Specialty Restaurants or stick with Luminae?

[trout62]

Greetings,

A colleague has convinced me to join him on an upcoming Ascent voyage in a SkySuite. I am an experienced cruiser (HAL, RCCL, CCL, NCL) but never X. 

 

My colleague says Luminae is so awesome you won't want to try the Specialty Dining, but I'm not convinced.  Eden looks really interesting to me.

 

Frankly, for ~70/per person adder, I would probably skip Fine Cut though that too looks very nice.  But I'm in Texas...good steak houses aren't hard to find.

 

Thoughts?

Trout 

[prim8keeper]

I once would have agreed about only dining in Luminae. However, on our most recent cruise last month on Beyond our best meals were in Le Voyage and Eden. I would highly recommend both to anyone who finds the menu interesting. Don’t get me wrong, Luminae is still very good, but we didn’t think it was as good as it used to be due to various changes in ingredients and offerings. That said, there also seems to be different menus floating around for Luminae so perhaps we just got one that wasn’t too our taste.

[CNSfromHI]

7 minutes ago, trout62 said:

Greetings,

A colleague has convinced me to join him on an upcoming Ascent voyage in a SkySuite. I am an experienced cruiser (HAL, RCCL, CCL, NCL) but never X. 

 

My colleague says Luminae is so awesome you won't want to try the Specialty Dining, but I'm not convinced.  Eden looks really interesting to me.

 

Frankly, for ~70/per person adder, I would probably skip Fine Cut though that too looks very nice.  But I'm in Texas...good steak houses aren't hard to find.

 

Thoughts?

Trout 

I know many people love Luminae, and we enjoyed it on our last cruise, but we also appreciate variety – in terms of selection and ambience, and the experience overall.

 

I highly recommend checking out a specialty place or two, if you can!

 

cjr

[trout62]

6 minutes ago, prim8keeper said:

I once would have agreed about only dining in Luminae. However, on our most recent cruise last month on Beyond our best meals were in Le Voyage and Eden. I would highly recommend both to anyone who finds the menu interesting. Don’t get me wrong, Luminae is still very good, but we didn’t think it was as good as it used to be due to various changes in ingredients and offerings. That said, there also seems to be different menus floating around for Luminae so perhaps we just got one that wasn’t too our taste.

It appears Le Voyage will indeed be on Ascent, but it doesn't yet show on the website under Ascent's specialty restaurants.  However, I looked under Beyond, and oh yes, that looks amazing.  Thank you!

 

Trout

[prim8keeper]

2 minutes ago, trout62 said:

It appears Le Voyage will indeed be on Ascent, but it doesn't yet show on the website under Ascent's specialty restaurants.  However, I looked under Beyond, and oh yes, that looks amazing.  Thank you!

 

Trout

 

We enjoyed Le Voyage so much I confirmed with the staff there that it would be on Ascent. They said that it would be and that they would send some of their team members to open it. It is fantastic! We didn’t do the tasting menu, but next time we are on a ship with it that is our plan.

[George C]

I while I do like Luminae and will eat most of our meals there we always will do at least one specialty, I love le petit chef very unique show and very nice meal we do that at least once a cruise. You will love the outdoor retreat with the bar and pool

[trout62]

4 minutes ago, prim8keeper said:

 

We enjoyed Le Voyage so much I confirmed with the staff there that it would be on Ascent. They said that it would be and that they would send some of their team members to open it. It is fantastic! We didn’t do the tasting menu, but next time we are on a ship with it that is our plan.

Tasting menu?

Tell me more.

Trout

[Jim_Iain]

It's always nice to experience a night or two at a specialty restaurant.   On E-Class ships you are not permitted to order off the MDR menus so selection can get boring or limited.     We often book a Specialty on an evening that we don't find anything of interesting on a particular menu.

[DCPIV]

Do whatever sounds good to you, but Luminae always is a solid choice. We're currently on Reflection and have little to no desire to eat at a specialty restaurant. They are good, mind you! It's just that we enjoy Luminae. 

[sbcs5390]

On 14 nights in Solstice (B2B, so repeated menus) we did: 

6 nights Luminae

7 nights Murano

1 night butler served meal in-suite

 

We did lunch in Sushi on 5 nearly whenever we could as well. Gave Luminae lunch a try a couple times the first week. We had been on Millennium about 6 months prior and done plenty of Tuscan and Le Petit so did not do it on Solstice. 

 

Our original plan was just 3 nights Murano and it was so superior that we adjusted our plan. My cover charge was included with the RS but my family member traveling with me was in a different cabin so we had to pay, so it was not just "because it's free". 

Edited March 2, 2023 by sbcs5390

[George C]

3 minutes ago, sbcs5390 said:

On 14 nights in Solstice (B2B, so repeated menus) we did: 

6 nights Luminae

7 nights Murano

1 night butler served meal in-suite

 

We did lunch in Sushi on 5 nearly whenever we could as well. Gave Luminae lunch a try a couple times the first week. 

 

Our original plan was just 3 nights Murano and it was so superior that we adjusted our plan. My cover charge was included with the RS but my family member traveling with me was in a different cabin so we had to pay, so it was not just "because it's free". 

Lots of people like Murano surprised it is not on E class. We sail on summit in exactly 2 weeks also in royal suite. We will do le petit chef, like sushi on 5 for lunch, and Tuscan grill which is also not on E class.

[jelayne]

We "stray" from Luminae regularly.  The menu is limited and heavy on fish and seafood.  When we are on a ship where we can order from the MDR menu we do that about 1/3 of the time, do a couple of specialty restaurants and sometimes just have dinner in the suite.

 

 

[tfred]

Luminae is a good choice. We have eaten there twice and always found something good.  Depends on your eating style as Luminae is not a meat and potatoes type of restaurant. I would call it inventive. If that word concerns you then maybe a night or two in a specialty is warranted 

[Julma]

I agree with the others.  I suggest making reservations and then cancelling them if you find you don't need them.  Our first E class suite cruise, we booked a night at Eden, loved it, but couldn't get another reservation for the rest of the cruise.  We too were in a Sky Suite.  So better to have one, then want one.  There will be someone to take your place, so no harm in cancelling.  

[DCPIV]

I do agree with making reservations and then cancelling. Reservations can be hard to come by once on board. 

[the_dylaness]

You asked for opinions... personally I prefer Luminae.  I have only been on S-class ships (and Mercury lol but that's been a long time, no Luminae there!) I don't care for Tuscan Grille, Murano is ok but just too much and too rich. Sushi on Five is fun for embarkation lunch in my opinion or if you just feel like sushi.

 

[Team Stag]

Personally, I love Lumanie.  The level of service and food is outstanding.  Definitely as good or better as any specialty restaurant I've tried (which is all except for Le Voyage).  However, we still eat one or two specialty restaurants a cruise simply for a little variety.   Personally, I found the steak house a little underwhelming.  If you are a steak person from Texas, I expect you would too.  Not terrible but it's not the level of excellent steak houses IMHO.

[southernbreezes]

19 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

I do agree with making reservations and then cancelling. Reservations can be hard to come by once on board. 

Yes, they are hard to come by once on board...this is why you make them months before. I love  Luminae but have 4 specialties booked Eden twice. I have no idea what night is Chic and if it falls on the night of one of my specialty bookings I may cancel if I do not like Eden the first night I will cancel the second.