Dinner in the Coastal Kitchen vs Unlimited Dining Package on Symphony

[Cruising89143]

17 hours ago, Carol28 said:

We sure would like some opinions.  We have only had breakfast and lunch in the Coastal Kitchen on the Allure ( and loved it), but we were travelling with friends so dinners were always in the main dining room or at a specialty restaurant.  This year we will be on the Symphony and are looking forward to the Coastal Kitchen again which I'm assuming will be just as good as the Allure.  However, we've no idea about their dinners.  Is the food better than the food in the main dining room or the same? We do have a two night dinner in the specialty restaurants. Are the dinners in the Coastal Kitchen as good as the lunches?  And the service was superb!

We were on the SY two weeks ago. We enjoyed CK. Never made it to breakfast but did for lunch a few times and dinner on five evenings. Overall the food was good but what we enjoyed is the fact that it’s quiet up there. Some nights were better than others due to the menu. You can view the menus on the app. Don’t know if I would equate the quality to the specialty restaurants but overall good. It’s nice to have a cocktail in the lounge and then head over to your table for dinner. After the first evening, we requested the same server for the week. Service was outstanding. We did do Central Park 150 and Izumi. CP150 was just okay. Service was very good but our server reminded us to remember him when completing the post cruise survey with a (ten). I don’t like that. Izumi felt like we were dining in a cave. Poor location on the ship. Food was very good though. 

[George C]

1 hour ago, Tulsacoker said:

Some ships without CK do have a specialty restaurant open for Suite and Pinns for breakfast. Not sure since its been a while on a ship without CK  

All the rccl ships we have sailed on that didn’t have CK has had breakfast in specialty for grand suites and above, they used to have lunch about a decade ago .

[reallyitsmema]

15 hours ago, topnole said:

Never done quantum but I’ve heard many reviews of people not like the CK atmosphere on that class ship.  I guess it is all personal preference.  I like oasis class CK because the bar is right there.  Feels like a happening place in the evening.  

 

You must be reading different reviews than I am.  

[topnole]

1 hour ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

You must be reading different reviews than I am.  

Apparently so.  All of the CKs have mixed review to some extent.  So people just aren’t impressed by the CK on any ship I guess.  I’ve only done oasis class CKs, but I’ve liked them all.  

[Carol28]

7 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

We were on the SY two weeks ago. We enjoyed CK. Never made it to breakfast but did for lunch a few times and dinner on five evenings. Overall the food was good but what we enjoyed is the fact that it’s quiet up there. Some nights were better than others due to the menu. You can view the menus on the app. Don’t know if I would equate the quality to the specialty restaurants but overall good. It’s nice to have a cocktail in the lounge and then head over to your table for dinner. After the first evening, we requested the same server for the week. Service was outstanding. We did do Central Park 150 and Izumi. CP150 was just okay. Service was very good but our server reminded us to remember him when completing the post cruise survey with a (ten). I don’t like that. Izumi felt like we were dining in a cave. Poor location on the ship. Food was very good though. 

Thank you.  We will do Chops and Jamie Oliver's Italian.  We did Izumi in July on the Radiance. The sushi were a  bit too fancy for us.  We didn't like the menu in Central Park. And the Wonderland menu - I don't understand any of the foods! Did you happen to see that menu?

[Cruising89143]

1 hour ago, Carol28 said:

Thank you.  We will do Chops and Jamie Oliver's Italian.  We did Izumi in July on the Radiance. The sushi were a  bit too fancy for us.  We didn't like the menu in Central Park. And the Wonderland menu - I don't understand any of the foods! Did you happen to see that menu?

We did look at Wonderland but it really didn’t grab is. Reviews here have been very mixed. The place itself is beautiful. They gave it a prime spot. We eat at Jamie’s and Chops on the Navigator a lot so we skipped it on this ship. 

[AlohaLivin]

My opinion - the CK on Symphony is far better than the CK on Symphony. We find plenty of variety in the CK but do enjoy the MDR on occasion for a change in scenery. Since I’m paying for a suite I don’t want to also pay for an UDP (since we feel that we already paid a price to get CK as our speciality restaurant). 

Edited November 14, 2022 by AlohaLivin

[George C]

One of problems with CK is we had done celebrity suite restaurant Luminae a couple of times before trying CK , and Luminae had far superior food and service. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by George C

[AlohaLivin]

2 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

the CK on Symphony is far better than the CK on Symphony

Clearly I was typing too quickly on that. Of course that should say that the CK on Symphony is far better than the CK on Allure. 😤

[Carol28]

12 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

My opinion - the CK on Symphony is far better than the CK on Symphony. We find plenty of variety in the CK but do enjoy the MDR on occasion for a change in scenery. Since I’m paying for a suite I don’t want to also pay for an UDP (since we feel that we already paid a price to get CK as our speciality restaurant). 

Please tell me what UDP is.  Did you mean Symphony CK is better than Allure or vice versa?

[George C]

2 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Please tell me what UDP is.  Did you mean Symphony CK is better than Allure or vice versa?

UDP is the ultimate dinning package, you can eat all your dinners in specialty restaurants, also lunch when specialty restaurants are open which is normally just sea days , it great on oasis class ships that have many restaurants, only hibachi charges a extra ten dollars all others have no extra charge , we book that even when we book suite .

[AlohaLivin]

3 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Please tell me what UDP is.  Did you mean Symphony CK is better than Allure or vice versa?

Unlimited Dining Package (where with certain restrictions you have unlimited dining in the majority of the specialty dining venues).  And yes, I meant that Symphony’s CK is better than Allure’s in both service and preparation (I realized the mistake later and corrected it, sorry). We have sailed both multiple times and each time have found that to the case.

Edited November 15, 2022 by AlohaLivin

[Tulsacoker]

20 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

You must be reading different reviews than I am.  

I loved the CK on Quantum compared to Oasis 

[Norwich Cruiser]

Preference for the UDP