Just went hot TRIO - THREE DISTINCT DINING EXPERIENCES

[annster31]

RIO - THREE DISTINCT DINING EXPERIENCES

Three distinct dining experiences ... Ocean Cay Seafood Restaurant, Asian Market and Butcher's Cut Steakhouse.
Ocean Cay is an exclusive venue offering signature seafood menu: sea bass, crab, clams. oysters and much more ... Asian Market Kitchen by Roy Yamaguchi is offering exquisite sushi, sashimi and tempura created by famous Chef Roy Yamaguchi, with much more to it at the row bar. Butchers' Cut is a unique parlor where the guests can choose their favorite beef breeds and cuts from our glass-fronted meat ageing fridges.
The package includes food only, a three-courses dinner to choose from the Dining Experience selection. Some items may be subject to extra charge. Day of booking to be confirmed on board.

Terms & Conditions: This package can be sold only to guests over 13 years old. Menus for children up to 12 years old are available on-board. No payment for the kids under 3 years.

Read less

 

We are staying in the Yacht club, this package just popped up today for June cruise on Seaview in Europe. Its $97 per person, I do believe My drink package(yacht club) is no good at these places. Anybody have good experiences ? When you get onboard where would i make the resv? Yacht club desk? Are there menus out there and are they clearly marked with the extra charge items? thank you

[Beamafar]

17 minutes ago, annster31 said:

RIO - THREE DISTINCT DINING EXPERIENCES

Three distinct dining experiences ... Ocean Cay Seafood Restaurant, Asian Market and Butcher's Cut Steakhouse.
Ocean Cay is an exclusive venue offering signature seafood menu: sea bass, crab, clams. oysters and much more ... Asian Market Kitchen by Roy Yamaguchi is offering exquisite sushi, sashimi and tempura created by famous Chef Roy Yamaguchi, with much more to it at the row bar. Butchers' Cut is a unique parlor where the guests can choose their favorite beef breeds and cuts from our glass-fronted meat ageing fridges.
The package includes food only, a three-courses dinner to choose from the Dining Experience selection. Some items may be subject to extra charge. Day of booking to be confirmed on board.

Terms & Conditions: This package can be sold only to guests over 13 years old. Menus for children up to 12 years old are available on-board. No payment for the kids under 3 years.

Read less

 

We are staying in the Yacht club, this package just popped up today for June cruise on Seaview in Europe. Its $97 per person, I do believe My drink package(yacht club) is no good at these places. Anybody have good experiences ? When you get onboard where would i make the resv? Yacht club desk? Are there menus out there and are they clearly marked with the extra charge items? thank you

 

The included drinks package in YC certainly is 'good' to use in the Speciality restaurants.  The 'Easy' drinks package does not cover SRs;  YC guests have the Premium drinks package included.

 

There is a limited menu on offer for this package - it's the same as the one for Black Card members of Voyagers' Club.  It's usually called 'Dining 'Experience' on the menu.  I have the menu for Butcher's Cut from Meraviglia in 2017  - it was the same on Splendida last year.  We've only eaten there and haven't tried the other places;  most reports on here have been very favourable for this restaurant - we've loved it each time we've been and plan on going again when on both Seaview and Meraviglia later this year.  We only chose from the Dining Experience menu each time as they were comped meals for being Black Card members:

 

 

The concierge in YC can make a reservation for you.

 

ETA ... I've just found an Ocean Cay menu:

 

OCEAN CAY MENU.pdf

Edited April 4, 2019 by Beamafar

[JPMoore]

How long is your cruise? I'd personally be inclined not to bother with the dining package. The food in the YC restaurant is wonderful, as is the freedom to dine in a private restaurant, and a big part of the experience of being in YC.

 

I found that booking just one speciality restaurant was enough. I did the teppanyaki as this was absolutely not something we could have experienced in the YC restaurant, and it was great!

 

We simply mentioned to the concierge that we wanted to try it on a night and time that a waitress we got on very well with on Divina was there. She organised it on our behalf. We later realised we couldn't do that night and after mentioning it in passing (whilst on the way to the maitre d' of the speciality restaurants) to the concierge she stopped us dead in our tracks and called right away for us.

 

'Darling ... I need you to do something for me. The boys, they want to dine tomorrow now - you'll do that for me won't you?'

 

All sorted!

Edited April 4, 2019 by JPMoore
Typo

[Até]

I agree with JPMoore, especially at that price.  I'd hate to miss three meals, four if you're Black card, in the YC dining room.  I was going to say buying the package at $97 barely saves over the individual prices.  Since when had Ocean Cay been $50?  Maybe if it was a long cruise not in the YC I'd consider it.

 

Reservations usually aren't a problem, especially if you have the concierge's services.

[kodesthemoose]

I am debating this too because we are on the Seaview in May, and I too just saw this package (after months of looking, with nothing posted...sigh) 

 

I found all of the dining experience menus here: https://www.cruisediary.de/msc-seaview-restaurants/ and it seems if you were to buy separately the cost would be 127 Euros (39 Euros at Butcher's Cut and the Asian restaurant, 49 Euros at Ocean Cay), or approx $140 USD, so I guess the $97 is a savings.  

 

We are also in YC and don't know if we want to skip YC dining. 

[Bossa Nova]

On 4/4/2019 at 5:26 PM, Até said:

I agree with JPMoore, especially at that price.  I'd hate to miss three meals, four if you're Black card, in the YC dining room.  I was going to say buying the package at $97 barely saves over the individual prices.  Since when had Ocean Cay been $50?  Maybe if it was a long cruise not in the YC I'd consider it.

 

Reservations usually aren't a problem, especially if you have the concierge's services.

You're so right that YC dining is not to be missed. Does MSC frown upon us giving our black card specialty restaurant vouchers to our non-YC friends?

[Dr. Cocktail]

Okay, I guess I'm going to be the outlier here but ....  while I sailed in the YC on Seaside three times this past year and have become a HUGE MSC cheerleader,  the YC restaurant, while extremely pleasant, is really no culinary destination. The beef is of astoundingly poor quality and there really is no rhyme or reason as  to what is good and what isn't.

 

The Specialty restaurants, however, for the $97 price (which includes the gratuity) are frankly, a steal.

 

Butcher's cut is very good and serves beef that you just don't get in the YC restaurant. Roy's Pan Asian is excellent and for an additional $20 for the two of us, we were able to try basically all of the appetizers and all of the different food "groups".

 

Ocean Cay ranks among the best of all of the specialty restaurants of our varied cruises - no lobster, shrimp or salmon but superb preparations of much more interesting seafood.

 

We also loved the different atmospheres and vibes of the restaurants ... and they're only steps away from the YC!

 

It's also quite interesting that the people who  are saying not to go to the Specialties haven't  actually  tried all or any of them ......

Edited April 6, 2019 by Dr. Cocktail

[8420PR]

6 hours ago, Bossa Nova said:

You're so right that YC dining is not to be missed. Does MSC frown upon us giving our black card specialty restaurant vouchers to our non-YC friends?

I'm not 100% sure that would work, as the paper voucher actually does nothing (i have never even brought it with me).  Always the waiter took my card and booked the black card meal electronically.

[Beamafar]

6 hours ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

 

It's also quite interesting that the people who  are saying not to go to the Specialties haven't  actually  tried all or any of them ......

 

... and most didn't even address the question - just gave unsolicited opinions on the YC restaurant.

[JPMoore]

I don’t think that giving opinions on the YC restaurant is necessarily unwarranted, as it’s one alternative to not going with the specialities.

 

I’d toyed with the idea of the trio dining package, but didn’t go for it in the end as I didn’t want to feel ‘tied-in’ to eating outside the YC on three occasions. Despite not being as good value, I liked the freedom to choose one or as many of the specialities whilst on board.

 

Agree that the atmosphere is very different - again I only ate in the Teppinayki as I felt this offered the most different experience (both culinary and showmanship) from the YC restaurant. As others have said, this may also be the case in the other speciality restaurants too.

[Beamafar]

JP ... I didn't say opinions were unwarranted - I said unsolicited.  The OP asked about menus and experiences in the Speciality Restaurants; I profferred an answer on both.

 

I do agree with the sentiments you've just expressed.

 

We're also on Seaview this Summer and thought about the trio package - it really is great value.  However, we are in YC and feel that the YC restaurant's ambiance and food offerings are fine for us - especially for a 7 night cruise.  We'll be going to Butcher's Cut (AGAIN) for our Black Card benefit, despite having never tried the other restaurants - it's just too good to pass up.

 

The one negative I have on the Trio is that you cannot change the restaurants - you must go to all 3 (unless you find a really good/nice manager that will accommodate you).  That doesn't suit everybody - especially when one restaurant is seafood orientated.

[Até]

I've dined in the Seaside's version of all the restaurants OP is asking about.  I've also dined in the YC restaurant and the MDR's.  I think OP also asked about personal experiences not just about the dining experience menu, and by specifically stating they were booked in YC I think respondents rightly inferred there was a comparison question asked.  My experience has been that the specialty restaurant's dining packages are not worth the cost for the additional benefit over the quality of food available in the YC restaurant.  To me this applies to all the specialty restaurants included in the dining package, but I'll pick on Roy's Asian then OC as least value and give Butcher's Cut the best of those three.  Sure there are some bad choices in the YC restaurant, send it back and get a recommendation from your waiter.  But the limitations imposed by the dining experience package in the specialty restaurants do not make the purchase of the packages comparatively worthwhile.  My last Butcher's cut meal was not as a paid package, but a Black card meal.  I ordered from the a' la carte menu for 50% off, that was a much better option where I would say in some ways the meal surpassed the YC.  I really could never justify paying $30 to $50 per person for the dining experience then paying another 50% of each item cost to get the items needed just to exceed what is already available to me since I've paid for the YC dining.

 

If the point is to break up one's dining experiences to include different venues and specific cuisine then the specialty restaurant package fits this for novelty.  If assigned to the MDR I can see people deciding on the specialty restaurant package as offering a step up in food quality, but even then not always.  But if the comparison is solely to the quality of the YC dining room I really don't see the value.  As with all things food, everyone has their own opinion based on their personal experiences.

[annster31]

Thank you for all the replies, thinking we will do the teppanaki one only.