In Cabin Dining

[VegasTW]

Hi all, how is the in cabin dining?

 

Our itinerary is very port intensive and we may want to have breakfast and possibly dinner in the room a few times.

 

On our last cruise (Celebrity), the only table in our suite was on the veranda ... it was a nice teak table but not very clean. They didn't put on a table cloth, and at one point we even had bird droppings on the edge.

 

The photos on O show a lovely butler caring for your table with a white table cloth. I'm not a snob on the white table cloth concept but would enjoy a little luxury in terms of this option.

 

We are in a PH 2 and it looks like there's a beautiful table and chairs at the end of the bed.

 

Just curious on your experiences.

 

 

 

 

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[airheadfan]

Did 30 days over last Christmas and New Years on the Nautica in a PH - had room service on both the balcony and in the room. Both worked well. Not a lot of room but adequate for 2. A good alternative to the dining areas.

[tv24]

We had dinner in our PH after a rough day in one port. Our butler did a fine job in serving dinner course-by-course. We also had many breakfasts in our PH. We simply phoned the butler when we were up and ready and placed our order and he delivered within 30 minutes. Bear in mind our orders were simple. The table and chairs at the end of the bed compose the dining area, and they work well. We were happy.

[PaulMCO]

Depends on the ship. More room on Riv/Marina as the PH cabins are bigger (the photo you describe is on them). R ships rather tight but doable. You can also order from any menu including the specialties.

[janecambridge]

As you are in a PH suite,you can order hot breakfast.

You can also order from the speciality restaurants in suite.

It is preferred you order from one or maximum two,speciality restaurants. (Logistics). If you have a beverage package,you are still able to have your glass of wine,beer or champagne in suite with meal.

We did not use the GDR menu in suite but I believe it’s possible.

Every meal,breakfast or dinner,we had a table cloth.

The PH suite was a bit tight and we ended up with plate covers everywhere,but it did not upset our dining.Our butler preferred to deliver main and dessert at same time and he was not happy to serve outside.Again that didn’t upset our dining.

The butler in OC suite was a lot more flexible.

[pinotlover]

We’ve eaten dinner in suite several times on R ships, without any issues. Had breakfast there likewise when we’ Had very early tour starts.

 

Dinner, in suite, can be fun, just one word of advice. Remember, you are not the only suite the Butler is servicing. Unless, there is a particular reason we want to dine in that night we typically ask our Butler how his schedule looks. They will typically be honest with you. If he has 10 other cabins signed up for in suite dining, you may want to reconsider for another evening. Otherwise, patience is required.

 

OTOH, some cruisers use it extensively. I noticed our Butler always heading into a cabin with food and asked if they were sick or something. He said “No, they take all three meals per day, all drinks, everything, only in their cabin. They have standing orders at cocktail and canapés time for drinks, along with at lunch and dinner. They don’t go to restaurants or bars and I bring them every thing.” He said it occurs most every cruise.

 

Patience is a virtue.

[ronrick1943]

We don't use it that much, but when we do it's great.

[SellaVee]

I've had breakfast on an R ship in a concierge stateroom. There's a table top hidden behind the sofa which comes out to extend the table. There was a linen tablecloth and matching napkin and a small vase of flowers. I was impressed, although I was only having breakfast in my stateroom because we had an early start so it was a bit wasted on me.

[Go-Bucks!]

We had dinner in our PH after a rough day in one port. Our butler did a fine job in serving dinner course-by-course. We also had many breakfasts in our PH. We simply phoned the butler when we were up and ready and placed our order and he delivered within 30 minutes. Bear in mind our orders were simple. The table and chairs at the end of the bed compose the dining area, and they work well. We were happy.

If we want breakfast in our PH cabin, do we have to call the butler or can we leave a filled out hanging card on our door the night before?

 

Also, how (and when) do we order in suite dinner? Call room service or the butler? Will daily menus be automatically provided in our cabin?

[pinotlover]

For in suite dining from the Specialties, we typically tell our Butler in the morning what time we would like to be served. He will bring the menus from the Specialties at time for you to order from.

 

Place your order and have patience. He’ll deliver it course by course.

[Go-Bucks!]

For in suite dining from the Specialties, we typically tell our Butler in the morning what time we would like to be served. He will bring the menus from the Specialties at time for you to order from.

 

Place your order and have patience. He’ll deliver it course by course.

What about from GDR? Or breakfast?

 

Can't we order in advance, especially if we'll be touring all day?

[janecambridge]

If we want breakfast in our PH cabin, do we have to call the butler or can we leave a filled out hanging card on our door the night before?

 

Also, how (and when) do we order in suite dinner? Call room service or the butler? Will daily menus be automatically provided in our cabin?

 

There is a card each day delivered for you to order breakfast for the next morning.There is a half hour gateway for delivery..I have just read that some passengers call first thing in the morning for a full breakfast.Personally I wouldn’t do that to the butler who is very busy,especially port days.

To order in-suite dining from speciality restaurants,speak to your butler on embarkation and ask him how much notice he will need,Our first butler wanted an early morning heads up,our second butler just wanted an hour.Your butler will take your order.They are very helpful.

The menus are in the Executive lounge daily.

Room service is 24hrs a day and you can phone down for that.

[pinotlover]

There is a room service menu available to all passengers for all meals. In Concierge Cabins and above, that menu includes hot items for breakfast. In addition, for those in PH and above, they can order a course by course dinner from the Specialties. I do not believe that the GDR menu, in full, is available for any room service, only the portion that may appear on the room service menu.

 

Even in PH and above, there are items that regularly appear on the Terrace buffet that can’t be ordered because they aren’t on the room service menu.

[ORV]

There is a room service menu available to all passengers for all meals. In Concierge Cabins and above, that menu includes hot items for breakfast. In addition, for those in PH and above, they can order a course by course dinner from the Specialties. I do not believe that the GDR menu, in full, is available for any room service, only the portion that may appear on the room service menu.

 

Even in PH and above, there are items that regularly appear on the Terrace buffet that can’t be ordered because they aren’t on the room service menu.

 

I believe with the recent additions to Concierge and above you can now order off the daily GDR menus for lunch or dinner. It's one of the new perks.

[pinotlover]

ORV;

 

I’ll be the first to say it was confusing. We were on the Nautica, last month, so for Specialties only Toscana and Polo Grill apply, but we’re were given menus to order from which included the two Specialty restaurants and the GDR. The Specialties menus were identical to those given in the restaurant itself, however the GDR was a print out since that menu changes daily. It just didn’t appear to be the FULL GDR menu, however, it may have been.

 

For those not familiar with the procedure, all cabin orders have to come from the same kitchen. Therefore, one cruiser cannot order from the GDR and the other from a Specialties (if PH and above). P &T share a kitchen on all ships, so both menus are available, but on the Marina , one cannot order from Red Ginger while the other orders from Jacques or P&T. Same rules apply to GDR. In Concierge, one can order from the GDR menu, as presented.

[Go-Bucks!]

There is a card each day delivered for you to order breakfast for the next morning.There is a half hour gateway for delivery..I have just read that some passengers call first thing in the morning for a full breakfast.Personally I wouldn’t do that to the butler who is very busy,especially port days.

To order in-suite dining from speciality restaurants,speak to your butler on embarkation and ask him how much notice he will need,Our first butler wanted an early morning heads up,our second butler just wanted an hour.Your butler will take your order.They are very helpful.

The menus are in the Executive lounge daily.

Room service is 24hrs a day and you can phone down for that.

We'll be on Insignia so no Executive lounge. When we've been in suites on Princess, our steward (no butlers) gave us the MDR menu each morning in case we wanted to order dinner in suite. So, on O, do we have to ask for a menu every time we'd like to eat dinner in suite or will they automatically be delivered to our cabin each day? If so, how early?

 

We didn't particularly like Toscana or Polo, so might not order in from them. But hot breakfast and dinner from GDR is likely.

 

Again, can we order dinner the night before or early morning if we have an all day tour and will be off the ship?

[pinotlover]

Several questions, different answers.

 

Breakfast: there is a room service menu you order from. It is not the GDR menu, but has items from there on it. You can only order from the room service menu applicable to your cabin

 

Dinner: the GDR menu is not posted, either on the tv in your room, or at the restaurant, until early afternoon. There is no way you can order off that menu before you leave for tours in the morning. Only exception might be the standard steak, salmon, and chicken dish that appears every day, but probably not even that. You’ll have to wait until you get back from your tours to see the GDR dinner menu for that day.

[Winters Gate]

Several questions, different answers.

 

Breakfast: there is a room service menu you order from. It is not the GDR menu, but has items from there on it. You can only order from the room service menu applicable to your cabin

 

Dinner: the GDR menu is not posted, either on the tv in your room, or at the restaurant, until early afternoon. There is no way you can order off that menu before you leave for tours in the morning. Only exception might be the standard steak, salmon, and chicken dish that appears every day, but probably not even that. You’ll have to wait until you get back from your tours to see the GDR dinner menu for that day.

 

If you are in a PH or above you can order breakfast from the GDR menu.

[pinotlover]

NO, NO, NO!

 

There is a Room Service Menu, applicable to your cabin level, for Breakfast. One can only order from that menu. It is not the GDR menu, and not as extensive as the GDR breakfast menu. In a PH you can order breakfast from your cabin’s Room Service Menu! One can only get the items listed on the Room Service Menu.

 

As an aside, on our cruise last month, the GDR didn’t open up for breakfast, on port days, until docking time, making it impossible for those on tours to eat in the GDR. My guess is, that for food order from the Respective Room Service Menu for Breakfast, the food is coming from the Terrace Cafe kitchen.

 

Let me add, for those unfamiliar with the system. One can order from the Room Service Menu, choosing from the items on that menu, 24 hours per day. However, for those in PH and above, they can order from the Specialty Restaurants, to be served course by course, during the time those restaurants are open. This is about a three hour window. The same is true for the dinner menu of the GDR.

Edited March 7, 2018 by pinotlover

[MarkieMarkNYC]

I noticed our Butler always heading into a cabin with food and asked if they were sick or something. He said “No, they take all three meals per day, all drinks, everything, only in their cabin. They have standing orders at cocktail and canapés time for drinks, along with at lunch and dinner. They don’t go to restaurants or bars and I bring them every thing.” He said it occurs most every cruise.

Seems like a rather nosy question to the butler.

I'm rather surprised the butler didn't prioritize the other guests' privacy over such an inane question.

[pinotlover]

Mark;

 

It was a rather nosy question. There was a known bit of an issue of “stomach ailments “ starting to go around with some of the passengers. After the issues on the Marina , I was trying to sense the scope of it. I believe our Butler realized that and answered honestly to calm any fears. Fortunately, the problem didn’t magnify and the problems remained few. They did an extra job of cleaning, for a couple of days, and really swabbing certain areas down, a bit drippy, to get successfully ahead of the issue .

[Winters Gate]

NO, NO, NO!

 

There is a Room Service Menu, applicable to your cabin level, for Breakfast. One can only order from that menu. It is not the GDR menu, and not as extensive as the GDR breakfast menu. In a PH you can order breakfast from your cabin’s Room Service Menu! One can only get the items listed on the Room Service Menu.

 

As an aside, on our cruise last month, the GDR didn’t open up for breakfast, on port days, until docking time, making it impossible for those on tours to eat in the GDR. My guess is, that for food order from the Respective Room Service Menu for Breakfast, the food is coming from the Terrace Cafe kitchen.

 

Let me add, for those unfamiliar with the system. One can order from the Room Service Menu, choosing from the items on that menu, 24 hours per day. However, for those in PH and above, they can order from the Specialty Restaurants, to be served course by course, during the time those restaurants are open. This is about a three hour window. The same is true for the dinner menu of the GDR.

 

Well thats strange, our butler has always provided us with the GDR breakfast menu when asked! We have had no problem what so ever to order what ever we want from that menu, and we have done it like +25 times !

[pinotlover]

Winters Gate;

 

Can’t dispute your experiences. Never happened for us. A question for you, are you ordering from the GDR menu before the GDR opens for breakfast?

 

We only do room service when we have an early tour, say 8 or 8:15, and want breakfast around 7:00 am. That’s typically about an hour before the GDR even opens. Are you ordering later in the morning after the GDR has opened and most of the tours have left? Might be a different answer. We have only been able to order from the room service menus.

[kreastman]

In a PH, you can also order things that are not on the breakfast menu and your butler will bring them. For example, Eggs Benedict is not listed on the printed breakfast menu, but you can just write it on the menu and it will be delivered.

[Winters Gate]

We have just asked the butler to provied us with the GDR breakfast menu, he then deliver it the evening before, normaly around 6pm and we just put our order on the door. I dont know if we have ordered before the GDR opens but i do think so as we do tend to have roomservice the days we have tours(witch is not that often).