Additional daily items on Club Orange menu?

[roblc1]

So being obsessive, I have been looking at menus for the Rotterdam on the app based on our upcoming May 20th cruise.  We have Club Orange so have been looking, and it seems in addition to the Club Orange item that steak, tuna and Mac and cheese are offered almost daily, but not in the MDR.  Anybody else notice this, and does it mean additional nightly options in Club Orange, at least on the Rotterdam?  

[0106]

On the Rotterdam in February there was one additional entree on the Club Orange menu.  The rest of the menu was the same as the MDR.  We enjoyed the ambience and service in the CO dining room.  We asked to sit with the same waiter for every meal and I think it enhanced our experience.

[57redbird]

2 hours ago, 0106 said:

On the Rotterdam in February there was one additional entree on the Club Orange menu.  The rest of the menu was the same as the MDR.  We enjoyed the ambience and service in the CO dining room.  We asked to sit with the same waiter for every meal and I think it enhanced our experience.

We agree & were on the K.

[YourWorldWithBill]

We're also on the Rotterdam on May 20. On the Noordam in September the only difference in menus was one additional item, as others said.

[roblc1]

Thanks.  I figured and knew that, just wasn’t sure why the additional entrees kept showing up on the Club Orange menu in the app.  Either way, I will absolutely enjoy my dinners.  Always plenty to choose from. 😊

[DaveOKC]

We have only seen one additional item on the dinner menu - have tried several of them and they were quite good.  On the Eurodam and NA we had to ask for the white menus at times, as there did not seem to be many CO diners and the hosts forgot about handing them out.

[AFNavigator]

Don't forget the free mimosas in the CO dining room (and/or room service for CO members) each morning...

[YourWorldWithBill]

On our cruise in September I don't think I ever ordered the extra Club Orange item.

[albingirl]

We were in Club Orange in February for two weeks, and I must be comatose since I don't remember any extra items on the menu.  Not saying they weren't there, but I didn't notice. I thoroughly enjoyed our experience, however.  Staff was outstanding on the NS.  

[dalesyang]

Im thinking about buying Club Orange for our Norway 7 night cruise but I am not sure if its totally worth it.    I figure I'm going to the MDR a few nights,   Pinnacle Grill for a night,  Buffet for at least 1 night, and eating off the ship at least 1 night....     Is Club Orange worth paying extra for?  (I am not staying in a Neptune to get it included).

 

Ive heard somewhere that the Club Orange priority boarding does not really happen.   

[Florida_gal_50]

54 minutes ago, albingirl said:

We were in Club Orange in February for two weeks, and I must be comatose since I don't remember any extra items on the menu.  Not saying they weren't there, but I didn't notice. I thoroughly enjoyed our experience, however.  Staff was outstanding on the NS.  

I'm pretty sure it wasn't on the menu on the koningsdam as of Nov 2022.  Seems to me they just verbally said what it was.

[Florida_gal_50]

50 minutes ago, dalesyang said:

Im thinking about buying Club Orange for our Norway 7 night cruise but I am not sure if its totally worth it.    I figure I'm going to the MDR a few nights,   Pinnacle Grill for a night,  Buffet for at least 1 night, and eating off the ship at least 1 night....     Is Club Orange worth paying extra for?  (I am not staying in a Neptune to get it included).

 

Ive heard somewhere that the Club Orange priority boarding does not really happen.   

I rarely eat in club orange at night because I do mostly specialty.  I do eat there almost every morning.  I also get an upgrade out of the deal. It's worth it to me.  I get some of the other stuff already because I'm 5 star.  Why eat in the MDR if you'd have club orange?

[AFNavigator]

43 minutes ago, dalesyang said:

Im thinking about buying Club Orange for our Norway 7 night cruise but I am not sure if its totally worth it.    I figure I'm going to the MDR a few nights,   Pinnacle Grill for a night,  Buffet for at least 1 night, and eating off the ship at least 1 night....     Is Club Orange worth paying extra for?  (I am not staying in a Neptune to get it included).

 

Ive heard somewhere that the Club Orange priority boarding does not really happen.   

From a cost standpoint, the biggest reason to buy Club Orange is the complementary "within meta-category" cabin upgrade.  If booking a regular balcony cabin, the cost to upgrade from an obstructed balcony to a Category V balcony often exceeds the Club Orange cost.  We did that last year and got the V-category balcony we wanted for $60 less than that cabin's advertised price, AFTER we paid the $350 Club Orange cost. 

Regarding priority boarding, yes it does happen.  With Club Orange, we were assigned an 11:00 boarding time and our boarding passes had Priority Boarding annotated.  The person at the security checkpoint didn't know anything about Club Orange but let us through right away after seeing the Priority Boarding wording.

[dalesyang]

Question:  For Club Orange,  is there usually open tables where you dont have to wait?  Do you usually get to sit with your group alone or do you have to share tables with anyone?

[KAKcruiser]

On the Rotterdam we never had to wait and we did not have to share a table.

[YourWorldWithBill]

2 hours ago, dalesyang said:

Im thinking about buying Club Orange for our Norway 7 night cruise but I am not sure if its totally worth it.    I figure I'm going to the MDR a few nights,   Pinnacle Grill for a night,  Buffet for at least 1 night, and eating off the ship at least 1 night....     Is Club Orange worth paying extra for?  (I am not staying in a Neptune to get it included).

 

Ive heard somewhere that the Club Orange priority boarding does not really happen.   

I think that what those here said about not having to wait for a table is helpful. Not sure the one added menu item makes a difference. I also heard early boarding may or may not work.

[kazu]

35 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

I think that what those here said about not having to wait for a table is helpful. Not sure the one added menu item makes a difference. I also heard early boarding may or may not work.

 

Well, speaking from experience - some of those added items are pretty dam good.  Freshly made there.  And the ambience and service is worth something - at least, to me.

 

Priority boarding doesn’t work in all ports in Europe - but neither does it for 5*, 4* Mariners nor Neptune Suites.  Some ports have limitations.  

[Dobby36]

1 hour ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

I think that what those here said about not having to wait for a table is helpful. Not sure the one added menu item makes a difference. I also heard early boarding may or may not work.

when we were in a  chaotic stiflingly hot cruise terminal in Buenos Aires when three ships were trying to board at once, the priority boarding would have been worth it for the price alone! But we also found value in the extra menu item occasionally, in sitting alone at any time if we wanted, and in never waiting for a table.  Also enjoyed the expanded breakfast room service and the walk-off tender priority. Ive added it to my next three cruises, and being a 3star only, the benefits don’t overlap much so I find it a savings.  

[Florida_gal_50]

6 hours ago, dalesyang said:

Question:  For Club Orange,  is there usually open tables where you dont have to wait?  Do you usually get to sit with your group alone or do you have to share tables with anyone?

I had to wait a lot of mornings.  Iirc one morning it was 40 or 45 minutes.  I generally would get there between 8:15 and 8:30 am.

[dlca1]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Well, speaking from experience - some of those added items are pretty dam good.  Freshly made there.

 

Are all entrees freshly cooked in club orange or just the extra club orange entree?

[kazu]

6 hours ago, dlca1 said:

 

Are all entrees freshly cooked in club orange or just the extra club orange entree?

 

Reports on that are mixed.  I was told it was all prepared there on the Koningsdam.  It surprised me as I thought it was just the extra item.  Others on the boards on other ships reported it was just the extra item.  Depending on your seat, you can see some of the prep and judge for yourself.  Some of the added items are really good and ironically, the best ones seemed to be offered on the nights the MDR menu didn’t appeal a whole lot to me. (All subjective, of course).

 

Definitely the breakfast is prepared there.  

[terrydtx]

We have CO for the first time on our Nov 4 Koingsdam cruise, but in the Navigator app it does not show the CO dinner menu, is this normal? We mainly added CO to this cruise for the smaller dining room and hopefully better cooked to order meals. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by terrydtx

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

We have CO for the first time on our Nov 4 Koingsdam cruise, but in the Navigator app it does not show the CO dinner menu, is this normal? We mainly added CO to this cruise for the smaller dining room and hopefully better cooked to order meals. 

I’m pretty sure all the dinners were cooked in there.  One night I had the halibut which was on the “normal” menu.  It was awesome and I said so.  I’ve had the halibut in the pinnacle a few times and have been disappointed.  I told the club orange manager and he brought the chef over to my table so she could hear the compliment.  It was a small piece of fish so it definitely takes talent.  The food was very good in club orange.  I don’t think I saw the special in my app either but that was a while ago.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Florida_gal_50

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’m pretty sure all the dinners were cooked in there.  One night I had the halibut which was on the “normal” menu.  It was awesome and I said so.  I’ve had the halibut in the pinnacle a few times and have been disappointed.  I told the club orange manager and he brought the chef over to my table so she could hear the compliment.  It was a small piece of fish so it definitely takes talent.  The food was very good in club orange.  I don’t think I saw the special in my app either but that was a while ago.

Thank you for your experiences. I hope that the CO food and ambience is as good as the Luminae on Celebrity. I was told that on the non-Pinnacle class ships the CO food is all the same as the as it the same kitchen served is a roped off section of the MDR. That is why we never bothered adding CO. We have our first Pinnacle ship booked in November.

[dlca1]

Thanks for sharing information @kazu and @Florida_gal_50 .  Can't wait to try the freshly prepared club orange meals myself!