Casual dining

[Freckles1983]

In the princess plus package it includes two casual dining meals that are prix fixe.  What does this mean?  What restaurants can you use it at and what does it include?  

[doghog]

45 minutes ago, Freckles1983 said:

In the princess plus package it includes two casual dining meals that are prix fixe.  What does this mean?  What restaurants can you use it at and what does it include?  

Set price. With the Plus package two meals are included at no additional charge per cruise. What ship? The casual dining restaurants will be different. 

Edited May 15 by doghog

[JamieLogical]

Which casual dining venues are available depends on the ship. Which ship are you looking to sail on?

[chrysalis]

 

[arizonaperson]

2 hours ago, Freckles1983 said:

In the princess plus package it includes two casual dining meals that are prix fixe.  What does this mean?  What restaurants can you use it at and what does it include?  

Emerald Princess?

Vines & Salty Dog pub

Maybe Steamers and Planks- pop ups??

Edited May 15 by arizonaperson

[arizonaperson]

[Freckles1983]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Which casual dining venues are available depends on the ship. Which ship are you looking to sail on?

 Sorry I should have mentioned that.  I’ll be sailing on the emerald princess 

[arizonaperson]

@Freckles1983 I posted the casual dining menus for you, that should be available on the Emerald Princess.

[TheMichael]

2 hours ago, Freckles1983 said:

 Sorry I should have mentioned that.  I’ll be sailing on the emerald princess 

 

I'd recommend using them on Planks and Steamers. We loved them both. (they're "pop-ups" at the back of the buffet - check the schedule to see which is open on which days). In my experience the Salty Dog Gastropub is kind of meh. Unfortunately the Emerald doesn't have a Gigi's/Alfredo's pizza/pasta place, which we love on other ships.

 

Edited May 15 by TheMichael

[pepbcn28]

Are casual dining locations open for lunch on sea days ?

[Ellipooh]

I'm recently off the Emerald, and I was really unimpressed with the whole concept of Casual Dining.  Seemed like they were never open, and when they were open you needed to have a reservation, and when you finally got to eat there the menu was so limited ... What's casual and good about all of that??

 

Maybe I was doing it wrong

[arizonaperson]

24 minutes ago, pepbcn28 said:

Are casual dining locations open for lunch on sea days ?

Probably for accurate information you would need to look at the ship that you’re going on or potentially going on and see if somebody has posted the patters/event listings or mentioned it in one of their lives from. 
Some ships have more than 2 casual places,but average 2. So not much choice.

 

if you post the ship ( I think you might be on the Caribbean princess? )that you’re going on, maybe somebody can chime in & tell their experience of what was open for lunch on a sea day. I seem to have read somewhere that a venue was open on a sea day.

I believe the Caribbean princess only has vines and maybe a few pop-ups.

By the way, I don’t believe any of the casual places take a reservation, but maybe steamers and planks does?? Because they are pop ups.

Edited May 16 by arizonaperson

[memoak]

19 minutes ago, pepbcn28 said:

Are casual dining locations open for lunch on sea days ?

On Grand class ships I have never seen the Gastropub open for lunch at all only dinner and they do not take reservations 

[Ellipooh]

Interesting.  My experience with Salty Dog Gastropub (located inside Wheelhouse Bar irrc) on Emerald was that they definitely required reservations at dinner.

Edited May 16 by Ellipooh

[JamieLogical]

On Enchanted Princess last week, Ocean Terrace and O'Malley's were only open for lunch on sea days. GiGi's was open for lunch every day, including embarkation day.

[memoak]

22 minutes ago, Ellipooh said:

Interesting.  My experience with Salty Dog Gastropub (located inside Wheelhouse Bar irrc) on Emerald was that they definitely required reservations at dinner.

On the last 5 cruises there was not any reason for a reservation since you could have shot a cannon through the Gastropub and not hit anyone until the last night of each cruise

[skynight]

45 minutes ago, Ellipooh said:

I'm recently off the Emerald, and I was really unimpressed with the whole concept of Casual Dining.  Seemed like they were never open, and when they were open you needed to have a reservation, and when you finally got to eat there the menu was so limited ... What's casual and good about all of that??

 

Maybe I was doing it wrong

 

24 minutes ago, Ellipooh said:

Interesting.  My experience with Salty Dog Gastropub (located inside Wheelhouse Bar irrc) on Emerald was that they definitely required reservations at dinner.

Agree. I was on the Ruby, sister ship of the Emerald. I found the Gastropub to be just OK. You can basically get a burger which is just as tasty at the grill by the pool. I did not try Vines. I could put together a plate of veggies and cured meats the the buffet. No reservation was required at either location. Just walk in. Plenty of tables. In the Wheelhouse I heard the waiter ask if you wanted to sit at a table or in the lounge area. Princess needs to up their casual dining game on Grand Class ships. I did make this comment on the survey.

Edited May 16 by skynight

[memoak]

19 minutes ago, skynight said:

 

Agree. I was on the Ruby, sister ship of the Emerald. I found the Gastropub to be just OK. You can basically get a burger which is just as tasty at the grill by the pool. I did not try Vines. I could put together a plate of veggies and cured meats the the buffet. No reservation was required at either location. Just walk in. Plenty of tables. In the Wheelhouse I heard the waiter ask if you wanted to sit at a table or in the lounge area. Princess needs to up their casual dining game on Grand Class ships. I did make this comment on the survey.

The issue with these ship is that there really aren’t any other venues for casual dining unless they want to do pop up lunches as Alfredo’s in Sabatini’s which I have seen on the Coral or pop ups in the buffet area

[jeromep]

I'm sorry, the whole "casual dining" thing feels so much like a cash grab.  This seems to be the new Princess M.O.

 

Was on the Discovery last July and had pizza at GiGi's one afternoon.  It was always busy there and you almost always had to be given a pager and wait to be seated.  At the time it was included in your cruise fare.  And based on what we were served, that was justifiable.

 

So here are my complaints.  Location feels cramped and is very loud.  There is a lot of foot traffic outside, and if you are seated on the outside divider you get the "noise" of the Piazza along with lots of people milling by.  It is much nicer to be seated by the windows or middle of the venue or even up at the kitchen.  Would have rather been seated outside, but our itinerary wasn't such that they did that, potentially too cold or wet, but we were lucky and it was neither on our cruise.

 

I'm pretty familiar with Neapolitan pizza, have had a lot of different types of Neapolitan and wood fired pizzas in a lot of different eateries.  Some of it authentic, some of if inspired, some of it a far cry.  My impression of Gigi's is about middle of the road.  They are doing their best to be authentic, but the quantity of toppings feels too reserved, and the crust was a bit too dry and chewy for me.  I've had a lot of really great Neapolitan pizza that had just enough crust on the edge to hold the pizza by, and more than enough toppings for there to be lots of flavor.  I found what I ordered to be a lot of crust, some of pretty heavily burnt, and not enough toppings to give it a lot of flavor.

 

So, as an included dining option, it was perfectly passable for a sea day lunch, but it wasn't worth a cover charge to me.

 

Salty Dog was disappointing because it was never open for the type of meal I would have at a pub... lunch, maybe a mid day snack, pop in for a beer and a snack, late night beer and snack, 4th meal (al la Taco Bell).  There is no way I'd go to Salty Dog (or any other gastropub concept) for dinner on a cruise, that is the territory of the MDR and specialty venues.  The space sat unused most of the day on board, and when it was open was only lightly attended.  And this venue, unlike Gigi's did have a cover charge.  So if Princesses new M.O. is all about on board food sales, they really did miss an opportunity here by not having it open more.  I thought the Salty Dog menu looked good, but it isn't a dinner menu, it is a lunch/snack menu.

[pepbcn28]

On 5/16/2024 at 6:15 PM, arizonaperson said:

Probably for accurate information you would need to look at the ship that you’re going on or potentially going on and see if somebody has posted the patters/event listings or mentioned it in one of their lives from. 
Some ships have more than 2 casual places,but average 2. So not much choice.

 

if you post the ship ( I think you might be on the Caribbean princess? )that you’re going on, maybe somebody can chime in & tell their experience of what was open for lunch on a sea day. I seem to have read somewhere that a venue was open on a sea day.

I believe the Caribbean princess only has vines and maybe a few pop-ups.

By the way, I don’t believe any of the casual places take a reservation, but maybe steamers and planks does?? Because they are pop ups.

 

Thanks for your info! You are right... we will be on the Caribbean princess. I asked that because maybe we will have the premier package, so using our unlimited casual dining for lunch would be useful.

[candy4040]

A prix fixe (a French term meaning “fixed price”) is a menu that offers a full meal at a set rate. Typically, that means diners get three courses consisting of an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Diners choose from multiple options for each of the three courses, but the price remains the same no matter the selection.

 

On Princess ships diners choose from multiple options for each of the three courses, but the price remains the same no matter the selection.

[annmarz]

On our recent Caribbean Princess cruise, Steamers and Planks did take reservations, via the Dine Line only - not on the app or tv.  To the best of my recollection they were open only for dinner.  In Steamers my husband requested two appetizers and they didn't blink an eye.  The clincher is he never received the second one!  If you enjoy mussels you will love Steamers! It was a HUGE bowl.  The sauce with the bacon was the best!!! If you don't like steamed mussels or clams, there is a fried fish platter.

[doghog]

11 hours ago, annmarz said:

In Steamers my husband requested two appetizers and they didn't blink an eye.  The clincher is he never received the second one!  

Now that's funny. 🤣

Edited May 21 by doghog

[arizonaperson]

@pepbcn28

I don’t think there are many lunch options available on Caribbean Princess to use your casual dining for lunch. ( Vines? I don’t know if they’re open lunch hours or 4 PM on?)

Don’t base getting or having Premier package on that basis.

Perhaps a recent cruiser can inform from Caribbean Princess or maybe there is a live from?

 

[skynight]

3 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

@pepbcn28

I don’t think there are many lunch options available on Caribbean Princess to use your casual dining for lunch. ( Vines? I don’t know if they’re open lunch hours or 4 PM on?)

Don’t base getting or having Premier package on that basis.

Perhaps a recent cruiser can inform from Caribbean Princess or maybe there is a live from?

 

Agree, 100%. Don't believe there are any casual dining venues open for lunch. If any it would be Vines.