Portofinos/Chops - Which Night?

[Jill0526]

Good morning everyone. We are getting ready for our Dec 24 cruise on the Navigator.

 

My husband and I want to try Portofinos or Chops one night and I know that I need to make my reservation as soon as we board. However, how can I decide which night to make the reservation? I certainly don't want to miss lobster night in the dining room.

 

I wish I could see all of the menus ahead of time. Also, we are cruising over the Christmas holiday, and I'm not sure if that changes the dinner schedule. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks for your help.

Jill

[Twice_a_year]

They serve the lobster on the second formal night. Simply, go to the desk before you call for reservations and they will tell you when formal nights are schedule for your cruise.:)

[EBFURR]

Hi, not sure which itinerary you are on, but on the western, Wed. night (Ocho Rios) is caribbean night and is considered by many to be the weakest menu. We like all the nights in the main dining, but usually miss one to go to Chops anyway. One thing about Chops on Wed. night after Ocho Rios is that it is on the side of the ship that faces the island of Jamiaca so you can see the lights of Jamaica go by as you dine.

 

As far as knowing the menus, we have found that if you go to Chops or Portofino after boarding, the person taking the reservations will be very familiar with the dining room menu and can give you a good idea as to what each night will be. That should help you decide.

[Jill0526]

Thanks so much for your help.

 

We're on the Western Caribb itinerary. I think Caribbean night would be a good one to miss.

 

Thanks again!

Jill

[goneclear]

We sailed NOS in April on western itinerary and the first night (sail away) you did not need reservations for portafinos. So we ate there. It was great as we like to stay on the top desk as late as possible to see Miami fade away in the sunset. We then went to our cabin, changed and walked straight into portifinos. No wait and it only had about 4 other couples there.

[Travel luv]

Does anyone know what night is Caribbean night on Explorer on the Eastern itenary?

[Mike2131]

Without going into details, we will not sail with RCCL again. That being said, Portofino was the highlight of a disappointing cruise. I wish we had eaten there every night!

[EBFURR]

That reminds us of a couple of years ago when we had a young couple as tablemates. It was their first cruise. After the first night, they never showed up for dinner. We worried that we had somehow offended them or had been bad company, although things had seemed to us to go well. They finally showed up again on Friday. They had tried Portofino on Monday and it was so good they had gone back every night since!

 

For funtravelor: Try cruiseclues.com They have links for all ships and there are a lot of dinner menus, compasses, etc. posted there.

[goneclear]

Without going into details, we will not sail with RCCL again. That being said, Portofino was the highlight of a disappointing cruise. I wish we had eaten there every night!

 

Hi Mike, I would really like to hear of your bad experience. I think it is good for all cruisers to get to know all the posabilities that can go wrong and what to look out for.

[Cincy-David]

Good morning everyone. We are getting ready for our Dec 24 cruise on the Navigator My husband and I want to try Portofinos or Chops one night and I know that I need to make my reservation as soon as we board. However, how can I decide which night to make the reservation?

Definitely go on Wednesday (Caribbean night), this by far the weakest night on the menu.

[Mike2131]

Hi Mike, I would really like to hear of your bad experience. I think it is good for all cruisers to get to know all the posabilities that can go wrong and what to look out for.

 

I won't try to hi-jack this thread detailing our disappointment with the RCCL cruise, but I did post a review of our 5 night Bermuda cruise on this board.

Many people feel that our experience was not representative of RCCL (or that we are hyper-critical), but we will not spend several thousand hard earned dollars to see if they had an "off cruise". Princess and Celebrity have been very dependable and, after our upcoming cruise on Oceania, I think we will have another appealing option.

[coast2coast]

They serve the lobster on the second formal night. Simply, go to the desk before you call for reservations and they will tell you when formal nights are schedule for your cruise.:)

 

This is what I thought as well... just got off the Voyager (western carib), and we had lobster on Thursday night (our 2nd formal night was Wednesday night). Instead, just ask what night they're serving lobster, and don't make reservations that night.

[SF]

Does anyone know on which night on Radiance's 10 day Western they have the Caribbean theme in the dining room? That's the night we want to make reservations for Chops.