Mystery dinner on Adventure, is it worth the price?

[FLUFFLULA]

I saw a post in the past that Adventure OTS had the Mystery dinner at Giovanni's during the cruise. We rarely go to the specialty restaurants but would consider the mystery dinner if it is well done since I enjoy reading and watching cozy mysteries. If you have done the mystery dinner, I'd appreciate your impressions of the mystery, the food and the evening. BTW, my DH and I are in our early 60's and have taken 14 cruises. DH's sister and BIL will be traveling with us on their third cruise and she is also a mystery fan.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Clarea]

Acting is campy, over the top. Menu is a small subset of what the restaurant normally serves. Wine is unlimited house wine. It was fun for us to do once or twice, but we don't do it anymore.

[newxmascruiser]

I saw a post in the past that Adventure OTS had the Mystery dinner at Giovanni's during the cruise. We rarely go to the specialty restaurants but would consider the mystery dinner if it is well done since I enjoy reading and watching cozy mysteries. If you have done the mystery dinner, I'd appreciate your impressions of the mystery, the food and the evening. BTW, my DH and I are in our early 60's and have taken 14 cruises. DH's sister and BIL will be traveling with us on their third cruise and she is also a mystery fan.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Hi

We went in November.

We had a great time, it certainly wasn't intimate or an outstanding meal, and the acting was very hammy, quite comedic at times but it's a really really fun night.

I too love mystery and the story line was good and kept us guessing!

Below is a cut from comments I made about it on a brief review I did of our trip

 

 

It was an antipasti plate. Then a choice of soup or salad then a choice of shrimp or beef. Then Tiramisu. There was wine beer soft drinks and coffee.

It started at 5.45 and lasted 3 hours.

 

Only thing I'd say is we arrived a little late as we went to trivia first, we were second to last in the queue. You are assigned a table number, around 20 per long table. We ended up right at the end of our table closest to the door. All of the action mainly goes on in the centre of the room so it was a little difficult to hear everything. My advice get there on time to get the best spot!

[knittinggirl]

Quite crowded when we did it! If you're looking for an escape from the roar of the MDR, I'd suggest doing specialty another night. We liked the wine, but some w/ developed wine palate may not.

 

Food's tasty!

Edited April 26, 2016 by knittinggirl

[floatel_lvr]

Acting is campy, over the top. Menu is a small subset of what the restaurant normally serves. Wine is unlimited house wine. It was fun for us to do once or twice, but we don't do it anymore.

 

Bob, as usual, is spot on. I will add that when we did it we did it with a group of people we had met during the week and had a blast. If you have never done it you could make a fun evening of it.

[pstone1]

My DH and I just sailed a B2B in April on Adventure and we went to the MDT during our second week. We were with a small group of friends and everyone had a great time. The acting was definitely campy which kept all of us laughing! The dinner began with a glass of champagne and then the wine never stopped pouring. The food was all very good in fact, the filet was better than the one I had earlier in the week when we dined at Giovanni's. This was our second time at a MDT but the cast mixed it up with a different ending. I will say the production was a tad long (3 hours) but it was a fun evening and we all felt it was worth the time and money!

[ptf2009]

We just went to the Mystery Dinner for the first time on FOS and were very disappointed, not only in the food, but also the acting. The price was high for what you got. We could have saved 80 dollars by going another night and ordered off the menu instead of getting very few choices which weren't very good. We will not do this again. Save your money is our opinion.

Edited April 27, 2016 by ptf2009

[FLUFFLULA]

thanks everyone for the good info!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Is it campy tongue-in-cheek campy like "We know this is totally cheesy but go with us here..."? Or campy like just bad campy?

[Deatsch]

We go to DMT at every opportunity. It's the most fun you can have with your pants on.

 

Do it, form your own opinion.

[Bookish Angel]

We just went to the Mystery Dinner for the first time on FOS and were very disappointed, not only in the food, but also the acting. The price was high for what you got. We could have saved 80 dollars by going another night and ordered off the menu instead of getting very few choices which weren't very good. We will not do this again. Save your money is our opinion.

 

Very amateurish and way too expensive given the quality of the evening.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Bookish Angel

[pstone1]

Is it campy tongue-in-cheek campy like "We know this is totally cheesy but go with us here..."? Or campy like just bad campy?

 

Campy in a fun way! You just have to crack-up! On AD at least, the night was fun and everyone in our group enjoyed it. The dinner was sold out and I didn't see anyone that wasn't having a good time!

[foxgoodrich]

Is it campy tongue-in-cheek campy like "We know this is totally cheesy but go with us here..."? Or campy like just bad campy?

 

I'd say it's campy tongue-in-cheek campy.;) We've done the Mystery dinner 3 times on 3 different ships - had fun each time and we've always had excellent food. All 3 of ours were in Portofino, but I think the menu choices from Giovanni's are essentially the same. (limited menu - a couple of choices for each course) No complaints about the food, and as another poster said, the wine is pretty much the house wine. We've always done the filet for the entree and it's been excellent. The tiramisu is really good too.

 

I think we saw the best acting the first time, but one of the reasons for that opinion is that there was a gypsy character in that play who totally stole the show. We were 20 minutes into the show before we realized the gypsy was being played by a young man in drag - he was amazing! In both the first and third performances the actors were clearly having a wonderful time with the cheesy drama, dialogue, and over the top costumes. The second time was quite enjoyable, but the actors weren't as totally engaged in it and didn't seem to be having as much fun as they were the other two times. (Actors are the RC singers and dancers.)

 

The mystery itself is spaced out over the evening. We started with champagne and hors d'oeuvres in a lounge, saw some of the play, then moved to the restaurant. Wine is poured, antipasti is served, and orders are taken. Then more of the play. Food is served. Then more of the play. And so on until the last act is performed with dessert. Then you have an opportunity to guess who done it and the winner(s) were given a bottle of wine or champagne for a prize. The last time we did it (Sept on Jewel) the mystery was a new one. (#1 and #2 were the same story but with a different ending.)

 

I thought the food/wine/entertainment value was fine for what we spent on it - there's more to it than just dinner in a specialty restaurant. If you're up for a fun evening, good food, free flowing wine, social interaction with others at your table, and you're not expecting an academy award worthy performance, you should enjoy it.

Judy

P.S. I somewhat modify that last statement...that gypsy deserved an academy award.:D

[dynomite]

Did it on FOS back in Oct 16 and it was cool. I enjoyed myself- it's what you make of it. We had more crowd participation-which threw the actors off a bit-but caused them to improvise-which made it more fun. Acting is definitely a bit cheesy/campy.

 

The food was okay and the endless wine is always a perk.

 

It's a great social activity and you learn a lot about people as well- amazing how talkative people are when there is free flowing wine. :)

 

I will say if you are an introvert, this may not be for you- socializing is a must to me for this activity.

[ptf2009]

Did it on FOS back in Oct 16 and it was cool. I enjoyed myself- it's what you make of it. We had more crowd participation-which threw the actors off a bit-but caused them to improvise-which made it more fun. Acting is definitely a bit cheesy/campy.

 

The food was okay and the endless wine is always a perk.

 

It's a great social activity and you learn a lot about people as well- amazing how talkative people are when there is free flowing wine. :)

 

I will say if you are an introvert, this may not be for you- socializing is a must to me for this activity.

 

We had always been curious, so after 18 cruises, we tried the Mystery dinner. We were very disappointed with the over the top cheesy acting, cheap wine (which they did not offer often) and very expensive dinner (could have had a better dinner (more choices on their regular) at Giovanni's on any other night for 40 dollars less pp). The only nice part was meeting nice people, but we did that throughout the cruise....didn't need the overpriced mystery dinner for that. Being diamond members we get the free cheap wine for 3 hours every night. So now we know and won't go again...I just wish I had listened to others' reviews about how it really was....

[Clarea]

We had always been curious, so after 18 cruises, we tried the Mystery dinner. We were very disappointed with the over the top cheesy acting, cheap wine (which they did not offer often) and very expensive dinner (could have had a better dinner (more choices on their regular) at Giovanni's on any other night for 40 dollars less pp). The only nice part was meeting nice people, but we did that throughout the cruise....didn't need the overpriced mystery dinner for that. Being diamond members we get the free cheap wine for 3 hours every night. So now we know and won't go again...I just wish I had listened to others' reviews about how it really was....

I think that would be my biggest problem with doing the Mystery Dinner now. So many good things to eat at Giovanni's, and being limited to just a few choices.

[ptf2009]

I think that would be my biggest problem with doing the Mystery Dinner now. So many good things to eat at Giovanni's, and being limited to just a few choices.

 

Totally agree...we've done it once...never again. There is so much wonderful entertainment on RCCL ships that I don't need to pay for it!

[ace1zoe2]

We had always been curious, so after 18 cruises, we tried the Mystery dinner. We were very disappointed with the over the top cheesy acting, cheap wine (which they did not offer often) and very expensive dinner (could have had a better dinner (more choices on their regular) at Giovanni's on any other night for 40 dollars less pp). The only nice part was meeting nice people, but we did that throughout the cruise....didn't need the overpriced mystery dinner for that. Being diamond members we get the free cheap wine for 3 hours every night. So now we know and won't go again...I just wish I had listened to others' reviews about how it really was....

 

 

 

We did this for first time in 14 cruises the first week of April 2016 and had many of the same feelings as this poster. Rather have the regular menu for less money. The theater part wasn't worth the difference in price. We are diamond as well & can get free wine so that wasn't a huge perk.

[FLUFFLULA]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and recommendations. I'm not sure what my group will decide to do but having your impressions is very helpful!