Favourite Edge MDR?

[CruiserMickey]

DH and I will be sailing on the Edge in a few weeks, so I as wondering...of those of you who have sailed on the Edge, which has been your favourite MDR and why? The only option available when we booked was the 8:30 Traditional dining seating, and I am not opposed to sticking with one dining room, but was wondering what “personalities” each room had. Is there one that would be quieter than the others? Does one have tables for two not situated within inches of the next table?

 

Thanks for any observations you can share!

[marshacruises]

When we booked the Edge, we decided to have the Select dining option, so no set time or MDR.  It worked out well for us, since we were in Europe and our body clocks were out of sync with the local time. We found ourselves wanting to eat around the time the Select times opened up, so we had no more than a few minutes wait to be seated.  On our cruise, the Select seating actually opened 15 minutes before the traditional seating opened, so we had the staff to ourselves for a few minutes before they got busy.  The tables were close, but most people seemed to respect each table's privacy and were still friendly enough to smile and say a word or two of greeting.  We wound up loving the Tuscan MDR, with the Normandie and Cosmopolitan tied for second.  We did not see anything on the Cyprus menu that appealed to us, so we did not try it.  I have read other reviews where they loved the Cyprus, so a lot just depends on your own taste.  With the traditional seating, you will be assigned to a specific dining room, but you can ask for reservations in other rooms if they have room, and/or you are willing to take a different time.  And, you might be able to see the Maitre d when you board and ask for a switch to Select, then you could choose between the four MDRs. No matter which dining room you are in, the food and service should be great.  The idea of the four seperate MDRs is great because it seems so much less hectic and noisy.  By the way, your assigned dining room and time will be noted on your room key card.  Bon Voyage!

[eroller]

For those that have experienced the traditional seating, any clues on how they actually designate which dining room you will be assigned to?   Purely random or is there some process?  Also can you request a specific dining room?  

[CruiserMickey]

38 minutes ago, marshacruises said:

When we booked the Edge, we decided to have the Select dining option, so no set time or MDR.  It worked out well for us, since we were in Europe and our body clocks were out of sync with the local time. We found ourselves wanting to eat around the time the Select times opened up, so we had no more than a few minutes wait to be seated.  On our cruise, the Select seating actually opened 15 minutes before the traditional seating opened, so we had the staff to ourselves for a few minutes before they got busy.  The tables were close, but most people seemed to respect each table's privacy and were still friendly enough to smile and say a word or two of greeting.  We wound up loving the Tuscan MDR, with the Normandie and Cosmopolitan tied for second.  We did not see anything on the Cyprus menu that appealed to us, so we did not try it.  I have read other reviews where they loved the Cyprus, so a lot just depends on your own taste.  With the traditional seating, you will be assigned to a specific dining room, but you can ask for reservations in other rooms if they have room, and/or you are willing to take a different time.  And, you might be able to see the Maitre d when you board and ask for a switch to Select, then you could choose between the four MDRs. No matter which dining room you are in, the food and service should be great.  The idea of the four seperate MDRs is great because it seems so much less hectic and noisy.  By the way, your assigned dining room and time will be noted on your room key card.  Bon Voyage!

 

Thank you for your review! Can you tell me what it is you loved about Tuscan over the others? Wait staff? Ambiance? Decor?

 

From the few pictures I can find I think Normandie would be closest to my “aesthetic” preference, but I really have very little to go on other than a gut feeling.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

5 hours ago, eroller said:

For those that have experienced the traditional seating, any clues on how they actually designate which dining room you will be assigned to?   Purely random or is there some process?  Also can you request a specific dining room?  

As I understand it is random assignment to balance the load in MDRs. Before my Select waitlist came through, I emailed them (I forget the email and have since deleted it since I have Select and will try them all, but I’m sure someone here knows) and requested one with a second as back-up and received a reply that I would be accommodated.

[hcat]

We liked Tuscan best...loved the decor and Italian music and art ( Fellini motif) & then Cyprus..They seem  smaller than the other two   Never felt crowded at 6 pm ..window seats..great sunsets.  Also enjoyed Normandie the one time we went....at a cozy corner table.  Great  menu, food and service 

 

Preferred Cosmo for  breakfast and lunch..felt very busy at dinner.

[marshacruises]

Cruiser Mickey:  We went to the Tuscan the first night and loved the menu, the selection and the food were wonderful.  We were impressed by the staff and ambiance.  I did like the set-up of the room, we were not closed in but the room was small enough that we did not get that feel that comes from the two story MDR "one room seats all" from other ships.  Since the Normandie photos seem to appeal to you, then I hope you get your wish...see above posts about sending an email to request a specific dining room.

My photo of the Tuscan Dining Room:

 

Here is my photo of The Normandie Room:

[CruiserMickey]

13 minutes ago, marshacruises said:

Cruiser Mickey:  We went to the Tuscan the first night and loved the menu, the selection and the food were wonderful.  We were impressed by the staff and ambiance.  I did like the set-up of the room, we were not closed in but the room was small enough that we did not get that feel that comes from the two story MDR "one room seats all" from other ships.  Since the Normandie photos seem to appeal to you, then I hope you get your wish...see above posts about sending an email to request a specific dining room.

My photo of the Tuscan Dining Room:

 

Here is my photo of The Normandie Room:

 

Thank you for your feedback! Your photo of Tuscan looks lovely. I am sure we will be happy in whichever dining room we are assigned. 

[CruiserMickey]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

We liked Tuscan best...loved the decor and Italian music and art ( Fellini motif) & then Cyprus..They seem  smaller than the other two   Never felt crowded at 6 pm ..window seats..great sunsets.  Also enjoyed Normandie the one time we went....at a cozy corner table.  Great  menu, food and service 

 

Preferred Cosmo for  breakfast and lunch..felt very busy at dinner.

 

That is interesting that Tuscan and Cyprus seem smaller. I am excited to be on the Edge and hope there might be some flexibility in where we can dine. 

 

Because Cosmopolitan are the breakfast and dinner MDR, I hope we are assigned one of the others for dinner.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

[CruiserMickey]

6 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

As I understand it is random assignment to balance the load in MDRs. Before my Select waitlist came through, I emailed them (I forget the email and have since deleted it since I have Select and will try them all, but I’m sure someone here knows) and requested one with a second as back-up and received a reply that I would be accommodated.

 

Thank you for your feedback! I have sent my request to Celebrity through our vacation planner (when we didn’t our original booking). 

 

We are not fussy and and will be happy whichever MDR we are assigned. Someone is going to serve me a lovely dinner and I don’t have to do the dishes!

[DUTRAVEL]

It all really depends on your particular tastes. We preferred Normandie and Cosmopolitan because we liked the exclusive items on the menu and the atmosphere and decor better than Tuscan or Cyprus. We found the decor in Tuscan to be dark and the tables in Cyprus crowded. It may have just been the table locations where we sat in those two restaurants that was the problem.

[hcat]

8 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

 

That is interesting that Tuscan and Cyprus seem smaller. I am excited to be on the Edge and hope there might be some flexibility in where we can dine. 

 

Because Cosmopolitan are the breakfast and dinner MDR, I hope we are assigned one of the others for dinner.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

Check out the deck plans and you can see how they are situated.

You can get almost anything in any of them...so many mix and match choices,

[hcat]

Link to my EDGE dining review..

There are other relevant EDGE 4 mdr threads which were helpful to us

,.I will try to post those links tom.

[CruiserMickey]

4 minutes ago, hcat said:

Link to my EDGE dining review..

There are other relevant EDGE 4 mdr threads which were helpful to us

,.I will try to post those links tom.

 

Thanks @hcat! I appreciate your reviews.

[mafig]

The whole concept of 4 dining rooms appeals to me.  However, this time we booked a suite.....good price and thought we'd miss the Sky Lounge.

 

However, if we were to go to one of the dining rooms for dinner one evening (if allowed) it seems like most like Tuscan the best.  Is Tuscan a dining room where you can get a table for two that's not very close to the next table for two?  If not, which dining room do you believe has the most space between tables?

[Alsmez]

Looking forward to more input on this topic as Edge returns to the water. We have an 11-night booked in 2023 and plan to split our meals more or less evenly between Specialty and MDR. We have never been impressed with the MDR on S-class so hoping that the four-restaurant concept results in better food and service.

[jelayne]

For those who may not be familiar with the 4 MDR concept all 4 have the same daily ( rotating) menu, so if lobster is on the menu on day 6 it will be on the menu of all 4 MDRs.  
In addition to the daily menu each of the 4 MDRs have a set menu of  2 or 3 appetizers, main courses and dessert.  These do not change and are only available in that dining room.  

[cangelmd]

Cyprus and Normandie.

 I understand that you can ask for the menus from another dining room and order the specialties of that dining room because ultimately it comes from the same galley. We did not do that, so I would ask first. The service was MDR service, somewhat rushed, sommelier very rushed (we usually sail in AQ or a suite). I didn’t feel like 2 top tables were as close as in Blu.

Despite those negatives, I’m a big fan of the 4 smaller room concept, the smaller rooms were busy, but didn’t seem as crowded and noisy as the big MDR. We have 2 Apex cruises booked, one in a suite and one in an IV with the MDR, and I don’t at all feel short changed, we can use some of the cost savings to do specialty restaurants (it’s an 11 night cruise).

The longest wait was maybe 5 minutes, we were Select. Truth is, the bulk of diners came either really early or about an hour prior to the early show. If you came 30 minutes after that rush, you had to wait, no matter what.

[Alsmez]

Good to know. We tend to eat late so no major concerns there. I found a thread by the late, great vtcruising with a lot of excellent info as well: 

 

[irvington]

This is helpful.  How hard is it to move around to the other MDRs for dinner at the given set time? Possible to drop in to others for lunches?