Restaurant Comparisons - RCI

[SailorMom37]

I'm a newbie. Our first cruise will be in May!!! We'll be on Freedom of the Seas.

I have a good grasp on formal nights in the MDR, it's the other nights and the MDR at lunch and breakfast I am still a bit blurry on.....

 

I think it would be helpful (at least to me) to get restaurant comparisons since many of us have different views on what is done/not done as far as what to wear...

Keep in mind - I am pretty conservative in dress to begin with - and even at a fast food place would at least wear modest shorts and a clean, non-logo tee shirt. I would never wear anything that did not completely disguise my bathing suit....

 

So - what land based restaurants would you compare the MDR to on :

Resort Casual nights

Smart Casual nights

Breakfast

Lunch

 

For example - would lunch be Red Lobster, Olive Garden, or McDonalds??? Breakfast, Denny's or maybe Sunday Brunch at a nicer restaurant??? :)

[cb at sea]

You may wear shorts and flip-flops to the dining room for breakfast and lunch....don't worry about comparing them to restaurants....

 

In the buffet, as long as you have a cover-up and your butt and tummy aren't showing, you're good to go.

 

For casual evenings in the dining room, capris, sundresses, slacks, etc...are fine. I think Red Lobster and Olive Garden are about the same...so wear whatever you'd wear to a decent restaurant.

At night, the buffet remains casual and shorts are ok in there for dinner.

[GORDONCHICK]

You might want to post this question on the Royal Caribbean board instead of/in addition to the fashion board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

 

Will you be eating all of your meals in the MDR? If so, for breakfast and lunch as long as your not in a swimsuit or pajamas and are wearing shoes, you should be fine.

[SailorMom37]

Thanks!

[Happy ks]

You may wear shorts and flip-flops to the dining room for breakfast and lunch....don't worry about comparing them to restaurants....

 

In the buffet, as long as you have a cover-up and your butt and tummy aren't showing, you're good to go.

 

For casual evenings in the dining room, capris, sundresses, slacks, etc...are fine. I think Red Lobster and Olive Garden are about the same...so wear whatever you'd wear to a decent restaurant.

At night, the buffet remains casual and shorts are ok in there for dinner.

 

 

I was denied entry to the buffet when wearing my bathing suit and cover up over it. I had on a pareo, tied around the top of my swimsuit and it covered everything except my shoulders and my legs from the knee down.

 

 

Back to the OP's question. For breakfast and lunch your top and shorts will be fine, even in the dining room. If you do cover up a bathing suit, make sure the whole thing is covered. When we go to the dining room on a sea day, if we are in bathing suits we go to our cabin and change, cleaning up the sunscreen before changing. I wouldn't want to leave behind greasy sunscreen for the evening pax at dinner.

 

The food I'd compare more to a banquet for all meals, not a restaurant that cooks to order. Some of the food is good, some can be better than good, some of it is....eh....some of it is absolutely horrid. But, there's always a lot of choices to make. If you don't like a dish you can always order another. I don't have to cook it or clean it up, so I'm not complaining but I will not rave about cruise ship food to anyone, not on any line including Cunard.

 

What I find to be grossest on cruise ships (knowing we all have our own personal taste) is bacon and poultry. I avoid any of those choices with the exception of if I ordered it in a specialty dining room. Bacon...I don't know what they do to it but it just tastes mangy to me and poultry always has that re-heated taste to it (because it always is re-heated ;):confused:).

[SailorMom37]

I was denied entry to the buffet when wearing my bathing suit and cover up over it. I had on a pareo, tied around the top of my swimsuit and it covered everything except my shoulders and my legs from the knee down.

 

What I find to be grossest on cruise ships (knowing we all have our own personal taste) is bacon and poultry. I avoid any of those choices with the exception of if I ordered it in a specialty dining room. Bacon...I don't know what they do to it but it just tastes mangy to me and poultry always has that re-heated taste to it (because it always is re-heated ;):confused:).

 

I will absolutely order no bacon or chicken :)

 

As for the pareo - I have 5 of them - all very nice and none are sheer at all. My intention is to tie them as an over-one-shoulder sundress, and hide the other bathing suit strap. If I have on sandals, I dare someone to claim it isn't the same as a sundress :) What is funny is that some of the more "fancy" dresses I've seen online (been looking for formals) look EXACTLY like a pareo tied a few different ways. And I mean EXACTLY!!!! So - now that I know that - I can act all appalled and say it's a $200 Laundry by Shelli Segal dress (and there are more - and many that are even more $$$$$).

[Happy ks]

Food is subjective you know. I read sometimes on CC about people loading their plates with bacon and I want to gag. I love bacon at home, I eat chicken often at home as well.

 

Just to let you know, the pareo I was wearing when denied entrance to the buffet was not sheer. Good luck with it...I was more covered up than other women in shorts and halter tops. Gotta wonder sometimes, but it is at the discretion of whomever is stationed at the entrance :rolleyes:

[GORDONCHICK]

I will absolutely order no bacon or chicken :)

 

As for the pareo - I have 5 of them - all very nice and none are sheer at all. My intention is to tie them as an over-one-shoulder sundress, and hide the other bathing suit strap. If I have on sandals, I dare someone to claim it isn't the same as a sundress :) What is funny is that some of the more "fancy" dresses I've seen online (been looking for formals) look EXACTLY like a pareo tied a few different ways. And I mean EXACTLY!!!! So - now that I know that - I can act all appalled and say it's a $200 Laundry by Shelli Segal dress (and there are more - and many that are even more $$$$$).

 

 

They don't care how much something cost - if they tell you to change before returning, it's not based on the cost of your garments. It's based on what they deem appropriate.

[iheartbda]

They don't care how much something cost - if they tell you to change before returning, it's not based on the cost of your garments. It's based on what they deem appropriate.

It's just like when people say.......bbbbbbbbut my jeans cost $500.:D

[GORDONCHICK]

It's just like when people say.......bbbbbbbbut my jeans cost $500.:D

 

But since jeans are accepted on most lines in the MDR now, that's not as much of an issue. It does go to show that the more they allow, the more people try to get away with though.

[SailorMom37]

Look - I get the cost thing. I'm very modest and wear classic, conservative clothing, and feel more covered in a pareo/sarong than I do in board shorts and a tee shirt. I get that pareos/sarongs can sometimes not look nice - I've seen them looking pretty bad at the beach (I live in Florida), but let me attach a link, and without pre-concieved Western notions about sarongs, tell me if it is any different than a sundress tied this way. It's funny - because they make sundresses this way to look like a sarong! This is how I tie mine, with it running through a buckle on the shoulder, with the ends tucked under the buckle - no knot...:

 

http://www.*****.com/sarong-pt-floral-roses.html

[GORDONCHICK]

Look - I get the cost thing. I'm very modest and wear classic, conservative clothing, and feel more covered in a pareo/sarong than I do in board shorts and a tee shirt. I get that pareos/sarongs can sometimes not look nice - I've seen them looking pretty bad at the beach (I live in Florida), but let me attach a link, and without pre-concieved Western notions about sarongs, tell me if it is any different than a sundress tied this way. It's funny - because they make sundresses this way to look like a sarong! This is how I tie mine, with it running through a buckle on the shoulder, with the ends tucked under the buckle - no knot...:

 

http://www.*****.com/sarong-pt-floral-roses.html

 

I think the part you are missing is that it's not our call (or yours) - it's up to the maitre d' and his staff as to what is acceptable. That is cute, but it will be up to the staff in the MDR as to what is acceptable. Now, that should be prefectly fine in the buffet.

[Happy ks]

Look - I get the cost thing. I'm very modest and wear classic, conservative clothing, and feel more covered in a pareo/sarong than I do in board shorts and a tee shirt. I get that pareos/sarongs can sometimes not look nice - I've seen them looking pretty bad at the beach (I live in Florida), but let me attach a link, and without pre-concieved Western notions about sarongs, tell me if it is any different than a sundress tied this way. It's funny - because they make sundresses this way to look like a sarong! This is how I tie mine, with it running through a buckle on the shoulder, with the ends tucked under the buckle - no knot...:

 

http://www.*****.com/sarong-pt-floral-roses.html

 

It's a very pretty pareo, but I do have to tell you it's very much like the one I was denied entrance for. It has nothing to do with cost, if you have an attendant at the door who will not allow you to enter the dining room or buffet with a coverup, that's just what it is.

 

I will tell you that I have seen on occasion women in bathing suit bottoms with just a T and men in bathing suit bottoms, not even a shirt (yuck) at the buffet. But not always, they just got away with it.

 

So don't take this thread as a personal assault, just FYI...bring along more than pareos for day wear if you want to eat at the buffet or dining room for lunch or dinner. The good thing is, there is sometimes food close to the pool, hamburgers, hot dogs, sometimes a barbeque.

[SailorMom37]

Oh - no personal offense taken - but I do know that many people I speak to have never seen a srong worn any other way than as a short skirt or as a towell....