Embarkation Lunch

[ChanaC]

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

We always go to the MDR for embarkation lunch or Alfredo’s.  The buffet is such chaos the first day and you literally wander around and around holding your plate to find a seat and your food gets cold.  No thank you!  We like our first day to be relaxing and comfortable.  The food is so much nicer in the MDR, too.  So many people walk by Alfredo’s not realizing it’s complimentary dining.  Don’t tell! lol

On some of the newest ships Alfredo’s is renamed Gigi’s.

 

I'm surprised, I would think Alfredo's/Gigi's would be busy! We're sailing on the Discovery which has Gigi's, and I heard it often gets busy for lunch, so maybe embarkation would be a good time to try it out (especially if we are able to get on the ship early). Hopefully the weather is good and we can snag an outdoor table too!

[JimmyVWine]

47 minutes ago, ChanaC said:

 

I'm surprised, I would think Alfredo's/Gigi's would be busy! We're sailing on the Discovery which has Gigi's, and I heard it often gets busy for lunch, so maybe embarkation would be a good time to try it out (especially if we are able to get on the ship early). Hopefully the weather is good and we can snag an outdoor table too!

It depends when you board.  Many people who post here regularly are P/E/S (Platinum/Elite/Suite) and board as early as possible.  (Guilty as charged, so not casting aspersions!)  To them, Alfredo's/Gigi's is usually "walk right in".  But obviously, people who board two hours later are going to encounter an entirely different scenario.  In other words, both statements can be true: "Alfredo's is always empty for lunch" and "When I arrived at Gigi's, there was a 30 minute wait."

[ChanaC]

2 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

It depends when you board.  Many people who post here regularly are P/E/S (Platinum/Elite/Suite) and board as early as possible.  (Guilty as charged, so not casting aspersions!)  To them, Alfredo's/Gigi's is usually "walk right in".  But obviously, people who board two hours later are going to encounter an entirely different scenario.  In other words, both statements can be true: "Alfredo's is always empty for lunch" and "When I arrived at Gigi's, there was a 30 minute wait."

Thank you, that's a good point. This is our first Princess sailing, and we don't have a suite, so we'll not be part of that group. And I know we also have to do the muster stuff first before sitting down to eat (not that it takes very long from what I can tell). Still, it might be worth checking out! Personally I think the MDR lunch option, at least the one posted earlier in the thread, looks a little boring so this seems like more fun. And depending on how early we board we might not be hungry enough to immediately want to eat so the wait might not be too bad. Do you have to stand in the area while waiting, or do you get some kind of pager, or a notification on your phone? If we have a wait and can walk around, at least we could explore the ship a little. 

[Mike45LC]

10 minutes ago, ChanaC said:

I know we also have to do the muster stuff first before sitting down to eat (not that it takes very long from what I can tell). 

I do the muster stuff after lunch.  

[JimmyVWine]

6 minutes ago, ChanaC said:

And I know we also have to do the muster stuff first before sitting down to eat (not that it takes very long from what I can tell).

 

Keep in mind that you have a fair amount of time to complete this task.  Usually by 4:00. And even then there is extra time built in for the scofflaws!   And you will do it in your cabin using your TV.  It is very possible that your cabin may not even be available to you when you board, so don't assume that you will watch the safety video right away (depending on when you board.)  Quite often, people head out for lunch before they even access their cabin for the first time.

 

6 minutes ago, ChanaC said:

Do you have to stand in the area while waiting, or do you get some kind of pager, or a notification on your phone?

Last time we dined at Alfredo's (on a Sea Day, not on embarkation day), there was a wait and we were not given a pager.  They took down my name and said that we would be contacted when a table opened up.  I assumed that we might get a text. But after roaming around the shops a bit, we saw that some tables had opened up so we headed back over to check on the status and at that time we were seated straight away.  So I really have no idea how they were planning to let us know that our table was ready.  Based on that, I wouldn't wander too terribly far away if they tell you "10-15 minutes" which could really be 5 or 10.

[DCwom]

6 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

We always go to the MDR for embarkation lunch or Alfredo’s.... So many people walk by Alfredo’s not realizing it’s complimentary dining.  Don’t tell! lol

On some of the newest ships Alfredo’s is renamed Gigi’s.

I had only heard about 1 MDR being open for lunch on embarkation day, this is interesting. I assume Alfredo’s/Gigi’s would serve an Italian fare for lunch?

[JimmyVWine]

2 minutes ago, DCwom said:

I had only heard about 1 MDR being open for lunch on embarkation day, this is interesting. I assume Alfredo’s/Gigi’s would serve an Italian fare for lunch?

It's a limited menu, depending on the ship. It's not a full-blown Italian restaurant.  Salad, pizzas and a couple of small pasta dishes.  On our most recent cruise the host was telling people who walked up on Embarkation Day that they were serving "only pizza" even though we were on a ship with an expanded menu.  We asked our server if it was true that we could not get a couple orders of agnolotti and he said: "Of course you can!"  🤷‍♂️

[NIkkiGR]

17 hours ago, Kolleen said:

Maybe we will see you there. We much prefer the MDR to the buffet.

 

Rhonda

I absolutely agree. Hoping to get on before it closes at 1:30

[CruizinSusan70]

7 hours ago, ChanaC said:

 

I'm surprised, I would think Alfredo's/Gigi's would be busy! We're sailing on the Discovery which has Gigi's, and I heard it often gets busy for lunch, so maybe embarkation would be a good time to try it out (especially if we are able to get on the ship early). Hopefully the weather is good and we can snag an outdoor table too!

We spent 14 days on the Discovery last April and Gigi's was always very busy for lunch.  If you get on the ship early, I would recommend it for embarkation day.