What is going on with RCL food??

[CanHardlyWait]

1 hour ago, ChessE4 said:

Any posts that offer information are useful, whether the information is about good, bad, or ho-hum experiences.  Rants/opinions to stir the pot probably aren't useful, but we do tolerate some of that because none of us has 100% emotional control. 

Well you "tolerate" me a lot better than I do you. It's sad that trying to get my goat on this is all you have on your plate today. LOL.

[CanHardlyWait]

13 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

Opinions are that and the problem with the very first sentence in this thread was that the poster made a big booming statement saying all the food on his last cruise was horrible. Obviously this isn't or can't be true. And when people who are satisfied when they read this and have never thought do a review or comment because that's what the silent majority normally do they then dispute the claim. 

 

As you say a voice against the majority, the majority obviously are positive people.

First off. If they say/feel that "All" of the food was "horrible" respect that's how they truly think/believe. 

Second. I've been around here long enough to know a one and done type complainer. So I do understand that aspect of the trouble troll. However, I don't believe lumping everyone with a negative food review into one of just a few categories is right.

My point with take positive reviews with a grain of salt was to show everyone how it feels to be on the other end of that. And to show if your going to write off someones feelings by saying that, then why can't the same be said about yours? Same thing goes for questioning someone's taste buds. Maybe yours are off and that's why even bad food taste good to you. It's possible each way, so not a fair valid argument. 

The response proved some can dish out, but not take it. So maybe it's best not to try to invalidate someone's negative review by basicly saying (without actually saying) it cannot be, because yours wasn't. Or to not question someone's taste buds, when your own could just as easily be brought into question. 

Try more to take negative food reviews at face value and not take personal offense. You didn't prepare the meal. Let those people have their say without dissecting their statement. Without questioning another person's taste buds etc. 

Again, I do understand the one and done type crowd that passes by us here. But I don't think it's fair to lump all bad food reviewers automatically in that kind of category. That was my point with take good reviews with a grain of salt. If you don't like reading that, don't say it about other people's. That's all I was going for. 

 

[WAYNO]

And all I'm going for, is I understand completely somebody might not like whatever food they are eating.  That in itself doesn't mean the food is horrible.  It just means a person didn't like the food. 

I've said, I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, nor am I remotely a foodie.  I appreciate nearly everything I eat.  There are a couple foods I do not like, no matter how they're prepared or who prepares them.  That would not make me profess to the world that an establishment makes horrible whatever food you might insert here.

 

Lobster is often one of the most criticized foods on a ship.  And it's often criticized by the same person(s) repeatedly, seemingly hoping for agreement.    I absolutely love lobster.  And I've enjoyed every bit of lobster I've ever been served on a ship. 

So is it correct for a guest to profess Royal's lobster is bad?  Or would it be more correct to profess a person just doesn't care for Royal's lobster or how it's prepared?

A person might include Sorento's in this discussion.  I personally don't care for their pizza.  Other folks love their pizza.  So, far be it for me to profess to the world that Sorento's is horrible.  But I could accurately say I don't care for their pizza.  That doesn't mean I'm siding or even disagreeing with the majority just to side with the majority, or to "blindly complement or defend" .  I know very well if I've liked what I just ate, and it doesn't make me the enemy to profess I liked it. 

[CanHardlyWait]

1 hour ago, WAYNO said:

And all I'm going for, is I understand completely somebody might not like whatever food they are eating.  That in itself doesn't mean the food is horrible.  It just means a person didn't like the food

Saying the food was horrible vs I didn't like it = a word game to me, so I guess I just can't see it.

But what I'm saying is if you (or many on here) can say "take a bad food review with a grain of salt" then you open yourself up for people to say "take a good food review with a grain of salt". 

I personally (to myself) question folks who say they never had had a bad meal on board. By my standards and life experience that's not even mathematically possible. However, I don't question the way they feel. I don't question their taste buds. Etc. 

There choice of words aside. I just wish we could be more open to excepting negative food reviews here at face value. Without questioning their choice of words, motive, taste buds, etc.

Just to respect someone feels how they feel. No two cent dissection of their personal feelings needed. 

Everyone seems to be having a hard time with this concept today. It's not a good color on anyone.

Respect the negative opinions and the positive. And since we don't know each other personally, I suggest doing it at face value. No more, but no less. 

[Robandmar]

I’ve read all the nasty sniping since I posted our dining experiences. Let me put a bit to rest. 
1. We are normal people that have enjoyed cruising since around 2005. 
2. We are not food snobs 

3. We consumed what we were served without complaint. Unlike several tables around us that were loudly complaining/unloading on the poor server. 2 even had the head waiter come to their table to air their complaints. 
4. Our windjammer experience was similar to numerous folks around us. 

We took this experience as an exception rather than the rule. We are already booked on our next cruise in March. We are NOT one and done and all this sniping is a waste of brain power

[ChessE4]

15 hours ago, CanHardlyWait said:

Well you "tolerate" me a lot better than I do you. It's sad that trying to get my goat on this is all you have on your plate today. LOL.

Actually, I was trying to agree with you. Posts about bad experiences are valid as long as they are true.

[Pringle]

On our October transatlantic trip, we went to all speciality dining venues, Jamie’s was mediocre at best, Izumi was fine, Chops was good but Wonderland was simply awful!  The waiter had very little personality, his English was not the best and was very hard to understand, there was no theatrics at all which I always thought was the stand-out of Wonderland.  The food itself wasn’t that good at all, on previous visits to Wonderland, I’d chosen the short rib which was good but decided on a change this time around and chose the chicken.  Service was extremely slow which we were led to believe was because a chef had taken ill and had to leave, don’t know if that was true or not.  When the main course finally arrived, the chicken was way way overcooked and totally dried out. The waiter asked if it was okay and when I said it wasn’t, he said he would get some sauce, he returned with a small amount of watery gravy! It didn’t improve the chicken whatsoever!  He then brought a full dish with the short rib on which I told him I didn’t want but he put it down on the table anyway.  Other customers nearby were also complaining about the quality of the food and service.  Wonderland was booked on my birthday so was meant to be a little special…unfortunately there was nothing special about this visit at all.

[KevinJ]

@Pringle I'm sorry you had such an experience in Wonderland, I've only tried it once and didn't really find it something I'd do again. We were on the Symphony transatlantic and did three specialty lunches, Jamie's, Hibachi, and Hooked plus dinner in Chops. All were quite good experiences. We ate dinner in the MDR almost every other night. Early seating and all but one meal were quite good. I must say that I'm not a very picky eater and not overly concerned if some of the times we took most of an hour for our meals, but I did have quite a few meals that I thought were terrific. The one meal I had an issue with was the short ribs in the MDR, my serving was quite fatty, I've had it in the past and found it quite good. I didn't bother with trying to exchange it as I was already suffering from way too much food. One thing a noticed was that to me, the vanilla ice-cream seemed much better than what I had on previous cruises. Very creamy and lots of flavor. I'll be checking this out when I'm on Allure in January to see if it compares. I did notice lots of lines for the MDR My Time many nights as we left  and I am glad that I'll never choose my time again.

[Xaa]

Bummer @Pringle.  The slowness and the bad food preparation seem to jive with an ill or absent chef.  I like Wonderland a little.  I love the World for dessert and like the short rib.  For the appetizers I could eat an endless amount of those shrimp in the noodles and about 50 spoons of liquid lobster.  I see it as a one and done type place.

 

[Babsy47]

I’m not much of a MDR fan, but the Indian dish is generally quite good.  Specialty dining is almost always good.  I’m doing a weekend cruise with my son here shortly without the UDP, but we will have CK.  We will see how it goes!

[Lseee1]

We just got off the Anthem on October 30th from the transatlantic itinerary.  We have been on the Anthem a few times before as well.  Our experience with food was generally good.

The staff in eating areas was very helpful and courteous.   The quality of the food was good in both the Windjammer and Main Dining Room. 

The one negative to mention is the new menu in the Main Dining Room.   There were typically 5 entrees to pick from.   If you are meat eaters, you may consider it ok.  However, if you are looking for a variety of fish options, you may be very disappointed.   

Salmon was featured 9 out of 15 nights on our cruise.   Shrimp dishes were offered a few times.  Chicken breast was one entree every single night.  Spaghetti bolognese was prominent many nights as well.   We were told by the Maitre'D that they had been getting considerable negative feedback on the new menu.  He expected that Royal will have to be making some changes.  We did notice that the main dining room was often only 1/2 filled during prime time (my time dining option at 7 pm).

Another disappointment was how the Solarium Bistro was handled.   In the past, there was a menu presented and your entre was cooked to order.   You went up to the buffet to get your appetizers and dessert.  Now they put all the menu entree items precooked on a small pate plate, not cooked to order.  The only items that you can order is the specialty steak option.   If we are going to get up from the table and go to the limited buffet in Solarium Bistro, we decided to opt for the Windjammer instead.  

A few other minor changes of note were no-sugar added lemon cookies were not offered anymore.  Also the favorite dessert of apple blossom was not to be found for dinner in the main dining room.   

Many nights we went to the Windjammer that offered a wider variety of entree each night.  We were very pleased with the Windjammer.  They offered pan fried fish many night, based on a few different types of fish.  

Notwithstanding my comments above, we were generally pleased with our cruise.  However, if they do not adjust the menu in the main dining room, the number of complaints will continue to come in.

[Big Tule]

We found the change of service pattern on Ovation Solarium Bistro unsatisfactory as well .They advertise table service of entree when booking online  but we found we had to  collect it at the buffet usually this would  be no  problem but the plates were so hot it was nearly impossible to pick them up as they were sitting on heated surfaces ,also  there was a queue waiting for a spare chef to come out and place hot plates on dinner plates ....will not go back to this venue again we were looking forward to it but it was disappointing....no complaints at all with the other food outlets                       

[michaelp1446]

1 hour ago, Big Tule said:

We found the change of service pattern on Ovation Solarium Bistro unsatisfactory as well .They advertise table service of entree when booking online  but we found we had to  collect it at the buffet usually this would  be no  problem but the plates were so hot it was nearly impossible to pick them up as they were sitting on heated surfaces ,also  there was a queue waiting for a spare chef to come out and place hot plates on dinner plates ....will not go back to this venue again we were looking forward to it but it was disappointing....no complaints at all with the other food outlets                       

Sorry you had a disappointing experience.. I have been to the Solarium Bistro a few times over the years and it has Always been buffet style.  Maybe it changed with the re-start.

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, michaelp1446 said:

Sorry you had a disappointing experience.. I have been to the Solarium Bistro a few times over the years and it has Always been buffet style.  Maybe it changed with the re-start.

I haven't had dinner there in a long time but you used to order the entree, which was cooked fresh and served. The apps and desserts were always buffet-style.

For breakfast/lunch it has always just been a buffet.

[Lseee1]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

I haven't had dinner there in a long time but you used to order the entree, which was cooked fresh and served. The apps and desserts were always buffet-style.

For breakfast/lunch it has always just been a buffet.

Yes, your statements are correct.  Getting the entree cooked fresh and served made it a nice experience.  However on the transatlantic cruise on the Anthem last month, the only cooked to order item was the up-charge item filet steak, which was good.  My wife ordered the lamb thinking it was cooked to order like the last time. However, we quickly found out that the small pate plate with a small amount of lamb on it, was the entree.  She thought it was an appetizer.   The change in format was very disappointing.  We are hoping that Royal is paying attention to these comments.   Do they look at them?

[OCSC Mike]

4 hours ago, Lseee1 said:

We are hoping that Royal is paying attention to these comments.   Do they look at them?

This site is not affiliated with Royal, so no. They look at comments you make on your post-cruise survey (at least I hope they do).

[CanHardlyWait]

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

This site is not affiliated with Royal, so no. They look at comments you make on your post-cruise survey (at least I hope they do).

I always encourage honest reviews. Make sure to respond to the after cruise survey folks. And if you don't like something, speak up. Nothing, especially food will ever be improved on without honest comments and critique. 

[Irene P]

We found that not only quality of the food went down but presentation of the food is lacking 

[Robandmar]

We agree.  Doing Oasis again in February and March. Will see if same experience. 

[Ditchdoc]

Well ... if they serve so-so free food .... maybe you will buy into the specialty restaurants. Its all about marketing.

[GF Greg]

Big difference in Food Quality between pre and post pandemic. We were on one of the last RCL cruises before the shutdown. I am celiac and must do GF. RCL used to provide me with cakes, pies, etc., heck even other people wanted my desserts and meals. Not anymore! Our last cruise on an Oasis Class was a disappointment. Food quality at the windjammer was “golden corral” level. MDR food quality very low. You will have a better meal at Ruby Tuesday or Perkins. Desserts for celiac’s are all pudding based now. No Cakes, No Pies, only puddings! They still have a good crème brûlée however that does get old on a long cruise. Going to try Celebrity in a couple of weeks. If not better will be looking for a new company to sail with. It’s a disappointment, retired now and staying in Florida for the winter trying to do several cruises each season and now having to shop for a new cruise company. Sad! RCL very SAD! 

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, GF Greg said:

retired now and staying in Florida for the winter trying to do several cruises each season

Welcome to the retired, Florida, cruise life !

[ChrisK2793]

On 10/25/2023 at 11:10 PM, Robandmar said:

I’ve read all the nasty sniping since I posted our dining experiences. Let me put a bit to rest. 
1. We are normal people that have enjoyed cruising since around 2005. 
2. We are not food snobs 

3. We consumed what we were served without complaint. Unlike several tables around us that were loudly complaining/unloading on the poor server. 2 even had the head waiter come to their table to air their complaints. 
4. Our windjammer experience was similar to numerous folks around us. 

We took this experience as an exception rather than the rule. We are already booked on our next cruise in March. We are NOT one and done and all this sniping is a waste of brain power

‘Being new here, you’ll quickly learn that there’s a group of people who will viscously attack you if you say anything other than everything on Royal is God’s literal gift to the universe ………. I’ve been on many Royal cruises and I agree ……the food quality has steadily declined since Covid ………. The higher the cruise prices go, the worse the food gets.  I’m on Allure right now and the food in the MDR has been no better than the food in Windjammer, and that’s not saying much. 

in fact, with the new menus, the “free” food on the menu in the MDR each night, is the exact same food you’ll find in the Windjammer that night.  We usually do unlimited specialty dining (which has also gone down  a lot in quality since Covid) ….. but we booked this cruise last minute and figured we’d try the MDR this time since it’s only 4 nights …… big mistake …….. yes, the specialty dining food quality has gone down since Covid, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the “free” food in the MDR.

AND GO …….. Let the attacks on me for saying all that begin in …….3…….2……..1      LOL

[KevinJ]

Everyone has their own tastes, I’m also on Allure now’s. The MDR has been fine, tonight my Sole was so hot I had to wait for it to cool. We had a terrific lunch in Giovanni’s yesterday. Then, at the same meal tonight my wife didn’t care for her chicken parmigiana, but my son loved his. So everyone will experience different things, I just hope you’re able to enjoy your cruise. BTW the wheather in Nassau today s…coed

[ChrisK2793]

18 hours ago, KevinJ said:

Everyone has their own tastes, I’m also on Allure now’s. The MDR has been fine, tonight my Sole was so hot I had to wait for it to cool. We had a terrific lunch in Giovanni’s yesterday. Then, at the same meal tonight my wife didn’t care for her chicken parmigiana, but my son loved his. So everyone will experience different things, I just hope you’re able to enjoy your cruise. BTW the wheather in Nassau today s…coed

The cruise itself is GREAT ……. it’s just the food that’s been very subpar.  You got lucky with hot fish LOL ……. We haven’t gotten any entrees after a long wait with a temp above lukewarm

[Kevin travels]

Just got back from Navigator of the Seas to Mexico. The food was bland. It was the consensus of everyone eating around me. I've had better Costco pizza. I've eaten better airline food. The Windjammer was edible. What you'd expect from a hospital buffet. The main dining room was the bland. I tried the Taste of Royal, and the Chef's Dinner. "Meh" was my response to both. This is shocking because the best food I've had in the past was on cruise lines. On ROYAL CARIBBEAN. This was 40 years ago. Guess all the chef's retired. Yeah, the food was so bad it made me figure out how to create a profile just so I could respond to these posts. And I HATE commenting on bulletin boards! That's what RCCL's bad food made me do! 

I still have two more bookings on Navigator this year. Everything else on the ship, including the staff, is wonderful. I'm looking forward to it. But I'm going to see if I can take MRE's for supplemental food though. I'll let you know if they let me take them onboard. I'll try Carnival since they sail out of LA and I'm local.

 

[Robandmar]

We started this thread 3 months ago in hopes that our experience was not the new norm. Unfortunately, it continues to evoke responses, leading us to believe that our cruises the first week in February and March as well as mid April are all going to be unsatisfactory food experiences. We are bringing our adult kids and introducing their children to cruising and sadly don’t believe that the grandkids will have the same fond memories of cruise dining their parents had growing up. 

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, Robandmar said:

We started this thread 3 months ago in hopes that our experience was not the new norm. Unfortunately, it continues to evoke responses, leading us to believe that our cruises the first week in February and March as well as mid April are all going to be unsatisfactory food experiences. We are bringing our adult kids and introducing their children to cruising and sadly don’t believe that the grandkids will have the same fond memories of cruise dining their parents had growing up. 

Don't let responses that represent less than 1% of all cruisers worry you. Go in with an open mind! There is also a bias that leads people to post/share about negative experiences but not bother to share positive ones.

Food was great on Allure in October. I haven't been an MDR fan for a very long time (even back in the days when people cite it as being great, long before Covid or menu changes) but I thought our dinners there were also perfectly fine.

[Lseee1]

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Don't let responses that represent less than 1% of all cruisers worry you. Go in with an open mind! There is also a bias that leads people to post/share about negative experiences but not bother to share positive ones.

Food was great on Allure in October. I haven't been an MDR fan for a very long time (even back in the days when people cite it as being great, long before Covid or menu changes) but I thought our dinners there were also perfectly fine.

We have been on the Anthem 3 times so far.  Each time, the quality of the food was good in both the MDR and Windjammer.  After the menu change, the number of entrees offered were cut back.  The only real negative was that after the menu change, the variety of fish options was limited.  For example on the transatlantic cruise consisting of 15 nights, salmon, in different configurations, was offered 9 night out of 15 nights.  The variety of meat options was a little better.  So if you are mostly a fish type person, that could be a bit disappointing.  However, it may be that sourcing a variety of fish from England may be different than a cruise that originates in the States.  We are going again on the Anthem out of New Jersey soon, so we will see.

[Jolly Ogre]

We were on Symphony last month and the 1st and only bad thing I have ever had to say was about 1 portion of a meal served in Hooked. I had the Captain's platter and the only thing bad was the halibut was over cooked and dry. Everything else was perfection. I let them know but I was to full to accept another portion. 

[Al Miller]

On 1/13/2024 at 9:50 AM, GF Greg said:

Big difference in Food Quality between pre and post pandemic.

We found that immediately post Pandemic the food to be as good as ever. But about the time the menus were changed was the BIG dropoff. Cruised in November 2022 and then the same ship again in Feb 2023 and the difference was shocking. I've railed against new leadership ad nauseam but you can almost pinpoint the change of leadership to the drop in quality. Although to be fair, I've never had a great meal in Chops. Only just decent and not worth the extra fee. So maybe I was just lucky before and it's always been generally subpar.

[plyman697403]

Good Day everyone... AOS REVIEW... 

I am a Diamond Member on RCCL, Elite on Celebrity, Platinum on Carnival, and Platinum on NCL...

At the minimum I book a balcony room but we usually opt for suite level rooms

So, in 2023 we took 2 cruises on RCCL and honestly was very disappointed with the food on both ships. We travelled on Symphony of the Seas doing the Barcelona, Italy and France circle and over NYE we did a 6 day on Adventure of the seas.  On both ships we did purchase the key and would probably get it again. The key was beneficial in getting seats for the shows you wanted and when you wanted without making reservations or staying in lines. The "free" meal for Chops was average at best. It was not bad but i really expected better. Anyways below is my review of the food on AOS. I will preface that in my years of cruising we have only ever had 1 meal that was an upcharge and that was Mexican on the Norwegian Dawn. My wife and I feel that hey we already paid for our food why do we want to pay more for food. Yes it is to be better and a nice experience but being served is good enough for us.

Chops - We boarded the ship and a sign pointed us to the left and we were able to leave our carry on with the dining room staff as part of "THE KEY" Program. with the Key Program we get to have a Chops type meal for lunch. However the menu is quite limited. Unfortunately, we all had the filet and were quite disappointed. We all ordered our steaks to be medium rare but they were all medium well to well done. The steaks did not even have grill lines on them or any type of sear. We sent them all back and again they came back as being overcooked. Our waiter and head waiter agreed that they were all overcooked and so we had them cooked for a 3rd time. This time they were completed properly however the steaks were very tough and were only choice steaks. We did find out from the waiter that all the steaks were pre cooked and sitting in warmers which was a total let down. The steaks were also very stringy, chewy and really not prime quality. If I had to guess, the meat was not a solid piece of meat and had transglutaminase in it/ I know this because I used to be a butcher and know my cuts of meat and the tricks of the trade. If this is the kind of food that is served in Chops in the evening, I would not recommend going here especially since the dining is an upcharge. Now we usually do not do upgraded restaurants. We did it one time on NCL on the Dawn and had mexican years ago and it was very good. Anyways I digress. The food we received for our welcome aboard lunch just was not good enough to warrant spending extra money for the Chops dining room. What I did like about the dining room for lunch was the fact the windjammer was PACKED with people getting their food and so it was nice to eat without trying to find a seat in the windjammer.

Giovanni's - So after that disappointing meal, we walked around the ship a bit, checked into our room and unpacked. We had our luggage and our carry on by 3 pm. The Key really did spead things up with regards to our luggage. We then decided to go for a drink and while sipping on my jack and coke, and my wife with her glass of wine, we were approached in the schooner bar at approx 4 pm ( which was my favorite bar) ... a waiter came up to us and said they had plenty of seats/opening that night in Giovanni's that night for 2 for 1 pricing. We agreed to try this. There were 7 of us who tried it. We asked for 745 pm reservations and it was granted for us. We received a piece of paper ( looked like a menu order card confirming the reservation).  We arrived at the restaurant at 7:40 and there was a very long line in front of us. Now unfortunately it appears they overbooked the restaurant. We were finally seated at 8:45 pm the food was plain and had very little flavor in fact It was like the food was not seasoned. Now we are Italian and we do make our own food, pasta and sauce but we were not comparing the food to ours. The Branzino was decent. However the risotto was not fully cooked and was sent back. The Pasta Bolognase was also minimally flavored - it did not taste Italian. It seemed to be missing oregano and basil.  Weird I know but it just seemed bland. Anyways, all 7 of us ordered one of these 3 meals. Desert was pretty good but I found the Cannoli to be weird in flavor as the ricotta was lemon and tutti frutti flavored. Not what I expected from a true Italian Cannoli. I think they tried to make the meal too fancy instead of trying to keep the food more Italian traditional. 

Izumi - For the 7 of us we spent approximately $200 but it was our best meal for the cruise. Now when eating here everything is a la carte. For example the signature rolls were about $13-17 each, Miso was $3 and Wonton $7. Everything was perfection. From the sushi to the vegetable fried rice and the sashimi and teriyaki they were all very good. I would recommend one consider eating here if you enjoy this kind of food. Just do a search for Izumi menu rccl and you should see images and pricing on the menu. 

Dining Room - The food in the dining room was just what I would call sub par. The food was warm at best it was never hot but we were sitting on the opposite side of the kitchen by the entrance.  The French Onion Soup was great as was the shrimp cocktail. Service was generally slow, then again we were the table farthest from the kitchen as we were at the entrance to the dining room on the 4th floor. The menu did not appeal to me at all. There was nothing really special about the menu's and my teenage girls actually thought the food at Johnny Rockets was better and they would rather eat there than in the dining room. The girls were 16 and 17.  Kind of says a lot for the food that was being served. Also, I wish they would bring back the different types of buns / bread every night instead of the same rolls every night. We are all diamond members and I have a been a cruiser since the 1970's. We all know that RCCL and all the cruise lines in general have cut back on the quantity and quality of food being offered to its guests but I think its getting to be cut back too much. 

Windjammer - I did enjoy my breakfast here every day as well as my lunch here but we never had dinner in the WJ. My favorite lunch item was the fried chicken. There were 2 omelette stations and what was nice was that you placed your order and then you were given a pager. Never had to wait more than 10 min for my omelette. I truly hope that RCCL will not take this away from their cruisers or do an upcharge. One new item that was for sale in the WJ was fresh cotton candy for $2.99 if I recall ( available at lunch 11 -2 or so). The AOS only got the machine on our cruise and i was the 3rd in line for the new offering. The kids did enjoy it but the sugar melts quickly in that hot humid air. I did like that they came around in the mornings and refilled our coffees and teas and water. I also really enjoyed the wide variety of breakfast options. I am sure there is something there for everyone even the pickiest of eaters. 

Diamond Lounge - My wife and I went here a few times up on deck 14 I think it was. Loved the coffee / latte machine there and loved the canapes they had both times we were there. Enjoyed the view sailing from port with a drink in our hands and a snack before heading to dinner. It was small but right next door was the Viking Crown Lounge and Blue Moon. I definitely enjoy the time we spent here. There was very little ambiant noise and people were generally talking at almost whisper levels. It was a nice place to go where the noise was left behind.

The Free Pizza/Deserts/Starbucks - So on deck 5 the AOS has a few options for food and drink. We all know about the free pizza and sandwiches as well as deserts, the ship coffee and tea as well at the ice tea and of course Starbucks and the ice cream which I think was Ben and Jerrys ( don't shoot me if I am wrong) So, I heard a rumor that RCCL was thinking of charging its guests $2 for the pizza/sandwich/desert but that was met with swift and fierce criticism. I did try the pizza and it was ehhh palatable lol... I don't really want to be a debbie downer here and put down the food continuously but i just have to speak what i feel is honest feedback. The sandwiches were better and actually i usually grabbed one on my way back from my excursion. The Starbucks was like any other Starbucks. I don't think RCCL can really change anything here without Starbucks agreeing and I don't think that will happen so you can be guaranteed the same quality there as you do an any other Starbucks. The premium ice cream was so much better than the free soft serve ice cream on deck 12. It was definitely a treat and I think it was $3 a scoop. 

Wishing you all Smooth Sailing

Tom

[markinct]

On 10/20/2023 at 11:53 AM, Robandmar said:

We just got off Quantum’s 8 day run from Vancouver to Honolulu. The food on board was horrible!  All cuts of meat were fat and gristle, fish and Lobster were always under cooked. Windjammer entrees were poor at best and almost always cold. We only ate in the MDR on lobster night and overheard many around us complaining, some to wait staff others to the head waiter. Are they trying to force all to the various dining packages??

I wonder if they had supplier issues in Vancouver if the problem was shipwide.  

[Robandmar]

Our thoughts at time. We will see this weekend. 

[Robandmar]

Okay folks I started this thread in October after our horrible food experience on Quantum from Vancouver to Honolulu. Just got off Oasis with one of our kids and her family, ate in the MDR 6 of the 7 nights and other than the reduced menu choices everything seemed to be back to normal. Windjammer was fine (other than unbelievably crowded)everything was the appropriate temperature and what we expected, all other venues lived up to our expectations except Playmakers wait staff was unbelievably slow when we were there(possibly shift change)but the bar fare was great. First attempt at Port Side BBQ and we really enjoyed it!  Ribs were great and the brisket as well. Coming from a place where Texas BBQ restaurants are on just about every corner, that says a lot!  The dining staff in all the venues were amazing as usual and are the reason we keep coming back.

Conclusion after all this, the Quantum event was either purveyor issue or lack of quality control in the kitchen or perhaps a little of each. 

Going back on the Oasis in 3 weeks to give it another test but for now all is good in Cruise Land on the high seas. 
 

[KevinJ]

Realized I didn't do an ice-cream update. Vanilla ice cream on Allure was back to just "normal" nothing special. We're on Icon in a couple weeks and I plan to give theirs a try. I have no idea why I've started to worry about ice cream . I've never even done the soft serve.