Gala dinners query

[Ginb56]

Hi. As newbies on Azura soon for 7 days to the fjords, can anyone tell us if there is a gala dinner held on every cruise, and if so, what night/s it's likely to be? We want to prebook some select dining, possibly on the formal nights, but aren't sure if gala dinner menus are planned to coincide with formal nights. And is a gala dinner menu available to both club and freedom diners? We've seen all the various menus on the P&O site and didn't know about the gala dinners too. Thanks for any words of wisdom...!

[the english lady]

Wouldn't swear 110%, but I would take it gala dinners are on formal nights. I know they use mpw on those nights, but beyond that I can't remember.

[BrianI]

A Gala dinner is always on a formal night and usually the penultimate night. The menu for Club and Freedom diners is the same for both. I am not sure whether you get a Gala menu on a 7 night cruise. Maybe someone can confirm.

Brian

[Ginb56]

Thanks for the suggestions. Can I be thick and as what 'mpw' is an abbreviation for please English Lady? That one's stumped me, even though it'll be something obvious...!

[BrianI]

MPW - Marco Pierre White

Brian

[Presto2]

Thanks for the suggestions. Can I be thick and as what 'mpw' is an abbreviation for please English Lady? That one's stumped me, even though it'll be something obvious...!

 

Is it Marco Pierre White? I only put this as he did the menu for the gala night on our 7 day cruise (though this was the end of a 14 day one---if this makes sense)

 

I may be totally wrong and will be embarrassed later :)

[Bronte30]

MPW stands for Marco Pierre White. We had a gala dinner on a seven nighter on oceana last year. It's normally on a formal night.

 

 

 

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[majortom10]

You usually have a Captain's welcome aboard dinner and a Gala dinner on all cruises of 7 nts and more one at the beginning and one at the end of the cruise and both on formal nights. We love speciality restaurants but never book them on a formal nights.

[FAB1]

We had two formal nights on a recent Oceana cruise. The second formal night we had the MPW menu but the first one, the Welcome Aboard one, was just a normal menu 😢

[Ginb56]

Thank you MajorTom - that's just the information we needed! So will change our select dining away from the anticipated formal nights. It'd be such a help if P&O would explain all this in the Cruise Personaliser or on their website, to give passengers an idea of what is scheduled to happen on which night, rather than leaving it til you're onboard and read it in the new sheet - especially for first time cruisers. That's why this forum is such a godsend to us newbies! Thanks everyone.

[BrianI]

On a 7night fjords cruise, the formal nights are usually the second and sixth (penultimate) night. However, I have been on cruises where the Captains Welcome on board night has been transferred to the third night because of rough weather.

Brian

[the english lady]

On a 7night fjords cruise, the formal nights are usually the second and sixth (penultimate) night. However, I have been on cruises where the Captains Welcome on board night has been transferred to the third night because of rough weather.

Brian

 

And therein lays the problem with best laid plans of mice and men and cruise directors. The weather. We have had quite a few formal nights changed over the years ,due to bad weather, bumpy seas etc.

[Flying Doc]

Another tip - formal nights and therefore Gala Dinners, are almost always on Sea Days. So you should be ok to book your Select Restaurant dining on port days.