ManhattanWilliam

I was on the March cruise from Miami to Barcelona (my 4th transatlantic with RC) in a balcony stateroom and thought the food in the main dining room was horrible. Like a wedding banquet at a Hamptons Inn. I went twice and that was it. Cold, uninspired, rushed service, nothing enticing at all, including the famous lobster tail. It tasted ok but was served on a plate that looked like it had been prepared 2 hours earlier. Does Royal Caribbean really think we won't notice? I actually found the room service food was better than the main dining room, at least it was fresh. The Bolognese and chicken tenders with fries room service are always very good. The buffet? REPETITIVE. Solarium Bistro? REPETITIVE. Hysterical that they only have Cream Brulee, prosciutto and blue cheese in the Solarium and not the main buffet. Now I had 2 dinners at Chopps Grille and one at 150 Central Park, and all three were outstanding. If I cruise with RC again (which is likely) I will add the unlimited specialty dining because the dining room food is a very bad joke. And they removed the juices from Sorrentos and Cafe Promenade! They only had water (and without the sliced oranges or cucumbers that I loved so much). But ONLY water once the restaurants closed, or coffee and tea, no more juices. NOT a superior cruise experience by any stretch of the imagination. The good points of the cruise were the entertainment (Hairspray was fantastic) and the cabins are among the best as well as the room steward, but otherwise? After Hairspay which started at 8 and ended at 9:30, where were you supposed to eat? The freaking Johnny Rockets closed at 10! It was outrageous. Buffet closed, dining rooms closed, so if you didn't have an early reservation for dinner you needed to grab buffet food at 6pm or order room service, I couldn't believe it. I hate being what we call "nickel and dimed" where you see small annoying reductions that save little and ruin the experience. How much does it cost to slice up a cucumber and add it to water? I'm hearing the NCL (which has always had fantastic food) are cutting way back. And on a HUGE ship like Symphony, they had the band playing in the Promenade and people were dancing there blocking the aisles! WHY not have a dedicated space for dancing for people? On a huge ship like with all those sea days, this you put the band in the promenade and no space for people to dance? So stupid. Overall it was a GOOD experience but most assuredly NOT a great one. I will only rebook when special prices are available, and that's that.