Pros/cons to specialty dining on 1st night?!

[Pier290]

Aside of the cost being 33% cheaper.....has anyone dined in specialty dining on the 1st night??    I'm worried it might be "lacking" since it's the first chaotic night of our cruise?? Or maybe not??   The main dining room is always a bit disheveled if u will on the first cruising night.

.so thinking of reserving specialty dining.......???

[Jim_Iain]

I think  you hit it right on the top of the nail.   All restaurants are crazy the first night as everyone gets seated and accustomed to their dining room.    I've eaten at Specialties on the first night and they seem to flow really nicely and pretty similar to any other night.   You might be able to negotiate a better deal on the first night if they aren't selling well. 

 

I think on the first night the waiters, wine stewards nd assistant waiters are busy learning the needs of their guest and probably have to explain more about how the menu's work.  After the first night it seems it all falls back into place.  

[jelayne]

Pros:  

first night is discounted in the Cruise Planner and you can book before you board the ship

avoids the hectic first night in the dining rooms

starts the  Cruise with a relaxed, delicious dinner

 

Cons:  one that I can think of 

 

[keesar]

Pros:  

You avoid the chaos, especially in Blu.  We. rarely eat in Blu on the first night.

 The first night is often discounted by 20-30 percent.

  Specialty Restaurants usually run as normal.

 

Con:

You will miss out meeting your dining companions.

On the first night, filet mignon is often served and it is one of the better meals.

[lnuzzo]

Our last cruise we opted to have dinner in Murano at the discounted rate.  Since we weren’t in Aquaclass, and were trying to switch our dining time, it worked out perfectly, and was our dining splurge.

[TMLAalum]

We've done specialty dining on the first night in both the Tuscan Grill and Murano. The discounted prices are a plus but, with the advent of select dining, having dinner in a specialty avoids the crush of getting a table if not already reserved. Plus with muster drill, roll call gatherings at the Sunset Bar it's nice to know you have a reserved time and a nice dinner to look forward to at a specialty.

[Fogfog]

Few drawbacks if any

 

We'll chose Murano "every might of the week and twice on Sundays" as they say

 

Happy Sailing

[OCruisers]

The time we like taking advantage of this is when we are on a B2B and it's the first night of our second leg.  

[DENIE]

Based on the advice of others here at CC, we sought out someone to sell us a 1st night meal at a specialty restaurant.  We were able to get 30% off at Murano.  We eliminated the first night chaos of the MDR, although we really do love the MDR.  No regrets at all! Enjoyed Murano so much we booked it for the last night of the cruise as the celebration of an awesome 9 days!

[mahdnc]

One occasional advantage for booking a specialty restaurant on the first night is if you have early seating and the resulting dining time conflicts with your ability to enjoy the ship's sailaway.

[screwsmcernst]

We have a reservation for Tuscan Grille on the first night of our cruise.  I have a food allergy. Usually we go speak to the Maitre D when we get on the ship to make sure we are all on the same page.  I will let him know that we will not be in the MDR the first night and that we will be in the specialty restaurant.   Should I then go speak to someone at the Tuscan Grille? or will they have gluten free options on their menu as well?

[Luvcrusn]

We do Murano the first night of every cruise (now only on S-class ships sadly). It's a lovely way to start a cruise and it avoids the first night struggles in the MDR or Blu where new passengers are meeting the dining staff for the first time and getting settled. It also has the added benefit of offering the best prices one is likely to see for the duration of the cruise.  It's a small venue where the staff is used to diners visiting only a few times per cruise and as such offers a much more calm, relaxed, and quiet atmosphere than the main dining venues.  Win, win!

[DENIE]

5 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

We do Murano the first night of every cruise (now only on S-class ships sadly).

 

After our wonderful experience on our last cruise, I think we will do the same whenever we sail an S-Class ship!  🙂

[ChuckL]

A lot of us from our Roll Call are doing  Sail Away at the Sunset Bar on the Reflection. We already had purchased a 4 Night Specialty Dining package and were not going to choose the Lawn Club Grill as one of our 4 dinners. When the first night specialty discounts became available, we decided it would be worth purchasing it for The Lawn Club Grill and be able to just walk a few feet from our Sail Away to an early outdoor 6 pm dinner. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun and has had a lot of recommendations on the forums lately. We’ll do the more formal specialty restaurants later on our 11 night cruise. 

[chemmo]

Whilst Murano’s remains our favourite restaurant it is a tradition for us to dine in Tuscan first night.....It is the restaurant where you can see the waves, sky and the port slowly drifting away. It sort of sets the scene of escaping the worries and cares of real life and moving into the fantasy of cruise life...We usually book as it opens so it isn’t dark but will slowly move to nightfall as we leisurely dine. 

 

No cons whatsoever....

[Mimiya11]

We did it last cruise with no regret whatsoever.  Discount helped and we too avoided the first night of Blu being inundated with people wanting to eat at the same time.   

 

Agree there are no cons at all.    

[jagoffee]

8 hours ago, chemmo said:

Whilst Murano’s remains our favourite restaurant it is a tradition for us to dine in Tuscan first night.....It is the restaurant where you can see the waves, sky and the port slowly drifting away. It sort of sets the scene of escaping the worries and cares of real life and moving into the fantasy of cruise life...We usually book as it opens so it isn’t dark but will slowly move to nightfall as we leisurely dine. 

 

No cons whatsoever....

Per some of you previously comments on other threads, this has become our standard procedure.  We love it.

[ccotting]

We once went to a speciality restaurant on the first night only to find our dining room table assignment had been given away since we were not there that first night.  The next night we were offered a table space with a large group of people who spoke a different language than English. One we couldn’t speak unfortunately.  It was not a happy moment and not assisted by the Maître D who kept saying “This isn’t supposed to happen”.   We were finally settled at a table in the area for my time dining although we had had a regular time assignment and were happy with the table but we haven’t done first night speciality restaurant ever since.

[alishac]

We always do specialty dining on the first night. It's a way to mark the start of vacation in a special way and avoid the chaos of the first night in the regular dining rooms.

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Per some of you previously comments on other threads, this has become our standard procedure.  We love it.

 

Sometimes you wonder if others read your posts....We always try to respond to new/old questions with the enthusiasm we did  the first time.....Next time we cruise in Tuscan (September) we will drink to your, and the OPs health and happiness! So pleased others find this location such a wonderful place for the first night of a magical adventure....

Edited February 6, 2019 by chemmo

[snyniew]

I've had the best luck getting better discounts on the first night by going directly to the restaurant & talking to the people there or Maiter'D than the people walking around trying to sell specialty dinners. Usually can get 30% vs their standard offer of 20%.

[jagoffee]

3 hours ago, chemmo said:

 

Sometimes you wonder if others read your posts....We always try to respond to new/old questions with the enthusiasm we did  the first time.....Next time we cruise in Tuscan (September) we will drink to your, and the OPs health and happiness! So pleased others find this location such a wonderful place for the first night of a magical adventure....

Very nice of you.  Thank you.

[Diamond lover]

17 hours ago, ChuckL said:

A lot of us from our Roll Call are doing  Sail Away at the Sunset Bar on the Reflection. We already had purchased a 4 Night Specialty Dining package and were not going to choose the Lawn Club Grill as one of our 4 dinners. When the first night specialty discounts became available, we decided it would be worth purchasing it for The Lawn Club Grill and be able to just walk a few feet from our Sail Away to an early outdoor 6 pm dinner. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun and has had a lot of recommendations on the forums lately. We’ll do the more formal specialty restaurants later on our 11 night cruise. 

That sounds absolutely ideal!  Good planning.

[Luvcrusn]

9 hours ago, ccotting said:

We once went to a speciality restaurant on the first night only to find our dining room table assignment had been given away since we were not there that first night.  The next night we were offered a table space with a large group of people who spoke a different language than English. One we couldn’t speak unfortunately.  It was not a happy moment and not assisted by the Maître D who kept saying “This isn’t supposed to happen”.   We were finally settled at a table in the area for my time dining although we had had a regular time assignment and were happy with the table but we haven’t done first night speciality restaurant ever since.

That's unfortunate. Whenever we've had dining in the MDR we always to there immediately upon boarding and see the maître d to be certain that our dining requests have been met to our liking, check to see the location of our table (we always request a table for 2 unless we're sailing with friends, and then request accordingly) and let the maître d know we're doing a specialty that night. We've never had a problem. I'd suggest that strategy to prevent what happened to you from happening again.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Many good reasons have been given above to eat in a premium restaurant on the first night.  We have eaten in the Lawn Grill on several cruises the first night and Murano the first night last December. We have never had a reason to regret our choice. Our main reason for doing that is we have the rest of the cruise to work off the calories consumed in those restaurants. 

 

Unlike most people here, Hubby and I no longer eat in the MDR on cruises, preferring the quiet of the Ocean View buffet and the greater selection of food, plus we can go when we want and leave when we want and just eat a very light dinner. We use the first night of the cruise to indulge and then eat a very light meal the rest of the cruise about six PM in the buffet. This is not for everyone, I know. The few passengers in the buffet most nights is ample evidence that most people do not want to do what we do.