Specialty dining, is it real

[PATRLR]

17 hours ago, mrmarklin said:

At the Crown Grill I ordered the Ribeye steak a few years ago on the Pacific Princess. The next night it was on the menu in MDR. Same exact cut. Haven’t been to the Crown Grill since. And won’t. 

Same cut is not surprising to me.  Did you have it at both venues?  If so, were the equal quality?  I'd expect the quality in Crown Grille to be noticeably better than what they serve in the MDR.

[memoak]

18 hours ago, mrmarklin said:

At the Crown Grill I ordered the Ribeye steak a few years ago on the Pacific Princess. The next night it was on the menu in MDR. Same exact cut. Haven’t been to the Crown Grill since. And won’t. 

The Pacific Princess was sold in 2021. There was never a Crown Grille on the ship in my knowledge the steakhouse was called the Sterling Steakhouse. I sailed that ship many times and never saw a rib eye steak offered in the MDR even in what was then called club class

[Mark_K]

On 5/5/2024 at 10:24 AM, Outerdog said:

It's amazing that this is even a debate.

 

How can it be the "same food" if the menu items found on the SD menus are not available in the MDR?

 

I find it remarkable that at home, folks will go out to dinner and drop $50 to $100 pp without thinking twice, but the SD up-charge on a ship warrants all this consternation and hand wringing using subjective terms like "worth it" in the process.

 

Speciality Dining food is better, the preparation is made to order, the service better, the menu unique, the ambience different. 

 

If one is on a tight budget, then it might not be "worth it" -- those who are making it rain don't give the money a second thought. Maybe it's a matter of YOLO versus FOMO. I tend to rock the former.

 

It’s more like dropping $50 to go to Outback when you’ve already paid for a meal at Applebee's.

[memoak]

49 minutes ago, Mark_K said:

It’s more like dropping $50 to go to Outback when you’ve already paid for a meal at Applebee's.

Under that reasoning you should eat about 5 meals a day. Since you have already paid for burger grill, pizza slices, buffet and MDR. It reminds me of the people that say   “ you can eat all you want “. While they run you down with their scooter. The same logic says why should I pay tips for people doing their jobs

[Mark_K]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Under that reasoning you should eat about 5 meals a day. Since you have already paid for burger grill, pizza slices, buffet and MDR. It reminds me of the people that say   “ you can eat all you want “. While they run you down with their scooter. The same logic says why should I pay tips for people doing their jobs

I could eat five meals a day, but it might interfere with making sure I get all fifteen alcoholic drinks in. You have to have priorities. 😉

 

Regardless, I’m just saying that you might also think about the opportunity cost of not eating in the MDR when deciding whether to pay for a meal at a specialty restaurant.

 

 

[memoak]

1 minute ago, Mark_K said:

I could eat five meals a day, but it might interfere with making sure I get all fifteen alcoholic drinks in. You have to have priorities. 😉

 

Regardless, I’m just saying that you might also think about the opportunity cost of not eating in the MDR when deciding whether to pay for a meal at a specialty restaurant.

 

 

I also have paid for lunch on board on port days but choose to eat at restaurants on land. So I guess I am paying twice for lunch

[Mark_K]

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

I also have paid for lunch on board on port days but choose to eat at restaurants on land. So I guess I am paying twice for lunch

Yes, you are. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, either on shore or at a specialty restaurant, but it is something to take into consideration.

[memoak]

3 minutes ago, Mark_K said:

Yes, you are. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, either on shore or at a specialty restaurant, but it is something to take into consideration.

If I couldn’t afford a specialty dinner or lunch on shore I probably couldn’t afford a cruise fare

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, Mark_K said:

Yes, you are. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, either on shore or at a specialty restaurant, but it is something to take into consideration.

 

10 minutes ago, memoak said:

I also have paid for lunch on board on port days but choose to eat at restaurants on land. So I guess I am paying twice for lunch

 

3 minutes ago, Mark_K said:

Yes, you are. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, either on shore or at a specialty restaurant, but it is something to take into consideration.

as we are also - and double paying for drinks since we have the package onboard.  It did take me a few cruises to get used to this, but oh well ... once, maybe twice a year, an extra $100 or so - that I can deal with

[memoak]

17 minutes ago, voljeep said:

 

 

as we are also - and double paying for drinks since we have the package onboard.  It did take me a few cruises to get used to this, but oh well ... once, maybe twice a year, an extra $100 or so - that I can deal with

Even on port days I still somehow manage to get in 8-10 drinks while on ship. Still saving money

[555]

1 hour ago, Mark_K said:

I could eat five meals a day, but it might interfere with making sure I get all fifteen alcoholic drinks in. You have to have priorities. 😉

 

Regardless, I’m just saying that you might also think about the opportunity cost of not eating in the MDR when deciding whether to pay for a meal at a specialty restaurant.

 

 

You've got to eat the free meals first.😉

 

 

 

1 hour ago, memoak said:

I also have paid for lunch on board on port days but choose to eat at restaurants on land. So I guess I am paying twice for lunch

We never seem to miss the ships lunch even on port days. 

Why spend money on land when there's perfectly good food on the ship when you get back. 

[mrmarklin]

On 5/5/2024 at 4:37 PM, memoak said:

The Pacific Princess was sold in 2021. There was never a Crown Grille on the ship in my knowledge the steakhouse was called the Sterling Steakhouse. I sailed that ship many times and never saw a rib eye steak offered in the MDR even in what was then called club class

Maybe it was the Sterling Steakhouse. Other wise, the facts are what I stated. The voyage was pre 2021. Quite a nice trip. Went to Murmansk and saw the nuclear icebreaker. 

[mrmarklin]

On 5/5/2024 at 4:09 PM, PATRLR said:

Same cut is not surprising to me.  Did you have it at both venues?  If so, were the equal quality?  I'd expect the quality in Crown Grille to be noticeably better than what they serve in the MDR.

Exact same cut. Both venues. Frankly, I’m used to a thick cut of Ribeye. These were about 1/2” thick. 

[happy42cruise]

4 hours ago, mrmarklin said:

Exact same cut. Both venues. Frankly, I’m used to a thick cut of Ribeye. These were about 1/2” thick. 

Possibly the Steakhouse had too many ribeye's that were nearing the use by date so they transferred them to the MDR.  Just a thought.

[memoak]

20 hours ago, 555 said:

You've got to eat the free meals first.😉

 

 

 

We never seem to miss the ships lunch even on port days. 

Why spend money on land when there's perfectly good food on the ship when you get back. 

I assume you have a fully stocked refrigerator. Do you never go out to lunch or dinner ?  It would be a lot cheaper to eat all your meals at home. The only lunch available on port days on ship are the buffet and burger/pizza slices on deck. I don’t consider those as perfectly good food. 

[555]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

The only lunch available on port days on ship are the buffet and burger/pizza slices on deck. I don’t consider those as perfectly good food. 

For my wife & I, it's perfectly fine food.

We aren't fussy eaters. 

[jeromep]

On 5/4/2024 at 12:55 PM, jbinbi said:

They learned that the same kitchen produces all the food.

I went round and round to figure out how to tackle this statement.

 

First, there are many galleys on board.  If you take a good look at your deck plan you'll notice that on most shops there is a void on deck 5 and 6 adjacent to the dining rooms at those locations (also I'm referencing the general deck design for Grand and Royal class ships).  This would be the location of two large galleys, one on deck 5 and another on deck 6, serving the immediately adjacent dining rooms.  There is a void area near Sabatini's and Crown Grill, and other casual dining locations.  Same goes for Worldfresh Marketplace.  This is all kitchen and crew spaces.

 

Princess uses a lot of raw ingredients, very few prepared items.  All bread and pastries are baked from scratch. Beef comes in as cryovac sections in boxes (similar to a grocery store or local butcher).  There is a significant amount of prep work that occurs below decks.  Prepped, raw, foods, meat, vegitables, etc., then make their way up to kitchens near dining or serving areas for final preparation.

 

The foods that supply the specialty restaurants are mostly different than those that supply the MDR, unless we are talking about flour, sugar, spices, and other commodities; and final preparation of foods for specialty restaurants are done in the kitchen that serves that location.

 

The ships are large enough that if all food came out of one central galley and was transported to the various dining areas, most of the food would arrive cold and it would take an army of staff just to schlep prepared dishes around the ship.  So, whomever you spoke to that heard that food came from one central kitchen from was mistaken.

 

Is the cover charge for specialty dining worth it?  I used to unequivocally say yes.  These days I'm more guarded.  Sabatini's is generally excellent and highly consistent.  That is going to be your best bet.  The reports of the food quality, quantity and presentation coming out of the The Catch are also excellent.  Crown Grill (and Sterling's for that matter) are up and down.  I've always had mixed feelings about Alfredo's/Gigi's.  It is basically good pizza, but sometimes they are chintzy on the toppings, and sometimes it is perfect.  I was fine with dining there when it was included, but now that "casual dining" is cover charge without a package, I advise that you look and see what is coming out of the pizza ovens before I'd commit to dining there, at least not without it being part of a package.

[jeromep]

7 hours ago, memoak said:

The only lunch available on port days on ship are the buffet and burger/pizza slices on deck. I don’t consider those as perfectly good food. 

 

7 hours ago, 555 said:

For my wife & I, it's perfectly fine food.

We aren't fussy eaters. 

 

Same here.  On a port day, I'm more than happy to eat on board and have Lido deck pizza, or a decent burger.  I may consider the buffet, but Lido deck food is just fine.

 

I'm generally back on ship on a port day because I'm either done with the port, in between excursions, or find the ship less crowded than the port (a welcome change).

[memoak]

15 hours ago, jeromep said:

 

 

Same here.  On a port day, I'm more than happy to eat on board and have Lido deck pizza, or a decent burger.  I may consider the buffet, but Lido deck food is just fine.

 

I'm generally back on ship on a port day because I'm either done with the port, in between excursions, or find the ship less crowded than the port (a welcome change).

Eating in port is a great chance to try different cuisines as well as avoid the buffet where we observe people not washing and pickup food with their hands or the grill where everything is cooked on one flattop which is rarely cleaned. We have actually gotten sick there

[Lady Arwen]

16 hours ago, jeromep said:

 

 

Same here.  On a port day, I'm more than happy to eat on board and have Lido deck pizza, or a decent burger.  I may consider the buffet, but Lido deck food is just fine.

 

I'm generally back on ship on a port day because I'm either done with the port, in between excursions, or find the ship less crowded than the port (a welcome change).

If I’m in an interesting port that I’m enjoying walking around, why would I feel the need to run back to the ship to eat an average, at best, meal in the buffet or grill, when I can enjoy the local cuisine at a lovely restaurant with great food and wine?  Just because I feel the need to eat the free stuff onboard?  That would be a hard “No”!

[555]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Eating in port is a great chance to try different cuisines as well as avoid the buffet where we observe people not washing and pickup food with their hands or the grill where everything is cooked on one flattop which is rarely cleaned. We have actually gotten sick there

Do you really believe that any of the restaurants in ports are much cleaner than the ships facilities? 

At least I know that on the ship they conform to some standards.

In any port, who knows? 

[kywildcatfanone]

1 minute ago, 555 said:

Do you really believe that any of the restaurants in ports are much cleaner than the ships facilities? 

This was going to be my comment.  Makes no sense to think that tourist restaurants are any more sanitary than those on the ship.

[memoak]

1 minute ago, 555 said:

Do you really believe that any of the restaurants in ports are much cleaner than the ships facilities? 

At least I know that on the ship they conform to some standards.

In any port, who knows? 

Restaurants on land don’t let customers put their hands on all the food. On ships buffets we have watch people use their hands to go through cold cuts, cheeses etc. 

[555]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

Restaurants on land don’t let customers put their hands on all the food. On ships buffets we have watch people use their hands to go through cold cuts, cheeses etc. 

On the ship you can run across it on occasion but we always eat early at the buffet when the food is first presented and not picked over.

On land you can only hope they conform to some health standards, which I seriously doubt especially in the Caribbean.

I'll take my chance with ship food any day. 

[galensgrl]

1 hour ago, 555 said:

On the ship you can run across it on occasion but we always eat early at the buffet when the food is first presented and not picked over.

On land you can only hope they conform to some health standards, which I seriously doubt especially in the Caribbean.

I'll take my chance with ship food any day. 

I first started cruising with my husband, and we cruised once a year until 2019. After he passed on, my sister won a cruise through casino credits and asked me to join her. We got a premiere package bundle and have the two specialty meals and casual meals too. If it weren't for that I would stick with basic dining. On the past cruises with my husband, the included meals were usually fine. Only once did I see someone touch food with their hands at the Celebrity buffet when a guy took all of the chocolate covered strawberries off of an uncut display cake at the desserts station with his bare hand. I discreetly let an employee know someone touched the cake and it was removed. Getting to the buffet when it first opens is a good idea. Neither I nor my husband ever got sick from cruise ship food.

Edited May 8 by galensgrl
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