Speciality restaurant rccl vs celebrity

[ibcruisin]

After enjoying the Olympic at Christmas time and then Chops 2 weeks ago on the Brilliance, I am surprised that Celebrity charges the same $ as Rccl. The dining room experience is far superior as there is dinner side cooking and the whole staff presentation is unique. On the Brilliance, the waitress showed us a platter of steaks under saran wrap. Asked the wrong person to try the wine. And not as many staff ratio to the customer. The food was very good, but the overall experience was lacking. The wait staff by no means went to the same great lengths to impress. Perhaps the dinner charge or "tipping" should be different????

[NnJ2010]

I've always ended up giving an extra tip at the restaurants on celebrity. I've tried 4 different cruise lines so far and none of them have anything compared to the speciality restaurants on the M-Class ships on celebrity. Yes though it does seem interesting that it is the same additional fee charged for such a superior product and service. Then again, the cruise is probably a bit more expensive overall on Celebrity....?

[Ericknow32]

RCCL's website claims that the price is $20-$25

 

Celebrity's website claims that the price is $30.

 

So I guess there is a difference in price.

[digital_curator]

What do you mean by "asked the wrong person to try the wine"?

 

 

Cheers,

[WeBeCruisin']

What do you mean by "asked the wrong person to try the wine"?

 

 

Cheers,

 

It probably meant that they offered the preliminary tasting and approval to someone other than the person who ordered the wine.

 

Having been in the specialty restaurants on the Constellation and Summit a total of three times and having just returned from dining in both Chops and Portofino, I would definitely give the edge to Celebrity. Chops and Portofino were very good, and were only $20, but it just wasn't the same elegant experience as Celebrity, which was $30.

 

In addition to the "butterfly" service on Celebrity, the little touches like amuse bouche delicacies, the wine pairings, the cheese cart, tableside cooking, etc. are excellent. On Celebrity, if my wife needed to visit the restroom at any point during dinner, the maitre d' was immediately there to offer his arm and escort her to the nearest restroom. There are lots of little touches like that which make it special. On our second visit to Ocean Liners on the Constellation, there were a couple of extra delicacies to reward us for dining there twice on the cruise.

 

The food was excellent in Chops and Portofino, but it went to another level on Celebrity. The goat cheese souffle was amazing, and the Steak Diane (on Constellation) and Chateaubriand-for-two (on Summit) were outstanding.

 

Allen

[franma]

We were extremely impressed and pleased with food and service in specialty restaurant on Celebrity Infinity. BTW I was welcomed back from the ladies' room, which was just a bit much actually :o We've been on rccl several times, but before they had Portofino's so we thought we might try it on AOS. It's worth it, right? We just shouldn't expect the same type of experience we had on X. I don't want to build it up to my bro. and sil who are also on the trip, and then be disappointed. We're generally satisfied with the regular dining room overall (read as not picky), but would want this to be somewhat special at least. So WeBe and others whatcha' think? Thanks.

[WeBeCruisin']

We were extremely impressed and pleased with food and service in specialty restaurant on Celebrity Infinity. BTW I was welcomed back from the ladies' room, which was just a bit much actually :o We've been on rccl several times, but before they had Portofino's so we thought we might try it on AOS. It's worth it, right? We just shouldn't expect the same type of experience we had on X. I don't want to build it up to my bro. and sil who are also on the trip, and then be disappointed. We're generally satisfied with the regular dining room overall (read as not picky), but would want this to be somewhat special at least. So WeBe and others whatcha' think? Thanks.

 

It's definitely worth it to visit Chops and Portofino, Franma.

 

Chops features outstanding steaks. I had crab cakes as an appetizer, a 10-oz filet mignon and home-fried potatoes with sauteed onions. They also had shrimp, chicken, veal, pork and salmon for those who don't want beef. My wife had a dessert which she raved about..... Mississippi Mud Pie. It was a delicious meal.

 

Portofino's service was a little more elegant, with Italian fare and a surprise amuse bouche and an unexpected "tower" of petite fours and truffles after dessert. I had the goat cheese souffle on a bed of mushrooms for an appetizer, and the saltimboca (veal wrapped with sage and prosciutto, pan-fried with porcini mushrooms) as an entree, and a delicious tiramisu with crushed marinated raspberries for dessert. This was also a very good meal.

 

We had plans to visit each a second time, but never got around to it, because of the great dinner companions at our dining room table.

 

Allen