Main Dining Room Review - Radiance

[Rayza]

We have recently returned from an 11 night cruise - Sydney to New Zealand return.  We are novice cruisers.  This was our third cruise, but first on RCL.  Our other two cruises were on Princess and we were interested in comparing food and service between the two lines.

If I had to sum up our experience in the dining room in one word I would have to say "inconsistent".  Both the food and service was inconsistent.  The service, while always professional, was sometimes slow ( 30 minutes from sitting down to being served entree).  The demeanour of our waiter and assistant waiter were poles apart.  The waiter appeared aloof and when telling the table about specials or delivering messages tended to talk over the heads of everyone.  He certainly never engaged on a personal level with anyone at our table.  The asst. waiter was lovely  - friendly, smiling and always helpful.  On the third last evening the waiter, towards the end of the meal, spoke to our table and told us that when we returned home we would have a survey form to complete and could we please complete the survey with a good rating as it would effect his and the assistant waiter's wages.  Noone responded.  The waiter then asked what we thought of the service.  Another empty pause until I said that I had found the service quite variable.  I understand that a lot of things go towards the outcome the diner experiences ; if everyone arrives at the same time things will be slow; if there is a problem in the kitchen meals might be slower.  So my response was not necessarily aimed personally at the waiter but reflecting on how we had experienced things.  The waiter then got very defensive and said in a raised voice "slow, slow, you think my service is slow". I tried to explain my comments giving him the example that on one evening we were offered bread rolls by the assistant on 3 occasions before our entrees arrived.  In all of that time we were never asked if we would like drinks; just had water glasses topped up.  The waiter then asked the table to give him a rating of between 7 and 10 on his personal service.  Now I don't eat out a lot but it is the first time i have been demanded feedback from a waiter during the course of the meal.  One of the other diners at our table told the waiter that it was inappropriate to request this assessment of the guests.  With that he left our table.  For the final 2 evenings the waiter was at best professional bujt towards surly.  I had a discussion separately with the assistant waiter and she indicated to me that RCL processes are making it hard for the wait staff to provide much interaction with the diners.  Each waiter and assistant serve 20 guests.  The assistant waiter has to go to the kitchen and bring up the meals for each table as they become ready.  When a table of 6 or 8 is made up of different groups, who arrive at differing times, all meals are ordered in one hit so early arrivers are delayed until the whole table is seated.  If this happens at the same time on 2 tables then the waiters have difficulty in getting meals out quickly.  Our experience on Princess was that the service was superior to that of RCL.  On Princess we were offered a drink or asked if anyone would like to see a wine list every night.  On Radiance because no one asked for the wine list on the first night we were never asked again.  At the end of the meal Princess seem to have a liqueur special, which they sold in a souvenir glass for $3.  Each evening on Princess we were asked if we would like tea, coffee or liqueur.  On Radiance I asked for a cappucino one evening as it was listed on the menu, but when it was brought to me I was asked for  my seapass to pay for it.

Our experience with food in the main dining room on Radiance was similar to the service - some meal options were really enjoyable and some were close to being inedible.  A chocolate souffle in which you can't taste the chocolate, misses the mark in my opinion.  A "baked Alaska" that was in effect a 5 inch square dish with neopolitan ice cream with eggwhite piped on top, to which a micro torch had been applied to the middle, could be used in evidence of false pretences.  A chicken cordon bleau that was so thin and dry it looked like a truck had run over it could not be described as restaurant quality food.  The end pieces of the chicken were so thin and so overcooked that it could not be cut with a knife.  We did report this to the head waiter one evening when he enquired what we thought of the food and his response to me was that if you find a meal that you like tell him and he would have it made for me each night.  This defeated the purpose to me as I have no intention of going to a restaurant 11 nights in a row and eating the same meal.  On balance though a seafood risotto that I had was superb, as was the lamb shanks my wife had.  The green lipped mussels provided to our table on the last evening as an extra, were also delicious.  Steak was generally cooked as requested and was enjoyable without being memorable.  Again I would have to say that our food experience on Princess has been superior to what we experienced on Radiance.

We are on Ovation next week for the Xmas cruise with daughter and grandchildren so looking forward to compare both the quality of the service and the food offerings.  As Ovation doesn't seem to have the set sittings for dinner in the MDR; rather it is all "my time dining" I will be interested in how it compares.

 

 

[JLMoran]

Sorry to hear your experience wasn’t on par with your past times on Princess. The issue with the head waiter is bizarre, if nothing else in terms of just explaining up front they need to order everything at once when everyone at the table is there so that early arrivals aren’t surprised. And I’m stunned he asked for a specific rating mid-way along. Very unprofessional.

Being asked for your Sea Pass card wh n you ordered the cappuccino does make sense. All espresso beverages are an upcharge on Royal unless you bought the Replenishment or Deluxe beverage package, or the 10-drink coffee card.

I think the other thing to keep in mind when comparing this to Princess is that the latter is a premium cruise line, where Royal is mass market. So Princess ships will have a better staff to passenger ratio that makes a better level of service more likely. Not to excuse your head waiter, just saying that a more even comparison would be Royal vs. Carnival or Norwegian. If you wanted to compare Princess again a line under the RCCI umbrella, Celebrity would be the one to use.

[twangster]

Also consider ship size.  Smaller ships have better service IMO.  On Anthem (sister to Ovation) My Time service varies with time of seating.  During prime time they are hopping.  Eating after 8pm is a much more enjoyable experience.  My best My Time experience remains on Grandeur, a much smaller ship.  

[melski94]

I'm sorry you weren't happy with your food or service.  I do hope that your Ovation cruise will be better. I do have a few suggestions for your next cruise.  Do you have reservations for your MTD? If not, it does help to make them. The good news with MTD is that you should have a table to your party only so won't have to wait for others to be served so hopefully you will wait less.  It has been suggested to go to the MDR the first day and ask where your table will be and if you aren't happy with it change it then.

For entrees, I tend to ask my waiter what are his recommendations for that night or if I'm thinking of something else, ask what he thinks of the dish. I've rarely been steered wrong on my selection but if you don't like it you can ask for another entree. They can get a 2nd plate fairly quickly if you are unhappy or still hungry. Unfortunately, IMO the dessert is almost always disappointing.

I think the bar staff in the dining room is lacking...many tables, few staff...so we try to go into the dining room with a glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage...soda and milk aren't a problem to get quickly for the kids.  If I'd like a 2nd glass, I usually ask well in advance. 

Hope your next cruise is better.

[F1guynz]

One thing to note is that Ovation does not have 1 main dining room, it has 4 themed restaurants that were previously used for dynamic dining. After dynamic dining was discontinued the restaurants were all changed to serve the same menus. Now two restaurants are specifically for traditional dining and other two are for MTD. If you select MTD you cannot use the restaurants assigned to traditional dining and vice versa. The décor remains as it was when dynamic dining was in place.

 

[DocLC]

I was on the Caribbean Princess in July, and I had very much he same experience that you had on Royal with inconsistencies in food and service. And some nights with anytime dining, we had to wait as long as 45 minutes to be seated. What I have discovered, is that this is very ship and sailing specific and can change from sailing to sailing and from ship to ship, so please don't let one experience taint your view of the entire line.

From personal experience, I will say that I thought the food was better in the MDR on Princess for dinner, but breakfasts and lunches were much better in the MDR on Royal. I also found the Windjammer to be far superior to the Market Place Buffet on Princess.

[iluvwineandtravel]

On 12/10/2017 at 5:29 PM, twangster said:

Also consider ship size.  Smaller ships have better service IMO.  On Anthem (sister to Ovation) My Time service varies with time of seating.  During prime time they are hopping.  Eating after 8pm is a much more enjoyable experience.  My best My Time experience remains on Grandeur, a much smaller ship.  

Me too!  I am sailing Grandeur for my third time in March for st. Patrick's day ( excited for the Charleston stop on St. Patty's day!)  It is a small older ship, but our experience with service on that ship is amazing!