Is a 'Sale' cruise plus speciality dining the way to go?

[kira5]

Thinking back on our recent cruise to Alaska in August and reading other threads here, I've been wondering if the way to go is to get a good (reduced) price on the cruise itself and then book most/all dinners in a specialty restaurant. The food in the Main dining room of the N.A. was good, sometimes only okay, but I'd like to see if there's a more wow experience to be had.

 

Now that we're retired we can travel on short notice at almost any time so the last minute deals are available to us.

 

Does anyone approach cruise dining this way?

[Krazy Kruizers]

As we like certain cabins, we book cruises many months in advance.

But as to dinner -- the last few years we have had all dinners in the specialty restaurants. My DH is not a picky eater, but looking at the menus many times, he hasn't been impressed with what is offered.

[cbr663]

Limited dining options on a HAL ship can make for some challenging dining options.

 

We also avail of specialty dining options whenever we can. We do not enjoy the MDR at all and try to avoid it as much as we can. But, recent cut backs have limited our options.

 

For breakfast, we almost always chose room service. Changes to the room service menu has almost all but destroyed that option.

 

Lunch was either dining in the Tamarind or PG or Lido. The elimination of the lunch menu at the Tamarind and the limited menu options at the PG usually mean selecting the Lido, pizza or burgers.

 

Dinner was usually specialty dining or room service sometimes from the MDR.

 

We have made it work in the past, but with us now looking to longer cruises and the changes to the breakfast room service menu, I must admit that I am seeking out other cruise lines. YMMV.

[cruisemom42]

Not to mention that, except for Koningsdam, HAL ships do not have many specialty restaurants to offer.

 

If one is a more adventurous eater, Pinnacle Grill isn't very exciting. Not a huge steak fan and other options are limited. Some ships have Tamarind, which is delightful. But other than that....? (I am not even going to mention Canaletto, which is an interesting idea in theory but in practice I've heard more complaints than kudos.)

 

Personally, I'd rather have a lower category cabin on a ship that has lovely public spaces and good dining options than have a balcony or suite on a ship without those options. Kinda like the old saying about buying the smallest house on a better street rather than a big house on a not-so-great street....

[take us away]

Have done the almost last minute sale cruises and often had little problem booking into the specialty restaurants after boarding. Now and again we were not able to get the day or exact time we wanted but no worries. The MDR usually has something for us each night.

[CaveDiving]

Thinking back on our recent cruise to Alaska in August and reading other threads here, I've been wondering if the way to go is to get a good (reduced) price on the cruise itself and then book most/all dinners in a specialty restaurant. The food in the Main dining room of the N.A. was good, sometimes only okay, but I'd like to see if there's a more wow experience to be had.

 

Now that we're retired we can travel on short notice at almost any time so the last minute deals are available to us.

 

Does anyone approach cruise dining this way?

 

Sometimes I get the impression that I may be the only person that actually enjoys eating in the MDR. We enjoy talking with our tablemates and the food is just fine for us. Based on our Mariner status, we are given multiple dinners in the Pinnacle for each cruise. We do not bother to use most of them. I think if I ate in the Pinnacle every day , I’d come home with a case of gout.

 

Scott & Karen

[ski ww]

We cruise because of the itinerary, then ship. Not a great fan of any of the speciality dining. We find the food in the MDR is always great. We enjoy our table mates & the conversation at dinner each night.

Allan

[Ken the cruiser]

We cruise because of the itinerary, then ship. Not a great fan of any of the speciality dining. We find the food in the MDR is always great. We enjoy our table mates & the conversation at dinner each night.

Allan

 

We agree completely as we have always enjoyed open seating in the MDR and the food has always been quite tasty. However, if we really feel like spoiling ourselves and going on a "foodie" cruise, we'll book one of Crystal's cheaper cruises or maybe one on Oceania or Regent and truly wine and dine ourselves. On those cruises to us it's more about the food than the itinerary. However, we recently found a cruise on the Amazon River where both Crystal and Regent were very comparable in price as to going on the Prinsendam. So sometimes it's not "only" about the food. But when all is said and done, HAL has always been our first choice because of their wonderful itineraries!

[antique sailor]

Sometimes I get the impression that I may be the only person that actually enjoys eating in the MDR. We enjoy talking with our tablemates and the food is just fine for us. Based on our Mariner status, we are given multiple dinners in the Pinnacle for each cruise. We do not bother to use most of them. I think if I ate in the Pinnacle every day , I’d come home with a case of gout.

 

Scott & Karen

 

AHOY SHIPMATES,

Hi SCOTT and KAREN, I too LIKE the MDR on a regular basis and enjoy meeting our tablemates. I never fail to use my freebees in the Pinnace tho,

my favorite is the filet mignon but even that more than once a week would be too much. Their Pizza still needs help and I prefer to build my own hamburger but waiting a half hour for it ain't to my liking. Nothing is purrfect but I always go home a little heavier. Please save room for us in the PRES Club, We should hit 1300 days this year and be eligible by the end of next yr.

Edited October 22, 2016 by antique sailor
typos

[kazu]

We like to alternate the dining with some specialty dining but would not be able to eat in specialty restaurants every night.

 

since we have been doing longer cruises it's nice to switch up so we plan on specialty dining around once every 7 days.

 

We also like the Cellar Master and Master Chef dinner and if one of them conflicts, we just cancel one of our reservations once we are on board.

[Hlitner]

We do a lot of alternate dining on Celebrity...or Aqua Class (which has its own small restaurant). But most of the HAL ships we cruise only have PG and Canelleto. We are very unimpressed with the PG and dinner time (even at half price) and usually just settle for the MDR. In fact we will soon qualify for free dinners in the PG and I might have to really twist DWs arm to get her to go (for free). Would love to try Taramind but never seem to be on a vessel with that venue. As to Canelleto, we usually go there once per cruise...even if its a 60 day cruise :). It is a nice change....but nothing special. We have never understood HAL's philosophy regarding dinners at the PG. The menu is really very ordinary and, at best, it is like a mediocre steak house. Some other lines have done a great job with innovative menus/concepts that rival the best restaurants ashore (Murano on Celebrity often rises to this level). But HAL seems to stick to their old formula of decent (not great) cuts of meat, near tasteless lobster tails (why not have real whole Maine lobster) etc. And some of their dishes like the Lobster Bisque and molten lava cake have been on the menu forever. And by the way, when they changed from Sterling beef to the current provider...the quality of beef declined. If this same meat were served in a decent land-based steak house...they would not survive.

 

Hank