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RCCL Dining Options - Maybe We Should Cancel Our Reservation?

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Tapi Great Review Rare

Tapi

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I agree with the above posster. I think another type vacation might suit you better

 

 

 

I wasn't thinking about another type of vacation, but another cruise line. Perhaps Norwegian with its freestyle cruising, or Carnival which is more casual and where shorts are allowed in the MDR.

 

 

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Paulxyz2004

Paulxyz2004

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I wasn't thinking about another type of vacation, but another cruise line. Perhaps Norwegian with its freestyle cruising, or Carnival which is more casual and where shorts are allowed in the MDR.

 

 

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While I can´t speak for Carnival, though I do think it´s the same as well, freestyle Dining on NCL does not make the Dinner any quicker, it´s still about the same as in the MDR on RCI. (I wouldn´t even say dress codes vary much between the two).

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Clarea

Clarea

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But it does have the Park Cafe which I have not seen mentioned as an option.

No Park Cafe on Jewel. There is a food venue in the Solarium, but it does not entirely duplicate what Park Cafe offers. It is open late night with pizza slices, etc.

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Clarea

Clarea

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Does it have a name?

Might be Solarium Cafe.

 

 

It was supposed to be turned into Park Cafe, but fell victim to the unexpectedly excessive cost of the Empress refurb, just like Chops on MJ. I hear Chops is planned for MJ in the near future, so I'd expect them to also put Park Cafe on JW at some point.

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nelblu

nelblu

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No Park Cafe on Jewel. There is a food venue in the Solarium, but it does not entirely duplicate what Park Cafe offers. It is open late night with pizza slices, etc.

 

 

Serenade has/d Park Café in the Solarium when we sailed her in 2013. Has Brilliance been upgraded with a Park Café.

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Clarea

Clarea

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Serenade has/d Park Café in the Solarium when we sailed her in 2013. Has Brilliance been upgraded with a Park Café.

Except for Jewel, all the Radiance and Vision class ships have been upgraded with a Park Cafe.

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brookie848

brookie848

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While I can´t speak for Carnival, though I do think it´s the same as well, freestyle Dining on NCL does not make the Dinner any quicker, it´s still about the same as in the MDR on RCI. (I wouldn´t even say dress codes vary much between the two).

 

The NCL Dawn is sailing out of Puerto Rico starting in November. There are two main dining rooms and you can wear shorts to one without an issue. The other requires long pants (jeans count).

 

If you don't want the main dining room, there is O'Sheehan's, which is open 24/7 and offers pub style food (wings, burgers, fish & chips, Shepard's pie, etc.). There is also a special offered there some nights (ribs, prime rib, seafood basket). In addition, there is a free Asian restaurant. There are also multiple specialty restaurants (only one will require long pants).

 

No formal nights on NCL and dinner in the dining room varies depending on how many courses you are eating (there are no set dining times/tables on NCL). We usually budget 1.5 hours if we plan on eating all three courses, but we've definitely done it faster.

 

Dress codes are a major talking point and honestly since I've only cruised NCL (but am definitely interested in others), the thought of having any sort of dress code besides wearing clothes makes other lines a little less attractive to me. Most nights I wear a skirt/dress, but every now and then I just don't feel like going to the effort. And my husband definitely doesn't want to have to change for dinner every night -- especially in the Caribbean.

 

The Royal cruise just may not be the best match for what you want in a vacation experience.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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My family (me, my wife, and two teenage kids) have reservations for a Southern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean later this year.

 

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

 

Are you going on Adventure by chance? On our last cruise they switched formal night from what we were told prior to boarding and everyone came smart casual the 2nd night.

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rukkian

rukkian

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We were on Jewel out of PR in February, and I did bring a suit and several pairs of nice pants, after the first formal night, I really didn't use them. I did wear a tie on the second formal night, but no jacket, and still will probably not even bring that next time.

 

I would still wear a nice pair of jeans or khakis on formal nights, but the other nights, you will be perfectly fine in a nice pair of khaki shorts and a polo. The cruise compass each day does not call out a dress code, but a dress suggestion. It really is no different than a 70's dress night, or white night. They are optional. In the caribbean specifically, there is no real need to get all dressed up every night.

 

As for the windjammer - my wife hates buffets in general, but we did eat there for lunch and breakfast a few times, thinking it was okay. The last night, we were meeting a group (4 other couples) we met on our roll call, and went to the Windjammer for dinner. My wife liked the environment so much, that she is saying we may not even go to the MDR on our next cruise and may do the WJ most nights instead. There is a big difference between lunch and dinner in the WJ, at least on Jewel.

 

As for the time issue - we only did not have a 2top 2 times in my time dining, and both were because we were eating with others from our roll call. I think we were out in less than an hour each time we were by ourselves, and only spent 90 minutes when we did the 8top with our friends. This is with several drinks (we had the drink package), normally 4 courses (salad, app, entree, dessert) and usually having multiple deserts to try a bite or two of several. The MDR does not need to be a long drawn out experience. My wife gets annoyed at land based restaurants as she is impatient, and was not any more annoyed in the MDR as far as timing goes.

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baileybrad

baileybrad

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Posted (edited)
(Note: I originally posted this message on the First Time Cruisers forum, but was told that this forum was a better place for it, so here goes.)

 

My family (me, my wife, and two teenage kids) have reservations for a Southern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean later this year. I am wondering if any RCCL veterans can fill us in on dining options.

 

It's my fault for not looking into it further before we made our reservation, but I didn't realize how the dining works. From what I can see, we have four nights of casual dining, one night of "smart casual" dining, and two nights of formal dining. However, even the casual dining means khaki pants and a dress shirt ... not that it's a big issue, but especially in the Caribbean, it would be nice to wear a polo shirt and dressy shorts to dinner. And the smart casual/formal nights ... not happening. I can't remember the last time I wore a jacket and tie, and I'm definitely not going to do that on vacation.

 

Unfortunately, the only other options I can see are eating at the Windjammer buffet (my wife hates buffets) or nibbling on room service in our staterooms (which sounds depressing).

 

Is there something that I'm missing? Any truly casual options? Anyplace where we can go to grab a quick salad or sandwich?

 

From reading these forums, I'm wondering if we picked the right vacation. It seems that many/most cruise customers enjoy getting dressed up for dinners in the evening. That's not us. We didn't sign up for a cruise because we wanted a two-hour meal every evening. We signed up for a cruise because we want to visit six different islands and have great excursions on them. But I'm starting to wonder if maybe we should just eat the reservation deposit, and instead spend the entire week in Puerto Rico.

 

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

Do not really see the relevance of your point with ship being in the Caribbean. The ship is air-conditioned. Think floating hotel. You can wear khakis all seven nights and will not be uncomfortable. Wear a nice collared golf shirt on 5 of the nights. Choose a nice long-sleeved dress shirt on the formal nights and still fit in on this cruise. You could wear a tie on those nights, too. Do you really think that wearing khakis pants is dressing up?

 

Or you could wear dress shorts like others did on this cruise when we were on it July 22 - 29. Suggestion by RCCL is to not do so but some did. For the first time on 12 cruises, I did not wear a sport coat on formal nights but our sons, all wore bow ties with dress shirts on those nights. We just did not want to deal with packing the coats.

 

You are over thinking this decision. We think that going to the main dining room with our sons and enjoying a nice, relaxed meal for a week is fun. A nice change of pace in our busy lives.

 

And by the way there were some men who wore not so nice shorts to the MDR. That reflects on them and how they choose to go through their lives. Not my problem, I just do not care because, it again reflects on how they choose to represent themselves and their families. Nobody is going to say a word to them.

 

As to just staying in PR for a week that is up to you. Getting to see 5 different stops on a Caribbean cruise is a great opportunity to experience a lot of different things in a very easy way.

 

You can do the Windjammer and eat your food quickly but, remember you are back on the ship in the evenings most of the time. What is the issue with enjoying a bunch of different starters and a couple of main courses with your family for a week in a beautiful setting, being waited on hand and foot by some really great folks?

Edited by baileybrad
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baileybrad

baileybrad

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Posted
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, you really didn't answer my question ... and neither did the thread that you linked. I specifically asked if there were *other* options, aside from the buffet or room service.

 

I read many threads on this forum before posting. I saw that RCCL tends not to enforce its dress code (although other posts have suggested that they do). But I also appreciate that the suggested dress code is there for a reason. If shorts aren't allowed -- and my understanding of RCCL's dress code is that they are not, even for "casual" dinners -- that's fine. I'm not looking to be the "I paid for my vacation so I can do what I want!" idiot who shows up to the formal dinner in shorts. That's why I'm wondering if the only dinner options are MDR/buffet/room service -- none of which are ideal -- or if there are other options available.

 

As I mentioned before, our main reason for going on a cruise is not so that we can dine opulently every night, but rather so that we could visit a bunch of islands in one week. We really don't want to spend two-plus hours at multiple-course dinners every evening. Something quicker and less formal would be ideal. We did not realize that dinners were such a big deal on cruises, and that's why we're re-thinking our plans.

How can you have more of a choice than a buffet where you can choose what you eat????
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Ocean Dancer

Ocean Dancer

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You are right but where the heck is he going at dinner time?

Solarium, pizza, room service.....................his problem!:eek:

 

Op isn't interested in DINING. We all cruise for different reasons. We also like to see different islands or ports, but we like to dress for dinner and enjoy the experience. OP seems he would be happy with McDonald's.

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rukkian

rukkian

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Posted
Do not really see the relevance of your point with ship being in the Caribbean. The ship is air-conditioned. Think floating hotel. You can wear khakis all seven nights and will not be uncomfortable. Wear a nice collared golf shirt on 5 of the nights. Choose a nice long-sleeved dress shirt on the formal nights and still fit in on this cruise. You could wear a tie on those nights, too. Do you really think that wearing khakis pants is dressing up?

 

Or you could wear dress shorts like others did on this cruise when we were on it July 22 - 29. Suggestion by RCCL is to not do so but some did. For the first time on 12 cruises, I did not wear a sport coat on formal nights but our sons, all wore bow ties with dress shirts on those nights. We just did not want to deal with packing the coats.

 

You are over thinking this decision. We think that going to the main dining room with our sons and enjoying a nice, relaxed meal for a week is fun. A nice change of pace in our busy lives.

 

And by the way there were some men who wore not so nice shorts to the MDR. That reflects on them and how they choose to go through their lives. Not my problem, I just do not care because, it again reflects on how they choose to represent themselves and their families. Nobody is going to say a word to them.

 

As to just staying in PR for a week that is up to you. Getting to see 5 different stops on a Caribbean cruise is a great opportunity to experience a lot of different things in a very easy way.

 

You can do the Windjammer and eat your food quickly but, remember you are back on the ship in the evenings most of the time. What is the issue with enjoying a bunch of different starters and a couple of main courses with your family for a week in a beautiful setting, being waited on hand and foot by some really great folks?

 

As for air conditioning, I know at least for us, since we were on deck 11, we pretty much had to go outside through the pool all the time unless we went to a different floor. I also thought that many times the halls were too hot and humid even with the air. Add to that, Caribbean cruises seem to be a little more laid back environment (probably from the whole island time).

 

While I did bring plenty of pants, I would always end up sweating in them, as that is just how I am. I wear shorts in Iowa in February, and pretty much year around at work, and it is air conditioned.

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Reijo

Reijo

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I have more than 20 cruises with Royal Caribbean and initially we dressed very nicely on formal nights. I never had a "formal" but wore nicer than church clothes and my husband always wore coat and tie. Through the years, he went with dress shirt (top button, unbuttoned) and sport coat. We now were what we consider church clothes and husband no longer carries a sport coat.....just wears a nice polo shirt with dress slacks. We have relatives who travel with us and the extra suit/sport coat and dressier clothes would cost them extra because they fly in. We took one short cruise prior to our longer cruise and decided to just in at Windjammer on formal night. Our waiter told us "NO", eat in the dining room that it was our vacation and if we didn't want to "dress up" we didn't have to.

 

Anyone can abuse the dress code. I've seen young ladies come into the dining room with SHORT shorts on. Now, they were dressier shorts with a nice top that matched but nevertheless, it didn't look appropriate. I see quite a few younger (teens) wearing T shirt with designs on them (unfortunately, my grandson did this on a cruise with us).

 

Wear whatever you want, just be smart. We asked RCCL about the dress codes and were told that it was people's vacation.....all is okay.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

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baileybrad

baileybrad

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Posted
Solarium, pizza, room service.....................his problem!:eek:

 

Op isn't interested in DINING. We all cruise for different reasons. We also like to see different islands or ports, but we like to dress for dinner and enjoy the experience. OP seems he would be happy with McDonald's.

Never heard McDonald's mentioned by the OP.
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