We are back from our first cruise of 2023 with Royal Caribbean. Yes, we tested the new Royal Caribbean Main Dining Room Menus. What do we think of these recent changes? Well, we detail our honest review of the Royal Caribbean main dining room menus for 2023!
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WE TESTED OUT THE NEW ROYAL CARIBBEAN MAIN DINING ROOM MENUS
0:00 Introduction
1:23 What Royal Caribbean Hasn’t Changed
2:30 New Main Dining Room Dinner Menus
2:51 Main Dining Room Dinner Themes
3:55 Dinner Setup in the Main Dining Room
4:55 Changes Made to Main Dining Room Menus
5:58 No More Classic Menu Options
9:25 Grilled Chicken is Back on the Menu
10:28 Testing the New Menu Options
12:46 What We Liked About the New Menus
14:28 Why Did Royal Change the Menus?
16:03 What We Really Thought of the New Menus
NEW MAIN DINING ROOM MENUS ON ROYAL CARIBBEAN
For many cruisers, the Royal Caribbean main dining room food is a staple of their cruise. Some were skeptical when the cruise line announced the new main dining room menus. Since the cruise line has rolled out the changes to the Royal Caribbean main dining room, there have been many critiques about the updates.
So, to test out the MDR changes on Royal Caribbean for ourselves, we hopped on a recent cruise on Harmony of the Seas. How did these new Royal Caribbean main dining room menus compare to the previous versions? Honestly, there were some things we liked and some things we didn’t.
First, we are happy to report that Royal Caribbean didn’t change anything for breakfast or lunch. The new MDR changes for 2023 only affect the dinner menus. The morning and afternoon setup and menu options have stayed the same. This is true for the Classics section.
When it comes to dinner in the main dining room, this is where the cruise line made significant changes. One of the letdowns was the removal of the classics menu. The cruise line has removed these standard menu selections. Further, the Royal Caribbean Main Dining Room Menus for 2023 are 30% smaller than the previous versions.
Many of the former Classics selections are still available, now just 3 or 4 times a week. Where the cruise line did let us down was with the seafood options. Royal Caribbean ships’ new main dining room menu in 2023 has cut back on seafood options like salmon, escargot, and shrimp. Not to mention, the cruise line completely removed one of our staple starters, the cheese plate. Other high-end menu options are also gone, like the roasted duck on the first formal night. And, additional lobster tails now cost extra money!
Now, there are some things we like about the new MDR menu. First, the menus are themed, with nights like Taste of the Caribbean, Taste of Italy, and Taste of France. These new themes give the menu more cohesion and help cruisers plan their schedules better. Also, there are several new and enhanced dishes on the menu. Compared to our last sailing of 2022 on Royal Caribbean, we found the food fresher and the selections better prepared and plated on our 2023 cruise. Further, I was a fan of the new Indian dishes each evening. These new main dining room food options spiced up the menu, pun intended.
Overall, we did like the new Royal Caribbean main dining room food. The updates to the RCI MDR menu offered some new options and some diversity. While the overall menu was smaller, we thought the food was better quality, and we could still find several things each evening to satisfy our appetite. We’d like to suggest you test out the Royal Caribbean main dining room menus for 2023 for yourselves and let us know how they stack up to the competition in the comments.
READ ALL ABOUT THE ROYAL CARIBBEAN MENU CHANGES ON THE BLOG:
TRENDING VIDEOS FROM EAT SLEEP CRUISE:
What We Loved (and Hated) About Harmony of the Seas: https://youtu.be/egYHD9cL9vs
We Tested out the 9 Newest Cruise Ships: https://youtu.be/XdoagV5JtMw
10 Best NEW Cruise Ships for 2023: https://youtu.be/hgh0yWQ_FwI
25 Expert Alaska Cruise Tips: https://youtu.be/wsQggXltN90
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15 Comments
Cruising Oasis of the Seas in January 2024
Did the staff wear masks? No one wore them on Hal Eurodam in May.
I'm not a huge Royal fan in general, Carnival and NCL are my preferred lines, but I think the theme nights are really creative and the menu changes are a cool idea. This video is fantastic and so detailed. Really enjoyed watching!
I do think that we will miss some of the everyday items that were on the menu previously
I just went on Harmony back on May 6th this year, I was quite disappointed with the food in the main dining hall every time we went. Luckily we ate at 6 specialty restaurants but the 2 nights we had dinner in the main hall, it just… wasn't that great. The food was not as fresh or hot, or well presented as it was the first time we sailed on harmony back in 2019. It's almost made me want to try Celebrity for our next cruise as I hear their food is top notch.
lousy slow service and cheap food…
Royal needs to put the classics back on the menu for every night
BIG FAIL, RCCL. The biggest flaw is that HOT FOODS ARE NOT SERVED HOT. From soup through dessert it only grew worse even after notifying the wait staff.
We've cruised on the Symphony and Explorer wit the new menu and the food was nothing like the food you had. Cheap, nasty, cold with very slow service. Some dishes shown on the menu may look the same as the old menu, but what is served is much worse. We have over 500 days on RCL, but we don't plan on returning.
I look forward to, according to the intro, seeing more of the dishes that’s listed on the menu.
I cruised 12 years ago on Royal and the food was very good. Last year my cruise was cafeteria food served Luke warm and really not too tasty. It seems that Royal ships are fully booked so they can lower the standards until people stop cruising. Penny wise pound foolish.
We watch all of your videos, very good. I like the best of the best because I can only go once a year I would like the best. You seem to like Princess the best
We have generally enjoyed the new Royal Caribbean menu with no issues.
I would have to say the food on Ovation this June was better than the food on Independence in April. Even the buffet was kinda not good on Indy…Not sure when the menu changed though 🤷🏾♀️
Ugh, it’s terrible. The food is cold, the service is slow, the waiters are constantly begging for ratings and tips, and it’s just an all around thumbs down now. Disappointing. I wish we could get our money back.