Allure - Speciality Restaurants

[cflower04]

Sailing on Allure in October and I'm thinking of booking some speciality restaurants! Which would you recommend?! I've been reading lots of mixed reviews lately so I need some help deciding!

 

I'm not a fan of Sushi so think we'll skip Izumi... Not unless the Hibachi experience is worth trying!

 

Almost forgot - if you want to be seated outside Chops & Giovanni's, do you need to state that when booking or can you just ask when you arrive at the restaurant?! Will have a toddler with us and if the weather is ok, outside might be a better option!

Edited May 30, 2015 by cflower04

[Clarea]

We like Giovanni's.

[depplep]

I can't help with restaurants but you mentioned having a toddler. I know Chops did have specific times that children are allowed in the restaurant. You may want to inquire about that when you book.

[MMOMOM]

We LOVE Chops! We did it on Oasis and again this last time on the Allure. On Oasis, we just asked about sitting outside when we got there ... it was so nice with the twinkling lights and all. This time is was considerably cooler in the Mediterranean so we ate inside. Both visits were amazing. Great service and the food incredible! Could cut the Filet Mignon with a fork!

[BrnBrok]

We have tried Vintages and 150 Central Park. Both were excellent restaurants. 150 was small portions, but great tastes. Room was very formal. Vintages looks inside like a living room. A tapas menu with lots of interesting choices. My wife and I shared a combo type meal. We have been back twice on our cruise and enjoyed both times. Outside was on the warm side, while inside comfortable, but for us the couch/chair seating was not all that comfortable.

[Ourusualbeach]

I can't help with restaurants but you mentioned having a toddler. I know Chops did have specific times that children are allowed in the restaurant. You may want to inquire about that when you book.

 

Children, including toddlers are now welcome in specialty restaurants at any time. It's been like this for a couple of years now. This policy does exclude Chefs Table and 150 Central Park I believe.

[cflower04]

Not sure a toddler would manage sitting through dinner at 150!

 

Plus we'd definitely want the earliest reservation time too!

Edited May 30, 2015 by cflower04

[Jenhem31]

I loved Giovanni's lunch. Rita's Cantina was awesome but it's gone now. [emoji26]

[dacsmom]

#1 Chops

#2 Giovanni's

#3 Izumi

I do not like sushi either, but Izumi has many more choices. We ate at Chops twice, it was wonderful. We ate at Giovanni's for lunch on embarkation day, it was less expensive than dinner and did not include the full dinner menu but it was very good.

[cflower04]

The problem is I want to try them all!!!! But we're sailing in a GS so I know we can order from the main dining room and have it delivered to the room... Might be a good option if the baby is sleepy!

[California kitty]

Love the idea of Giovanni's for lunch on the first day...can you make reservations for that or just go there?

[Clarea]

Love the idea of Giovanni's for lunch on the first day...can you make reservations for that or just go there?

No pre-cruise reservations taken, just go.

[dacsmom]

Love the idea of Giovanni's for lunch on the first day...can you make reservations for that or just go there?

 

They no longer take lunch reservations, but we got there about 12:00 and had no trouble getting a table. It was a wonderful, relaxing lunch. They kept bringing out food for us to try. The lasagna was my favorite, but everything was very good.

[graciepuppy]

The problem is I want to try them all!!!! But we're sailing in a GS so I know we can order from the main dining room and have it delivered to the room... Might be a good option if the baby is sleepy!

 

If you're in a GS you'll also have Coastal Kitchen--which we felt was wonderful!

[Miia]

Just returned from our cruise where we went to Chops and Giovanni's. Chops was nice, but Giovanni's was amazing - and we've spent quite a few holidays traveling all over Italy. :D Also the service was really great on Giovanni's (not that there was anything wrong with Chops).

[gibby71]

Just returned from our cruise where we went to Chops and Giovanni's. Chops was nice, but Giovanni's was amazing - and we've spent quite a few holidays traveling all over Italy. :D Also the service was really great on Giovanni's (not that there was anything wrong with Chops).

 

We are on the Allure in 2 weeks! Would love to hear any other advice you have.:)

Edited June 5, 2015 by gibby71

[Miia]

We are on the Allure in 2 weeks! Would love to hear any other advice you have.:)

 

• If you happen to like Sangria, look for "2 for 1" offers in Vintages. We had those on couple of nights on our cruise, and we loved the red and the white Sangria both. Vintages also offers tasty looking and affordable tapas, but unfortunately we never managed to try them so I can’t tell if they tasted as delicious as they looked.

 

• On our cruise we also had some sales on the speciality restaurants - first they offered anyone with My Time Dining -50% off on formal nights, then they made the offer last through the cruise. We figured this must have been because so many had chosen My Time Dining and there was often somewhat of a queue to the restaurant. Hopefully you’ll too have this offer on your cruise!

 

• Park Cafe is a nice place to go for an afternoon snack as you can enjoy your meal in the Central Park (or take it to your cabin if feeling lazy like we sometimes did). Made-to-order salads were basic but nice as you could pick anything you like, and I personally loved their chocolate chip cookies. :D

 

• Wine tasting is a hit or a miss, depending on what you’re looking to get out of it. All wines were French (not personally a fan of most French wines), three red wines and one white wine. Also some cheeses and other snacks were available. We quite liked the wine tasting as we got some new info, especially on how to combine wine and food. So this could be something to consider if you’re into wines.

 

• If you wish to swim in the sea, Palma de Mallorca is a great place for it. We rented a Twizy and drove around the city (did this on our previous cruise as well) and especially the coast line, then parked the Twizy and went for a swim on a beautiful sand beach.

 

• If you haven’t seen the island of Capri before and have nothing planned for Napoli, I highly recommend hopping on a ferry (they leave pretty close to the cruise terminal) and going to Capri. We did this on our last cruise and absolutely loved the place, it’s so beautiful and nothing like the hectic and quite messy Napoli.

 

• Be aware of the prices as things can get quite expensive because of the additional VAT + 18% gratuity.

 

• Walk around the ship and ENJOY! ;)

 

Sorry I got quite carried away there, I could go on forever. :D We had such a nice time and fell in love with Allure, and I’m still all excited about the whole cruise! If anything specific comes to mind you’d like to know, please do ask! I also brought the cruise compasses with me so I can check if there’s something you’d like to know.

[dacsmom]

I agree, the Sangria in Vintages wonderful, unfortunately you can only get it in Vintages. I kept leaving the MDR to get more each night at dinner. The bartender would see me coming and have it ready for me. The tapas is fantastic, one day for lunch we ordered a lot of it and split it among all of us.

[WEGL81]

I vote for Samba Grill. That was the one specialty restaurant we did on the Allure and it was awesome. Of course we had never been to a Brazilian steakhouse so we had nothing to compare it to.

[California kitty]

We are sailing September 13th and love this information...please keep sharing. We have never been on allure and aren't big cruisers so will take all your tips! We have reservations at chopped and are going to try for Giovanni's on embarking day for lunch! Love sangria so you will now find me in vintages!!!!

Other excursion tips? We have been to Europe and Italy a couple of times but not cruising!

[Life is Good Cruising]

Another vote for Giovanni's.

[Lealei]

Hi Miia,

 

I would love to hear what was the order of the menus in the MDR? We are going to 7 night Med cruise from Barcelona in a few weeks and I'm trying to find out when are our favourite menus serverd so that we can choose other dining options for the nights we do not like the MDR menu option...

 

(somehow I did not get the quote-button to work for your post, sorry)

[Miia]

Hi Miia,

 

I would love to hear what was the order of the menus in the MDR? We are going to 7 night Med cruise from Barcelona in a few weeks and I'm trying to find out when are our favourite menus serverd so that we can choose other dining options for the nights we do not like the MDR menu option...

 

(somehow I did not get the quote-button to work for your post, sorry)

Sure! :) Here's the order of the menus for our cruise (we joined the ship in Civitavecchia, not in Barcelona).

 

Thursday, May 28 (Civitavecchia): Shiitake Dinner

Friday, May 29 (Naples): Jasmine Dinner - Formal

Saturday, May 30 (At sea): Pomodoro Dinner

Sunday, May 31 (Barcelona): Mojo Dinner

Monday, June 1 (Palma de Mallorca): Saffron Dinner - Formal

Tuesday, June 2 (Marseilles): Arugula Dinner

Wednesday, June 3 (La Spezia): Pimiento Dinner

[welshy74]

I'm just off the Allure and we did 3 specialty restaurants -

 

Izumi – really liked this restaurant and the food was fantastic. Highly recommend if you like good sushi.

 

150 Central Park – the restaurant itself is lovely but the food was awful!!! 1st course was a tasteless salad followed by under cooked pasta (also tasteless). The main (beef) was ok, noting special and the dessert was dry and equal quality as what you get across the park in Park Café! To top it all the waiter ended the meal by trying to sell (HARD SELL) us a cook book and a wine decanter. This was so tacky. Very disappointing.

 

Sabor – LOVED IT!!! My favorite by far. The food was so tasty and fresh. This was a bit of a shocker as I thought we took a chance with Sabor but it turned out to be my favorite. We took the $19 pp tasting menu but be warned, the portion sizes are huge! Very enjoyable evening and all washed down with cucumber margaritas.

 

During the entire cruise they were really pushing Chops to the point they seemed desperate. They were offering good discounts so maybe wait til you are on board to book this one?

 

None of the restaurants seemed completely full, especially Sabor. In Izumi it appeared to be a majority crew dining rather than guests.

[elleran]

Sure! :) Here's the order of the menus for our cruise (we joined the ship in Civitavecchia, not in Barcelona).

 

Thursday, May 28 (Civitavecchia): Shiitake Dinner

Friday, May 29 (Naples): Jasmine Dinner - Formal

Saturday, May 30 (At sea): Pomodoro Dinner

Sunday, May 31 (Barcelona): Mojo Dinner

Monday, June 1 (Palma de Mallorca): Saffron Dinner - Formal

Tuesday, June 2 (Marseilles): Arugula Dinner

Wednesday, June 3 (La Spezia): Pimiento Dinner

 

You mention "Arugula Dinner". Is that the same as the Basil menu on the website (http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/download-press-kit/7/) or is that something new?