Menus in Waterside

[ccbee]

We are doing our first Crystal Cruise in July, a back-to-back from Vancouver to Seward and will be able to make our reservations for the specialty restaurants soon.  So, I am looking at the Waterside Menus people are posting to see if there are any days I especially do not want to miss. My question is are these menus repeated week to week, from cruise to cruise, or do they depend on what part of the world you are cruising. I know on other cruise lines, they sometimes adapt menus to the itinerary so might expect more crab, shrimp, and fish for an Alaskan cruise. No matter what, after hearing past cruisers describe the food, I am sure we are going to enjoy every bite, but I would just like to do a little planning if possible. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[ryndam]

It’s a c**p shoot trying to guess what may be on the Waterside menus in advance. Our only constant is that we  never book the specialty restaurants on scheduled “formal” nights, because we enjoy the “formal” night menu selections in Waterside. We just pick dates in advance for the specialty restaurants, and just don’t worry about Waterside. If there’s some specific dish in Waterside that we may miss, we’ll just special order it for another evening instead.

 

Rob

[Keith1010]

Agree with Rob. They have created many menus to avoid repeats. A few years ago I found they were repeating menus on back to back cruises but on the ones we were on last summer they avoided that.  While there are items you will see from cruise to cruise the order they appear can easily vary.  And as you note, they do bring on some local time such as certain types of fish and sometimes have recipes which reflect where you are sailing. 

 

You can usually see the menu for the next day on line the night before and should you see a menu on a day you were not dining there you could see if your butler can rearrange your specialty restaurant reservation to another evening. You could also see if you can special order items from a menu for the day after by seeing the head waiter or restaurant manage the day before.

 

Keith

[Stickman1990]

I think you’d be unlikely to see menus repeated on a weekly gap

 

The nice thing is you can request most items as special order if they have been on the menu (there’s a few exceptions to that) - so don’t worry if you have booked a specialty restaurant and see something on Watersides menu that you would have liked 

[travelberlin]

9 hours ago, ccbee said:

We are doing our first Crystal Cruise in July, a back-to-back from Vancouver to Seward and will be able to make our reservations for the specialty restaurants soon.  So, I am looking at the Waterside Menus people are posting to see if there are any days I especially do not want to miss. My question is are these menus repeated week to week, from cruise to cruise, or do they depend on what part of the world you are cruising. I know on other cruise lines, they sometimes adapt menus to the itinerary so might expect more crab, shrimp, and fish for an Alaskan cruise. No matter what, after hearing past cruisers describe the food, I am sure we are going to enjoy every bite, but I would just like to do a little planning if possible. Thanks for any help you can give me.

On my cruise of 13 nights, there were 2 formal nights. Both on seadays. The first formal night was lobster. The second formal night was king crab legs. 
 

You could book your specialty restaurants for port days. In case you miss on that evening something you would like to have at the main restaurant, you can order  for you 24 hours in advance for another night.

 

Ivi
 

[kool kruiser]

5 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

I think you’d be unlikely to see menus repeated on a weekly gap

 

The nice thing is you can request most items as special order if they have been on the menu (there’s a few exceptions to that) - so don’t worry if you have booked a specialty restaurant and see something on Watersides menu that you would have liked 

Are you able to detail the exceptions, please?

Thanks.

[Texas Tillie]

6 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

I think you’d be unlikely to see menus repeated on a weekly gap

 

The nice thing is you can request most items as special order if they have been on the menu (there’s a few exceptions to that) - so don’t worry if you have booked a specialty restaurant and see something on Watersides menu that you would have liked 

 

40 minutes ago, kool kruiser said:

Are you able to detail the exceptions, please?

Thanks.

 

I think it's most often that they are out of something needed for a specific recipe. 

 

Patty

[ctjon]

One thing you need to remember on Crystal is if you want something you don't see ask.  The crew wants to say yes and get you what you want.  They might not always be able but they want to and will do what they can to get it for you - so ASK

[BEAV]

14 hours ago, ryndam said:

It’s a c**p shoot trying to guess what may be on the Waterside menus in advance. Our only constant is that we  never book the specialty restaurants on scheduled “formal” nights, because we enjoy the “formal” night menu selections in Waterside. We just pick dates in advance for the specialty restaurants, and just don’t worry about Waterside. If there’s some specific dish in Waterside that we may miss, we’ll just special order it for another evening instead.

 

Rob

The OP’s B2B is two 7-nighters. So while there’s no formal nights (as far as attire is concerned) does Crystal still do a formal-type menu a night or two on these shorter sailings? 🤔

[ryndam]

1 minute ago, BEAV said:

The OP’s B2B is two 7-nighters. So while there’s no formal nights (as far as attire is concerned) does Crystal still do a formal-type menu a night or two on these shorter sailings? 🤔

Yes they did on our 7-day "sampler" cruise this past December. We had 2 sea days after sailing Miami and before our first Caribbean port. That first sea day after Miami was offered the usual "formal night" menu in Waterside.

 

Unfortunately, I did not download the menus from that cruise, so I can't recall if there was a second "farewell"-type Waterside dinner offered during the balance or toward the end of that port intensive 7-day cruise.

 

Rob

[skybluewaters]

Is there any way to know in advance which nights will be formal nights?

[Texas Tillie]

11 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

Is there any way to know in advance which nights will be formal nights?

 

Often on sea days, first one near the start of the cruise, night 2 or 3, and one closer to the end of the cruise, but never the last night. 

[ryndam]

16 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

Is there any way to know in advance which nights will be formal nights?

Only on cruises greater than 7 days in duration.

From the FAQ section on the Crystal website:

 

Formal Evening

 

On sailings over seven days, there will be at least one optional ship-wide formal night (depending on the length of the segment), which will require more formal cocktail chic attire. These special events will be defined in your personal pre-sailing guide.

[CruisePfan]

Ask your TA to ask Crystal. I was able to get the schedule for the full world cruise prior to start.

[skybluewaters]

Thank you Patty and Rob.

And thanks @CruisePfan...I'll try the phone route and see if they'll talk to me (don't want to bother my TA with this minor issue).

[Stickman1990]

7 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

Are you able to detail the exceptions, please?

I was thinking Caviar dishes and maybe Escargots but I’m pretty sure there are others that require extra special preparation 

 

Having said that in the past we’ve had lobster tails on request and even a suckling pig - we were on a table of 8 - sadly they can’t serve those dishes table side anymore

 

[skybluewaters]

6 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

Thank you Patty and Rob.

And thanks @CruisePfan...I'll try the phone route and see if they'll talk to me (don't want to bother my TA with this minor issue).

 

Just got off the phone with Crystal:  the representative said that the exact date of the formal night won't be known until the cruise begins. 

 

That seems strange to me.  But no big deal.

[ccbee]

Thanks to everyone for their responses and for the additional questions asked. You are all the best!

 

[ryndam]

3 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

 

Just got off the phone with Crystal:  the representative said that the exact date of the formal night won't be known until the cruise begins. 

 

That seems strange to me.  But no big deal.

And its apt to change even once onboard and published! We just go with the flow and don't worry about things not in our control. Thank you for reaching out directly to Crystal, even though the response was nebulous.

 

Rob

[Keith1010]

Rob is correct.  While in generall those dates have a good chance of happening I would not go to the bank on them.  When they do the layout for the cruise on the preceding one which is the time they lay out the major events related to things such as formal, receptions, white night, and other things taking place sometimes things change.  

 

Keith 

[kool kruiser]

16 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

I was thinking Caviar dishes and maybe Escargots but I’m pretty sure there are others that require extra special preparation 

 

Having said that in the past we’ve had lobster tails on request and even a suckling pig - we were on a table of 8 - sadly they can’t serve those dishes table side anymore

 

Thanks. I have never attempted a special order of a caviar dish but I do recall successfully requesting a special order of escargots.

Our next two cruises are each short 7 dayers, so, with three speciality meals to fit in, together with a Thanksgiving menu in November, there is a strong possibility of our missing out on a favourite dish !