Trying to Understand Dining

[burnsva]

Forgive my question - we have never been on a cruise and we are finding the dining explanations a bit confusing.

 

If I am in Britania/Britania Club - I can eat in the Main Britania Dining Room.  If in Princess Grill I can eat in the Princess Grill.  

 

But if I dine in an Alternate Dining designation such as Verandah, there is a flat cover charge, is that correct but no menu price?

 

And what about other dining such as King's Court or the Pub?  Is that an extra charge?  What about afternoon tea?  And if you have a drinks package can you just order a couple of glasses of sparling with tea or do you have to do the champagne tea?  And if I am in Princess Grill can I eat in the Britania main dining room? 

 

Any other explanations or suggestions would be helpful.  We are planning on a transatlantic on the Queen Mary 2.

 

Thank you in advance!

[TheOldBear]

If you are in Grills (Princess or Queens) or Britannia Club, your table is waiting for you at all meal times (breakfast, lunch & dinner)

 

If you are in Britannia, you have a choice of a reserved dinner table at either the early or late seating or finding that night's table in open seating. Details vary with the ship and date [e.g. reserved tables returned for QM2 late seating on 1 November.

 

Britannia breakfast and lunch are both open seatings - and you can request a shared table seat or a private table.

 

The Veranda [QM2] currently has a $50 cover charge for dinner, and $25 for lunch [have not tried this]

 

The alternative Kings Court 'pop up' has a $25 cover charge for dinner. There is also the 'Chef's Gallery' section of Kings Court that has Pizza and Pasta in the evenings, with table service - no cover charge.

 

The Kings Court Buffet, and Golden Lion pub lunch are included in the basic fare. We tend to split breakfasts between room service and Kings Court, and split lunches between Britannia and Kings Court. On our last sailing the Golden Lion pub lunch was popular enough that I was not able to find a seat before 1300.

 

If you have the drinks package, you should be able to have anything under the per drink price limit with any meal - Mimosas at breakfast?

 

Folks booked in the Grills can dine in Britannia - a couple we met in 2017 did that, after the 'upgrade fairy' gave them a Q5 in place of their usual inside cabin.

 

[BigMac1953]

#burnsva What category of cabin have you booked?

 

If you tell us, we can be more specific with the answer. 

[LB_NJ]

FYI, if you eat at the Verandah (any idea why it has that name?) some of the items may have a charge over and above the flat fee.

 

We travel in Britannia our preference is to eat breakfast in the MDR on a sea day.  We almost always eat dinner in the MDR.  Menus are posted for the dining rooms so you can decide for yourself if there is anything you like before entering.

 

Also, while I have never traveled in QG it has been said that you can order what you want even if it is not on the menu assuming they have the ingredients in stock.  Others can/should more fully expand on this.

 

FYI, some of the booking options include a dinner at the Verandah or Kings Court Pop-up.

 

Afternoon tea is included and can get busy.  The "basic" afternoon tea is included in the price of the cruise. You should attend at least one afternoon tea.

[burnsva]

28 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

#burnsva What category of cabin have you booked?

 

If you tell us, we can be more specific with the answer. 

Hopefully Princess Grill....

[majortom10]

If you book a QG, PG or BC you eat in the specified desperate dining room, all others balcony, ocean view and inside staterooms you eat in Britannia MDR.

[majortom10]

2 minutes ago, burnsva said:

Hopefully Princess Grill....

Well you will have your own dedicated restaurant for PG suites only.

[BigMac1953]

Okay. You will be able to have lunch in PG on your embakation day. It opens at 1:00pm. Your maitre d' will have allocated you a table (for the duration) and you will be shown to it. As a newbie, don't expect the best table, but  they're really all okay.

 

All PG meals will be taken at that table. Some special requests may be catered for.

 

The Verandah is open for lunch and dinner except the first day. It's a flat rate for each. Similarly for the pop up restaurants. All of these need to be booked.

 

If perhaps you have friends who dine Britannia, you may join them for breakfast or lunch.

 

The Golden Lion, Carinthia and Kings Court can be used at no extra charge.

 

Some room service offerings are now chargeable, but there is still much on offer at no extra charge.

 

At afternoon tea in the Grill Lounge, you will also be offered champagne (at full cost).

 

Most folks in the Grills tend to eat there every meal unless you are Diamond status and have a perk of a free Verandah lunch.

 

Have fun and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by BigMac1953

[BklynBoy8]

We were entirely happy and satisfied with our Princess Grill experience two months ago.

 

We are thinking of rebooking it again in future. We did share trying the KC & GLP when on the run and needed to leave.

 

 

[ExArkie]

18 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

if you eat at the Verandah (any idea why it has that name?)

The original Queen Mary had an a la carte first class restaurant aft called the Verandah Grill. I believe it was the officers’ mess during WW2, when she was drafted into the military. Not sure why the original one had that name.

 

[exlondoner]

20 hours ago, ExArkie said:

The original Queen Mary had an a la carte first class restaurant aft called the Verandah Grill. I believe it was the officers’ mess during WW2, when she was drafted into the military. Not sure why the original one had that name.

 

I’m not sure drafted into the military quite covers it. Although she was under the control of the Admiralty (so naval not military) she was still a Cunard ship, with Cunard crew. The Admiralty sued Cunard after the war because of the Curacoa (sic) collision. Others will know the technicalities in better detail.