Dinner in Windjammer questions (pref. Legend of Seas)

[OliverTheCat]

I just got off the phone with a RCI "vacation specialist" and they continue to prove to me that they dont know anything.

 

I wanted to know that when you eat in the Windjammer... how do you go about asking for the dining room selections to eat? The person I spoke to said you cannot ever do that, but can get them delivered to your room via room service. I thought I read on here that you CAN get dining room selections in Windjammer.

 

What I want to know is how do I go about doing that? Do I have to ask a waiter to bring them to us? Is there actually a waiter assigned to your table in windjammer for dinner and do you sit at same place each night?

 

I really want the good steak and the lobster tail selections they offer and also a appetizers on some nights, but definitely want to be casual for dinner and eat at the Windjammer.

 

Help, I am confused.

[Travelgrrl]

Here's how it works: many of the entrees that are on the dinner menu, and many of the desserts, are offered en masse in the Windjammer. There are large steam tables with many different entrees and salads (more variety than in the dining room, though of course presentation suffers); also someone is carving a big prime rib or beef brisket or lamb or something else which is on the dining room menu that evening too.

 

Additionally, I think you can still order a steak from the waiters at the Windjammer. Lobster, I am sure you cannot. Also, the room service menu is limited; usually on your TV it will show you which of the entrees are available, not all are. I have never seen lobster offered via room service. (Your mileage may vary; others have had success with ordering random things from room service and have gotten them.)

 

After many cruises, on our last one, we were not actually assigned a table in the dining room (long story, but I was lecturing on the ship and they were absolutely full, my friend and I would have had to sit at different tables), so we ate in the Windjammer every night except one. (The maitre d' felt bad we hadn't been assigned a table and got us together for the 2nd formal night (lobster night) It was actually very nice to have such a mellow (and short) dining experience; we ended up doing a lot more night activities by having a flexible dinner time and taking 45 minutes, rather than two hours, for dinner. (And I love the looooong European dining traditions, so that's unusual for me.)

 

So the Windjammer has a lot to recommend it. But I think the customer service person was actually mostly right; you can't just order dining room items from a menu in the Windjammer.

[madforcruising]

My dining experience in the Windjammer is somewhat limited and I don´t prefer it for dinner as I like the dining room best.

 

Anyway, Windjammer for dinner is not that much different from breakfast and lunch.

It is definitely still a buffet and there is NO Menu to order from.

As said before there are itmes from the Dining Room Menu on the Buffet line.

 

You will not have an assigned table in the Windjammer nor an assigned waiter to order from (again Buffet). The tables are like usual first come first serve or to say another way you help yourself at the buffet and find a seat then that´s empty.

 

I would say the person you spoke to is right in the meantime.

[Travelgrrl]

We did find a Windjammer waiter that we liked so we sat in his 'section' and he brought us drinks, etc. every night. He was very attentive to us. We tipped him every night accordingly. So it was nearly like the interaction you would have with your regular dining room waiter.

[OliverTheCat]

May I ask how much you tipped him each night? I probably will want to sit in someone's section as well.

[Travelgrrl]

We each gave him $5 a night. That was about what we would have tipped the waiter and asst waiter in the dining room (though not per night, of course.)

 

I taught my friend how to 'duke' someone by shaking their hand and slipping them money and she got a kick out of tipping him that way. He was very happy with the $.

[Candleonwater]

I hate to bring up a sore subject, but I'm curious about this tipping the WJ staff... I've always been told NOT to, just to tip the regular staff... even though we don't eat ANY meals in the main dining room. Should I stop this and start tipping the WJ staff?

[Travelgrrl]

In this case, because we were never assigned a table in the dining room at all, I had no one to tip. (Though we also tipped the waiter and asst waiter the one night we 'crashed' a table.) But generally I would tip my traditional waiter and asst waiter, even if sometimes I ate in the Windjammer. And then also leave a little (not $10) to the Windjammer waiter too, each night I was there.

[Candleonwater]

This is an option, not being assigned a table? I have found, in 3 cruises, that I just don't have the patience for a long drawn out meal... much prefer buffet dining.

[OliverTheCat]

Candleonwater: That is how DH and I feel as well. We want to try this cruise not eating in dining room AT ALL and eating it in buffet in less than 2 hours and get on with our evening. We just didnt care for the experience on our last RCI cruise..but would never miss the dining room on Disney, so its just a preference I guess.

 

I dont know about not being able to not have an assigned table, but I imagine in travelgrrls case it was rare occurrance.

[Candleonwater]

Even on Disney, been there, done that, probably wouldn't again. Of course it didn't help that we had HORRIBLE tablemates.

 

But it really is the length of the meal that drives me nuts. To me dining is something I have to do because it's necessary, not as a social event. So many other things to do on the ship!

 

I'm going to check into this further! LOL

[madforcruising]

This is an option, not being assigned a table?

 

I´m sure that travelgrrl had no assigned table had to do with the fact that she was one of the lecturers on the ship and therefore I´m sure they counted her somewhat between guest and staff. As she said the Dining room was packed full and probably they accomodated passengers first before someone who kind of worked for the cruise line on the ship.

[imatarb]

We noticed that many of the dining room entrees were available in the Windjammer aboard the Legend last week. We figured that if we were too tired to dine in the dining room, we could always head to the Windjammer for a bite to eat. We did this a few times, and we loved it.

[Travelgrrl]

Madforcruising is right. All traditional passengers get precedence in the dining room and elsewhere. But I've never not gotten 2 seats together in the dining room before! Then, this was the cruise that turned into 11 days instead of 7 - that was a lot of Windjammer!

[serene56]

This is an option, not being assigned a table? I have found, in 3 cruises, that I just don't have the patience for a long drawn out meal... much prefer buffet dining.

 

If youknow ahead of time that you will not be using the dining room at all-- then let the travel agent know. This is a good thing so someone else can be assigned the table and it dont go empty all week. Good for waiters and asst when they are expecting tip and find there isnone becase of empty seats.

[Candleonwater]

That's why I've never made it an issue to find out about, because, even though we don't eat in the dining room, I still tip the staff. I figured it's not their fault I don't want to eat there. Also, I don't like to have them waiting for us to show up... and we won't.

[OliverTheCat]

Candleonwater:

 

Horrible table mates can ruin it everytime. We have actually NEVER had decent table mates. They have all been horror stories and mismatches. Ugh. Ya know, now that I think about it, maybe that is a reason we hate dining room too, but didnt think about it til' now. At least we had a table for 2 on honeymoon (whew!).

 

As for Disney, wow, I am surprised you didnt care for their dining experience! I think the dining room rotation is so cool, and the service as always been so stellar. Maybe I just got lucky :) But our tablemates were still always icky!