Speciality restaurants on the Splendor.

[Dolebludger]

Have never been on the Splendor, and am not specifically aware of specialty restaurants in it. Have a cruise on it in March and understand I need to select them next month (December). What are their names, what do they offer, and are any “must go” or “don’t go?

[Qld13]

You will love Splendor, we were on it last Jan/Feb. Specialty restaurants are Prime 7 (Steakhouse) Chartreuse (French) and Pacific Rim (Asian) you need reservations for all. All are very good so just depends on whether you like the style of food they offer. The other "specialty" is Sette Mari which is Italian and works on a first come basis, it is one side of La Veranda. The main dining room is Compass Rose and that is also very good.

[flossie009]

There are sample menus for each of the restaurants on the Regent website

 

[jeb_bud]

Your best resource might be your wife and daughter. The main difference between Splendor and Explorer dining is the sculpture at the entrance to Pacific Rim. If they are in all the restaurants on their Alaska cruise last year they also had the Splendor experience. 

[TheRampantSnail]

On 11/24/2023 at 4:48 AM, Dolebludger said:

Have never been on the Splendor, and am not specifically aware of specialty restaurants in it. Have a cruise on it in March and understand I need to select them next month (December). What are their names, what do they offer, and are any “must go” or “don’t go?

For what it is worth, here are my thoughts on the Splendor speciality restaurants. Others will probably not agree with me, but they are based on our last two cruises on Splendor.

Prime 7 on Splendor is a lovely restaurant. We particularly enjoyed the tables for two by the windows - especially when open at lunch time, as it was on many days on our cruises. Service was always excellent as was the food.

Chartreuse was also excellent in terms of food and service (although the latter was a little over the top on some occasions. The only aspect we did not like were the two horseshoe banquettes - we found them very uncomfortable - but there are plenty of other tables.

Contrary to most others, we did not enjoy Pacific Rim. On the first cruise service was perfunctory and rushed - our main courses were served immediately after the starter dishes were removed. We also had to wait a long while before any wine was served. The soft shell crab was excellent, but the dim sum were tasteless. For our main courses, my wife's fish was so overcooked as to be dry and tasteless; my duck was overcooked to the point of being inedible. Staff seemed to be hiding so we could not summon anyone to point out what was wrong. We got up and left. (I did notice a poster elsewhere commenting that they had observed a couple leaving a meal uneaten and being chased by staff to find out what was wrong - that certainly didn't happen in our case). We did try Pacific Rim again on the second cruise. Service was still sub-par and, although not a repeat of the previous disaster, we did not find the food to be anything special.

As has been said above, those three restaurants have to be booked.

Sette Marie does not have to be booked - and we wish that were the case. If you don't join the 6:30 crush and prefer to eat a little later, you may well find you cannot get a table until after 8. (Perhaps that is not such a bad thing, as when we could not get in to Sette Marie we were offered a table in Prime 7 or Chatreuse). When we did get to eat there, service was good and he food good, but not excellent.

As I said, those are our experiences and observations. Make of them what you will.

[pappy1022]

We were on Splendor in September and got to eat at Prime 7 twice, Pacific Rim twice, Chartreuse once, Sette Marie twice with the remaining nights at Compass Rose. My favorite was Pacific Rim and surprisingly we had better steak and lobster in Compass Rose than we did in Prime 7. I thought that overall the service and food was inconsistent, 3 times sending back food that was not cooked to specifications and/or just not up to standards, specifically the lobster. It was over cooked and rubbery. Overall the food was very good but we had some blips in both quality and service.

[2SailingNomads]

We had a terrible first experience at Chartreuse - worst table possible, food not so good, service poor.  Decided to give it another go and it was the total opposite, so much that we went back with a couple we befriended staying in a named suite and got us all in.  Prime 7 was always good, and really liked lunch there Pacific Rim was probably our favorite but agree that food sometimes came out too fast.  Compass Rose first time we sat and sat and sat waiting for some water and wine.   Food was good.  Rest of the times service was decent.    

[pappy1022]

I had similar experiences at multiple restaurants where the service and food was great one day and not so much another day. The inconsistency is something that Regent needs to work on.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We enjoyed all of them, Sette Mare least of all. I think this was a post-covid  staffing/provisioning issue. Surprisingly, I liked Pacific Rim best. It all comes down to service that night, and what menu choices you make. 

[Dolebludger]

Thanks, all, Your advice will be a great help in our scheduling. On our last cruise cruise in the Explorer/Alaska our grand daughter (age 12) was with us and took every chance to dine at Prime 7, where she ordered New York strip steak, and ate it all! She is a rather tall, slim young woman. Surprisingly, she still is slim. And I loved Prime 7 too.  since I posted this, I have reviewed “sample menus” for Chartreuse and Sette Marie and couldn’t see much there that I wanted to eat. Actually, I didn’t eat in those on the Explorer for that reason. So our choices may be easy. Book all we can in Prime 7 and go to Compass Rose the other evenings. Can’t really go very far wrong on these ships.

[Fairgarth]

On 11/23/2023 at 8:48 PM, Dolebludger said:

Have never been on the Splendor, and am not specifically aware of specialty restaurants in it. Have a cruise on it in March and understand I need to select them next month (December). What are their names, what do they offer, and are any “must go” or “don’t go?

 

Good luck with that one.  On a ten day cruise we could not get any specialty reservations so cannot offer an opinion on any of them.  We were offered 8:30pm at Chartreuse but did not want to finish eating at 10:00pm.

[Dolebludger]

Yes, I don’t fully understand the method Regent uses to accept (or not) requests for reservations at speciality restaurants. It needs to be more transparent IMHO. On our last Regent cruise, however, we found it fairly easy to get in to them without reservations on the first few days of the cruise. I normally really dislike MDRs on larger ships, but have really liked the Compass Rose on all of our past Regent cruises (too many to count, but we are Gold SSS members). So if we end up eating in the CR, I won’t be too upset. But if anybody has info on Regent’s selection system for taking reservations for specialty restaurants, I’d like to know about it.

[wcsdkqh]

Not sure I understand your question. The earlier you make your reservation(s), the more likely you are to get the date and time requested. It ain't rocket science.

[Speedbird178]

I saw somewhere that aboard Splendor the ease with which specialty restaurant reservations can be made depends on grade of stateroom, and that a maximum quota is applied (eg lowest grade stateroom may only have one reservation in Chartreuse per 7-days).  Anyone know anything about this?

[flossie009]

As far as I am aware it is a simple matter of supply & demand.

Longer cruises will have more availability.

Guests flexibility on dates/times and/or willingness to share will affect what is available to them.

With reservations on-line prior to the cruise (one reservation per speciality restaurant per cruise segment) earlier bookings will obviously have more choice available.

 

[Bruce61]

1 hour ago, Speedbird178 said:

I saw somewhere that aboard Splendor the ease with which specialty restaurant reservations can be made depends on grade of stateroom, and that a maximum quota is applied (eg lowest grade stateroom may only have one reservation in Chartreuse per 7-days).  Anyone know anything about this?

There are four master suites and six grand suites (plus the Regent with its own dining room) who can eat every night where they want.  That is roughly 20 people spread out in three specialty restaurants - a very small number - who could have a real advantage.  All other suites can make one advance restaurant reservation per restaurant per cruise segment.  That is three nights on a cruise.  Additional space based upon availability can be sought on board.  As Flossie009 said, there are far more chances to get additional seatings on longer ships for this very reason.

 

Now, Concierge Suites and higher, as well as certain frequent cruisers with a number of nights under their belts have 15 days' advantage over other guests (90 days in advance instead of 75) to make their reservations.  Still, if one does not procrastinate, there should be available seatings just maybe not the night or time you really wanted.

 

[irishwitchy]

Our last trio of cruises have been around 17 days each and we had no issue getting additional reservations.  We will be gold on the next cruise and we have been in a concierge suite.  I will mention we normally order a bottle of wine and that may help with us getting into a restaurant sometimes and we prefer to eat late.  

[Dolebludger]

As we understand it, we can make those reservations on Dec. 24 for a cruise embarking on March 24. We are booked  in a concierge suite and are SSS level gold. I will tell all what we ended up with. But this matter is not a deal breaker or deal maker for us. Because actually, we have been advised that we can only sign up for each one for one night — meaning three nights of specialty dining on a seven night cruise. But the thing is, the only specialty menu that appeals to me is that of Prime 7 and from our Explorer cruise last June, it seems that one can order from the Prime 7 menu in the Compass Rose. I don’t know about ordering  from the other specialty restaurants in the CR. But the CR on Explorer class ships is certainly good enough for us. It may actually be preferable, because it is not dining at a set time. Within set hours, one just walks in and is seated and served. We like that. ,

[flossie009]

6 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

it seems that one can order from the Prime 7 menu in the Compass Rose. I don’t know about ordering  from the other specialty restaurants in the CR.

I have never heard of that facility being available.

However, the Compass Rose menu is very extensive with the popular “always available” dishes plus daily specials.

 

[Speedbird178]

Very helpful.  Thanks everyone.

[Dolebludger]

10 hours ago, flossie009 said:

I have never heard of that facility being available.

However, the Compass Rose menu is very extensive with the popular “always available” dishes plus daily specials.

 

What I mean is that we found all of the steaks offered by Prime 7 on the Compass Rose menu on our cruise. That being the case, it was more convenient for us to go to the CR due to flexible timing.

[pappy1022]

And I found the steaks and lobsters in CR to be superior to Prime 7. That wasn’t my expectation but it was true multiple visits to each. 

[Whinenowine]

15 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

And I found the steaks and lobsters in CR to be superior to Prime 7. That wasn’t my expectation but it was true multiple visits to each. 

Interesting...I wouldn't have expected that either.

[Bruce61]

11 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

Interesting...I wouldn't have expected that either.

 

As others have said here, experiences may differ.   I had a really good steak in Prime 7 and a very overcooked fatty steak in Compass Rose.  I just was full from appetizers so I did not bother to send it back.  And what was served in CR and even in Prime 7 for lunch did not seem like the same aged beef they served at dinner, which was much better in look, flavor and especially how it was cooked,   The escargot in CR was traditional ins style and different (maybe better) than in Chartruse.  The duck in Pacific Rim was better than in CR.  

 

Again, these comparisons do not negate the other good experiences on board.   We had great meals in Chartreuse (one dinner and two lunches) and had a very good dinner in Pacific Rim.  My only regret was we could not get a second reservation to go back to any of the specialty restaurants for dinner.  

Edited December 6, 2023 by Bruce61

[pappy1022]

The difference was more about the preparation than the meat/seafood quality. Both times in Prime 7 the lobster was rubbery both visits and the steaks were not prepared as ordered. My wife ordered medium and it came out rare. Yes, we did send it back but when you are dining with 6 people it takes away from the enjoyment of dining together when everyone has their food except 1 person.