Specialty dining price increase

[IECalCruiser]

We have eaten at various specialty restaurants in the past but we skipped a visit on our 14 day cruise on December on the Pacific and we didn't miss a thing. With the increase to $29 we will probably skip specialty restaurants on most future cruises.

[caribill]

Crown Grill is very over-subscribed on Regal and Royal.

When we were on Regal, they were doing 200 cover per night.

I really thought the whole experience suffered.

 

 

Some sales promotions include a free specialty restaurant dinner as an amenity. With those promotions, over half the ship may be getting that "free" dinner and over a 7 day cruise, the specialty restaurants will be quite crowded every evening.

 

Did the cruises you saw crowded specialty restaurants have such a booking benefit?

[caribill]

Did the Crab Shack price ($20) also go up?

[Murphey]

I believe it's been Cargill's proprietary "Sterling Silver Beef" program at least since the Crown Grill concept was launched (I can't recall the Diamond/Sapphire that-which-is-now-Savoy-and-formerly Sterling off the top of my head).

 

Much like Certified Angus, it's not a grade, and it doesn't specify aging conditions. The beef is USDA *inspected*, but not necessarily USDA graded - they can make claims like "Only the top 20% of beef" (which would be Prime, Choice and the very top edge of Select), but they don't have to abide by some very technical points of USDA grading which are legal requirements for, say, Prime, but may not actually impact eating quality.

 

My problem with Crown is that I buy two types of beef at retail - either grass-fed local stuff (flavorful/beefy but lean/tough) or USDA Prime (Costco blows it out the door, and it's rich in flavor/fat), and I dry-age it and trim it for flavor and tenderness, not efficiency and the ability to hang out on a ship for extended periods of time. I adore the sides at CG, I love the fish, but the beef, to me, is roughly equal to what Costco or a better supermarket is selling, and not what a truly fine steakhouse is serving. It's wet-aged and the butchering is intended to get the most yield out of the primal.

 

I would love to see Princess do a program with loins and primal cuts hanging in one of the modern dry-aging systems, getting all delicious-looking, but the expense of doing dry aging right is enormous - 30% of the weight of the beef evaporates (moisture loss) and trim losses can be another 10-20% even with skilled meatcutters. So you buy a pound of fresh Prime for $10 and by the time it's all through, you have an 8 oz steak. That 16 oz New York requires a pound and a half of fresh beef, 28-42 days in an expensive gadget, perhaps five minutes of cleanup labor (assuming you're doing a whole New York striploin at a time and your meatcutter hasn't been doing this for a lifetime), and the numbers just cease to work.

 

Hey, thanks for this information!! I agree 100% re: Costco. Really interesting (at least to me) reading!! Now I don't feel so bad about springing for Prime.....at least I have a better understanding of the expense of the process.

[Murphey]

The only time we've had a problem getting a reservation was when the ship was full of people who booked under one of the promotions that gave them dinner for two in one of the specialty restaurants. Then you couldn't get a reservation at all because the reservations for those passengers were handed out by the ship so the restaurants were booked up before we even boarded.

 

Very good point!

[Nezmo]

We ate at the Crown Grill several times in March on the Royal. While it was not 'bad' I have to say I agree with some of the comments in this thread about the steaks. While many scoff at Carnival, I found their steakhouse food to be quite a bit better than the CG. My wife agrees and let me tell you, that lady can prepare a steak better than any high-end steakhouse we've eaten in. The CG steaks lacked flavor and were not tender. Service was good.

 

We enjoyed Sabatini's more but again, it wasn't quite as good as the hype I had read in here had lead me to expect.

 

We tried both places multiple times to give it a fair chance. Just not that impressed.

[Ferndale Girl]

Some sales promotions include a free specialty restaurant dinner as an amenity. With those promotions, over half the ship may be getting that "free" dinner and over a 7 day cruise, the specialty restaurants will be quite crowded every evening.

 

Did the cruises you saw crowded specialty restaurants have such a booking benefit?

 

I have a question on the "free dinner" promotion. We have one for our cruise next week. Does anyone know if they assign the restaurant and night or do you have your choice if there is room?

[SheriffJoe]

That implies you will be dining at multiple specialty restaurants for 3 4 or 5 nights (which by the way means they get even more of your money). For us we usually do the MDR every night except for one trip to the Crown Grill.

 

So how much do you pay in total for these excellent, cost-effective dining packages on Celebrity?;)

 

actually you need not even buy the multiple dinner packages to pay less than $50 pp on X, the 1st night out is usually offered at 50% off ($25 pp) which makes Murano less than Princess and Murano is head and shoulders above ANY specialty restaurant on Princess. Other nights can usually be had for anywhere from 20 to 40% off the $50 price as well if the ressies aren't all taken.

[TNTLAMB]

I don't see it as a big deal. But then we have never looked at specialty dining as just "eating" To us it has always been an experience.entertainment type of thing no different than ashore excursion or any other thing we do. Whether we take a land tour or eat in SD its something we do and pay for a few hours. The attitude we already paid doesn't fit our thinking. Its like "why would we pay for a beach excursion when we can swim right on the ship" for free.

[cruzsnooze]

Keep in mind it's not really just $29 because you already paid about $10-$12 for the meal in the main dining room you aren't having.

[Viesczy]

4 bucks more per head won't kill me.

 

Well stated and quoted for truth.

 

Considering what a meal costs at land based "quality" restaurant, $29 is a steal!

 

What's the rub?

[shredie]

Did the Crab Shack price ($20) also go up?

 

Good question. Anyone know?

[Happy2cruise]

I have a question on the "free dinner" promotion. We have one for our cruise next week. Does anyone know if they assign the restaurant and night or do you have your choice if there is room?

When we had this promotion, upon embarkation we received a card in our room with the restauran, night and time. We just called the dine line immediately and changed the reservation to the restaurant and time we wanted.....no problem doing this. :)

[Astro Flyer]

Good question. Anyone know?

 

I'll know tomorrow. :D

[Ferndale Girl]

When we had this promotion, upon embarkation we received a card in our room with the restauran, night and time. We just called the dine line immediately and changed the reservation to the restaurant and time we wanted.....no problem doing this. :)

 

Thank you. That is what I wanted to know.

[shredie]

I'll know tomorrow. :D

 

We'll be waiting to hear! :)

[OCruisers]

Rather surprised Princess has not raised the cost of some specialty dining restaurants until now.

[keithm]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is Share?

 

Thanks

It's a concept rest. by Curtis Stone. We generally found his food rather boring & stuck to the standard menu.

[keithm]

Well stated and quoted for truth.

 

Considering what a meal costs at land based "quality" restaurant, $29 is a steal!

 

What's the rub?

Remember that "part" of the cost of your cruise is included in part of dining in a specialty rest. The upcharge is for the "supposed" increase in quality of the specialty rest. We found the food slightly better. Steaks used were no higher than "select" grade. The steak level on Celebrity in their specialty rest. is "choice" grade. I'm the buyer & part owner of our catering company. Trust me I know the difference between Select/Choice/Prime. The reason Celebrity is a lot higher in say..Murano, is the fact they use Choice grade. Of course the kitchen can ruin ANY grade of meat if done by unskilled hands. Also anyone who paid "full" price on Celebrity wasn't too bright! We usually got discounts of 30-45%.

[keithm]

I believe it's been Cargill's proprietary "Sterling Silver Beef" program at least since the Crown Grill concept was launched (I can't recall the Diamond/Sapphire that-which-is-now-Savoy-and-formerly Sterling off the top of my head).

 

Much like Certified Angus, it's not a grade, and it doesn't specify aging conditions. The beef is USDA *inspected*, but not necessarily USDA graded - they can make claims like "Only the top 20% of beef" (which would be Prime, Choice and the very top edge of Select), but they don't have to abide by some very technical points of USDA grading which are legal requirements for, say, Prime, but may not actually impact eating quality.

 

My problem with Crown is that I buy two types of beef at retail - either grass-fed local stuff (flavorful/beefy but lean/tough) or USDA Prime (Costco blows it out the door, and it's rich in flavor/fat), and I dry-age it and trim it for flavor and tenderness, not efficiency and the ability to hang out on a ship for extended periods of time. I adore the sides at CG, I love the fish, but the beef, to me, is roughly equal to what Costco or a better supermarket is selling, and not what a truly fine steakhouse is serving. It's wet-aged and the butchering is intended to get the most yield out of the primal.

 

I would love to see Princess do a program with loins and primal cuts hanging in one of the modern dry-aging systems, getting all delicious-looking, but the expense of doing dry aging right is enormous - 30% of the weight of the beef evaporates (moisture loss) and trim losses can be another 10-20% even with skilled meatcutters. So you buy a pound of fresh Prime for $10 and by the time it's all through, you have an 8 oz steak. That 16 oz New York requires a pound and a half of fresh beef, 28-42 days in an expensive gadget, perhaps five minutes of cleanup labor (assuming you're doing a whole New York striploin at a time and your meatcutter hasn't been doing this for a lifetime), and the numbers just cease to work.

Costco is definitely the best of the "box" stores when it comes to meat. I'm the buyer & part owner of our catering/food service business. I buy over $250K in meats, mostly at Restaurant Depot. We get mostly select & choice meats. We'll get prime when the special occasion calls for it(high cost weddings etc.) For Christmas we get a 20+LB Prime Rib Eye. We dry age it for about a month before Christmas & carefully trim it during the process. Needless to say Christmas is pretty popular!

[keithm]

This new price still pales next to some of the $50 per person specialty restaurants on Celebrity. I have no issue with that small increase and will happily pay it!

Only a fool pays FULL price on Celebrity. We always got 30-45% discounts when we went. We found the food FAR superior to Crown Grill/Sabatini's.

[keithm]

The food is not free at the other venues as you have paid for it in your fare.

The paid dinning fee is on top of your already paid MDR fee.

Thank you for clearing up what a lot of people on this blog don't seem to understand!

[keithm]

We have never, ever not been able to eat in the specialty dining establishments any time we have wanted. It always bewilders me when people speak of not being able to get a reservation? This includes our experience on the Regal.

Seems some haven't figured out how to do a reservation! We noticed many trying to get in, like walking off the street.(and getting PO'd when not admitted) Is it really that hard to call the night before?

[floridalover5623]

I hope everyone is going to increase they're tip accordingly. :rolleyes:

[keithm]

The devil is in the detail. With the multiple night packages, you get one night at Murano and the rest at the who-wants-to-go-there restaurants. Qsine is silly, Tuscan Grill is a bore.

Qsine is only silly to those who don't understand adventuresome dining. Tuscan was pretty good overall. Great lunch. Murano was the best since dining in the Queens Grill on Cunard.