Would you book specialty restaurants on Oasis on formal nights?

[FrannyK]

Purchased the 3-night dining package on Oasis.  Will book once on board.  Wondering which nights are best for specialty restaurants.  Formal nights or not?  Thoughts?  

 

We've been to Chops and Giovanni's a few times on other ships, so also wondering if I should just book restaurants we haven't been to before, like 150 Central Park and Izumi.

 

 

[StephPS79]

We booked Jamie's Italian on Symphony, on the second formal night.  A few in the group were upset that we missed lobster in the MDR lol.  So something to keep in mind.

[nelblu]

Formal nights are no longer what they used to be.  It's almost like any other night.  Even photographers are available almost any night.  Just off Oasis out of Bayonne and scheduled Chops on the first formal night.  The only night that I keep track of is the lobster night.

[zoepipes]

We had booked a specialty restaurant on one of the formal nights and the waitress brought us lobster from the main dining room - and we didn't even ask for it!  She was an awesome waitress.

 

[jalves]

We don't pay attention to "formal nights" so for us it's just a decision on what day we would prefer to dine in the specialty restaurants.  Typically, we prefer not to go there on the day we first board or the last night of the cruise.  

[FrannyK]

4 hours ago, StephPS79 said:

We booked Jamie's Italian on Symphony, on the second formal night.  A few in the group were upset that we missed lobster in the MDR lol.  So something to keep in mind.

I was thinking about that myself. But I have to say, on celebrity summit in July the lobsters were tasteless. So I don’t know if we would really be missing out.

[FrannyK]

1 hour ago, zoepipes said:

We had booked a specialty restaurant on one of the formal nights and the waitress brought us lobster from the main dining room - and we didn't even ask for it!  She was an awesome waitress.

 

Oh! That is good to know!

[slyster]

I used to purposely schedule my specialty restaurant on formal night because the dress code would say smart casual.  I preferred it on formal night.

[CruiserLucas]

We always book a specialty restaurant for one of the formal nights, and did it on both formal nights on our last cruise. We did Jaime's for one and 150 Park for the other, with Chops in between on a regular night. This was on Harmony. Personally, we like formal nights, but the dining experience is probably going to be the same either way. In Chops, people were still dressed very well even though it wasn't a formal night. 

[jcc1025]

While we have moved from formal to a suit on formal nights, mostly for the pictures my wife wants with family and friend we booked specialathy resturants all the time. On Oasis class we always book 150, not everyones first choice since it is kind of a foodie choice over Chops, but we have gotten away from a lot of hearvy meat dinners and we love 150. We have been to many rearlly good resturantes in our life and 150 matches them. The other option if your into it and willing to spurge is the Chief't Table, We tried it about 4 years ago it is both a fun time with the guests and an amazing multi course dinner. 

 

[FrannyK]

18 hours ago, slyster said:

I used to purposely schedule my specialty restaurant on formal night because the dress code would say smart casual.  I preferred it on formal night.

I agree.  A little less to pack too, especially when flying.

[FrannyK]

17 hours ago, jcc1025 said:

While we have moved from formal to a suit on formal nights, mostly for the pictures my wife wants with family and friend we booked specialathy resturants all the time. On Oasis class we always book 150, not everyones first choice since it is kind of a foodie choice over Chops, but we have gotten away from a lot of hearvy meat dinners and we love 150. We have been to many rearlly good resturantes in our life and 150 matches them. The other option if your into it and willing to spurge is the Chief't Table, We tried it about 4 years ago it is both a fun time with the guests and an amazing multi course dinner. 

 

Thank you for this.  That is great to hear.  You've confirmed many glowing reviews about 150.  We also have gotten away from heavy meat dinners.  Plus, our next cruise is a 12-night on Serenade where only Chops, Giovanni and Izumi are available..  So, that leads me to think maybe we should contain our specialty picks to restaurants only available on Oasis class. This cruise is our first on Oasis class and I'm not sure if we will like being on a ship with that many people but we will soon see.  We are definitely sailing for the ship/not the itinerary! 

[OCSC Mike]

23 hours ago, FrannyK said:

Purchased the 3-night dining package on Oasis.  Will book once on board.  Wondering which nights are best for specialty restaurants.  Formal nights or not?  Thoughts?  

 

I would look at the MDR menus in the app close to your cruise (if that's where you're eating if not in a specialty restaurant) and decide based on what looks appealing or not and do specialty on the less appealing nights.

[FrannyK]

8 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

I would look at the MDR menus in the app close to your cruise (if that's where you're eating if not in a specialty restaurant) and decide based on what looks appealing or not and do specialty on the less appealing nights.

Oh, I didn't realize the menu's would be available in the app before the cruise.  I will definitely do that.

[smokeykat]

We were on Oasis and did the 3 night dining package. The only night in the main dining room that I was interested in making sure we were eating there was lobster night.

 

Did Giovanni, Chops and 150. Giovanni filet  was the best I ever had and out of the 3 I liked this restaurant the best.  Chops was just OK and 150 was very good.

 

All main dining room menus are in the app.

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, smokeykat said:

Giovanni filet  was the best I ever had and out of the 3 I liked this restaurant the best.

 

We cruise on the cheap but Giovanni's is the one specialty restaurant we book when it's available. Wife and I always get the filet and have never had a bad one. I'm not even a huge filet fan as I prefer some fat on my steak, like a ribeye, but theirs is delicious.

[jcc1025]

5 hours ago, FrannyK said:

Thank you for this.  That is great to hear.  You've confirmed many glowing reviews about 150.  We also have gotten away from heavy meat dinners.  Plus, our next cruise is a 12-night on Serenade where only Chops, Giovanni and Izumi are available..  So, that leads me to think maybe we should contain our specialty picks to restaurants only available on Oasis class. This cruise is our first on Oasis class and I'm not sure if we will like being on a ship with that many people but we will soon see.  We are definitely sailing for the ship/not the itinerary! 

We have sailed most of the RCCL class ships and for a large ship with a lot of people these ships are designed in a way to make them seem smaller. We were shocked the first time we were on Oasis that it did not seem as crowded as we expecter or some of the smaller classes we have sailed. Enjoy your cruise will be interested in your opinon when you get back. 

[denamo]

8 hours ago, FrannyK said:

Thank you for this.  That is great to hear.  You've confirmed many glowing reviews about 150.  We also have gotten away from heavy meat dinners.  Plus, our next cruise is a 12-night on Serenade where only Chops, Giovanni and Izumi are available..  So, that leads me to think maybe we should contain our specialty picks to restaurants only available on Oasis class. This cruise is our first on Oasis class and I'm not sure if we will like being on a ship with that many people but we will soon see.  We are definitely sailing for the ship/not the itinerary! 

The first Izumi's we ever tried was on the Serenade. We've since tried it on a couple of other ships, but none have been as good.  We were very unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine.  Our server was extremely helpful.  We especially enjoyed our cruise on the Serenade. The Oasis class tends to be our favorite, but would definitely cruise oSucn the Serenade again.

 

One aspect of the Oasis class ships we especially enjoy is all of the live music on board in the evenings.  One area we especially enjoy is Central Park in the evening.  They usually have an individual performer playing.  Such a great atmosphere.  Love Jazz on 4.  Always the Schooner Bar and the Pub.  The times you will really notice the extra number of people on board is when a show is over. During the day, people tend to spread out. We also agree with 150 being a great specialty restaurant.

[FrannyK]

8 minutes ago, denamo said:

The first Izumi's we ever tried was on the Serenade. We've since tried it on a couple of other ships, but none have been as good.  We were very unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine.  Our server was extremely helpful.  We especially enjoyed our cruise on the Serenade. The Oasis class tends to be our favorite, but would definitely cruise oSucn the Serenade again.

 

One aspect of the Oasis class ships we especially enjoy is all of the live music on board in the evenings.  One area we especially enjoy is Central Park in the evening.  They usually have an individual performer playing.  Such a great atmosphere.  Love Jazz on 4.  Always the Schooner Bar and the Pub.  The times you will really notice the extra number of people on board is when a show is over. During the day, people tend to spread out. We also agree with 150 being a great specialty restaurant.

I really appreciate your thoughts on Oasis class.  Our favorite class so far is Freedom and then Voyager class.  We tried Anthem and we were disappointed which is why I'm a little gun shy about the size of Oasis.  On the Anthem, maybe it was just an off week, but most of the venues were only open for a few hours.  Actually had to go up to the pool deck to get a drink on occasions during the day as all the other bars were closed.  Really odd/annoying.  There were an insufficient amount of bartenders when you did find a bar open.  We really didn't like the three separate main dining rooms with low ceilings, not special at all.  The promenade lay out was awkward and always crowded. 

 

Looking forward to spending time on Oasis and Serenade!

[FrannyK]

Back from Oasis and really loved the ship.  The Central Park area is so lovely.  Don't think I've ever enjoyed a ship more.  Didn't love the amount of people, lines for the MDR at breakfast and lunch, lines at El Loco (never got to eat there because of it), lines at Windjammer depending on our timing.   Elevators were rough going too.  Still, we would sail her again, but not during times where there are many children/families.

Just wanted to report back on the specialty dining.  We purchased the 3-nite dining ahead of time and received 1 night dining from our TA.  We felt 4 nights of specialty dining during a 7 night cruise was a bit too much for us.   Too much food commitment for us LOL   The food was excellent at 150 Central Park but our waiter forgot about us so came away with meh.  In his defense there was a very large demanding table next to us.  Chops we ate outside in Central Park and it was wonderful food and service.  Giovanni's was really good too, had a nice table by an open window looking over Central Park.  Went to Izumi (not hibachi) and it was fair in our opinion.  Still, glad we tried it.  Also had lunch at the BBQ which was excellent and had live music.  The dining room food was good, can't say very good/excellent but came away satisfied.

I reserved the ultimate dining package for our upcoming 12-night cruise, so I think I might cancel that and grab a 3 or 5 night dining package.