Has anyone NOT done any specialty dining?

[SleepingUgly]

38 minutes ago, jody75 said:

We never cruise Christmas or New year, that's home time.  Didn't realise that they increased rates for those cruises. 

 

I totally agree, jody, and was of that mindset until our oldest started college and our second one is now also in high school and they have activities and classes up the wazoo during the summer months.  Spring breaks also do not line up anymore for all three of our kids, with the college student getting her week off well before her sisters.  We actually had a Mediterranean cruise planned for this past summer (and, even then, I only had a three-week window to work with) but schedules still ended up conflicting for everyone so we had to cancel that.  We figured out the only time we can all be together with no school or activities or sports getting in the way is Christmas time.  My husband's family is in Europe, and my mom always travels back to Asia for the holidays, so it's usually just the five of us anyway for the holidays so we figured, home really is where WE are all together. 🙂

 

Linda

  

[rwb]

We made the rounds of specialty restaurants a few cruises ago, but have not done so since.  We like the MDR though we might spend one evening meal in the Oceanview. We mostly cruise 11-14 night cruises and we typically cruise as a couple and choose a table for two.  The specialty restaurants tend to serve larger meals than we prefer too.

 

On Royal Caribbean it's different. We've been buying the multi-night package deal for specialty restaurants because the difference in quality and service is (in our view) much greater than on Celebrity.

[Jim_Iain]

We usually travel in Royal Suites which entitle you to unlimited Specialty Restaurants.   When traveling on a M-Class ship we rarely eat in their Specialty's.    We have only once had a good experience in Tuscan Grill.  We  did Petite Chef recently but it is one of those things that for us would be a one time experience and really wouldn't be doing again.  

 

On S-Class ships we enjoy Murano's and might visit no more than twice and might visit the Lawn Club.  

 

 

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, rwb said:

We made the rounds of specialty restaurants a few cruises ago, but have not done so since.  We like the MDR though we might spend one evening meal in the Oceanview. We mostly cruise 11-14 night cruises and we typically cruise as a couple and choose a table for two.  The specialty restaurants tend to serve larger meals than we prefer too.

 

On Royal Caribbean it's different. We've been buying the multi-night package deal for specialty restaurants because the difference in quality and service is (in our view) much greater than on Celebrity.

 

47 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We usually travel in Royal Suites which entitle you to unlimited Specialty Restaurants.   When traveling on a M-Class ship we rarely eat in their Specialty's.    We have only once had a good experience in Tuscan Grill.  We  did Petite Chef recently but it is one of those things that for us would be a one time experience and really wouldn't be doing again.  

 

On S-Class ships we enjoy Murano's and might visit no more than twice and might visit the Lawn Club.  

 

 

 

Another thing in favor of Royals multi-night package is the price. Seven nights cost $168 p.p. which is $24 p.p. If you choose the more expensive restaurants, it's like getting 50% off without having to ask or negotiate

[BigAl94]

We no longer use any of the speciality restaurants and find the MDR quite adequate for our needs. We had a very bad experience in Murano once which spoiled a special day so haven't contemplated returning.

[dateacher]

Have only done it once and that was years ago on NCL.  We live in an area of great restaurants and I have never felt (based on reviews) that the specialty restaurants would be worth it.  We've been fine with the MDR, especially since you can order something else if you are not happy with what your first get. 

 

We are trying Murano on our next cruise because we have a lot of OBC and are using the first night special.  

[bigbenboys]

We have eaten in most of Celebrity specialty restaurants. We have been booking sky suites lately. We enjoy Luminae. Our last 2 cruises we only ate dinner in Luminae. Murano is ok. The ribeye steak at Tuscan Grill and Lawn Club Grill were not good at all. We do enjoy The Porch for lunch. On our last cruise friends wanted us to dine with them in LPC. LPC is just not my type of dining. Out of our 50+ cruises I want to say we have dined 12 times in specialty restaurants.

[Duanerice1]

21 hours ago, Wombat706 said:

Sailed in the Silhouette in August this year (first Celebrity cruise).  We did not find the MDR meals drawn out and enjoyed our table for 2. We dined fairly early and I think our servers fed us quite quickly (but not at a rushed pace) so they could sit others after us (and that suited us perfectly).  We also visited the buffet when the menus in the MDR did not suit us.  Some meals (such as grills and stir fries) are made fresh in front of you and were delish :).

We did not visit any speciality venues and certainly did not feel that we missed out on anything.

Exactly.  On our October 10 night Equinox we had Select and usually ate early.  We like to eat early so we will be hungry later - only kind of kidding -lol.  We were in and out, without rushing in about an hour.  That's plenty of time for me but we usually didn't get dessert.  Another reason we eat early is the dinning room isn't so crowded and loud.  You go in at 7:30 and it's a mass of people and you can barely hear your table mate.   

 

We did eat in the buffet twice for dinner and had grilled to order steaks, fish and chicken.  And no, it wasn't like the dining room but was good for what it was.  

 

We ate in the Murano equivalent about 15 years ago on the Summit.  That's it for specialty restaurants.  Just don't feel the need even though we usually have lots of OBC.  But that's just us.

 

enjoy your cruise!

[Duanerice1]

Posted 3 times - sorry

Edited November 28, 2018 by Duanerice1

[Duanerice1]

Posted 3 times - sorry

Edited November 28, 2018 by Duanerice1

[yorky]

The more people that avoid Murano the better, more room for us ,)

[2chiefs]

We enjoy the MDR and socializing. We even use the MDR for lunch when it's open. We tried specialty dining a couple times and for us, there is no value.

The true cost is much more than the upcharge since you are essentially paying for two meals since the MDR is pre-paid.

Bottom line is if you enjoy specialty dining don't mind paying the up charge then go for it. For us it's not value-added.

We have some very nice "specialty" dining venues here in Atlanta area that we enjoy when not cruising.

T

[JerseyGirlatHeart]

We have never eaten in a speciality restaurant, never had a desire too.  We normally book AQ and feel that BLU or MDR is more then adequate for our palates.  Would rather use the money for something else that I really would like to do (your, wine tasting, etc).

[Luvcrusn]

6 hours ago, yorky said:

The more people that avoid Murano the better, more room for us ,)

That's a whole new perspective that I'll have to remember going forward before recommending it.  ;-D

Edited November 28, 2018 by Luvcrusn

[Priya2]

We have never eaten in specialty restaurants on any of our cruises (with Celebrity and Azamara). We are happy with the food and service included in the cost of the cruise and consider the extra cost better used elsewhere. We are by no means penny pinching. We prioritise other expenses e.g. business class flights as we have got older. We just feel the cost of specialty restaurants a waste of money for us. We are however booked into a suite on our next cruise (Azamara) in January (it came in at the same price as the equivalent cruise in a balcony cabin on Celebrity) and that gives us free access to all specialty restaurants, so we’ll see how it goes!

[Duanerice1]

17 hours ago, yorky said:

The more people that avoid Murano the better, more room for us ,)

 

10 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

That's a whole new perspective that I'll have to remember going forward before recommending it.  ;-D

 

Excellent.  The way I look at it, the more people that use Murano and other specialty restaurants just add to Celebrity's bottom line.  The result is my cruises will be cheaper.   So thanks, we both get what we want.  

[adonisr]

We did New Years on the Equinox this year.  All dinners were in the main dining room and were very good.  Breakfast and lunches were at the buffet.  We thought the buffet was one of the best we've seen on a ship.  One exception - we did Sushi on 5 for lunch the last sea day.  It was good, but over priced in my opinion.

 

We sailed the Summit to Bermuda in May.  We received a free upgrade to Aqua Class so we did dinner in Blu each night - excellent !  We had breakfast a few days in Blu as well.  Also excellent.

[cheeseheads4ever]

We agree with manyon this thread. We prefer the MDR but have ate at Tuscan Grill and OceanlIners/ Muranos and had very good experiences. Weve also been on cruises and never ate in Specialty Dining. We too feel the MDR meals are fine, included in the fair and satisfy our food desires. But if we have something special to celebrate we take it up a notch and book one.

I do think they are repetitive on the menu in the MDR. Hard to go on a second cruise with Celebrity a year later and you basically know the menu. Still love Celebrity!

[yorky]

5 hours ago, Duanerice1 said:

 

 

Excellent.  The way I look at it, the more people that use Murano and other specialty restaurants just add to Celebrity's bottom line.  The result is my cruises will be cheaper.   So thanks, we both get what we want.  

Sadly little evidence of that, it’s all about increasing profits regardless.

[4774Papa]

On 11/26/2018 at 2:53 PM, SleepingUgly said:

Just wondering if anyone has selected to NOT partake in specialty dining on any recent cruises and what your experience may have been? 

 

We will be on the 12-night Silhouette holiday cruise and, originally, I was thinking we'd do a dinner in Murano's and another one in Tuscan Grill or Quisine, but they've since increased the prices.  Quisine (or Le Petit Chef now) is @ $55 per person; for our family of five, that would be $275.  Murano's would be $65 per person and Tuscan Grill would be $60 per person.  I'm finding it tough to justify those rates when there is already-paid-for food in the MDR and the buffet, haha.  Plus, I'm not even sure if specialty restaurants will allow children, and our youngest is eight years of age (two other children are older teens).  

 

We are not adverse to fine dining and our entire family really enjoys eating at nice restaurants every now and then.  However, as noted above, we've already paid for meals that will be offered elsewhere on the ship - and while it's been a while since our last cruise (also on Celebrity), I do recall we enjoyed the MDR b/c it was so different from usual restaurants in that your servers know you after just a couple of days and little things like your drink of choice waiting for you when you arrive at the table are what makes MDR dining so unique to a cruise - so I'm hesitating on shelling out another $500-$600 on two meals for our family.  I know, I know - the per-person cost is still much less than places such as Le Cirque or The Inn at Little Washington and other Michelin-starred restaurants, but we also live in a large metro area here in the US so we have easy access to fine dining, and we've also eaten at such places whenever we travel globally, so it's not as if the experience on the ship will be unique.  The only exception may be Le Petit Chef - more for the experience than the food, and may be fun / interesting for the kids.  

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone has NOT done any specialty dining on a cruise, and what your thoughts / experience may have been? TIA!

 

Linda

 

Linda,

We have done 10 Celebrity cruises and only done Speciallty dining a couple of times.  Celebrity's specialty dining is too expensive and the MDR is pretty good.