Terrace Cafe menu

[ppanyan]

I am considering to sail on Vista in the Mediterranean next year as my first Oceania cruise.  I have heard that the food on Oceania is better than other cruise lines.  I just got off a Celebrity Apex cruise and the food was very disappointing.  One thing I did not like on Celebrity Apex is that the buffet and restaurant menus did not really change much from night to night.  I like the informality and convenience of the buffet, but honestly the Oceanview Cafe on Celebrity got really boring after a few nights of the same offerings every night.  There wasn't even a themed set of dishes each night to reflect the region/port we were in, which some other lines do.  The restaurants weren't much better.  So my question is if the menus in the main dining room and Terrace Cafe on Oceania Vista are changed up every night to keep things interesting.

Edited February 15 by ppanyan

[alcpa1]

Welcome to Cruise Critic

I am ex Celebrity sailor too.

Yes the menus do change. There are, of course, some repetitions like your always available selections on X. Don't forget you have the 4 specialty restaurants in addition to the MDR too.

 

[proton-excitement]

Yes, the Grand Dining Room and Terrace Café menus change daily. I don't have any pictures or copies of the Terrace Café menus from our last sailing, but here's a great review of the Vista that includes a bunch of GDR menus: Vista 23 Menus (thepreismans.com)

Edited February 15 by proton-excitement

[Mareblu]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy the Oceania experience.  The cuisine on all our six cruises has always  been of a high standard, and often reflects the food of ports visited on particular cruises.  The Terrace Buffet offers a great choice for a casual dinner, and the GDR, while somewhat more formal, changes its menu daily, while always retaining three or more favourites.  The specialty restaurants offer individual menus, reflecting the tastes and culture of their titles.  Having said all that, our last O cruise was in September 22.  Our next is this April, on Vista.  We hope the standard of cuisine remains high.

[MEFIowa]

Wife and I have spent 30 nights on Riviera since 12/2021, including a 20-night B2B 10-11/2023, and 10 nights on Sirena 11/2022. We have never eaten in the GDR/MDR. We much prefer the TC. Love eating under the stars. The food diversity quite good. A nice balance between staples and new or changing items. Some people live by the grilling station (lobster tail, lamb, steaks, and shrimp). We did NOT get bored with the food in the TC on our B2B. (There was one night heavy on Italian seafood dishes and I'm not huge on some seafood, so that was a bit of a miss but also thinking there was a themed night about olives and cheese that I did enjoy.)

 

I will say that a seagull ate an item off my plate at lunch in the Med last year. Far aft table alone side. I got up to get something and walked a few steps then saw people pointing and laughing so I turned around to see two birds on my table and one eating my entre. But I prefer to eat outside in the TC when I can.

[SATaxman]

We were on Marina in October, our first O cruise. 10 nights, 8 specialty dining bookings, the other 2 on Terrace Cafe, While in Greece, there was amazing Greek food in addition to the "regular" offerings. Ate Lunch there most days we were on the ship. Eating outside was wonderful. Checked out the GDR on our way off the ship. Never ate there.

[golfguyhhi]

PLEASE..PLEASE..PLEASE --stop telling people how wonderful it is to dine at The Terrace!!!!!

 

If I can't find a seat at my favorite dining venue when I board in 5 weeks, I will hold you all responsible.

 

Stop it!!

[MEFIowa]

3 minutes ago, golfguyhhi said:

...--stop telling people how wonderful it is to dine at The Terrace!!!!! If I can't find a seat at my favorite dining venue when I board in 5 weeks, I will hold you all responsible....

For dinner at least, arriving around 6:20 pm for a 6:30 "start" would seemingly always get you a decent table. For lunch, however, it could crowd badly, esp. on days excursions came back together around 1 pm or so. One day they kept the lunch operation going until after 3 pm.

 

And there is WAVES in the afternoon, which has some great food, too.

[ppanyan]

Thank you everyone for your great helpful replies.  Sounds like I won't need to be worried about being bored with the food on Oceania.  Makes me more confident booking a cruise with them.  Thanks!

[babysteps]

FYI the "themed" evening menus in Terrace typically run 2 days in a row, so if you have a Specialty reservation one night you don't miss out. They don't usually announce day 2 until day 2 lol, so it's hard to know for certain.

[ppanyan]

I think I heard/read someplace that many of the dishes from the GDR are also available in the Terrace Cafe.  Is that true?

[keylimecake]

Many thanks to proton-excitement for posting sampe menus from all of the restuarants.  I am now officially so excited to join the O fan club.  

[Snaefell3]

42 minutes ago, ppanyan said:

I think I heard/read someplace that many of the dishes from the GDR are also available in the Terrace Cafe.  Is that true?

Yep.  The crap-shoot is "which?"  😉

[pmatawan]

The grill at the terrace offers the best lobster tails and grilled jumbo shrimp. Is usually always available along with steaks lambchops salmon and chicken every night except theme nights. When ship is full sometimes a 5 or 10 minute wait as they are cooked fresh.

[clo]

2 hours ago, pmatawan said:

The grill at the terrace offers the best lobster tails and grilled jumbo shrimp. Is usually always available along with steaks lambchops salmon and chicken every night except theme nights. When ship is full sometimes a 5 or 10 minute wait as they are cooked fresh.

That is so, so good. My husband had the lobster tail so many times he said he needed to take a break. And he's not a huge eater.

 

[vipro]

7 hours ago, pmatawan said:

The grill at the terrace offers the best lobster tails and grilled jumbo shrimp. Is usually always available along with steaks lambchops salmon and chicken every night except theme nights. When ship is full sometimes a 5 or 10 minute wait as they are cooked fresh.

Wait. U mean they serve lobster tail at the buffet every night? That's awesome. We didn't even have that in regent (where there was only lunch buffets)

[Snaefell3]

Just now, vipro said:

Wait. U mean they serve lobster tail at the buffet every night? That's awesome. We didn't even have that in regent (where there was only lunch buffets)

Yep.  Granted, it's Florida lobster, not Maine lobster.

 

Phasing out (but only gone on Vista so far) Waves, the pool grill, serves a surf and turf sandwich with lobster and fillet mignon.  It's being replaced by a waygu burger.

[mauibabes]

One of our travel buddies has been nicknamed “Lobsterman” because he eats lobster every day on our cruises.  Be it 10 or 35 days, he has his lobster. Just go and ENJOY. 

Mauibabes. 

[vipro]

1 hour ago, Snaefell3 said:

Yep.  Granted, it's Florida lobster, not Maine lobster.

 

Phasing out (but only gone on Vista so far) Waves, the pool grill, serves a surf and turf sandwich with lobster and fillet mignon.  It's being replaced by a waygu burger.

Sorry, do u mean there is no more lobster in Waves and pool grill on vista any more?

[Snaefell3]

9 hours ago, vipro said:

Sorry, do u mean there is no more lobster in Waves and pool grill on vista any more?

Alas.

 

 

[edgee]

1 hour ago, Snaefell3 said:

Alas.

 

 

Yes there are still lobster medallians.You are not getting or looking at full pic of what I posted. Difference in surf and turf on the Vista  though is that the wagu beef with lobster is ground waygu rather than medallions of wagu as in the past.

[MEFIowa]

A weird strategy for O, pay more & get less with Vista. So glad we were on Riviera in the Med 10/30-11/19/2023.

[Snaefell3]

28 minutes ago, edgee said:

Yes there are still lobster medallians.You are not getting or looking at full pic of what I posted. Difference in surf and turf on the Vista  though is that the wagu beef with lobster is ground waygu rather than medallions of wagu as in the past.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

Sorry for the Chicken Little moment, folks.  Lobster *is* still there 😄 , I just couldn't find it because it moved over to the "Burgers" column rather than where I was used to finding it 🤦‍♂️ .

 

@edgee?  Thanks again.  I board Vista in 29 days, and have been carefully --uhh-- managing my expectations.  😉

[Snaefell3]

37 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

A weird strategy for O, pay more & get less with Vista. So glad we were on Riviera in the Med 10/30-11/19/2023.

My bad.  False info.  Disregard.

[MEFIowa]

4 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

My bad.  False info.  Disregard.

Not really, see the loss of Jacques, replaced by Ember. And IIRC the menu at Waves is different on Vista now than when I was on Riviera 11/2023. Loved the Mahi Mahi on Riviera. Not in a burrito. Etc.