Specialty Dining

So I know this is probably a subjective question, but I’ve been reading a lot about the quality of food going down in the MDR in Royal Caribbean.

We are scheduled for a cruise on the Mariner of the Seas on July 2. My wife really doesn’t seem to want to spend the extra money on additional food but I want to really have a great cruise.

What is everyone’s opinion on the Specialty Dining options, cost, and best venues if we decide to purchase?

Thanks so much

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Honestly, I feel it is very subjective. Food usually is. ;) For instance, there are some who LOVE Chops Grill and who would probably gladly eat there every night, paying the fee and having a wonderful time. For myself, it was one of the worst dining experiences we've ever had. Awful. My steak was practically inedible, in my opinion. .... and you see, that's just it..... it's my opinion. Right? :D

You'll probably get dozens of replies here saying dozens of things. Regardless, I hope you will enjoy your cruise and all Royal has to offer.

Specialty Dining is a nice break from the Main Dining Room which can be hectic and loud. Specialty dining offers a quieter, more relaxing atmosphere with more personalized service. The food is better that the Main Dining Room, better quality and cooked to order.

Specialty Dining on Royal keeps getting more expensive and now if you book it onboard you not only pay full price but they charge the 18% gratuity too. So...we never book on board unless we are offered a good deal. We usually by the First Night Done Right before the cruise and that's it.

Look for the Bogo in your cruise planner. It’s less expensive than purchasing on board.

I am little different to others. I wait until I am on board, check out different dinning venues and mix it up. The experiences vary from one cruise to another.

I don't like making commitments before boarding. I like to check out the MDR menu, consider my options and book speciality restaurants as and when it suits me. Quite often they do have offers on board but it depends on the number of bookings. For the privilege of absolute flexibility, I probably pay more than others.

We booked a 3 meal package onboard the Brilliance. (Cost was $70 each). We ate twice in Chops ( which was great) and once in Giovanni's (which was ok-ish).

Chops was so quiet they were offering it out at just $1 a head to get folk in.

We do speciality dinning for only one reason the quieter atmosphere. To me the quality of the food is not worth the extra cost which seems to keep going up while overall quality in my opinion goes down. We were on the May 5th Grandeur Bermuda cruise and ate in chops twice which I found very disappointing and Izumi once which was just very average and Giovanis once which we also found just average chain food quality. As has been stated before opinions on food in a very subjective topic and what one person may love another may hate.To me the biggest disappointment was Chops we have eaten there every cruise and years ago loved it but now we find the selection and quality has really declined in our opinion.

We ate in MDR every night on Allure. Maybe one meal each we were not thrilled with, but overall we had no issues and enjoyed it there. On our 4 day Mariner cruise coming up, we'll stick to the MDR. On our Symphony cruise, we plan on trying one specialty (probably Chops or Jamies). We have traditional early dining so we'll book it around the day that makes most sense to coordinate with a show (i.e. since diner is a set time)

P.S. - Someone mentioned BOGO but not sure it is offered on a 3 or 4 day cruise?

As you said, "subjective." We rarely do specialty dining anymore, and when we do it's usually Chef's Table. I think the food in the MDR has improved, not gotten worse. It's not cooked to order so you need to be realistic. But I've always enjoyed what they serve. Even on the worst night (usually the last night in my opinion), I've found something that I like. But again, Subjective.

Thanks to everyone for their opinions

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We enjoy the speciality restaurants and tend to buy the 3 meal package price before leaving home. Equally we are just as happy eating our evening meal in the buffet.