Royal Loyal trying out NCL!

[zanydoc]

Hello, Norwegians! I’ve booked a pre-Christmas 5 day cruise on the Breakaway and am very excited to be trying out NCL again. It must be over 10 years that we last went with them. I was hoping for some advice about dining and also some clarifications on the Free At Sea offers.  It seemed like a great deal and appeared to be all-inclusive. Free drinks, free specialty dining and free internet...what’s not to like? So, I was a bit thrown off by the small print in regards to the dining after I booked...I didn’t realize that the offer really only includes 1 specialty dining option for the first 2 passengers. What restaurant do you recommend I utilize the free dining on? Is it worth purchasing more specialty dining days? Or is the dining room sufficient for the rest of the dinners? We are not super picky and generally do just fine eating in the main dining room on RCL ships. I have booked a Club balcony suite, so when can I make reservations for the specialty dining? 

     In regards to the Free drinks...It is my understanding that it is anything up to $15 per drink, is this correct? What liquors does this include? Grey Goose? Woodford Reserve? How many drinks can we get per day? What are your favorite bars? Does the drink package include the Ice bar? Lol, I sound just like that kid in Home Alone that throws off the count in the van before they’re heading to the airport! 

Thanks for all your responses and happy sailing!

 

PS: And kudos to NCL for dropping the pre-cruise testing  requirements for vax passengers. I sure hope Royal follows...

[complawyer]

fine print alert. free drinks will cost you the gratuities (check your reservation for amount) its factored into y our bill. 5 day will give 2 passengers in the cabin 1 free dinner each. im partial to teppanyaki, but cagneys comes close as 2nd choice.  it may be worth your while to buy additional specialty dinners, but check the costs against the menu prices. you can get as many drinks per day as you want, and as long as the cost is under $15 the brand doesnt matter.  if the cost of a grey goose, or cosmo is under that figure you can drink yourself into a stupor. the downside is you'll probably hate yourself in the morning. if you like mojitos (and who doesnt) and your ship has one, try sugarcane. no, it does not include the ice bar, which i couldnt hold out for 15 minutes.  froze my tushie off. its 17 degrees in there and im a so cal guy. brrrr!

 

mdr's are adequate. i usually only go here once or twice on a cruise (ok i'm a snob) but we just got off of the bliss they they werent bad.

 

be careful of free shore excursions, it's only $50 off each port or each excursion and only for 1 person.

other than that, bon voyage and enjoy your cruise

 

 

[dpepper64]

welcome to NCL.   First we love the speciality dinning.  We always do at least 4 night on a 7 day cruise sometimes 5 or 6.  Cagneys is must.  We enjoy Ocean Blue second.  Any of the others are very good.  Depends on what you want.   We usually do not go speaciality on first night,  The main dinning and the Buffet usually have a very good menu the first night.  Drinks ar free for the entire cruise under $15.   Enjoy them all.  The best bars changes from cruise to cruise with us.  try them all and find one or two you like and stay there.   Reservations are usually made 120 days out, sometimes at 125 depends on or status as well as room type.  Not sure about your room  Ice bar not included,  we have never enjoyed, but I would ask to walk in check it out before you send the money.

[kylenyc]

14 minutes ago, zanydoc said:

What restaurant do you recommend I utilize the free dining on? Is it worth purchasing more specialty dining days? Or is the dining room sufficient for the rest of the dinners? We are not super picky and generally do just fine eating in the main dining room on RCL ships.

I'm a fan of Cagney's steak house on any ship if I had one choice. Their ribeye is usually excellent. Rarely not. If not, send it back and get a filet, porterhouse, prime rib. The tomahawk steak is a novelty. The ribeye is best IMHO.

 

Extra dining vouchers, it depends on your appetite. I try to have enough for specialty dining every other day. I'm not picky and that is more than enough. The main dining rooms are fine. I've never sailed on RCL but from friends that have, they say RCL's main dining room is "better". This is of course subjective.

 

[kasimir]

Definitely check the fine-print regarding the free at seas package as gratuities for drink and dining package are not included. And also the free at seas fares are generally more expensive then the comparable sail-away price. 

While the free at seas package will give you peace of mind, it has to be said that if you don't drink much, you might as well go with the sail-away rate and just pay for a few drinks a la carte (or look out for the special cocktails of the day) and you might end up paying even less. 

This is all a matter of personal preference, just like if you want to purchase additional specialty dining. 

 

What I can say from our experience, when it comes to food, there are plenty of options on NCL (included or specialty), but all in all I feel that NCL and RCL is fairly similar in this department. So I would say, if you were already using the specialty dining a lot on RCL, get the additional dining package for your NCL cruise. 

[Travelling2Some]

We sail both NCL and Royal and feel that the MDR food is on the same (fine) level on both lines.  I think the buffet food on NCL is a tad more creative, which we prefer.  Most people will say that the gratuities on the not-quite-free drink package are good value if you drink more than 5 drinks a day  This is easy to do even if you are a moderate drinker if you drink wine with meals. 

 

There is zero pressure to dress up on NCL whereas many people do dress up for "picture" nights on RCI even though it is not required.  Lately we have been leaning away from Royal because music and every activity seems to be conducted at very high volume.  While RCI has some truly excellent entertainment on their larger ships we do still think that NCL is better overall in the entertainment department.

 

I think if you took a survey most NCL cruisers would say Cagney's is generally considered the best of the specialty restaurants.  I can't recall ever having a truly bad meal on any cruise ship.  I do think some of NCL's desserts in the buffet are curiously lacking in flavor.  Food, of course, is completely subjective.

[jancl57]

I highly recommend Cagney;s.  I just booked it for one our two special dining choices for our Dec. 11 cruise on the encore.  We though we would give Onada, the Italian restaurant, a whirl.  We've done Moderna on the Dawn twice and once on the Pearl.  Wouldn't do it again.  Loved it the first time, was ok the second and disappointed the 3rd.  We have had no issues with the main dining rooms on any of the ships.  

 

Ejoy your cruise!

[Travelling2Some]

One thing that was not mentioned is that the less expensive Sail Away rate that does not include the Free at Sea perks also does not allow you to choose your room, just the general category (inside, ov, balcony, etc.).  That is a deal breaker for us. 

[zanydoc]

Thank you for all of your replies! I love a good steak, so Cagney’s sounds like a winner...but I love Japanese, too. Sounds like we’d be perfectly happy eating most dinners in the dining room with the one specialty dinner. I did notice the gratuity charge...that’s fine. I think it will easily work out to our advantage as we usually have a beer with lunch, few pool drinks and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. Is it best to grab a glass of wine at a bar prior to dinner, or just order at dinner? I have found that on Royal, sometimes the drink service is very slow in the main dining room-especially since the short staffing after the reboot. 

[complawyer]

probably better to grab a glass from the bar, but if youre sitting down for a nice leisurely dinner at any of the mdr's or specialty restaurants, what's the hurry?  i usually like to have a glass of scotch before my dinner is served so for me its not an issue

[phoenix1181]

Another vote here for Cagney's!  Love the ribeye.  I always go to Cagney's on the first night. 

 

Although the menu in the MDR is very good, I've found the service somewhat lacking on night one.  That may be due to staffing changes or because I find boarding day stressful and I'm feeling  bi*chy.  Whatever the reason, the good food and excellent service in Cagney's sets the tone for me and puts me in my happy place.

[Sailing12Away]

The free at sea deal is great, but there's some caveats to be aware of.

 

The free specialty dining is not every day - the number of free meals is based on the length of your cruise. But there are tons of other free options to pick from that are fine to eat at, and you can purchase additional meals if you really want to try them all. Unlike RCC, with NCL you just have a free credit and can use it to book a reservation anywhere. With RCC when we sailed, I thought we had to specifically pick the restaurant ahead of time and buy the voucher for that one. So if we changed our minds between when we bought it and were hungry, we were SOL.

 

Free drinks is 100x better on NCL than RCC. You pay for the gratuities ahead of time, so that "free" drink package costs about $250/person depending on the length of the cruise. But again, for comparison, our trip with RCC cost us over $600/person. Drinks up to $15 are included, anything above that you just pay the difference (usually only $1-3 per drink for most). You can upgrade to the better drink package if you're particular about what liquor goes in your drinks or if you like a bottle of wine with every meal. For some it's 100% worth it, for others its cheaper to pay as you go for those upgrades.

 

Free internet is the biggest mis-advertisement of them all. You get an allotment of free minutes. Once they're gone, they're gone. And it's not super fast down/upload speeds, so forget about blogging, streaming movies, uploading tons of photos to FB or anything like that. It's good enough to check in back home and let friends and family know where you are in your adventure, check a few emails, look at a map for the upcoming port, check the weather.... things like that. Again, if those things are important to you then you can upgrade to the unlimited package. But just go in with the right expectations.

 

Same thing with the 'free' excursions... you get $50 off the first passenger towards an NCL sponsored excursion. There are very few trips for <$50, so it's not free at all. Discounted, yes, but certainly not free. On a port intensive trip where NCL offers a bunch of things you want to see/do, it adds up to some good savings. But again, it's not free by any means. The rules on this one keep changing so it may be allowed to be used multiple times at each port, but I've never had the time or energy to try and do more than one trip in a day so I don't pay much attention to those changes.

[Sailing12Away]

This is the info for the upgraded drink package. Anything on this list is free with the upgraded package, or will have a small fee for the regular drink package. Regular drink package has a discount on bottles of wine (25%? 40%? I can never remember which) and the upgraded package has a list of bottles that are completely free, with a discount on the ones which are not. 

 

Maybe it's 25% with the regular and 40% off with the upgraded...

 

premium-plus-beverage-package-2021v2.pdf

[ggTexasGal]

A quick note of caution (to align expectations onboard your cruise):

The above Premium Plus Beverage Package flyer is over a year old, and note (small print at the very bottom) "subject to change".

 

None-the less, @Sailing12Away provided a very helpful flyer, which gives best examples!!!

[cruiseny4life]

I may have had a bad one-off experience, perhaps a generational thing, but I found the steak in Cagney's to be lackluster. The sides were mediocre.

 

I ordered a ribeye, medium. It came out less than medium rare, nearly blue. I ate it, because I'm not super picky, even though I bet I sound like it right now. My husband ordered a filet, medium. It came out medium rare. He definitely sent it back as his preference is medium well, but we've determined no restaurant can actually cook a proper medium well steak. And, I agree with all of you shaking your head at the idea of a medium well filet (or any steak), which is why I'm happy he's finally ordering medium and enjoying it. Alas, he sent his back, because it was nowhere near done. It came back out and was still not exactly medium, but the grill marks were burnt in so he just ate it. Overall, the taste of the steak was unseasoned and not really great. It was edible though. 

 

The sides - onion rings in a little metal bowl were just weird, warmi'ish, and soggy. The baked potato couldn't melt butter. Be sure to look at the updated menu as they did get rid of the macaroni and cheese. I had the wedge salad which was fine. I also tried the french onion soup and it was not very tasty. It just didn't have that flavorful broth I enjoy in a fine french onion soup. 

Wow, I really do sound like a whiny little child...oh well, just wanted to give you my perspective on our Cagney's meal. Sometimes it just stinks, but maybe (hopefully) it was just that night, especially given everyone above who is saying how great it is. 

 

We did go to Teppanyaki, and enjoyed that experience. Plenty of food and it was prepared perfectly. My husband even got his medium well steak (ugh)! I've never encountered singing chefs before so that was cool, even if it was the same repertoire for all of them. Our chef made a few off color, off script jokes that made the night better. 

 

I'll be sure to write a new review in September on my cruise then, when we try Moderno and La Cucina. 

[kylenyc]

14 hours ago, zanydoc said:

Thank you for all of your replies! I love a good steak, so Cagney’s sounds like a winner...but I love Japanese, too. Sounds like we’d be perfectly happy eating most dinners in the dining room with the one specialty dinner. I did notice the gratuity charge...that’s fine. I think it will easily work out to our advantage as we usually have a beer with lunch, few pool drinks and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. Is it best to grab a glass of wine at a bar prior to dinner, or just order at dinner? I have found that on Royal, sometimes the drink service is very slow in the main dining room-especially since the short staffing after the reboot. 

On Breakaway, there is a bar at the entrance next to the host station. The bar service is usually reasonably timely. If you arrive early, relaxing with a drink at the bar is nice.

 

For the main dining room, I prefer to grab a drink at the nearest bar or where I get the best service.

 

Try different bars and find the ones that gives you the best service and atmosphere. Gratuities are pre-paid but slipping them a dollar per drink consistently at your favorite bar usually gets me better service, and an appreciative smile. It doesn't break my bank.

 

P.S. At some specialty restaurants there is an extra charge for certain items such as the crab cakes at $5 extra for example. It irritates me every time until I have a bite then quickly forget about. This may get a reaction from other CCers 😁 . For whatever reason NCL charges extra for some items. Some upcharges make sense others don't.

 

My go to at Cagney's is the ribeye, crabcakes, truffle fries, and whatever incidental veggies or mushrooms to marginally make the meal healthier. 😁

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by kylenyc

[zanydoc]

49 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I may have had a bad one-off experience, perhaps a generational thing, but I found the steak in Cagney's to be lackluster. The sides were mediocre.

 

I ordered a ribeye, medium. It came out less than medium rare, nearly blue. I ate it, because I'm not super picky, even though I bet I sound like it right now. My husband ordered a filet, medium. It came out medium rare. He definitely sent it back as his preference is medium well, but we've determined no restaurant can actually cook a proper medium well steak. And, I agree with all of you shaking your head at the idea of a medium well filet (or any steak), which is why I'm happy he's finally ordering medium and enjoying it. Alas, he sent his back, because it was nowhere near done. It came back out and was still not exactly medium, but the grill marks were burnt in so he just ate it. Overall, the taste of the steak was unseasoned and not really great. It was edible though. 

 

The sides - onion rings in a little metal bowl were just weird, warmi'ish, and soggy. The baked potato couldn't melt butter. Be sure to look at the updated menu as they did get rid of the macaroni and cheese. I had the wedge salad which was fine. I also tried the french onion soup and it was not very tasty. It just didn't have that flavorful broth I enjoy in a fine french onion soup. 

Wow, I really do sound like a whiny little child...oh well, just wanted to give you my perspective on our Cagney's meal. Sometimes it just stinks, but maybe (hopefully) it was just that night, especially given everyone above who is saying how great it is. 

 

We did go to Teppanyaki, and enjoyed that experience. Plenty of food and it was prepared perfectly. My husband even got his medium well steak (ugh)! I've never encountered singing chefs before so that was cool, even if it was the same repertoire for all of them. Our chef made a few off color, off script jokes that made the night better. 

 

I'll be sure to write a new review in September on my cruise then, when we try Moderno and La Cucina. 

Not a whiny child...just being honest! This happened to me on Harmony of the seas in Chops one time. It’s hard to not let an experience like this color your overall opinion of a restaurant. Sometimes things are just off, right? I appreciate your and everyone else’s feedback so much. 

[trivimp]

I, too, have had some pretty mediocre steaks at Cagney's.  My favorite is Le Bistro, followed closely by Onda -- which isn't on Breakaway, but it's so good it deserves a mention anyway.  

 

In all cases, if the server sees that you are not eating or otherwise look unhappy, they will bend over backward to try to make it right.  It may not always be 100% successful (see above story about the char-marked steak) but they usually do pretty well.  

 

Bon voyage!  

[Turtles06]

18 hours ago, zanydoc said:

I didn’t realize that the offer really only includes 1 specialty dining option for the first 2 passengers. What restaurant do you recommend I utilize the free dining on? Is it worth purchasing more specialty dining days? Or is the dining room sufficient for the rest of the dinners? We are not super picky and generally do just fine eating in the main dining room on RCL ships.

 

We were on the Breakaway last October, for a 7-night cruise. Our perks included two specialty dinners as part of Free at Sea, and two more because of our Latitudes status.  But the service and food in the Manhattan Room (MDR) were so good that we actually skipped the fourth specialty dinner.  I say that with the caveat that the ship was only at about 38% occupancy; still, our meal at Cagney's was really subpar, especially the service.  I have found that, across the NCL ships we've sailed, Cagney's food and service have varied a great deal.  I think Le Bistro and Teppanyaki have been the most consistent.  

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Turtles06

[Liljo22]

17 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

We sail both NCL and Royal and feel that the MDR food is on the same (fine) level on both lines.  I think the buffet food on NCL is a tad more creative, which we prefer.  Most people will say that the gratuities on the not-quite-free drink package are good value if you drink more than 5 drinks a day  This is easy to do even if you are a moderate drinker if you drink wine with meals. 

 

There is zero pressure to dress up on NCL whereas many people do dress up for "picture" nights on RCI even though it is not required.  Lately we have been leaning away from Royal because music and every activity seems to be conducted at very high volume.  While RCI has some truly excellent entertainment on their larger ships we do still think that NCL is better overall in the entertainment department.

 

I think if you took a survey most NCL cruisers would say Cagney's is generally considered the best of the specialty restaurants.  I can't recall ever having a truly bad meal on any cruise ship.  I do think some of NCL's desserts in the buffet are curiously lacking in flavor.  Food, of course, is completely subjective.

5 drinks a day?  The gratuities are 19.80/pp/pd so even with a conservative $10 per drink it’s a 2 drink break even.  

[Liljo22]

19 hours ago, zanydoc said:

Hello, Norwegians! I’ve booked a pre-Christmas 5 day cruise on the Breakaway and am very excited to be trying out NCL again. It must be over 10 years that we last went with them. I was hoping for some advice about dining and also some clarifications on the Free At Sea offers.  It seemed like a great deal and appeared to be all-inclusive. Free drinks, free specialty dining and free internet...what’s not to like? So, I was a bit thrown off by the small print in regards to the dining after I booked...I didn’t realize that the offer really only includes 1 specialty dining option for the first 2 passengers. What restaurant do you recommend I utilize the free dining on? Is it worth purchasing more specialty dining days? Or is the dining room sufficient for the rest of the dinners? We are not super picky and generally do just fine eating in the main dining room on RCL ships. I have booked a Club balcony suite, so when can I make reservations for the specialty dining? 

     In regards to the Free drinks...It is my understanding that it is anything up to $15 per drink, is this correct? What liquors does this include? Grey Goose? Woodford Reserve? How many drinks can we get per day? What are your favorite bars? Does the drink package include the Ice bar? Lol, I sound just like that kid in Home Alone that throws off the count in the van before they’re heading to the airport! 

Thanks for all your responses and happy sailing!

 

PS: And kudos to NCL for dropping the pre-cruise testing  requirements for vax passengers. I sure hope Royal follows...

I found NCL and RCCL to be very comparable in terms of MDR food.  The big difference is that RCCL still serves lobster on their formal night.  If you are ok with the food on RCCL, you will be ok on NCL.  It’s going to be hit or miss.  
 

For drinks, it’s $15/drink but if something is over $15, you get credit for the $15.  If something is $17, you will pay $2.00 plus 20% gratuity on the $2.00.  You will rarely find anything that goes above the $15 though.  If there is a higher end whiskey or scotch that you want that will be more.  Also, for wine drinkers, there is only 1-2 wines in each type of wine that are in the included range.  You may have to pay a few dollars for a better one if you don’t like the one included. 
 

For the gratuities on the perks people are

mentioning,  they were already included when you booked the cruise.  This is not something you will pay for on the cruise and additional tipping is at you discretion.

 

Have a great time.  We have found that NCL and RCCL are very comparable unless you are looking for an Oasis class experience.  

[graphicguy]

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

I may have had a bad one-off experience, perhaps a generational thing, but I found the steak in Cagney's to be lackluster. The sides were mediocre.

 

I ordered a ribeye, medium. It came out less than medium rare, nearly blue. I ate it, because I'm not super picky, even though I bet I sound like it right now. My husband ordered a filet, medium. It came out medium rare. He definitely sent it back as his preference is medium well, but we've determined no restaurant can actually cook a proper medium well steak. And, I agree with all of you shaking your head at the idea of a medium well filet (or any steak), which is why I'm happy he's finally ordering medium and enjoying it. Alas, he sent his back, because it was nowhere near done. It came back out and was still not exactly medium, but the grill marks were burnt in so he just ate it. Overall, the taste of the steak was unseasoned and not really great. It was edible though. 

 

The sides - onion rings in a little metal bowl were just weird, warmi'ish, and soggy. The baked potato couldn't melt butter. Be sure to look at the updated menu as they did get rid of the macaroni and cheese. I had the wedge salad which was fine. I also tried the french onion soup and it was not very tasty. It just didn't have that flavorful broth I enjoy in a fine french onion soup. 

Wow, I really do sound like a whiny little child...oh well, just wanted to give you my perspective on our Cagney's meal. Sometimes it just stinks, but maybe (hopefully) it was just that night, especially given everyone above who is saying how great it is. 

 

We did go to Teppanyaki, and enjoyed that experience. Plenty of food and it was prepared perfectly. My husband even got his medium well steak (ugh)! I've never encountered singing chefs before so that was cool, even if it was the same repertoire for all of them. Our chef made a few off color, off script jokes that made the night better. 

 

I'll be sure to write a new review in September on my cruise then, when we try Moderno and La Cucina. 

Not whiny, at all.  We like what we like.

 

I’ve heard some say the steak in Teppanyaki (more like steak bites) was the best on the ship.

 

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Cagney’s.  So, will withhold judgement.

 

My dinner at LaCucinna was one of the best I’ve had on any ship last month.  Had Lobster Ravioli, which was outstanding.

 

This was a few years ago, before I retired.  Was at a business dinner at Gibson’s in Chicago….one of the good steak restaurants in Chicago (and they have plenty of good ones).  We had a pretty large group.  The bill was going to be sizeable.  The chef came out before we ordered to welcome us and do a bit of gripping and grinning.  As the chef began to give a bit of detail about their selections of beef and how they aged it, one in our group asked how the Chef recommended to cook the Tomahawk steak (IIRC, the most expensive in the menu). 

 

Chef asked…”how do you like your steaks cooked?”

 

Guy was being a bit of a donkey, and said “well done”, while some in our group chuckled.

 

Chef didn’t flinch.  He said….”there is no right or wrong way in how you prefer your steak.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently.  If you like yours very rare, that’s your taste buds, which are different than mine or the next person’s.  Same with well done.”

 

Gotta say, when his Tomahawk came out well done, it looked as good as any other steak at our table.  Guy couldn’t finish it, so we all cut a piece to taste it.  I admit, I thought it was good….not to my taste, but good nonetheless.

 

[The Shrike]

5 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Not whiny, at all.  We like what we like.

 

I’ve heard some say the steak in Teppanyaki (more like steak bites) was the best on the ship.

 

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Cagney’s.  So, will withhold judgement.

 

My dinner at LaCucinna was one of the best I’ve had on any ship last month.  Had Lobster Ravioli, which was outstanding.

 

This was a few years ago, before I retired.  Was at a business dinner at Gibson’s in Chicago….one of the good steak restaurants in Chicago (and they have plenty of good ones).  We had a pretty large group.  The bill was going to be sizeable.  The chef came out before we ordered to welcome us and do a bit of gripping and grinning.  As the chef began to give a bit of detail about their selections of beef and how they aged it, one in our group asked how the Chef recommended to cook the Tomahawk steak (IIRC, the most expensive in the menu). 

 

Chef asked…”how do you like your steaks cooked?”

 

Guy was being a bit of a donkey, and said “well done”, while some in our group chuckled.

 

Chef didn’t flinch.  He said….”there is no right or wrong way in how you prefer your steak.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently.  If you like yours very rare, that’s your taste buds, which are different than mine or the next person’s.  Same with well done.”

 

Gotta say, when his Tomahawk came out well done, it looked as good as any other steak at our table.  Guy couldn’t finish it, so we all cut a piece to taste it.  I admit, I thought it was good….not to my taste, but good nonetheless.

 

That chef was lying through his teeth in order to sell that tomahawk.  😜

[Travelling2Some]

7 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

5 drinks a day?  The gratuities are 19.80/pp/pd so even with a conservative $10 per drink it’s a 2 drink break even.  

Now I feel even better!  Maybe I haven't done the math lately since we have always taken the drink package knowing it was a good deal.  Math is not my strong point.  I am much better at drinking:)

[cruiseny4life]

22 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Not whiny, at all.  We like what we like.

 

I’ve heard some say the steak in Teppanyaki (more like steak bites) was the best on the ship.

 

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Cagney’s.  So, will withhold judgement.

 

My dinner at LaCucinna was one of the best I’ve had on any ship last month.  Had Lobster Ravioli, which was outstanding.

 

This was a few years ago, before I retired.  Was at a business dinner at Gibson’s in Chicago….one of the good steak restaurants in Chicago (and they have plenty of good ones).  We had a pretty large group.  The bill was going to be sizeable.  The chef came out before we ordered to welcome us and do a bit of gripping and grinning.  As the chef began to give a bit of detail about their selections of beef and how they aged it, one in our group asked how the Chef recommended to cook the Tomahawk steak (IIRC, the most expensive in the menu). 

 

Chef asked…”how do you like your steaks cooked?”

 

Guy was being a bit of a donkey, and said “well done”, while some in our group chuckled.

 

Chef didn’t flinch.  He said….”there is no right or wrong way in how you prefer your steak.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently.  If you like yours very rare, that’s your taste buds, which are different than mine or the next person’s.  Same with well done.”

 

Gotta say, when his Tomahawk came out well done, it looked as good as any other steak at our table.  Guy couldn’t finish it, so we all cut a piece to taste it.  I admit, I thought it was good….not to my taste, but good nonetheless.

 

Oh fancy steak houses....give me this small place in the middle of nowhere Montana for the best steak ever. $50 bucks for a ribeye, shrimp salad, bread, twice-baked potato, and ice cream. Best meal I've ever had, and I probably had it 20 times when I lived out there! Oh Land of Magic, how I need you.:-) 

 

Thanks for the story - entertaining and so much BS haha...but at least it tasted decent. 

 

Can't wait to try La Cucina on this cruise - you'll find out how I like it, I'm sure.