I must have missed this earlier, but thanks to spotting some comments on Facebook I’ve now picked it up.
I understand that the position is that whereas in the past most room service items were free, from May/June (the actual date varies ship by ship), all items on the room service menu will be chargeable. In some cases the items were on the old menu and were free but will now be chargeable – for example, baguettes (from the Daytime Bites section of the new menu) will now cost £1.50 – the same items in the ‘Throughout the Day” section of the old menu were free. In other cases the old complimentary item seems to have disappeared and been replaced by different chargeable items – for example, previously the “Main Courses” section included dishes such as Spaghetti Bolognese, Citrus Poached Salmon and Traditional Caesar Salad which no longer seem to be available at all. They’ve been replaced by a new (and, to be fair, wider) range of “Large Plates” which includes Southern Fried Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, Lasagne, and Great British Beef and Ale Pie. These will all incur a charge of £4.75.
In some cases there were charges on the old menu – for example, there was a Chicken and Bacon sandwich, which consisted of a “grilled escalope of chicken served on a mini french baguette with salad and crisp bacon, topped with fresh salsa”. That cost £1.50. The nearest equivalent on the new menu is a P&O Cruises Club Sandwich, consisting of chicken, bacon, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise, so not quite the same thing. The charge isn’t the same either – the new Club Sandwich will cost £4.75. In other cases the old chargeable item has simple vanished – for example, I can’t see a direct replacement for the Seafood Pie (salmon, cod, prawns and peas in white wine sauce, and topped with cheese mash) which currently costs £4.50.
Looking at the whole picture there does appear to be a wider range of items available so that’s good. It’s disappointing, however, to see a charge for the “Children’s Sandwich Selection” – ham, egg mayo and cheese (presumably that would be three different sandwiches?) with orange juice, fruit yoghurt and a brownie. For the sake of going up to the buffet the child could get something equivalent for free and the parent wouldn’t be asked to fork out the £2.00.
The one exception to all this will be breakfasts – they will continue to be complimentary, and they appear to be the same continental breakfasts as before. But you can’t order breakfast throughout the day – “breakfast” stops at 11am.
Here’s when the new menus and charges will be introduced, by ship:
| Ship | Date | Cruise number |
| Aurora | 29 May 2017 | R706 |
| Ventura | 31 May 2017 | N713 |
| Oriana | 5 June 2017 | X710 |
| Oceana | 8 June 2017 | E709 |
| Adonia | 15 June 2017 | D708P |
| Arcadia | 18 June 2017 | J707 |
| Azura | 30 June 2017 | A717 |
| Britannia | 22 July 2017 | B721 |
I had expected that similar charges would be appearing on Cunard, but it seems not to be the case – Room Service will continue to be complimentary on the Cunard ships. That said, the menu doesn’t look as comprehensive as even the old/current P&O menu, let alone the new one. I could be wrong of course – if anyone knows differently, please let me know.
Finally, here are the old and new menus as PDFs.
Tom's Cruise Blog 