Food & Service Not good in "inclusive" Restaurants?

[declansdad]

We did our first NCL cruise this past July on the Dawn. We found the service to be ok at best in both MDRs and the food to be average to poor. There were a couple of nights that we had a difficult time finding anything that really piqued our interest on the menu.

[maywell]

I think it because of many varieties of places to eat out that some people eat often at specialty restaurants instead of the MDR. Some eat at a completely different specialty restaurant each night without repeating and others prefer eating at same place due to menu never changing at all. And others can eat at the MDR /Buffet / O'Sheenan for part of the week and dine out at the specialty restaurant(s) for other half.

 

You also have to remember that food and taste is subjective, for example, some people don't mind what MDR has to offer that day or what the pasta from there taste like. While others have to know exactly what on the menu before even heading to deck where the MDR is located or think the watermelon in the fruit salad in the MDR is not ripe enough. This not counting food allergies, diets and melical issues and conditions which are their own separate problems.

 

Me personally, for this upcoming, I'm not buying the UDP due to it being my 1st NCL plus its 7 days and I don't know how good or bad the free food. If it that extremely bad, then I'll buy UDP for every 7 day trip. (For next year's 12 day, I definitely buying it due to budgeting reasons - makes it easier to bring less cash/credit on me)

[margincall]

On a 7 night cruise we usually go twice to a specialty restaurant.of course our next cruise is 12 nights so maybe we will do 3 or 4 although in san juan since we are there 3 to 9 we may just eat in town

[punkincc]

The marketing plan is to allure passengers into spending more to increase the ships profit margin.

Food is a VERY subjective topic and my taste, your taste or another's taste reall only applies to them. !! It has, in truth, no factual basis and is pure emotion. Nowhere do we have insight into who the person is, their taste, their experience and so on...

If I ate at Mc Donalds and Weiner schnitzel 80 % of the time I would swoon over Appelbees and so on. Or do you Live in NY city or Napa Valley or Porky Pine Creek in Wyoming....what is the regional culinary availability ? All factors.

 

SO, it has become a sort of urban legend that the ship fosters for their benefit, that the " speciality " restauraunts will all somehow deliver this special and "exclusive" experience. The appeal is that," you really should step above the crowd to your rightful place and the status you deserve so much"...

 

They ain't selling food so much as a sort emotional appeal of being special .

 

Is it reall that good in the specialities or that bad in the others?. Let me relate a story.

Louis XIII is a very expensive $800 a bottle liquor that cost $120 a shot.... It it that much better than a cognac that sells for $15 a shot? The answer lies hidden in that ego of the drinker. That is, would you tell someone that the drink you just paid $120 for in no better than the $15 one. Probably not, as it would make you look foolish and the tendency is to rave about the experience.

Likewise when you pay more chances are good your will do the same.

 

And the ship, saves a meal or 2 and sells you a much more expensive option... marketing plain and simple

 

 

Yeah, yeah..... I agree that taste in food is very subjective, and I doubt Anthony Bourdain and I would agree on some things, but to say that taste, or whether or not you or I like something has no "factual basis" and is based on "pure emotion" is going a little far. I think most anyone can determine when a steak is good and how it stacks up to other experiences, although I'm sure you will have those who complain that they did not deliver theirs as a charred cinder and therefore it was inedible.

 

Do I know that I am being upsold to eat at a specialty on a cruise? Just like I am marketed by Ruth's Chris and others to have a special experience there? The cruise line is in business to make money last I heard, but they do not give anyone the hard sell. Do I imagine that the 1/4 wedge of lettuce served to me at Ruth's Chris for a ginormous mark up tastes ever so much better than the head I buy at the grocery and cut into 4 pieces myself? We are all too smart for that. We can mostly determine for ourselves whether or not we have gotten our money's worth and enjoyed the experience. And if I pay $30 for a meal at Cagneys and it is bad, I am not going to tell anyone is was no better than the MDR because it would make me look foolish?:rolleyes:. Most people on CC would be telling everyone.

[DaisyGoldberg]

I always read the specialty restaurants vs main dining room threads with interest, because I actually prefer the buffet the majority of the time. And it's not because I can't tell the difference.

 

For me, the MDR experience is okay once or twice a cruise, but the food quality is essentially what I can get at the cafeteria at work (presented more attractively, of course). Add to that the time element and the MDR just doesn't come off that well -- I don't want an extra 45 mins to think about how okay I guess each course is. Served the same meal at a restaurant at home, I wouldn't declare it horrible, but I'd have no particular reason to return to that restaurant.

 

The specialty restaurants are superior in atmosphere (generally), and menu options. The finished product (for me) has been widely variable. Cagneys and Le Bistro are generally very good... but only comparable to restaurants I'd frequent at home, as opposed to a special occasion restaurant at home. And it's not like I dine at only the very finest establishments at home -- I'm talking about non chain local places.

 

The buffet, oddly enough, suits my cruise vacation personality. Generally there are places I want to go and things I want to do, and while I certainly can't say that the buffet food is superior to Le Bistro or Cagneys, there's such a wider variety of items available that being able to have a few tasty spoonfuls of 6 different things instead of one piece of meat and a side gives me more of a feeling of satisfaction when you combine it with efficiency. Also, pretzel bread, which is superior to any bread served in the specialty restaurants a couple of weeks ago on the Dawn.

 

Finally, the lack of atmosphere in the buffet is offset by the beautiful views.

Edited September 26, 2014 by DaisyGoldberg

[Love my butler]

New to NCL and I am just wondering why most people go to the Specialty Restaurants.

Is the food and service not good in the inclusive restaurants? Why spend the extra $$ if you don't have to? What would I be missing if I don't go to them?

 

For the most part, you are correct. Food and service in the complimentary restaurants are sub-par. It is of course subjective, but if you have experienced good food and service in the past, you will know.

[SissasMomE]

For the most part, you are correct. Food and service in the complimentary restaurants are sub-par. It is of course subjective, but if you have experienced good food and service in the past, you will know.

 

It is not like it was 20 years ago, that is for sure.

[njhorseman]

It is not like it was 20 years ago, that is for sure.

 

And not just on NCL. All the mass market cruise lines including the supposedly more upscale mass market lines like Celebrity have lowered the quality of their MDR food.

[Valen9]

New to NCL and I am just wondering why most people go to the Specialty Restaurants.

Is the food and service not good in the inclusive restaurants? Why spend the extra $$ if you don't have to? What would I be missing if I don't go to them?

 

The food and service at the complimentary restaurants varies from OK to wonderful... depending on the day and the ship and who else the staff is service and how many special orders they made and what's going wrong that hour in the complex food delivery systems of a cruise ship.

 

There is no need at all to spend the extra $$. But sometimes it is nice to get something different, or possibly past wonderful, or just a little special. If you've been cruising NCL, you might want a change. It's really up you.

[welove2cruise2014]

I look at it like this: at even a cost of $20-30 a person to go to, say Cagneys for dinner one night - it's a much better "value proposition" than a nice steak dinner for 2 at say a Ruths Chris, Flemings, or other comparable steakhouse. We did the Teppanyaki on our last cruise... Granted, we can do that here at home too, but it just happens to be something we really enjoy!

 

Now having said all that... I found the MDR experiences on the Dawn to be perfectly adequate from a food and service standpoint. :)

[declansdad]

I look at it like this: at even a cost of $20-30 a person to go to, say Cagneys for dinner one night - it's a much better "value proposition" than a nice steak dinner for 2 at say a Ruths Chris, Flemings, or other comparable steakhouse. We did the Teppanyaki on our last cruise... Granted, we can do that here at home too, but it just happens to be something we really enjoy!

 

Now having said all that... I found the MDR experiences on the Dawn to be perfectly adequate from a food and service standpoint. :)

 

 

It is actually more than $20-30 per person, that is on top of what has been factored in to your price to begin with.

 

Describing the buffet on the Dawn as perfectly adequate is being polite.

[QuiGonJohn]

For the most part, you are correct. Food and service in the complimentary restaurants are sub-par. It is of course subjective, but if you have experienced good food and service in the past, you will know.

I read lots of similar comments before my cruise. Happily, as I reported above, in my case, I found this to be NOT true. Very happy with most of the MDR experiences. Also a word on the buffets, for me, I do not really like them. On a cruise like this, I much prefer the sit down meal in the MDR, being served, etc. I think the food it better as well. We did the regular buffet one day for lunch, besides some pizza, (same as Moderno, in fact they take it from Moderno's ovens), I also got a burger and a hot dog, those were very mediocre, have had better at many other restaurants, including some buffet style. In my mind, I can't see why someone would go on a cruise and choose the buffet for all their meals. I know folks do it, (if that's really your thing, enjoy), maybe it's the mind set that they can take as much of an item as they want. But you can always get more in the MDR, as well. In fact, most nights I had 2 Spring Rolls as my appetizer, except the first night, I didn't know how good they were, and the night we left Ketchikan, I only had 1 because shortly before we got back on the ship I had drank a large chocolate milk shake.

Edited September 27, 2014 by QuiGonJohn

[din2play2]

Thank you all for your comments. We will probably try one specialty restaurant and hopefully will not get hooked on the experience :rolleyes:

[sparks1093]

New to NCL and I am just wondering why most people go to the Specialty Restaurants.

Is the food and service not good in the inclusive restaurants? Why spend the extra $$ if you don't have to? What would I be missing if I don't go to them?

 

I don't think "most people" do go to the specialty restaurants, I think it's safer to say that "many people" go to the specialty restaurants. We have always found the food and service in the MDR to be good to excellent.

[motleyfan]

New to NCL and I am just wondering why most people go to the Specialty Restaurants.

Is the food and service not good in the inclusive restaurants? Why spend the extra $$ if you don't have to? What would I be missing if I don't go to them?

 

From my experience yes the included food is good, really good in fact but the specialty restaurants are amazing .

[Siora7777]

I only eat at the restaurants that are included. I can't justify spending more money on food when there are so many good food options already included. I know I can find something I'll like at the MDR or buffet. I actually think there is already too much food to choose from with the included options. Most of the time I'm not hungry at dinner because there is so much food everywhere all the time. I go because the person I'm with needs dinner. I don't even consider the specialty restaurants. Food is food. I'd rather save the money and keep costs down as much as possible.

[Ilovesailing]

We have only ever eaten at the specialty restaurants. Why, because we both work in the service industry and both in 5 star and know what food and service should be about.

If we did not enjoy the food and service we would have left NCL some 30 cruises ago.

 

We just got home from 5 day Pacific Coastal on the Jewel and again the food and service was as expected and then some. The 5 day package for both of us at Platinum level was 2x $39. We ate at Le Bistro 3 nights (2 comped), Chin Chin and Italian once.

 

We also like the fact that you can order more than 1 appetizer and deserts. The deserts are by far way better than on the buffet where they all taste like there made for diabetic's.

[brentlym]

Just off the Getaway last week, and we found the MDR's to be just fine! We did Taste, Savor and The Tropicana Room. We also did La Cucina, Teppanyaki, and the Illusionarium. The food was very good everywhere we ate.

 

I, too, was on the Getaway 9/13-20 and found the food in Taste, Savor, and Tropicana Room to be exceptionally good. We did eat in 3 of the specialty restaurants, but there's no need to go to get good food, in my opinion. But, food is always subjective.

 

Enjoy! I know we sure did.

[Valen9]

We also like the fact that you can order more than 1 appetizer and deserts. The deserts are by far way better than on the buffet where they all taste like there made for diabetic's.

 

I agree with you about the desserts. While I find the food in the MDR very good overall, desserts are not usually anything special -- except in the specialty restaurants.

 

Probably just as well -- i can have great desserts elsewhere!

[toby517]

Just off the Gem. We ate 2 dinners in the Grand Pacific MDR. Both excellent meals. Loved the chocolate volcano cake. Service seemed fine. I think planning is a big part of the meal. If you have plans to see a show after your meal, make a reservation. We ate at Blue Lagoon once and Garden Café once for dinner and 3 speciality meals. Blue Lagoon was the worst and while Garden Café was ok we didn't think there was enough choices.

[jbeeg]

Just off the 4 day Sky. We ate at the MDR all nights. Service and food were all over the place. First 2 nights in Crossings, the service was very impersonal, the servers acting as if they didn't understand most of what we said to them. The food was ok. We switched to the Palace with its awful pink decor and found Joy who is an exceptional server. She was amazing in her customer service. Meanwhile the food got worse. I had a crab/seafood cake that was all potato. I never even heard of using potato for such a thing. I showed her a big chunk of potato and she brought a specially made substitute entree. Her service was amazingly quick.

People that we talked to about the specialty restaurants were very unhappy with their experiences. The service and food were no better than average MDR, so if you want to pay for intimacy, go ahead, but don't expect much if anything more. Actually, we never felt like we were in a large dinning room in the MDR as we were situated at tables that faced away from the larger part of the room. We only saw 2 or 3 other tables of people at each seating.

[bangzoom6877]

Just off the Gem. We ate 2 dinners in the Grand Pacific MDR. Both excellent meals. Loved the chocolate volcano cake. Service seemed fine. I think planning is a big part of the meal. If you have plans to see a show after your meal, make a reservation. We ate at Blue Lagoon once and Garden Café once for dinner and 3 speciality meals. Blue Lagoon was the worst and while Garden Café was ok we didn't think there was enough choices.

 

Did they have the chocolate volcano cake every night or just once?

[toby517]

It was on the menu every night in the MDR.

 

 

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[Warm Breezes]

New to NCL and I am just wondering why most people go to the Specialty Restaurants.

Is the food and service not good in the inclusive restaurants? Why spend the extra $$ if you don't have to? What would I be missing if I don't go to them?

 

I don't think most people go to the Specialty Restaurants all the time. On NCL we have gone to a couple, not because the food and service were not good in the inclusive restaurants, but because they were restaurants we wanted to try and were willing to pay the price to try them. If you don't feel like you don't want to spend the extra then don't. There is nothing wrong with the food served elsewhere. We especially love O'sheehans/Blue Lagoon.

[Hikini]

We have been on NCL 10 times now and have zero problems with the MDR food quality or service. The only reason we dine about 50-60% of the time in the specialties is for a little more variety (since we've been several times) and because we have OBC to use, and as platinum members we get free meals in the specialty restaurants some of the time.

 

But if we didn't have the OBC or the free meals in the specialties, we wouldn't have any hesitations about dining in the MDR's every evening.