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Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

Matt tried the new Chops Grille brunch

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

Matt Hochberg

Kids & Family, Society & Culture, Royalcaribbeanblog Podcast, Places & Travel

4.8693 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2026

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matt shares his review of the new Chops Grille brunch and what he liked (and didn't like) about this new option

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Transcript

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0:00.0

I recently sailed on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas for a quick four-night cruise.

0:04.0

And as a bonus, because I really booked this cruise primarily, to just get back on that ship.

0:08.2

It was, I think, a fairly inexpensive cruise and a good opportunity to get on a ship I don't usually sail on

0:14.4

and, you know, just kind of cover another aspect of Royal Caribbean.

0:17.4

But the bonus was I got to try out the new brunch option that Chops Grill rolled out. About a month or two ago, Royal Caribbean revealed they were going to start doing brunch at Chops Grill. And when I was on Utopia of the Seas, it wasn't available. That was back in April. You evidently need to have a C day for it. So it doesn't replace lunch. There's still lunch going to be offered, but they're going to do brunch now as well. And let's face it, brunches, I think, is something

0:39.9

a real commitment has brunch now as well.

0:38.5

And let's face it, brunch is I think is something a real estate of brunch is never done extremely well.

0:42.2

The mason jar is the best example of brunch being served on Royal Caribbean ships, but it's only on like three ships right now and that's pretty limited.

0:49.8

The main dining room rarely occasionally does it, but it's just still the main dining room.

0:54.4

So, Chops Grill, every ship seems like an interesting opportunity.

0:57.6

I wanted to try it out.

0:59.1

My biggest question going into this was how will this meal be substantially different than lunch at Chops Grill?

1:04.5

And will it truly be something that is like a must kind of eat?

1:09.4

Because when you look at any specialty restaurant i don't care

1:11.2

what it is chops is zumi 150 central park you want to have food i think that draws you back the kind

1:17.5

of food that you're like man i'm willing to pay extra for it because it was that darn good i certainly

1:21.7

feel that way about the specialty restaurants i just mentioned right i mean the the fried

1:26.6

cheesecake the the beef tenderloin for two at 150 Central Park, I'll have dreams about sushi. I mean, I can have that every single day, right? If Royal Grim is going to charge you money for a special restaurant, I'm not above that. I just want to make sure it's the kind of food that I like really think about and yearn for, if you will. So I think that's, I think, at the core of any good experience. So I was curious what this would be. And certainly I had seen the menu beforehand because the many who have been posted already. So I booked it before my cruise began at $48 a person, which is pretty darn steep. And this is already where I raised an eyebrow. Now, I booked it because, listen, I wanted to

2:00.8

try it out. It was for research, you know, in the name of science, I was going to go for it.

2:05.3

I was really surprised by a couple things. Number one, the price for brunch is $48 a person. The price

2:10.9

for lunch is only $21 a person. I thought that's a huge price gap. But even more surprising is that if you had a dining package, brunch would not be fully included like lunch or dinner is. And that was really astounding to me. There would actually be a $30 surcharge. It even said that if you're in Star Class, it would be a surcharge, which to me is bananas. No pun intended because you can have bananas at brunch. But like, I just think that's just insane for a restaurant that's not like dinner is usually the most expensive meal, right? And brunch, while it is expansive, isn't dinner. I think it's more on the same level as lunch. So I don't know. I think this is somewhat at Royal Caribbean trying to test the market a little bit, seeing where the demand is and then they'll probably change that in the future. But anyway, for what it's worth, I paid it. And I did this on the last day of the cruise. We had two C days. Brunch was only offered on day four of the sailing. So I had no choice but to have it then. But there were a wide range of times I think the earliest was about 10 a.m. and went to about, I think, two or so. I took 11.15, I believe, is time. I figured I'd have time to go do something in the morning, wake up, do my stuff, a little bit of work, and then, bam, head over and check out the restaurant. Now, this is held in Chops Grill, and Chops Grill on Radiance of the Seas is on deck six. It is near the schooner bar. And it's a beautiful setup,

3:25.4

by the way. I mean, a great looking restaurant because it has great windows to look out to the ocean. And one of the advantages of having a daytime meal as you get to see the views out there because at nighttime, you can't really see much out the windows because the light inside the restaurant, you know, reflects off the glass. Anyway, it's a nice view

...

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