We tried Royal Caribbean's new Main Dining Room Menus

Our team had the opportunity to try Royal Caribbean's new Main Dining Room menus to see how the new menus compared to previous dining experiences onboard Royal Caribbean ships, and here’s what you should know!

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[steventwiddy]

I personally like the regular length of the meal, for someone who’s not dragging down a 6 digit income it’s nice to feel pampered and have 5 star ⭐️ quality food in a Un rushed plush atmosphere

[mercyrodriguez]

We must be a very lucky couple, never had any issues with our meals onboard Royal, never had a cold meal, and on Freedom of the seas, we were in and out in less than an hour, excellent service!

[samquinn]

So basically The MDR menu dropped higher price dishes like duck, seafood and rack of lamb for cheaper pasta, VG and GF dishes. After watching this video, we purchased the Unlimited Dining Package for our upcoming RC cruise. Now we can eat all the seafood, meat and lamb dishes we want. I am not knocking the new menu but to say it is better or the same would be a lie. I believe RC saying this new menu will shorten one dinning time is just a way to detract from the real reason which is to save the cruise line money.

[Carol-idbu]

We just got off Harmony on Saturday and we were the first sailing to have the new menu on that ship. The time we had to wait for our food never seemed to be an issue. Usually got there around 745pm and we’re done eating around 9pm. Some nights did seem to take a while to get our dessert, but we weren’t in a hurry. The only night we all did not enjoy any of our food was Italian night. The food was quite bland and cold. Every other night was great. My daughter has allergies to dairy and egg and every night she got a new dessert option (vegan), which was a welcomed surprise as we did not have that on Independence last year. Overall, it’s food and I’m happy to be eating on a cruise ship. 😊

[AxelQC]

Limited choice to reduce costs. They cut some terrific dishes, like soufflés.

[ericmanner]

What I have always remembered about MDR dining is that the bigger the table, the longer the service. "Earlier" in my cruise life, my wife & I, sometimes with my sister or kids/Gkids, would always sit at bigger tables to get the chance to meet other cruisers. We enjoyed this, but also noticed how quickly smaller tables were served. In our last 6 cruises, we have chosen to eat alone.

[davidcarrington]

Taking away six steady choices, that are always there for you every night, is NOT an upgrade, it's a downgrade. And everyone that says the new menus look great, is missing the big picture. They used to have a great menu but always had the six additional classic choices in case it was a off night for you (menu wise) with the choices they offered. Those choices are gone. More choices and selections are always better to have. So this is a big downgrade. And it's going to cause some, not all, people to start considering other cruise lines. Their entertainment is head and shoulders above other cruise lines. If it wasn't for that, they wouldn't be getting away with what they're doing in the MDR

[chrisrobertson]

We just finished a 17 night b2b on Oasis OTS this past Sunday. The new MDR menus is now geared to theme nights... which is not a bad idea. My thoughts after eating in the MDR for 6 of the 17 nights and the portions are smaller. The speciality dining is still amazing and the amount of food you get is huge!

[TripleAM]

Thanks for clarifying that the time limits are based on food service and not actually how long you're there. My group normally stays in the MDR for almost 2 hours because we like to take our time eating, drinking, and talking. How long it takes for food to come out was never an issue for us.

[rogermccall]

The primary complaints about the length of the meal I believe came from the OASIS class ships where everyone has to schedule their entertainment. This was never a problem on the other classes. On the Oasis class, Our waiters would ask us if we had a show scheduled and we would get fed quickly if we did. Otherwise Dinner could go two hours or more. Just one MORE reason why I don't cruise on Oasis class ships anymore.

[tomshamer]

Thanks Matt for ur take on the new MDR service. It's unfortunate that Royal has mistakenly decided to focus on dining duration at the expense of menu quality. Got off Symphony 1/21. Our party of 6 had at least one diner each nite that didn't find a menu item they liked. We missed the old options. We found items like apple cobbler a poor replacement for the apple blossom. This cheapened down prior offerings ran through the new menu. Unrelated to the new menu, many beef dishes lately have been stringy poorer quality or poorly trimmed. MDR meals had always been a leisurely experience with good food, good conversation and quality atmosphere.

[stevenhill]

Thanks Matt, this report is the reason your channel is the gold standard for RCCL information.

[daledelbello]

Cruised on the Allure, Oasis, and Symphony. Loved the main dining room menu with the Classics. Are going on the Wonder soon and we are DEFINITELY disappointed about the new menu. There is no question that this is a cost-saving change, and not for the better. RCL has better MDR choices and quality than Norwegian and Celebrity, which we cruised on both the last 2 years. If this ends up being a disappointment we will stop cruising on RCL. Besides the entertainment, the food is a major reason to choose a ship and or a cruise line. I think that you will see RCL change back or lose devoted customers. It's really a cheap menu. Especially Caribbean and Mexican nights. Very bad.

[AxelQC]

If you are that worried about meal length, go to the buffet.

[jonathantitus]

Long time cruiser here-- we enjoyed the Theme Night menus long ago and are excited to see them return. Our next cruise is in July and we are already looking forward to it. We have always preferred MDR to the specialty ones because we develop friendships with our wait staff and have found that by day 3 or 4 they kind of know what we like in terms of bread options or drink choices. And there is nothing better than having a former waiter turned Head Waiter recognize us on a later cruise on a completely different ship and get extra special treatment as a result. Yes it really happened and we don't cruise that much.

[carolbarker]

I just returned from Wonder of the Seas and there were many people who didn’t seem to like the changes. The food in general was subpar in my opinion. For 2 meals we chose to order a vegetable pizza from Serrentos and have a beer. The Windjammer food were plentiful but cold. Italian night was not good and people were opting for the fresh Asian food bar. The lines were long but the food smelled amazing. The bread was delicious. The food at the Park Cafe was delicious. I feel like they are down grading the food and almost forcing you to eat in the specialty restaurants! I also think the food on the smaller ships is generally better.

[jackmortimer]

We just got off a 12 night cruise on the Enchantment. This was the first sailing with the new menus. I agree with those who have commented that it is a challenge to find an entre that sounds good. With this length of cruise, some of the menus were repeated. The worst was Mexican. On the second Mexican night, for the second seating, the MDR had to send wait staff to the Windjammer because so many people went there for dinner and the MDR was pretty empty. The pulled pork enchilada was pretty bad. In general, we felt that something was missing, including the options offered every night on the old menu. The kids menu is also shortened. We hoped that the lobster would be bigger since they charge for additional tails. Nope, same size. Our head waiter had over a page and a half of room numbers of those who did not like that item in just his section. On the positive side, we found the steaks to be tender and tasty, I liked the pork chop and the Caribbean chicken quite a lot. The deserts were better than those in the past, but I missed the fruit plate and cheese plate options. I did not notice any improvement in dining time, but for the past several cruises we have used My Time so our meal duration was already shorter.

[KellyG]

We just came off a 10 day cruise on Oasis of the Seas. On lobster tail night we ordered a tail as a side, not our main meal. Within in 5 minutes the server came over and placed 2, yes 2, more tails per person on our plates! No added charge. All the food in the MDR was superb. We ate in specialty restaurants 3 nights and really enjoy those too.

[dfw.hannah]

On the first night of MDR dinner, I ordered a second entree for my table to share. I was informed that they will bring it out AFTER I’m done with the first entree. That just prolonged dinner service and was in no way time efficient. All of the wait staff seemed to be rushing back and forth. It was a different vibe and very unenjoyable.

Also, currently on a 5-night sailing on adventure of the seas… No lobster nor braised short ribs (my favorite) are being served. Quality of the MDR foods have gone down hill and we plan to just eat at the buffet for the rest of the trip. And also look at other cruise lines.

[nicspence]

We leave Monday on Brilliance of the Sea & we are looking forward to these new menus! 😊