No more Taste Bar?

Taste bar always had a line before dinner so think it was popular. On the Miracle the Sushi guy or guys were standing around doing nothing.

 

Glad to see taste bar still on several ships

All we have is our own observations to go by. I don't recall ever seeing the Taste Bar open on Fascination. CCL has much more data to use and I trust that they made the decision they made based on that data. As far as sushi goes I consider it to be bait to use to catch some fish I'm going to fry, so I'll not be partaking of the new offerings at all.

I wonder if it's because of this is now being rolled out fleetwide

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7742

Looks like it's the option for ships without the Bonsai Sushi venue. I think the sushi on the ships mentioned gets hiddened on the Lido buffet at night and doesn't attract people like the evening sushi when it was around. Taste Bar was/is a nice little amuse bouche before dinner although some cruisers were always trying to make it a fourth meal.

Disappointing if Taste Bar really is going away. On Magic and Sunshine we really enjoy getting a pre-dinner cocktail from Alchemy Bar, whatever is on offer at Taste Bar and listening to live music in Ocean Plaza. A really nice start to our evenings. I get that Taste Bar does not generate any revenue directly, and in our experience it rarely gets very busy, but still disappointing. Oh well.

All we have is our own observations to go by. I don't recall ever seeing the Taste Bar open on Fascination. CCL has much more data to use and I trust that they made the decision they made based on that data. As far as sushi goes I consider it to be bait to use to catch some fish I'm going to fry, so I'll not be partaking of the new offerings at all.

Personally I like my sushi well cooked.

I may be wrong, but I think on the Conquest, the Taste Bar was originally a Sushi space that they turned into the Taste Bar. It would be funny if it's switched back. I like the Taste Bar, but it never made much sense to me, especially on the ships were it takes up a lot of space, and offering food from specialty restaurants they don't have on that ship.

Another cutback. I'm sure some will spin this as a plus...and they say Carnival doesn't nickle and dime. I'll miss the taste bar, it was different and a nice sample of specialty restaurant food.

Disappointing if Taste Bar really is going away. On Magic and Sunshine we really enjoy getting a pre-dinner cocktail from Alchemy Bar, whatever is on offer at Taste Bar and listening to live music in Ocean Plaza. A really nice start to our evenings. I get that Taste Bar does not generate any revenue directly, and in our experience it rarely gets very busy, but still disappointing. Oh well.

We totally agree with this! Just love a lil snack with a drink while waiting for a table prior to dinner and enjoying live entertainment. Hope it will still be in place on the Magic next month. :rolleyes:

Another cutback. I'm sure some will spin this as a plus...and they say Carnival doesn't nickle and dime. I'll miss the taste bar, it was different and a nice sample of specialty restaurant food.

Replace an included venue with a pay for and to me that is a cutback in what they offer that is included with cruise fare

In a recent review on here mentioned the Taste Bar was gone on the Sensation and was replaced by a for-fee sushi bar. I looked on Carnival's website and there is no longer anything about the Taste Bar under dining options.

 

I know it was there in April on the Ecstasy, although we didn't see many people partaking of it. Honestly we didn't even try anything from it, nothing they offered when we pasted it really seemed worth stopping and sampling.

 

I would be excited if they are bringing back the sushi, even if it is for a nominal fee. It's one thing I used to love getting with my pre-dinner drink.

 

Anyone else know anything about this?

I was disappointed when Carnival did away with the free sushi on the promenade a few years ago. I'm not a huge sushi fan, but enjoyed the ones with crab/lobster, and looked forward to cleaning up in the afternoon and heading down to the casino bar area in the late afternoon for a drink and then a sushi. I've since enjoyed the taste bar. I'm disappointed that both free options are now gone, and a for-a-fee option is becoming available. I don't like sushi well enough to pay for it.

My sister and I always enjoyed the taste bar. Of course there was always one night that we didn't try the offering but it always seemed to be popular on the cruises we were on.

I'm surprised it lasted so long. The quality never matched the restaurant selections.

MY understanding of the situation is that ships that originally had the gratis sushi bar that was later changed to the fix station Promenade Taste Bar are going back to having sushi but as a for fee a la cart pricing like the ships with Bonsai Sushi.

On ships that had Bonsai Sushi after it's 2.0 upgrades or right from the start have always had their taste bar as a mobile cart that would only be open for few hours on seadays, but not always in the same location. Highlight little tapas style samples of what the at fee specialty restaurants have prior to each set time dinner service, is a positive marketing outlet as long as people can find the cart. If it is true that they are doing away with the taste bar cart I will be sad about not having my Nonna's meatball and bruschetta fix the one night of the cruise it is offered.

We were on the Ecstasy in August and tried to go to the Taste Bar twice. The first time it wasn't open when the Fun Times said it would be. The second time they were basically out of everything. To me it seemed like they were kind of phasing it out.

I won't miss it if it goes away. It's the same thing every day: a fried ball of something and a soup. Lol

I agree, it isn’t that great. I wonder if they’ll keep it as is on ships that already have a Bonsai Sushi. I didn’t care for the sushi everyone raved about back in the day and won’t be impressed by another sushi offering in place of it.

They need to stop playing around and just turn this area into a 24 hour grab and go place similar to RCIs Park Cafe.

MY understanding of the situation is that ships that originally had the gratis sushi bar that was later changed to the fix station Promenade Taste Bar are going back to having sushi but as a for fee a la cart pricing like the ships with Bonsai Sushi.

On ships that had Bonsai Sushi after it's 2.0 upgrades or right from the start have always had their taste bar as a mobile cart that would only be open for few hours on seadays, but not always in the same location. Highlight little tapas style samples of what the at fee specialty restaurants have prior to each set time dinner service, is a positive marketing outlet as long as people can find the cart. If it is true that they are doing away with the taste bar cart I will be sad about not having my Nonna's meatball and bruschetta fix the one night of the cruise it is offered.

Nonna does make some awesome meat balls

I wonder if it's because of this is now being rolled out fleetwide

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7742

How is four ships “fleet wide?”

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