just arrived back from hong kong vietnam cruise,i was just wondering if it is normal for rcl not to have a gala buffet or any midnight buffet.i also found that the onboard entertainment was very poor as was the food,the windjammer restaurant was closed far too often and the food available after midnight was only available at the indoor pool of all places,and was terrible,
can anyone please tell me is this standard practice for RCL?if so i will not be cruising with them again.
i look forward to your replies
Hi,
I've been on a lot of RCCL ships and never experienced poor food, service, or entertainment. However, I've never been on a foreign cruise either. I'm sorry you had a bad experience on the Rhapsody, and can appreciate your concerns about sailing with Royal Caribbean again. If you do, I would highly recommend booking a "Voyager" or "Freedom" class ship—you'll be in AWE!
You were just on one of those cruises that wasn't as good as others....but any cruise is better than not cruising....Give RCL another try...I'm partial to NCL, but will take a RCL cruise anytime...and the Voyager class are great...Enjoy your next cruise even more...
I was on the Rhapsody in August of last year. We went to the Q&A thing the Captain had. He said that the Rhapsody was undergoing a sort of renovation, while staying operational. Some of the venues were closed at random times because of the work.
When we were on the Solarium was the only place at midnight that had food, but Room Service would bring you anything.
We did have the midnight buffet and Gala. I loved the whole trip, and I understand that if they are going to keep excellent facilities and services, they need to keep them up-to-date and new.
My cruise was the last one before Rhapsody left Galveston to head to the shipyard, then on to its new iteneraries (sp).
We were on the Slendor of the Seas in Dec 2006,out of 7 cruises,it had the worst food,(dining room and windjammer),bad waiter's and rest of the staff,not very pleasant but then on the Serenade in Oct 2007,it had the greatest food,waiter's and staff,they were even friendly in the casino. That goes to show you can get a bad one sometime.
thanks for the replies guys,i think its a case of getting a bad one,i also think that this cruise was aimed at the oriental market.ounce again thank you to you all
i was just wondering if it is normal for rcl not to have a gala buffet or any midnight buffet.
Royal Caribbean discontinued the Gala Buffet on all their ships as of January 1 of this year. They were responding to the complaints of many passengers on each sailing, regarding the amount of food being wasted as a result of such a lavish display. Also, Royal Caribbean says they have witnessed declining numbers of people attending the buffets.
They say that the beautiful fruit and vegetable sculptures traditionally seen displayed during the buffet are now displayed at other venues on the ship, such as in the Windjammer.
Finally, for those wanting late-night snacks, they say they "offer a variety of food offerings late into the evening."
if you call burger,pizza,chips and salad a variety of food then ok,but i found that the choice was not good enough,also the room service which was available was also not much variety
jilljoy, I love the Gala Buffet, but I think a lot of lines have either gone to one night or not at all, because of all the food wasted. You're right burgers, pizza, sandwiches, etc. isn't much of a variety, but if you're really hungry, it'll hold you over until early morning. I remember one cruise where we didn't even board the ship until almost 10pm. They were waiting for our flight to arrive so they could leave. We had missed dinner, so we were waiting until midnight for the buffet to eat, but there wasn't one. The pizza and salad tasted pretty good that night. I'd be all for them coming back, if they didn't waste all that food. I miss them, too, but all I usually did was take pictures. Sorry this wasn't one of your better cruises. I hope you enjoyed the itinerary. Don't give up on Royal, I'm sure you'd be happy on some of their other ships.
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