Ordering more than one dish

[Lottycruiser]

Just back from our first cruise on the Navigator and after reading several posts about people ordering more than one dish in the MDR , i was quite surprised that i never witnessed this till the last night .We were on my time dining so sat with differant people each night on tables for 8 or 10 .there was a few times when i couldnt decide between appetisers and yet didnt feel comfortable to order more than one . One night early on in the cruise one lady couldnt decide over two desserts and i said quite loudly , have them both ,she looked up at me and i said if you can eat them order them both , she said she could definately eat them but the waiter taking the order did nothing to encourage her ordering them both and gave a distinct feeling that this wasnt the usual thing to do , it wasnt pursued from then on .On the last evening we sat on a table with some lovely belgium people and they ordered an appetiser and then a soup and then the entree ,oh how i wish i had sat with them on the first night ,i wouldnt have felt uncomfortable at what i ordered . I will definately have more courage in September on our next cruise , i just felt like the waiter didnt want to serve those two desserts as he didnt make any effort to take the order for them .

If you order a lobster tail and then want another do you get the whole dish again or do you just get the tail ?, likewise if you order a second steak , or if you know you would want two lobster tails would you just ask for two of them when you order , i'm just wondering how you approach the waiter about ordering the extra dishes .

[stretch44]

Just back from our first cruise on the Navigator and after reading several posts about people ordering more than one dish in the MDR , i was quite surprised that i never witnessed this till the last night .We were on my time dining so sat with differant people each night on tables for 8 or 10 .there was a few times when i couldnt decide between appetisers and yet didnt feel comfortable to order more than one . One night early on in the cruise one lady couldnt decide over two desserts and i said quite loudly , have them both ,she looked up at me and i said if you can eat them order them both , she said she could definately eat them but the waiter taking the order did nothing to encourage her ordering them both and gave a distinct feeling that this wasnt the usual thing to do , it wasnt pursued from then on .On the last evening we sat on a table with some lovely belgium people and they ordered an appetiser and then a soup and then the entree ,oh how i wish i had sat with them on the first night ,i wouldnt have felt uncomfortable at what i ordered . I will definately have more courage in September on our next cruise , i just felt like the waiter didnt want to serve those two desserts as he didnt make any effort to take the order for them .

If you order a lobster tail and then want another do you get the whole dish again or do you just get the tail ?, likewise if you order a second steak , or if you know you would want two lobster tails would you just ask for two of them when you order , i'm just wondering how you approach the waiter about ordering the extra dishes .

 

 

I had one of those waiters on a Disney cruise. I find it best to put it something like this, "I want to order 2 of these, is it best to order them both now or one at a time"?

[NorbertsNiece]

Great question. I'm not known as NorbertsNiece for nothing. Uncle Norbert will order more than one tail when he orders his main if that's his choosing. He'll order extra veg or salad too. He'll order extra desserts for himself and for sharing. In fact if it's on the menu he'll order it and as many as he knows he will eat. It's having the confidence to do it that's the key. We've sat in Chops and they've happily brought more desserts...as many as we'd like. Since portion sizes have become smaller this is not such a pig-fest as it would appear.

[swangirl]

We have always cruised with P&O where it is the norm to order appetizer and soup and so when we cruise with Caribbean that is how we order. It has never been a problem.

[aldewitt]

Lotty:

 

Never let anyone else dictate that your behavior conform to theirs. On cruises it is your vacation. The waiters are often encouraged NOT to tell people they can have what they want, but if one of them gives you guff about it, all it takes is asking for the head waiter and they suddenly get religion about you having what you want.

[galavant3]

Our experience has been the complete opposite. If anything we have waiters bringing us food we didn't order because they think we would enjoy sampling. My sons usually order 2 or 3 appetizers and 2 or 3 desserts and have never been made to feel out of line.

[pcur]

If one of our favorites is on the menu that night, my husband and I order two.

 

We will order two appetizers, I get two lobster tails, he orders the pasta entree almost every night as a side dish to his regular entree, and we've been doing this for about 34 years on RCCL.

 

Just ask for them when you first order, as people have stated above. Saves the waiter time and trouble.

[Lottycruiser]

Great question. I'm not known as NorbertsNiece for nothing. Uncle Norbert will order more than one tail when he orders his main if that's his choosing. He'll order extra veg or salad too. He'll order extra desserts for himself and for sharing. In fact if it's on the menu he'll order it and as many as he knows he will eat. It's having the confidence to do it that's the key. We've sat in Chops and they've happily brought more desserts...as many as we'd like. Since portion sizes have become smaller this is not such a pig-fest as it would appear.

 

I will remember all this on my next cruise , i am not really a big eater but i did leave the MDR at times feeling like i could have eaten more ,one of my main meals was a shrimp dish and believe me it was two large shrimps with a small scoop of mash and the teeniest bit of veg , it was delicious but didnt even touch the sides , i was glad i could nip into the Cafe Promenade for a cake to fill me up .

[Jimnbigd]

If you order a lobster tail and then want another do you get the whole dish again or do you just get the tail ?, likewise if you order a second steak , or if you know you would want two lobster tails would you just ask for two of them when you order , i'm just wondering how you approach the waiter about ordering the extra dishes .

 

I've ordered a 2nd lobster. Most of the time I get the whole plate, especially since now it also includes shrimp. (Gosh, with the oil mess in the Gulf and shrimp prices rising, I wonder if this will change.) I've also had waiters come by with just lobster tails and put them on my original plate. On a church cruise (Spledour of the Seas, January, 2006), two guys had six (count 'em) lobster tails each.

 

Generally I order the 2nd one after I finish my first one. Since this is usually evening meal number 6 on RCI, and I use traditional dining, the waiter usually knows me by now and has the 2nd lobster already waiting for me.

 

Sometimes I do order two different dished during the original order. Lobster night, I'll order the prime rib also. These are usually brought out at the same time unless I request otherwise. I have learned now to request them in sequence rather than together, since it can get rather crowded on the table with two plates just for me.

 

If the waiter absolutely refuses to let you have seconds, I'd probably say something like "I understand you don't want to serve seconds. Let's ask the head waiter his opinion on this." Or even get the Maitre'D. But I've never had that happen. There is no reason for any waiter to not serve seconds if the kitchen is still open and they still have the dish available.

[daveky]

If you order a lobster tail and then want another do you get the whole dish again or do you just get the tail ?, likewise if you order a second steak , or if you know you would want two lobster tails would you just ask for two of them when you order , i'm just wondering how you approach the waiter about ordering the extra dishes .

 

No problem having more than one appetizer, entree or dessert. Just tell the waiter when you order and he'll have the 2nd one at his station ready to serve when you finish the first one.

Sometimes may want 2 shrimp cocktails, just order 2, and on the lobster, same thing. Tell the waiter you would like to order 2. When you finish the first one, he will bring the 2nd lobster over to your table. Pretty much same with anything on the menu. I know on some cruises have had couples (including myself) in the mood for shrimp cocktail. Told the waiter and he brought them each night for the whole table. As posted above, it's your cruise and enjoy.

 

Dave

[Lottycruiser]

Our experience has been the complete opposite. If anything we have waiters bringing us food we didn't order because they think we would enjoy sampling. My sons usually order 2 or 3 appetizers and 2 or 3 desserts and have never been made to feel out of line.

We certainly never saw any of that , maybe because we were on my time dining and had differant waiters each night ,but not once were we encouraged to order more even when it was obvious we couldnt choose between dishes , this is all good advice as i now feel i will have the confidence to go ahead and order what i know i can eat , i wouldnt be wasteful . Never again will i leave the MDR still hungry ;)

[Tyler80]

I too have had the fortune to have great wait staff on my 3 previous cruises and that they would encourage myself as well as my table mates to get multiple dishes for sampling. Believe me, there are more than enough dishes back in the galley, so there's plenty of food to go around. My last waiter even brought me a second Tiramisu on a plate with a lid to take back to the room w/ me. haha

 

Like Aldewitt said, order whatever you like and don't let others make you feel uncomfortable about it. These people working on the ship are there for you and they are working for you. Normally they will bend over backwards to make sure you are happy in whatever way possible. Enjoy!

[juniorsmom]

Every night on the Oasis my son ordered two entrees and the waiter was more than happy to bring them to him. He just made sure he ordered the two entrees at the same time as everyone else.

[NorbertsNiece]

I will remember all this on my next cruise , i am not really a big eater but i did leave the MDR at times feeling like i could have eaten more ,one of my main meals was a shrimp dish and believe me it was two large shrimps with a small scoop of mash and the teeniest bit of veg , it was delicious but didnt even touch the sides , i was glad i could nip into the Cafe Promenade for a cake to fill me up .

 

I so recognise that!! There is no excuse for you to leave hungry now....

 

You've not seen how many escargots I can eat at one sitting.... :o

[Lottycruiser]

I so recognise that!! There is no excuse for you to leave hungry now....

 

You've not seen how many escargots I can eat at one sitting.... :o

 

Someone on our table was brave enough to order escargot and then only ate two mouthfuls , they then proceeded to invite everyone to have a taste , did i ? no not on your life i didnt :)

[mutzy]

we had the opposite happen on our last cruise- i was recovering from food posioning (not from the cruise) so was very careful what i ate- our waiter was so upset that i didn't order a lot and didn't eat a lot- he keep bringing me differnt dishes to try. on lobster night he automatically brought extra for everyone at the table. my husband always ordered two desserts- choc. ice cream and some else. our waiter always had extra food for everyone

[Bakincakes]

Sometimes I think the waitstaff are "reluctant" to bring everything some pax order because they take one bite out of it and then don't eat it.

 

We usually like to dine alone but there have been times we have eaten with other pax. One man loved to order just about one of each on the menu and then would proceed to take a few bites and shove it aside or ask the waitstaff to remove the plate from the table. It was a gross waste of food and he would do it just about every evening we dined with them.

 

Lobster night was the worst..he ordered six...and other dinners as well. It was a disgusting site to behold.

 

I'm not saying that pax should not order extra entrees..desserts.. etc if they are hungry and really want to eat them. I also understand pax wanting to try new things..fine..try it..if you don't like it order something else...but please don't be piggish about it...:rolleyes:

[Lottycruiser]

Sometimes I think the waitstaff are "reluctant" to bring everything some pax order because they take one bite out of it and then don't eat it.

 

We usually like to dine alone but there have been times we have eaten with other pax. One man loved to order just about one of each on the menu and then would proceed to take a few bites and shove it aside or ask the waitstaff to remove the plate from the table. It was a gross waste of food and he would do it just about every evening we dined with them.

 

Lobster night was the worst..he ordered six...and other dinners as well. It was a disgusting site to behold.

 

I'm not saying that pax should not order extra entrees..desserts.. etc if they are hungry and really want to eat them. I also understand pax wanting to try new things..fine..try it..if you don't like it order something else...but please don't be piggish about it...:rolleyes:

 

That is taking it too far , i would hate to see all that food wasted too , i dont understand why anyone would order a heap of food they know they couldnt eat .

[akcruz]

One night, my son who 13 at the time, couldn't decide between the steak (or whatever beef thing it was) and the fisherman's plate. He loves both steak and lobster but isn't a shrimp fan. The waiter recognized that and brought him the steak entree with 2 lobster tails included. DH always orders 2 entrees along with an app and dessert.

 

I have alway (unfortunately :rolleyes:) had the waiters who bring samples of things to our table. Can't let them go to waste so we eat them all :eek:. No wonder I always gain weight on a cruise.

[cb at sea]

We've had waiters that didn't want to be doing their job...and it showed....

Then, we've had waiters who brought just about everything on the menu! Just so we could "taste" it! When I've been undecided about a dessert, I've had them bring a sampler of everything (and yes...I did eat it alll.....every bite...shame on me!)

Never be afraid to ask for what you'd like.....they are there to do that for you!

This situation is where a tip would reflect my "appreciation" of the job they did!

[Paul65]

Sorry that you felt awkward ordering exactly what you wanted. I've never gotten that vibe from the waiters who've served me. I am not one to order huge quantities of food, but I often order more than one "starter." There's nothing wrong with having, say, an appetizer and a salad. I'm much less likely to order more than one entree, but I have done so before. On my most recent cruise, there was an entree I had settled on, but the Indian curry dish sounded really good, so I ordered both, and my wife and I shared the curry. Wait staff didn't seem to mind in the least.

[RoofingPrincess]

On my last cruise, my roommate & I had one night at dinner where we both said, "I have it down to two choices, but I'm having a hard time making up my mind." Turned out we had one choice in common. So when we ordered, we each ordered one entree, then told our waiter that we wanted a third one to share. No problem. When he brought the food, he put the plate between us. :)

And our other roommate looked at the menu one night and said she didn't like any of the entree choices but loved a lot of the starters, so she ordered four or five starters, and that was her dinner that night.

 

And we've quite often ordered more than one starter: a soup and a salad, a soup and an appetizer, two appetizers...

[Paul65]

Someone on our table was brave enough to order escargot and then only ate two mouthfuls , they then proceeded to invite everyone to have a taste , did i ? no not on your life i didnt :)

 

You missed out on a tasty treat. Maybe you'll give it a try next time. Really, most of what you taste is the butter and garlic that is drenched over them. :D

[Rellyrooly]

I find this topic interesting. I was surprised on my last cruise on RC that I was not only dissuaded from ordering more than one entree, I was told no! I was told by our server that RC doesn't like to encourage pax to order more than one as there may be shortages. I thought that was odd, especially since we were at the late seating. Also, it was very encouraged on all Disney cruises I have been on as well as allowed on Princess and Carnival. I didn't complain, I just dealt with it and shared different things with my husband. The last couple of nights, my sister was sick and wasn't able to join us in the DR. I then asked my server to bring us her portion as another option for the rest of us to try. Can you believe he was annoyed??? I actually told him that we would have consumed that meal anyway if she were with us and we weren't taking away from anyone else. He gave a bit of attitude but I didn't care. We paid for that food, so we ate it! lol

 

I think overall, the waitstaff has a lot to do with whether or not you feel comfortable asking for more and actually getting it.

[johneeo]

When ordering, it is no problem whatsoever to order three appetizers / two dinners / etc.

 

Waiter puts in the order for the table as taken, then brings it on when ready.

 

The problem is when you decide AFTER eating dinner (or the appetizer) that you would then like another clams casino, steak or lobster. Imagine if everyone at your table decided that they would like another dinner after eating dinner number one.

 

However, if everyone at the table ordered two dinners originally, waiter puts the order in, and then brings them out, no problem.