La Cuccina Restaurant

[kapcruiser]

On Celebration, dining at LaCuccina for dinner, are there order restrictions or can you order as much as you want?

[jimbo5544]

3 minutes ago, kapcruiser said:

On Celebration, dining at LaCuccina for dinner, are there order restrictions or can you order as much as you want?

You cannot place multiple orders

[staceyglow]

4 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

You cannot place multiple orders

And I can promise you that unless you have an extraordinary appetite, you will not leave hungry. 

[1st4our25th]

53 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

And I can promise you that unless you have an extraordinary appetite, you will not leave hungry. 

True! 

[kapcruiser]

Can you go once or twice for dinner for free?

[1025cruise]

On the Excel ships, you the first time you dine is complimentary. If you wish to dine again, there is a service charge.

[jimbo5544]

14 hours ago, kapcruiser said:

Can you go once or twice for dinner for free?

Once, one time.  If you go a second night, there is a charge, but nominal.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, 1025cruise said:

On the Excel ships, you the first time you dine is complimentary. If you wish to dine again, there is a service charge.

Sorry did not see your post before posting mine.  

[RoperDK]

I'm assuming that LaCucina on non Excel ships still has the full menu?  We were disappointed that the menu on Mardi Gras was quite a bit smaller than other ships. 

[kapcruiser]

Does anyone have a copy of menu on celebration. I’m afraid I was looking at wrong menu, I didn’t realize there were 2 different menus 

[CruisinArn]

Cucina del Capitano on non-excel ships is so much better. Better options and the food is just better. But free is free I guess. My only issue is if people are not happy with the free option, will they then not try it when they have to pay for it on other ships. They will not know what they are missing out on. 

[1025cruise]

7 minutes ago, CruisinArn said:

Cucina del Capitano on non-excel ships is so much better. Better options and the food is just better. But free is free I guess. My only issue is if people are not happy with the free option, will they then not try it when they have to pay for it on other ships. They will not know what they are missing out on. 

Then you get someone like me who only does a specialty restaurant for a special occasion. I'm quite happy eating the included meals in the MDR.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, 1025cruise said:

Then you get someone like me who only does a specialty restaurant for a special occasion. I'm quite happy eating the included meals in the MDR.

Options are a good thing.

[kapcruiser]

Does anyone have a picture of menu on celebration? I think I was looking at the wrong one.

[Pellaz]

On 7/29/2024 at 6:49 PM, RoperDK said:

I'm assuming that LaCucina on non Excel ships still has the full menu?  We were disappointed that the menu on Mardi Gras was quite a bit smaller than other ships. 

 

Wow.  We weren't disappointed at the choices on Mardi Gras, so now I'm curious as to what we've missed (not that we're likely to pay for specialty restaurants anyway; it's not our style).  

My friend John, who grew up in Italy, thought the offerings on Mardi Gras were quite good and reasonably authentic (although our consensus was Nonna's Meatballs weren't as good as his 🙂 ).  Since he's an accomplished cook, this was high praise indeed.    

[RoperDK]

22 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

Wow.  We weren't disappointed at the choices on Mardi Gras, so now I'm curious as to what we've missed (not that we're likely to pay for specialty restaurants anyway; it's not our style).  

My friend John, who grew up in Italy, thought the offerings on Mardi Gras were quite good and reasonably authentic (although our consensus was Nonna's Meatballs weren't as good as his 🙂 ).  Since he's an accomplished cook, this was high praise indeed.    

I'm glad you enjoyed your experience at Cucina.  We sailed on Mardi Gras during the start up and again about 9 months later and had only a handful of choices that were basically MDR quality (chicken parm, pork chop, pasta with sauces).  The Cucina menu I remember included multiple choices for appetizers, soup/salad, pasta, and meats (branzino, tomahawk pork chop, lamb chop, filet mignon).  I'm still waiting to see a menu comparison to verify what is currently offered.  I believe the same situation exists between JiJis and Chibang.  JiJIs was amazing, authentic, and worth every dollar.  Not sure that is still the case.  We will be on Vista next year and I was trying to see if the food was still that good.      

[Mike45LC]

On 7/30/2024 at 2:24 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Options are a good thing.

I love the option of getting the steakhouse steak for an upcharge in the MDR.  It lets me eat from the "free" menu while my wife enjoys a better quality steak.

 

Although my last "free" steak on Carnival, I asked the waiter for a chainsaw to cut it.

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I love the option of getting the steakhouse steak for an upcharge in the MDR.  It lets me eat from the "free" menu while my wife enjoys a better quality steak.

 

Although my last "free" steak on Carnival, I asked the waiter for a chainsaw to cut it.

see another option, that is why there is plenty of stuff on the menu

[Pellaz]

8 hours ago, RoperDK said:

I'm still waiting to see a menu comparison to verify what is currently offered.

 

Me too, frankly.  I'm trying to remember what we had at Cucina on Mardi Gras, but it was something a bit beyond what you listed. 

 

8 hours ago, RoperDK said:

  I believe the same situation exists between JiJis and Chibang.  JiJIs was amazing, authentic, and worth every dollar.  Not sure that is still the case.  We will be on Vista next year and I was trying to see if the food was still that good.      

I really love the free/included lunchtime stir-fry bowls at JiJi's and I was happy to find similar quality at Chibang on Mardi Gras.  I'm a fiend when it comes to Mongolian stir-fry.  🙂  

We never DID go to Chibang for dinner due to poor reviews even back then, but we may remedy that on the Celebration in two months, though.   

[hapytobehr]

On 8/1/2024 at 2:56 AM, Pellaz said:

 

Me too, frankly.  I'm trying to remember what we had at Cucina on Mardi Gras, but it was something a bit beyond what you listed. 

 

I really love the free/included lunchtime stir-fry bowls at JiJi's and I was happy to find similar quality at Chibang on Mardi Gras.  I'm a fiend when it comes to Mongolian stir-fry.  🙂  

We never DID go to Chibang for dinner due to poor reviews even back then, but we may remedy that on the Celebration in two months, though.   

Been to Chibang on Celebration.  It's VERY noisy and the service is not that great.

 

The food is okay but the portions are small which surprised me.  We have been on the Celebration 4 times (going in September for the 5th time) and have not been back to Chibang since the first time.

 

Be sure not to miss Emerils.  There is a charge but it is nominal and the food is fabulous.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Knights on the Beach]

I like both JiJi's and ChiBang. Below are some pictures from ChiBang on Celebration in December.

 

Dinner - my apps

 

His apps

 

We both had Kung Pao Chicken with rice and shared a side of noodles.

 

 

We both enjoyed the steak stir fry for lunch and he also had the shrimp stir fry.

 

On Vista in April, we had lunch at JiJi's several times.

 

Dinner at JiJi's on Vista - we shared apps and he also had shrimp dumplings (or something like that) and we both had Kung Pao chicken and shared rice and noodles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So you can see the portions are a little bigger at JiJi's but we certainly didn't go hungry at ChiBang either. 🙂

[Knights on the Beach]

Below are lunch pictures from Cucina del Capitano on both Vista and Mardi Gras.

 

Vista (best lasagna I've ever had)

 

 

 

 

Mardi Gras (2022)

 

 

 

B

 

Below are dinner pictures from Mardi Gras, but we didn't have dinner for comparison on Vista.

 

 

 

 

All the above food was delicious.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, hapytobehr said:

Been to Chibang on Celebration.  It's VERY noisy and the service is not that great.

 

The food is okay but the portions are small which surprised me.  We have been on the Celebration 4 times (going in September for the 5th time) and have not been back to Chibang since the first time.

 

Be sure not to miss Emerils.  There is a charge but it is nominal and the food is fabulous.

 

Have a great cruise!

We were on the Celebration in February and will be again this month, and our service in Chibangs, was def the best we had on the cruise.

[Pellaz]

9 hours ago, hapytobehr said:

The food is okay but the portions are small which surprised me.  We have been on the Celebration 4 times (going in September for the 5th time) and have not been back to Chibang since the first time.

 

Small portions?  So, it's like P.F. Chang's?   😄   

 

7 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

We were on the Celebration in February and will be again this month, and our service in Chibangs, was def the best we had on the cruise.

My service for lunch at Chibang on the Mardi Gras was GREAT...and I'll point out that I got there JUST in time for lunch on the last day.  I hate arriving at a restaurant within a half-hour of closing -- in this case, closing for that entire sailing -- but the staff couldn't have been nicer.  And of course the stir-fry was one of the best meals I had during that cruise, which is saying a lot.

 

My only caveat was that neither the Cucina nor Chibang were open for lunch on embark day on MG.  We arrived at Cucina right after muster and first-drinks at a bar, with visions of pasta bowls dancing in our heads...and were brutally disappointed.  

 

We survived tho. 😄  

[hapytobehr]

14 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

We were on the Celebration in February and will be again this month, and our service in Chibangs, was def the best we had on the cruise.

Dinner or lunch?