Please Explain the Kings Court Various Sections

[twoatsea]

I thought the Kings Court was a typical ship's buffet with various stations, such as La Piazza, The Carvery, Lotus, & Chef's Galley. However, from other posts, I'm getting the impression these venues open/close at different times. Are they all open at the same times for lunch?

 

How about dinner? Is there a buffet that includes all of these venues, or are separate reservations required & one only attends one of the venues?

 

Are all of the venues buffet, or are some sit down/table service?

 

Why are dinner reservations required the day before, yet we will not know what is on the menu?

 

Obviously I am confused.

[Ray66]

I thought the Kings Court was a typical ship's buffet with various stations, such as La Piazza, The Carvery, Lotus, & Chef's Galley. However, from other posts, I'm getting the impression these venues open/close at different times. Are they all open at the same times for lunch?

 

How about dinner? Is there a buffet that includes all of these venues, or are separate reservations required & one only attends one of the venues?

 

Are all of the venues buffet, or are some sit down/table service?

 

Why are dinner reservations required the day before, yet we will not know what is on the menu?

 

Obviously I am confused.

 

The following is an example of restaurant hours one day in July this year. This could vary slightly each day. A different section will be the buffet on different evenings.

 

Breakfast hours:

La Piazza: 4.00am-6.00am

Lotus: 6.30am-10.30am

Carvery: 7.30am-11.00am

Chef’s Galley: 7.00am-9.30am

 

Lunch:

La Piazza: 11.30am-2.00pm

Lotus: 11.30am-2.30pm

Carvery: 12.00pm-3.00pm

Chef’s Galley deli lunch: 11.00am-3.00pm

 

A la carte dinner:

La Piazza: 7.00pm-9.00pm (booking required)

Lotus: 7.00pm-9.00pm (booking required)

Chef’s Galley: 7.00pm-9.00pm (booking required)

 

Buffet dinner:

The Carvery: 5.30pm-11.00pm

 

You need to book for the evening meal first thing in the morning. Typical menus are on Cunard’s website.

[Alycidon]

I thought the Kings Court was a typical ship's buffet with various stations, such as La Piazza, The Carvery, Lotus, & Chef's Galley. However, from other posts, I'm getting the impression these venues open/close at different times. Are they all open at the same times for lunch?

 

How about dinner? Is there a buffet that includes all of these venues, or are separate reservations required & one only attends one of the venues?

 

Are all of the venues buffet, or are some sit down/table service?

 

Why are dinner reservations required the day before, yet we will not know what is on the menu?

 

Obviously I am confused.

 

Just avoid the place. It works for me.

[Terrence Richards]

I thought the Kings Court was a typical ship's buffet with various stations, such as La Piazza, The Carvery, Lotus, & Chef's Galley. However, from other posts, I'm getting the impression these venues open/close at different times. Are they all open at the same times for lunch?

 

How about dinner? Is there a buffet that includes all of these venues, or are separate reservations required & one only attends one of the venues?

 

Are all of the venues buffet, or are some sit down/table service?

 

Why are dinner reservations required the day before, yet we will not know what is on the menu?

 

Obviously I am confused.

 

Hello twoatsea,

 

Ray66 was very helpful with the hours and the Cunard website for typical menus.

 

I would like to help you with a little more information, so you do not think that the Kings Court is a place to avoid.

 

Elevator C bank takes you right to the entrance of all four venues of Kings Court. You will find there menus on display for each of the dinner venues. The two tubular elevators in the Grand Lobby take you from Deck Two and Three right up to Deck Seven and the Kings Court. It opens into an area of tables for dinning.

 

Making reservations is done from your stateroom telephone. There is a button to press on the telephone. As suggested by Ray66 suggested, make your reservations in the morning.

 

Dinner dress in Kings Court is casual regardless of the dress code for the day. Casual does not mean shorts, bathing suits, etc. The evening atmosphere is very nice in each of the venues with special table settings, candles, low light, and table service.

 

There are tables in Kings Court in small glass alcoves on the portside and starboard side that jut out onto Deck Seven, the main outside deck of the QM2.

 

Now depending on how many days you will be on board the QM2, dinner in the Kings Court is just a change of scenery for those who like to do those things. On a TA, I would guess most guests prefer to dine in the restaurant they are assigned for dinner.

 

Any other questions? Just post them and I am sure there are more members here who will help you with some good advice/information.

 

Bon Voyage! Terrence

[Calliope]

Terrence is giving excellent advise. To miss dining in atleast one of the Kings Court ala carte dinner choices during a longer trip would be ashame. I dined at the Carvery one evening during my trip last February from LA to Sydney and had a delightful dinner. In fact, I tried to get reservations at some of the other venues later on in the trip, but they were booked solid a day in advance. Passengers I met that went to Lotus raved about the dinning experience. Next time I'm onboard I hope to have dinner at Lotus, to see what I missed. So don't avoid Kings Court; you might be doing yourself a disservice.

[6502programmer]

I have some questions about Chefs Galley. I'm assuming that the food served is not the food demonstrated, but is instead prepared in the kitchen? Is there room for variation, either in the items requested or in the preparation of the items on the menu?

 

Regarding the sections in general, are they child-friendly and will they serve kids menu items to children? We'll have a 12 year old and a 4 year old with us on our TA's next year, and while they will probably want to eat with the other kids, they are not unfamiliar with fine dining.

[twoatsea]

Thank you so much for your help. Dh & I always have some dinners, & sometimes have all dinners, in the ships' buffets. We prefer the buffets for many reasons. We have cruised and traveled a lot for a lot of years & the dinner galas are not important to us any longer. Plus this trip is 33 days long (short!) & we only take carryon luggage - so not much room for formal wear (we still haven't decided if we will squeeze some in yet). And, we never rent formal wear - too much food as it is to pay for formal wear to eat more food, & we don't like wearing clothes that others have worn - just our weirdness, I guess.

 

Then, there is the pleasure of others' company. We are very social & love to talk & even more, we love to listen & learn about others, and we have meet so many wonderful people during cruises. I'm sure we will meet some lovely people during this cruise. However, at dinner time, at the end of the day, we prefer each other's company. If we get a 2 seater table, we will probably eat in the dining room some of the time. If we don't, we will eat at King's Court & have room service all of the time.

 

BTW, this is a 50th wedding anniversary trip for us! It's so great that we still prefer each other's company to anyone else's!

 

Thanks again

p.s. We do know about the renewing our vows ceremonies, but we don't feel the need or the desire.

[David2115]

one of the best meals we had was in the reserved part of kings Court, it was series of about 10( i think) taster courses Asian/far eastern food. The best thing was the service. I think they use the restaurant as a training area for the new waiters learning the 'white star service', as a result they were very attentive.

It almost felt like private dining as the area is well screened off, much quieter than the Brittannia restaurant where quite frankly the service and atmosphere was poor.( Caribbean, Nov 2007)

[Bispham Boo]

Agree wth David about the Lotus. We had the taster menu on our April TA and food and service were excellent. The other nights we ate in the Britannia and enjoyed that very much as well. There did seem to be quite a few tables for 2 people in the Britannia.

[hansol1966]

Yes i agree the tasting menu and service was superb but i wish we could order other dishes , a la carte ( chinese chip shop for the U.K.) . Cunard must be able to amass good asian chefs to cook to order and not the easyout of an tasting menu...no matter how good it turns out.

Fred & Sian.

[Rotterdam]

we really enjoyed our ala carte dinner in Kings Court - at the Carvery - and we actually just walked in w/o reservations & they were very nice...good service & since were were on the ship for 2 weeks it was a nice change from the DR & Todd English....we would go back especially in the carib should we not want to put on a suit for the main DR.....

 

Funny thoing about the Chinese food....we have great chinese food here in NYC(I've been to China so I also know the real stuff)....well this past March onboard a MSC ship I tried their Chinese restaurant - it was small, friendly & quite good....best meal I had on the ship!!!!

 

Years ago on QE2 the Chinese tailors onboard would cook for their friends....