QM2 and Lotus and the other King's Court dinner venues

[llam]

Please tell me about Lotus and the other King's Court dinner venues on the QM2; is there a fee and what type of venues are they, restaurants or part of a buffet?

[newjoisey]

Please tell me about Lotus and the other King's Court dinner venues on the QM2; is there a fee and what type of venues are they, restaurants or part of a buffet?

iirc from our last trip they close some sections of kings court and serve dinners [i think a 10.00 fee] . one section is buffet [self serve free]. the closed off sections may require a dress code and reservations iirc. i believe there is always at least one open free food buffet 24hrs

[Underwatr]

$10 fee, which is just enough to limit the attendance to those interested enough to pay a bit (I think this is a good setup) without being a more significant outlay like Todd English.

 

I recall that the dress code is always Elegant Casual in the Kings court alternative venues. The four options (different ones on offer on different nights to keep at least one buffet section open) are Lotus (pan-Asian), The Carvery (steaks), La Piazza (Italian) and Chef's Galley (demonstration kitchen, not sure about the menu).

 

I believe the CruiseCritic review is still up to date:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=294&pgtype=dining

[Classiccruiser777]

On deck 7, near stairwell C, menus for the different venues are set out on a table. The free evening buffet rotates among the Kings Court venues (with the exception of Chef's Galley).

[JWB.ESQ]

On a transatlantic in 2005, my wife and I were invited to dine at Lotus with a circle of new friends. The meal was a marvelous tasting menu of course after course, all impeccably prepared and served. Between the food, the attentive staff, and the good company, the meal became our entire evening's entertainment. We were the first in and the last out for the evening... and no regrets.

 

We've been back aboard many times and have yet to retry any of the specialty venues, but I wanted to share the fact that our one experience was 100% positive.

[newjoisey]

wow. we have never been invited to dine in the lotus

[keithm]

Please tell me about Lotus and the other King's Court dinner venues on the QM2; is there a fee and what type of venues are they, restaurants or part of a buffet?

When they do "tastings" there is a $100 fee. We did this on QV in Jan. & found the food far better than Britannia. We last did the QM2 in 2010 and the surcharge had not kicked in for a few more months. I do feel the fee is well worth the food quality & the ambience of the tastings. When you do the tastings it is expected for you to follow the dresscodes of the evening. They do let the general buffet dresscode slack(way too much)

[electra2008]

Just came back TA from NY. One night we ate in the alternative Italian, it was the best meal of the cruise, would have gone again but ran out of "time".

I went in the day time to find out how it worked and spoke to one of the "suit" fellows not sure if he was managers or M'D's. Very helpful and he explained, there are 2 Resturants venues, it seems that for 1/2 the cruise it would be carvery and half Italian in one venue and on the Asian side 1/2 would be Indian and the other 1/2 some other type of asian. So approx 3 days of each, in both venues.

It was $10 american pp and we each had a Peroni beer the total was just over $30 so they don't inflate the drink prices.

Really nice if your main sitting interferes with a movie or something else you want to do. Oh you do have to book just pick up the phone in your cabin. It is that easy.

Oh by the way the 3D movies are awesome

[Underwatr]

When they do "tastings" there is a $100 fee.

Typo, unless I'm misunderstanding...

[llam]

Thank you for the thorough answers. I love the CC community.

[newjoisey]

if you like burgers hit the carvery around noon [sometimes a line] and order 2 patties on one bun. that will fill ya for most of the day:D. toward the rear of the ship on a sun deck is a small lunch buffet that is not too busy at times. one of my past times is going on a mousse dessert hunt.....i think i bagged 7 on one day:D.i think i put 6 pounds on that cruise:eek:

[Underwatr]

toward the rear of the ship on a sun deck is a small lunch buffet that is not too busy at times.

This is up top close to the rear, but not on the fantail by the pools. I ate there one on theTA (it never seemed to be open during the Canada cruise)

[keithm]

Typo, unless I'm misunderstanding...

Yes,sorry..$10 fee.