La Dame- $160 pp or $320 for dinner for 2!!!!

[Mr Luxury]

17 hours ago, Whinenowine said:

A friend introduced the concept of champers out of a 'regular' wine glass about 15yrs ago.  I thought he was crazy but he made me try it and it was eye opening--esp for rose champagne's, which I drink out of reg burg glasses.  Since then I've tripled the % of champagne in my cellar. 

It is amazing how the Champagne changes by using a larger glass.

Many Champagne houses with big style wines prefer to buses such glasses amd some even decant a full bottle before pouring.

[Silver Spectre]

17 hours ago, taxatty said:

Maybe SS could start by simply providing a decent, properly-cooked hamburger--I agree with others here that it doesn't based upon my SS experiences--but now there would probably be a $25 upcharge.

Oh no, can you not remember the Gourmet Burger wars back in the day 😎

[Silver Spectre]

Just my two penneth on the pricing.

IMHO La Dame has never really been a patch on Le Champagne and all our post COVID dining experiences on the Shadow and Dawn have been somewhat below par. If it wasn’t for a copious amount of OBC we wouldn’t have gone or would have requested a refund. To remove the hot foie gras was a bad mistake, especially when you can order it for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Atlantide. The loss of the Grand Marnier soufflé was sorely missed. Being presented with a cheese course consisting of three small, artfully placed, pieces of cheese, with no blue, and then told there was none on the ship (except of course every day in the La Terrazza buffet) left us speechless.

So to be offered an updated product that will cost an extra $100 per head just for the food is outrageous. Fixing the existing product would make more sense!

[drron29]

And on the Moon I asked for various blue cheeses for my cheese plate in Atlantide. And when in La terraza I wanted just Gorgonzola for my cheese plate there and it was not on the menu. No problem sir we just have to have it sent up from Atlantide.

[Silver Spectre]

26 minutes ago, drron29 said:

And on the Moon I asked for various blue cheeses for my cheese plate in Atlantide. And when in La terraza I wanted just Gorgonzola for my cheese plate there and it was not on the menu. No problem sir we just have to have it sent up from Atlantide.

Neither relevant to La Dame.

[CruiserFromMaine]

After reading the posts here and elsewhere on social media, I agree the Nova rollout was handled poorly (or suboptimally). In fact, if SS is really giving La Dame and Kaiseki a makeover, they should have rolled them out a new restaurants. I think that is better than the confusion over Nova La Dame vs. Dawn La Dame. Maybe called it La Champagne? (Too soon?) Certainly other lines are not universal in their restaurant offerings across their fleets. I think this whole discussion would have been different but then of course there would be self-appointed prognosticators who would claim Nova La Dame was just the camel’s nose in the tent and soon to be rolled out fleet-wide. It’s expensive and needs to be better than what we’re used to in La Dame at that price point but I’m waiting to learn what it’s really like. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by CruiserFromMaine

[ak1004]

The big question is how SS presents itself as an all inclusive line and at the same time charges extra for two resturants?

 

When we asked this question while on the Spirit last year, the answer was "capacity control".

 

Apart from the question why La Dame and not Silver Note (both being small venues), there are many solutions to this issue. Oceania for example allows one reservation per cabin per specialty restaurant (2 for suite guests, more on longer sailings). Oceania newer ships have double amount of guests compared to Spirit, and still there are no issues to get a reservation.

 

But on the Nova, La Dame is much large (double?), so now we know that "capacity control" was just an excuse. $60 or $160, doesn't matte, should be ZERO in an all inclusive line. They charge enough for the cruise itself.

[TLCOhio]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

The big question is how SS presents itself as an all inclusive line and at the same time charges extra for two resturants?  When we asked this question while on the Spirit last year, the answer was "capacity control".  Apart from the question why La Dame and not Silver Note (both being small venues), there are many solutions to this issue. Oceania for example allows one reservation per cabin per specialty restaurant (2 for suite guests, more on longer sailings). Oceania newer ships have double amount of guests compared to Spirit, and still there are no issues to get a reservation.  But on the Nova, La Dame is much large (double?), so now we know that "capacity control" was just an excuse. $60 or $160, doesn't matte, should be ZERO in an all inclusive line. They charge enough for the cruise itself.

 

Great above summary for the "trade-offs" and questions as to whether it is actually about "capacity control" or not!!  From following closely the finances of parent Royal Caribbean, they are digging out of a serious fiscal hole created by the Covid shutdowns.  Now, they are managing the rebounding demand and raising prices as allowed.  But, if you are an all-inclusive line, you cannot be seen as too "greedy" in over-charging your loyal customers who expect both luxury and reasonable "value".  

 

Will be interesting to see how Silversea manages this dining location and its future charges.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 248,131 views.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/1172051-livesilver-cloud-norway-coastfjords-july-1-16-reports

[A Tucson Guy]

As I mentioned earlier on this subject, SS has a right to change their pricing on anything they want. It is called the golden rule. They who have the ships, make the rules. I certainly will not pay the $320 upcharge. Let me give another example- We go to a nice restaurant on land, get the menus, we have a nice dinner and then we get the check. We look at the bill and all the prices are triple from the menu we just ordered from. We ask the server about this and they tell us they mistakenly gave us an old menu with the old prices which are wrong but still tell us "Pay up sucker- them's the rules". SS is doing the same thing. If I didn't check on my upcoming confirmed ressies for the 8-21-23 Nova sailing AND I was not aware of Cruise Critic, here is what would have happened. I made two La Dame ressies for the upcoming cruise for La Dame and it was clearly shown as $60 per person up charge. I was never made aware of the change in price and after dinner I get the new and improved charges. I wonder how many people will get this surprise when they have dinner at La Dames on the Nova. I have never received any notice of the price change. To make matters worse, once I heard about the "rumored" price change, I emailed a contact at SS that was given to me by Barbara M. asking about the possible price change and if they would honor the old price since I had made a confirmed ressie when the price was clearly $60 per person. It has been almost a week since I sent the email and no response at all from SS. IMHO, not a good way to run a business.

[Rothko1]

16 minutes ago, A Tucson Guy said:

As I mentioned earlier on this subject, SS has a right to change their pricing on anything they want. It is called the golden rule. They who have the ships, make the rules. I certainly will not pay the $320 upcharge. Let me give another example- We go to a nice restaurant on land, get the menus, we have a nice dinner and then we get the check. We look at the bill and all the prices are triple from the menu we just ordered from. We ask the server about this and they tell us they mistakenly gave us an old menu with the old prices which are wrong but still tell us "Pay up sucker- them's the rules". SS is doing the same thing. If I didn't check on my upcoming confirmed ressies for the 8-21-23 Nova sailing AND I was not aware of Cruise Critic, here is what would have happened. I made two La Dame ressies for the upcoming cruise for La Dame and it was clearly shown as $60 per person up charge. I was never made aware of the change in price and after dinner I get the new and improved charges. I wonder how many people will get this surprise when they have dinner at La Dames on the Nova. I have never received any notice of the price change. To make matters worse, once I heard about the "rumored" price change, I emailed a contact at SS that was given to me by Barbara M. asking about the possible price change and if they would honor the old price since I had made a confirmed ressie when the price was clearly $60 per person. It has been almost a week since I sent the email and no response at all from SS. IMHO, not a good way to run a business.

 

No legitimate business would operate that way, giving you one price and then charging a different one.

 

I hate restaurants that tell you their daily specials but then don't tell you the price for it.  "Tonight we have a Wagyu 16 ounce ribeye as a special."   Do I have to ask the price, or do I just order it and get a surprise price at the end of the night?   Or do I just ignore the special?  (Usually I do the latter).

 

 

[toseaornottosea]

26 minutes ago, A Tucson Guy said:

If I didn't check on my upcoming confirmed ressies for the 8-21-23 Nova sailing AND I was not aware of Cruise Critic, here is what would have happened. I made two La Dame ressies for the upcoming cruise for La Dame and it was clearly shown as $60 per person up charge. I was never made aware of the change in price and after dinner I get the new and improved charges.

Recently checked my ressies for the same sailing and found the new and improved (for SS) up charge for La Dame. Hard to swallow so I won't.

[bitob]

Keep the restaurant empty and prices will go down

they can only charge what the market will pay

[Rothko1]

34 minutes ago, bitob said:

Keep the restaurant empty and prices will go down

they can only charge what the market will pay

 

Yes, but unfortunately, I suspect that enough people will pay, per cruise.

[bitob]

Just now, Rothko1 said:

 

Yes, but unfortunately, I suspect that enough people will pay, per cruise.

Then they will have priced it correctly 

[CruiserFromMaine]

I just saw this from Barbara Muckerman, on another social media site. It will alleviate some concerns raised here. 
 

“I also need to add that all reservations made with historical pricing on Nova will be honored of course, the change is only for new reservations”
 

[A Tucson Guy]

18 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

I just saw this from Barbara Muckerman, on another social media site. It will alleviate some concerns raised here. 
 

“I also need to add that all reservations made with historical pricing on Nova will be honored of course, the change is only for new reservations”
 

That's nice, but I already cancelled my ressie but I will try and rebook.

[Gourmet Gal]

6 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Just my two penneth on the pricing.

IMHO La Dame has never really been a patch on Le Champagne and all our post COVID dining experiences on the Shadow and Dawn have been somewhat below par. If it wasn’t for a copious amount of OBC we wouldn’t have gone or would have requested a refund. To remove the hot foie gras was a bad mistake, especially when you can order it for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Atlantide. The loss of the Grand Marnier soufflé was sorely missed. Being presented with a cheese course consisting of three small, artfully placed, pieces of cheese, with no blue, and then told there was none on the ship (except of course every day in the La Terrazza buffet) left us speechless.

So to be offered an updated product that will cost an extra $100 per head just for the food is outrageous. Fixing the existing product would make more sense!

Well at least they were attempting to move on from the old school standard foie gras and soufflé.  

[bitob]

5 hours ago, ak1004 said:

The big question is how SS presents itself as an all inclusive line and at the same time charges extra for two resturants?

 

When we asked this question while on the Spirit last year, the answer was "capacity control".

 

Apart from the question why La Dame and not Silver Note (both being small venues), there are many solutions to this issue. Oceania for example allows one reservation per cabin per specialty restaurant (2 for suite guests, more on longer sailings). Oceania newer ships have double amount of guests compared to Spirit, and still there are no issues to get a reservation.

 

But on the Nova, La Dame is much large (double?), so now we know that "capacity control" was just an excuse. $60 or $160, doesn't matte, should be ZERO in an all inclusive line. They charge enough for the cruise itself.

No issue on this cruise. La dame has been empty. 
 

crystal had a good system. No charge for 1 st reservation in each of the 2 specialty restaurants on. 7 day cruise ( longer cruise you might get 2 complimentary) Small charge ($30?) for additional reservation. Those in top suites had unlimited reservations on space available basis 

 

folks with status (many cruises) never paid for additional reservations 

 

they had one Italian restaurant comparable to la terraza and of course nobu. We were not that fond of nobu but we were in the minority. 

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

I just saw this from Barbara Muckerman, on another social media site. It will alleviate some concerns raised here. 
 

“I also need to add that all reservations made with historical pricing on Nova will be honored of course, the change is only for new reservations”
 

What a deal,where do I sign 

[ronrick1943]

One of the items I’ve seen is La Dame will be formal every night…if so, I hope Silversea realizes that dress doesn’t make the restaurant- it’s the service and food, charging that much it better be really outstanding.

[Rothko1]

1 minute ago, ronrick1943 said:

One of the items I’ve seen is La Dame will be formal every night…if so, I hope Silversea realizes that dress doesn’t make the restaurant- it’s the service and food, charging that much it better be really outstanding.

 

Formal or "formal"?   There's a difference these days.

[ronrick1943]

11 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

 

Formal or "formal"?   There's a difference these days.

😇

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, bitob said:

No issue on this cruise. La dame has been empty. 
 

crystal had a good system. No charge for 1 st reservation in each of the 2 specialty restaurants on. 7 day cruise ( longer cruise you might get 2 complimentary) Small charge ($30?) for additional reservation. Those in top suites had unlimited reservations on space available basis 

 

folks with status (many cruises) never paid for additional reservations 

 

they had one Italian restaurant comparable to la terraza and of course nobu. We were not that fond of nobu but we were in the minority. 

 

I was just going to mention it.. this would resolve all "capacity control" issues.

 

I suspect that at $160, La Dame will be even more empty.

 

Maybe they will be running some specials.. like book on board - and dine in La dame for free. (but then what happens if you cancel later? do you have to give the meal back?)

[Tothesunset]

45 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

 

Formal or "formal"?   There's a difference these days.

Apparently it's going to be so formal that people will be expected to wear their baseball caps peak forward. 

[bitob]

1 hour ago, Tothesunset said:

Apparently it's going to be so formal that people will be expected to wear their baseball caps peak forward. 

Plenty of that on this cruise