Favourite times for specialty dining?

[snowlight]

Sounds like many of you have a routine for specialty dining on HAL.

 

My ship only has Cannaletto and Pinnacle Grill. The trip is two weeks with six sea days.

 

I was wondering if you have any tips on when/what day to book reservations at the two restaurants? (ie embarkation day for dinner, sea day for lunch). Tell me about your routines 🙂

 

We thought we might go for 4-5 meals between lunches and dinners.

 

Thanks!

[Cruise Suzy]

Canaletto is not open for lunch. Pinnacle Grill is only open for lunch on Sea Days. Lunch can only be booked onboard.

 

DH doesn't especially care to wear a tie more than necessary, so we tend to book specialty dining on the "dressy" nights. (Yes, we know that only a collared shirt is required on those evenings.) Otherwise, he would wear a shirt and tie on "dressy" nights AND the nights we dine in the specialty restaurants.

[HELENPSL]

If there’s a Tamarind on the ship we always book for our first nite.  Gives the dining room a chance to settle down for those boarding for the first time.  After that we try to do specialty restaurants on sea days except gala nights.  We know 1st gala nite is usually the first sea day.  After that it’s a roll of the dice.

Helen

[DaveOKC]

15 hours ago, HELENPSL said:

If there’s a Tamarind on the ship we always book for our first nite.  Gives the dining room a chance to settle down for those boarding for the first time.  After that we try to do specialty restaurants on sea days except gala nights.  We know 1st gala nite is usually the first sea day.  After that it’s a roll of the dice.

Helen

Exactly what we do and why.  Tamarind is a good choice for the first night as many people are not even aware of it as of yet and thus it is not usually very busy.  

We like Tamarind on departure as well as evenings where we have a later leaving the port time as sometimes the views of the area can be very nice and being high up on the ship enhances it.

We also avoid doing specialty dining on Gala/Dressy nights due to the better than normal MDR menus on those evenings.

[Florida_gal_50]

23 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

Canaletto is not open for lunch. Pinnacle Grill is only open for lunch on Sea Days. Lunch can only be booked onboard.

 

DH doesn't especially care to wear a tie more than necessary, so we tend to book specialty dining on the "dressy" nights. (Yes, we know that only a collared shirt is required on those evenings.) Otherwise, he would wear a shirt and tie on "dressy" nights AND the nights we dine in the specialty restaurants.

He really never needs to wear a tie.  From what I've seen on some cruises pj's, short and slippers all seem to be acceptable on some ships.

[Cruise Suzy]

6 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

He really never needs to wear a tie. 

As I said, we are aware of the minimum requirements. However, we are among those who still feel more comfortable doing a bit more. 

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

As I said, we are aware of the minimum requirements. However, we are among those who still feel more comfortable doing a bit more. 

I just don’t understand doing something you don’t enjoy if you don’t have to.  I don’t dress like I’m taking out the garbage but I like to look decent. 

[cbr663]

We tend to visit speciality restaurants on dressy nights.  We don't find dressy nights very inspiring so we like to "up" the evening by visiting the specialities.

[oakridger]

On 6/22/2023 at 12:19 PM, snowlight said:

My ship only has Cannaletto and Pinnacle Grill

 

OP said their ship does not have Tamarind.

 

 

~Nancy

[POA1]

Based on looking at which times sell out first, I'd think 7:00 pm is the most popular time.

[alwaysfrantic]

I can’t even get HAL to offer the right nights for dining.  They are selling reservations for 7 nights, but nights 2-8.  I can book dinner for disembarkation day, but not the first night.  

[rodndonna]

We treat our "speciality" dinners like  cruise "night  outs"  .. so dress similarly to our Gala night  (sometimes even the same .. hope nobody notices!).  We even get a pre dinner drink somewhere different than our usual pre-dinner drink location, so the night just feels different.

 

We don't tend to book in advance as we like to feel out what night would work best after being on board. We don't mind eating later so typically not an issue to delay booking until being on board for us. 

[shipshape sam]

We tend to book on non event nights.  For example we like escargots and they seem to be served only on Gala nights in MDR and not on other nights.  After that, depending on ship and length of cruise, we do book early if after going over our itinerary we think a specific future night would be a good fit.  We too have called and changed our day and time if events have changed.  

 

 Everyone at the speciality restaurants have always worked with us (within their constraints on seating and service levels). 

[moscow123456]

On 6/23/2023 at 8:50 AM, DaveOKC said:

We like Tamarind on departure as well as evenings where we have a later leaving the port time as sometimes the views of the area can be very nice and being high up on the ship enhances it.

 

This was our recent experience on the Rotterdam.  We had an early reservation at Tamarind on the night we were leaving Geiranger.  It was not intentional. It was the only time they had available because we left making the reservation until late.  (It was our second time dining at Tamarind on our cruise since we had enjoyed it so much on embarkation night.)  We were seated in a banquette facing the large window out the back of the ship.  The views of Seven Sisters and the Bridal Veil as we left Geiranger were absolutely breathtaking!  

[albingirl]

On 6/23/2023 at 5:02 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

I just don’t understand doing something you don’t enjoy if you don’t have to.  I don’t dress like I’m taking out the garbage but I like to look decent. 

I dress up to take out the garbage where I  live. It's the peer pressure. But, then I  am ready for dinner later on. It's a win win.

[Florida_gal_50]

9 minutes ago, albingirl said:

I dress up to take out the garbage where I  live. It's the peer pressure. But, then I  am ready for dinner later on. It's a win win.

I will not take out my garbage in shorts.  Always change into long pants. I’m weird that way.  I feel like there is a time and place for everything and wearing what you sleep in shouldn’t be what you go outside your cabin in 😛🤪😉.

[Haljo1935]

On 7/3/2023 at 4:07 AM, alwaysfrantic said:

I can’t even get HAL to offer the right nights for dining.  They are selling reservations for 7 nights, but nights 2-8.  I can book dinner for disembarkation day, but not the first night.  

Highly recommend calling in to make your reservation. 

[Haljo1935]

16 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I will not take out my garbage in shorts.  Always change into long pants. I’m weird that way.  I feel like there is a time and place for everything and wearing what you sleep in shouldn’t be what you go outside your cabin in 😛🤪😉.

I avoid taking out the garbage at almost all costs - let DH do it and don't care what he wears, lol. If the neighbors don't like it, they don't have to look.🫣

Now as for getting my first cup of Joe during a cruise, I'm pulling on a pair of pants or slipping on a sundress, whichever is closest.

17 hours ago, albingirl said:

I dress up to take out the garbage where I  live. It's the peer pressure. But, then I  am ready for dinner later on. It's a win win.

Kindly refer you to my comment above about husband taking out trash - that's a win win for me, lol.🤭

[alwaysfrantic]

17 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Highly recommend calling in to make your reservation. 

It’s just an across the board issue with my particular cruise.  Online or phone they say dining isn’t open on the 2nd(embarkation) but is on the 9th (debarkation) 

 

But the prime hours on the 9th are full so there will be disappointed folks onboard thinking they booked for the last night but they are actually back home at reservation time. 

[Haljo1935]

53 minutes ago, alwaysfrantic said:

It’s just an across the board issue with my particular cruise.  Online or phone they say dining isn’t open on the 2nd(embarkation) but is on the 9th (debarkation) 

 

But the prime hours on the 9th are full so there will be disappointed folks onboard thinking they booked for the last night but they are actually back home at reservation time. 

Sorry, truly.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

I avoid taking out the garbage at almost all costs - let DH do it and don't care what he wears, lol. If the neighbors don't like it, they don't have to look.🫣

Now as for getting my first cup of Joe during a cruise, I'm pulling on a pair of pants or slipping on a sundress, whichever is closest.

Kindly refer you to my comment above about husband taking out trash - that's a win win for me, lol.🤭

That's the only part I miss about being married 😉.

[vbecky]

does anyone happen to have any pictures of the dining room dinner menus? Trying to decide when to book specialty dining and not sure what the selections are on the different nights? thanks

[Florida_gal_50]

23 minutes ago, vbecky said:

does anyone happen to have any pictures of the dining room dinner menus? Trying to decide when to book specialty dining and not sure what the selections are on the different nights? thanks

It’s going to vary by region but Roger Jett has lots of info on his site including menus for Alaska.  See the link below 

 

https://rogerjett-photography.com

[Crew News]

26 minutes ago, vbecky said:

does anyone happen to have any pictures of the dining room dinner menus? Trying to decide when to book specialty dining and not sure what the selections are on the different nights? thanks

Here is a link to the Alaska 7-Day MDR menus for 2023 season:

 

Alaska 7-Day 2023 MDR Menus