Eating outdoors on Spirit for dinner

[Flamin_June]

Spirit, Lisbon - St Maarten, Dec 2012, we had:

 

Breakfast outside in Veranda/R2 most mornings - good for whale watching, saw spout SW of Madiera.

Lunch outside at Sky Grill most afternoons

Dinner - rather too chilly/or menu theme not for us until 3/4nights out from St. Maarten, then dinner outside at R2 for two nights, and Sky Grill one night.

After Dinner, cognac and conversation under the stars every night at Sky Bar.

 

The Sky Grill and outside R2 are available for lunch everyday. Sky Grill for dinner is only offered on a couple of nights.

 

All in all, plenty of al fresco opportunities, not to mention al dente pasta, fortunately no al capone characters (I have a literary friend who insists on ordering his pasta el Dante).

 

In the UK last year we had one of the coldest wettest summers on record, so any opportunity to sit outside not to be spurned.

[Chairsin]

Just to clarify for crossing ( Zich's question)versus Caribbean cruise( T&C's question) -- Sky Grill lunch on the little ships is only set up on sea days. Thus evert day for transatlantic and one or two days per cruise for Caribbean subject to the itinerary.

[T&C Fulham]

Chairsin,

 

Thanks but my question was "in the Caribbean can we expect to be able to eat outdoors in the evening" - not only lunchtime.

 

It is a while since we were last in the Caribbean but our memory was of dining outdoors every evening - or in restaurants with huge windows.

 

We would cry if we found we had to take dinner in an air conditioned room on the Spirit every evening this Christmas.

 

I can understand the problem of doing so mid Atlantic on that crossing that is also being discussed - but in the calm of the Caribbean sea?

 

T&C

[Flamin_June]

Thanks for the clarification Chairsin.

 

T&C: you have to book R2 (which has the outside Veranda seating) for Dinner 24 hours ahead. Presumably so people don't block book. It is not really a problem, and we have been able to get a table pretty much whenever we wanted. First day on board you have a print out of the R2 menu themes for the week (Thai, French Bistro, Steakhouse, Mexican or what have you), so you can plan ahead. Not all of these float our boat, and you may find likewise. You have a preview menu for the next evening's MDR with your turn-down treats, and sometimes the MDR offerings look more tempting than R2.

We do like to dine under the stars, but a few nights in the MDR is hardly a great hardship. We tend to go early and prefer to have a table for two. We find one is served more quickly and after dinner we stroll up to the sky bar and sit under the stars for the rest of the evening.

 

It's not really a problem to book R2 the previous morning for each day of the cruise.

[T&C Fulham]

Thanks F J,

 

That is reassuring.

 

T&C

[zich6]

Good question zich6.

 

Am I missing something in the answers?

 

I am a total novice around here but I would have guessed that mid Atlantic eating on deck after dark might not be all that comfortable. But that's only my uninformed suggestion.

 

T&C

 

Unfortunately, some on this board can be quite rude. I ignore them.

[zich6]

Thanks Chairsin and Flamin_June, great info.

[wripro]

Ignor.....ance is bliss!!!!