Discovered that many people are really polarized about the paid dining options

[tlatrice]

I think there are some people that can't be content with their decisions being the best choice for them and their situation. Their superior decisions and opinions must be acknowledged as the best choice for all people in all circumstances.

 

Yes! My coworker constantly questions my choice to cruise Royal. She insists that Carnival is the same. And it probably is. But I like Royal so I cruise it. She has 4 kids where I only have 1. For her, Carnival is more sensible. She keeps saying it's a waste for me to cruise Royal. I honestly do want to try Carnival one day. But Royal will always be an option for me.

 

Ironically, I was looking at Carnival for my first cruise when I found out she was on it. I decided it would be worth the $1k difference just to NOT have to spend a week with her. Glad I did.

[fletch1027]

for many of us, it is not only or just about 'better' quality food. ambience, atmosphere and personal attention is also a factor.

 

 

 

yes I can buy the Chops filet in the MDR for slightly less money. But for a few bucks more, I get a quieter( usually) place to dine where you can actually carry on a conversation at a normal volume, a waiter who has fewer other tables to be responsible for and a lot of the time, a better view. its more relaxed, and presentation is nicer.

 

 

 

to mr spook and I, that is equally as important when choosing where to eat.

 

 

Luckily you were not in Chops with us last October. There was a nearby party of around 12 that came in half lit and continued drinking after arriving and got a little loud.

 

Also, not to ignite the dress code thing, but half of them were wearing tank tops and shorts... :-(

 

 

 

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[sunshinelover59]

To each his/her own. We love good food but at this point in time will not pay extra for a meal on a cruise ship. We travel simply (inside guarantee) so we can cruise more often; thus no specialty restaurants for us. Would I like to? Heck yes!! Also being from Canada we would pay and do pay on bar bills an extra 35%. As time progresses I would love for us to be in a position to try the specialty restaurants. For those that do, good on you!

 

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[martini_guy]

On our last cruise we sat in the MDR for breakfast, with someone who clearly thought anyone who paid to dine on the ship was an idiot. She was very outspoken about it, and I'm glad we only saw her that one time :)

 

 

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Yes I definitely have overheard comments like that. Once was on the way to the steakhouse and someone in front of me that didn't notice that I was going there said to their partner "look at all the stupid people that are paying extra to go to the steakhouse". Didn't know whether to take it as rude, ignorant or funny. :)

[marti315]

Heres how I see it:

 

Part of the cruise value is the all-inclusive food, part of your fare.

 

So one reason I think it is silly to pay for specialty is you have already paid for the food.

 

Say you choose to dine at Izumi and pay $50 for 2. Well, youve given up on your MDR option, which is an opportunity cost I would value around $15 per person.

 

So in reality you just paid $80 for your meal.

 

Why would I pay $80 for frozen sushi on a ship when I can get higher quality food for less on land? Especially when the folks on land are gettng paid more and have more overhead to cover.

 

Same deal with the Italian options. I can find better quality Italian for less on land.

 

Then you have the "premium" reasoning.

 

Undoubtedly, the steak in Chops is of superior quality than the steak in the MDR. But....

 

 

 

Part of what makes it superior quality is that the free (ie, pre-paid) option keeps getting cheaper and cheaper.

 

End result:

 

As people support paid options, more ship space is dedicated to them. As more space is dedicated to them, RCL must do more to fill them. That means steering people to them by making the free options unappetizing.

 

So one reason people HATE paid dining is that even trying them is "voting with your wallet" and validating RCLs decision to devote more and more space to them and decrease the quality of food elsewhere.

 

Disclaimer: The one and only time I paid for specialty food was Wonderland. Why? That is truly a unique experience that as far as I know, cannot be replicated on land.

I love how you justify wonderland in your own head as OK and use comments like royal doesn't have the expenses like facilities on land. Yea that 1 billion dollar ship just builds itself. :)

 

You justified wonderland others justify chops, johnny rockets, giovannis , why can't everyone be right in their own mind without ridicule?

 

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[marti315]

For those of us who have been cruising for years, it has become quite obvious the cruise lines did a great job of training everyone into paying extra for their dinner. Initially cruising consisted of over the top food choices, nightly midnight buffets, desert rooms all included in your fare. Then, they introduced "specialty" restaurants. Wow....fancy...and costs were low...10, 15 dollars per person. Then they set the hook.........dining room food and service is degraded. No more nightly midnight buffets. The cost for "specialty" restaurants has skyrocketed...$40, $50, $100.00 per person.... the food served in some cases is not really that much better than what is being served in the included dining room. So yeah...I can see the argument from some regarding these specialty joints. As for me....of course we pay a few times each cruise.....after all.....I have been trained.

Did you fly on an airline 15 years ago vs today? Free bags are now 25-50 each. 33 inches of pitch now are 30-31. Full meals on every flight are now a half ounce of pretzels. Its called adapting to market conditions and its not just royal Caribbean.

 

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[MLevin]

Interesting topic. I have only been on 2 cruises. At first we had decided to only eat in the non-extra pay restaurants until we got onboard. We loved Chops and Giovani's. We also loved MDR for breakfast and dinner. Yep...we also loved the free pizza or hot dogs and buffet. We tried it all even room service and they all have their benefits and draw backs. Quick lots of options is fabulous and you go to the buffet. Quiet dinner that you want to make special....paid dining. Quick got to run ....that is the cafe. We LOVE them all because our tastes change from meal to meal. :-D

[mek]

Has anyone noticed if the dining rooms are less full at dinner because people are paying the extra for the other restaurants?

 

No, if anything I think more people opt to eat in the buffets for dinner. Many just don't want to wear more than shorts and flip flops or spend couple of hours eating dinner.

[DrD]

Well, due to budget, I can either afford to drink as much as I want, or to go to specialty restaurants. So I always eat in the MDR. .

[obnurse]

Interesting that this subject should cause any friction. Different strokes for different folks. There is no right or wrong answer. That's what makes cruising fun.

[Lizcourt]

I will bet that a good chunk of the folks who object most vociferously to the rise of pay restaurants are those of us "old timers" who have been travelling for 20 years or more (my 20th anniversary cruise will be on the Oasis in two weeks). That's because we cut our cruise teeth while the cruise lines were marketing themselves as an "all inclusive" vacation where you pay once, and then, except for liquor, shore excursions and the (at that time totally voluntary, never pre-charged) tips, you were done. That was pounded into our heads as one of the great pluses of cruising. Its been hard to watch cruising depart from that basic premise, but, hey, I'm old enough to remember when you didn't pay for TV in your home, either.

 

On the other hand, in many respects there have been many improvements from those "good old days." I remember that on my first cruise on the Monarch of the Seas, only a few upper level suites had balconies -- now it seems that at least half of any modern ship is made up of balcony cabins. Monarch had one small (by today's standards) pool, and certainly nothing like the adult only areas of the Solarium, or the cantilevered hot tubs on the Oasis class. There was one show each night, take it or leave it -- think of Oasis with its ice skating, diving shows, full scale Broadway musicals and the like. The "gym" was one rowing machine, one exercise bike and two treadmills. "Alternative dining" was room service -- period. Even the Windjammer wasn't open during dinner hour. There were no rock climbing walls, flow riders, mini golf, or even, if I recall correctly,,ping pong tables.

 

Basically, you take the good with the bad. Does it cause a twinge to my "that should be included" muscle memory when I have to pay for ice cream and specialty coffee on the ship? Yup. But when I balance that against the expansion and improvements in activities, cabins, and, yes, the availability of "special" restaurants, even for a price, I have to say that on balance, today is better than yesterday and tomorrow holds the promise of being even better.

[ColoradoGurl]

I'm perfectly happy with the options included in my cruise fare.

 

I like the buffet because I eat only because I have to, not because I really enjoy food. I don't eat very much, and having to sit through 3 or 4 courses of food and a 2 hour dinner in the dining room is not enjoyable for me. I'm full after course 1 and I would rather be out doing something else. Unfortunately for me, my travel buddy enjoys the dining room, so I suffer through it.

 

It's just 1 week, and it's not like they're making inedible food for the free dining options. I eat until I'm full and then I'm bored with eating, and paying $40 for a meal I probably won't finish when I could eat for free doesn't make sense.

 

If it were up to me, I'd serve myself, eat real quick and leave. Windjammer for the win.

 

 

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[TonyL128]

It's my vacation, it's my cruise and it's my money, I can spend it the way I want to, the way I enjoy it most.

 

If I want to go Specialty restaurants and pay extra, it's my choice. If I want to book a suite, it's my choice.

 

It's no one else's business.

 

 

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[Chicken_Lips]

Most chain restaurants on land get their food from Sysco. Doesn't it occur to people that the cruise industry probably does too? I don't see how one cruise line's cuisine can be different from another. They all dock at the same ports and probably get their food from the same suppliers.

 

To all the bitter haters that like to rain on stranger's parades, you're on vacation chill out!

[El Abuelo]

Everyone knows that passengers who pay extra for specialty dining on cruise ships are better people. More intelligent and better looking. :)

 

j/k folks. This thread is amusing - there is no end to the things people can argue about on the interwebs. It's not like some passengers are being forced to choose between eating or rowing.

[luckyinpa]

, PLEASE tell me what upscale steakhouse will serve you *multiple* appetizers, *multiple entrees* and *multiple desserts* for $35/pp. :

 

new to royal and trying to figure out all the options for dining. i wasnt aware you could get multiple entrees at specialties on royal. thats fantastic! definitely helping in my decision

 

NCL just gives one entree but does give multiple apps and desserts.

[Clarea]

new to royal and trying to figure out all the options for dining. i wasnt aware you could get multiple entrees at specialties on royal. thats fantastic! definitely helping in my decision

 

NCL just gives one entree but does give multiple apps and desserts.

You can get multiple entrees at specialty restaurants on Royal, but theu will charge you $10 per extra entree. More than $10 extra if you opt for multiple higher cost entrees at Chops.

[luckyinpa]

Yes! My coworker constantly questions my choice to cruise Royal. She insists that Carnival is the same. And it probably is. But I like Royal so I cruise it. She has 4 kids where I only have 1. For her, Carnival is more sensible. She keeps saying it's a waste for me to cruise Royal. I honestly do want to try Carnival one day. But Royal will always be an option for me.

 

Ironically, I was looking at Carnival for my first cruise when I found out she was on it. I decided it would be worth the $1k difference just to NOT have to spend a week with her. Glad I did.

 

wow that coworker is nuts. ive only been on NCL but started researching other options like royal and carnival. all last week was spent researching the Pride. then starting this week i started researching anthem. based solely on pics online and CC reading, theres no way the pride is even close to the anthem. quick review of youtube videos would show anyone that. and if you are doing cold weather cruises, anthem gets you soooo much more and i can even tell that in just my few days of research. pride does have one covered pool for winter though. but nothing like two70 or solarium. i really wished i did anthem last december instead of breakaway

[jamesboat]

What I don't understand, however, is the "paying what you would pay at a land restaurant" argument (against specialty)... that's ridiculous - and to those who keep spouting that, PLEASE tell me what upscale steakhouse will serve you *multiple* appetizers, *multiple entrees* and *multiple desserts* for $35/pp. Please tell me - as every nice steakhouse DH & I have ever been to, anywhere, has cost us bare minimum $70 per person for ONE of each course....

 

So, yeah.. maybe if you have zero appetite and aren't a foodie, then obviously paying for a specialty restaurant doesn't make sense for you... but surely you realize that many people aren't like that? :confused:

 

Sure, theyre called Churrascarias

[BamaGuy44]

It's my vacation, it's my cruise and it's my money, I can spend it the way I want to, the way I enjoy it most.

 

If I want to go Specialty restaurants and pay extra, it's my choice. If I want to book a suite, it's my choice.

 

It's no one else's business.

 

Exactly. It's great that there are so many options anyone can take the kind of cruise they want.

[Seville2Cabo]

Over time the elegance of cruising has come down as the world has become more casual and more and more people want to and are able to cruise. I don’t believe RC is lowering the MDR standards to drive us to the specialty restaurants, I believe the standards are going down to allow the lower price point. As the ships have gotten bigger, they have pushed the price down (in constant dollars) to expand their potential customer base. The result, in my opinion, is the MDR, which used to be an elegant evening of dinning good food, is becoming not so special or elegant. Food, IMO, is still ok, but with the declining dress, service level and quality, not the “event” it used to be.

We go to the specialty restaurants about 70% of the time (and have never had dinner at the Windjammer). For us, we go for the better service, ambiance, quality, not rushed evening with friends and staff with more time per person. It is certainly worth the extra money, which is small in the total cost of a vacation.

IMO, the specialty restaurants are the cruise lines way of providing customer an option to try to recapture that more elegant dining experience.

[zdad59]

What an interesting read. I never realized there were so many perspectives. "To each his own" is what I say, and no one is wrong.

 

For us, I can say we have never had a bad meal. My standards aren't low, but my expectations aren't overly high either. I don't expect a Capital Grille steak in the MDR. Some of the things in the MDR are pretty tasty too. For one night each cruise, we do specialty dine. As noted by others, the ambience is a little better there, service is a tad more attentive, and the food is different. Giovanni's is our specialty choice. All six in our group agree that Chops is not worth the extra $$. Others that have posted here love it, but as I said, to each his own.

 

So for newbie cruisers I say, don't get discouraged about the food even before you board. Everything is good....nothing is Michelin star quality. You will eat well anywhere on board, and you will find what you consider "good food" somewhere on board.

 

Cheers to all.

[Pratique]

There needs to be a distinction between the quality of the MDR and the specialty restaurants to justify the price differential.

 

In the end, everyone needs to decide for themselves if they are satisfied with what they are paying for, and if it is of value to them.

[JalenR]

I think they are less full because more people are going to Windjammer.

 

 

This... On my Navigator cruise last month the dinner room was pretty full but the Windjammer was more full than I remember ever seeing. This was the first cruise in 10 years we didn't go to a specialty restaurant. I didn't see the value in it. We used to enjoy a nice evening at Portifino. Once it turned into Giovanni's we went a couple times. It wasn't has good as before. The seafood skewer, the fancy desserts all missing. Now the Giovonni's menu is worse than it was to begin with. So the group of 10 of us decided to just to do the MDR which we were all content with. They were all over the ship trying to get you to go to a specialty restaurant including the pool deck!

[MikeNJ1109]

Not quite sure how to phrase my question, but I kind of wonder whether this is just a RCCL issue -- quality of MDR going down to steer folks into a Pay location -- or whether the same thing is happening on equivalent cruise lines such as NCL.

 

My wife and I haven't been on a cruise of any sort in about 5 years, so we have no recent experience to draw a conclusion. Our prior cruises have been both Royal and Norwegian, and at least going back then, the quality of both the "free" and "pay" locations were terrific in our book.

 

Michael