menu indicating there was no fried chicken on the evening. 😃

[retired dude]

7 hours ago, captainannoyed! said:

I have to admit I’ve always found strip steaks to be hit or miss, anywhere.  I’m pretty much a filet mignon guy exclusively at this point.

according to the chef that i talked to on our most recent rccl cruise the grade of the strip steaks that they serve would be be select of even worse..He compared it to the cheap mexican beef that winn dixie now sells...the best chef in the world cannot make beef of that quality taste good....blame the food quality on the food and beverage managers at corp for buying sub-standard products for the ships...It is all about the mighty dollar.

[captainannoyed!]

Just now, retired dude said:

according to the chef that i talked to on our most recent rccl cruise the grade of the strip steaks that they serve would be be select of even worse..He compared it to the cheap mexican beef that winn dixie now sells...the best chef in the world cannot make beef of that quality taste good....blame the food quality on the food and beverage managers at corp for buying sub-standard products for the ships...It is all about the mighty dollar.

I guess we just disagree about the food quality onboard.   I tend to prefer the filet over the strip, and that holds true on land or sea.

[retired dude]

4 minutes ago, captainannoyed! said:

I guess we just disagree about the food quality onboard.   I tend to prefer the filet over the strip, and that holds true on land or sea.

your right, as we don't eat strips either, we buy whole prime tenderloins and i hand cut them my self and cook them at 500 degrees to get the proper char and doneness....My mother was a fabulous chef and she taught me well...As the head chef on that recent cruise told me, most of the people on this cruise would not know a great meal if it hit them in the head...I thanked him for his honesty..He said it made his job a little bit easier. ..life is good...Like  said, the quality of the products is the problem with the mediocre \food on rccl ships now and it is nice  to have them finally admit it.

[Pratique]

2 hours ago, retired dude said:

according to the chef that i talked to on our most recent rccl cruise the grade of the strip steaks that they serve would be be select of even worse..He compared it to the cheap mexican beef that winn dixie now sells...the best chef in the world cannot make beef of that quality taste good....blame the food quality on the food and beverage managers at corp for buying sub-standard products for the ships...It is all about the mighty dollar.

The quality of the ingredients seems to be the problem, not the preparation. On Freedom now, food has been very good but not excellent about par for my experience. Chops strip was a bit fatty but the meal overall was enjoyable. WJ has been good too. We will be on Symphony later this month so we’ll get another data point soon.

[Georgia_Peaches]

On 4/23/2024 at 11:39 AM, Bullet100 said:

We are currently on the ship and the food has been nothing but  below average like a MSC dining experience 

We enjoyed MSC's food immensely.  It's why so many people begin their review with food is subjective...

 

Good thing there are so many cruising options.  I, for one no longer cruise RCI but it has nothing to do with the food...I've always found it rather enjoyable.  Truth is, we don't have small kids anymore so we've moved on.  Still a great option for families, IMO.

[orville99]

22 hours ago, Sizzlechest said:

A good metric for food quality is to compare the MDR/Windjammer to the specialty options. I would expect a gap, but not very wide. The gap has widened.

Absolutely! However, I would need to adjust the order a bit. We just got off of our fourth cruise on Adventure since February, and other than Izumi, the biggest gap is between the WJ (best by a mile), Specialty dining (more like fast casual land based restaurants than "upscale dining) in a distant second place, and WAAAAAAAY behind that, the "rubber chicken circuit" MDR offerings.

 

YMMV

[travelberlin]

On 5/3/2024 at 10:26 PM, Williamsburgcruiser said:

Anytime I am not cooking, the food will be just fine for me.  I am more disappointed with the clientele who want 5 star, but don't want to pay for it.  I'm cruising for $135 per person,  per night, I will not complain when I wake up in a different place every day.  

How much did you pay before at Royal Caribbean when the food was much better than what is it now? No one is comparing with five stars experience. You did not notice that you are paying more for less? 

[keishashadow]

In general, I’m very happy to cruise and not be expected to cook!

 

My take on food over the last year of resuming cruising again:

 

5/23 Adventure 8 night sailing:  food was very good. Among the best we’ve had on any cruise line.  Service in all areas was exemplary

 

6/23 Indy, 3 night:  they tried.  Had waitstaff come to table twice, saying there would be a delay with them re-ordering entrees as what was sent up was not up to standards.  

 

11/23 Allure, 4 night:  Oy, it was a “cold” mess.  WJ for dinner one night was lacking to point we grabbed sandwiches and pizza on the promenade.

 

note:  even tho the food was gosh-awful on the November allure sailing, we still booked it again for upcoming sailing in June.  

 

Why?  Only because we wanted the GD to experience her first Oasis ship and it coincided with our annual WDW trip.  Our expectations are set so low re food, we will surely be pleasantly surprised 🙂.  

 

Discovered it’s easy enough to speak to them and order grilled chicken and a large salad.  Surprisingly, well done.  Thinking as it’s less mass produced.  I will settle for decent food court quality at this point & will order the add on filet/lobster one night in the MDR

 

 

 

Edited May 5 by keishashadow

[mjldvlks]

On 5/4/2024 at 3:47 PM, retired dude said:

. . . (The head chef said) most of the people on this cruise would not know a great meal if it hit them in the head. . . . He said it made his job a little bit easier. . . 

OK — have to address this comment.  Any chef who in front of other customers belittles the average diner because the average diner can’t tell “a great meal if it hit them in the head” is either grossly (and unjustifiably) arrogant, or simply incompetent. In the case of Royal’s current staff, I think it’s a lot of both. I would summarily fire any employee of mine who made that kind of dismissive comment about the patrons who justify our livelihood. 

[rrraydon]

I don't know why the OP keeps saying "like MSC"... Stop banging on MSC, I'm just hoping the next 8hrs goes fast so I can get on Magnifica and get some fun in the sun and some of that yummy pizza!!!! 🤣

[Pratique]

YMMV but in my experience the crew will bend over backward to accommodate us as best they can because they live in fear of any review that is not a perfect "10." The other day someone in the WJ made my wife a grilled cheese sandwich to order. It wasn't a great sandwich but they made the effort and I have to credit them for that, the crew get a 10 and the sandwich gets a 5 or 6. I just think they are hamstrung by the limitations of what they can offer and the offerings have declined over the years. What happened to the chocolate dipped strawberries? Anyone seen those lately? Such a simple thing they can do so it's absence is conspicuous.

[mjldvlks]

6 hours ago, Pratique said:

YMMV but in my experience the crew will bend over backward to accommodate us as best they can because they live in fear of any review that is not a perfect "10." . . .

To be honest, that has not been my experience lately. Yes we’ve gotten the speech from the wait staff about the fear of losing their jobs if they get less than a 10 on any aspect of the meal, even things over which they have no control. But, if anything, I have seen diminished attentiveness and care. For example, a few years ago I was repeatedly asked by the waiter why I didn’t eat something and as we left I was literally chased down by the head waiter trying to get me to try something else. As I recall it had nothing to do with quality, it was because I was too full or some other innocuous reason. In contrast, the last cruise we were on (Anthem in January), my steak was so tough and gristly I couldn’t cut it with the provided steak knife so I didn’t eat any of it. Not one member of the staff so much as asked why or if I would like something different. Now I want to stress that overall I liked our wait staff very much — and the increase in the number of tables each waiter is serving makes it hard to spend much time with each guest, so I am not blaming the individual waiter or assistant waiter. But I have experienced a noticeable decline in overall attentiveness. Top to bottom, Royal is simply not offering the same product that hooked me on cruising about 20 years ago.

 

[chickychubs]

6 hours ago, mjldvlks said:

To be honest, that has not been my experience lately. Yes we’ve gotten the speech from the wait staff about the fear of losing their jobs if they get less than a 10 on any aspect of the meal, even things over which they have no control. But, if anything, I have seen diminished attentiveness and care. For example, a few years ago I was repeatedly asked by the waiter why I didn’t eat something and as we left I was literally chased down by the head waiter trying to get me to try something else. As I recall it had nothing to do with quality, it was because I was too full or some other innocuous reason. In contrast, the last cruise we were on (Anthem in January), my steak was so tough and gristly I couldn’t cut it with the provided steak knife so I didn’t eat any of it. Not one member of the staff so much as asked why or if I would like something different. Now I want to stress that overall I liked our wait staff very much — and the increase in the number of tables each waiter is serving makes it hard to spend much time with each guest, so I am not blaming the individual waiter or assistant waiter. But I have experienced a noticeable decline in overall attentiveness. Top to bottom, Royal is simply not offering the same product that hooked me on cruising about 20 years ago.

 

I have to concur with your opinion after my last cruise on Spectrum in March. I had an absolutely awful starter at chops grille and left most of it on my plate. When the waiter came and cleared it up, I mentioned to him that the starter was awful and he simply cleared it without even offering to replace it. Worse off, we were limited to one starter per person despite having multiple during previous cruises. I'm not sure if this is the norm moving forward.

 

To concur with your statement, my experience too with the steaks in the MDR were of such low grade beef that I couldn't even bring myself to finish it.

 

In both specialty dining and the MDR, waitstaff kept stressing about the end of cruise review and giving high scores that it left a bad taste on my mouth. The interactions with staff felt extremely forced and a little unnatural. This is in stark contrast with our cruises on Royal in the past where staff felt genuinely friendly and happy. Crossing my fingers that I will not regret going forward with the 12n on Anthem next year.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

The food i think is subjective and can be good or bad depending on a lot of factors, most noticeable is the availability of the food from shore. 

I have watched a few cruise programmes where the food has been rejected, usually fresh food but it has caused the chef to change the menu or ingredients.

However that dosnt cover the poorly cooked/over cooked food sometimes on offer. 

[Heckah]

I don't care what anyone has to say about the food.  That Caribbean jerk pork chop in the MDR is the best.

[Pratique]

9 hours ago, mjldvlks said:

To be honest, that has not been my experience lately. Yes we’ve gotten the speech from the wait staff about the fear of losing their jobs if they get less than a 10 on any aspect of the meal, even things over which they have no control. But, if anything, I have seen diminished attentiveness and care. For example, a few years ago I was repeatedly asked by the waiter why I didn’t eat something and as we left I was literally chased down by the head waiter trying to get me to try something else. As I recall it had nothing to do with quality, it was because I was too full or some other innocuous reason. In contrast, the last cruise we were on (Anthem in January), my steak was so tough and gristly I couldn’t cut it with the provided steak knife so I didn’t eat any of it. Not one member of the staff so much as asked why or if I would like something different. Now I want to stress that overall I liked our wait staff very much — and the increase in the number of tables each waiter is serving makes it hard to spend much time with each guest, so I am not blaming the individual waiter or assistant waiter. But I have experienced a noticeable decline in overall attentiveness. Top to bottom, Royal is simply not offering the same product that hooked me on cruising about 20 years ago.

 

This might be ship-specific. I've been on sailings where it seemed like the overall mood of the staff was dour and inattentive. But we just got off of Freedom and the crew were fantastic. My wife doesn't always finish her dinner portions because she gets full (or wants to save room for desert) and the waitstaff were in a panic that something was wrong with the food, every time. We were apologizing to them about it. So my conclusion is that it might have something to do with shipboard morale. Just a guess though.

[Pratique]

One more observation from our Freedom cruise: these short cruises out of South Florida tend to attract families and large groups (wedding parties). The waitstaff bent over backwards to take care of me and my wife while the waiter was overloaded with large parties at other tables and even took pains to sit us away from some loud children in both Chops and Giovannis, profusely apologizing for things they have little to no control over. So I think the issue with the food (and it is an issue for us too) is primarily the decline in the quality of ingredients more so than preparation or service. But it may not be fair to generalize about it. Royal is definitely cutting corners though, in the restaurants and lounges and with the amenities too. It is not the same product that it used to be.

[chickychubs]

45 minutes ago, Pratique said:

One more observation from our Freedom cruise: these short cruises out of South Florida tend to attract families and large groups (wedding parties). The waitstaff bent over backwards to take care of me and my wife while the waiter was overloaded with large parties at other tables and even took pains to sit us away from some loud children in both Chops and Giovannis, profusely apologizing for things they have little to no control over. So I think the issue with the food (and it is an issue for us too) is primarily the decline in the quality of ingredients more so than preparation or service. But it may not be fair to generalize about it. Royal is definitely cutting corners though, in the restaurants and lounges and with the amenities too. It is not the same product that it used to be.

I agree that the drop in ingredient quality is a significant factor. From my observation, the kummelweck used to be made with the ribeye cut which has now changed to cheap round cuts. The bread used to be more varied and high quality to now having the same dinner rolls with just different toppings sprinkled over. Desserts changing from using dark chocolate to cheap cocoa (if it is even cocoa) to something that tastes artificial. The escargot which now uses a blend of oil and butter instead of pure butter.

 

Some say that taste is subjective but that refers to flavour profiles of the food prepared not the cause of declining food quality caused by cheaper ingredients.

[Pratique]

56 minutes ago, chickychubs said:

I agree that the drop in ingredient quality is a significant factor. From my observation, the kummelweck used to be made with the ribeye cut which has now changed to cheap round cuts. The bread used to be more varied and high quality to now having the same dinner rolls with just different toppings sprinkled over. Desserts changing from using dark chocolate to cheap cocoa (if it is even cocoa) to something that tastes artificial. The escargot which now uses a blend of oil and butter instead of pure butter.

 

Some say that taste is subjective but that refers to flavour profiles of the food prepared not the cause of declining food quality caused by cheaper ingredients.

Although preferences are subjective, yes definitely there are also objective measures such as you mentioned with the ingredients.

 

I am going through a similar thing with Panera Bread since their menu overhaul in April as a cost-cutting measure to prepare the company for a public offering. Ingredients are now gone or changed and the bread is delivered to the stores frozen instead of being freshly baked. The difference to me, as I mentioned elsewhere, is that the cruise line is good at recalibrating our expectations while Panera has been clumsy with their changes (and I can easily avoid Panera).

 

Some people may still reach a tipping point where Royal is no longer of interest to them, but I reluctantly accept that as time passes we tend to lose the "nicer things" we previously enjoyed, and it is better to adapt than to scrounge around for other experiences that will inevitably be disappointing in some way or another. We still very much enjoy cruising and Royal's ships despite the disappointments with the food. For us, a cruise is still a better experience than a Hawaii vacation where the chair hogs by the pool are out before dawn, the restaurants are jammed and extremely expensive, and the traffic is horrific.

 

Royal president Jason Liberty was recently interviewed by CNBC and he made it clear that they want to eliminate the "discount" they have historically offered over land-based vacations. In other words, to bring prices on par. My takeaway from that comment is that Royal will continue to raise prices while also reducing costs as a way of closing that "discount" gap. And they will do it in a way that effectively sets new customer expectations so that we are at worst reduced to grumbling about so-called first-world problems. They will wow people with new the Icon class ships and make the food issues seem minor by comparison. I suppose, anyway.

Edited May 8 by Pratique

[rustycruzr]

n 5/3/2024 at 5:26 PM, Williamsburgcruiser said:

Anytime I am not cooking, the food will be just fine for me. 

 

 

Got off the Oasis Transatlantic on Sunday, and today I'm happily cooking my own Chilean sea bass.

 

The food preparation and choices on the TA were quite disappointing, to the point that I was wishing we would have booked the UDP instead of relying on the MDR to come thru. We had a 3 nite dining package.

 

We're foodies, so of course we were profoundly disappointed in the choices and preparation offered by RCI in the MDR. And before anyone thinks we're blaming the staff, they were fine.

 

Towards the end of the cruise we were left with trying to figure out where could we configure the best meal: Park Cafe for salad and sandwiches, Windjammer early for omelets, and premium dining with occasional port side BBQ for dinner.

 

Not what we would call my best cruise dining experience.

 

So we've concluded that folks are correct they say that dining on RC has gone downhill.

 

And it has definitely impacted whether we would book another cruise on RCI...(and we indicated our sentiments on the post cruise evaluation).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nferr]

On 5/4/2024 at 7:39 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

We enjoyed MSC's food immensely.  It's why so many people begin their review with food is subjective...

 

Good thing there are so many cruising options.  I, for one no longer cruise RCI but it has nothing to do with the food...I've always found it rather enjoyable.  Truth is, we don't have small kids anymore so we've moved on.  Still a great option for families, IMO.

 

My recent MSC cruise I thought the MDR food was superior to RCL's. The pasta was really good. The buffet had a little less variety but was on par with RCL. MSC's pizza is far superior, hard to pass up. I had three meals in the specialty restaurants (for $71 total), and all were very good. The strip steak in the steak restaurant was excellent. This was on the Meraviglia out of NY. I have two more cruises booked for this coming winter on the same ship. The prices are about half of what I'm seeing for RCL.  To each their own I guess.

[nferr]

On 5/8/2024 at 12:27 PM, chickychubs said:

I agree that the drop in ingredient quality is a significant factor. From my observation, the kummelweck used to be made with the ribeye cut which has now changed to cheap round cuts. The bread used to be more varied and high quality to now having the same dinner rolls with just different toppings sprinkled over. Desserts changing from using dark chocolate to cheap cocoa (if it is even cocoa) to something that tastes artificial. The escargot which now uses a blend of oil and butter instead of pure butter.

 

Some say that taste is subjective but that refers to flavour profiles of the food prepared not the cause of declining food quality caused by cheaper ingredients.

 

Have you seen the cost of beef in your local supermarket? 

[TexCruise371]

We just spent 21 days on Oasis and for the first time in a long time we dined in the MDR every night. The menus are limited but, we managed to find something every night. We all thought the food was good and of course the staff were fantastic. We dined in Chops and Giovanni's for lunch and it was fine too.