How many nights do you eat in specialty rstaurants on your cruise?

[Hoopster95]

From now on minimum 4 times on a 7 night sailing. Most recently 5 nights on Harmony.

[Big_G]

Depends on the ship:

- Non-Oasis Class: usually 2 nights on a 7 nighter

- Oasis Class: usually 3 nights in a specialty and 4 in CK on a 7 nighter

- Celebrity S. Class: usually 3 nights on a 7 nighter

[Erwin Family @ Sea]

We have never eaten at a specialty restaurant! We always intend to make a res. once on board, but we usually have such a great time in MD we don't. I can not tell you how many table mates have cancelled other dining and had some laughs in the MD with us. Yep, we are usually "that" table;}

[OCruisers]

On RCCL ships for a 7 day cruise we go specialty restaurants 6 of the 7 nights because we a very fond of the specialty restaurants on RCCL. :hearteyes:

[Clarea]

Probably 4 on Oasis. Usually zero on other classes.

[spookwife]

Usually 3-4. At least once we make a meal out of the appetizer selection in the Concierge lounge and once on the Promenade. Then whatever is left is MDR

 

 

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[oneputt18]

Sailed Equinox in December and had Ultimate Dining Package, every night and sea day lunches.

 

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[Ourusualbeach]

5-6 nights in a specialty and 1-2 in the WJ. Went to the MDR once on our January cruise and we were quickly reminded why we had stayed away.

[Missusdubbya]

Maybe once.

 

We used to go more often (higher costs dissuade us now)

[TonyL128]

Since our Thanksgiving dinner fiasco on the Anthem in the MDR in 2015, we have not been in the MDR since. We tend to eat at Coastal Kitchen, Chops and Wonderland (if available). We want to enjoy our cruises and we enjoy the Specialty restaurants.

 

 

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[thrifty99]

Oasis class - every night. We had found the MDR to be too hectic / slow service so we started trying out the specialty restaurants. We really enjoyed the more relaxed dinner experience and now can't go back to the MDR.

[MrYellowDuck]

We eat at a speciality restaurant every night. We've only had one MDR experience and that was enough. RCL has very attractive pricing and once we add on the extras for things like a decent evening meal we still come out ahead versus other options.

[Chickpea19]

I'm on Anthem now and this is our first RCCL cruise, after doing an NCL cruise about a decade ago. I found the NCL MDR enjoyable so long ago, so had similar expectations this time around. Unfortunately, our experience thus far has been so very poor in the MDR and Windjammer (aka, Wind-jampacked-er!). Everything is so loud and hectic. We can't eat together in the windjammer because it's so busy - my husband has to take our 3-year-old to find a table while I get his food; by the time I'm back with my food after waiting in all the lines and navigating the crowd, my son is done eating and my husband hasn't even gotten a chance to get his food yet! The MDR was so loud we couldn't hear ourselves think. And it took 30 minutes and three requests to get my son a glass of milk. Servers are clearly trying, but can't keep up. Food quality was bad. It's obvious they are starting with low quality ingredients and trying to make up for lack of flavor with salt and meat tenderizers - and not terribly successfully, I might add.

I've just upgraded our specialty restaurant meal plan to four nights. Pricing isn't too bad with one of the packages. Seems to be necessary now to get decent food and service on RCCL ship, I guess. Now I know.

For those with kids, 5 and under eat free and others are only $10 each.

[EeyoreFan1967]

I'm on Anthem now and this is our first RCCL cruise, after doing an NCL cruise about a decade ago. I found the NCL MDR enjoyable so long ago, so had similar expectations this time around. Unfortunately, our experience thus far has been so very poor in the MDR and Windjammer (aka, Wind-jampacked-er!). Everything is so loud and hectic. We can't eat together in the windjammer because it's so busy - my husband has to take our 3-year-old to find a table while I get his food; by the time I'm back with my food after waiting in all the lines and navigating the crowd, my son is done eating and my husband hasn't even gotten a chance to get his food yet! The MDR was so loud we couldn't hear ourselves think. And it took 30 minutes and three requests to get my son a glass of milk. Servers are clearly trying, but can't keep up. Food quality was bad. It's obvious they are starting with low quality ingredients and trying to make up for lack of flavor with salt and meat tenderizers - and not terribly successfully, I might add.

I've just upgraded our specialty restaurant meal plan to four nights. Pricing isn't too bad with one of the packages. Seems to be necessary now to get decent food and service on RCCL ship, I guess. Now I know.

For those with kids, 5 and under eat free and others are only $10 each.

 

Oh, yikes this is scary. I will be on Anthem in a few months and everything I have heard recently has given me hope that things had been improving!

 

We have never done specialty dining but have only sailed on a few cruises. This time I booked the BOGO offer because it was only $30 for two nights and sounded like a great deal. I would have preferred to do first and last nights but understand we have to do the first 2. Now I understand why they do it that way. You taste the specialties, and there's still availability because most other passengers haven't realized how bad the MDR is yet... then you try the MDR...then you're willing to open the wallet for the up-charge to return to the specialties!

 

ETA : have you considered trying Solarium Bistro? We have reservation there 1 night.

Edited March 28, 2017 by EeyoreFan1967

[BillOh]

Since we usually cruise around our anniversary, we go to Chops that night. After 2009 we pretty much stopped going 100% on formal night, so rather than wear shorts and flip flops to the MDR, we will go smart casual at the specialty ones.

[leaveitallbehind]

For the past few years we eat at the specialty restaurants most if not every night with the exception being if there are only a couple of specialty restaurants on board. Then we will try to limit the MDR to just a couple of nights and will look at the Windjammer or Johnny Rockets as an alternative.

[George C]

Sailed Equinox in December and had Ultimate Dining Package, every night and sea day lunches.

 

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I like this, wish RCCL had same thing

[JTBCruiser]

Never unless our TA gives it as one of our perks.

[smtcan]

We usually cruise with Celebrity and do not have a problem with the MDR. We may eat in a specialty restaurant once on a cruise, usually if we get a good deal. Reading the comments I am not feeling too confident about our upcoming Royal Caribbean cruise. We'll decide after the first couple of nights.

[cruisetimeforme]

I've done the Ultimate dining with Celebrity probably on 7 different cruises, and loved it. It's my understanding they've done away with this Ultimate package and have changed to a set price for x amount of nights. You can dine as many times as you wish in whatever restaurant you choose during the cruise. Lunches are no longer included in the pricing either. With Ultimate there was a limit to the number of people they'd allow to purchase this package, often very few. The old way, they'd tell you what restaurants and how many nights you'd dine in each depending on the package you bought.

[drummerdavebmth]

We usually go to 2-3 speciality restaurants per cruise.......We quite like to MDR experience, although we do enjoy a few extra special dinning experiences too (and try and plan them after we've been at a particularly special port of call)

 

Here's the speciality restaurants we've experienced so far...

 

Indy, 8 night cruise (Norway) - Giovanni's Table, Chops Grille

Liberty, 7 night cruise (Western Med) - Portofino, Chops Grille

Serenade, 12 night cruise (Med & Adriatic) - Izumi, Giovanni's Table, Chops Grille

Ovation, 8 night cruise (3 night Pre-Inaugural...Holland + 5 night Inaugural..France, Belgium) - Jamie's Italian, Chops Grille

 

When we do our 9 night Greek Isles cruise next year, we'll probably do 2-3 nights in speciality restaurants again.

 

We do like to enjoy the MDR experience for the first couple of nights though (we like to look forward to the speciality restaurants so spread them out through the cruise).

[MaxYield]

What is "First Night Done Right"? Is it half off the specialty restaurant dining charge? Can you book ahead of time or do you have to book upon embarkation?

[sunlover12]

Our last Royal Caribbean cruise was on Independence and we went to Chops and Giovanni's one time each. Both were very good, especially Giovanni's. When you consider the total cost of the cruise, the relatively small upcharge in the specialties makes it worth it. The other 5 nights we were in the MDR. The service and the food in the specialities are definitely better. The MDR is just okay and the menu was very limited if you'd rather eat seafood. We're on the Harmony in May and with all the restaurant choices on it, we may never eat in the MDR.

[meatloafsfan]

On our last Royal cruise - 3 out of 6 nights.

On our last Celebrity cruise - 0 out of 9 nights.

On our last few Carnival cruises - 0 out of 7, 0 out of 7, 0 out of 21, 0 out of 14.

 

It's just on Royal that I feel the need to upgrade our dining experience.

[SeagoingMom]

Our last cruise on Celebrity, the MDR experience was awful. After two nights we ate in specialities the rest of the cruise. The service was that bad. Spent at least $500 more than planned due to that.

 

We are off on Allure for spring break. Have 2 specialty nights booked, and might do more if the MDR experience isn't good!

 

Pretty much each night of the cruise. Enjoy trying out all the new ones available as the opportunity arises. We plan on spending the additional cost once we book our cruise since we enjoy the experience. Just don't care for the MDR atmosphere anymore. We usually do have a breakfast and a lunch in there throughout the week though. Anything other than the buffet, dread that place

I can't help but wonder whether the cruiseline isn't strategizing to create an unpleasant experience in the MDR so passengers will have this exact reaction and therefore be motivated to spend the extra money to eat in the specialty restaurants -- just as the above posters did.