Suites: Separate Dining Room

Celebrity has offered a separate dining room for suites for awhile now, and now Princess has started to do the same.

Any rumors that HAL is planning something similar?

Jdg

I hope not.

Are suite passengers too precious to eat with the hoi polloi? Afraid they might get steerage passenger cooties if they have to share the same dining room?

HAL's ships are smaller than other lines and there is already a lack of public space. And the servers are stretched thin. Taking some of either for the ohh-so-precious suite passengers would be detrimental to the non-suite passengers.

For Breakfast only, all Neptune Suites and the Pinnacle Suites can eat in the Pinnacle Grill on most ships.

Vista, Signature, Pinnacle and S class ships can have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. The R class ships seem to keep changing around -- some have breakfast in the Upper Level of the main dining room while others have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill.

No No, No, AsNeputuneSuite guest, I don't want such.

I have to admit that I enjoy breakfast in the Pinnacle. I've had good service in the MDR, but it's a step up with the Pinnacle staff.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Pinnacle grill for breakfast - I appreciate the quiet and excellent service first thing in the morning.

I also have been on the Queen Mary on Cunard and enjoyed having the separate dining room only available to the Grill level (suite) passengers. Not only was it a smaller venue, but it also had additional up scaled items not available in the main dining room.

But I am more than OK with the regular dining room on HAL for dinner. Once or twice eating in the Pinnacle Grill (or even Cannelleto) is enough for a change up to a smaller room experience. I actually enjoy being in a big room for dinner most of the time.

I have no problem with a suites dining room. Cruise lines are looking for ways to make more money. The separate dining room helps justify the price of a suite. And it isn't about shunning the non-suites pax. It's about upgraded food choices and a better service ratio.

I love the corner aft Neptune suites on HAL. I priced the same location on Cunard's Queen Victoria. On Vicky, that's a Grill suite and its per diem is much more than HAL asks for a Neptune suite. For that kind of money, I'd want upgraded dining.

I've only sailed QM2 on Cunard in recent years, and I am a happy lowly "rower" on that ship. I don't resent the Grills pax for having their perks. They paid for them!

All things considered I would appreciate the 'Grills' option on HAL. Yes, we know it is not going to happen. Carnival has Cunard for that. My wife now prefers to eat at around 6:30, thus we are limited to lower level anytime dining. . We prefer a two-top, or if travelling with friends, a larger table. We have done the late-fixed routine with a larger table. It just doesn't interest us anymore. I could eat at PG every night, but my wife finds the 'consistent' menu to be too limited.

So why not try Canard Grills? We may just to get it out of our system. I wish Carnival would try a 'step up' type promotion. You know, long time HAL Neptune Suite guests, 'on your next cruise experience a Cunard Grill suite.'

Dennis

If HAL can't find a way to introduce Tamarind to it's other ships, an up-charge restaurant with a great reputation, then there's no way they could carve out space for an "exclusive" suites-only resto.

I think Suite breakfast in pINNACLE IS ONE FD THEBEST BENEFITS OF BEING IN A nWPTUNE ORpINACLE sUITE

Having separate dining rooms for suites would be awkward if not everyone in your group is in a suite.

Are suite passengers too precious to eat with the hoi polloi? Afraid they might get steerage passenger cooties if they have to share the same dining room?

Apparently so. The odious whiff of superior entitlement too often wafts through this space. Note how many of the suitehearts never miss a chance to offhandedly 'mention' their exalted locations.

If HAL can't find a way to introduce Tamarind to it's other ships, an up-charge restaurant with a great reputation, then there's no way they could carve out space for an "exclusive" suites-only resto.

Excellent point. I would vote for the Tamarind being shoehorned into all the Vistas ships!

I hope not ... I like the inclusive nature of HAL and don't think there is any reason to create a 'them' and 'us' attitude ...

If HAL can't find a way to introduce Tamarind to it's other ships, an up-charge restaurant with a great reputation, then there's no way they could carve out space for an "exclusive" suites-only resto.

You don't have to 'carve out space'. The suites passengers are already allocated space in the MDR. You would only be grouping the suites passengers in a distinct location.

Celebrity has offered a separate dining room for suites for awhile now, and now Princess has started to do the same.

 

Any rumors that HAL is planning something similar?

 

Jdg

Personally, I think HAL will do something similar or they will see a migration of their high paying, high profit, suites passengers to other cruise lines.

We haven't cruised Celebrity but we have been in a suite on Oasis which does have a separate dining room and lounge for suites passengers. Enjoyed the lounge. Thought Coastal Kitchens (suites dining area) was vastly over-rated.

Personally, I think HAL will do something similar or they will see a migration of their high paying, high profit, suites passengers to other cruise lines.

 

If the only determining factor for them is whether or not there is a separate suite dining room, they may not be HAL's target group of passengers anyway.

I think HAL's appeal is more along the lines of traditional service, longer cruises and varied itineraries -- at least in comparison to other mass-market lines.

When do we get butlers? They come with every suite on a lot of lines.

When do we get butlers? They come with every suite on a lot of lines.

Bring your own from home! :D

Jeeves prefers Cunard...insufferable!

If the only determining factor for them is whether or not there is a separate suite dining room, they may not be HAL's target group of passengers anyway.

 

I think HAL's appeal is more along the lines of traditional service, longer cruises and varied itineraries -- at least in comparison to other mass-market lines.

Why wouldn't a suites dining room also appeal to those who book suites for traditional service, longer cruises, and varied itineraries?

My DH and I sailed in a Sky Suite on Celebrity in March, our first Celebrity cruise. I booked two more cruises in a Sky Suite while onboard. We enjoyed the suites-only restaurant; the menu was different (and better), and the service was spectacular. We usually sit at a table for two in the MDR anyway, so no one is losing out on mingling with us.

Just like some pay for ship's excursions and some go on their own, some pay for suites (and the perks that come with) and some don't. I book the cabin I want for a particular cruise because it suits our needs. I am, frankly, not concerned with the choices of the other 1,000-3,000 people on board.

I hope not.

 

Are suite passengers too precious to eat with the hoi polloi? Afraid they might get steerage passenger cooties if they have to share the same dining room?

 

HAL's ships are smaller than other lines and there is already a lack of public space. And the servers are stretched thin. Taking some of either for the ohh-so-precious suite passengers would be detrimental to the non-suite passengers.

This was discussed a few months ago and it received similar comments as above. A separate dining room has nothing to do with snobbery.

In recent years I have experienced this only on Cunard. When ships had First Class and Tourist (and sometimes even three classes) there was a separate dining room for each class. As with Cunard's Princess Grill and Queen's Grill, the First Class restaurants provide a single sitting for all meals. That means passengers are assigned the same table for all three meals every day and passengers can come to the restaurant at any time during opening hours. To me this is the best advantage of the separate restaurant and is a truly first class experience.

The menus are enhanced and there are flambée items as well as an à la carte menu in addition to the menu of the day. In Queen's Grill passengers may create their own menu if they don't like what is on the two printed menus. I certainly don't travel "first" all the time and when I travel in basic accommodation it is the single-sitting restaurant that I miss most.

Given what HAL charges for Neptune suites on some cruises they should provide a separate restaurant. On some voyages HAL charges more than Cunard does for a similar suite. I certainly wouldn't pay that. My one experience in a Neptune suite was reasonably priced and I would do it again. But I would not pay a Cunard-level fare (or more) without a single-sitting restaurant. The current perk of the Pinnacle for breakfast is a good start.

I'm a regular occupant of Neptune suites, and I'm very much of two minds on this.

On the one hand, I very much appreciate the extras that come with the suites. I love having the Neptune Lounge and the Concierge nearby. I regularly make use of the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. My pleasure comes not because these places are exclusive in se, but rather because they enhance my cruise experience allowing me to enjoy a heightened level of service and amenity. In that vein, I suspect I would find a Grills style restaurant to mimic that.

On the other hand, exclusive space may also mean sharing that space with people who are much more interested in exclusivity than I am. There is nothing more irritating than trying to enjoy a quiet coffee and a canapé in the Neptune lounge while a fellow passenger is berating the Concierege for some imagined slight. At times like those, I can't help feeling that Sartre was right, "Hell is other people."

I enjoy fixed dining at large tables, and I like dining with the kind of people who enjoy fixed dining at large tables. I would certainly not want to spend every evening at a table for two in an exclusive restaurant with no one to talk to but my belovèd.

So on balance, I'd vote No.

Why wouldn't a suites dining room also appeal to those who book suites for traditional service, longer cruises, and varied itineraries?

You seemed to be implying that if HAL didn't offer a suite dining room, then suite passengers would go elsewhere -- as if there was nothing else differentiating HAL from the other lines (e.g., Celebrity) who offer this.