Charge for specialty restaurants?

[blag]

3 minutes ago, shank63 said:

IMO the quality of food in Prime C is excellent and worth the upcharge.  Not so much for Acqualina, but that’s our tastes.

I am with you 100% on that.

But it doesn't matter too much in which you are, you can order from either menu. I often have the refreshing melon and tomato starter from Aqualina whilst in Prime C!

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, shank63 said:

IMO the quality of food in Prime C is excellent and worth the upcharge.  Not so much for Acqualina, but that’s our tastes.

I’m afraid I have to strike that theory on Quest. Main Dining Room steak was FAR better than Prime C. @Mackdogmolly is absolutely right neither specialty is worth the up charge. We are in a suite but have found Discoveries was a far better experience overall 

[KevintheIrishDJ]

On the 11/30/23 Onward, we ordered chateaubriand medium. It came out raw. Usually don't like to send food back because the give u a new item. Fortunately, they kept the original but it was still underdone. At lunch the next day, we were offered a free visit. I insisted on paying and we DIDN'T order chateaubriand.

[Dynacruiser]

17 minutes ago, uktog said:

I’m afraid I have to strike that theory on Quest. Main Dining Room steak was FAR better than Prime C. @Mackdogmolly is absolutely right neither specialty is worth the up charge. We are in a suite but have found Discoveries was a far better experience overall 

 

Better steaks in MDR than Prime C?  I'll have to test that again.  My experience was completely the opposite.   This is sad, since Prime C is a specialty restaurant that specializes in steaks!

[royallondon]

Since we are just expressing our own interpretations, I'll offer another hypothesis:  Sycamore Partners knows how to make money, at least in the retail private equity business.  Perhaps they told the food and beverage managers that they need to make more money, and they gave them some freedom on how to achieve those goals.  Perhaps some managers ran their numbers and determined that they couldn't make a profit with the current prices, butother managers decided to cut costs in some other way.

 

I Hope this isn’t the case as there needs to be a consistency of offerings across the fleet (IMHO).

 

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

On the 11/30/23 Onward, we ordered chateaubriand medium. It came out raw. Usually don't like to send food back because the give u a new item. Fortunately, they kept the original but it was still underdone. At lunch the next day, we were offered a free visit. I insisted on paying and we DIDN'T order chateaubriand.

Raw or rare?  I've had chateaubriand in Prime C many times and it has always been cooked perfectly. I like mine medium rare though. Maybe when they cooked it again they didn't let it rest enough in the rush to get it back to you?  It's a good size piece of meat so they probably didn't want to start again. Once it goes wrong it never seems to come out the way it should have done in the first place because the timing is all wrong. 

 

Phil 

[KevintheIrishDJ]

3 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Raw or rare?  I've had chateaubriand in Prime C many times and it has always been cooked perfectly. I like mine medium rare though. Maybe when they cooked it again they didn't let it rest enough in the rush to get it back to you?  It's a good size piece of meat so they probably didn't want to start again. Once it goes wrong it never seems to come out the way it should have done in the first place because the timing is all wrong. 

 

Phil 

Raw. I think that is why they were willing to give us a free visit.

[excitedofharpenden]

10 hours ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

Raw. I think that is why they were willing to give us a free visit.

I don't think it would be raw. Unless they forgot to put it in the oven or thought it was beef tartare😄. You wouldn't like the way my friend has her steak. Blue.  Even too rare for me. 

 

Phil 

Edited March 6 by excitedofharpenden

[excitedofharpenden]

13 hours ago, royallondon said:

Since we are just expressing our own interpretations, I'll offer another hypothesis:  Sycamore Partners knows how to make money, at least in the retail private equity business.  Perhaps they told the food and beverage managers that they need to make more money, and they gave them some freedom on how to achieve those goals.  Perhaps some managers ran their numbers and determined that they couldn't make a profit with the current prices, butother managers decided to cut costs in some other way.

 

I Hope this isn’t the case as there needs to be a consistency of offerings across the fleet (IMHO).

 

I'm not sure they give that amount of autonomy and feel it would cause chaos. May simply be the start date is staggered depending upon the away the itineraries are working through. 

 

Phil 

[excitedofharpenden]

Just now, excitedofharpenden said:

I'm not sure they give that amount of autonomy and feel it would cause chaos. May simply be the start date is staggered depending upon the away the itineraries are working through. Or gauging reaction and effect on bookings?  As I said before, my feedback is it's too much. $100 per couple is a lot. 

 

Phil 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

5 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I'm not sure they give that amount of autonomy and feel it would cause chaos. May simply be the start date is staggered depending upon the away the itineraries are working through?

 

Phil 

 

Or gauging reaction and effect on bookings?  As I said before, my feedback is it's too much. $100 per couple is a lot. 

 

Phil 

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

18 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

 

 

Or gauging reaction and effect on bookings?  As I said before, my feedback is it's too much. $100 per couple is a lot. 

 

Phil 

 

 

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That's what I think too. I think it's likely what happens next will depend on the effect on revenues overall of the raised prices.

[uktog]

The specialities weren’t busy on Quest at $49.95 other than suite guests or officers/crew on the later time slot when no one was coming. I think it was also affected by their only being one show at 9 

Edited March 6 by uktog

[excitedofharpenden]

52 minutes ago, uktog said:

The specialities weren’t busy on Quest at $49.95 other than suite guests or officers/crew on the later time slot when no one was coming. I think it was also affected by their only being one show at 9 

I think we just have to wait and see and let it bed in. I've been on cruises where the Specialty Restaurants have been busy. Conversely some have been very quiet. No reason. Money is an emotive subject so people will vote with their feet. Or maybe just get used to the new price (which is what they want). I'll make my feelings known. 

 

Phil 

[KirkNC]

Last night on the Onward there were less than six tables in Prime C.  The lamb chops were delicious.  I previously said it was $30, it’s actually $35, we get the packages.

[Homerody]

On 3/5/2024 at 11:52 AM, uktog said:

I’m afraid I have to strike that theory on Quest. Main Dining Room steak was FAR better than Prime C. @Mackdogmolly is absolutely right neither specialty is worth the up charge. We are in a suite but have found Discoveries was a far better experience overall 

We were on Quest 18 Feb sailing.  Liked Prime C.  Aqualina was meh.  Completely underwhelmed by MDR for any meal we tried.  Overcooked fish, beef on par with buffet offering and omlettes with unmelted cheese.  

 

Would be terribly disappointed if I ponnied up 100$ for specialty dinning nonetheless.

[Mackdogmolly]

2 hours ago, Homerody said:

We were on Quest 18 Feb sailing.  Liked Prime C.  Aqualina was meh.  Completely underwhelmed by MDR for any meal we tried.  Overcooked fish, beef on par with buffet offering and omlettes with unmelted cheese.  

 

Would be terribly disappointed if I ponnied up 100$ for specialty dinning nonetheless.

I enjoyed most of my meals in the MDR with the exception of fish, which was generally overdone. I did have a really delicious grouper sandwich in the Patio one day.

My DH had exactly the same spaghetti bolognese in the MDR and he paid for in Aqualina.