Calvin

You make an excellent point but, I'll bet you, if there is any availability, it will likely be on a formal dinner night.

There has indeed been a casualization of the cruise experience, but I doubt you'll get off that easy! In the old days, I really used to appreciate people getting dressed up, especially with the women in sequins, but today I suspect too many just enjoy being casual.

I think Princess used to serve lobster, filet mignon, and crab legs on different nights, so I was hoping for something along those lines. I won't stand in a long line for a pic with the captain though, but that's what makes cruising fun for a lot of people (we all do our own thing).

LOL, you just HAVE to be a dream crusher, don't you?

You ain't lyin'. I do miss the days of the MDR food being close to what they refer to as specialty dining these days. I didn't choose to eat at the Chef's Table (I just agreed to go there with the group) but I surely didn't want it to conflict with a formal dinner. My guess is that they still try to make the formal dinners special.

This helps a bunch! If most have said the 2nd formal night is sometime during the 2nd week, then I know we're okay with the Chef's Table. I've been on 37 cruises, but most have been 7 days.

The standard Royal Caribbean line is "15+ night cruises' formal nights vary by ship, but it will have 3 or 4 formal nights", so I was just hoping someone had a good guess based on their own experience. I doubt the group will sail on another long cruise like this.

Understood, but EVERYONE has their OWN preferences. You saying "just enjoy your cruise" is like telling someone the same thing if they had only inside cabins, or no water slides, or had a bunch of chair hogs, etc.

We've never sailed on such a long cruise, and we don't want to miss one of the Formal Nights (we assume they'll prepare something special). If it were just the 2 of us, I wouldn't worry because we'd likely be able to get another Chef's Table Dinner. But there's 8-10 of us, so it's much more difficult to get seating for a large table.

Thanks a bunch! I guess I shouldn't worry about the 8 of us getting the Chef's Table on night 6 conflicting with a Formal Night! I've been on lots of cruises but never a 15 night one...

A group of us are sailing on a 15-night transatlantic repo cruise. Based on my readings, there will be at least 3 Formal Nights. From your experience, when is the 2nd Formal Night?

FWIW, I'm one of those people who likes to see the menus far in advance. Though the menus will likely never make me decide to sail one cruise line vs another, it gets me excited, even after 37 cruises.

As an old man, I've had a hard time staying up too, but the reason why I've never sailed Holland America, is because I heard their ships are quiet at night. I'm trying to stay young, so...

I just wanted to echo the sentiments of others who say great job! This is exactly the kind of article I happened to be looking for and I thank you for going into so much detail. I'm hoping to have the same choice soon but I have only been on The Haven in NCL, so I was trying to compare the two. Yours is not the first comparison I have seen that suggests Celebrity's main dining room menu it's already very good so there is not a huge appreciable difference between the regular MDR and the Luminae. Either way, thank you for your time!

Wow, just WOW! It is almost sick that you've never had a repeat menu! We will be going on our first long cruise of 15 nights and I would love to know what's on the menu, in order to plan for Specialty Restaurants. But I haven't been able to find those menus. I must admit that I assumed they would repeat the 7 day menu, but I guess not! I think it's great that they have so many options!