Cucina and Other Free Specialty Restaurants on Mardi Gras - Reservations?

[djcass4199]

We are sailing on Mardi Gras July 9 and i assume that Cucina and some of the other specialty restaurants will still be free at that time. In the past, I have not minded paying to dine in these locations since it keeps the crowds down since it's a pay to eat restaurant. Can anyone who has sailed Mardi Gras recently tell me if these restaurants being free has impacted getting a table in these restaurants? We love Cucina and make it a point to dine there and hope we can get a table at least 1 night.

[firefly333]

I thought they stopped being free may 1st, but maybe that was just when prices increased. 

[Caps_Shield]

7 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I thought they stopped being free may 1st, but maybe that was just when prices increased. 

That was proven to be false, they are not charging starting May 1st.

[Knights on the Beach]

8 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I thought they stopped being free may 1st, but maybe that was just when prices increased. 

According to John Heald, that was incorrect info.

 

We were on Mardi Gras in December and March and had no trouble getting a table at either Cucina or Chibang as long as we checked in on the app early. The wait times got longer the later you waited.  No check in on the app is required at Pig & Anchor, just walk up to the hostess stand and request a table.

[djcass4199]

39 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

According to John Heald, that was incorrect info.

 

We were on Mardi Gras in December and March and had no trouble getting a table at either Cucina or Chibang as long as we checked in on the app early. The wait times got longer the later you waited.  No check in on the app is required at Pig & Anchor, just walk up to the hostess stand and request a table.

 

I wonder if this has changed any since December. I don't know if Carnival has increased capacity or not lately, but I assume they are getting closer to pre-pandemic levels. 

[csm5986142]

9 minutes ago, djcass4199 said:

I wonder if this has changed any since December. I don't know if Carnival has increased capacity or not lately, but I assume they are getting closer to pre-pandemic levels. 

 

We were on Mardi Gras 2 weeks ago, had YTD, and same, as long as we checked in early on the app had no trouble getting a table at either of them (10 minute wait max). It definitely got busier though as it got later.

It was spring break and the ship was full.

[Knights on the Beach]

32 minutes ago, djcass4199 said:

 

I wonder if this has changed any since December. I don't know if Carnival has increased capacity or not lately, but I assume they are getting closer to pre-pandemic levels. 

 

We were just on last month 3/12 - 3/19 and I believe we had over 5900.

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, djcass4199 said:

We are sailing on Mardi Gras July 9 and i assume that Cucina and some of the other specialty restaurants will still be free at that time. In the past, I have not minded paying to dine in these locations since it keeps the crowds down since it's a pay to eat restaurant. Can anyone who has sailed Mardi Gras recently tell me if these restaurants being free has impacted getting a table in these restaurants? We love Cucina and make it a point to dine there and hope we can get a table at least 1 night.

You have not indicated whether you're on Your time dining but if you are then there's no issues getting into Chibang or Cucina. I'm 9n the ship now and it's full capacity and with YTD there's absolutely no issues getting a table at either restaurant. 

[djcass4199]

7 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

You have not indicated whether you're on Your time dining but if you are then there's no issues getting into Chibang or Cucina. I'm 9n the ship now and it's full capacity and with YTD there's absolutely no issues getting a table at either restaurant. 

We are YTD and that's all we will do going forward on any cruises. 

[kwokpot]

9 minutes ago, djcass4199 said:

We are YTD and that's all we will do going forward on any cruises. 

Great to hear. The veal marsala is very good,love the crispy potatoes side dish. The linguine with clams is good but not in a white sauce,sort of a red sauce so different but tasty. Always enjoy the bowties with cream sauce and pistachios. The fettuccine Carbonara is tasty. Dessert the apple crostata is excellent.

In Chibang we usually have the Chinese selections and the beef with broccoli and kung pao chicken is spicy but very good. Chibang is very noisy but the chairs are very comfy.

Edit: Had pizza AND a panini today for lunch and both was excellent! 

Edited April 20, 2022 by kwokpot

[cruises42]

6 hours ago, kwokpot said:

You have not indicated whether you're on Your time dining but if you are then there's no issues getting into Chibang or Cucina. I'm 9n the ship now and it's full capacity and with YTD there's absolutely no issues getting a table at either restaurant. 

Do you know if there are issues at around 7 PM?

[siestakeys04]

We are sailing December what are the reservation policy if you have set dining? I want to make reservations for some specialty restaurants 

[AtSeaWithChris]

3 hours ago, cruises42 said:

Do you know if there are issues at around 7 PM?

We were on march 5-12 and had 30-70 minute wait times for dining reservations for MDR or specialty restaurants around 7 pm. The first elegant night we had an 80 minute wait for the MDR. 

[AtSeaWithChris]

1 hour ago, siestakeys04 said:

We are sailing December what are the reservation policy if you have set dining? I want to make reservations for some specialty restaurants 

If you have early dining you have to wait until after 7:30 to book Chibang and Cucina del Capitano 

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, cruises42 said:

Do you know if there are issues at around 7 PM?

It all depends on your individual sailing.  There is no rhyme or reason as to the demand on a certain venue on a given evening.  I will tell you that you should try to skew eating as early as you can for dinner on night two, the first cruise elegant night.  YTD started at 500 instead of the normal 530 on the MG in February when we had 5000 on board.

[kwokpot]

13 hours ago, cruises42 said:

Do you know if there are issues at around 7 PM?

On our current cruise there hasn't been any issues reserving Chibang or Cucina around 7.  I would recommend requesting a table at 6:45 rather than right at 7. Wait times have been around 10-15 minutes. On the 1st night we dined at Cucina and someone came around asking if we wanted to make advanced dinner reservations for the following night at Chibang,since it was the 1st Elegant Night and all the restaurants will be busy. We said of course and was able to get our preferred 7pm dining time. I thought it was a great idea that they were proactively trying to minimize Elegant Night reservation issues. Lobster is served at both Chibang and Cucina on Elegant Night.

[cruises42]

20 hours ago, AtSeaWithChris said:

We were on march 5-12 and had 30-70 minute wait times for dining reservations for MDR or specialty restaurants around 7 pm. The first elegant night we had an 80 minute wait for the MDR. 

Wow, that is crazy!

[cruises42]

11 hours ago, kwokpot said:

On our current cruise there hasn't been any issues reserving Chibang or Cucina around 7.  I would recommend requesting a table at 6:45 rather than right at 7. Wait times have been around 10-15 minutes. On the 1st night we dined at Cucina and someone came around asking if we wanted to make advanced dinner reservations for the following night at Chibang,since it was the 1st Elegant Night and all the restaurants will be busy. We said of course and was able to get our preferred 7pm dining time. I thought it was a great idea that they were proactively trying to minimize Elegant Night reservation issues. Lobster is served at both Chibang and Cucina on Elegant Night.

Thanks!

[cruises42]

20 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

It all depends on your individual sailing.  There is no rhyme or reason as to the demand on a certain venue on a given evening.  I will tell you that you should try to skew eating as early as you can for dinner on night two, the first cruise elegant night.  YTD started at 500 instead of the normal 530 on the MG in February when we had 5000 on board.

Thanks!

[cruises42]

On 4/21/2022 at 10:48 AM, kwokpot said:

On our current cruise there hasn't been any issues reserving Chibang or Cucina around 7.  I would recommend requesting a table at 6:45 rather than right at 7. Wait times have been around 10-15 minutes. On the 1st night we dined at Cucina and someone came around asking if we wanted to make advanced dinner reservations for the following night at Chibang,since it was the 1st Elegant Night and all the restaurants will be busy. We said of course and was able to get our preferred 7pm dining time. I thought it was a great idea that they were proactively trying to minimize Elegant Night reservation issues. Lobster is served at both Chibang and Cucina on Elegant Night.

Do you know if the suggested dress code for Cuccina and Chibang on elegant night is "elegant" or is more casual attire OK? I know people say wear whatever you want but if it is suggested/expected to wear "elegant" then we always do. This trip I really didn't want to bring more formal clothes so I wanted to make sure casual is OK for the other restaurants (we will not go to the main dining room).

[kwokpot]

1 minute ago, cruises42 said:

Do you know if the suggested dress code for Cuccina and Chibang on elegant night is "elegant" or is more casual attire OK? I know people say wear whatever you want but if it is suggested/expected to wear "elegant" then we always do. This trip I really didn't want to bring more formal clothes so I wanted to make sure casual is OK for the other restaurants (we will not go to the main dining room).

This cruise the passenger dress has been all the place. But even on Elegant Night there have been many,many people wearing shorts,tshirts and flipflops coming into Chibang and Cucina. I wouldn't worry about dress codes at this point. If you wear clean t-shirt and jeans no one is going to say anything. No need for a collared button shirt.

[cruises42]

7 hours ago, kwokpot said:

This cruise the passenger dress has been all the place. But even on Elegant Night there have been many,many people wearing shorts,tshirts and flipflops coming into Chibang and Cucina. I wouldn't worry about dress codes at this point. If you wear clean t-shirt and jeans no one is going to say anything. No need for a collared button shirt.

I just didn't want to feel our of place. Like I said, when elegant wear is suggested that is what we wear. I was hoping that the other restaurants didn't expect you to wear elegant clothes. We just wanted to wear what we do on other nights (me nice slacks and top or sundress and husband slacks and Hawaiian shirt).

[SNJCruisers]

13 minutes ago, cruises42 said:

 We just wanted to wear what we do on other nights (me nice slacks and top or sundress and husband slacks and Hawaiian shirt).

You will be just fine and between you and your DH, you'll be better dressed than many.