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Is Specialty Dining Worth It?


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Been on several cruises and have not used the premium restaurants yet. Cruising RCCL Freedom of the Seas and contemplating Chops or Portofino for Christmas dinner. Anyone know if these restaurants are worth the price. Family of 5, with 3 adult children.

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Welcome to Cruise Critic. I have not sailed RCCL, and have only used specialty restaurants twice, and only then because they were complimentary. But there are boards here for each of the cruise lines, and I would ask this on the Royal Caribbean board, under Cruise Lines P-Z. On the ships that have specialty restaurants, I always go to them and read the menu before considering if I want to pay extra to eat there. The answer has always been no. EM

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They are worth it in the sense that for the quality they provide at $25 or $35, it is a bargain; you would pay much more in a comparable land restaurant. They are not worth it in the sense that you are foregoing that food which is included in the fare. On balance I would recommend trying one or more on a cruise.

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Been on several cruises and have not used the premium restaurants yet. Cruising RCCL Freedom of the Seas and contemplating Chops or Portofino for Christmas dinner. Anyone know if these restaurants are worth the price. Family of 5, with 3 adult children.

 

Chops is definitely worth it. Portofino is OK, as well but Chops is awesome.:)

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110% worth it!! Some of our most amazing food experiences on land or on water have been in speciality restaurants. It is beyond a bargain the tiny amount you have to pay as a cover, compared to a restaurant on land for that quality of food and service :)

Edited by icklemonster
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Like EM and Paul.. I'm not a fan. The question though is about the same as the ones that always come out about the quality of food, to be honest... it's subjective.

The speciality restaurants offer more 'ambiance' - less people, more "cooked to order" foods than the MDR can offer. But, we're not big eaters, and find there is just too much food.

If you want an evening with friends or family without the hordes of people the MDR's have.. good choice. Nice atmosphere. Just go hungry!!

Enjoy your decision.

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I don't think it is worth it because we have always been satisfied with the included food and service. No need for us to spend additional money on food, especially since we are paying for our family of 4. There are so many more things I'd rather spend that money on!

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You might want to reconsider the night you book the specialty restaurants. Most ships have a special menu for Christmas. It's beent 15 years since we sailed on Royal Caribbean. I don't believe they had the specialty restaurants back then. The ones we have tried have been on Princess and Holland America. They're not something we do every cruise, but we have enjoyed them when we have. We have also enjoyed other specialty dining such as the Chef's Table and Ultimate Balcony Dining. The latter is a special private dinner for two on your balcony that Princess offers a limited number of each night.

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We've only ever done a specialty restaurant once, on Holland America, because our travel agent gifted it to us. The food was awesome - but then again, I like the MDR food also - it was the service that made it different. Much quieter and less crowded, much more personalized, attentive service.

 

I must be completely frank, though, and tell you that that dinner was the one time in my entire life that I felt unequal to the situation :-).

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We enjoy going to specialty restaurants, as they provide a break from eating in the MDR each night. As others have mentioned, the food quality and service is almost always better than the MDR.

 

Thanks for the response!

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Although I have always been interested in trying the specialty restaurants on the cruises I have been on, we never have. There have always been nights that we have looked at the MDR menu and it has had something on it that we didn't want to miss. So unfortunately we haven't had a chance. We are not against trying them and from the reviews I have read I do get the impression they are worth it.

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Variety is the spice of life!

 

We always treat ourselves to the specialty restaurants on every cruise. We cruise because it is a different experience than what we can have at home. It makes sense to us to try all the different experiences that the specialty restaurants provide. They are quieter, more intimate and personal, each has a different atmosphere, and the food is better as it is prepared to order and of higher quality, unlike the MDR where it is prepared ahead of time in order to feed hundreds of people at the same time. Some of our best meals anywhere, land or sea, have been at specialty restaurants on Disney (Palo on Magic) and on Celebrity (Lawn Club Grille on Reflection and Ocean Liners on Constellation).

 

To avoid the specialty restaurant to us would be short changing our total cruise experience. We value the entire wealth of experiences each cruise offers, specialty restaurants included.

Edited by boogs
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We are veteran cruisers and for many years we would walk by a specialty restaurant and comment upon how ridiculous it would be to pay extra to dine when we could have dinner in the MDR for no extra charge.

 

Several years ago our travel agent gifted us a specialty dining certificate and now we do specialty dining at least once every cruise. The food and service are certainly outstanding. We enjoy the low key quiet ambiance especially on the so-called formal nights. We do not enjoy the MDR on those nights as we just do not like the aura of it all. We have no desire to relive our high school proms or to play dress-up.

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We are veteran cruisers and for many years we would walk by a specialty restaurant and comment upon how ridiculous it would be to pay extra to dine when we could have dinner in the MDR for no extra charge.

 

Several years ago our travel agent gifted us a specialty dining certificate and now we do specialty dining at least once every cruise. The food and service are certainly outstanding. We enjoy the low key quiet ambiance especially on the so-called formal nights. We do not enjoy the MDR on those nights as we just do not like the aura of it all. We have no desire to relive our high school proms or to play dress-up.

 

We felt exactly as you did, tip, about the folly of paying for something when there were so many venues offering it inclusive. And then, similar to you, we were gifted specialty dining certificatess by Princess on our past Aug Med cruise. We chose Crown Grill and DH, DS, DD and I all thought the same thing - "so, THIS is where they hide all the amazing food!" We couldn't get over the quality, presentation, taste - the lemon tart was incredible, and the first Princess dessert I've actually devoured! We will definitely be making it a tradition on each cruise from this point on.

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To the OP,

We've dined in specialty restaurants many times and love them, BUT, for Christmas dinner, I would think the MDR would be the better option as they will likely do something very special for that evening and the staff will all be in a good mood. The specialty restaurants will probably just serve what they usually serve, which is great, but might be kind of a disappointment since it is for Christmas. I don't think I would want to miss that night in the MDR.

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