Over the past 12 months, both Royal Caribbean and Carnival have made changes in their main dining rooms, and some changes are bigger than others.
Carnival, for example, now charges $5 for every entree after the first two. That's designed to cut down on wasted food. Passengers can still order all the appetizers, sides and desserts they want, so nobody will go hungry after that change.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line shares key buffet dining answer
Royal Caribbean does not charge for added entrees except on sailings that have a lobster night. Lobster, like any other entree on the cruise line, used to be unlimited, but rising costs (and perhaps passenger excess) forced the cruise line to charge $16.99 plus an 18% gratuity for any additional lobsters.
The biggest changes, however, came in how both cruise lines overhauled their main dining room menus.
Royal Caribbean greatly thinned its offerings and moved to a dining theme each night. The cruise line also got rid of its Classics section, which offered basic steak, chicken, salmon and pasta dishes each night along with a selection of popular appetizers.
Now, each night uses a theme like Mexican, Bon Voyage, Italian and French. Not every item served on those nights fits the theme, but many do and there are fewer choices. That's an effort to reduce wasted food and speed up service — Royal Caribbean aims for dinner to take around 75 minutes.
Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) overhauled its main-dining-room menu as well, working with Chief Culinary Officer Emeril Lagasse. Its efforts, however, are based on improving the menu, and with each night now including some Lagasse-created favorites, its menus actually grew rather than shrunk.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival gets pushback on main-dining-room dinners
Royal Caribbean trimmed its main-dining-room menus partly to be able to serve passengers in 75 minutes rather than the traditional 90 to 120 minutes that cruise line dinners have traditionally taken.
Carnival's menu changes have not affected how long service takes. That's something one of the cruise line's passengers took issue with in an email that Brand Ambassador John Heald discussed.
"We need to discuss the time it takes once you are sitting at your table at dinner to eat," the unidentified passenger said.
"We ate in the [main dining room] on the Jubilee 6 of the 7 nights on the cruise. We had a fixed table for 2. Each night we were there for an hour and 15 mins or worse an hour and 30 mins. It should NEVER take more than 1 hour at dinner. 50 mins is the optimum time for most passengers. Do better Carnival. We made a complaint about our waiter but heard nothing,"
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Heald responded with a solution and some of his trademark wit.
"Whatever happened to conversation? Whatever happened to relaxing and enjoying the fun and...I know, I am showing my true dinosaur self again," he said. "I am going to let you all into a secret. If you want to be in and out in an hour or less then please tell your waiter. They will do their very best."
Related: Carnival may follow a controversial Royal Caribbean megaship move
Carnival's Heald reveals a cruise-line secret
Part of Heald's appeal is that he not only helps passengers solve problems, he also gives a peek inside how Carnival operates.
"Now then, what I am about to tell you is top secret, so, this just stays between me and you, right?" he posted.
Heald provided the insider lingo Carnival main-dining-room staff use to describe the service offered when people want to be served in under an hour.
"The crew call this fast and furious service 'Rambo Style,'" he said. "Now this doesn’t mean the waiter will grunt at you and shoot you with a crossbow but it means the waiters will be serving as quickly as possible.
"The waiters hate this, there is no time for communication, just remove one dish and replace with another. It is not what our waiters are all about. However, ask and they will do their best, and if nothing else they will laugh when you ask for 'Rambo Style' service."
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Heald's followers posted more than 1,700 comments, and most agreed that the original poster did not speak for them.
"No. We enjoy a relaxed dinner, and love chatting with our waitstaff when they have a moment. Getting to know them & hearing about their families is part of the fun," posted Karon Clark Warren.
"Good Lord, relax and enjoy having great conversation and enjoy your dinner. If you're so rushed, head on up to Lido, you'll be done in plenty of time. A nice leisurely dinner is something we look forward to every night and it's the beginning of the wind down for the day," Matt Savage added.
Related: MSC wants to take Royal Caribbean’s biggest cruise ship title
Some passengers did agree but were flexible in their dining approach.
"One hour is fine, but anything longer is too much for us. We try to fit in lots of activities in the evening so a lot of times we skip the MDR and eat on Lido," wrote Angie Harris Borbeau.
Other passengers want quicker service but for a very specific reason.
"About an hour is perfect for us. We do early dining, and like to finish and get to the early Playlist show. If we enjoy the show which we almost always do, we'll then go back to watch the late show as well," Stacy Waldrep wrote.
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