Food and dining on P&O ships

[TigerB]

10 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

If you can book and pay online your loyalty discount comes off the price.

 

And it is also 20% cheaper before the Peninsular discount 

[grapau27]

20 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

And it is also 20% cheaper before the Peninsular discount 

I could pre book on our stay cation cruise's Britannia August and Iona September 2021 and it was about £24pppn less 8.5% peninsula discount instead of the £28pppn on board

On our March 2022 Iona, April 2022 Ventura, October 2022 Britannia or November 2022 Azura cruise we could not book speciality restaurants until we boarded.

[TigerB]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

I could pre book on our stay cation cruise's Britannia August and Iona September 2021 and it was about £24pppn less 8.5% peninsula discount instead of the £28pppn on board

On our March 2022 Iona, April 2022 Ventura, October 2022 Britannia or November 2022 Azura cruise we could not book speciality restaurants until we boarded.

 

Others have had similar experiences with not being able to book ahead. We had no problem for Epicurean, Sindhu, and Green & Co for our recent Arvia cruise. Come to think of it, I was able to book Epicurean for our Baltic cruise on Britannia in September 2022. How very strange!🤔

[smokey01]

Thanks Jane for the reply. We have decided to chance the dining and book early saver as we are happy to get any of the cabins in the grade we booked and so to pay £500 each to get our dining choice is too much. We always struggle to spend the OBC that comes with select bookings so that does not help mitigate paying for select either.

[majortom10]

7 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

Thanks Jane for the reply. We have decided to chance the dining and book early saver as we are happy to get any of the cabins in the grade we booked and so to pay £500 each to get our dining choice is too much. We always struggle to spend the OBC that comes with select bookings so that does not help mitigate paying for select either.

Don't forget if you book Early Saver you are not guaranteed of a cabin in a higher grade and even though classified as an upgrade might not be in a better position.

[smokey01]

14 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Don't forget if you book Early Saver you are not guaranteed of a cabin in a higher grade and even though classified as an upgrade might not be in a better position.

Thanks. We do normally book select but this time we have gone for B4 suite early saver and I have checked I’m happy with the location of all B4 cabins and also B2 and B1 cabins should we get upgraded.

[Guest]

Celebrity are now charging between £50-70pp for speciality dining. So £30 for Epicurean seems good value 😂

[TigerB]

23 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

Celebrity are now charging between £50-70pp for speciality dining. So £30 for Epicurean seems good value 😂

£50-70? 😯

What the hell are they serving up to ask that much?

[sandancer]

$100 each for Murano I believe. 

[Selbourne]

On 2/7/2023 at 1:30 PM, jeanlyon said:

Is it really £30 pp?  And what is so good about it to cost that much.

We were huge fans of Epicurean on Britannia (our favourite restaurant at sea) and hope that we won’t be disappointed when we try Epicurean on Iona in August, as reports have been mixed. It’s chalk and cheese versus the main dining rooms. Whereas IMO the main dining rooms are now akin to a 3 star hotel, Epicurean is (or was) pretty close to Michelin star territory. On the basis that you can easily pay £75 or more a head in such restaurants, we feel that the supplements are worthwhile. However, if the cost has gone up and the quality gone down, we may take a different view. 

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

We were huge fans of Epicurean on Britannia (our favourite restaurant at sea) and hope that we won’t be disappointed when we try Epicurean on Iona in August, as reports have been mixed. It’s chalk and cheese versus the main dining rooms. Whereas IMO the main dining rooms are now akin to a 3 star hotel, Epicurean is (or was) pretty close to Michelin star territory. On the basis that you can easily pay £75 or more a head in such restaurants, we feel that the supplements are worthwhile. However, if the cost has gone up and the quality gone down, we may take a different view. 

 

£30 is a fair whack, but it's a lot less than Celebrity and some of the American ships are charging.

To be fair, we dined at Epicurean on Britannia in September, after a four year gap from the previous time, and twice again on Arvia last month, and I really didn't think the quality had diminished from the first time we ate there. They no longer do the (poncy) spray at the start of the meal. Disappointed though that they have still not got back to preparing the Crêpe Suzette at the table.

 

Book ahead and it is £24, a 20% discount, and the Peninsular discount will sweeten it a little more.

Edited February 9, 2023 by TigerB

[Selbourne]

18 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

£30 is a fair whack, but it's a lot less than Celebrity and some of the American ships are charging.

To be fair, we dined at Epicurean on Britannia in September, after a four year gap from the previous time, and twice again on Arvia last month, and I really didn't think the quality had diminished from the first time we ate there. They no longer do the (poncy) spray at the start of the meal. Disappointed though that they have still not got back to preparing the Crêpe Suzette at the table.

 

Book ahead and it is £24, a 20% discount, and the Peninsular discount will sweeten it a little more.

That’s good to hear. Hopefully it’s up to par on Iona as well. What’s the excuse for the Crepe Suzette? Operational reasons? 😂 

 

[TigerB]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s good to hear. Hopefully it’s up to par on Iona as well. What’s the excuse for the Crepe Suzette? Operational reasons? 😂 

 

We've had three different excuses...

Last September, when I went to confirm the table size, it was due to not being fully out of Covid measures. When we ate, our waiter said it was due to H&S.

Last month the Maître d' said it was because they didn't have the propane. To be fair, they did have the carts nearby, so it may come back soon.

[majortom10]

1 minute ago, TigerB said:

We've had three different excuses...

Last September, when I went to confirm the table size, it was due to not being fully out of Covid measures. When we ate, our waiter said it was due to H&S.

Last month the Maître d' said it was because they didn't have the propane. To be fair, they did have the carts nearby, so it may come back soon.

Cannot see H&S as a valid excuse as it is currently being prepared and served tableside in some of the restaurants on Cunard.

 

[terrierjohn]

48 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s good to hear. Hopefully it’s up to par on Iona as well. What’s the excuse for the Crepe Suzette? Operational reasons? 😂 

 

Elf and safety!!

[Guest]

15 hours ago, TigerB said:

£50-70? 😯

What the hell are they serving up to ask that much?

It is very different to any speciality I’ve been to on P&O for sure. Lots of courses, no limits on amount you can order, incredible service. 
 

I ate at Epicurean on Iona and was disappointed. No atmosphere, food was very average. Expected a lot more after the reviews I had read. Star of the show was the marmite butter 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Guest

[terrierjohn]

10 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

It is very different to any speciality I’ve been to on P&O for sure. Lots of courses, no limits on amount you can order, incredible service. 
 

I ate at Epicurean on Iona and was disappointed. No atmosphere, food was very average. Expected a lot more after the reviews I had read. Star of the show was the marmite butter 

I agree with you, there is just no comparison between Celebrity's Murano and Epicurean. The latter is better than the P&O MDR, but if Murano is 5 star, then Epicurean is a poor 3.

[Obobru]

13 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Epicurean is (or was) pretty close to Michelin star territory. 

Nothing mass produced on a cruise ship is anywhere close to Michelin star rated.

[TigerB]

42 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

Star of the show was the marmite butter 

 

Oh yes! As soon as we got home our lass had me buy a jar of Marmite to make that. To me, it's the Devil's spread, but the butter was nice.

[Selbourne]

16 minutes ago, Obobru said:

Nothing mass produced on a cruise ship is anywhere close to Michelin star rated.

Well I’m afraid that I beg to differ. I have probably dined in at least 20 different Michelin star restaurants over the years and felt that, prior to Covid, the Epicurean restaurant on Britannia was on a par with several of them. The one on Ventura wasn’t as good. It concerns me that post Covid the standard seems to have dropped, judging by the comments. 

[Reg Prescott]

Hello, first time cruiser and first time posting on here. Apologies if I'm not posting in the right area.

Can anybody show up to date menus and drinks prices for the Britannia, we cruise the Caribbean in March. Our first cruise ever at 63 years old and I'm very curious as to what will be on offer.

Should we book restaurants when online booking becomes available or wait until we get on board.

We have had no info yet for the flight from Manchester, no notice of food choices or seat upgrade info. When are we likely to hear anything about these.

Thanks in advance for any info given it will be very much appreciated.

[happy v]

1 hour ago, Reg Prescott said:

Hello, first time cruiser and first time posting on here. Apologies if I'm not posting in the right area.

Can anybody show up to date menus and drinks prices for the Britannia, we cruise the Caribbean in March. Our first cruise ever at 63 years old and I'm very curious as to what will be on offer.

Should we book restaurants when online booking becomes available or wait until we get on board.

We have had no info yet for the flight from Manchester, no notice of food choices or seat upgrade info. When are we likely to hear anything about these.

Thanks in advance for any info given it will be very much appreciated.

If you log in to P&O go to FAQS there are menus listed for every restaurant

[snaefell]

5 hours ago, Glitterati said:

It is very different to any speciality I’ve been to on P&O for sure. Lots of courses, no limits on amount you can order, incredible service. 
 

I ate at Epicurean on Iona and was disappointed. No atmosphere, food was very average. Expected a lot more after the reviews I had read. Star of the show was the marmite butter 

I think if I wanted plenty of food,multiple courses & great service I' d stick to the buffet!😆

[Reg Prescott]

2 hours ago, happy v said:

If you log in to P&O go to FAQS there are menus listed for every restaurant

Thanks for the info happy v but looking at the menus they seem to be from 2021 and I understand there have been changes to menus & pricing since restrictions have been lifted. I'm very interested to see what  is on the menus at present.

[happy v]

1 hour ago, Reg Prescott said:

Thanks for the info happy v but looking at the menus they seem to be from 2021 and I understand there have been changes to menus & pricing since restrictions have been lifted. I'm very interested to see what  is on the menus at present.

OK, sorry about that. If you go into 'my p&o' and click on the individual restaurants I believe these menus are up to date. I don't know about drink prices