Dining in The Verandah??

We are sailing in September on the Victoria and dining in the Britannia, but I'm wondering about The Verandah as an alternative dining room. Is this venue available on the Victoria? Is there an additional charge? How do I go about making a reservation? Thanks!

We are sailing in September on the Victoria and dining in the Britannia, but I'm wondering about The Verandah as an alternative dining room. Is this venue available on the Victoria? Is there an additional charge? How do I go about making a reservation? Thanks!

Yes it is onboard. The additional charge is $20 per person for lunch and $50 per person for dinner. Reservations can be made on board or through the voyage personalizer ahead of time. It only seats about 90 so it does book up.

We were on board QV last week and the Verandah was nearly empty most nights.

In fact we dined there and were really disappointed with the meal.

This was also our experience, a virtually empty restaurant every night.

The reason the restaurant is empty is quite simple.The bean counters at Carnival have dramatically increased the price.Not many people in it on our recent QM2 cruise

Now that I am at Diamond level I get a free lunch at the Verandah on each cruise. I have been twice and have skipped it a couple of times if I didn't have any friends also lunching. I found the best part of the lunch was the company. I was not impressed by the food. That, of course, is an individual thing. The menu was just not to my personal taste.

When we sailed on the QM2 last year we also found the Verandah dinner menu not to our liking. Just curious, does anyone have a copy of the current dinner menu? I looked on the Cunard web site but couldn't find it.

Thanks

Harold

When we sailed on the QM2 last year we also found the Verandah dinner menu not to our liking. Just curious, does anyone have a copy of the current dinner menu? I looked on the Cunard web site but couldn't find it.

 

Thanks

Harold

Here is a link to a pdf file of the QM2 Verandah dinner menu as found on the Cunard UK FAQ page of sample menus. Even though that FAQ page is no longer directly accessible from the US and Canada, this link to the pdf file itself should still work for you.

https://carnivaluk.metafaq.com/resources/carnivaluk/life-on-board/verandah_QM2_sample_menu.pdf

Edit: I just noticed this note on the FAQ page concerning the Verandah on QM2.

"Please note that The Verandah on Queen Mary 2 will be hosting an exciting new menu between 27 July and 8 September 2018, therefore reservations will be unavailable prior to travel. The full menu and reservations will be available to you once on board."

Here is a link to a pdf file of the QM2 Verandah dinner menu as found on the Cunard UK FAQ page of sample menus. Even though that FAQ page is no longer directly accessible from the US and Canada, this link to the pdf file itself should still work for you.

 

https://carnivaluk.metafaq.com/resources/carnivaluk/life-on-board/verandah_QM2_sample_menu.pdf

 

Edit: I just noticed this note on the FAQ page concerning the Verandah on QM2.

 

"Please note that The Verandah on Queen Mary 2 will be hosting an exciting new menu between 27 July and 8 September 2018, therefore reservations will be unavailable prior to travel. The full menu and reservations will be available to you once on board."

Menu is frankly overcomplicated, boring and repetitive. What they would be smart in doing is creating a grills like experience that Britannia passengers can book on a one off basis. Keep an extensive a la carte selection people can order off of. There’s no reason to eat there more than once in a 7 day trip the way things are.

This link shows the Veranda menus on all three ships:

https://ask.cunard.com/help/cunard/life-on-board/example_menu

We ate there on our last crossing on the QM2. Will not repeat. Food was good, but not worth the price. The plating was silly and pretentious.

Service was terrible. It took three hours, The Maitre d' twice apologized about the slow pace - with the excuse that they were unusually jammed. Yet, the dining room was never full during our long meal, there weren't any large parties, and diners arrived at different times. Sorry, even without the hefty surcharge, you should be able to execute with a full restaurant, to say nothing of one with empty tables all evening.

Added to the difficulty of reserving a table at the alternative dining (or even finding out in advance what themes will be scheduled during your voyage) - this is yet another area where Cunard is behind their competitors.

Most of these posts seem to refer to QM2 in a somewhat unfavourable manner. However, the OP questioned dining on the QV. Against all others on this thread, we have always thoroughly enjoyed dining in The Veranadah on QV. We use the Diamond gratuitous meal for lunchtime and generally go a couple of times over 2 weeks, or more on a longer cruise.

OK, so $50 pp is on top of what you have already paid,but the service has always been excellent and the menu appeals to our pallets. What is on offer on the QV, and the attention received is well worth the cost. The equivalent in London, NY or other major city would cost considerably more! I have to admit not having been on QM2 since the demise of Todd English and the introduction The Verandah, but just about to rectify that situation.

Food is very subjective, so to the OP, do give this restaurant a try.

We had lunch in the Verandah on our last crossing mainly because we had a lot of OBC and had not eaten there since it changed from Todd English. We found the food good, but not exceptional. The service however was excellent. If we did not have excess OBC to spend, I doubt if we would go back.

We also tried one of the specialty restaurants (Smokehouse) one evening on deck 7, and will definately go back there to try some of the other specialties on our next crossing.

Thank you for the current menu.pdf. MUCH more to our liking.

We had lunch in the Verandah on our last crossing mainly because we had a lot of OBC and had not eaten there since it changed from Todd English. We found the food good, but not exceptional. The service however was excellent. If we did not have excess OBC to spend, I doubt if we would go back.

 

We also tried one of the specialty restaurants (Smokehouse) one evening on deck 7, and will definately go back there to try some of the other specialties on our next crossing.

Coriander (off the top of my head), the Indian food offering is excellent. My wife and I hadn't tried the alternative dining until some friends of ours (massive Indian food fans) tried it. I think it's one of the best value for money offerings on board.

I mean to try Smokehouse sometime.

Agree on The Verandah. At $30 or whatever it was it was a reasonable uplift for a good (if arguably slightly pretentious) meal/experience. $50 each means we've not been back since and instead we spend our money up in the alternative dining!

I find Lunch in The Verandah to be good Value compared to the Dinner menu, especially as I get a free lunch due to my Loyalty with the Brand. Coriander in Kings Court is always excellent and I agree better than The Verandah. But then it is personal taste.

We had dinner there a few years back on QV in order to use up OBC. The food was OK but, at that time, there were additional charges for 4 of the 7 entrees offered. The restaurant, like others have said, was mostly empty.

I agree with a previous poster that the entrees offered should be of the Grills' caliber. That way us lowly steerage passengers can get a taste of what we are missing.

Hello

I have eaten in the Todd English/Verandah for lunch and dinner several times on various crossings on QM2. It is usually half filled at best. The only time I had trouble making a reservation was during the first Fashion week Crossing when it was impossible to get a table for dinner towards the end of the voyage.

Like many I find the food very good but the service rather slow. The whole experience is boring. The room has zero buzz. There is no sense that this is THE PLACE TO BE. I think it would be incredibly helpful if the lighting was dimmer and there was live sophisticated music to add to the vibe.

Like others I think the $50 surcharge is excessive so Cunard needs to rethink that if they want more business. The alternative dining in Kings Court is a much better value. I am back on QM2 August 3.

Deck Chair.

We ate in Verand 2 years ago while on QE and we loved it. Would definitely consider again. Was amazing.

We ate in Verand 2 years ago while on QE and we loved it. Would definitely consider again. Was amazing.

A lot of change can happen in 2 years !

We are thinking of booking the Veranda for one evening while on a TA in June. Would I be better making a booking on a non gala/formal night. If we did go on a formal night would I be missing out on anything extra spacial from the Britannia Dining room?

We are thinking of booking the Veranda for one evening while on a TA in June. Would I be better making a booking on a non gala/formal night. If we did go on a formal night would I be missing out on anything extra spacial from the Britannia Dining room?

If your concerned about "missing Out" . I would suggest having a Lunch in The Verandah. So much better Value and it will be a win win situation for you.