Sapphire Restaurants

[Need-a-vacation]

I've been finding conflicting information about the restaurants on the Sapphire - which ones they have, type of food, availability, surcharge, etc. I'm thinking things have changed over time. Below is my best guess from the various sources.

 

Traditional Dining: International Dining Room for both seatings, Vivaldi for 1st only.

 

Personal Choice Dining: Pacific Moon (asian?), Sante Fe (southwestern),

Savoy (no idea), and Vivaldi in the late evening

 

Surcharge Restaurants: Sabbatinis (italian, $20), Sterling Steak House (uh, steak? $15)

 

Am I close? My understanding is that all the main dining rooms have essentially the same menu, but then the 4 personal choice dining rooms will have some additional choices based on that room's theme? What is the theme for Savoy and Vivaldi?

 

Are the surcharge restaurants truly better than the regular dining rooms?

 

Thanks!

[merela]

I've been finding conflicting information about the restaurants on the Sapphire - which ones they have, type of food, availability, surcharge, etc. I'm thinking things have changed over time. Below is my best guess from the various sources.

 

Traditional Dining: International Dining Room for both seatings, Vivaldi for 1st only.

 

Personal Choice Dining: Pacific Moon (asian?), Sante Fe (southwestern),

Savoy (no idea), and Vivaldi in the late evening

 

Surcharge Restaurants: Sabbatinis (italian, $20), Sterling Steak House (uh, steak? $15)

 

Am I close?

 

You are close.

 

My understanding is that all the main dining rooms have essentially the same menu, but then the 4 personal choice dining rooms will have some additional choices based on that room's theme? What is the theme for Savoy and Vivaldi?

 

They used to have themed menus in each of the PC restaurants, but no more. They have one themed dish in each of the PC restaurants, but these dishes are not on the menu so you wouldn't know they existedunless you read these boards. The waiter may or may not mention the themed dish for you. Our waiters never mentioned these dishes to us on our Sapphire cruise in October.

 

I believe the themed dishes are as follows:

 

Savoy (suppose to be a steakhouse environment): pork chops

Vivaldi (suppose to be an Italian restaurant): Ossobucco

Pacific Moon (suppose to be an Asian-style entity): Stir-fried prawns (large shrimp).

Santa Fe: (suppose to be Tex-Mex): Chicken and beef fajitas.

 

The themed PC dining rooms differed in the decor of the rooms (wall decals, lamps, dividers, etc...) but not really any noticeable differences, at least not to me.

 

Are the surcharge restaurants truly better than the regular dining rooms?

 

My take on this is that if this is your first Princess cruise, don't bother trying the specialty restaurants. Try out all the dishes on the main menus first....and there are lots to try. Since all Princess ships share pretty much the same basic menus, after 3rd and 4th Princess cruises, you may find that you have tried all their dishes and want to try something new, then you can try the specialty restaurants.

 

If you like really good steaks, the only place you'll get it is at the Sterling restaurant because unless you order your steaks medium rare to rare in the regular dining rooms, you'll get a pretty tough piece of meat. We've never tried specialty restaurants, but I know the quality of steaks in the regular dining rooms have been declining, I can only assume that all the good steaks have gone to the Sterling restaurant.

 

The Sabatini is an Italian restaurant with a focus on seafood. I believe there are plenty of seafood dishes and Italian dishes on the regular menus (since the executive chefs are mostly Italian on the Princess cruiseline) that I don't see the need to go to Sabatini's. Like I said, this is your choice. If you don't mind spending the extra fees, go for it. But I don't find it necessary to do so until you've tried all the regular menus and know that you don't like the dinner menu of a particular day and then you can try alternative restaurants.

 

HTH.

[travelnnana]

Merala's input on specialties in dining rooms is correct - I just got off the Sapphire - New Year's cruise - and except for the first day Sabatini's appeared to be closed - at least the time was not noted in the Patter - food too good in regular dining rooms - I guess

[cindivan]

I am not sure if all Princess cruises do this, but we went on one a couple years ago and went to the expensive, fancy one - a group of 14. Because of our size, they did not allow us to order from the menu and just brought out various appetizers, "family style sides," and I think we got to choose one of 2 entrees. We would never have gone had we known this.

 

We are going in a couple weeks, and we will not repeat this mistake!

[Pam in CA]

I happen to love the Sterling Steakhouse and try to go there at least once a cruise. The clam chowder is excellent, the steak is so tender you can cut it with your fork, and the desserts are to die for. Make sure you don't eat lunch and stay away from the bread before you are served.

 

I've been to Sabbatini's for a most-travelled Captain's lunch and it was good, but I wouldn't pay extra. But that's my personal taste.

[ams cruiser]

"Are the surcharge restaurants truly better than the regular dining rooms?"

 

We had PC dining and ate in the Savoy and Pacific Moon dining rooms last month. The menu was the same in both, with the exception of pork tenderloin in the Savoy, and scallops in the Pacific Moon. We ate one night at Sabatinis with the $20 cover charge. My DS is a big lobster fan, so we were careful not to go to Sabatinis on a night that lobster was being served in the regular dining room.

 

Basically what you do at Sabatinis is the following: Each person selects an entree and then they serve you a sample of everything else on the menu. The night we were there this consisted of several kinds of appetizers, pasta, cioppino, soup, salad, etc. We were stuffed long before our entrees came, and then came the sampling of desserts and sweets. IMHO it was too much of a good thing. I enjoyed some of the items, but not others. By the time my lobster came, I was too full to enjoy it.

 

If you have picky eaters, or small children, it probably isn't worth the extra money. I don't know if they charge the same amount for children, but the table next to us had 4 or 5 young children who basically ate only pasta, and slept in their seats most of the dinner.

 

The service was excellent and the atmosphere nice, but personally, I wouldn't do it again. I'm fortunate to live in an area where there are some really excellent restaurants, but I wouldn't want to eat in them all on the same night!

 

The night we were there, Sabatinis was only half-full. I don't know what it was like on other nights.

 

Hope this helps!

[lagrutke]

I live in an area that has excellent restaurants also, and I thought Sabbatini's was excellent. The food was absolutely delicious with very different items brought out for each course. We had 13 of us and received excellent service. Even the teenage boys thought it was great! Well worth the extra charge of $20.

 

We also went to Sterlings but were not able to get in until 8:30, which after the fact, was too late. The food was good, but everyone was tired by then so we didn't really enjoy it that much.

 

Of course, the food was very good in the dining room also. But I would highly recommend Sabbatini's. It was one of the highlights of our trip.