specialty restaraunts worth it

We are sailing on Equinox in Feb. and are debating on a few specialty restaraunts. How much is the extra cost and should we sign up when we first board. We have never dined in specialty restaurants always main dining room so any suggestions would be helpful.

Prices are $45-50 per person. Food is very subjective so what might be worth $40 to you may be worth $20 to me.

Very often you can get a discount once on the ship. I would wait till you get on the ship, check out the menu's of the restaurant's and see what kind of a discount you can get. We have gotten discounts of 20-50% but you will need to be flexible as to what day or time you want.

Frequently, 50% off on first night and 20- 50% off, if the bookings are slow. Also, you maybe able to negotiate a BOGO offer.

My Advice: Go Hungry!!! Portions are quite large.

Personally, I would not pay extra for Asian food (including Sushi), but we love Murano and Tuscan. While food is part of it (and it's good), the ambiance, service and personal touch is big part of it.

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Personally, I would not pay extra for Asian food (including Sushi), but we love Murano and Tuscan. While food is part of it (and it's good), the ambiance, service and personal touch is big part of it.

I agree, coming from Asia where there is plenty of good sushi at good prices, I would not pay for Sushi on 5 and (on RCL) Izumi. I would pay the upcharge for the other restaurants though. Looking forward to lots of Ocean Liners and some Tuscan on Connie next month!

In our opinion.....Totally worth it! We were on Equinox over Thanksgiving & dined in all & only Spec restaurants.....service was outstanding & food very good to excellent. (have nothing against MDR , heard many positive comments, we just prefer specialty dining & plan on doing same on Reflection)

I pre booked a pkg of 5 at a good discounted price (that way I was sure we had at least 5 eves confirmed & saved us a possible disappointment.) Once on board we decided to upgrade to Ultimate dining .

It was obvious many waited til on board to book.....definitely book early. They were offering discounts.

Murano & Tuscan were totally booked couple of evenings.

It is such a "personal choice" ..... if we were dining 1 or 2 evenings only ...our pick, Murano (romantic, some meals prepared table side) or Tuscan (table by the window, great view esp if the lights are on the wake.)

Hope this helps.....Enjoy your cruise!!

IMHO...No, but it depends. If you're not happy with the food and service in the MDR then it might be worth it to you. I would not pay for the sushi (overpriced, even if you hadn't already paid for your MDR meal as part of the cruise cost). Q-sine is a different experience but again not worth the money. Maybe if you get it BOGO it might be worth the cost. The others are ok but worth the money? Probably not. What you're really paying for is the service which is usually excellent... of course when you get the bill there will a space for an added gratuity on top of the $$$ you've already paid.

Worth it? Depends on what you like. I was disappointed in Murano - thought the food was overly fussy and more like what was served in the 1990's in French fine dining restaurants with too many dishes relying on murky blurred flavors and too much sauce. But others love Murano. I thought that QSine was better, although the portions were too large. I think QSine works best if you go in a group of at least 4-6 people as it is all about sharing several tapas.

We think it is well worth the cost. We rarely ever eat in the MDR. Is it worth to everyone, of course not.:)

Agree with the previous poster that said to wait until you get onboard to book. On the 3rd day of our 12 day cruise on the Millie we were offered the 3 dinner package for $90. We thought that was good value and enjoyed our meals in all the venues. Our one complaint, if you want to call it that, was the amount of food in Qsine. Too much for one couple, really.

I don't believe it is worth it without being comped or a very good discount ... but then again, I am not a foodie and just cannot consume that much food in one sitting. I am glad that a lot of people don't love Silk Harvest because that is my favorite and usually give some decent discounts. I would never pay $50 pp for one of the specialty dinners , though. I would set my limit at $30.

They are not worth it for us. The food in Blu or the MDR (depending what we book), is fine for us.

We just can't see spending an extra $100 a meal above the cruise price. I know others love it and that's OK for them.

Whatever you decide, enjoy. You can't go wrong either way.

My wife and I love them, on this upcoming cruise we have a 3 dinner one purchased, will do 2 dinners in Murano and 1 in Tuscan and eat the dinners in Luminae. Depends on the ship I think, we did TG on the Connie and you can tell they shoehorned the restaurant into a old space, I think it was a arcade before. Anyway the food was not as good as the TG on Reflection + they had to go downstairs to get your drinks so that portion of the service was not exactly super quick. If you are happy in the MDR stick to it, I was in the Army for a long time and am done eating with a ton of other people, I like the intimacy of the Spec. Restaurants.

Everyone is different when it comes to food and dining. We were on the Millennium in Alaska last July with OBC to spend and they were offering discounts of 20% for the Tuscan Grill so we did it. It was ok at best. Yes, better than the MDR for food and a bit better service but hardly worth what would have been $70 of my own money. I am sure the table of 16 that arrived after us did not help the ambience of room that evening. They were loud, a bit obnoxious and pretty much took over the room and the wait staff. I was left wondering why Celebrity would book a group like that in a restaurant that is supposed to be quiet and refined. Oh well.... like I said, it was not my money that night.

It is always better when it's other people's money.

Some think OBC is prepaid credit.

Oh well.

Just off the Silhouette. Have always had a suite, so never had dinner in MDR. This trip was with kids, two rooms, so no suite. Booked Qsine and Murano first day on board. Got a 20% discount. Our server at Qsine made it fun. We left it up to him to pick and he did a great job. Our family of four enjoyed themselves very much. Murano was fussy. I thought the food was good, but the experience was more like sitting at Sunday dinner as a child and having to behave. Good for a quiet romantic dinner, if that is what you are looking for. Our meals in the main dining room were all very good. I was surprised how good. Our servers were the best.

I would determine what are looking for in an experience and then check out the venues once on board. If they don't seem to fit the bill, don't feel you're missing something. Don't be afraid of the main dining room, it's a good experience.

Can you pre-book a dinner for a specialty restaurant prior to boarding, and then cancel it once onboard if they are offering a discount?

The first night of our sailing is my birthday, so I don't want to get on the ship and find out Murano is booked. On the other hand, 30% off sounds great :)

Can you pre-book a dinner for a specialty restaurant prior to boarding, and then cancel it once onboard if they are offering a discount?

Yes! :)

we had booked a suite at the time that one speciality dinner was offered. We chose Murano. I had one of the best dinners - I ordered Lobster. They cook the meal at your table. We loved it so much that (we were on a B2B2B) that on the next leg we went to Murano in person and made a reservation and paid $30 each, then my husband got a free dinner from the Casino Manager so we ended up eating there 3 times. We have eaten in Tuscany, but would not pay to eat there again - I am stuck on Murano.

When the OBC is from Celebrity and it is not refundable and you have a drink package and don't really need or want to buy much in the shops then OBC is like spending OPM to me.

We are sailing on Equinox in Feb. and are debating on a few specialty restaraunts. How much is the extra cost and should we sign up when we first board. We have never dined in specialty restaurants always main dining room so any suggestions would be helpful.

Everyone has a different opinion.

Love Murano, Qusine and Lawn Club. Were always in Aqua Class so unless it's 10 night or longer we don't tend to book specialty dining. Murano is by far my favorite and the only one I will pre-book. The rest we will take our chances with and see if we can get 30% off or a BOGO. The issue is if you pre book, you can't use OBC. With the AQ Go Best deal, we need something to use the OBC on so we wait till we are on board to book.

Is it worth it? That all depends, when we are in AQ and seven nights or less, not worth it IMHO, 10 night. Yes, variety is the spice of life.

You have to figure out which menu looks good to you and what price you are willing to pay for the additional experience.