What's better for dining? Epic Club or paid venues?

[SavvyCruiserNJ]

Any insight into whether it's preferable to dine in Epic Club vs the paid venues?

 

 

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[SeaShark]

Any insight into whether it's preferable to dine in Epic Club vs the paid venues?

 

 

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I have no idea how to answer your question since I have no idea what you would consider to be "preferable". What I consider to be preferable is personal and applicable only to me. Just as what you consider to be preferable is personal and applicable only to you. I might just prefer the hustle and bustle of a buffet, while you might just detest the entire buffet experience...so you can't go on my preferences.

 

Perhaps if you could specifically define what you want from your experience, we could tell you where we had experience(s) close to those you seek.

[ptuder]

Any insight into whether it's preferable to dine in Epic Club vs the paid venues?

 

 

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I can tell you that the service in Epic club is incredible and you will get to know the staff during your cruise making it even nicer. The last time we cruised with access to Epic Club we didn't get to use it as much as we would have liked as we were with family who did not have access. We are going again in a couple of months and plan on eating in Le Bistro and Moderno and then Epic Club the remainder.

 

Have an awesome vacation.

[SavvyCruiserNJ]

A little clarification...

 

I know on Cunard if you are booked in the Queens Grill you can essentially have anything on the ship - is it the same in Epic Club?

 

Or do you have to go to different venues to get particular items?

[david_sobe]

The Epic club food for breakfast is outstanding. They use real eggs (compared to the powdered eggs for scrambled eggs at the MDR) and there are many upgrades.

 

The dinner at Epic club is still very good. But probably only slighly better than the MDR.

 

But the biggest difference (as someone already pointed out) is the service. You have no idea how good the service is at the Epic Club. It is not an act, they genuinely have an interest in you. They greet you everyday by your name, check in on you, and really interested how you are doing and about yourself. We filled out 8 STYLE cards for Epic Club employees in 2010.

We ate at the Epic Club every morning and lunch twice. We had one dinner there too. We ate at the specialty restaurants 5 other nights. We really thought the extra money was worth it and every restaurant was worth the upcharge. We wanted to try as many specialty restaurants as we could and still could not eat at them all.

So while the food is probably a little bit better in the specialty restaurants (IMO), the Epic Club is special in its own way. In fact the morning we left, we made a special trip to the restaurant to hand out tips and give a big hug goodbye. I know that sounds really cheezy but it is true!

[pris993]

A little clarification...

 

I know on Cunard if you are booked in the Queens Grill you can essentially have anything on the ship - is it the same in Epic Club?

 

Or do you have to go to different venues to get particular items?

 

While this is off subject, must say we cruise on the Queen Victoria, twice, MDR and ordered off menu every night, if they had what we wanted - ordered the night before, no problem.

[indimini]

Epic Club has their own set menu for dinner, so it's not really set up for you to order off of the other venue's menu and eat at the Epic Club. I've never asked, so I don't know if they would or wouldn't be able to bring a meal up from one of the specialty restaurants.

 

I do know from personal experience that you can have your butler bring food from any of the specialty restaurants to your room and set up dinner in your suite. We did this when sailing Pearl in Alaska. Getting back late from an excursion, we simply called out Butler to place an order from a couple of the specialty restaurants. We then cleaned up and waited for dinner to be served in the room - a very nice perk. Bear in mind, that if you order from a specialty restaurant you are still charged the dining fee.