Extras in MDR

[spookwife]

Soup and salad are listed on the appetizer menu in the MDR (and from memory in specialties also).

 

 

yeah but many people order soup, salad, an appetizer, entree and dessert. 5 courses.

 

we tend to just order 3.

 

one thing I hated about Disney( besides the sub par food overall) was that the waitstaff practically MADE you order all 5 courses and got snippy if you wanted to skip any of them. I got several eye rolls when I declined dessert on more than one night.

[greensnow]

Ooph. I gained 10 lbs just reading this thread....

[brillohead]

I was in a party of four (all first-timers other than me) seated at a table for eight on my last cruise.

 

By the end of the week, we were ordering multiple appetizers, entrees, and desserts and passing the dishes around the table amongst the eight of us like one great big family dinner -- it was great!

 

Very rarely was there any food wasted -- my memory is hazy, but I think there was one dish that nobody really cared for that didn't get finished. Otherwise, after everyone who was interested had tried a dish, someone in the group polished off the rest of the food on the plate.

 

Picture a game of musical chairs, only instead of people circling empty chairs, the plates were rotating around the tabletop. :D

[dacsmom]

there is no reason whatsoever to order multiple anything, although some people like to order extra appetizers or desserts to have a taste of it all.

 

DH and I usually 'coordinate' what we order and just share off each other's plates. that way we can still try multiple things without wasting food.

 

one thing I actually dislike in specialtys is the tendency to insist on bringing us things we do not order 'to try'

 

If we are extra hungry, we just order one of every course. normally we skip soup and salad and just order appetizer , entree and dessert.

 

A little judgmental, don't you think? Some of us like to order multiple entrees to share, or eat alone. Just because you do not choose to is no reason to make the sweeping statement that there is no reason to order multiple anything. I do not waste food, but I enjoy trying new dishes.

[bighairtexan]

Usually I'm not thrilled enough with any of the entrees or desserts to order two, but often I think the appetizer column lists the most enticing items, so I often have multiple appetizer/soup/salad items.

[Folk Singer]

They are good at bringing extras.

[Trainman-2]

If you plan to eat in the MDR every night at your assigned table, you can ask your server to bring a fresh fruit plate, a cheese plate, and shrimp cocktails every night when you arrive. You can also ask for a bowl of rolls for the table.

[MrsPete]

Nope. I'm a small person and could never manage more than one entrée. As it is, I tend to skip the bread., and I don't always eat all of the appetizer and dessert.

 

I have, however, occasionally asked for an entrée-sized portion of an appetizer to be brought AS THE MEAL.

[Calgon1]

A few years ago, we learned a new "trick".

We were at a table for six. That first night, when desert time came around, we were all discussing our options. It was the regular, "Oh I don't know"; "There are so many"; "I can't decide"; "They all sound so good"; etc.. One of the ladies asked our waiter to just bring one of each and a lot of extra spoons. When he delivered the order, we each took one, tried a sample bite (or two), and passed to the right. Once we had all sampleed each one, we knew what we wanted, and what we didn't. Then, we placed our "real" order(s).

[MrsPete]

A few years ago, we learned a new "trick".

We were at a table for six. That first night, when desert time came around, we were all discussing our options. It was the regular, "Oh I don't know"; "There are so many"; "I can't decide"; "They all sound so good"; etc.. One of the ladies asked our waiter to just bring one of each and a lot of extra spoons. When he delivered the order, we each took one, tried a sample bite (or two), and passed to the right. Once we had all sampleed each one, we knew what we wanted, and what we didn't. Then, we placed our "real" order(s).

We do that in our family at home, if we have 1-2 desserts left over. Except we don't bother with the extra spoons. Everyone takes a bite and passes it, and that divides that last bit of dessert up among everyone.

[sawyershane]

Our last cruise, we never asked for anything extra, but the waiter and assistant waiter often took it upon themselves (once they got to know our family) to do so anyways. :D

 

On lobster night, knowing my older son was a seafood lover, they automatically brought him an extra seafood platter. Then the next night, when he ordered pork, they were surprised he didn't order seafood and brought out a prawn dish to him along with the entree he ordered (he ate them both, of course :p ).

 

My MIL also got talking to the Head Waiter one of the nights and told him she was disappointed a certain soup she loved from the first night wasn't on the menu again. He came back a few minutes later with that soup. And every night after that, he would ask her if she'd like the soup again.

 

Next cruise, we may ask for extras to try, but we'll see.

 

Kinda the same thing with us. The waiters get to know my husband and starts to bring things out family style. He loves food and he likes to try different things.

Sometimes it is just an extra appetizer.

[sawyershane]

Even on our very first cruise my youngest son (8 at the time) loved mashed potatoes. They were not on the menu but we asked and they were on the table every night for him.

[tothemax31]

Last cruise I ordered a minimum of 2-3 entrees, 2-3 apps, 2-3 desserts each night.. and well.. about 5 lobsters and a prime rib on that night. Our table had a total of about 30 lobster tails.

[Lionesss]

By the time we eat dinner we have usually stopped at the CL for a few drinks and some "finger" foods.

 

By the time we arrive for dinner the entres they serve are more than big enough for the average person, for us we usually have food left on our plates.

 

We are not big potato or bread people, and usually ask for a plate of cooked vegetables, and even those have left overs.

 

We hate to be wasteful, but, there is just to much to eat on a cruise and you have to set your limits.

 

Later

[A2Mich]

Ok, so I have to mention this, as I get so sick of hearing this BS about food waste on the dining rooms--similar for restaurants. These meals are NOT cooked to order. They are prepared in advance. If you don't eat all of the food on your plate, it gets ground up and pumped into the ocean. Food that is already cooked in the kitchen and not served generally sees the same fate. These meals are not cooked to order as you would do at home. The staff began several hours ago, preparing these dishes and keeping it in hot boxes until plating time. Cooked food kept warm in hot boxes for several hours, generally will not reheat anyway, but in any case, has a limited holding time before it must be disposed of. So little Johnny not eating his broccoli is not creating any more waste than the 200 chicken parmigiana plates that went unserved. It's ALL being tossed. These costs are accounted for by the cruise line, and the waste is expected.

[cruzin lady]

I believe in the specialty restaurants there is a limit of one entree per person.

For the other items, multiples are fine.

[A2Mich]

And many people do tend to relax their diets and all for a vacation. I know I certainly eat worse on vacation than in day to day life. But, it's only for vacation.

[margeecruiser]

The only extravagant thing we do is order the cheese plate to share with the table while we look over the menu. We just ask the waiter on the first night and the cheese platter is always waiting each night thereafter. They always bring 2 if we are at a large table. We have found our table mates are somewhat shy about sharing at first, but soon dig in and really seem to enjoy it. This is fun as a ice breaker too to get people talking.

 

Margee

[splash_in_the_water]

I pretty much automatically get 2 shrimp cocktails....if there's steak that night then I'll get 2 of those....Carnival's flat iron steak is pretty tasty, so 2 are pretty easy to put back. Usually by the time we do appetizers , bread, salad, entree we just skip dessert sometimes. It's not too hard to eat a lot on a cruise...once we get back to real life we go back to normal though.

[surfuz]

I always ask extras for the key lime pie [emoji14]

[Cel_cruise]

We had a hard time finding multiple entries we liked each night so there was no risk of us ordering 2 - but I did routinely order more than one starter - I enjoyed trying many soups on the cruise in edition to something else on the starter menu...plus, I love ceasar salad..

 

My kids routinely started with a fruit plate and a ceasar salad before their highly grilled chicken breast - followed by their brownie sundae desert. They would have probably 2 bites of the brownie, 4 bites of the ice cream, and 2 bites of the cookies by the time they got to desert, but I never minded them ordering fruit and salad with their dinner!

[gizzimo156]

I so can not wait to try all the different foods with my husband on our cruise..now if July would just hurry up and get here!!

 

Is there anything that you have tried that was just horrible??

[Bamagirl_gina]

I LOVED LOVED LOVED the scallop risotto and was so sad to see it had been removed from the menu on our last cruise. I could eat a boatload of that stuff---and a dingy full of the escargot!:eek:

[Clipper123]

Ok, so I have to mention this, as I get so sick of hearing this BS about food waste on the dining rooms--similar for restaurants. These meals are NOT cooked to order. They are prepared in advance. If you don't eat all of the food on your plate, it gets ground up and pumped into the ocean. Food that is already cooked in the kitchen and not served generally sees the same fate. These meals are not cooked to order as you would do at home. The staff began several hours ago, preparing these dishes and keeping it in hot boxes until plating time. Cooked food kept warm in hot boxes for several hours, generally will not reheat anyway, but in any case, has a limited holding time before it must be disposed of. So little Johnny not eating his broccoli is not creating any more waste than the 200 chicken parmigiana plates that went unserved. It's ALL being tossed. These costs are accounted for by the cruise line, and the waste is expected.

 

Exactly!!! Anyone ever hear of them running out of something - probably not because they make sure they don't. The "waste" then becomes fish food.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Clipper123

[1interpreter]

The last time we cruised one night my husband didn't like what he got so they brought him something else. On another night he cleaned his plate and was still hungry, so they brought him another one.