Please explain why YOU pay extra for specialty dining?

[Aquahound]

My mind just can't wrap around why anyone would want to pay extra for eating in a specialty resturaunt when the food is so good (and included) in your cruise price for the MDR.

 

Would love your reason's why. Though not sure if I can be converted to wanting to pay when there is free food. :)

 

I won't try to convert you. I'll just give my reasons for doing it. I love the intimacy, better food, lack of kids, and more personal service. Plus, I do not go on vacation to penny pinch.

[The Grumpus]

I too enjoy the MDR and dont know about the "good ol days". In fact, I am pretty impressed that the food is as good as it is considering the massive amounts that is produced and put out every night.

Back in the "good ol' days" (early 90's) the service & food was very similar with what you would see at Chops or Portofino today. However in those days there was smoking in the MDR too so if you didn't like smelling cigs while you ate, it wasn't all that "good ol'. ;)

 

These days the MDR service and food isn't all that bad today, IMO either.

[Bakincakes]

Many reasons..the food in the MDR is edible...at best. Our last Freedom cruise it was horrible.

 

Specialties attract a more sedate crowd..diners tend to dress for the occasion...aren't loud..no kids when we eat there...dinner isn't rushed...the food is much much better than the MDR.

 

We stopped eating in the WJ ...and now rarely head to the MDR anymore. We either eat at specialties or eat a great lunch or dinner in port and just snack onboard.

[sailawayjack]

My mind just can't wrap around why anyone would want to pay extra for eating in a specialty resturaunt when the food is so good (and included) in your cruise price for the MDR.

 

Would love your reason's why. Though not sure if I can be converted to wanting to pay when there is free food. :)

 

:cool:The food in the speciality restaurants is like the food they used to serve in the MDR in 1993 when I started cruising. When they started cutting the quality of the food in MDR, I used to say "charge me more for the cruise, but give me good food". Well, now I have a choice, at a small increased price. Great food, intimate service. Not for every night, but a couple times during a 7 day cruise, or 4 times on 12 nighter. Try it and seek your own answer--Grasshopper:cool:

[racnwdow]

The main reason we go out to eat is so that I don't have to cook at home. Please don't tell me that the service has changed so much that I have to cook MDR food myself. lol

 

Why do you go out to eat when you can stay at home and cook?

[Bakincakes]

Might not be a bad idea to start cooking our own MDR food.

 

It will be hot when we eat it...won't be oversalted..will be properly seasoned and have some flavor..won't be drowning in sauces to hide the fact the meat is dry and overcooked...won't have to wait for stragglers who can't tell time and arrive in the MDR a half hour after service was supposed to start....:)

[Shooraq]

For me, it's a treat to be able to try different foods in a more intimate setting. DH loves hitting the specialty restaurants as much as possible, but for budget's sake we try to do 2-3 per cruise, the Oasis being the exception to the rule.

 

We've had some creative dishes, some indulgent meals, great service, wonderful atmosphere. We don't get to sit down for dinner together as often as we used to, so it's a special occasion for us to feel pampered dining wise. :D

[cds2423]

We cruised many times in the past and hadn't tried the spec. restaurants, but we were convinced to give Portofino a try in 2005 on the explorer, it was amazing, we now dine at least once per cruise in either Portofino or Chops. The menu is actually still quite similar now as to what it was back then but we have some definite favorites, especially in Portofino. I already know what I am going to have for dinner on Sept 30 at Portofino on the Freedom, how pathetic am I?

Give it a try, i hope that you'll be as pleased as we always are.

[OCruisers]

:) We love the speciality restaurants for the food and the atmosphere!

 

On Oasis we had dinner at a speciality restaurant 6 of our 7 nights.

[Zach1213]

Here's how it is for my fiance and I - we really dislike the food in MDR and Windjammer. Some of it is fine, some of it is OK, and a lot of it just isn't good. Combine that with it being vacation (a special occasion in its own right), and spending $60 for the two of us to head to a steak place, with tip, is an incredibly reasonable expense in my mind.

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Not including cupcakes and JR, I had never "paid" for food on a cruise until we did so on Oasis a few weeks ago.

 

I have never had any desire to go to Chops (steak) or the Italian place, because at home I eat both quite often and neither are a big deal, and you can get the free versions of both on the ship at other venues.

 

However, on Oasis we tried Izumi and Seafood Shack; Izumi because we are sushi addicts, and without Jade, Izumi is the only sushi in town on Oasis. We tried SS because it looked different than any of the other food on board. Both were fine, neither were fine dining.;)

 

But I'm glad we tried them both.:)

[DebJ14]

For us, the MDR food wasn't "so good". It was mediocre at best.

 

Totally agree with this post and on top of that we had lousy service in the MDR. Eating in Portofino 3 nights on our last Voyager cruise was worth every penny! The food was so much better and the service was great, especially from Peter from Ireland. We will eat in Chops on our upcoming Mariner cruise several nights, more if the food and service in the MDR are lousy.

[critterchick]

My mind just can't wrap around why anyone would want to pay extra for eating in a specialty resturaunt when the food is so good (and included) in your cruise price for the MDR.

 

Would love your reason's why. Though not sure if I can be converted to wanting to pay when there is free food. :)

 

I don't think the food is "so good." And we've been on enough cruises that there's seldom anything new or interesting on the menu. Now, the same is true of Chops and Portofino for us - we go at least once every cruise, so have worked our way through the current menu. But at least it's a menu of much better food, in a calmer setting. And we don't have to wait for late tablemates or a whole section to be served together, which can really draw things out (MTD has largely eliminated that issue, BTW). The process can take a long time, but if we really have something to do later, we tell the specialty restaurant server and they pick up the pace a bit. We've had mixed luck in the MDR with that strategy.

 

I just have to ask... do you usually get the early seating? Because I always get the late seating and have never had an issue with MDR being hectic and loud.

 

We always dine late, whether in traditional or MTD, and it's still hectic, if not loud, although it's usually that, too. The waitstaff is always rushed, and I miss the niceties of them being able to chat with us about the menu, about our day, about what's going on around the ship and even a little bit about themselves.

[Lottycruiser]

What I don't get is the fact that by putting these speciality restaurants onboard , having you pay extra money to receive better food and service is surely stating the fact that the service and food in the MDR is mediocre , if the food in the MDR was of a high standard there would be no need to have to pay extra , just my opinion .

[Zach1213]

What I don't get is the fact that by putting these speciality restaurants onboard , having you pay extra money to receive better food and service is surely stating the fact that the service and food in the MDR is mediocre , if the food in the MDR was of a high standard there would be no need to have to pay extra , just my opinion .

No, no, it's simple business. If you've paid for your cruise, you've already paid for dinner. Then, the company convinces you to pay $30 per person above that. It's all about bringing in the most cash with the fewest expenses and pulling a profit for the company.

[ryano]

No, no, it's simple business. If you've paid for your cruise, you've already paid for dinner. Then, the company convinces you to pay $30 per person above that. It's all about bringing in the most cash with the fewest expenses and pulling a profit for the company.

 

Once again! Something we can agree on! :D:cool:

[ryano]

What I don't get is the fact that by putting these speciality restaurants onboard , having you pay extra money to receive better food and service is surely stating the fact that the service and food in the MDR is mediocre , if the food in the MDR was of a high standard there would be no need to have to pay extra , just my opinion .

 

If the food in the MDR was "of a higher standard" the cruise would be much more $$$ overall Im guessing. Some people are totally ok with that. Speaking for myself, I am ok with keeping the fares low as possible and the so called "mediocre" food they serve in the MDR.

 

Again, speaking only for myself of course. ;)

[gilboman]

My mind just can't wrap around why anyone would want to pay extra for eating in a specialty resturaunt when the food is so good (and included) in your cruise price for the MDR.

 

Would love your reason's why. Though not sure if I can be converted to wanting to pay when there is free food. :)

 

I find the MDR food to be mediocore at best...specialty restaurants are a bit better and are on par with some of the nicer chain restaurants.

 

Also, don't really feel like eating in a banquet hall like environment all the time. Eating at the MDR feels like feeding time at the zoo sometimes due to the size and everybody stuffing their face.

[terpfan101]

What I don't get is the fact that by putting these speciality restaurants onboard , having you pay extra money to receive better food and service is surely stating the fact that the service and food in the MDR is mediocre , if the food in the MDR was of a high standard there would be no need to have to pay extra , just my opinion .

 

Somebody mentioned it above that cruise prices on the whole have gone down a lot since the "good old days" when the food in the MDR was as good as the SR food is today. I'm too young to know if that is the case, but if it is true then what RCCL and the other cruiselines have done is a form of pricing that allows those who wish to have better food pay extra for it while appealing to the masses with overall lower prices. So long as food doesn't continue to go downhill in MDR or prices rising by much in the SR's, I'm fine with this practice. It'd be interesting to see in the future whether the MDRs get significantly smaller in size.

[SingingPixie]

People have different pallates and priorities. I don't dislike the MDR, and have enjoyed much more than I've disliked- but nothing has blown me away. We're lucky enough to live in an area with many nice restaurants- so we tend to avoid spending money in mid-range restaurants so that we can afford to go to a nicer one occasionally. To us, the quality is more important than the convenience of not having to cook- and having the option for higher-end offerings has given us the ability to discern, for the most part, between good, very good, and great. While a lot of the MDR food is good (and a few things might be very good), I have yet to have anything that was great- it's just too hard to get great food from a kitchen feeding thousands. It'll be worth it to us on the next cruise to pay the extra charge for some great food- with the added bonus of being in a quieter setting, and avoiding my personal pet peeve (dancing wait staff- I feel like it's really demeaning!)

[bigque]

On my last cruise They had a fleet of ambulances waiting at the dock when got back, because there were about 500 people who were taken off the ship after the 7 day cruise suffering from malnutrition from not having found anything to eat to their liking the entire cruise! The packed house in the MDR each night was mainly there for socializing and food was not being ordered! The food that was ordered was just sitting on the tables not being eaten. It got so bad that on the last night, the MDR staff came out and stood on the stairs and sang, just to have something to do!

I seen all this with my very own eyes! You think I'm making this up????? :D

[nyyhoneybee]

The first time I did it was on Carnival Valor and it was the only decent dinner that we had all week (seriously, the food was awful the whole cruise). The only other time I did it was when we got it for free thanks to some issues we had with the room.

 

This summer I am sure DH and I will do it a few times for a more romantic experience.

[niki1785]

We've done it as meals in the MDR can get boring for us. Sometimes we just want a change of atmosphere and to do something a bit different. However, this time we are cruising on a budget as we have a new baby due in October, so we will make due and enjoy every dinner at the MDR, windjammer cafe, or room service! I like "free" (included) these days :)

[newlifeca]

My mind just can't wrap around why anyone would want to pay extra for eating in a specialty resturaunt when the food is so good (and included) in your cruise price for the MDR.

 

Would love your reason's why. Though not sure if I can be converted to wanting to pay when there is free food. :)

 

If your mind can't wrap around it, why worry? Why start the thread? Why would you want to be converted? Not sure the point of the original post....

[Bakincakes]

Cruiselines know that people will eat just about anything that they consider to be "free".

 

Palates are different...so many people think the MDR offerings are good enough to eat...if that wasn't the case Burger King and McDonalds would have been out of business long ago.

 

We agree that the lines were smart to indtroduce specialties for people who want a good meal and are willing to pay for it. We really don't care if the lines are making lots of money doing this. It makes our cruises better in many ways and gets us out of the MDR.

 

For those that are tired of the same old..same old the MDR offers..trying land based eateries while in ports may be the answer!!! We've found some real gems over the years/