Specialty dining package. What are your thoughts?

[myjillian]

we always take the sdp perks add our Platinum perks to it and look forward to it all...make friends with staff and enjoy extra perks..🤗....I can remember when the slogan for NCL was lobster served daily ...on formal nites when they served lobster you could walk up to the "cafeteria" and get crab legs galore ! Ahhhhhhhh those were the days !!!LOL

[newmexicoNita]

9 hours ago, Stlcardsfan79 said:

Last cruise we didn't take it as a perk and paid to go to Cagney's one night, liked it so much we went a 2nd time. We are doing specialty dining 5 nights out of 10 on our cruise in two weeks. 

We are doing about the same: 4 nights as a perk and our 2 platinum nights. It is just nice to have the variety and as I said yesterday, for us the service and better quality is worth it. This certainly isn't saying the MDR isn't good. I have always told people: if you expect to eat Ruth Chris in the MDR you will be disappointed in the food: if you are happy with Outback you will find cruise food really good. This goes for most cruise lines I think  When I say most lines, I am referring to mass marketed lines,  not luxury sailing. 

[Monica887]

I'm a vegetarian, so my experience might be different. 

 

Food wise- MDR is "fine". I've never eaten anything there where I think "wow, I need to eat this again". The menu is varied enough for me and my non veg family but the taste is mediocre. Specialty restaurants vary. BISTRO has one nice veg dish that tastes good. I'm actually happy with the sides at CAGNEY's. The ITALIAN restaurant is just poor...which is sad since that menu has the most variety for me and I usually love italian food.

 

Service/atmosphere: The MDR atmosphere is what you expect. The large one sometimes has music and is too loud. The smaller ones are nice but harder to get large tables if you have a big group. BISTRO service was awful last time we were there (escape) - food took forever (longer than leisurely dining) and they got some orders wrong. And they were in coordinated with the silly revealing of the food and we sat there for a full 2-3 awkward minutes while we waited for them to take the domes off. CAGNEY's service and atmosphere has always been lovely (I know, the vegetarian is singing the praises of the steakhouse...). And the ITALIAN service is MDR-esque - gets the job done, but is very formulaic in how they serve, so you throw them off if you ask for an extra appetizer or something to share.

 

If you get it for free as a latitude perk, it's nice to have an alternative to the MDR once in a while. But I would never pay for it.

[cathi007]

20 hours ago, casofilia said:

Rather than pay extra for 7 Specialty meals when i have already paid for meals I would rather have the $166 put towards the next cruise.

Not me, to each his own, but I love the specialty restaurants, to me it's money well spent. I buy the cruisenext certificates for my next cruise  It's a lot cheaper than going out to eat at home

[tallnthensome]

To each their own , absolutely! However, I don't know too many people that like to pay twice to eat once and call it money well spent. How it's cheaper than eating out at home seems like a reach unless you spend $200 every time you go out to eat at home 

Edited January 5, 2019 by tallnthensome