Glass House , Sindhu, epicurean

[jeanlyon]

We also were not impressed by Sindhu. It took ages and although the food was fine,I have had better Indian food. Now we don't bother with the specialty restaurants. The Beach house menu leaves me cold. Would love to have Sorrento back, now that was very good and was only £10 per head. wonderful Italian food.

[sweep2907]

Surprised about Sindhu as we go two or three times every cruise and is amazing. Atol restaurant in London is £100 a head and is exactly what the ship offer. Amazing Indian food. As a curry efficianado I not found much better than that. Service always been amazing and such lovely friendly staff in there. You clearly had a bad experience which is a shame.

[jh1809]

Surprised about Sindhu as we go two or three times every cruise and is amazing. Atol restaurant in London is £100 a head and is exactly what the ship offer. Amazing Indian food. As a curry efficianado I not found much better than that. Service always been amazing and such lovely friendly staff in there. You clearly had a bad experience which is a shame.

 

I've greatly enjoyed the meals I've had in Sindhu. I suspect that a lot depends on who the head chef is. If you're unlucky and your ship has one who isn't up to the usual standard, that might lead to a disappointing experience.

[Cristaltips]

We’ve always enjoyed Sindhu too. They do a taster menu on occasion which is lovely. It was so good on our last long cruise on Aurora, we did it twice!

[Selbourne]

We’ve always enjoyed Sindhu too. They do a taster menu on occasion which is lovely. It was so good on our last long cruise on Aurora, we did it twice!

 

That's interesting. We might have to give Sindhu another go when we are on Aurora for a long cruise next month. Whilst we have enjoyed Sindhu on the other ships, we didn't like it on Aurora, even though she is our favourite ship.

 

The lunch we had was on a sea day (as they always are) and because the restaurant is right next to the atrium, the noise from passengers congregating there was deafening. We literally couldn't hear ourselves speak. At dinner, there was a large group of officers dining and the restaurant manager was clearly giving them priority at the expense of paying guests which really irritates me. Although we love Select Dining restaurants, we have noticed this a few times on other ships as well. Clearly the restaurant managers and staff change, so we may have better luck next time. If not, we shall continue to enjoy the Glass House (our favourite one) and the Beach House.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed that the removal of the kids clubs when she becomes adult only may result in an Epicurean but, like others, I feel that the addition of extra cabins is more likely.

[terrierjohn]

We have tried all the speciality restaurants across the 3 big ships, but not all of them on all three, and apart from the Rhodes restaurant on Arcadia back in 2006 we have been rather underwhelmed by all of them.

Certainly not worth the EXTRA cost over and above the all inclusive food price, and generally the service has been only a little better than in the MDR, and significantly inferior to the service in Celebrity Eclipses speciality restaurants, although I accept the standard cost is more than P&O charge, however we have always managed to obtain at least a 20% reduction, sometimes as much as 50%.

Consequently we now stick to the MDR, or the buffet especially on curry nights, where we enjoy the company of varied guests in freedom dining. But I do accept that for a romantic special occasion, the speciality restaurants do offer a good alternative to the MDR.

[TinyDavid]

In my experience they offer discounts on the first night usually of a third off the normal price, give them a call once on board from your cabin phone and ask if there are any special offers.

[daiB]

We have always had excellent service in all the specialist restaurants. But often we know some of the staff working there which helps. However I am now finding that we are now struggling to eat all the food served to us, especially in Sindhu and of course the Beach house where the portions are huge.

 

 

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[jeanlyon]

yes Dai, someone put on a photo of a plateful of Beach House food and quite honestly, it made me sick to look at it, it was so huge. Just a giant plate of meat. I mostly enjoy my food in the MDR, but can never manage more than a starter and a main. Not interested in dessert.

[yuvraj]

I like eating in speciality restaurants, one of the main reasons for choosing Ventura which I have sailed on six times. So here are my thoughts ...

 

Sindhu is good. Eaten there many times. Not as great as some people suggest on this thread, definitely not something I would pay £100 per head but £20 is reasonable. They often have the early bird offer where there give you a free bottle of wine, making it a bargain. In my opinion avoid the lunch offers and going for evening dinning.

 

Beach House is very casual and I would argue family friendly. I enjoyed the experience but might not be to everyone's taste. You don't have to book for this, just turn up.

 

Glass House is my favourite. I like the menu, the quality is really high, great ambience in the evening when it is generally busy. Another bonus is that you don't have to book, just turn up and grab a table. It is a wine bar experience so don't expect fine dinning service. For me the service given the type of venue is fine.

 

Epicurean. Only went there once. Given the cost, I was a little disappointed. Generally speaking the meal and service was good but not excellent and it was easy to find flaws in both. To be honest I would not return that might be a matter of taste. For example I don't eat beef and perhaps it caters better for those who do.

 

A tip for those who want to save money. Sindhu does lunch offers on certain days on Ventura. You will find the same food in the buffet in the evening. Also the flavours and quality in the buffet on the Indian themed nights are as good as what is offered in Sindhu. The difference is that Sindhu offers a lot more in the regular evening menus and you do get proper restaurant service.

 

Having sailed on other cruise lines, I find the speciality restaurants on P&O excellent VFM and one of their USPs.

[FangedRose]

I like eating in speciality restaurants, one of the main reasons for choosing Ventura which I have sailed on six times. So here are my thoughts ...

 

Sindhu is good. Eaten there many times. Not as great as some people suggest on this thread, definitely not something I would pay £100 per head but £20 is reasonable. They often have the early bird offer where there give you a free bottle of wine, making it a bargain. In my opinion avoid the lunch offers and going for evening dinning.

 

Beach House is very casual and I would argue family friendly. I enjoyed the experience but might not be to everyone's taste. You don't have to book for this, just turn up.

 

Glass House is my favourite. I like the menu, the quality is really high, great ambience in the evening when it is generally busy. Another bonus is that you don't have to book, just turn up and grab a table. It is a wine bar experience so don't expect fine dinning service. For me the service given the type of venue is fine.

 

Epicurean. Only went there once. Given the cost, I was a little disappointed. Generally speaking the meal and service was good but not excellent and it was easy to find flaws in both. To be honest I would not return that might be a matter of taste. For example I don't eat beef and perhaps it caters better for those who do.

 

A tip for those who want to save money. Sindhu does lunch offers on certain days on Ventura. You will find the same food in the buffet in the evening. Also the flavours and quality in the buffet on the Indian themed nights are as good as what is offered in Sindhu. The difference is that Sindhu offers a lot more in the regular evening menus and you do get proper restaurant service.

 

Having sailed on other cruise lines, I find the speciality restaurants on P&O excellent VFM and one of their USPs.

That has largely been my experience. It also matches what others have said.

However The Beach House did require booking on Britannia last April. It seems to vary ship by ship.

[daiB]

I like eating in speciality restaurants, one of the main reasons for choosing Ventura which I have sailed on six times. So here are my thoughts ...

 

Sindhu is good. Eaten there many times. Not as great as some people suggest on this thread, definitely not something I would pay £100 per head but £20 is reasonable. They often have the early bird offer where there give you a free bottle of wine, making it a bargain. In my opinion avoid the lunch offers and going for evening dinning.

 

Beach House is very casual and I would argue family friendly. I enjoyed the experience but might not be to everyone's taste. You don't have to book for this, just turn up.

 

Glass House is my favourite. I like the menu, the quality is really high, great ambience in the evening when it is generally busy. Another bonus is that you don't have to book, just turn up and grab a table. It is a wine bar experience so don't expect fine dinning service. For me the service given the type of venue is fine.

 

Epicurean. Only went there once. Given the cost, I was a little disappointed. Generally speaking the meal and service was good but not excellent and it was easy to find flaws in both. To be honest I would not return that might be a matter of taste. For example I don't eat beef and perhaps it caters better for those who do.

 

A tip for those who want to save money. Sindhu does lunch offers on certain days on Ventura. You will find the same food in the buffet in the evening. Also the flavours and quality in the buffet on the Indian themed nights are as good as what is offered in Sindhu. The difference is that Sindhu offers a lot more in the regular evening menus and you do get proper restaurant service.

 

Having sailed on other cruise lines, I find the speciality restaurants on P&O excellent VFM and one of their USPs.

 

 

 

I have to say that I have had the lunch in Sindhu on a number of occasions and find it excellent. The service has always been good and a far better experience than the buffet.

 

To add, the portions at lunchtime suit me better I find I can cope better with smaller offerings.

 

The lunches are not a regular event and only happen on sea days and generally on longer cruises.

 

 

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[sweep2907]

Yes to compare Sindhu with the Indian buffet is bit of an insult. Both are nice but one is far superior.

[CABINET]

Found the food in Sindhu on Ventura to be pretty good.

 

 

However we were told when requesting a table for 7.45pm that the restaurant was almost fully booked and we could have a table either at 6.15pm or 8.15pm. We chose 8.15 but whilst walking past at 7.30 we noticed that only a handful of tables were taken. When we returned at 8.15 to claim our table the situation was the same. Barely 10% of the tables were occupied so the place had no atmosphere at all.

 

 

Not impressed :mad:

[annieuk]

We love Epicurean - first used it when it was Seventeen on Azura. We had a magical meal there one evening when we left St. Maarten much later than usual and dined outside on the restaurant balcony with the lights of the island in the background. We have since been to Epicurean both on Azura and Ventura and had wonderful meals each time. The fact that it isn't supported by any 'Celebrity' chef just shows what the P&O chefs can achieve. Our great disappointment is that there is no Epicurean on Aurora. I would have thought it was just the type of ship that should have a restaurant of that standard. We would much prefer it to Sindhu which I know some people love but having been there twice is just not to our taste. I'm afraid spicy food and me just do not do well.

[davecttr]

Found the food in Sindhu on Ventura to be pretty good.

 

 

However we were told when requesting a table for 7.45pm that the restaurant was almost fully booked and we could have a table either at 6.15pm or 8.15pm. We chose 8.15 but whilst walking past at 7.30 we noticed that only a handful of tables were taken. When we returned at 8.15 to claim our table the situation was the same. Barely 10% of the tables were occupied so the place had no atmosphere at all.

 

 

Not impressed :mad:

 

Maybe the limiting factor is the capacity of the galley rather than the numbers of tables occupied?

[CABINET]

Maybe the limiting factor is the capacity of the galley rather than the numbers of tables occupied?

 

You are quite right. My OH stopped as we passed and asked why we had been denied a table at 7.45pm when the restaurant was only about 10% full and that is more or less what he was told.

 

 

What on earth is the point in having a restaurant so large that your galley cannot accommodate more than 10-20% of the tables being full at any one time?

 

I should also point out that, having had our preferred time refused and been forced to eat later, we were approached by a young lady whilst eating our lunch in the buffet touting for business.

 

I told her that we had already booked and she moved off. I probably should have asked her for a table for 7.45 - she might have been able to oblige :D