Guaranteed specialty restaurant reservations

[DaisyUK]

Reservations for specialty restaurants opened on 1 March for our sailing on Explorer at the end of May. On 2 March I tried to make reservations in all 3 restaurants for the first 3 evenings, but was unable to book either Prime 7 or Chartreuse. Our suite specifies that we have guaranteed reservations every night. I have written to Regent reservations, but they tell me there is no availability. Does anyone have experience of this and know whether availability will open up once we are on board? We have sailed with Regent several times previously, in the same suite and never had this problem pre-cruise before.

[Snore42]

If in a Grand/Master/Regent Suite, your butler can confirm reservations for each night while on board.  You can also have the meals from Compass Rose, Chartreusse, Prime 7 or Pacific Rim restaurant served in room.   I wouldn't worry about booking the reservations before the cruise, if you are in any of these suites. 

[Gpilon]

32 minutes ago, Snore42 said:

If in a Grand/Master/Regent Suite, your butler can confirm reservations for each night while on board.  You can also have the meals from Compass Rose, Chartreusse, Prime 7 or Pacific Rim restaurant served in room.   I wouldn't worry about booking the reservations before the cruise, if you are in any of these suites. 

Agree. We were in a GS on Splendor our past 2 cruises, and our butler secured our reservations each night with no problems. We will do the same on our upcoming Gradeur cruise in July.

 

[bookbabe]

Our rep at Regent specially told us we didn’t need to bother with the specialty restaurant reservations, just tell your butler that morning where you want to eat that night.  Grand suite on Mariner.  Worked like a charm, even the one day that we forgot to tell her until later in the afternoon.

[DaisyUK]

Thank you all, I feel much better now. This is what I was expecting, but it is almost a year since we were last onboard and I was worried that things may have changed. Really appreciate the help.

[jhenry1]

Yes we are in a Master Suite for an Alaska cruise on Explorer in late May and we could not get the restaurants on the days we wanted. Hopefully the butler can arrange once on board. We just returned from a Barbados cruise on the Splendor and our butler was by far the worst butler we have ever encountered. None of the drinks provided in the room were what we had requested. No fresh fruit was in the room. We requested certain appetizers for the evenings and what we requested was not provided. He kept bringing cheese and crackers. He actually argued with my husband regarding the issue. This is not acceptable. The food in Speciality restaurants was hit and miss. We found the Compass Rose to provide the best service and food. It seemed the quality especially the steak was very poor especially in Prime seven. We had a wonderful time but it does seems the quality is slipping. Also Regent did not provide pre cruise hotel or transfers in Barbados. 
We did receive compensation but not enough to cover the cost. 

[pappy1022]

I agree with your assessment on the restaurants. Prime 7 was the most disappointing and Compass Rose was better than Prime 7 when it came to steaks and lobsters. Doesn’t make any sense. 

[Mahogany]

10 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

I agree with your assessment on the restaurants. Prime 7 was the most disappointing and Compass Rose was better than Prime 7 when it came to steaks and lobsters. Doesn’t make any sense. 

Do you think the meat was the same quality and just cooked better in CR? You're right, it doesn't make sense that the steakhouse wouldn't have the best meat on board.

[pappy1022]

The lobsters in P7 were rubbery and almost inedible on both occasions we ate there. The steaks were not cook to order and we sent them back. They came back the same way so we just gave up. CR lobster and steaks were better prepared and better tasting, although 1 time in CR we did return the lobster because it was way overcooked. I think they must have people in the kitchen who are still learning. 

[jhenry1]

The steaks in both are not prime meat. I agree with Pappy the lobster in Prime  7 was over cooked. Overall we were very disappointed in the food. 

[mrstanley]

We r currently on the Grandeur.

The filet in Prime 7 had no taste and it definitely was not Prime beef. We have eaten in some of the best steakhouses in the USA and know what Prime beef should taste like.

 

Wolfgang’s in NYC

Mortons

Capital Grill

The Palm in NYC

Peter Lugers in Brooklyn

New York Prime in Boca Raton, Florida

Joes Stone Crab in Las Vegas

 

 

Our Costco sells Prime beef. 

 

Jacob’s in Toronto serves Prime beef.

Fabulous restaurant!

 

 

 

[shuguley]

You have to remember most of the food has been previously frozen.  Not so in stateside steakhouses.  Also the steaks cannot be cooked over open flame.

[pappy1022]

All I can report is that the steak and lobster in Compass Rose was better than Prime 7. I would assume it’s the same meat and lobster in both. Neither was outstanding relative to better land steak houses. 

[Mahogany]

Do you think it is fair to compare steak on a cruise ship to "better land steak houses"?

[cwn]

Of course not! Cooking for 450 to 750 a day times three depending on the ship is a whole different ball game than a land side speciality steak house. Regent food is over all really good, but it still mass produced and not always perfect. It is all about really setting reasonable expectations 

[pappy1022]

Reasonable expectations? I expect my steak to be cooked as I ordered it, at least warm when I eat it, and my lobster to be firm and not rubbery where it was obviously overcooked. When that doesn’t happen, I expect the server and management to apologize and to show some concern and to make it right and not to keep making the same mistakes. If those are unreasonable expectations then I guess that is my fault for being unreasonable and Regent gets a free pass again. Maybe Regent needs to tone down the marketing of a 5+ star experience so the customer sets more reasonable expectations. 

[kjbacon]

@DaisyUK there are two completely separate methods to make a reservation at the specialty restaurants. The one method is to make an advance reservation out of the regular pool of tables. Having a top suite has no bearing on advance reservations and there’s no benefit to make an advance reservation.

 

The second method is reserved for the grand, master, and regent suites to make a reservation on the day of dining out of that pool of tables. For the best choice of times, make your reservation through your butler early in the day.

 

Its actually better not to make advance reservations because it mixes up the two pools of tables.

[mrstanley]

My husband has had a filet in Prime 7 many times on all the ships. Most of the time very good but sometimes not good at all.

 

 

[pappy1022]

10 hours ago, Mahogany said:

Do you think it is fair to compare steak on a cruise ship to "better land steak houses"?

Sure if they claim they provide a 5 star dining experience. The biggest issue I experienced recently was the fact that they didn’t cook the steaks to how we ordered them. This happened multiple times. Medium rare came out well done. Medium came out rare. I would expect even the lesser steak houses to get that right. The lobster was overcooked to the point it was rubbery and unacceptable.

[DaisyUK]

Thank you all for your kind advice, and especially Kjbacon as I had not realised how the tables are allocated. Good to know!

[carolcp]

My question about dinner reservations for the Grand suite, will the person in the grand suite be able to book a table for 8 (the rest of us commoners are in concierge suites) in the specialty restaurants? 

[Pcardad]

3 hours ago, carolcp said:

My question about dinner reservations for the Grand suite, will the person in the grand suite be able to book a table for 8 (the rest of us commoners are in concierge suites) in the specialty restaurants? 

Any of you can book a table if you have the booking numbers of the other parties. The question is will they accommodate 8 people via the automated system. I am not sure it is set up to take that many in a specialty....but you can book 2 sets of 4 and the same time and talk to the restaurant manager, the F&B Manager, etc. when you get on board and ask to put the tables together. They have done that multiple times for us in the past.

[papaflamingo]

On 3/11/2024 at 6:28 AM, pappy1022 said:

I expect my steak to be cooked as I ordered it, at least warm when I eat it, and my lobster to be firm and not rubbery where it was obviously overcooked. When that doesn’t happen, I expect the server and management to apologize and to show some concern and to make it right

Did you send it back? If so did they refuse to "make it right?"  Did they not "apologize" or "show concern?"  Just asking because my experience has been the exact opposite. I admit I don't eat lobster on ships, generally, because they are frozen and generally "ok" but not great.  I will admit I love the Tempura Lobster in Pacific Rim.  But on all my Regent cruises, the steaks have always come out great and any other problems (the very few we've encountered) have always been received with both concern and an apology (even if an apology isn't necessary) and rectified immediately.   

Edited March 12 by papaflamingo

[carolina cruisin]

Agreeing with papaflamingo. I will have to say that on our most recent cruise - I was served a lobster (in Prime 7) that I could not/would not eat - mentioned it to them and they were very concerned and ready to make it right.  Other than that, guess I, and papaflamingo, are just "lucky" in not encountering multiple issues with our steaks.  This is not about giving Regent a "free pass" - it just shows that not everyone one is unlucky enough to being unable to find a steak to their liking. I also have never encountered a situation where the staff was unconcerned and/or unwilling to make amends if food is less than "perfect".

[cwn]

2 hours ago, carolina cruisin said:

Agreeing with papaflamingo. I will have to say that on our most recent cruise - I was served a lobster (in Prime 7) that I could not/would not eat - mentioned it to them and they were very concerned and ready to make it right.  Other than that, guess I, and papaflamingo, are just "lucky" in not encountering multiple issues with our steaks.  This is not about giving Regent a "free pass" - it just shows that not everyone one is unlucky enough to being unable to find a steak to their liking. I also have never encountered a situation where the staff was unconcerned and/or unwilling to make amends if food is less than "perfect".

Agree with you both. In 250+ nights on Regent we have very few less than wonderful meals on Regent. It is usually my fault as I have tired some new dishes that haven’t been my cup of tea. The staff has noticed every time and tried to get me something else. Sometimes my eyes are just bigger than my stomach and I can’t eat it all resulting in the same concern about the food from the staff..The streaks have always been good and cooked to my satisfaction or close enough not to justify sending it back. Little frozen lobster tails are never as good as fresh so I don’t order them.

 

I will say again that Regent has good food….comparable with the high end restaurants in Houston or Dallas that we enjoy most often. And the high end restaurants are not providing meals for 450-750 people there times a day. There are bound to be misses but Regent will fix it given a chance.