Celebrity Reflection - first night specialty dining, pros and cons??

[cocosmum]

Booked on a 6 night Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale in April - trying to plan well in advance!!

We would like to try one of the specialty restaurants and have decided on Tuscan Grille. The views look great and the food reviews seem excellent.  I have special offers in my booking and the one for the first night of the cruise is cheaper than the other nights. As I'm booking early, I still have the option of a few different dining times although they do seem to either be around 6.00-6.30pm or 8.00-9.00pm nothing much in between.

Anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of booking the first night?  If another night would be better - which night? After a sea day, port day, last day etc.?   Thanks in advance everyone.

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by cocosmum
typo

[SRQbeachgirl]

Honestly, it doesn't really matter. We typically do specialty dining the first night due to the discounts, but we also do specialty dining several nights on every cruise. We have Lawn Club Grill booked for the first night of our upcoming Reflection cruise because we can't wait longer than that to dig in to their chocolate chip cookie skillet. Trust me on this--get the chocolate chip cookie!

 

As for timing, if we have an active port day planned we tend to go with the later reservations so we have time to shower, change, and relax a bit before dinner.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

Usually Prime Rib is offered in the MDR on night #1

[hcat]

We're going to Fine Cut on night 1.. another big b-day on X!

[Mark_T]

1 hour ago, cocosmum said:

Anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of booking the first night?  If another night would be better - which night? After a sea day, port day, last day etc.? 

Tuscan is a great dining location for a sail-away, especially if you get a table by the window, so book according to the sailing time/sunset if you can...

 

If you don't do this on the first night then I'd go for night when there is somewhere worth looking at as you sail off into the sunset, rather than a sea day.

[Covepointcruiser]

The best dinner we ever had on Celebrity was in Tuscan Grill as we sailed from NYC.   The views were spectacular and the food wasn’t bad.

[dreamer321]

I'm sailing Reflection in December and booked Murano for the first night with the 30% discount; really looking forward to it.  I sailed Beyond last January and booked Eden the first night and really loved it. It's a great way to set the tone for the cruise, avoids the MDR first night chaos.

[Tierun]

The busiest night in the mdr is the 1st night. Specialty dining offers a nice calm relaxing atmosphere to start the cruise 

[CruisersTimesThree]

Tuscan Grille would be my last choice. Muranos and Lawn Club Grill are so much better! (My opinion of course) 

[Mark_T]

4 hours ago, CruisersTimesThree said:

Tuscan Grille would be my last choice. Muranos and Lawn Club Grill are so much better! (My opinion of course) 

For the food I would also choose Murano, but there is no view in there, and for a first night sail-away Tuscan has its charm...

[cocosmum]

Thanks everyone. It's really great to hear your thoughts.

I think we'll book Tuscan for the first night even though we leave FLL at 3.30pm and won't see much. It will be a nice relaxed evening and then we can explore further the next day and maybe look at the Lawn Club grill for lunch sometime.

[NutsAboutGolf]

23 minutes ago, cocosmum said:

Thanks everyone. It's really great to hear your thoughts.

I think we'll book Tuscan for the first night even though we leave FLL at 3.30pm and won't see much. It will be a nice relaxed evening and then we can explore further the next day and maybe look at the Lawn Club grill for lunch sometime.

 

Are you sure you LEAVE at 330 or is that the all aboard?  FLL often has 330 all boards and 5pm departures but not always

[di T]

11 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Usually Prime Rib is offered in the MDR on night #1

 

11 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Usually Prime Rib is offered in the MDR on night #1

On our Reflection cruise in a couple of weeks Prime Rib is on the last night, In the past it was on first night so we never did the specialty restaurants on boarding day! My husband’s favourite MDR meal.

[chemmo]

11 hours ago, Mark_T said:

Tuscan is a great dining location for a sail-away, especially if you get a table by the window, so book according to the sailing time/sunset if you can...

 

If you don't do this on the first night then I'd go for night when there is somewhere worth looking at as you sail off into the sunset, rather than a sea day.

Totally agree! Nothing like sitting watching the port fade into the distance and day turn to night. Our first night every cruise on S class is in Tuscan!

[cocosmum]

Thanks everyone. @NutsAboutGolf - yes itinerary shows a 'depart' at 3.30pm from FLL so assuming that's correct?   

Slightly off topic - we leave Bimini on our last day at 6pm and dock at FLL at 7am next morning. It's such a SHORT distance so do they just go really slow or go via Cuba or somewhere - lol ???