Trend question - Get rid of fine dining?

[Happy ks]

If cruiselines go to "no frills" and eliminate fine dining, then they should lower the price of the cruises. Personally, we like to dress for dinner and like being pampered while on a cruise. When we get home, we feel like we have *really* been on a vacation.

 

If I want to eat hotdogs and hamburgers for a week or so, I can do that at home. Just my thoughts ....

 

 

I like hammybees first post the best, I think I could have written it myself :)

 

8Bells, what you might not realize is that the food does not really cost all that much, I think the budget per pax is somewhere around $12 per person, per day. So, cutting the food budget won't really be able to reduce the cost of the cruise fare all that much.

 

As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to pay an extra $10 per person, per day, for more decent food preparation. I've never been all that terribly impressed with the food served on cruise ships, it's about the same quality as wedding banquet food at a large hotel. Edible, but certainly not anywhere close to a 5 star restaurant.

 

I'd not want to eat the hot dogs and hamburgers I've seen on cruise ships at all, those things they serve at the poolside grill look absolutely disgusting. I don't think it's all their fault, though, the CDC insists on food being a certain temp and cooked well done. We could us the stuff for shoe repair, though.

[Afterburner]

 

Fine dining establishments on land don't have just two seatings. Why do they need to on the ship? I will never understand why people want their mealtimes dictated to them by the cruise line.

 

While I agree that restaurants on land don't have sittings, to my mind cruising is very different. For me one of the pleasures of cruising is meeting and eating with other people who are currently sharing the same experiences as I am. Over the period of the cruise I get to know them and have always enjoyed new company. Because the sittings are a standard time, you always know you're going to meet (assuming the others are going to eat in that dining room for that meal). It's a sort of easygoing appointment. You can always choose not to meet them, of course, by eating at another restaurant on the ship if you don't fancy the company for a change). So on balance I'm in favour of sittings.