Is Anthem Coastal Kitchen like Luminae?

[Pencruise]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts. If CK is anything like Luminae we will be in for a special treat. Has anybody tried the other specialties like Wonderland or Jamie's?

 

In our opinion, don't miss Wonderland, we thought it was fantastic ! Have done it on Anthem and Harmony, and about to experience it again on both ships.

[LovesCruising]

Wonderland was different and so much fun. Menu confused the heck out of us so we left it in our servers hands and had such a good time! I think you really need to be open minded and willing to try different things.

 

Jaimies we did for lunch - I thought was fantastic and would certainly do it for dinner again should we have the opportunity.

[TeeRick]

Thanks so much for all the advice. We are truly looking forward to Anthem. Since it is 12 days we will do mostly Coastal Kitchen but also try each free restaurant. Probably at least Wonderland too. I'm still interested if anybody has been to both Coastal Kitchen and Luminae for comparison purposes.

[Sunflower77]

Based on my observation from three dinners in CK on the Anthem TA last fall, nothing at all dressy is required. Collared shirts and slacks for guys, nice jeans probably as well (I can't recall, but really, people weren't dressed up). My wife and I wore slacks (I probably wore black jeans at least one night) and blouses/shirts. I don't recall anyone in sweats or anything like that; people were dressed in what I would call "smart casual." Sorry if you don't like the term, but it's the best description. :)

 

No need to overthink it, just go and enjoy! :)

 

BTW: in Grande, which supposedly has a "formal" dress code, guys did not even have to wear ties or dress shirts, and while they had to walk in with a jacket (or get a loaner), they could just carry it to their chair and sling it over the chair during dinner. The dress code in Grande is a joke (not that I care, I'm just reporting), so don't worry about CK.

 

Thank you :)

[Xport]

Our first experience of Luminae on Celebrity wasn't good. Limited menu. On our next two sailings on Celebrity we could have the Luminae menu or the MDR menu. Brilliant.

 

Suite guests are assigned to dine in Luminae on a primary basis with access to both the Luminae menu and the Main Dining Room menu... For an upcharge, suite guests may host non-suite friends if space is available in Luminae [see the Luminae Maitre 'D]; the upcharge--fairly hefty as I recall--is assessed to the suite guest hosts and not their non-suite guest friends...

 

For a change of pace/scenery--or if suite guests wish to dine with non-suite friends without the Luminae upcharge--suite guests may also dine in the Main Dining Room [see the Select ("My Time") Dining Host/Hostess at the entrance to that portion of the MDR]...

 

And finally, suite guests may dine in Blu--the primary dining venue for AquaClass guests--on a space available basis [see the Blu Maitre 'D]...

 

Lots of choices!

[TeeRick]

Ok can you get choices from the other restaurant menu's in Coastal Kitchen like Luminae?

[Merion_Mom]

Ok can you get choices from the other restaurant menu's in Coastal Kitchen like Luminae?

 

Why would you want to?

 

And, as far as I have seen, no.

 

But who knows? Ask and ye may receive.

[marci22]

What is the dress code in Coastal Kitchen? We just booked a suite for next year but was curious, more for my DH. We usually have been sailing Disney so I don't know how people dress on other lines anymore. I know anything goes now for the most part but whats the norm. Are jeans okay? Or is CK all dress pants and dress shirt? Somewhere in between? Thanks!

 

On our 5 night we saw a wide variety of dress over the course of the cruise in CK, leaning towards more casual. Jeans ok, several tables with shorts, mostly polos vs dress shirts, but we ate earlier so maybe that was a factor.

 

Even on the 'pictures with the captain night' (more people dress up) it was pretty casual in CK. One night we saw a family with 10-13 year olds who were wearing basketball shorts and tops (the shiny kind). There were some messy dressers in there.

[marci22]

Ok can you get choices from the other restaurant menu's in Coastal Kitchen like Luminae?

 

Rather than do this, I would book a few none CK reservations. Take a look at the menus and go from there. We liked our first night's dinner in CK, but it was very inconsistent after that.

 

I think the hotel director came back from vacation during our cruise, John Ness? He stopped by all tables for a quick hello. Maybe that was why things were not as good as they could have been.

[TeeRick]

Yes we have booked all the free restaurants and CK. We will try them all. I'm still looking for comments to my original question for those that have dined in both CK on RCL and Luminae on Celebrity. How do they compare?

[FLcruiser2011]

We are on Oasis at the moment and have dined on 3 cruises at Luminae and in the Haven restaurant on NCL Escape.

 

Luminae is wonderful, even better than Blu, which also is a step up from the MDR.

 

The Haven on NCL is at least the equal of Luminae.

 

Coastal Kitchen has been a huge disappointment. Presentation of food is perhaps not even as good as the MDR, and they now swap out the menu only three times a week. Ambiance of Coastal Kitchen is about that of a hotel coffee shop. Last night at 8:15, it was more than half empty.

 

We will dine at the specialty restaurants the remainder of the week.

[jules815]

We are on Oasis at the moment and have dined on 3 cruises at Luminae and in the Haven restaurant on NCL Escape.

 

Luminae is wonderful, even better than Blu, which also is a step up from the MDR.

 

The Haven on NCL is at least the equal of Luminae.

 

Coastal Kitchen has been a huge disappointment. Presentation of food is perhaps not even as good as the MDR, and they now swap out the menu only three times a week. Ambiance of Coastal Kitchen is about that of a hotel coffee shop. Last night at 8:15, it was more than half empty.

 

We will dine at the specialty restaurants the remainder of the week.

 

So sorry to hear this! We'll be on Harmony for the crossing with access to CK. My only other suite dining experience (other than breakfast in Chops) was Luminae on Connie back in March, and that, we thought was perfect.

 

Have you had any other meals there? Breakfast or lunch?

[marci22]

Coastal Kitchen has been a huge disappointment. Presentation of food is perhaps not even as good as the MDR...

 

We thought that as well, on the Anthem. Very inconsistent. They did change menus on all 5 nights. We chose to go to WJ one night, instead. Very disappointing.

 

As always, though, ymmv.

[galleycook]

We've eaten in both Luminea and Coastal Kitchen. Luminea is nicer and has a classier feel to it. Food and service was a little better in Luminea. Menu in CK was pretty much the same for our 9 days (at least when we ate there or had a look at the days menu).

 

They recommend (read insist) on reservations for dinner at both but they never appeared busy enough to warrant the reservation.

 

When we chose wine in Luminea, we always had a sommelier to suggest and pour. It appears as though wait staff handle wine in Coastal.

 

Dress code (smart casual) for both but they did not enforce it in CK. I believe they did or the guests automatically followed the rules in Luminea.

 

We ate at a number of other restaurants and Chef's Table was the best. They use a private room in Chops for this. Although the meal is prepared by the chef, and he comes out to speak at the end, presentation and wine pairing is all via the sommelier. He did a fantastic job but the beef tenderloin was cooked perfectly also :).

[TeeRick]

Thanks for the comparisons. It would be really hard to beat Luminae in my opinion which we loved recently on Reflection and Infinity- but we look forward to trying CK on Anthem. All of this dining stuff is so subjective but it is fun to hear the opinions.