Dining Other Than Main Dining Room

[OldtimerBill]

Hi All,

 

I plan to post this same message in the Celebrity and Holland America forums.

 

My wife and I just returned from a cruise on which we took our daughter and two teenage grandkids. We ate our evening meals in the main dining room and came away every night stuffed. We even tried splitting an entrée but that didn't help too much.

 

I am wondering how your non-main dining room experiences have been on Princess. I think we would be fine eating at the buffets, etc. and want to compare our options on these 3 lines.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

Bill in Woodstock, Georgia, USA

[Lady Arwen]

We sail primarily on Celebrity, Princess and HAL and we dine most nights in the MDR and never at the buffet.  I have only an appetizer and an entree and occasionally a dessert.  My DH usually adds a soup.  We don’t eat from the bread basket before dinner.  We never feel the need to eat all courses.  You control how much you eat.  Specialty restaurants offer numerous courses included in their price, so we tend to add a salad to the appetizer and entree and forego dessert, unless it’s really special and we share one.  You could always ask your waiter request smaller portions of each course.  You don’t have to eat til you feel stuffed!

[skynight]

You can eat as much as you like in any dining venue. DR meals on Princess are not over sized, but there are a number of courses.

Specialty dining tends to have larger portions.

Buffet* ask for as much or as little as you like. 

If your ship has Alfredo's* pizza they serve nice sized personal pizzas. There are also nice sandwiches, salads and desserts at the International Cafe* as well as pizza by the slice as well burgers, fries and other items at the grill* by the pools.

*these venues open most of time. Dine there most hours. 

[wowzz]

We have never come away stuffed when eating in the Princess MDR. Portions are small, especially the side dishes.  We normally ask for extra portions of vegetables and whatever potato dish is on offer.

[OldtimerBill]

Wowzz ... that is good to know. Of the three lines, we have never sailed on Princess.

[Honolulu Blue]

30 minutes ago, OldtimerBill said:

I am wondering how your non-main dining room experiences have been on Princess. I think we would be fine eating at the buffets, etc. and want to compare our options on these 3 lines.

 

I've only sailed once on Princess, on the Regal in December, so I don't have a lot of information.  I'll give you my impressions:

• Buffet - good food, messy experience.  Tried to avoid.
• Room service - good food (but limited menu), sizzling fast delivery (10-20 minutes from order to room delivery - thanks Medallion!)
• Grill - I had a burger and fries.  Both happened to be cooked while I watched.  More good food.

 

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To save you a bit of time and space, I'll tell you I liked my buffet experience on the Celebrity Summit a lot, both times I sailed on her (in 2017 and September 2021).  The food was especially notable - the best buffet food I've had at sea.

[Shelly97060]

Our last several cruises we have primarily done specialty dining and the buffet.  
 

Specialty dining is very good but tends to be a lot of food for us if we order all the courses.  I usually will skip the appetizer and soup/salad course. We think the food is very good in specialty dining rooms. 
 

The buffet no longer is self serve with the exception of small grab and go items. This is perfect for us because you can request as much or as little if something as you wish and the grab and go items tend to be small portions.  
 

The main dining room has moved to somewhat smaller portions but it’s still easy to feel very full if you eat all the courses or fill up on bread.  I tend to just order the entree and dessert. 
 

There are many food options besides the dining room: Pizza, burgers, hot dogs, street tacos ( some ships), pulled pork sandwiches up on Lido deck and International Cafe has panini, sandwiches, quiches, meat pies, salads, desserts. Room service has a limited menu of sandwiches, salads, burgers etc.
 

welcome to Princess.

[donswife]

I have been on HAL and Princess, and I prefer the variety of included food options on Princess.  The buffet usually has some of the MDR items,  and I loved the little pre-portioned options.  Sometimes I order 2 or 3 starters and skip the entrees, or indulge at afternoon tea and just get soup and salad for dinner. 

[Sea Hag]

On 2/25/2022 at 8:18 AM, OldtimerBill said:

Hi All,

 

I plan to post this same message in the Celebrity and Holland America forums.

 

My wife and I just returned from a cruise on which we took our daughter and two teenage grandkids. We ate our evening meals in the main dining room and came away every night stuffed. We even tried splitting an entrée but that didn't help too much.

 

I am wondering how your non-main dining room experiences have been on Princess. I think we would be fine eating at the buffets, etc. and want to compare our options on these 3 lines.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

Bill in Woodstock, Georgia, USA

If you go to the Crown Grill and like lamb, the lamb chops are a good choice for smaller appetites. And they're very delicious.

[deadzone1003]

Currently, the buffet is more variable than what one would expect.  If a ship is sailing with a small passenger count and most people are eating at the MDR, the buffet is not going to be that good because Princess will likely go to a more limited menu in the buffet to limit waste.  Of course, you can eat the Salty Dog Grill with hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tocos, and fries.   There is also Slice, the Lido deck pizzeria which will always have Pepperoni and Margarita pizzas (if they have Mexican pizza, give it a try).  On the other hand, if you have an Alfredo's or Gigi's, go there and design your own pizza with available ingredients.  I think at Vines, you can order sushi if one adult orders a glass of wine, but the sushi is an added cost.  Hey, you can go into the MDR and just order soup and the pasta of the day.  You order whatever size pasta dish you want.  You can also order a hamburger made with sirloin and put whatever is available in the kitchen.  Don't feel obligated to order a dish from every section of the menu.  You are not eating at someone's house and you feel obligated to eat, or at least, try to eat everything put in front of you.  You are paying for the food, so you eat as much or as little as you want.  All Princess wants or any other cruiseline want is that you will be not too wasteful.

[riffatsea]

It won't matter which venue you use

If you order a lot of food or take a lot from the buffet  then you will feel stuffed

It is not the venue. It is the amount of food you take

We eat dinner in the MDR and often take dessert to go to eat later in our cabin

We eat in the Crown Grill once each cruise and also may take dessert to go

We may eat lunch or breakfast in the buffet but never dinner