Mariner speciality restaurants

Please provide recent reviews on the speciality restaurants on Mariner. Food quality, service, value, suggested dishes?

That's very subjective, like all food reviews and can change at any time. Look at any other ship/venue for info - Mariner will likely be very similar.

We just sailed the Allure and had amazing food on the specialty restaurants. Going on Mariner in a few weeks and we got the dining package so will be in specialty all 3 nights, I will try to report back after the cruise.

As a side question to anyone who's been on Mariner recently, on 3 days cruises when you get the dining package, what restaurants have you been assigned to? As far as I can tell, the only specialties are Chops, Jamie Olivers, and Izumi. The fine print says the Hibachi is not allowed on the dining package, so do you dine in Chops or Jamie Olivers twice? or do you eat in the Sushi side and get a $35 credit for the 3rd night?

We just sailed the Allure and had amazing food on the specialty restaurants. Going on Mariner in a few weeks and we got the dining package so will be in specialty all 3 nights, I will try to report back after the cruise.

 

As a side question to anyone who's been on Mariner recently, on 3 days cruises when you get the dining package, what restaurants have you been assigned to? As far as I can tell, the only specialties are Chops, Jamie Olivers, and Izumi. The fine print says the Hibachi is not allowed on the dining package, so do you dine in Chops or Jamie Olivers twice? or do you eat in the Sushi side and get a $35 credit for the 3rd night?

My wife and I were on the Mariner July 9 4-night cruise. We had the three night dining package and we had planned to use it for 1 night each at Chops, Jamie's and Izumi (for Sushi). However, all of the seating at Izumi was at the Hibachi tables, except for a few seats at the Sushi Bar which were reserved for the Sushi Class. We were told that the dining package could only be used at Izumi for any seats at the sushi class which had not been booked on-line and there were none so, for all practical purposes, the package was for Chops and Jamie's only. So we went to Chops twice. Fortunately, the steaks at Chops were outstanding so those two dinners were wonderful. Jamie's was good but not really special, about equal to a mid-priced Italian Restaurant here in Delray Beach where we live. The one thing that stood out was the appetizer plank; that was excellent. Other than for that, I would have preferred the old Giovanni's Table or, better yet, the even older Portofino's. On the fourth night, we did go to Izumi for Hibachi (outside of the dining plan) and it was decent but also not special. I ordered the beef/shrimp combination and my wife ordered the scallop/lobster combination. The hibachi chef put on a great show but the food itself was not as good as at most hibachi restaurants on land. The food in the hibachi restaurant in the Japanese pavilion at Epcot is much better. My wife's lobster was not anywhere near as good as the lobster you can get in Chops (but it costs an extra $22 there). It was more like the complimentary lobster tails that they serve in the MDR one night on longer cruises (but not on 4-night cruises).

My wife and I were on the Mariner July 9 4-night cruise. We had the three night dining package and we had planned to use it for 1 night each at Chops, Jamie's and Izumi (for Sushi). However, all of the seating at Izumi was at the Hibachi tables, except for a few seats at the Sushi Bar which were reserved for the Sushi Class. We were told that the dining package could only be used at Izumi for any seats at the sushi class which had not been booked on-line and there were none so, for all practical purposes, the package was for Chops and Jamie's only. So we went to Chops twice. Fortunately, the steaks at Chops were outstanding so those two dinners were wonderful. Jamie's was good but not really special, about equal to a mid-priced Italian Restaurant here in Delray Beach where we live. The one thing that stood out was the appetizer plank; that was excellent. Other than for that, I would have preferred the old Giovanni's Table or, better yet, the even older Portofino's. On the fourth night, we did go to Izumi for Hibachi (outside of the dining plan) and it was decent but also not special. I ordered the beef/shrimp combination and my wife ordered the scallop/lobster combination. The hibachi chef put on a great show but the food itself was not as good as at most hibachi restaurants on land. The food in the hibachi restaurant in the Japanese pavilion at Epcot is much better. My wife's lobster was not anywhere near as good as the lobster you can get in Chops (but it costs an extra $22 there). It was more like the complimentary lobster tails that they serve in the MDR one night on longer cruises (but not on 4-night cruises).

Thank you so much for this. I am sailing August 10 and we have the Ultimate Dining Package. I had pretty much planned on Chops, Jamie's and then doubling up on one of those for our third night. I was a HUGE fan of Portofino's, thought Giovanni's Table was passable and was not excited about the menu at Jamie's but excited to give it a try. Fortunately, we love Chops, so it looks like that will be my duplicate! All in all, not a bad meal plan! At $24 a night I'm pretty happy either way!

I would have thought sushi class is during the day? One can’t dine at Izumi for a sushi meal on Mariner?

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I would have thought sushi class is during the day? One can’t dine at Izumi for a sushi meal on Mariner?

 

 

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Yes, that confused me as well. For my upcoming Mariner cruise the sushi class is at 10:30 am on day 4, so not sure why you can’t go for their sushi menu for dinner.

Bobj

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However, all of the seating at Izumi was at the Hibachi tables, except for a few seats at the Sushi Bar which were reserved for the Sushi Class. We were told that the dining package could only be used at Izumi for any seats at the sushi class which had not been booked on-line and there were none so, for all practical purposes, the package was for Chops and Jamie's only.

This is REALLY disappointing. While I do love chops, I didn't book the 3-night dining package to eat at 2 restaurants, I booked it to eat at 3. I still don't understand why they exclude the hibachi (sigh). Just makes no sense that they sell packages like this if they are only good at 2.5 restaurants onboard.

We also liked the old Portofino best. Went every cruise.

Giovanni's Table is not our style..tried once never went back.

The only good thing about those Italian style restaurants is

if you plan to go early...you can still go to the WindJammer Buffet

after and eat enough there to finally feel full, ha.

So we will pass on Jaime's... we do go to Chops once in a while

but not a lot.

Yes, that confused me as well. For my upcoming Mariner cruise the sushi class is at 10:30 am on day 4, so not sure why you can’t go for their sushi menu for dinner.

 

Bobj

 

 

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It is during the day but we were told that we could have used the dining package for it anyway if it were not fully booked in advance. The catch-22 is that you cannot use the dining package to book it in advance of the cruise and, of course, it was fully booked in advance. At dinner time, it is all hibachi tables except for the four or five seats at the sushi bar and those were not available to be reserved. While you could order a la carte sushi at the hibachi tables ($6 for two pieces of Nigiri), that was in addition to the $45 hibachi meal which had to be paid for outside of the dining package. I did pay the $6 for two pieces of Yellowtail and those were pretty good. For the price we paid ($45 + $6 + gratuity per person), we could get a better sushi or hibachi dinner on land.