Menus for Summit Main Dining Room?

[sheff29]

We want to book Qsine specialty restaurant for either Day 4 (St Lucia) or Day 5 (Antigua) on our Southern Carib cruise in a April. Was wondering if anyone knew what they serve in MDR those nights so as not to miss anything great (have heard of lobster night or other themes?). Definitely don't want to miss Formal Night, which I'm told will be on Day 2 and Day 6.

 

Probably will wait to reserve until onboard so we can use our OBC. So if I ask about menus in MDR when we board, who would I ask?

 

Also...we are booked for 6pm traditional seating, requested a large table of 8 (just 2 of us but want to converse/mingle). Have heard that sometimes table is half empty if people have change in plans, buffet, specialty, etc. Wouldn't they fill it with others for that night? Are we able to change tables if not happy? We plan on letting MDR know when we will have our Qsine night.

 

It's been 15 yrs since we cruised, not sure how things work. Thank you!

[sheff29]

I thought I posted this under "Summit", can't figure out how to move it or even start a thread there, new to this and apparently not very good at it, sorry. Thanks for any help/tips.

[cruisestitch]

"Have heard that sometimes table is half empty if people have change in plans, buffet, specialty, etc. Wouldn't they fill it with others for that night? "

 

No, they would not fill it with others under normal circumstances. And when you go to Qsine, they will probably not fill your empty places, either.

[Essiesmom]

There is no forum for 'Summit' or any of the other ships, except under Roll Calls, but that is not the place for general posts. If you posted it under Summit roll calls, they would have moved it here. EM

[GrandBistro]

We were on the Summit in January and while we don't have menus, I can tell you that lobster is on a formal night (it was on day 6 for us), but no one at our table thought it was very good. I was the only one who didn't order it and the only one who has happy with the meal!

 

We went to Qsine on day 4 and loved it. So clever and creative! And quite good. Enjoy!

[Azulann]

We always request late dining and a table for eight. Last time, it was four groups of two. The eight of us always told the head waiter and each other if we would not be at dinner the next night. It worked out fine and there was always at least four or six of us each night.

One night we all decided to go to specialty restaruants the next night.

It was 12 night cruise.

[Iamcruzin]

If you are dead set on having table mates every night then I would suggest select dining.

Pros

 

• Have a choice of eating with others or just the two of you
  
• Not locked into any time frame to eat
  
• If you meet another couple through your roll call or on the ship you can arrange to have dinner with them if they have select
  
• You can eat at your own pace. You don't have to wait for others to finish their course before you get your next course.
  
• You can get stuck with a group of people who you don't like in traditional dining but in select you can dine with a different group the next night.
  
• Don't have to notify the wait staff of your comings and goings.
  
• Won't get stuck in an empty dining room (usually the last night when tips are given out) or at an empty table because others decided to eat elsewhere.
  

Cons

• If you measure service by how much the waiter chats you up and tells you about his home life and family or if you need him or her to remember what you like and dislike then select dining is not for you.
  
• Gratuity has to be paid at the time of final payment.
  
• You may have to wait for a table to become available if you arrive at a peek time.
  

[CathyCruises]

We are among the apparently dwindling few who prefer to dine at a large table with the same folks every night. It is always fun to look forward to dinner and getting to know our new friends better. I have no desire to meet new people every night and start the same old conversations over again. We eat alone together most nights so we really enjoy the change.

 

And yes, if you are unhappy with your assigned table, just see the maitre d' and ask to be changed. We had to do this once and it worked out great.

[debkaysmith]

We are among the dwindling few as well - love a set table with new friends made over the course of the cruise. We have remained friends with a couple we met on a repo about 8 years ago. Love it. The wait staff has such great personality and we love getting to know them as well. Old-style cruising at its best.

[Azulann]

We are among the apparently dwindling few who prefer to dine at a large table with the same folks every night. It is always fun to look forward to dinner and getting to know our new friends better. I have no desire to meet new people every night and start the same old conversations over again. We eat alone together most nights so we really enjoy the change.

 

And yes, if you are unhappy with your assigned table, just see the maitre d' and ask to be changed. We had to do this once and it worked out great.

 

i like traditional dining at a large table too.:D As you say, I have met some wonderful cruisers from all over the world. Fun sharing your day in port or at sea at dinner.

I also love that the wait staff knows what you like for beverage service after the first night. And you get to know your waiters and it adds to the atmosphere for a relaxing dinner experience ,

[sheff29]

If you are dead set on having table mates every night then I would suggest select dining.

Pros

 

• Have a choice of eating with others or just the two of you
  
• Not locked into any time frame to eat
  
• If you meet another couple through your roll call or on the ship you can arrange to have dinner with them if they have select
  
• You can eat at your own pace. You don't have to wait for others to finish their course before you get your next course.
  
• You can get stuck with a group of people who you don't like in traditional dining but in select you can dine with a different group the next night.
  
• Don't have to notify the wait staff of your comings and goings.
  
• Won't get stuck in an empty dining room (usually the last night when tips are given out) or at an empty table because others decided to eat elsewhere.
  

Cons

• If you measure service by how much the waiter chats you up and tells you about his home life and family or if you need him or her to remember what you like and dislike then select dining is not for you.
  
• Gratuity has to be paid at the time of final payment.
  
• You may have to wait for a table to become available if you arrive at a peek time.
  

 

 

We contemplated choosing the a Select a Dining for some of the reasons listed in "pros", but found the Traditional would suit us best because we do like to chat up table mates and enjoy lively conversations, but not have to do introductions over and over each night, and we like the idea of having same waitstaff. The downside of Traditional for us was the early seating seems too early (6:00) and the late seating was def too late (8:30). We thought we'd pick one night to do Qsine around 7:30 so we could nap by pool, enjoy sail away on balcony before getting dressed for dinner.

 

Question..... can you switch from Traditional to Select mid-cruise? And is formal night different if you have Traditional or Select, or same as any other night but we're all dressed up?

[MisterBill99]

I'm trying to figure out the order of menus for the current 7 night Bermuda cruises.

 

I found a link to the full set of 14 MDR menus (plus a 15th which was a duplicate of day 1) in someone's review of another ship from late last year. I would expect that they are the same as they are now, but I'm not sure which of the 14 are being used and in what order. If someone has been on Summit recently and knows, that would be great.

 

http://www.thepreismans.com/pan_can_menus.htm

Edited June 11, 2015 by MisterBill99

[cle-guy]

I'm trying to figure out the order of menus for the current 7 night Bermuda cruises.

 

I found a link to the full set of 14 MDR menus (plus a 15th which was a duplicate of day 1) in someone's review of another ship from late last year. I would expect that they are the same as they are now, but I'm not sure which of the 14 are being used and in what order. If someone has been on Summit recently and knows, that would be great.

 

http://www.thepreismans.com/pan_can_menus.htm

 

Menus are standard fleet-wide, I noticed on my Connie TA in April, the last date of update was in October 2014 though I don't think any thing major changed on the menus - I didn't notice anything different overall. All cruises start with the same day 1, only longer cruises ever get to the 2nd week's menu options, and as you noted on longer than 14 days, it restarts to day 1.

 

You can basically count on the menus being used in order as you have seen, but have Formal Night's menu with lobster swap around as needed as the last sea day/formal night. Not sure how good the images are you are looking at, but in tiny print on the bottom it has the day number noted in the file name, and the last modified date.

Edited June 11, 2015 by cle-guy

[MisterBill99]

You can basically count on the menus being used in order as you have seen, but have Formal Night's menu with lobster swap around as needed as the last sea day/formal night. Not sure how good the images are you are looking at, but in tiny print on the bottom it has the day number noted in the file name, and the last modified date.

Sadly, his lobster formal night seems to be the 14th day menu so I guess one night would be pushed out. If so, I was not sure which was the middle formal night, maybe day 7, since it has Chateaubriand. If that's it, it would be easy to figure out what the menus are.

 

Sadly, he does not have the identifying line on the bottom of the page. He's also got the Top Chef menu as day 3 and I wonder if that also varies.

Edited June 11, 2015 by MisterBill99

[cle-guy]

Sadly, his second formal night seems to be the 14th daymenu so I'm not sure which menu would be omitted (are there 3 different formal night menus, I could not identify the 3rd, what is on it?) Would it be #7 that is dropped? Sadly, he does not have the identifying line on the bottom of the page. He's also got the Top Chef menu as day 3 and I wonder if that also varies.

 

The menu is not omitted, its just used out of day order. I think only the final formal night has the lobster menu, other formal nights, its just the standard daily menu for that day.

 

So say day 13 menu is lobster, but formal is on day 11, then day 11 will have 13's menu, and day 13 will have 11's menu.

[MisterBill99]

The menu is not omitted, its just used out of day order. I think only the final formal night has the lobster menu, other formal nights, its just the standard daily menu for that day.

 

So say day 13 menu is lobster, but formal is on day 11, then day 11 will have 13's menu, and day 13 will have 11's menu.

But would the normal day 6 menu (2nd formal night) be skipped, or would it be used on day 7, and that menu not used? If you swap days 6 and 13's menus on a 7 day cruise, it's the same as skipping the menu.

Edited June 11, 2015 by MisterBill99

[cle-guy]

But would the normal day 6 menu (2nd formal night) be skipped, or would it be used on day 7, and that menu not used? If you swap days 6 and 13's menus on a 7 day cruise, it's the same as skipping the menu.

 

Day 6 menu will be day 6 menu regardless of formal or not, assuming it's not the FINAL formal night. No special menu for any but the final formal night when they do the lobster.

 

Let's say the Lobster menu has printed on it "day 5", and final formal night is on day 12.

 

Day 5 will get day 12's non-lobster menu, and day 12 will get day 5's lobster menu.

[MisterBill99]

Day 6 menu will be day 6 menu regardless of formal or not, assuming it's not the FINAL formal night. No special menu for any but the final formal night when they do the lobster.

Day 6 *is* the final formal night.

[schlimazel_traveler]

I'm trying to figure out the order of menus for the current 7 night Bermuda cruises.

 

I found a link to the full set of 14 MDR menus (plus a 15th which was a duplicate of day 1) in someone's review of another ship from late last year. I would expect that they are the same as they are now, but I'm not sure which of the 14 are being used and in what order. If someone has been on Summit recently and knows, that would be great.

 

http://www.thepreismans.com/pan_can_menus.htm

 

On our 5/24 Summit cruise, I remember:

Night 1 was the menu shown here as Night 1.

I had the spring roll, the mushroom soup (delicious) and the prime rib.

 

Night 2 was formal night, with the Night 2 menu shown at the link.

The duck and the rack of lamb are both delicious.

The "black salmon" isn't salmon at all, but a fish with a texture more like tuna. Our waiter didn't recommend it, but brought one for us all to try and we agreed he'd been right to steer us away.

The stuffed portobello mushroom is oddly placed as an entree. It's the size of an appetizer if you ask me.

 

Night 3 was the Top Chef menu.

It wasn't our favorite at all.

 

Night 4 we didn't eat in the MDR, and I am not sure what menu we missed. I think it was the Night 4 menu shown at the link.

 

Night 5 may have been the night I had a pasta dish that is on the Night 7 menu but I don't remember the other options listed there or I would have ordered the lamb.

 

Night 6 was our second formal night. I think, but I'm not sure, that it was the menu listed as night 14, with the lamb chops and the risotto. The lamb chops were excellent but the risotto was uneven. One plate was great and the other had underdone rice.

 

I am almost positive our last night was the menu listed as Night 12, with the gnocchi. I had the tilapia and liked it.

[MisterBill99]

On our 5/24 Summit cruise, I remember

Thanks! What didn't you like about the Top Chef night? The menu looks good, or at least interesting :-).

[CruisingChick]

Thanks! What didn't you like about the Top Chef night? The menu looks good, or at least interesting :-).

 

I can't remember the menu but DH and I know from our past 2 cruises that we also did not care for the Top Chef menu.

 

Whatever you do don't get the chicken with the macaroni and cheese entrée it was terrible.

 

Edit - I just looked at the link to the menus. This past cruise we both had the veal. My husband couldn't even eat his. The quality was terrible. Mine wasn't as bad but still not great. So that was 2 cruises in a row where the Top Chef menu was a disappointment. As I stated above the barbeque chicken I had on last September's cruise was not good either and the macaroni and cheese was terrible.

 

As for night 4, my DH didn't like the menu, but my favorite thing is the Israeli Couscous. It's the best. I love it.

Edited June 12, 2015 by CruisingChick

[jigger]

Nice !