The Catch by Rudi - reviews

[teenieleek]

We embark on Sky on Saturday and are eating there that evening….very exciting.  I would like to hear from anyone who has eaten there.

By the way,  I have tried several times to search for different topics on this site and never have any luck.  The results appear with every mention of every word in my search, so thousands and nothing relevant.  Am I missing something, can it be narrowed at all, by cruise line if not by ship?

[Paula_MacFan]

Under the search box there's another option with '+More Search options' where you can filter by specific words or phrases, and other options.  That might help you.

 

I can't personally comment on the Catch reviews, but I do know that fairly recently there was a thread asking which specialty dining venues were recommended, and there were several comments there about Catch specifically.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

I made a few posts regarding our experience at The Catch.  It was great!  Starting at post #7:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942454-enchanted-princess-new-dining-venues/#comment-65544967

[LACruiser88]

Here is another recent thread that is on point...

 

 

 

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, teenieleek said:

We embark on Sky on Saturday and are eating there that evening….very exciting.  I would like to hear from anyone who has eaten there.

By the way,  I have tried several times to search for different topics on this site and never have any luck.  The results appear with every mention of every word in my search, so thousands and nothing relevant.  Am I missing something, can it be narrowed at all, by cruise line if not by ship?

We have not been on a ship with it, but assuredly we will go there when the opportunity arises.  You may have missed them, but every post on this forum I have read that mentions Catch by Rudi has included a positive experience.  

[teenieleek]

19 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I made a few posts regarding our experience at The Catch.  It was great!  Starting at post #7:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942454-enchanted-princess-new-dining-venues/#comment-65544967

Thank you.  Looks and sounds good.  I might treat myself to half a dozen oysters since it’s first night.  Wouldn’t dream of it after a few nights at sea!

[teenieleek]

15 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Here is another recent thread that is on point...

 

 

 

 

Thank you.  Calamari and mussels look fab.

[teenieleek]

2 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

We have not been on a ship with it, but assuredly we will go there when the opportunity arises.  You may have missed them, but every post on this forum I have read that mentions Catch by Rudi has included a positive experience.  

I seem to be rubbish at finding what interests me on the site but yes, sounds good.  This cruise is two years late (they’ve had our sizeable deposit [U.K., large un refundable one] all this while) so determined to enjoy ourselves despite them already having dropped a port and reduced the benefits.

[cruisequeen4ever]

My in-laws are extremely picky and liked it so much that they ate there every night they could on their cruise. We were dying to try it as a result and were less than impressed with our experience to the point where we have no interest in returning. Our experience seems to be in the minority though. I have seen so many people rave about it on here. 

[Torfamm]

I thought it was a beautiful space on the Enchanted and the service was fantastic. The food was okay. If I’d known ahead of time that my first two choices for a main course were unavailable, I’d at least have had an opportunity to cancel. I was very frustrated at paying that premium for a meal I didn’t want. Hopefully my experience was a rare exception 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Torfamm

[cruisequeen4ever]

14 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I thought it was a beautiful space on the Enchanted and the service was fantastic. The food was okay. If I’d known ahead of time that my first two choices for a main course were unavailable, I’d at least have had an opportunity to cancel. I was very frustrated at paying that premium for a meal I didn’t want. Hopefully my experience was a rare exception 

I should have specified that it was the food and the food alone that made it a less than experience for us. The service was excellent. 

[voljeep]

14 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I thought it was a beautiful space on the Enchanted and the service was fantastic. The food was okay. If I’d known ahead of time that my first two choices for a main course were unavailable, I’d at least have had an opportunity to cancel. I was very frustrated at paying that premium for a meal I didn’t want. Hopefully my experience was a rare exception 

you could have got up and left at that point ... you chose to stay, for whatever reason(s)

[Torfamm]

8 minutes ago, voljeep said:

you could have got up and left at that point ... you chose to stay, for whatever reason(s)

You are correct, but we were a table full of people who already had drinks and were eating the complimentary starters. It would have been pretty disruptive at that point.  I just ordered two starters and made the best of it.

 

If that sort of thing had happened at a typical restaurant with a la carte pricing, it wouldn't have bothered me the way it does when the meal is prix fixe.

[rj59]

I actually met Rudi on an elevator in SF on a Majestic coastal cruise last May. I thanked him for all the fine meals I had on HAL that were designed by him. 

[karatemom2]

We just returned from a 14 day cruise on the Sky Princess and I will start by saying that, overall, the food in the main dining room and buffet was above par - truly not a single bad meal, with maybe one or two less than outstanding but still very good. And our waiter in the main dining room was absolutely fantastic. It was one of the best dining experiences we have had on any of our many Princess cruises across the board - with one exception, which was Catch.

 

We received a complimentary meal there courtesy of the Casino thanks to my husband - the degenerate gambler. ; ) We had our choice of specialty restaurants and would normally go to Crown Grill, but chose Catch this time as we had heard such wonderful things about it. We went in with great enthusiasm and were quite disappointed. Our crab cake appetizers were overcooked, dry and quite fishy. Our mains were just good, but not great. And dessert was very disappointing - the puff pastry was dry and impossible to cut with just a fork and the meringue was hard and tasteless. It all looked fabulous - but it felt like the emphasis was all on presentation and not actual taste. Every meal we had in the main dining room was better than our meal at Catch, including our sea food selections.

 

Had it not been comped, I would have felt very let down. I found it ludicrous at the price charged that you are limited to a single appetizer and can't even get a salad or soup. I was anticipating some kind of delicious bisque or sea food salad. And the service was dreadfully slow.

 

All in all, we would never choose to eat there again and would go to Crown Grill or Sabatini's instead. To each his or her own, and I'm glad that most people seem to love it, but in our estimation it was way overhyped and didn't deliver.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Oh I'm sorry to hear that about Catch. I made reservations for one night on our upcoming sky sailing and thought the menu looked amazing. I have two meals with the premier plan but paid for Catch. Hate to waste money for a subpar meal. 
 

Hope you had a great cruise! 

[karatemom2]

2 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Oh I'm sorry to hear that about Catch. I made reservations for one night on our upcoming sky sailing and thought the menu looked amazing. I have two meals with the premier plan but paid for Catch. Hate to waste money for a subpar meal. 
 

Hope you had a great cruise! 

 

Well let's hope that we just made poor choices on the menu and yours will be a much better experience! Honestly, most people we talked to onboard loved their meal there. So maybe we are just the outliers. I hope you have a wonderful meal there!

[teenieleek]

Hmm, quite a mixed bag of reviews.  Thanks everyone.  We eat a lot of fish (have it delivered) and know how to cook it so will be disappointed if this restaurant is not up to par.  However it’s a cruise ship so we definitely won’t go hungry over our twenty four nights!

[Tiggipaws]

Hello

 

Where is the best place to sit so you don't hear as much noise from the piazza?

 

Thanks

[david63]

4 minutes ago, Tiggipaws said:

Hello

 

Where is the best place to sit so you don't hear as much noise from the piazza?

 

Thanks

Depends on the ship but on Sky I would say over by the windows

[Torfamm]

2 hours ago, Tiggipaws said:

Hello

 

Where is the best place to sit so you don't hear as much noise from the piazza?

 

Thanks

If it is on a ship where it’s open to the piazza I’d pick a back corner near the windows at the end of the space closer to the elevators than Bellini’s 

[Tiggipaws]

11 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

If it is on a ship where it’s open to the piazza I’d pick a back corner near the windows at the end of the space closer to the elevators than Bellini’s 

Thank you