Polaris Dining & MVJ

[MSEm]

We are scheduled for the Great Lakes Duluth to Toronto beginning Sept 12, 2023.

MVJ shows we may book Manfredi's and The Restaurant.  How small is The Restaurant. How many people can it seat? Are we still having to make a reservation to dine in The Restaurant?

Thank for any info on the dining on Polaris.

[Frenchberet]

Hi, the Main Dining Room on Octantis (Antarctica) had seating for about 100 people, so Polaris would be the same.  We were required to make reservations, either in person or via the app.  No problem getting additional reservations.
 

Many people opted to eat at the World Cafe.  On the expedition ships the World Cafe was redesigned to include the Grill.  We don’t normally have dinner at the WC on ocean but on expedition it’s really a different experience.  We enjoyed many of our dinners there with made to order steaks, lobster, and burgers.  There is also a huge sushi area if that’s of interest.  Don’t forget Manfredi’s and Mamsen’s.  Plenty of great choices!  
 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

[azdrydock]

2 hours ago, Frenchberet said:

Hi, the Main Dining Room on Octantis (Antarctica) had seating for about 100 people, so Polaris would be the same.  We were required to make reservations, either in person or via the app.  No problem getting additional reservations.
 

Many people opted to eat at the World Cafe.  On the expedition ships the World Cafe was redesigned to include the Grill.  We don’t normally have dinner at the WC on ocean but on expedition it’s really a different experience.  We enjoyed many of our dinners there with made to order steaks, lobster, and burgers.  There is also a huge sushi area if that’s of interest.  Don’t forget Manfredi’s and Mamsen’s.  Plenty of great choices!  
 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

How easy is it to find a table in the Grill at peak times? World Cafe gets pretty crowded on the ocean ships.

[Frenchberet]

2 hours ago, azdrydock said:

How easy is it to find a table in the Grill at peak times? World Cafe gets pretty crowded on the ocean ships.

Very easy!  We never had a problem finding a table.  I'd guess the World Cafe (including the Grill, Aquavit Terrace, and sushi area) will seat 250+ guests.  The tables are scattered so you're not sitting on top of each other. 

 

We did the Antarctica Explorer - out of 11 nights at sea, we had dinner in the Restaurant twice, Manfredi's 3 times, room service once, and at the World Cafe the other nights.  We were busy with excursions most days so it was nice to not have a set reservation time.  

[MSEm]

Thank you for the info on the Dining Room size. We are on the Great Lakes cruise.  Most of the days the ship will leave port by  pm.  We will probably eat most of the dinners in the Dining Room.  I really enjoy having the evening meal served.

[Knotagain68]

21 hours ago, MSEm said:

  I really enjoy having the evening meal served.

I feel that way too, but I hear so much positive about the World Cafe on these ships that I will have to see. Having only been on Viking river cruises, this will be a whole new experience.

[ropomo]

On Polaris now for Toronto to Duluth. World Cafe is very large, I'd guess half of deck 5. No problem finding seats and not be on top of each other. The Grill is part of the World Cafe.

[MSEm]

ropomo,

Thanks for the info on the World Cafe.

Please post about the excursions.  The Pros and Cons for the shore trips.

We are looking forward to our Sept 12, 2023 cruise Duluth to Toronto.

[ShopperfiendTO]

On 6/16/2023 at 11:03 PM, Frenchberet said:

Very easy!  We never had a problem finding a table.  I'd guess the World Cafe (including the Grill, Aquavit Terrace, and sushi area) will seat 250+ guests.  The tables are scattered so you're not sitting on top of each other. 

 

We did the Antarctica Explorer - out of 11 nights at sea, we had dinner in the Restaurant twice, Manfredi's 3 times, room service once, and at the World Cafe the other nights.  We were busy with excursions most days so it was nice to not have a set reservation time.  

 

Could you let us know what the set-up is for lunch and dinner at the Restaurant and Manfredi (and any other "sit-down table service" restaurant, e.g., Mamsen?)?  Are they buffet or menu for lunch?  How is the quality of the food in Antarctica?

 

Also, do you recall how many landings there are a day in Antarctica?  Is it one or two, not sure because the size is 400 pax which is getting up there for landing logistics in that region...

Edited June 19, 2023 by ShopperfiendTO

[Frenchberet]

2 hours ago, ShopperfiendTO said:

 

Could you let us know what the set-up is for lunch and dinner at the Restaurant and Manfredi (and any other "sit-down table service" restaurant, e.g., Mamsen?)?  Are they buffet or menu for lunch?  How is the quality of the food in Antarctica?

 

Also, do you recall how many landings there are a day in Antarctica?  Is it one or two, not sure because the size is 400 pax which is getting up there for landing logistics in that region...

On the expedition ship (Octantis) we had breakfast and lunch every day at the World Cafe.  The WC is a buffet and, as mentioned previously, includes the Grill, Aquavit Terrance, and sushi area.  At the Grill you place your order and either wait a minute or a server may bring it to you.  Mamsen’s is open for breakfast and  lunch but it is also a buffet and has limited hours (excellent pea soup).  I think the Restaurant and Manfredi’s were only open for dinner.  The menus for both the Restaurant and Manfredi’s were the same as on the ocean ships.  Room service was always available.  We were very happy with the quality of the food and there was never a shortage of anything.
 

There were multiple landings throughout the day.  We signed up for the activities we were interested in (zodiac, special ops, sub, kayak) and received an assigned time to be dressed and down in the launch area.  We were able to do everything we wanted to do.  There were also waiting lists to sign up for additional activities and, if a slot became available (someone cancelled or didn’t show up), they’d let you know.  We loved our Antarctic adventure and would do it again in a minute!

[ShopperfiendTO]

21 hours ago, Frenchberet said:

On the expedition ship (Octantis) we had breakfast and lunch every day at the World Cafe.  The WC is a buffet and, as mentioned previously, includes the Grill, Aquavit Terrance, and sushi area.  At the Grill you place your order and either wait a minute or a server may bring it to you.  Mamsen’s is open for breakfast and  lunch but it is also a buffet and has limited hours (excellent pea soup).  I think the Restaurant and Manfredi’s were only open for dinner.  The menus for both the Restaurant and Manfredi’s were the same as on the ocean ships.  Room service was always available.  We were very happy with the quality of the food and there was never a shortage of anything.

 

Thanks very much for the information.  So to confirm, lunch is buffet only (the World Cafe Frill aside)?

[Frenchberet]

4 hours ago, ShopperfiendTO said:

 

Thanks very much for the information.  So to confirm, lunch is buffet only (the World Cafe Frill aside)?

Info from Viking Daily

 

[ropomo]

On 6/19/2023 at 4:15 PM, MSEm said:

ropomo,

Thanks for the info on the World Cafe.

Please post about the excursions.  The Pros and Cons for the shore trips.

We are looking forward to our Sept 12, 2023 cruise Duluth to Toronto.

 

See post #131 and beyond on this thread

 

On 6/19/2023 at 4:15 PM, MSEm said:

ropomo,

Thanks for the info on the World Cafe.

Please post about the excursions.  The Pros and Cons for the shore trips.

We are looking forward to our Sept 12, 2023 cruise Duluth to Toronto.

 

[ropomo]

I would also NOT recommend the Wine, Cheese and Beer excursion in Algoma. It's an optional excursion that we paid $59 pp. It is a walking tour. The winery is about 150 yards from the security checkpoint at the pier. The beer is about 2 blocks from there. The wines were all very sweet and not to our palate. The winery tour consisted of walking past some fermentation tanks and an in-depth discussion of their custom-built bottling machine followed by a look at the tunnels where they age their wine. There were about four stops along the way to get a taste of a different wine. The beer/cheese was in a converted service station where you sit with the group and are served a tray with 4 different beers (about 2 oz each) and 4 cheeses that are paired with the beer. Two of the beers were extremely sweet (cherry and chocolate flavored) and I couldn't drink more than a sip of each. The other two were ok. I don't think they produce the beer there. If you wanted to do this you could probably just merge in with the group at the pier and tag along for free.

[ropomo]

The included Frazer Bay Okeechobee trail hike was very enjoyable (not to be confused with the peak hike). It was about 2 miles round trip along the shoreline that included scrambling/climbing over some boulders (some climbs were 20-30 ft elevation change). It might not be practical for someone with mobility challenges, although there were some in our group on a cane and managed with support/help from significant other. Viking classifies this excursion as demanding, but I would put it at moderate if you don't have an issue with the scrambling. It is a round trip hike so if you don't feel you can continue, you can either return to the dock (the trail is extremely well marked and no chance of getting lost) or wait for the group to return. The views from the top of some of the rock outcrops were very good with the hike turn around point providing a very nice view of the ship and surrounding coastline. Shoes with good traction on rocks are highly recommended. Upon returning to the dock/lodge Viking had an outdoor lunch set up with music, burgers and lobster rolls along with beer, wine and soft drinks that was very nice. If interested in the lunch, it was open to anyone on board by taking a zodiac to the lodge. Frazer Bay is not really a tender stop. You can only go ashore by zodiac.

[MSEm]

Thank you for posting about the above tours.  Think we will pass on the wine/beer/cheese tour.

We do not like sweet wines nor flavored beers.  Maybe we will pass a quick store selling some local beers or cheeses.