Extras at Britannia Restaurant

[LB_NJ]

Occasionally I will order an extra appetizer and maybe once a cruise an extra entree.  Is this a problem, is there an extra charge?

[rakkor]

The only problem is everything gets a little tighter every day, I have been known to indulge in a second dessert or maybe cheese and biscuits if the fancy takes me.. No charge

Edited September 30, 2022 by rakkor

[Se1lad]

It’s fine to ask for extras, though if you are on a shared table just make sure you don’t delay the serving of the next course for the other table guests.  
 

On my last TA we were chatting to someone who was on a large shared table.  One couple on the table asked for an extra starter and main, and told the other table guests it would be the height of rudeness if they didn’t wait for them to finish.  It took them so long that there was no time for anyone on the table to have dessert before the later dining started.  The couple who had the extra starters and mains didn’t think it was a problem as they didn’t want dessert anyway!  Suffice to say the person I was talking to requested a different table for the following night!

[carlmm]

9 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

Occasionally I will order an extra appetizer and maybe once a cruise an extra entree.  Is this a problem, is there an extra 

No problem what so ever. The menu is set up for five courses anyway, but you can add as many as you like.

Edited September 30, 2022 by carlmm

[Craigrlewis]

We tend to order a side of steamed vegetables every evening and Ice cream with desert

I always get a 2nd baked alaska 😁

[IB2]

On 9/29/2022 at 10:28 PM, LB_NJ said:

Occasionally I will order an extra appetizer and maybe once a cruise an extra entree.  Is this a problem, is there an extra charge?

No, you can order what you want.  Just be considerate to your tablemates - on my August TA we had a guy who ordered appetiser, soup, salad and main course, while the other six of us ordered the normal starter plus main.  He got brought his three starters one at a time before everyone's main courses arrived together, and it was three days before he noticed that everyone else was sitting with nothing to eat while he worked through all his starters.

[carlmm]

1 hour ago, IB2 said:

No, you can order what you want.  Just be considerate to your tablemates - on my August TA we had a guy who ordered appetiser, soup, salad and main course, while the other six of us ordered the normal starter plus main.  He got brought his three starters one at a time before everyone's main courses arrived together, and it was three days before he noticed that everyone else was sitting with nothing to eat while he worked through all his starters.

As it is his good right, isn't it? 

 

As stated above, a five course dinner is just the normal set up if one chooses just one of each of the sections per menu. It is even in the Cunard information available to everybody, "The five course evening menu changes daily and features...", thus everybody could know that this is what to expect.

 

To the OP: Do not worry, it is absolutely normal to have several courses. Also, the stewards are normally quite good in adjusting the way and timing of service such that, at least on a sociable table, different numbers of courses do not become an issue.

 

[LB_NJ]

2 hours ago, IB2 said:

 Just be considerate to your tablemates - 

 

We normally try to get a table for 2.

[Underwatr]

21 hours ago, carlmm said:

As it is his good right, isn't it?

Certainly, but it takes a (courteous) village. Arrive near the appointed time for start of service. Don't discuss politics or the fares everyone has paid. Don't spend dinner disparaging the ship or your accommodation. If you're ordering soup, salad and appetizer and everyone else just one of them, maybe order a second appetizer "for the table."

 

Don't be the one with the attitude of "I've paid my fare the same as everyone, I'm entitled to what I want."

[IB2]

Advertising it as a five course dinner is a bit of a nonsense - unless they are counting coffee and canapés as courses!  Yes, you can have a five course meal, but if everyone did so the whole place would grind to a halt.

[Victoria2]

On 10/8/2022 at 3:17 PM, IB2 said:

No, you can order what you want.  Just be considerate to your tablemates - on my August TA we had a guy who ordered appetiser, soup, salad and main course, while the other six of us ordered the normal starter plus main.  He got brought his three starters one at a time before everyone's main courses arrived together, and it was three days before he noticed that everyone else was sitting with nothing to eat while he worked through all his starters.

Consideration works both ways. Choose to be seated around a large table, be prepared to go with the flow. If waiting for others to finish the courses you haven't ordered becomes a trial, then ask the waitstaff to bring your main course when you're ready and not wait for others. 

[LittleFish1976]

22 hours ago, Underwatr said:

Certainly, but it takes a (courteous) village. Arrive near the appointed time for start of service. Don't discuss politics or the fares everyone has paid. Don't spend dinner disparaging the ship or your accommodation. If you're ordering soup, salad and appetizer and everyone else just one of them, maybe order a second appetizer "for the table."

 

Don't be the one with the attitude of "I've paid my fare the same as everyone, I'm entitled to what I want."

 

Surely the others at the table are capable of ordering extra courses for themselves if they don't want to sit and wait for the other fellow to eat his earlier courses? Isn't ordering a 'second appetiser for the table' a bit patronising to them? I assume the others got to hear the one eating the earlier courses ordering and so had fair warning of how long they would have to wait for their main courses. Or they could have  poltely asked the fellow if he minded if they had their main courses while he was eating his appetiser.

 

 

[LittleFish1976]

I do wonder why Cunard use the term 'entree' for main course when they are not overtly American in most other things.

 

Any ideas?

 

I've sat with people in the Queen's Grill at the first dinner who've looked at the menu and exclaimed, 'They don't have any main courses!' as they were listed as 'entrees' which, of course, to many of us means a course preceding the main course.

[Host Hattie]

13 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

Surely the others at the table are capable of ordering extra courses for themselves if they don't want to sit and wait for the other fellow to eat his earlier courses? Isn't ordering a 'second appetiser for the table' a bit patronising to them? I assume the others got to hear the one eating the earlier courses ordering and so had fair warning of how long they would have to wait for their main courses. Or they could have  poltely asked the fellow if he minded if they had their main courses while he was eating his appetiser.

 

 

I wouldn't order an extra course just because someone at my table did. I find 3 courses plenty.

Generally staff will bring all the main courses together so anyone having an extra starter is making the others wait.

That's why I never share a table at breakfast in Britannia (not that I get there very often), far too many combinations on offer !

[david,Mississauga]

19 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

I do wonder why Cunard use the term 'entree' for main course when they are not overtly American in most other things.

 

Any ideas?

 

I've sat with people in the Queen's Grill at the first dinner who've looked at the menu and exclaimed, 'They don't have any main courses!' as they were listed as 'entrees' which, of course, to many of us means a course preceding the main course.

 

I have often thought that as well. I am used to it in restaurants in Canada, which is sad because we are officially a bilingual country.  Looking at my menus from Cunard voyages in the last century they did not contain this silliness. 

[Victoria2]

35 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I wouldn't order an extra course just because someone at my table did. I find 3 courses plenty.

Generally staff will bring all the main courses together so anyone having an extra starter is making the others wait.

That's why I never share a table at breakfast in Britannia (not that I get there very often), far too many combinations on offer !

I suppose being used to large tables in QG I am also used to the occasional slightly different dining times with our table mates  and thus also used to courses  being served as and when occasionally rather than as a collective.

 

It works perfectly. 

[Lakesregion]

I have always had large tables on Cunard and most all order an appetizer, soup and a salad plus the dreaded entre and dessert. It has never been the problem some of the newer folk seem to believe.

[LB_NJ]

1 hour ago, Victoria2 said:

I suppose being used to large tables in QG  ...

I thought QG was anytime dining with fixed tables.  How do you do large tables?

 

Just curious as I previously said we do a 2 top to avoid the issues and we booked Brittania.  I do have a friend who will be doing their first real cruise on the QE in QG and they prefer a table for 2.

[exlondoner]

14 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

I thought QG was anytime dining with fixed tables.  How do you do large tables?

 

Just curious as I previously said we do a 2 top to avoid the issues and we booked Brittania.  I do have a friend who will be doing their first real cruise on the QE in QG and they prefer a table for 2.

Usually negotiation and agreement I believe. Or the earlier arrivals eat a little more slowly. But I did hear of one table for 8, where one couple were never seen by the rest at dinner because they arrived at 6.30, ate quite quickly, and were gone before the rest arrived. One wonders why they didn’t ask for a table for two.

[Victoria2]

12 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Usually negotiation and agreement I believe. Or the earlier arrivals eat a little more slowly. But I did hear of one table for 8, where one couple were never seen by the rest at dinner because they arrived at 6.30, ate quite quickly, and were gone before the rest arrived. One wonders why they didn’t ask for a table for two.

You beat me to it. 🙂

 

Being a fan of large tables we've always been happy to try and fit in with fellow guests as sociability is what the large table is about and we have found the favoured time to sit down for dinner for the majority is between 7.30pm and 8pm.

 

The best arrangement is if the table as a whole turns up within fifteen/twenty minutes of each other and when that happens, it's usually because we're all happy to dine with each other and the table as a whole is found to be very congenial and so we wait for the others to join us, chatting and perusing the menu etc.

 

That doesn't always happen of course and that's fine but sometimes, we do wonder why some  folk choose to sit at a large table, more often than not because they dine when the restaurant opens and so are on their pud when the rest of us sit down.

 

Only once in hundreds of nights have we asked to move tables due to 'incompatibility' with a couple of fellow guests, but then another couple moved as well so the table of eight became a table of four and they were welcome to each other.