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Mariner Dinner Reservations


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We will be on the Mariner at the end of July (Alaska). This next week, we will be able to make dinner reservations.

 

From what I can see, the only restaurants you need reservations at are Prime 7 and Chartreuse. As for the other restaurants, do you have the option of reserving a table, or are they all "first come first served" seating?

 

Is there a specific night that is best for certain restaurants (or nights to avoid)? I think I read something about a special menu on the night of the Captain's Reception?

 

We are a party of 7. Any tips on how to plan our meals would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

Meri

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Yes - dining in Compass Rose and Sette Mari are first come, first served. I recommend booking dining reservations as soon as they open online. Since you are looking for a table of 7, you will need the booking numbers of the other people that you want to dine with in order to make specialty restaurant reservations.

 

Yes - the night of the Captain's Reception (usually the 2nd night) and the Captain's Farewell (usually the 2nd to the last night) have some special items on the Compass Rose menu. Another special night for returning Regent guests is the Seven Seas Society party. On our last two cruises, they have served Miso Glazed Sea Bas on that night - a particular favorite of ours and many other passengers.

 

On these "special nights", Compass Rose can become overly crowded at the conclusion of the event(s) because a lot of people head directly over to the restaurant to dine. As with any restaurant, when 300-400 people show up at the same time, it slows service. So, we leave the parties early (6:30 p.m.) in order to get a table that we like, start our wine/cocktails and get a head start ordering dinner. Alternatively, I would wait until 8:00 p.m. before heading to dinner as things generally calm down by then.

 

Hope that this helps!

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Thanks for your feedback!

 

I already put the Miso Glazed Sea Bass on my "to try" list based on a recommendation on another thread!

 

So, at the restaurants that do not require reservations, do they put you on a list and tell you a time to come back if they are full at that time? Would this be something our butler could help facilitate as well?

 

This is our first Regent cruise. My part of the family has been on several cruises (though have only experienced set dining times), but this will be the first cruise experience for the others.

 

I'm sure we'll be pretty flexible with where we dine once there (aside from the 2 reserved nights), but it's nice to get an idea of how this will all work before boarding!

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I already put the Miso Glazed Sea Bass on my "to try" list based on a recommendation on another thread!

If you miss the Miso Glazed Sea Bass on the night of the SSS Party, or want it again, you could always put in a special order via the Maitre d’ or F&B Manager.

Normally special orders need 24 hours notice, but for the MG Sea Bass they like 48 hours notice to allow for the marinade.

Certainly this is one of the many delicious dishes served in Compass Rose not to be missed. :)

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Yes - the night of the Captain's Reception (usually the 2nd night) and the Captain's Farewell (usually the 2nd to the last night) have some special items on the Compass Rose menu. Another special night for returning Regent guests is the Seven Seas Society party. On our last two cruises, they have served Miso Glazed Sea Bas on that night - a particular favorite of ours and many other passengers.

I just want to add that it is no longer quite that important to be in Compass Rose on these special nights, since the new CR "always available" menu is absolutely amazing. I used to make sure that I was in CR on these special nights because predictably they would offer lobster. Now, you can get lobster tails (or scallops, Dover sole, branzino, rib eye, lamb chops, and lots of other stuff) on any night.

 

Let me add 1 more vote for the Sea Bass, it is amazing.

Bob

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Agree that the CR menu is always amazing but we had Beef Wellington, Chateaubriand and caviar on "special" nights which is why we do not book specialty restaurants on those nights. In fact, the night that we had Beef Wellington, we ordered a "side dish" portion of lobster so we had surf and turf!

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Since we are talking about special foods served for the Seven Sea nights,etc. I have a question about portion sizes. My husband and I both like Beef Wellington. I have say, his piece was a nice size and I got the diet portion:confused:. We didn't want to wait and flag someone down to ask for more. Have you order something one night and you get lots of food and the next time = very different. We had the same issue with the lobster tails, the first night that waiter told us he was going to bring us three, which seemed to be crazy, until we got really 1 1/2 tails. So four nights later I ordered "three" and I got three whole tails. Mind you the couple next to us got 1 tail and she was looking at mine with lobster envy - I shared. :)

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If you miss the Miso Glazed Sea Bass on the night of the SSS Party, or want it again, you could always put in a special order via the Maitre d’ or F&B Manager.

:)

Agree that the CR menu is always amazing but we had Beef Wellington, Chateaubriand and caviar on "special" nights which is why we do not book specialty restaurants on those nights.

 

 

So for something that will predictably be offered at some point in the cruise, such as the sea bass or beef wellington, can one, for example, on the first night or the cruise order it for, say, the 3rd night?

Or do you have to wait until it actually is offered, and if you missed it, pre-order for another night?

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So for something that will predictably be offered at some point in the cruise, such as the sea bass or beef wellington, can one, for example, on the first night or the cruise order it for, say, the 3rd night?

Or do you have to wait until it actually is offered, and if you missed it, pre-order for another night?

 

As flossie indicated, it does take time to get the miso glazed sea bass but you can certainly order it. Aside from that particular dish, on any night you can speak with the Restaurant Manager and order a special dish for the following night - they need 24 hours notice. On our last cruise we ordered an Indian meal for four of us and it was delicious. On the previous cruise we tried an Indonesian meal - also delicious! So, it does not have to be something that will be served during the cruise - it can be anything that Regent has the ingredients for. Writing about this is making me hungry.

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I am not sure what the largest table is in Prime 7 and Chartreuse--possible could be a 6 top. I know in Signatures, the largest table was a 6 top. If you run into this, you may need to book 2 4 tops for the same time, then once onboard, go to the restaurant and explain that you are all together, so they can put you at tables that are side by side. We had to do that on Oceania in Toscana.

There are 8 tops in CR, but not many. In La Veranda (Sette Mare), they will often put 2 tables together to allow for a larger party.

You will definitely need the booking numbers of the others in your party to make reservations.

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Before our first Regent cruise on the Mariner in 2011, I asked for recommendations for passengers' favorite foods. I compiled a list and took it along on the cruise. I have just now reviewed that list thinking I might post it here. But, based on my reading of these boards and the menu changes to Compass Rose, things have changed quite a bit in the subsequent seven years.

 

Therefore, I will just say that the item that tops my memory is the salt sticks offered with dinner. I hope those are still available as I heartily recommend them. And, as it has been suggested that one find a waiter and stick to that section, the waiters quickly learned how much I loved those salt sticks and always put a few extras in the bread basket.

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The salt sticks are seriously addictive. I have to limit my intake.

 

OTOH, I am probably the only person to cruise Regent and dislike the miso glazed sea bass. When I first heard it described, I thought I would love it. I was so terribly disappointed. Didn't like anything about it. It was not spicy like I had envisioned, and the texture was awful.

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Thank you CC friends for all your advice. Last night at 12:01 I followed your hints and booked our tables. We are the “second group” and it is only a 7 day cruise so I didn’t know what to expect as far as openings. I appreciated that Regent figured in your excursions when giving you available times. Some days we have those 9 hour excursions. Anyway, there was no problem getting reservations for a table for 2 at Chartreuse, and for Prime 7 the Tables for 2 were available only at 9;00 pm so we opted to share there and had our choice of any day and time then.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Last minute questions (tonight is our night to sign up!).

 

Are there specific seating times, or is it come when you want? Such as a 6pm seating, 8pm seating, etc?

 

What time do the shows normally run. Should we take that into account when making reservations?

 

Can you call in at 12:01 to make reservations? I think I heard you can, but thinking it may be easier since we are a party of 7 (as apposed to reserving online).

 

Thanks!

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Last minute questions (tonight is our night to sign up!).

 

Are there specific seating times, or is it come when you want? Such as a 6pm seating, 8pm seating, etc?

 

What time do the shows normally run. Should we take that into account when making reservations?

 

Can you call in at 12:01 to make reservations? I think I heard you can, but thinking it may be easier since we are a party of 7 (as apposed to reserving online).

 

Thanks!

If you are booking your dining reservations tonight after midnight, you can only do them on line. To phone them, you can call in the morning.

For the specialty restaurants, you choose your dining time ( if available). Usually time is 15 minutes apart from 6:30 pm.

For Compass Rose and Seti Mara, no reservations can be made. Show up when you want to dine.

Show starts at 9:30pm. They are about one hour.

Hope this helps.

Sheila

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When you log in and look for the days that you want, it will give you a drop down list of what times are available for that night for the venue that you are looking for.

 

I would suggest giving it at least 2 hours for dining, considering the size of your party.

 

Show times are predictably 9:30 every night, at least they have been on every Regent cruise that we have been on.

 

I have never tried calling in, so can't help you there.

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The salt sticks are seriously addictive. I have to limit my intake.

 

OTOH, I am probably the only person to cruise Regent and dislike the miso glazed sea bass. When I first heard it described, I thought I would love it. I was so terribly disappointed. Didn't like anything about it. It was not spicy like I had envisioned, and the texture was awful.

 

Oh good... I thought I was the only one, too. I had some wonderful fish dishes, but the miso sea bass was not one of them.

 

Gene also loved the salt sticks (yes, they are definitely still available Vlinblin). I was partial to the brown bread. Though all the breads were awesome!

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Thank you for the many tips! I've gained several pounds reading about this food!

 

I welcome any further tips or must have dishes to add to my list!

 

The red snapper with carrot ginger sauce was seriously delicious. So was the broiled cod...perfectly prepared. But my favorite in CR was the tandoori chicken (with samosas as starter). The crab legs in Prime 7 were awesome. Though two pounds was just an outrageous serving size! If I have them again I’ll ask for 1 lb. They come nicely split, so are not very messy to eat.

Gene says his favs were porterhouse steak and onion soup at Prime 7, Beef short ribs and Beef Burgandy at CR. Also shrimp cocktail as starter at CR. Beautifully presented!

For a simple lunch the hot dogs at the pool grill are excellent. And so is the pizza at LaVeranda.

For breakfast at CR (and also was a daily special at La Veranda one day) we loved the Swedish pancakes with lingonberries. And the French Toast was unique and delicious!

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We are new to Regent as well, so trying to understand the dining. Are we not able to make a standing reservation at the same time each evening? Is this not something that the butler can arrange?

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We are new to Regent as well, so trying to understand the dining. Are we not able to make a standing reservation at the same time each evening? Is this not something that the butler can arrange?

Compass Rose does not take reservations. And most nights, you just walk up and are seated immediately. The exception might be the night of the captain’s welcome or farewell, when a lot of people hit the restaurant at the same time. We usually dine early, and have never had a problem getting a table immediately between 6:30 and 7.

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Oh good... I thought I was the only one, too. I had some wonderful fish dishes, but the miso sea bass was not one of them.

 

Gene also loved the salt sticks (yes, they are definitely still available Vlinblin). I was partial to the brown bread. Though all the breads were awesome!

Agree, Regent has some outstanding fish dishes. The Dover sole is one of my favorites. But the miso glazed sea bass is just not my thing.

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