2024 Emerald Princess Casual Dining

[NJCruiser923]

Hello! Can anyone who recently traveled on the Emerald Princess tell me which pop-up dinner venues were open during your cruise? Also, do you just walk up and hope for a table or do you book in advance?

 

Thanks!

[indexcards]

Last month tried Steamers and Planks which required reservations and are located in aft section of buffet. Both were OK but not worth missing a dining room experience.  Would be better as a lunch venue.  Plates were served hotter than in dining room though.  Dining room waitstaff seems to group smaller parties orders together for pick up which makes some cooler than others.

 

Did not try Salty dog or Crab so not sure of reservation need.

 

 

[memoak]

45 minutes ago, indexcards said:

Last month tried Steamers and Planks which required reservations and are located in aft section of buffet. Both were OK but not worth missing a dining room experience.  Would be better as a lunch venue.  Plates were served hotter than in dining room though.  Dining room waitstaff seems to group smaller parties orders together for pick up which makes some cooler than others.

 

Did not try Salty dog or Crab so not sure of reservation need.

 

 

Salty Dog Gastropub and Vines have not allowed reservations on my last 6 cruises

[Robkat]

6 hours ago, NJCruiser923 said:

Hello! Can anyone who recently traveled on the Emerald Princess tell me which pop-up dinner venues were open during your cruise? Also, do you just walk up and hope for a table or do you book in advance?

 

Thanks!

We're just off the Emerald a week ago.  

Steamers and Planks alternated availability for most nights of the cruise, with some Crab Shack options replacing both of them on certain other select dates.

You can only find out which days they're available once you get onboard.  We immediately called the Dine Line, were advised which was available and when, and we made reservations right then.  You must make reservations for Planks, Steamers and  Crab Shack.

 

Salty Dog Gastropub was open every night and we also made reservations at the same time.  Not sure whether SDG would take walk-ins, but we're glad we booked on that first day, as it was a very popular and busy place.

 

We enjoyed Planks, Steamers and SDG, but didn't try Crab Shack as it's not included in the Premier upgrade as a Casual Dining venue.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Robkat said:

We're just off the Emerald a week ago.  

Steamers and Planks alternated availability for most nights of the cruise, with some Crab Shack options replacing both of them on certain other select dates.

You can only find out which days they're available once you get onboard.  We immediately called the Dine Line, were advised which was available and when, and we made reservations right then.  You must make reservations for Planks, Steamers and  Crab Shack.

 

Salty Dog Gastropub was open every night and we also made reservations at the same time.  Not sure whether SDG would take walk-ins, but we're glad we booked on that first day, as it was a very popular and busy place.

 

We enjoyed Planks, Steamers and SDG, but didn't try Crab Shack as it's not included in the Premier upgrade as a Casual Dining venue.

That must have been a one off. On the last six ships I have been on the Gastropub did not take reservations and was never busy and the food was not all that great in my opinion 

Edited July 12 by memoak

[Robkat]

9 minutes ago, memoak said:

That must have been a one off. On the last six ships I have been on the Gastropub did not take reservations and was never busy and the food was not all that great in my opinion 

So your post made me ask DH about reservations for the SDG.  He also thought we'd been told that we needed to make reservations, but admitted that we might have just made them since we were already reserving for Planks & Steamers.  

However, I will repeat that I'm really glad we did reserve as, on this two-week cruise, it was very busy.  On the Emerald, it's located right in the front part of the Wheelhouse bar, right off a main thoroughfare, so having it so front and center may have contributed to how popular it was.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed both our meals there, and remarked how good the other food looked too!  Different strokes, I guess.

[Jetswdo]

to Robkat-- When you say you immediately called the dine line---- When we board the ship- I'd like to take care of reservations for Planks and Salty Dog Pub--- ASAP to get that out of the way. Where did you find the phone to use for that?  Thanks, Anita

[wallyj]

27 minutes ago, Jetswdo said:

to Robkat-- When you say you immediately called the dine line---- When we board the ship- I'd like to take care of reservations for Planks and Salty Dog Pub--- ASAP to get that out of the way. Where did you find the phone to use for that?  Thanks, Anita

There are usually phones on the wall of the midship stairways, not the elevator banks but behind the midship elevators where the stairs are located. Also your stateroom, if you go to drop off your carry on before they are officially ready.

[Robkat]

35 minutes ago, Jetswdo said:

to Robkat-- When you say you immediately called the dine line---- When we board the ship- I'd like to take care of reservations for Planks and Salty Dog Pub--- ASAP to get that out of the way. Where did you find the phone to use for that?  Thanks, Anita

You can call the Dine Line from your cabin, but if you want to jump on it immediately when you board, there's a desk to the left of the Guest Services desk (as you face it), deck 6 just past a shop, and there was a girl standing there with a clipboard who was taking reservations. 

 

Also, right beside her, at the desk called (I think) either Future Cruises or Captain Circle (don't remember what the name was, but it wasn't dining-related), there was a phone right there that we used to get through to the DL.

[Robkat]

Anita,

Just as an FYI.  This sign below was always in front of both areas where Planks and Steamers set up.  

This was for a 14 day cruise, so not sure how it would translate specific day-wise for your cruise, but it does show how they set the days up.

Although you have to make reservations over the Dine Line, you could go up there, see the schedule, and then use your dates to call your requested days in.

Hope this helps. Have a great cruise.

 

 

 

 

[tulok]

In June, we made reservations for all casual dining including Gastropub. It was not that good and wish we would have gone to Planks twice. This was on Emerald. We used the phone at the excursion desk as it was on the counter.  It was the first thing we did. I had a calendar ready for the dine line to book the dates and times we wanted for a table of 6. It was very fast. Then talked to the excursion desk about a change. Everything was done within 15mins to have a smooth start to our cruise. 

[Jetswdo]

Thank you so much for the info.  I have printed both Robkat and tulok info from above and will have it on hand as we board the ship.  Really appreciate the feedback.  Sincerely, Anita

 

[Jetswdo]

And thanks to wallyj--- accidentally left out your name---Anita

[Jetswdo]

Tulock--- What did you order at Salty Pub?  We don't eat pork, so we were thinking about the beef short ribs- grilled cheese or the fried chicken sandwich--- I do think this restaurant would work better at lunch time--- but I'm thinking it might be worth a visit on a port day where we will be eating a bigger lunch than normal off the ship. What did you order at Planks?

 

same question for Robkat and wallyj-----

 

 

[tulok]

Gastropub is different. It’s at the Wheelhouse bar. The problem was it took us almost 3 hours to eat and it was served lukewarm at best. Would have been good if served hot. They were extremely slow.

 

Planks- pulled pork and brisket. They brought cole slaw but I couldn’t eat it because it was carrot salad not cole slaw that I know. The meat was tender and had a great flavor. My DH got the ribs and said they were good. We ordered extra sausage and it was good. It was a nice as it is so different to any other restaurant.

Edited July 18 by tulok

[tulok]

sorry, I was answering the low carb topic. Wrong topic post. (Don’t work and read CC) 🤦🏼‍♀️

Edited July 18 by tulok

[wallyj]

@Jetswdo, at SaltyDogGastroPub, I enjoyed the Grilled Cheese, it comes with a white tomato soup, and the short ribs. Mind you, this is usually 2nd dinner after having a sit down MDR meal.

[memoak]

3 hours ago, Jetswdo said:

Tulock--- What did you order at Salty Pub?  We don't eat pork, so we were thinking about the beef short ribs- grilled cheese or the fried chicken sandwich--- I do think this restaurant would work better at lunch time--- but I'm thinking it might be worth a visit on a port day where we will be eating a bigger lunch than normal off the ship. What did you order at Planks?

 

same question for Robkat and wallyj-----

 

 

On most ships I have only seen the Gastropub open for dinner. During the day it is full of people playing cards

[Robkat]

19 hours ago, Jetswdo said:

Tulock--- What did you order at Salty Pub?  We don't eat pork, so we were thinking about the beef short ribs- grilled cheese or the fried chicken sandwich--- I do think this restaurant would work better at lunch time--- but I'm thinking it might be worth a visit on a port day where we will be eating a bigger lunch than normal off the ship. What did you order at Planks?

 

same question for Robkat and wallyj-----

 

 

At Salty Dog Gastropub, we had the sauteed mushroom appetizer (the description of it on the menu sounds bizarre, but it was delicious.). We then had the short ribs, I had the spicy one and DH had the poutine one.  They were both so yummy that we had the exact same thing on our next visit.  Everything was hot enough, and we took our time over the meal, but we didn't notice that people looked like they'd been waiting a long time.

 

At Steamers, we both had the Fisherman's platter ... really good, although on our next visit we did plan on trying the steam pots.

At Planks, I had the pulled pork and ribs, DH had the brisket and ribs, and it was all delish.  Really enjoyed both and wanted to return to both, but DH started feeling crummy towards the last days of the cruise, so we passed on them.

 

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.  We'll actually miss these options on our next cruise next month on the Enchanted P!

[Jetswdo]

How spicy was the short ribs?  Can a request be made to get it less spicy? (I'm good with lightly spiced)  I don't like gravy on short ribs- a little ok just not almost "soup" like. So we probably would not get the poultine.