Has anyone done the United States Restaurant?

[sdgary]

My partner and I are sailing on the Infinity this April and are wondering if it is worth going to the United States Restaurant at least one night? Is that food that much better? How much is it? Is it difficult to get reservations at?

 

Thanks, Gary

[Ma Bell]

Hi Gary,

 

Since I'm on your cruise I'd be glad to answer. Yes it is worth it. The charge is $30 pp. It's not just the food, which is very good, it's the whole experience. The service is outstanding and it's really a nice evening. I recommend trying to make your reservation fairly early because it takes about 3 hrs. for dinner.:)

[princess pasta]

Hi Gary, I sailed on the Infinity a year ago in November. Our table decided one night to have dinner at the United States. We enjoyed it immensely. The food is wonderful, but the service was absolutely impeccable! I imagine it was probably like this for all passengers when the ship was still sailing. It was a wonderful one time experience. As I recall, reservations are a must, and you dress up for dinner. I think it cost $25.00 per person. I felt it was worth it for the experience and the classy and attentive service. I hope you decide to do it and then let me know what you think. Enjoy! Ciao from princess pasta

[tomvk]

I have eaten in the Normandie on the Summit and the Ocean Liners on the Constellation.They were very enjoyable.The food is great ,different than the dinning room, they have a nice cheese cart and the desserts are really good but I think the main draw is the service.The cost was $30 apiece.

which really is a service charge.

I'll be on the Infinity in April 06 and will be tring out the United States.If you are a Capt's club member you can make reservations before you sail.Once on board the sooner you make reservations the better chance of getting the time you want.

[geertje]

We were on the infinity last year and we did the United States Restaurant. The food was excellent and the service was superb. We highly recommend it.

[canderson]

My partner and I are sailing on the Infinity this April and are wondering if it is worth going to the United States Restaurant at least one night? Is that food that much better? How much is it? Is it difficult to get reservations at?

 

Thanks, Gary

Great meal, and worth the extra charge.

 

We had only one complaint, and this may apply only to our situation -- I don't know if this is pandemic in the specialty restaurants or was a trait of our particular waiter.

 

I'm not sure if we felt that our waiter was just a bit patronizing or just a bit pretentious -- one would have thought that we'd never sat at table with more than one fork. If we'd been underdressed or otherwise demonstrated some ineptitude, I guess I could have understood this, so I'm guessing that it was pretension. He seemed to feel as though he needed to keep reminding us of what a wonderful dining experience this was, and was explaining the process at each step.

 

We finally just advised him gently that he didn't need to tell us what to expect at every moment, and that we'd be happy to just enjoy things as they came as we would in any normal fine dining environment, and things went along well after that, and we didn't get "the treatment" on our second visit.

 

If you're a Captain's Club member of any rank at all, you can and should book ahead to make your reservation. If you're not, you should make your decision with a couple of backup plan times and make this one of your first priorities when you embark.

 

Ah, yes -- be sure to order the goat cheese souffle! If you're already a CC member, the "secret recipe" was finally divulged in the most recent Celebrity magazine that we received.

[mii]

While this subject is on the United States Restaurant I do have a question. We are sailing in May on the Infinity and plan to eat there one evening. My question is how much do we tip and who do we give the tip too. I would appreciate any information and thank you. This will be our 1st trip on Celebrity but not my 1st cruise.

 

Marilyn

[ibcruisin]

You do not tip. The $30 per person is the service charge/tip. Any wine with dinner (extra charge) comes along with the 15% tip already included. Have a great time, it's a wonderful experience.

[dolliesny]

We are on the SA around the horn infinity cruise Feb 13 and will check out the ship for you. How are you 2 doing? We are back on Princess in May for a Europe trip. Wish you were sailing with us!

Valerie and Ernie

[mii]

Hi Valerie and Ernie: I was so suprised to see you answer my question. How are you two. We did sail Priancess, the Sapphire just this last Oct. to Mex. Rivera and we also had a great roll call group. Aren't we lucky to meet such great people like you two and our new friends we met on the Sapphire. This time we are trying Celebrity out of S.F. to Alaska because I think they have a better itiniery then the Regal. This will be our 3rd trip to Alaska. Hope you two have great cruises. Talk at you soon.

 

Marilyn

[mii]

Thanks Ibcruisin for the info.

 

Marilyn

[sink]

Well, I have a different opinion on the food quality. We had the steak Diane and the shrimp scampi and it was ok. And the chocolate souffle was disappointing. We did enjoyed the service and the "show". I would try all four of the Specialty dinning venues on the M-class ship, but would not have a desire to return once we've dined there already (especially at $30 per person and we still have our main dinning wait staff to take care of.)

[cruisinjudy]

Hi Steve, I agree with you. One time is enough. I also had Steak Diane and I didn't think the cut was as good as what we got in the main restaurant.

[C 2 C]

Hi Judy...

 

Have to agree.. we were just so satisfied with the excellent meals every day and the best service in all our cruises..

 

Yes the food was good, the service was excellent, the setting great.... fine for a special occasion and the souffle was superb... but they didn't have my cold soups which Celebrity does to perfection...

 

If you like to splurge go ahead and do it

[sdgary]

Hi Ma Bell, I appreciate the info. I think we are going to go ahead and do this at least once. Looking forward to meeting you onboard. Sounds like a really fun group.

 

Tomvk, I hope we run into you also. Have you checked out the thread on the Celebrity Connections thread?

 

Thanks to all for your input. We are not Captains Club but I am a Crown and Anchor member with Royal Caribbean. Does that count? I heard that if you sailed on RC that you get Captains Club incentives on Celebrity.

 

Gary

[Vistadeck]

On the Hawaii cruise in December, we ate at the United States 3 times. It was most enjoyable. I love the souffles .. goat cheese appetizer and the chocolate for dessert with the mocha saus. On formal night, they added a Grand Marnier soufflee that was wonderful.

 

I think we'd like to try a cruise where we eat in there every night :) I enjoyed the Veal the most, a manageable amount of food to let you make it all the way through to the petit fours :) ..

 

I have a few of the pictures of our meal up on my review of the cruise .. feel free to take a look at some of the yummies from the United States :

 

http://www.recordlady.com/Pages/CRUISES/InfinityHawaii2004/Oahu.htm

 

Tina

"Vistadeck"

[Host Karen]

It's definitely worth the $30 pp service charge to eat there at least once. We actually ate there four times during our 15-night Infinity sailing, and while we experienced some problems on our first evening, the others went smoothly. (I included a bit more detail in my review.) We tipped our waiter several times and the maitre d' on our last visit. We felt they deserved it for superior service, but that was a personal choice.

 

C2C, a chilled soup is offered on the menu (I can't remember what it was but it came with sliced kiwi on top). My husband enjoyed it each time and refused to try another appetizer because the soup was so good.

 

Our favorite items (besides the chilled soup) were the lobster bisque, the goat cheese souffle, the veal, the steak Diane, and the lamb. Enjoyed the cheese course as well. Ummm, just thinking about them makes me hungry!

[C 2 C]

C2C, a chilled soup is offered on the menu (I can't remember what it was but it came with sliced kiwi on top). My husband enjoyed it each time and refused to try another appetizer because the soup was so good.

 

Our favorite items (besides the chilled soup) were the lobster bisque, the goat cheese souffle, the veal, the steak Diane, and the lamb. Enjoyed the cheese course as well. Ummm, just thinking about them makes me hungry!

 

That's why we say that we have "X" cruises under our belt.. I can almost count the notches. ;)

[mii]

Vistadeck thanks for the pictures of the menu at the U.S. restaurant. We will be sailing on the Infinity this coming May and want to try the restaurant. It looks yummy. Again thanks.

 

Marilyn

[garardo]

We were on a 14 night Panama trip and eat in the SSUS room 4 times. We found the staff very accomadating with outstanding service and good food. The max table size they like to do is 6 but I invited your dinner table of 8 and they did a good job but I could see why they do not like the large tables for the food was not piping hot. We would always bring our own wine sometimes 4 bottles and they were served at proper temp and in the correct order. Charge for this was $15. My invoice showed $5 to the house and $10 to the server. They have a nice wine celler room that the wife and I booked for our last night. We were told that it was booked for a table of 5 but if it became available we could have it. I also asked if there was any where on the ship I could buy some roses for the wife and I was told to check with the flower shop. I did and because we were 2 days from the end of the curise they were out. To my delight, when we sat down for dinner there were 3 long stem red roses on the table at no charge.

 

If you have dinner in the SSUS room and you get to know the staff and the Chef you will be able to order many items not on the menu. Just as an example one night I mentioned that I love a good Grand Marnier Souffle. Three nights later on our last dinner they made it for us. Also. you are not limited to just the 4 courses that they offer. One night we had 7. All you have to do get to know them and ask for what you want.

 

garardo

[dolliesny]

Hi Valerie and Ernie: I was so suprised to see you answer my question. How are you two. We did sail Priancess, the Sapphire just this last Oct. to Mex. Rivera and we also had a great roll call group. Aren't we lucky to meet such great people like you two and our new friends we met on the Sapphire. This time we are trying Celebrity out of S.F. to Alaska because I think they have a better itiniery then the Regal. This will be our 3rd trip to Alaska. Hope you two have great cruises. Talk at you soon.

 

Marilyn

Thanks Marilyn. I do so agree with you. We had a wonderful time on our Princess trip with you. It has been a few years since we were in Alaska but we did so on the Mercury so we are somewhat prepared for a Celebrity trip.We are a bit apprehensive about a 14 day cruise since it will really mean in this case about 17 days gone for us-the longest ever! Enjoy your return trip to Alaska and we hope we sail together again!

Val and Ernie

[dolliesny]

Hi you two. First let me say that the Infinity was absolutely beautiful and it didn't hurt that we got a great upgrade when we got to the dock. As for the United States Restaurant we did not use it. Call us a bit "cheap" I guess but $30 seemed just a bit too much extra for us. We had a wonderful table in the dining room and a couple at our table that had booked the US Restaurant actually cancelled their reservation. Of course this was a long and port intensive cruise. At any rate please look for the waiter we had - Sheldon. He was just wonderful!

By the way what is next after the Infinity for you? We are off on the Star Princess to the Baltic.

Regards,

Ernie and Val

[mii]

Hi Ernie & Val. Glad you had a good time and thanks for the info on the Infinity. After the Infinity this May we are back to Princess doing a repo 2006 from FLL to S.F. on May 3. Since S.F. is 90 miles west of us iwe only have to fly one way. Glad to hear from you again.

 

marilyn