Anyone eat in specialty restaurants everynight?

[trackstarsmom]

Just wondering if anyone has ever heard of someone not going to the dining room?

[teajak]

Two friends of ours did. Our opinion, not that special, would add a lot of cost to the price of the cruise, love the dining room experience. Really can't think of any reason you would do that, JMHO.

[marci22]

I have heard of people doing that, or of eating in WJ every night.

[Nliedel]

Yes, people have posted here that they do that. At that point, why not sail Silversea or Seabourn?

[Don Pedro]

Just wondering if anyone has ever heard of someone not going to the dining room?

 

I'm sure that there are a few people who avoid the dining room completely, but that doesn't necessarily mean they eat every meal in a specialty restaurant.

 

We usually eat in the dining room on the first night of the cruise and on the first formal night. The first night, we inform the waitstaff and our tablemates that we often eat elsewhere and to start without us if we are not there when the clock strikes the magical dinner hour.

 

We usually eat in Chops one evening, but most evening we frequent the Windjammer for its more relaxed atmosphere and better food selection.

[mommabean]

Just wondering if anyone has ever heard of someone not going to the dining room?

 

Hi Sheri! I "know" somone who has eaten in a specialty restaurant every night. He thinks it's well worth it. What's another $20 a night each for such great food. It's nothing on top of the price of a RS! ;)

 

Every time we've eaten in a specialty restaurant we've had GREAT service and GREAT food. And like anywhere else on board, if you aren't happy with your selection, you can ask for something different.

 

Are you thinking of doing this? Where are you headed now?

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Hubby and I seldom (actually almost never) choose to eat in the dining room. I'll spell out our reasons again though I have done so many times in the past.

 

Let's take a typical seven-day cruise as an example. Typically, we would eat in Chops or Portofino twice, usually on frmal nights, and Windjammer or other "light restaurant" such as Prominade Cafe or Sorrento's Pizza the other five nights.

 

We like to eat when we want to eat. Neither of us likes the idea on vacation of having to report to the dining room within a specified time and that aslo includes having the theater show time specified to match the dining time.

 

Also we often have found early dining is too early and late dining is too late for our tastes. Included in that is the two hours it typically takes to eat in the dining room. Hubby is a restless kind of guy. It is torture for him to sit that long waiting for courses. He wants to eat and get going. For me, I have this chronic problem on cruises with swelling ankles and feet. If I sit two hours, when I go to get up I feel as if I am walking on balloons.

 

There really is no need to upgrade to Seabourn or Oceania to enjoy meals on a ship. We are very satisfied with the way we do things. We eat what we want, when we want, at the speed we want and have a great time. Royal Caribbean ships provide an excellent selection of dining choices.

 

Some nights we really don't eat dinner at all. We eat a late afternoon light snack and that is all we want.

 

I understand why so many pasengers do prefer the dining room experience. We are blessed to live in an area with many superb restuarants and we dine out often here, so I guess the dining room isn't that special for us. It is lovely and elegant, but for the reasons I have specified above, we just seem to do better choosing when and where we will dine.

[big al]

Two friends of ours did. Our opinion, not that special, would add a lot of cost to the price of the cruise, love the dining room experience. Really can't think of any reason you would do that, JMHO.

 

Simple-MANY people think the dining room food is mediocre(me,too..),and dining with 1500 other people is not attractive-not to mention the noise,"busyness",waiters running around..I have many clients who much prefer to dine in comfort,quiet,romantic surroundings,with much better quality food...my wife & I also enjoy the dining rooms,BUT we eat 2-3 times in Chops/Portifinos every cruise-well worth the $$$ IMO,AND you can dine at the time YOU want,and have a table(which we get 90% of the time) by the sea with a great view....WOW-who wouldn't want that????

 

Big Al

[Cruisegirl6]

Yes, I have on a 4 night cruise years ago. It got to be the same....same items/menu would never do it again. In fact, I really enjoy the atmosphere of the dining room as the pay restaurant got to boring also.

 

Another note, if you eat in the dining room by the second night your waiter gets to know what you like and you have things either there before you get to the table or very fast when you sit down such as iced tea and such, its more personable where the pay restaurant every night asked for iced tea and every night ordered an appetizer that I loved and asked for cuppuchino well I still had to ask for it as we had different waiters also.

[lpjpane]

We only ate in the dining room 2 nights of our 4 night cruise last year. We won't go to formal night - DH doesn't own a suit and won't buy one or rent a tux just for dinner. I didn't find the food that special when we did eat there. On our cruise in August, I'll check the daily menu to determine where I'll be eating that night. One formal night will definitely be spent at Portfinos.

[trackstarsmom]

Boy you know me all to well. Ha Ha!!! We are leaving Sunday on the Mariner. I e-mailed the concierge to request everyother night specialty restaurant reservations. I have not heard back from him yet. So I was just wondering if it was an unusual request. When we ate at Chops on the Enchantment we thought it was FABULOUS!!! And we thought why not eat her everynight?

 

Wish you were joining us on the Mariner!!!!!!!! OS this time. RS was booked:mad:

 

Sheri

[mommabean]

Boy you know me all to well. Ha Ha!!! We are leaving Sunday on the Mariner. I e-mailed the concierge to request everyother night specialty restaurant reservations. I have not heard back from him yet. So I was just wondering if it was an unusual request. When we ate at Chops on the Enchantment we thought it was FABULOUS!!! And we thought why not eat her everynight?

 

Wish you were joining us on the Mariner!!!!!!!! OS this time. RS was booked:mad:

 

Sheri

 

I wish I was going on a cruise soon, too. The Mariner would be a great one. The next 3 weekends are booked for me though. Tomorrow I fly to NOLA for a long weekend. The following weekend it's off to Colorado for a week. I can't get there by ship. :(

 

I think you can handle the downsizing. ;) I bet the OS is fabulous on such a nice ship.

 

Gina

[cruzobsessed]

we cruise with another family and they love the dining room and formal nights. my teen boys eat with them and my husband and i rarely eat with them.

on a 7 night cruise we will eat in a specialty restaurant at least twice and in the windjammer the other nights.

as heavy surf said.....early seating is too early and late seating is too late.

another thing.... while on vacation we want to get "dressed up" as infrequently as possible.

also, there is nothing like getting so full at portofinos and having the desert sampler sent to your room to have later with a cup of coffee on your balcony:D

[BILL-WI]

Just wondering if anyone has ever heard of someone not going to the dining room?

 

For our last three cruises, my DW and I have had every dinner in either Chops or Portofino. We have a light breakfast in the Concierge Lounge and lunch via room service or the Windjammer! I have not seen the inside of the main dinning room on my last three cruises...except to take photos!

The reason we do this…

Breakfast, we eat light and the CL is perfect for a quick light meal!

Lunch…we may eat at noon or three; we eat when we feel like it, not when we are supposed to.

Dinner…Chops and Portofino…AWESOME food…excellent service, food made to order and served HOT! The $50.00 I leave each night is nothing compared to the overall enjoyment and value we feel it adds to the cruise. By the way…the food it very rich, so we eat small portions…and jog, or walk at least three miles each day.

Works for us…different strokes for different folks…

BILL

[banderboo]

We didn't eat in the dining room on our last two cruises. Instead we did a combination of specialty resturants, murder mystery dinner, room service, lighter fare, and windjammer.

[trackstarsmom]

I am glad to hear that it is not an unusual request. I too would rather eat in peace and quiet.

[rsscaptain]

This was a great thread! I like all of the different replies. I plan to take advantage of all of the above. I'm glad there are so many choices as this will be 12 days. I do like variety.

[cruzobsessed]

part 2 of my previous post.....

even though we don't eat in the dining room....we still leave the required tip. my kids are there every night and i feel it is not fair to the waitstaff if i choose to eat elsewhere:)

[maxxboy]

We usually skip the dining room for one night of the cruise and eat at one of the speciality restaurants, but that's it. We enjoy the dining room experience and getting to know our table mates.

[mommabean]

part 2 of my previous post.....

even though we don't eat in the dining room....we still leave the required tip. my kids are there every night and i feel it is not fair to the waitstaff if i choose to eat elsewhere:)

 

Excellent point and agree completely.

 

Gina

[trackstarsmom]

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!! Eating at a specialty restaurant is a choice. Tipping in the dining room even if you never step foot in it is a MUST

[Don Pedro]

Although we rarely eat in the dining room we also tip the full amount as the dining room's waiters also work in the Windjammer.

[mbtaz]

When I cruise alone with my son (5) we never eat in the dining room. We always pre-pay tips, so that's not an issue. We will eat either room service or Windjammer. We don't need a scheduled time to eat dinner. Just us.

 

When my dh joins us (the rule, not exception, lol) we will do a specialty rest. on the night the kids club takes the kids to dinner.

[RareBird]

sailing on 5 day explorer we did only one night of 4 in portofinos, even though i'd really enjoy 2-3. unfortunately, EOS has no Chops, and Portofinos was booked quickly after boarding.

[Ms Understood]

"I e-mailed the concierge to request everyother night specialty restaurant reservations. I have not heard back from him yet."

 

I am on Voyager in Aug and we have a RFS. Will I hear from a concierge about reservations at the alternates? If so, how long before we sail? This is our first suite on RCCL, so not familiar with how that works. Appreciate any info!