Ranking EVERY SINGLE Free Restaurant on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship

sure there's plenty of places to eat on your roller carving crews that are included your cruiser but which ones do i like the best today i'm ranking all the complimentary included restaurants on a roll crane cruise up next [Music] hey everyone it's matt from royal caribbean blog dot com simply put there is plenty of great food including the cost of your royal caribbean cruise one can easily go an entire cruise and enjoy nothing but food that has no additional cost from morning to night after all that's what the concept of cruise has been for a really long time but which ones are my favorite which ones are worth definitely visiting and which ones you know maybe you save it for another cruise later on today i wanted to share my rankings of the complimentary restaurants restaurants included with your cruise fare in ranking the complimentary food on a royal caribbean cruise there's a lot of choices that are out there you know i think we spent a lot of time talking about what costs extra and all the great specialty restaurants but the food that's included with your roll cream cruise is pretty substantial and going through the list of all the royal gripping complimentary restaurants i came up with 12 places that you can eat while on your cruise and for these rankings it was really tough for the first three or four i think the middle ones were a little easier and then i really had to struggle with what was going to be at the very bottom but i'm going to go 1 through 12 and i'm sure this is going to upset some people number one top free restaurant on a roll coming cruise the main dining room the main dining room is a stalwart institution that all cruise ship dining is based on quite frankly it's open for breakfast lunch and dinner lunch on sea days of course and i just got to think that it is overall from start to finish bottom to top the most overall best restaurant that's including your cruise fare for anyone that goes on a ship and i think the controversy will start when i go to number two here but what i love about the main dining room is that there is a good variety especially for dinner and lunch when it is offered the breakfast menu is pretty much the same every single day so there's not much to talk about there but it is great american style breakfast where you get eggs and bacon and toast and you know they have all the basics there it's a little slower than obviously some of the other places but when people go to the main dining room they're looking for that sit-down experience and really dinner is where it shines and i've had great waiters i've had not so great waiters the main dining room but you know at the end of the day it's consistent i found the food to be pretty good overall you know like all restaurants out there whether we're talking about cruise ships or not i found the food in the main dining room some things to be really great some things to be not so great and some things just be like hey that was good let's move on to the next one right so for those reasons i'm giving the main dining room the top spot here for the complimentary options again for the variety overall i value variety more than maybe one or two other things that really stand out that isn't to say the main dining room has the single best food option of all these cobb munchy restaurants it's to say that overall when you look at the total variety of food offered in the main dining room that stands out to me because there's some really compelling choices and i've always found something i really enjoy the main dining room every single night of the cruise so when you're talking about this list of the best and ranking the restaurants that are complimentary on a cruise ship i'm going with main dining room number one number two again i'm sure there people will disagree on this one coastal kitchen and people would disagree i think some people would put coastal kitchen above the main dining room coastal kitchen is the suites only restaurant that is complimentary for them so you could be staying in a suite in order to have access to coastal kitchen and like the main dining room it's open for breakfast lunch and dinner think of coastal kitchen like your own main dining room for sweet guests right if for all sweet guys including junior sweet guests is open for dinner and then for grand sweet and above it's open for breakfast and lunch the lunch menu i think by most people's admission is not great in coastal kitchen the breakfast and dinner menu is good and what a lot of people really enjoy about coastal kitchen i think is that level of service because it's a scaled-down version of the main dining room right a different menu different weight staff people really like the coast location waste app and the dinner menu i think really does stand out so why did i put coastal kitchen below maine dining well number one it's only available for sweet guests so there's a large subset of people that just can't die in there because they're not staying in a suite number two i think their lunch menu is very lacking it's been the most disappointing options i've had over there breakfast is breakfast it's virtually the same in the main dining room or coastal kitchen and then for dinner you know there's some really compelling choices and some not compelling choices depending on the day just like the main dining room the coastal kitchen menu changes daily for dinner and this their steak is absolutely fantastic in coastal kitchen for dinner but it's only offered on one day similar to the fact that there's lobster night in the main dining room only on one night so i gave the edge to the main dining room as number one instead of kitchen for number two for basically lack of access for most people and i thought their lunch menu brought it down just a peg again save the comments for below let me know why i'm wrong down there moving on to number three i am giving the edge here to number three the windjammer the buffet this is a classic thing again variety variety variety it's like real estate it's all about location well in the windjammer it's all about variety simply put you're going to get the biggest selection of foods to choose from especially for lunch and dinner just like the main dining room because location the breakfast menu pretty much stays the same but i love the fact that there's a huge amount of food variety options now with the windjammer it's very much peaks and valleys with a lot of the things that are there and i'll be the first to admit i'll go in there and the vast majority of things i just pass by i look for specific items that appeal to me but as a dad i can appreciate that my kids can find something that's they can eat i can find something i can eat it's usually a crowd pleaser and it's just been something that i've really enjoyed for many many years and when all comes down to it and we're not feeling like going out for a full meal getting dressed up the windjammer usually is where we head so i'm giving number three the windjammer one of my favorite spots to go to it's hard to go wrong with the windjammer all right number four so the top three i feel pretty good about my rankings number four solarium bistro this is a vastly underrated venue available on some royal caribbean cruise ships most people have no idea this liver bistro exists others have no idea that it's included with your cruise fare and even more have no idea what they serve over here but the celery and bistro i gotta tell you is some place that i forget to go to all the time but it is that darn good i think their breakfast options are fantastic because people don't know that it exists it's usually very easy to get into if you want a breakfast omelette slurry and bistro is the way to go there'll be no line over there it's just super simple when you go to the flareon bistro it's a combination buffet and sit-down restaurant something is available via the buffet that's there and you can also order some other items to be delivered to your table what keeps luring bistro from reaching maybe the top three is that the variety of food is not nearly as large as the dining room or the windjammer for that matter and it is included so it's hard to go wrong with that price and because it's so uncrowded and offers essentially a sit-down experience i think it's worthy of being in the number four spot and if you're on a cruise ship that has slurry and bistro you've got to make a reminder to yourself to go check it out because all too often i'd be like oh yeah i'm going to go to the slave and be strong my next cruise and i completely forget to go there especially for breakfast but whether it's dinner or breakfast it is worth your try so number four celery bistro number five el loco fresh i gotta tell you i am a sucker for chips and salsa and there is plenty of chips and salsa at el loco fresh hello fresh has well mexican food available burritos tacos quesadillas nachos and what i love about it is the fixin's bar that's what truly takes a local fresh above some of the other items we're going to talk about there because you can customize your meal you can make the perfect burrito as you see it you can top your tacos with everything that you like enough of things you don't like i love that level customization it's on the pool deck it's convenient it's great for the kids it's great for me it's a great afternoon snack i wish more ships had eloqua fresh on it it is that good and i'm a big fan of mexican food so i feel like that also kind of brings it up a little bit so overall i really think eloquefresh deserves this spot here at number five and if you've been on wonder of the season actually have a tequila bar that comes with it so for the parents out there you can enjoy somewhere else to get a margarita i'm a big fan of el loco fresh and i really think you got to try it out because it's one of the better new concepts roller coasters come up with especially for the complimentary options number six cafe promenade i'm a little surprised this is down here at number six but it's just a testament to the things that are came in the first top five over here cafe promenade again another stalwart you'll find on the promenade of any voyager freedom oasis class cruise ship and you're not getting a meal at cafe promenade but you are getting coffees you're going to get a sandwich and depending on the ship configuration you may actually get pizza here too i did break out certain pizza for another item in our list but depending on your ship you may have the added bonus of pizza here because on some ships like voyager class ships cafe promenade and sorrentos are combined but regardless of that fact even without the pizza i think cafe promenade is just a great choice i really like it quite a bit you know it doesn't have a full meal so you're not gonna necessarily get full here but when you get the munchies especially late at night cafe promenade is usually open very very late it's the go-to spot number seven park cafe i love the options here at park in fact when it's a shore excursion day and we need something to eat before we get off the ship we usually go to park cafe for a quick grab and go park cafe is open for breakfast lunch and dinner you want to call it that their hours are weird which is probably why it's a little lower on this list and doesn't rank as high as cafe promenade but i love the selections here their breakfast menu is great again grab and go perfect for just you know i think most appetites that are out there not necessarily the picket eaters in the world but at the same time you've got just enough that's there and their lunch selections and slash dinner we'll get into that in a second is really compelling they have the camel wick sandwich here which i absolutely love if you have a park cafe on some of the older ships like a radiance class ship park cafe is kind of a pseudo version of the cafe promenade because it's also offered pizza and things like that but when i think of park cafe i think a park cafe on the oasis class cruise ship so we're going to use that as the basis for this ranking here i really like the fact that there is that chemical sandwich the custom salads the bagel bar in the morning it's wonderful the thing that really brings park cafe back even below cafe promenade because park cafe has some meals in here whereas cafe promenade does not is park cafe's hours are super weird so for breakfast totally fine but lunch not bad at all but then that dinner time they close before the windjammer opens it's kind of like that early bird special kind of idea i i don't know why it's not open later on i would much rather have that open later in the evening but it's not usually so as a result park cafe gets knocked down in number seven on my ranking simply because the hours aren't there where's cafe promenade is open almost 24 hours that gives a little bit of an edge number eight sorrento's pizza you know if we had done this ranking about three four or five years ago this would be much lower on the list but real quick has really improved the sorrento's pizza selection so sorrento's pizza is the complimentary pizza you can get on board every single royal korean cruise ship as i mentioned earlier sometimes the pizza comes in other places like either park fa or cafe promenade depending on the ship you're on but for the purposes of this list i'm talking about the ships out of a separate sorrento's pizza location like the freedom oasis and quantum class ships surrender's pizza offers well pizza and that's all it's got it does have sometimes some like weird snacks like not weird but like it's weird because i've never ever seen anybody order it but they have some cold dishes and some salamis and eggplant i'm guessing somebody orders them but i never even think about doing that anyway the point is this is about pizza pizza and more pizza and over the last couple of years royal caribbean purposefully redid the pizza at surrender pizza to improve the taste of it and it is really good that crust is absolutely fantastic why is it at number eight a little lower on the list in fact it's approaching the bottom third of the list well it's only pizza so it's either great or bad it's like it's pizza or it's pizza so depending on your perspective it's pizza and that kind of limiting factor brings sandra's pizza down to number eight number nine if you happen to be on a quantum class yet bowling you'll have cafe at 270. now admittedly cafe 270 is the quantum class version of park cafe but because it's a different name and slightly different implementation i'm giving it its own list but i am bringing this down here to number nine on the list cafe 270 is open for breakfast lunch and dinner just like park cafe it has limited hours and weird hours where it's not open in the evening times but i do like its location back by 270. but at the same time while it's got a wonderful view out there it's a pain to get to whereas there actually is a cafe promenade on quantum class ships right in the middle of the ship which is far more convenient but what really makes half a teaspoon stand out are some of the grab and go options it has the chemical wick sandwich it has soups it has a salad bar and it hasn't got some bagel stuff so it's really a version of really park cafe for the quantum class but it's far away location and limited hours just like park cafe bring it down here and i'll be honest with you guys i still would prefer sorrento's pizza which is available in the quantum class chips over cafe 270 in a lot of cases so i'm bringing it over here number 10 we're now in the last three of our list is cafe latte tudes the catholic latitudes is the version of cafe promenade found on older ships like the radiance class or even the vision class the reason why i have this so far down on the list even though it's very similar to cafe promenade is because i feel like the food selection here is not as good as cafe promenade i don't have any empirical data to back this up but every time i'm on a brilliance of the seas or a serenade of the seas and i look at the food selection the little snacks they have there it always looks way worse less compelling than the cafe promenade selectors i feel like their food selection is just a slip down and that's why i came all the way down to number 10. number 11 is a complimentary restaurant available only on a couple ships left i think harmony has it and maybe a couple others anyway mini bites mini bites is a complimentary pool deck option that is kind of a blend between el loco fresh before there wasn't a local fresh and a cafe promenade or sorrento's they'll offer burgers fries hot dogs quesadillas omelets in the morning salads and more and you know it offers a decent selection of food especially for their lunch hours but nothing really stands out a local fresh i feel like has so much a more compelling option because the customization and the fact that well i'm going to value mexican food over just burgers fries and hot dogs which is just you know ho-hum kind of stuff so many bites came down to number 11 there's not many ships that have it anymore so it's kind of like you know on its way out obviously but we've got that number 11. and then number 12 i've got the dog house which is a hot dog and sausage stand uh that offers a variety of meats and toppings it's a hot dog cart right there's only hot dogs there you can customize it which is great and i give it points for that at the end of the day you either want a hot dog or you don't want a hot dog i feel like most of the times i don't want a hot dog and i feel like it's never really really that busy at all so i'm putting the dog house at number 12. so there you have my list of the top 12 real caribbean complimentary restaurants i've been having another video i'm going to rank the specialty restaurants see how those go i think that'll be a little more heated battle because there's a lot of compelling choices over there let me know in the comments what you think of my rankings because inevitably we're talking about a subjective topic over here and when it comes to food there's always a lot of different opinions on which is best let me know in the comments if you agree with me disagree with me or somewhere in between if you like this video please hit that like button subscribe to our channel and turn on your notifications that way youtube let's see we have a brand new video to share this has been matt from royal caringblog.com we'll talk again real soon

Channel: Royal Caribbean Blog

Views: 294,926

Keywords: Royal Caribbean, royal caribbean restaurants, royal caribbean dining, cafe promenade, windjammer, solarium bistro, royal caribbean food, free food on royal caribbean cruise, Coastal Kitchen, El loco fresh

Id: Y0fRXbEuG7A

Length: 15min 27sec (927 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 02 2022