is the specialty dining worth it?

im sure its the mdr we are also thinking of maybe upgrading to aqua class or better

IMHO little point paying much extra for Aqua, for which the main benefit is Blu, if you then use the speciality restaurants more than a couple of times. You pay the same for MDR->speciality as you do for Blu->speciality.

Certainly, don't pay more for Aqua than you would for speciality dining every night.

We love Murano and Tuscan and Lawn Grill, but also generally enjoy meeting strangers with select MDR dining, taking the gamble of sharing a table for 4 or 6. No disasters yet!

So, IMHO, speciality dining is worth it with a discount or as part of a multi-night package. We like to altenatue MDR and speciality, YMMV.

Stuart

Our cruise on Equinox was the first time trying the specialty restaurants. Like an earlier poster we have been more than satisfied with dining in the MDR. However, we tried 2 restaurants because of having nonrefundable OBC and all 4 perks so decided the dining package was a good way to use the OBC.

Murano was great the first time. The second time service was less organized and, in my husband's case, side dishes were cold. This was promptly corrected.

We tried Tuscan which was very busy the night we were there. Service appeared slow even for a specialty restaurant. We ordered Lasagna which was dry and overcooked. They did offer to bring something else but we declined.

Personally, I think the specialty restaurants offer a choice for those who want something above and beyond. Certainly it is more intimate. However, we enjoy the MDR in the right circumstances. I also feel I am paying for an inclusive cruise and the meals served in the MDR should be of a quality that meets my needs.

But that is the beauty of cruising and having choices...

From my experience:

We thought Blu better than the MDR. But at what cost? Adding $50pp to upgrade to Aqua was worth it probably. At some point however, the cost to upgrade to Aqua is more than what we'd think Blu is worth. Wouldn't pay a couple hundred for the difference.

On our last cruise, we went with a normal Veranda cabin and booked specialty dining for 8 nights out of a 12 night cruise at a special discount. Cost was about $350 for both of us I think. Much cheaper than upgrading to Aqua, and better experience than Aqua. My only issue was that 8 nights were too many, and that with some specialty dining options there wasn't enough variety that going back more than twice was worth it to us (I do admit I had the exact same thing in the Lawn Club 3 nights).

I'd do veranda cabin + specialty dining again if the cost is lower than Aqua (and is often lower than Concierge). Would only do Aqua if the cost to upgrade were low enough compared to whatever class we were booking. Probably isn't worth an upgrade from veranda, but maybe worth it from Concierge if the price difference is small.

We just disembarked Silhouette about a week and half ago after 24 days on board. IMO, the MDR was a huge hit or miss disappointment. We often found the food seriously lacking in taste. We didn’t buy any of the dining packages as we were able to find someone from the specialty restaurants standing outside Oceanview almost every morning offering seating if they had openings for that night, and we never ended up paying full price. Again, IMO, the specialty restaurants were light years ahead of the MDR in taste, and for that matter, atmosphere. The MDR has become a rat race to get people in and out. The seating setup, with double tables stacked next to each other with often less than a foot between them, appears to be designed to maximize minimum space. We actually found the “cook to order” options in the Oceanview in the evening to have much more taste than the MDR.

 

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This (highlighted) is one of the main reasons we think the Speciality Restaurants are worth it and choose to eat in there usually around 2/3rds of our days on a cruise. As mentioned in many posts above there are good deals to be had onboard - or via the dining packages. The food is definitely several notches above the MDR but it's the ambience of the restaurant, the leisurely service and the space between tables which makes the extra charge worth it for us.

Following this discussion with great interest.

We are going on Celebrity in Jan, our last Celebrity cruise was in the late 90s, maybe 1995 or 98, once on the old Horizon, once on the Zenith . Our first cruise was the inaugural year for Celebrity, period. Since then, through the years we have made sporadic trips on RCCL, Carnival and Princess. Our most recent trips were Alaska on Princess in 2013 and RCCL in 2016 (Caribbean).

Our Princess MDR experience was similar to the old traditional Celebrity experience, except the food was not quite as good - the old Celebrity food was exceptional given how many people they were feeding all at once. We did our first specialty restaurant on Princess and the Chef's Table. The Chef's Table on Princess was amazing and the specialty restaurant was higher quality than MDR. What we missed, though, was 2 days of interaction with waitstaff and sommelier - yeah, we are those people who like have the same waitstaff every evening because we want to know who they are, and we want them to know what we want.

I have a theory based on a too small sample size, that the MDR experience has suffered greatly from the specialty dining concept plus the constant need to save money and the move away from formal or even true dressy nights. I want to see how that works out on Celebrity. I wonder though, if more people move out of the main dining room to specialty, and select dining times, if that won't make the MDR eventually less crowded. and a better experience?

I think the MDR ambiance and food are perfectly fine and have only dined in 2 specialty restaurants out of 10+ cruises. I would say if you don't travel much and maybe live in a small town where no such "specialty" dining is available, maybe it is worth it to you. The types/quality of food in the specialty restaurants can be found all over where I live.

I just got off the Reflection Transatlantic this morning. I quit sailing X for awhile after too many cruises in 2014 and becoming progessively disappointed with food, both in Blu and the MDR. Fast-forward to 2017, same Reflection TA, dining in MDR and I thought the food was surprisingly good! I only had one entree that went back for something else. I've done select dining for a very long time and tried late seating, table for 8 this time. Jackpot! The same waiter and asst waiter each night made a huge difference to my enjoyment. I did try early seating one night on this cruise and discovered a lot of old, cranky people like to eat dinner at 5:45. They moved up late seating to 8:15 this cruise which isn't all that bad. Also allowed me to see the some of the shows for the first time in years.

You could get specialty dining for $30 almost any evening. That seemed to be the daily discount price. Murano did become sold out the second week (7-day "crossing" portion) so there might be benefit to prepurchasing/making a reservation. I suspect that more folks book specialty restaurants on TAs, though. I've eaten in all the specialty restaurants and like Lawn Club Grill and Murano best, but not enough to want to eat there every night.

I enjoy the specialty restaurants and try to indulge at least a few times a cruise. I look for deals or lunches on sea days when there is usually a price drop for a smaller menu.

The biggest difference I've noticed is a higher level of service. The sommelier who wants me to try wines not on the wine list because I have the premium package and I should be able to explore some interesting choices. The server who takes time to understand my likes before recommending dishes. The calm of not trying to serve hundreds of people at the same time.

My last few cruises, the servers in the MDR were somewhat relentless on the last few days about reminding us to fill out the post-cruise email survey and rate them highly. I never got that pressure from those in the specialty restaurants.

It's all up to you.

I just got off the Reflection Transatlantic this morning.I thought the food was surprisingly good!.

Ruth,

Glad you had an enjoyable cruise. :)

I usually go to the MDR on the day I board and look at the menu. On the last cruise, Infinity, we weren’t impressed so we were trying to look around at the specialty restaurants menus in front of the restaurant. When I was reading Tuscan Grille’s menu, a waiter started talking to us and we explained our situation. He told us of the special they had that night, BOGO, and we decided to try it. Due to the staff’s fantastic service, extremely delicious food and ambiance, we decided to eat there for the rest of the week (they gave us discounts too). Our waiter, Melvin, was friendly and amazing and the rest of the staff was fantastic too. They all treated us like family and bent over backwards to make us happy. For that kind of service and the level of food that you receive, we’d go back! Our favorite restaurant is Murano but theyno linger have it on the Infinity or the Summit. We are going on the Equinox and we are looking forward to dining there![emoji39]

We eat in the MDR for most of our meals. Have tried Tuscan Grill and Thought food was very good but we also got 30% off too.

We like decent food and the MDR works for us. Would love to see the menu selections change. If you cruise Celebrity 2 to 3 times a year. It gets kind of boring.

Same menu...

As suspected, a variety of different responses. Personally the cost of the specialty restaurants doesn't matter to us, we flat out don't eat in the MDR, and don't have an issue with paying for the specialty restaurants. All of us have different likes and dislikes, just like we all have a different budget when we cruise. It is a personal thing.:)

If you're happy with the "included" food, then no, it's not worth it.

I am generally happy with the "included" food, but I also very much enjoy the "treat" of a specialty dinner occasionally. So, yes, for me it is worth it.

I think the MDR ambiance and food are perfectly fine and have only dined in 2 specialty restaurants out of 10+ cruises. I would say if you don't travel much and maybe live in a small town where no such "specialty" dining is available, maybe it is worth it to you. The types/quality of food in the specialty restaurants can be found all over where I live.

There's very much a flip side to that coin. If the dining aspect of your cruise is important and you live in areas full of high quality restaurants then you're likely to find the MDR disappointing in terms of food quality, service and ambiance.

Example, I've never ever seen lines at any good land restaurants as you do daily in the MDR at peak times.