What day do you chose for Specialty Dining?

I realize that more and more people are doing the BOGOs and FNDR and Ultimate Dining Packages.... what nights do you usually chose for specialty, and why? Is the MDR too crazy the first night? Do you like to end the cruise with a special meal? Or do you save it for a mid-cruise perk? We are trying FNDR, and originally had scheduled for a second night on Saturday but realize we are usually "food-ed out" by then! What's your choice? Just curious....

First night, best deals.

First night also is the night that is the most crowded, very slow service, I prefer mar on formal most other nights I will do specialty , also first night is a lttle better on ships like navigator which has four compared to liberty which is larger but only has three

Every night.

We usually do first night because of the deal. Then, if we have a free dinner from the TA, we look at the menus from the main dining room for the rest of the week and choose the night that is least appealing to us. It's often the last night on a 7 night cruise.

We don't necessarily have the same routine on each cruise, but as of late have been enjoying the first night in a specialty restaurant to bypass the some of the chaos in the main dining room.

We do first night because the FNDR is such a good deal. Then, mid-cruise we enjoy a break from the MDR and book another specialty restaurant. That's it.

Once we tried the 3-night dining package in addition to FNDR and found that was too much food...at least for us.

Why are the poll results totaling more than 100%?

OK, I get it. You can select multiple nights. My bad.

Every night.

Same for us.

We try to do specialty dining at least a couple of times. Normally, we would pick the night that we are not crazy about the dinner menu in the main dining room. First night as well sometimes.

We haven’t set foot in MDR since Anthem in Nov 2015, that was 8 cruises ago, and we probably never will again.

We usually go on the first night because of the promotions, and then we try to go on sea days or days where we have an early port departure. We like to be flexible on port days so if we want to nap, or relax, or watch a movie, or whatever after the port we don't have to stick to a specialty dining reservation.

First Night. Any other nights depend on the menu for that evening. We have never left on a Sunday. The days of the week are irrelevant. If I can remember what day of the week it is, the cruise is too short. :D

We typically take a package and most nights dine in specialty restaurants. We also take a suite but prefer the speciality fare. Usually the exception is the formal nights as typically special food is served.

We go on the formal nights.

Jumping in with a vote for "never". We have always found something we can enjoy in the included dining options, so we can't see the point of paying extra for specialty dining. Instead, we prefer to use that money for other expenditure such as excursions or on-board purchases.

Which is not necessarily to say that if we got offered a really decent discount we wouldn't give it a go, but we're still waiting for that to happen. Next cruise maybe?

With RCI it would be all nights - or some other non-MDR alternative - as we have not eaten in the MDR for a few years now and have no future plans to.

We set for every night and that work best for us

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Jumping in with a vote for "never".

Which is not necessarily to say that if we got offered a really decent discount we wouldn't give it a go, but we're still waiting for that to happen. Next cruise maybe?

Would $15pp be a really decent discount? If you check your cruise planner you may find the First Night Done Right promotion for that price. I feel the regular price of specialty restaurants is getting too high for what they offer, but still find value there by taking advantage of the promotions.

We choose every night on our cruises, but if you have to choose one, I say choose the night that the MDR you like least.

Would $15pp be a really decent discount? If you check your cruise planner you may find the First Night Done Right promotion for that price. I feel the regular price of specialty restaurants is getting too high for what they offer, but still find value there by taking advantage of the promotions.

My cruise planner is in euros but it probably works out to about that in US$. It is a good deal, no doubt about it, but still not sure it's worthwhile for us.

I read somewhere fairly recently on here that someone was approached by the specialty dining brigade on board and managed to talk a fairly substantial discount out of them. May try our luck for a Chops lunch.

With RCI it would be all nights - or some other non-MDR alternative - as we have not eaten in the MDR for a few years now and have no future plans to.

We revisited the MDR one night on our last cruise. Got stuck next to two tables of ten. Men at one table and women at the other. The men had the female server take a photo with each and everyone of them. Not a problem except just as they were about to snap the picture, they all howled in unison. We didn't go back.

I think people that have cruised at least once are familiar with the first night deals....seems to be a popular option. (And I was clueless on our first cruise.)

Can the dining packages be used for lunch on sea days instead of dinner? I enjoy dining in the MDR but am not the biggest fan of the WJ for lunch.

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