Formal Night and Dinner

[CessnaAV8R]

Hey all:

 

What does everyone think about booking a speciality restaurant on the formal nights of a cruise?

 

Better? Worse? I am going on a cruise with my wife for our honeymoon and not sure if I want to book a reservation or eat in the MDR.

 

I am sure it is 100% preference but I am curious to know your thoughts.

 

Thanks!

[mferranti]

We think it's a great idea; we do it often.

[Gonzo70]

I just book specialty restaurants on whatever particular night I want to do so, I do not factor in whether it is formal night or not into my decision.

[Italy52]

Hey all:

 

What does everyone think about booking a speciality restaurant on the formal nights of a cruise?

 

Better? Worse? I am going on a cruise with my wife for our honeymoon and not sure if I want to book a reservation or eat in the MDR.

 

I am sure it is 100% preference but I am curious to know your thoughts.

 

Thanks!

 

 

We personally enjoy booking the specialty restaurant for our formal nights. We are all dressed up, have a beautiful table near a window, a wonderful meal without all the background noise of the main dining room and never felt rushed to be done with our meal. Very romantic and relaxing in my opinion --- at least from our experiences. :)

 

Enjoy your celebration.

 

Karen

[CessnaAV8R]

@ Gonzo - That makes sense. In your opinion though, does it make the formal night more elegant? The same?

 

The reason I ask is because I remember from my CCL cruise the excitement of dining in the MDR during the formal night. Everyone dressed up was exciting, almost like a royality ball (lol), but I am thinking that it could also be a nice night to share with my wife in a speciality restaurant.

 

So I guess I am not sure.... :confused:

[dkjretired]

Most of the people who you see on these boards who are booking specialties on formal night are very honest about why they are doing it. They are trying to avoid packing formal clothes and thus avoid formal nights. If you go back in the threads you will see dozens of posts with that purpose.

[Lsimon]

We've done both. If we go to the specialty restuarant we always wear our formal clothing and, even through it is not required there, there are also many others dressed formally.

 

Pros for specialty restuarant: Great food and atmousphere

Cons: The MDR usually has great menus on formal night

[CessnaAV8R]

@Lsimon Great response and exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

[excitedofharpenden]

Hey all:

 

What does everyone think about booking a speciality restaurant on the formal nights of a cruise?

 

Better? Worse? I am going on a cruise with my wife for our honeymoon and not sure if I want to book a reservation or eat in the MDR.

 

I am sure it is 100% preference but I am curious to know your thoughts.

 

Thanks!

Nice idea. I've done formal nights at one of the Specialties and have really enjoyed it. On Eclipse in May I'd booked Murano for formal night, but in the end changed it for another night as those I was travelling with hadn't experienced a formal night before and I thought it would be fun for them to see the MDR, especially as our table was right next to the Captain's table. If you still want to dress formally you'll not feel out of place. Like LSimon I too wear the formal gear regardless.

 

Phil

[charlottegirl]

We actually book the Specialty restaurants for any night BUT formal nights. We have found the food in the MDR to be a bit better on formal nights and enjoy the atmosphere of everyone dressed nicely. We usually eat in the specialty restaurant at least 1/2 the nights of the cruise as we like the food much better and enjoy getting a bit more dressed up than required on the non-formal nights in the MDR. If you want to book formal night in the Specialty restaurant I suggest you book early as those nights tend to fill up early.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We dress formally on formal night and enjoy the MDR, especially the 1st formal night that usually has a good selection of entrees. But, if it is a special occasion, as our cruise next week, we will book the specialty restaurant and still dress formally. If we go to a specialty restaurant on a non formal night we still dress up a bit more than smart casual.

 

Either way, we enjoy our time together.

 

Mary Lou

[librarylady19]

We also like to book the specialty restaurants for non- formal nights...that way we get to enjoy wonderful dining experiences every night!