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Royal Waiters Advising Against Certain Items


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37 minutes ago, RedSails1968 said:

Our waiter on Jewel told me that the lamb would “fall off the bone.” There was no falling off the bone and it clung so tightly that I would have had to pick it up and gnaw at it like Fred Flintstone. 

 

LOL...I think I might have held it up to that waiter and asked him to gnaw on it for you.  😄 

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37 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

And the difficulty on recommendations is that the New York Strip on one night can have a completely different texture two nights later as it might be part of a different shipment of meats.

 

Different cow perhaps.  😉   🐂

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17 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Until someone (possibly John) mentioned that they had a special each night, we were totally unaware

 

Oh that sucks. During my 44 night 'UWC sampler' all three waiters communicated the special dishes every night (except on formal nights when there was no special). In the post-cruise surveys (x3) I suggested that the nightly special should be displayed at the MDR entrance (just as the Windjammer did for the lunch specials).

 

But as to the OP question, only very occasionally do I recall having a waiter suggest a different main dish. However, for dessert I have had waiters recommend a scoop of ice cream with particular dessert if they thought it would be too dry.

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On our Odyssey TA this year, a waiter told me “no” when I ordered an entree at Giovanni’s. Just flat out no. First (and last) time he’d taken care of us. Wasn’t a food allergy thing. Just told me I wouldn’t like it and to order something else. Irish temper may have flared a bit. 🙄 Another waiter took care of us for the remainder of the meal. While it isn’t my favorite thing on the menu, glad I tried it.

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18 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

And the difficulty on recommendations is that the New York Strip on one night can have a completely different texture two nights later as it might be part of a different shipment of meats.

 

We did notice this last year on Mariner.  The NY Strip on night #1 was pretty decent.  Night 2, it was smaller .. Night 3 even smaller .. Night 4 .. tiny and tough and gristly.   It was the same for several of us at the table (group of 12) who ordered them each night.  

 

Our servers were great about replacing them, but seriously .. does RC (and the "executive chef") think pax aren't gonna notice ?

 

Im guessing this is their way of pushing u to order the extra fee Chops steaks. 

 

 

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9 minutes ago, F27TW said:

 

We did notice this last year on Mariner.  The NY Strip on night #1 was pretty decent.  Night 2, it was smaller .. Night 3 even smaller .. Night 4 .. tiny and tough and gristly.   It was the same for several of us at the table (group of 12) who ordered them each night.  

 

Our servers were great about replacing them, but seriously .. does RC (and the "executive chef") think pax aren't gonna notice ?

 

Im guessing this is their way of pushing u to order the extra fee Chops steaks. 

 

 

My September 2023 voyage on Oasis:

 

MDR: NY Strip was really good one night and so-so to bad (gristle) two days later.

 

The Bistro during brunch on the buffet had NY Strip later in the week that was very good for lunch.

 

Food is subjective and the same dish can vary from day to day on the same cruise let alone on a different ship.

 

This is why I hesitate to ever say "I will never eat this again" or recommend a specific dish because it may be a completely different experience for the next table let alone a different cruise.

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27 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

My September 2023 voyage on Oasis:

 

MDR: NY Strip was really good one night and so-so to bad (gristle) two days later.

 

The Bistro during brunch on the buffet had NY Strip later in the week that was very good for lunch.

 

Food is subjective and the same dish can vary from day to day on the same cruise let alone on a different ship.

 

This is why I hesitate to ever say "I will never eat this again" or recommend a specific dish because it may be a completely different experience for the next table let alone a different cruise.

 

Thats why we kept trying on the subsequent nights  .. because it was actually tasty the first time.   But there's no excuse for RC to have such drastic variations in quality for the same item from one night to the next .    "Food is subjective" doesn't apply in this case.   They knowingly served inferior, poor steaks on those nights  .. end of story there.  

 

I will say, though, that everything else we got in the MDR (including the replacements for the crappy steaks) was very good .. as was the service. 

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On 9/25/2024 at 7:39 AM, marchand28 said:

On our Odyssey TA this year, a waiter told me “no” when I ordered an entree at Giovanni’s. Just flat out no. First (and last) time he’d taken care of us. Wasn’t a food allergy thing. Just told me I wouldn’t like it and to order something else. Irish temper may have flared a bit. 🙄 Another waiter took care of us for the remainder of the meal. While it isn’t my favorite thing on the menu, glad I tried it.

I'm glad that you didn't let them tell you what to eat. That's ridiculous! The greatest joy of cruising is trying new foods!

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7 hours ago, TheBeardedCruiser said:

So you typically get the anchovies as an appetizer, with extra hot sauce? 🤣🤣🤣

 

I actually like anchovies.  To me they are not fishy...just different.  Not like formerly fresh fish that sat out for over 3 days.  Yuck.  

 

Picked up four cans of French Sardines when we stopped at a few ports in France during the WC.  Very good!  Very popular there.  The shop we bought them at specialized in nothing but canned sardines.  

 

The canned fish...not fishy...unless they let them sit out for days before canning.  🤢

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by island lady
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12 hours ago, island lady said:

 

12 hours ago, island lady said:

 

I actually like anchovies.  To me they are not fishy...just different.  Not like formerly fresh fish that sat out for over 3 days.  Yuck.  

 

Picked up four cans of French Sardines when we stopped at a few ports in France during the WC.  Very good!  Very popular there.  The shop we bought them at specialized in nothing but canned sardines.  

 

The canned fish...not fishy...unless they let them sit out for days before canning.  🤢

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guess I always knew somebody somewhere bought that stuff, or you wouldn't see it available in stores. 

Edited by bucfan2
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7 hours ago, JamesEM said:

I had the experience with my server, he would recommend items to order and his picks were very good.

 

And the nice thing about it...if you don't like it...you don't have to eat it.  My Momma is not there telling me to finish my plate.  😄 

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I am a waiter. A good waiter wants his guests to be happy. To that end, sometimes we determine for various reasons that we should steer a guest away from a menu item. The servers on ships may be less savvy about how to handle these situations due to lack of experience, being from a different culture, having a different native language, etc.

 

The quality, availability, and consistency of product is still not the same as pre-Covid, and costs are way up. People expect perfection.

 

 

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45 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

I am a waiter. A good waiter wants his guests to be happy. To that end, sometimes we determine for various reasons that we should steer a guest away from a menu item. The servers on ships may be less savvy about how to handle these situations due to lack of experience, being from a different culture, having a different native language, etc.

 

The quality, availability, and consistency of product is still not the same as pre-Covid, and costs are way up. People expect perfection.

 

 

I have had many waiters make suggestions and I was usually very happy.

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