club class

[jbeth]

anyone experienced cc on the Grand recently?

We're sailing next month to Alaska with Club Class

would love some input!!!!! thanks, Julie and Frank

[jondfk]

Were on Grand in CC in both February and April.  Both were "normal" CC experiences consistent with prior experiences on Caribbean, Ruby and Coral.  The host at that time (same both times) was very much a people person, greeted and interacted with every table at every meal - highly personable.  The flip side was that the host prepared meals very much suffered, this wasn't an interest for him, and it showed.  Depending on your preferences you might find the personable service very special, on the other hand if you like the specials prepared in the dining room, you might be disappointed.  

 

We generally arrive at the dining room around 7:30.  On the February cruise we never had even a minute wait for a table.  On the April cruise we were twice asked to come back a bit later (20 minutes) because nothing was available.  Since the service teams were the same both times, we chalked this up to differences in passenger behavior.  

 

I wouldn't call our CC experience on Grand head of the pack but if you've had CC before you'll recognize the service.

 

Happy to take any particular questions. 

[LARGIN]

The only specials prepared in the CC dining room by the Head Waiter are pastas and desserts for lunch and dinner and omelets for breakfast.  The pasta and sauces are prepared in the kitchen and delivered to the Head Waiter for mixing and tweaking.  Some Head Waiters can Tweak better than others.  Our last 10 cruises have been on the Grand where we have enjoyed CC service.  We have 4 more booked on the Grand in 2019 & 2020. 

[riffatsea]

7 hours ago, LARGIN said:

The only specials prepared in the CC dining room by the Head Waiter are pastas and desserts for lunch and dinner and omelets for breakfast.  The pasta and sauces are prepared in the kitchen and delivered to the Head Waiter for mixing and tweaking.  Some Head Waiters can Tweak better than others.  Our last 10 cruises have been on the Grand where we have enjoyed CC service.  We have 4 more booked on the Grand in 2019 & 2020. 

That was NOT our experience on the Coral during our Panama Canal cruise last December!

We watched as the head waiter put in the ingredients for the sauces and there were other dishes he prepared like baby lamb chops which were not on the regular menu.

Perhaps longer cruises have different CC experiences??

[LARGIN]

1 hour ago, riffatsea said:

That was NOT our experience on the Coral during our Panama Canal cruise last December!

We watched as the head waiter put in the ingredients for the sauces and there were other dishes he prepared like baby lamb chops which were not on the regular menu.

Perhaps longer cruises have different CC experiences??

Respectively disagree.  Pasta sauces takes hours not minutes to prepare.  He was tweaking like I said.  As for the lamb chops they were made in the kitchen and tweaked.  The Head Waiter's station has 2 burners and 2 fry pans.  It would be impossible for him to prepare the lamb in a timely manner especially if 5 or 6 order at the same time..

[riffatsea]

My point about the lamb chops was that they are neither pasta nor dessert as you mentioned in your post above this one!

The waiter did cook them to order(rare/well done etc) so whether or not they had been started in the kitchen was not important to us.

The same goes for the pasta sauce. He may have had a base to start with but he added many ingredients so I wouldn't care if you called it "tweaking" or I called it "cooking".

The end result was quite good and we enjoyed it which I think is the most important point of all!!

[cruzsnooze]

17 hours ago, jondfk said:

 

We generally arrive at the dining room around 7:30.  On the February cruise we never had even a minute wait for a table.  On the April cruise we were twice asked to come back a bit later (20 minutes) because nothing was available.  Since the service teams were the same both times, we chalked this up to differences in passenger behavior.  

 

20 minutes is unacceptable, you could have that with anytime dining.   You've  pay extra for club class to avoid this wait.

Edited June 3, 2019 by cruzsnooze

[Ep010835]

27 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

20 minutes is unacceptable, you could have that with anytime dining.   You've  pay extra for club class to avoid this wait.

 

We've from time to time been asked to wait 10 or 15 minutes. However, this is on us as when we’ve been asked to wait, it’s been because we’ve asked for a specific seating or waitstaff. 

 

I would agree that a wait that long without our asking for something specific is certainly unacceptable for CC. This would be time to speak with the MD. 

[jondfk]

6 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

20 minutes is unacceptable, you could have that with anytime dining.   You've  pay extra for club class to avoid this wait.

 

I don't disagree, and this hasn't been my experience in CC previously.  However, this did happen twice on our recent (15 day) cruise on Grand.  The CC hostess (Renate) was apologetic and offered to come find us when a table became available, one time we had her do just that and come up to Crooners to get us.  The other time we just listened to a bit of music before coming back.  I'm not sure though what the staff can actually do if too many show up simultaneously or linger excessively.  The space allocated for CC is limited and there is no great excess of capacity.

 

[memoak]

Since we tend to always take CC mini's and eat later (around 7:30 or 8:00) we have never experience a wait

[PoohUnderstands]

I found and was confirmed by head waiter, that, at least on Mexican intineraries, people who cruise on the Grand like to eat early and I mean early!  Head waiter told us that people in CC dining would be waiting in line at 5PM to eat dinner!!!  We like to eat at around 6-6:15 and so had to wait sometimes for a few minutes, but the head waiter bent over backwards to find us a seat right there to wait, etc.  Otherwise a very nice experience as usual.  As an aside, on the Royal, people tended to eat later (6:45-7:15) and we had no trouble getting our table when we wanted it!

 

Pooh

[finishedover30cruises]

Any wait of over 2 to 3 minutes should automatically be issued a 100 dollar OBC.

[Ep010835]

1 hour ago, finishedover30cruises said:

Any wait of over 2 to 3 minutes should automatically be issued a 100 dollar OBC.

 

😂👍🏻

[Cruiserkenn]

On June 2, 2019 at 4:53 PM, jondfk said:

Were on Grand in CC in both February and April.  Both were "normal" CC experiences consistent with prior experiences on Caribbean, Ruby and Coral.  The host at that time (same both times) was very much a people person, greeted and interacted with every table at every meal - highly personable.  The flip side was that the host prepared meals very much suffered, this wasn't an interest for him, and it showed.  Depending on your preferences you might find the personable service very special, on the other hand if you like the specials prepared in the dining room, you might be disappointed.  

 

We generally arrive at the dining room around 7:30.  On the February cruise we never had even a minute wait for a table.  On the April cruise we were twice asked to come back a bit later (20 minutes) because nothing was available.  Since the service teams were the same both times, we chalked this up to differences in passenger behavior.  

 

I wouldn't call our CC experience on Grand head of the pack but if you've had CC before you'll recognize the service.

 

Happy to take any particular questions. 

I, too, had a bad experience on the Grand.  I was a suite passenger.  I was told to come back in 30 minutes.  Yikes.