New to Oceania with Riviera Dining Questions

[lel5344]

Long time Celebrity cruisers. First time on Oceania next year.

Forgive me if these questions have already been answered, but sometimes searching takes so much longer than just asking and getting a response from folks who have been there, done that.

 

Are the menus in the specialty dining venues always the same?

 

We enjoy  breakfasting and lunching with other cruisers, but dinner is a time for daily reflection for us. Are there plenty of two-tops in the main dining room? And if we find a server we like, can we request seating at that server's station?

 

Are the sommeliers really good at suggestions for wine novices or do they tend to focus on the evening recommendations?

 

More questions as we get closer, I'm sure. Thank you in advance for your kind answers.

[njhorseman]

10 minutes ago, lel5344 said:

 

Are the menus in the specialty dining venues always the same?

Yes

10 minutes ago, lel5344 said:

Are there plenty of two-tops in the main dining room?

Yes

11 minutes ago, lel5344 said:

And if we find a server we like, can we request seating at that server's station?

We've never done that as we don't eat in the dining room very often but I believe you can.

 

13 minutes ago, lel5344 said:

Are the sommeliers really good at suggestions for wine novices or do they tend to focus on the evening recommendations?

Can't help you with that one.

[LHT28]

We have ask to sit is  a section with our favourite staff

They  will do their best to accommodate you

 

Two tops can be  fine sometimes & other times you may need to share or wait for a 2 top to become free

 

We have asked the wine steward to recommend  a bottle  as we are not connoisseurs  ..we know what we like when we have it  😉

Any time we have done that  the wines were fine  for us 

 

I prefer dry reds  & we have found some favourites 

JMO

[Host Jazzbeau]

The menus in the specialty restaurants don't change, but there are many choices so we had no problem finding something we liked – twice in each specialty restaurant (sometimes repeating a really great dish, other times trying the other tempting choice on the menu).  The food in the GDR was about as good, but we did have trouble some nights finding anything that appealed.  Thankfully our Butler was able to get the GDR menus delivered to our cabin a few nights ahead, so we could spot those 'weak' nights and get a last-minute reservation at a specialty [this may not be so easy when the ships are full again].

[don731]

We have a favorite server on the Riviera in the MDR who took very good care of us on our last cruise in early 2020.  

[jonthomas]

We are escapees from Celebrity after several decades of being loyals.

 

Our last O cruise on the Insignia, convinced us that we deserve O. 

 

The food in the Main dining room was just as good as in the specialty dining. 

 

In fact, the food in the buffet was just as good.

 

Cant go back to any other cruise line after O. Unless I want to be on  a major diet. 

[MEFIowa]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

... In fact, the food in the buffet was just as good. ...

So true. An absolute joy to eat under the sky or stars in the Terrace Cafe! So much so that on our 12/13-23/21 cruise on Riviera my wife and I never ate at the GDR. On the TC, 4 specialty restaurants and Waves.

 

Even Waves was fantastic. The Mahi Mahi in the afternoon, for example. Started each day at Waves with a Sun Salutation smoothie. 

[PhD-iva]

21 hours ago, jonthomas said:

We are escapees from Celebrity after several decades of being loyals.

 

Our last O cruise on the Insignia, convinced us that we deserve O. 

 

The food in the Main dining room was just as good as in the specialty dining. 

 

In fact, the food in the buffet was just as good.

 

Cant go back to any other cruise line after O. Unless I want to be on  a major diet. 

+1,000!

[edgee]

You should be fine dining for two. In multiple Oceania cruises we have  never had to wait for a two top in the Grand Dining Room on an O class ship, which of course includes Riviera. Our only waits for two tops  on Oceanis have been on the smaller R class ships, but even then our maximum wait has been 15 minutes.

[JeffElizabeth]

On Holland, we have occasionally gone off menu in the MDR. Anyone tried that with Oceania? 

[lel5344]

Re: dining room menus

 

Is there a post that has photos of the series of grand dining room menus? 

And what is the repeat cycle, if there is one? 7 days? 10 days? 14 days? Other?

[LHT28]

it used to be 10 or 14 days depending on the cruise length

 

[zoncom]

For a wonderful extensive O menus, cabin photos etc. look up ThePreismans.com

[lel5344]

3 hours ago, zoncom said:

For a wonderful extensive O menus, cabin photos etc. look up ThePreismans.com

Thank you for that link. I found all the grand dining room menus from the Marina. Hopefully, menus will be the same (or, at least, very similar) in 15 months. 

[ronrick1943]

That is one thing - we never had a problem getting a table for 2.  Also I have to agree thefood at the buffet in the Terrace Grill is always good—in fact so in the lunch buffet.  Can’t say that for the seat down dining restaurants.

[lel5344]

I confess: we are not foodies and some of the menus and photos of food are somewhat daunting. Please offer suggestions as to how to approach these amazing meals, especially in the specialty dining rooms. 

 

We have always enjoyed dinners in Celebrity's Blu, so we have a little experience with meals that are very different from our usual fare.

 

And, as an additional question, how's the pizza in the Terrace Cafe, keeping in mind that we are Chicago natives with a fondness for deep dish pizza.

 

As always, thanks!

[jonthomas]

We have done O a couple of times. And we are bread, meat and potatoes types. But it is the best bread  meat and potatoes. 

 

So rest assured, you will see plenty of food you will recognize and love all of it.

 

Yes, pizza, hamburgers, all kinds of wonderful pasta.

 

We loved all the food in the Buffet, the Main dining room, the outside grill. They were all  just as good as the restaurants. This was on the little Insignia and the bigger Marina.

Now we are looking forward to feasting on the Riviera. You will see me doing laps on deck so I can eat all that food. lol

[ORV]

34 minutes ago, lel5344 said:

And, as an additional question, how's the pizza in the Terrace Cafe, keeping in mind that we are Chicago natives with a fondness for deep dish pizza.

You might want to enjoy pizza at home, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed with what Oceania serves. I'm sure some will disagree with me. They do a lot of food great, pizza is not one of them, at least as for what I like. 

[jonthomas]

Yes, ORV I have to agree with you on this one. But I am glad that the pizza is just so so, there is so much else that is so good. Pizza I can eat at home. LOL

[Jancruz]

On 3/7/2022 at 1:48 PM, JeffElizabeth said:

On Holland, we have occasionally gone off menu in the MDR. Anyone tried that with Oceania? 

Thats one thing Oceania does not usually allow..they have multiple restaurants so chose the one with food you want for that evening..

Jancruz1

[tiptwo2]

Or eat at The Terrace that evening. Lobster or the wonderful lamb chops would surely please!

[LHT28]

The pizza is thin crust  not really American style  but we enjoy it 

They usually have 2 options at lunch

Margherita & another  one

 

[basor]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

The pizza is thin crust  not really American style  but we enjoy it 

They usually have 2 options at lunch

Margherita & another  one

 

They also will make to order - so check with them about ordering what you want!

[Mura]

Trying to remember what I wanted to comment on ...

 

As to pizza, I never saw deep dish on the ships and while the pizza was not my favorite pizza ever, we found it very acceptable.  We don't have it often, however.

 

I remember on I think it was our first Oceania cruise, way back when they were new.  This was probably Regatta (formerly the R2 on Renaissance).  We spoke with the "pizza guy" who had worked in Italy at a pizza place.  He told us then that it wasn't really possible to get the proper heat for the pizza that you could get in a real pizza place. That was many years ago so I don't remember the details of what he said!  I did go back to my various trip diaries but couldn't find if I made a comment about what this guy said, so I'm going back with my memory to 2004 ... but I'm very sure that he said that on the ship they just cannot gave the high heat oven they need for REAL pizza, but beyond that I do not really recall,

 

So, as I said at the outset, we found it acceptable ... but definitely not our favorites.

 

MUra

[di T]

On 3/5/2022 at 3:03 PM, jonthomas said:

We are escapees from Celebrity after several decades of being loyals.

 

Our last O cruise on the Insignia, convinced us that we deserve O. 

 

The food in the Main dining room was just as good as in the specialty dining. 

 

In fact, the food in the buffet was just as good.

 

Cant go back to any other cruise line after O. Unless I want to be on  a major diet. 

Also have travelled many many times with Celebrity but this year just one b2b with them and next year we will try O after the last two years I decided we deserve to try some of the more up market cruises! Food is our favourite pastime😂