Sapphire Dining Rooms=differen menus?

[hommebronze]

Okay, could someone explain in simple terms the differences in the dining rooms menu wise...is there guacamole in santa fe, tiger prawns in pacific moon, filet mignon in savoy every day?

[LARGIN]

I heard that all menus are the same regardless of dining room ...

[Pam in CA]

All of the dining rooms have the same menu, I believe. This was changed about six months ago. Previously, the four dining rooms had specialty items.

[prarie cruiser]

On the Sapphire to Alaska last summer, all the menus for all the dining rooms are the same EXCEPT each of the dining rooms has a couple of specialties added to their individual menu. So about 98% of the menu is the same, but a little variation exists. I enjoyed all the dining areas!

[BobBobs]

I opted for the personal Choice dining.

 

There are four PC (personal choice) dining rooms: Plaza Deck 5 has the Savoy and Vivaldi dining rooms and Fiesta Deck 6 has the Santa Fe and Pacific Moon dining rooms; all four dining rooms were midships. Traditional dining (with two dining periods) is offered in the International dining room on Fiesta Deck 6 at the aft of the ship (below Club Fusion). The Sterling Steakhouse was located (of all places) at the aft section of the Horizon Court on Lido Deck 14. Sabatini's was tucked away between the Internet cafe and Club Fusion. I did not partake in eating at Sterling nor Sabatini's because I did not think about them.

 

During the week I sailed the menus were the same in each dining room, including the same "specialty" meal offered each night from the four dining rooms. You did not have to be in a particular dining room to order the specialty meal. I enjoyed the prime rib (the specialty meal from the Santa Fe restaurant) while dining in the Pacific Moon. I also had the best king crab legs ever. And the staff keeps them coming before you are able to say "no more --p-l-e-a-s-e!" The New York steak was tender as could be. The Pacific Moon specialty was shrimp scampi in some kind of angel hair pasta. It was good. All of the food is served in hearty portions. I could only handle a salad or appetizer and the main meal. As for the International dining room, you are allowed to dine during breakfast and lunch only, because the dinner hours are reserved for the guests that chose traditional dining.

 

In short, I checked onboard as a passenger, a week later, checked off as freight. LOL.

 

Hope this "note" helps.

 

BobBobs

 

PS: Anyone heading my way on the Island Princess in January? Jus' checkin'.

[merela]

Okay, could someone explain in simple terms the differences in the dining rooms menu wise...is there guacamole in santa fe, tiger prawns in pacific moon, filet mignon in savoy every day?

 

The waiters do not always mention their specialty dishes at each of the PC dining rooms, but if you know what's available, you can always request the specialty dishes if you choose to dine there. Other than the specialty dish at each PC dining room (Savoy, Pacific Moon, Vivaldi, and Santa Fe), all the dining rooms share the same menu each night.

 

We were on the 10/22-10/29 Sapphire sailing. We ate at the Savoy the first night and no one mentioned their specialty dish. You can get guacamole in the Horizon Court once in a while and at the Mexican food bar set up in front of the Horizon Court pool entrance one lunch time. I did see someone eating fajitas at the Santa Fe. I believe that's their specialty dish. DH tried the Ossobuco dish at Vivaldi. Again, no one mentioned it to him when we were seated, but we knew they had the dish because another waiter offered it to my mom the night before. The Ossobuco dish wasn't as good as we remembered it (on the Diamond 8/04, Ossobuco was delicious!). There were too many peas in the risotto which kind of diminished the value of the dish.

 

We didn't like the service at the Savoy the first night, so we went to the Pacific Moon the 2nd night. The service was OK there, so we switched to Santa Fe the 3rd night. The service was decisively different, so we stayed with Santa Fe until the 2nd formal night when we tried Vivaldi (PC dining only after 8pm). The specialty dish didn't sway us in our decision to eat at a certain PC dining room, but the quality of service provided did.

[grandmaa]

Hi Merela...thanks ever so much for posting the menus and your personal comments about the food on your cruise. From what I think you are inferring the smaller dining rooms (Sante Fe, Pacific Moon, etc) provided better service rather than the larger dining room..is that correct?? We are sailing on Nov. 26 and we are looking forward to being on this ship as we have not cruised on this type before...we recently were on the Golden (transatlantic, May, 2005) and are familiar with the Grand Class ships so we look forward to the new dining rooms and the entertainment venues on Sapphire. Again thank you for all your time and effort in posting the menus and your personal comments... Anita, aka Grandma A (to my grandchildren)

[Once Upon A Time]

We ate in all of the PC dining rooms. The printed menus are the same in all of them. Your waiter will tell you about the specialty dish in each resturant and it doesn't seem to change from cruise to cruise...also, if you really like it, you can order a particular dish be served in a resturant where it is not considered the "on the menu". For instance, Pacific Moon specialty is Shrimp and scallop stir fry... you can order this in Santa Fe if you like. We never had trouble finding anything on the menu that didn't sound great. Have fun and try everything you like!

[merela]

Hi Merela...thanks ever so much for posting the menus and your personal comments about the food on your cruise. From what I think you are inferring the smaller dining rooms (Sante Fe, Pacific Moon, etc) provided better service rather than the larger dining room..is that correct?? We are sailing on Nov. 26 and we are looking forward to being on this ship as we have not cruised on this type before...we recently were on the Golden (transatlantic, May, 2005) and are familiar with the Grand Class ships so we look forward to the new dining rooms and the entertainment venues on Sapphire. Again thank you for all your time and effort in posting the menus and your personal comments... Anita, aka Grandma A (to my grandchildren)

 

I've never had traditional seatings in the main dining room (International Dining Room) because we have always book our cruises last minute and we would be on waiting list #1xx, so we just gave up and go with PC dining. With small children, it's better to have PC dining (anytime dining). We would normally go with a 6pm reservation but for some days, when the kids napped until 6, we would just change our PC dining reservation to 8pm. Remember to do all the changes for a reservation before 5pm each day. A couple of days, we just walk up to one of the PC dining rooms and see if they had any empty tables around 7pm. We were seated both times without waiting.

 

The service in the PC dining rooms are uneven and not every waiter suits your style, so it's random, luck of the draw. Just try every PC dining room and soon you'll see which ones have better service. Since I think for our particular sailing, Santa Fe and Vivaldi have better dinner service, you can start there. I've read that PC dining room waiters rotate their work stations, I don't know if the great waiters in Santa Fe and Vivaldi would still be working there on your sailing.

 

I really don't have any basis of comparison between the services in the main dining room (traditional seatings) and the service of the 4 smaller PC dining rooms. I can only compare the service between the 4 PC dining rooms.

[cruisegirl25]

I can not remember the other dining rooms. But the Santa Fe is chicken and/or beef. The chicken fajitas are the best I ever had. Had them every day.

 

Something with prawns was one

some porkchop thing was another

 

Sorry I just can not remember