Mardi Gras-have the fee for Chi-bang and Cucino del Captainao return?

[ladylikes2cruise]

Was on her in May and they were at that time free.

[surfjock27]

13 minutes ago, ladylikes2cruise said:

Was on her in May and they were at that time free.

 

I am on Mardi Gras in a few days and someone from the group asked JH when the restaurants were going back to a fee, and he said, "no time in the foreseeable future."

[hard_eight]

ChiBang and Cucina are basically Any time dining dining rooms. Menu differs from the upcharge menus on other ships.

[kwokpot]

There will NOT be an upcharge for those venues.

[1025cruise]

As of right now, no charge. Same on the Celebration.

[Donna1127]

when can you make reservations?  Onboard?

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, Donna1127 said:

when can you make reservations?  Onboard?

Only onboard and only if you have your time dining. If you have fixed early or late dining you can only eat there after 730-8pm

[Knights on the Beach]

You don't actually make a reservation for those two, you just check in on the Hub app when you're ready to go to lunch or dinner. It will show the approximate wait times for each venue. And yes, if you have YTD, you may check in anytime you'd like (for dinner). Otherwise, if you have early or late you'll have to check the app to see what the earliest time is you may check in.

[Elaine5715]

12 hours ago, surfjock27 said:

 

I am on Mardi Gras in a few days and someone from the group asked JH when the restaurants were going back to a fee, and he said, "no time in the foreseeable future."

The MG ChiBang and Cucina never had upcharges.

[kwokpot]

42 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

The MG ChiBang and Cucina never had upcharges.

Because it's an MDR. 

[Elaine5715]

11 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Because it's an MDR. 

I know.  My response was to the post that the upcharges were "returning".

[surfjock27]

15 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

The MG ChiBang and Cucina never had upcharges.

 

We can nitpick the wording, or we can just go with what JH said. I was more so referring to the fact that they were initially supposed to be upcharges after a period of time and are not now.

[surfjock27]

2 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

I know.  My response was to the post that the upcharges were "returning".

 

"Nitpick"

[kwokpot]

7 minutes ago, surfjock27 said:

 

We can nitpick the wording, or we can just go with what JH said. I was more so referring to the fact that they were initially supposed to be upcharges after a period of time and are not now.

TBH none of this actually makes much sense. The ship designers knew full well when designing the dining spaces for the Excel class the two dining rooms allocated as MDRs couldn't possibly accommodate all the diners every night at the regular dinner hours. If you compare the sizes of Chibang and Cucina vs Rudi's and the Steakhouse you'll see the former are much larger and not really sized as specialty restaurants like the latter.  If the original thinking was to purposely undersize the MDR's to spread people out and FORCE people to pay a Cover Charge, however small, to have dinner at a reasonable hour at larger specialty restaurants that was pretty warped thinking and obviously that plan was quickly abandoned. 

[kwokpot]

10 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

TBH none of this actually makes much sense. The ship designers knew full well when designing the dining spaces for the Excel class the two dining rooms allocated as MDRs couldn't possibly accommodate all the diners every night at the regular dinner hours. If you compare the sizes of Chibang and Cucina vs Rudi's and the Steakhouse you'll see the former are much larger and not really sized as specialty restaurants like the latter.  If the original thinking was to purposely undersize the MDR's to spread people out and FORCE people to pay a Cover Charge, however small, to have dinner at a reasonable hour at larger specialty restaurants that was pretty warped thinking and obviously that plan was quickly abandoned. 

If you like at the Costa's Excel Class ships there's four main dining rooms that's part of the included fare. Basically what was done is a third aft dining room was added and the dining room on deck 7 doesn't have a cutout which increased dining capacity. If you examine the deckplans for the Costa Smeralda you'll come to the conclusion that on Carnival's Excel Class Cucina and Chbang will NEVER be a cover charge restaurant.  

[ladylikes2cruise]

Thanks everyone for the info.

Will be one her NYE and again in May.

[BoozinCroozin]

Someone posted the JH on our cruise group. Because of the sheer volume of people, the included dining would not be able to accommodate the passengers. They have to keep ChiBang, Pig & Anchor, and Cucina included or the other dining options would never be able to handle the capacity.

[Donna1127]

Thanks for the helpful info!  Have a feeling we wont be eating in the MDR at all this cruise lol.  Have the Steakhouse, Chefs Table, Rudi's and Teppanyaki reserved so far.  That leaves three nights lol  

[BoozinCroozin]

13 hours ago, Donna1127 said:

Thanks for the helpful info!  Have a feeling we wont be eating in the MDR at all this cruise lol.  Have the Steakhouse, Chefs Table, Rudi's and Teppanyaki reserved so far.  That leaves three nights lol  

We have only been on 2 cruises: first was CCL and second was NCL. We ate in the MDR on Carnival once. The food was OK, but not great. I expected a little more from my steak and my wife and daughter from their meal. It wasn't just the food, it was the ~2 hours of time it took. Appetizers came out slow, dinner came out slower, drinks came slow, and finally had to pass on dessert so we didn't miss a show. On NCL, we had a specialty dinner. The food is all pre-prepared and brought out on skewers to tables. It still took 2 hours on that cruise line. We actually missed the only show on the cruise we wanted to see and they cancelled the other 2 showings because we were late. 

 

Long story short, we don't eat at sit down meals on a cruise. First, they are not that much better than eating other venues. Second, they can almost hold you hostage waiting. I don't spend 2 hours at home for a dinner and I won't do it on vacation either. I will hit up the faster places, even the buffet. 

[mynupasttime]

Free October

[mynupasttime]

Still free in October

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:42 PM, kwokpot said:

Because it's an MDR. 

so does that mean that the menu is the same as the MDR?

[tidecat]

17 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

so does that mean that the menu is the same as the MDR?

No, but the MDR menu is available in ChiBang and Cucina (including lobster on the now second elegant night).

[kwokpot]

48 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

so does that mean that the menu is the same as the MDR?

NO, it just functions like a MDR. Those restaurants GUARANTEED will stay free since Carnival decided not to build enough dining capacity in a standard MDR. If you look at Costa's Excel Class ships there's another main dining room which Carnival decided not to build. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, tidecat said:

No, but the MDR menu is available in ChiBang and Cucina (including lobster on the now second elegant night).

 

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

NO, it just functions like a MDR. Those restaurants GUARANTEED will stay free since Carnival decided not to build enough dining capacity in a standard MDR. If you look at Costa's Excel Class ships there's another main dining room which Carnival decided not to build. 

thank you both for your replies!