Is It Worth It To Pay For Restaurants?

[halos]

Is it really worth it to pay the surcharge for the "pay restaurants" on NCL?

The way I figure it, I am getting what would be a $100+ meal in the main restaurant for free. So equivalent to that, a $15 surchage would be like the equivalent of a $300 or so meal (I am totally making this up,...I have no idea what the mathematical formula would be), which I would never do at home.

So, is it THAT much better?!

 

LOL :D

If I were to look at this the way you presented it, then for sure I'd eat in the equivalent of a $300 per meal restaurant for $15!!

Seriously, you don't know until you try it out yourself. :)

[hazeleyez3]

This is a great point, and one that often gets missed when someone asks for subjective judgments; it depends on what you're used to!

 

If you're from a major metro area, with a wide variety of generally excellent restaurants, AND eat there regularly, you're going to have a different opinion of what's good food and what's "worth it" compared to someone who's dining out is limited, by choice, budget or geography, to the Olive Garden and the Outback.

 

That said, I'm from New York and eat out regularly and don't use the extra charge specialty restaurants when I cruise. I presume that they're nicer than the dining room, but the dining room is perfectly fine for me and I just can't get past the notion of paying for food when they're GIVING IT AWAY nearby!

 

I completely agree. I am from Baltimore, frequent NYC a lot, and tend to eat at many nice restaurants.

 

With the amount of $$ I am paying for the cruise (which includes food), I cannot see a reason to pay extra for a specialty restaurant. Especially since one doesn't take a cruise for the excellent food.

[flag fan]

Sure. You're on vacation, make it as special as you want. Considering how much a cruise vacation costs, one or two nights at a specialty restaurant is a drop in the bucket.

[jame_g]

We like to go to the specialty restaurants once or twice during the cruise. Certainly not every night. They tend to be quieter and more intimate, with a better quality choice of food and items that we won't find on the regular menu.