How Do NCL's Specialty Restaurants Compare to the Specialty Restaurants on Princess?

[tarheelmjfan]

More specifically, I'm wondering how they compare to Bayou Café & Sabatini's, since those were the restaurants they had on Island Princess on our only PCL cruise to date.

 

On my one NCL cruise, the included food was the only thing I didn't enjoy. To me, the ship itself & service were as good as Celebrity cruises we had sailed on. The food was a different story. DH & I are fine with dining in specialty restaurants nightly. (Unfortunately, my sisters weren't on the NCL cruise I took with them.) We didn't think PCL's specialty restaurants served the greatest food ever, but they were fine considering we were on a cruise ship. If NCL's are at least that good, we can add them to our list of potential cruise lines.

 

FWIW, I realize food can be subjective. However, I don't think food quality is. We want quality that is a few levels higher than the MDR.

 

Thanks in advance for the input. :)

[toyotaford]

We have always been very pleased with the food in the specialty dining rooms on NCL. We usually eat at Cagney's and Moderno's at couple of times on each cruise and make Teppanyaki once. We feel they are all worth the money and definitely a few levels higher than the main dining room. I love the salad bar in Moderno and my husband loves the black beans and rice there. The steaks in Cagney's have always been excellent.

[josumello]

More specifically, I'm wondering how they compare to Bayou Café & Sabatini's, since those were the restaurants they had on Island Princess on our only PCL cruise to date.

 

 

 

On my one NCL cruise, the included food was the only thing I didn't enjoy. To me, the ship itself & service were as good as Celebrity cruises we had sailed on. The food was a different story. DH & I are fine with dining in specialty restaurants nightly. (Unfortunately, my sisters weren't on the NCL cruise I took with them.) We didn't think PCL's specialty restaurants served the greatest food ever, but they were fine considering we were on a cruise ship. If NCL's are at least that good, we can add them to our list of potential cruise lines.

 

 

 

FWIW, I realize food can be subjective. However, I don't think food quality is. We want quality that is a few levels higher than the MDR.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for the input. :)

 

 

We felt all dining options on NCL Gem was substandered. It took away from the cruise experience. The crew and entertainment helped to overcome the dining problems.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Rosethorn40]

On my one NCL cruise we ate at Endless Summer (Which I don't think they have any more), and Ginza which was Asian inspired. Both were really good. Our experience was that the non-fee evening dining wasn't as good as Princess because I think they really try to push you to the specialty restaurants on NCL. On Princess I really enjoyed Sabatini's. The Bayou Café (Only offered on the Island & the Coral I think) was so long ago I don't remember it.

 

From what I have read on these boards many people enjoy the steakhouse, and the French Restaurant on NCL

 

You are 100% correct in food being subjective, but in our case the Specialty dining was worth the upcharge.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Rosethorn40

[rajones007]

I'm a firm believer that atmosphere has just as much to do with the quality of the food you eat as the food itself. Crap atmosphere = Crap food. Without fail.

 

We went to the Crown Grill (steak house) on the Crown Princess. The atmosphere was much too stuffy for our liking. We found it very uncomfortable. It was like eating dinner in a funeral home.

 

Our experience in the Crown Grill actually turned us off of the Princess specialty dining. We never bothered going to Sabatini's later in the week, like we had planned.

 

Cagneys, on the other hand, is much more relaxed. The casual dress code and laid back servers make it a more comfortable place to sit and dine. Everything we have had to eat in Cagneys on our 3 NCL cruises put the Crown Grill to shame.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Princess was like going out for dinner with the boss. NCL was like going out for dinner with the neighbours.

Edited July 7, 2014 by rajones007
grammar.

[rajones007]

Ugh. That last post of mine was number 666. I can't leave it like that.

 

I'm not superstitious. I'm just a little stitious.

[tarheelmjfan]

We have always been very pleased with the food in the specialty dining rooms on NCL. We usually eat at Cagney's and Moderno's at couple of times on each cruise and make Teppanyaki once. We feel they are all worth the money and definitely a few levels higher than the main dining room. I love the salad bar in Moderno and my husband loves the black beans and rice there. The steaks in Cagney's have always been excellent.

 

Thanks for the feedback. It's good to see that the quality is noticeably higher than the MDR. DH enjoys a great steak, so he'd probably want to eat at Cagney's more than once. The French restaurant is the one that caught my attention. I love French food. Is Teppanyaki similar to other Teppan style restaurants (i.e. Benihana & Kobe)? If not, how is it different. I've been meaning to take DH & DS to Texas de Brazil. Moderno would be fun for them to try. They would love the meat-fest. I'm not that crazy about meat, but a good salad bar would work for me.

 

We felt all dining options on NCL Gem was substandered. It took away from the cruise experience. The crew and entertainment helped to overcome the dining problems.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Thank for the input. Did you eat at any specialty restaurants? If so, which cruise lines are you comparing the food to? I wouldn't expect them to be as good as Celebrity's, but hope they're at least as good as the specialty restaurants on Princess.

[tarheelmjfan]

On my one NCL cruise we ate at Endless Summer (Which I don't think they have any more), and Ginza which was Asian inspired. Both were really good. Our experience was that the non-fee evening dining wasn't as good as Princess because I think they really try to push you to the specialty restaurants on NCL. On Princess I really enjoyed Sabatini's. The Bayou Café (Only offered on the Island & the Coral I think) was so long ago I don't remember it.

 

From what I have read on these boards many people enjoy the steakhouse, and the French Restaurant on NCL

 

You are 100% correct in food being subjective, but in our case the Specialty dining was worth the upcharge.

 

Thanks for the reply. We thought Bayou Café was better than Sabatini's. We ended up eating at BC five times & Sabatini's twice on a 10 night cruise. The specialty restaurants can vary by ship, so Sabatini's could be better on other ships. The food was good. We just thought BC was better. I'm glad you thought NCL's fee restaurants were as good as Princess's.

 

I'm a firm believer that atmosphere has just as much to do with the quality of the food you eat as the food itself. Crap atmosphere = Crap food. Without fail.

 

We went to the Crown Grill (steak house) on the Crown Princess. The atmosphere was much too stuffy for our liking. We found it very uncomfortable. It was like eating dinner in a funeral home.

 

Our experience in the Crown Grill actually turned us off of the Princess specialty dining. We never bothered going to Sabatini's later in the week, like we had planned.

 

Cagneys, on the other hand, is much more relaxed. The casual dress code and laid back servers make it a more comfortable place to sit and dine. Everything we have had to eat in Cagneys on our 3 NCL cruises put the Crown Grill to shame.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Princess was like going out for dinner with the boss. NCL was like going out for dinner with the neighbours.

 

Thanks for the info. We enjoy a formal, upscale atmosphere, but a casual one would be fine as long as it's not too loud. How did you feel the specialty restaurant food quality compared between the two lines?

 

LOL on the 666 post. I'm also not superstitious, but that's one superstition I try to avoid myself.