Normandie vs Murano

[WineDown17]

Can someone compare/ contrast for me the dining experiences in Normandie vs Murano?

 

We adore dining in Normandie, and wonder if i am setting my expectations too high for Murano expecting it to be on par?

 

Thanks!

[kitty9]

Which Murano? There are several.

[WineDown17]

Thanks Darcie! I assumed they would all be akin....we will be on Eclipse....

[ellbon]

i never had a bad meal on any ship .. but the best was the Millie. .why? due to the dress code on formal night- all men had to wear jackets. food and service was the same- great as always. the S class is not making people dress but the m class is. .found that true in the elite lounge too.

[Gracie115]

I personally think the Normandie is the best Specialty Restaurant at sea. I tried Murano's on Solstice this past January and we were disappointed with it. Having said that it may just have been a bad night. The restaurant was packed with people and the service suffered because of it. The food was okay, but not spectacular. We made the mistake of taking the "wine package" (not the right name..but in essence it's a set wine for each course" and did NOT enjoy that part at all. ) They do not serve a glass of wine, but instead just a few sips, and I AM NOT a drinker so it's not that I was looking for huge amounts it just wasn't enough in the glass...don't know if that was normal or not. Anyway the service was spotty, we DID complain to the Maitre'D and he was very kind and apologetic and even refunded our meal, he explained that they had had a problem with early reservations showing up late which of course threw the whole evening off for everyone. Having said all that we are going to try Murano again on our Eclipse cruise this month. We know not to expect the Normandie and hopefully we won't run into the same kind of evening...I've heard so many say so many good things about Murano's that I just have to believe what happened to us was an aberration...but going in with eyes wide open this time and not expecting the same expereince as you get at Normandie...suspect we'll be fine this time!

[JanineM]

We have eaten in Normandie on Summit a few times, and Muranos on Solstice. I thought the food was very similar, but preferred the layout and design of Normandie. There was something about the separate lobby and even just the way the tables are set out that made Normandie more special to me. That said, I don't think you can go wrong with either!

[Nanny2Trey]

I personally think the Normandie is the best Specialty Restaurant at sea. I tried Murano's on Solstice this past January and we were disappointed with it. Having said that it may just have been a bad night. The restaurant was packed with people and the service suffered because of it. The food was okay, but not spectacular. We made the mistake of taking the "wine package" (not the right name..but in essence it's a set wine for each course" and did NOT enjoy that part at all. ) They do not serve a glass of wine, but instead just a few sips, and I AM NOT a drinker so it's not that I was looking for huge amounts it just wasn't enough in the glass...don't know if that was normal or not. Anyway the service was spotty, we DID complain to the Maitre'D and he was very kind and apologetic and even refunded our meal, he explained that they had had a problem with early reservations showing up late which of course threw the whole evening off for everyone. Having said all that we are going to try Murano again on our Eclipse cruise this month. We know not to expect the Normandie and hopefully we won't run into the same kind of evening...I've heard so many say so many good things about Murano's that I just have to believe what happened to us was an aberration...but going in with eyes wide open this time and not expecting the same expereince as you get at Normandie...suspect we'll be fine this time!

 

We ate in Murano on Solstice in Oct. and had the same experience you did except we didn't complain. Was very disappointed in the food and the service. We have eaten in all the specialty restaurants on the M Class and always enjoyed it very much. I think the Murano menu is much the same but we just didn't think the food was good. Howevger, we thought the Tuscan Grille was wonderful as well as the service and ate there twice.

 

Linda

[kitty9]

There is a Murano on Century and on the S Class ships. We think the specialty restaurants on the M Class are better, for whatever reason, than on the S class. Although, we really loved Tuscan Grill on Solstice, but Muranos was just OK----nothing like Normandie, SS United States or Ocean Liners.

[scf1270]

I personally think the Normandie is the best Specialty Restaurant at sea. I tried Murano's on Solstice this past January and we were disappointed with it. Having said that it may just have been a bad night. The restaurant was packed with people and the service suffered because of it. The food was okay, but not spectacular. We made the mistake of taking the "wine package" (not the right name..but in essence it's a set wine for each course" and did NOT enjoy that part at all. ) They do not serve a glass of wine, but instead just a few sips, and I AM NOT a drinker so it's not that I was looking for huge amounts it just wasn't enough in the glass...don't know if that was normal or not. Anyway the service was spotty, we DID complain to the Maitre'D and he was very kind and apologetic and even refunded our meal, he explained that they had had a problem with early reservations showing up late which of course threw the whole evening off for everyone. Having said all that we are going to try Murano again on our Eclipse cruise this month. We know not to expect the Normandie and hopefully we won't run into the same kind of evening...I've heard so many say so many good things about Murano's that I just have to believe what happened to us was an aberration...but going in with eyes wide open this time and not expecting the same expereince as you get at Normandie...suspect we'll be fine this time!

 

We ate at Normandie twice while on the Summit in May. Each night one of us had the wine pairing. It was five full glasses of wine, and an extra food course (one fish entree, one meat entree). It took the two of us to drink all the wine! The second night we didn't even try to drink it all!

 

Having dinner in Murano on the Century next week :), and the Eclipse in December. If the wine pairing is limited to sips, we'll just politely decline and order a glass of whatever we want.

 

Sara

[WineDown17]

Thanks everyone. Now that i have adjusted my expectations, i know i will enjoy it more..if that makes any sense.

 

We love the Normandie..ate there on our wedding day..so very special..i even have an original normandie cutaway in my living room to remind of us of that special first time there....

 

We did not make reservations at TG...but will opt for qsine instead....hopefully that is not a mistake.

 

The rest of the nights We will be in the mdr with my in laws and ds.

[Infi]

Winedown, I think with those expectations, you will enjoy Murano. I am in agreement that Murano on S-class just isn't the same as the specialty restaurants on the M-class. I know it's the same (or similar) menu, but the ones on M-class just have that special something that makes them better, a more upscale experience. Maybe it's because the S-class has 3 additional specialty restaurants, I don't know. But, a visit to Murano is still a lovely way to spend the evening.

 

We also are planning to make reservations at Qsine, and Tuscan Grille too for good measure. :)

[Winedown2]

Infi- Cant wait to meet you.. 11 days and counting!:D

[Gracie115]

We ate at Normandie twice while on the Summit in May. Each night one of us had the wine pairing. It was five full glasses of wine, and an extra food course (one fish entree, one meat entree). It took the two of us to drink all the wine! The second night we didn't even try to drink it all!

 

Having dinner in Murano on the Century next week :), and the Eclipse in December. If the wine pairing is limited to sips, we'll just politely decline and order a glass of whatever we want.

 

Sara

 

 

We also did the wine pairing on Summit every time we ate there and the it was full glasses each time. That was not the case at Murano's on Solstice in January, have no idea what you will encounter on Century, hopefully more similar to your Normandie experience. Again, the maitre'd at Murano was more than kind when we complained, perhaps the issues were addressed and corrected. We are still looking forward to our evening there on Eclipse in less than two weeks!!!:D

[JEDIKNIGHT]

I think we had bad luck. I've read so many superlatives about Normandie here, that on our recent Summit I pre-booked it 3 times out of 7 nights.

 

After the 1st night, I cancelled our bookings.

 

It wasn't bad. But it wasn't great either.

 

I had the filet and lobster tail. The lobster was no different than what I had on NCL Gem. The filet was tasteless and flavorless. I salted it more than I ever do, but both I and DW felt that we'd had WAY better Filet at an average place like Outback, and that the MDR Filet was much better. Had a much better Filet on NCL Gem's Cagney restaurant.

 

Overall we enjoyed the MDR much more than normandie. Not to mention, in Normandie had to twice flag someone down for water.

 

I gotta believe it was bad luck. Too many people use terms like "best meal at sea".

[Lsimon]

We've always had extraordinary experiences with great service in all of these restaurants - we've been in all the M class specialty restaurants except for the Infinity. We've been in Muranos on the Century and the Equinox. Murano's on the Century was every bit as nice as the specialty restaurants on the M class. On the Equinox it was very nice as well but the restaurant was denser and more crowded than on the M class and Century and the level of service was a little lower - but still a very nice experiance we'd repeat.