Dining Room/Buffet

[KS17]

Booked on our first cruise FOS next July. Planning on skipping the specialty restaurants to save the added expense. If you were skipping the specialties would you eat in the dining room everyday or are there certain nights you prefer the buffet? Does the menu change every night? Do you always do both formal nights? We are considering doing just one, is one better to attend?

 

Sorry about all the questions! As I mentioned this will be our first cruise. We are very excited, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks all.

[maurick]

We do the buiffet for dinner if we are in a port and don't want to rush back or too tired too change or want a quick dinner. Mostly all nights there is a theme in the dining room. Like lobster night. DH makes sure we do dinner in the dining room that night. We eat in the dining room most nights.

[rjg41]

What you choose is personal to you. What we usaully do is do the buffet for most breakfasts and lunchs and always do dinner in the main dining room when we don't go to the specialiy restaurant. Yes the menu is different every night in the restaurant. There are some items that are on there several nights.

[Sue L]

We eat in the dining room every night except one or two nights (depending on the length) at the specialty restaurant. They are SOOOOO worth the 20$pp. We also do both formal nights but if you are only going to do 1 I would suggest the captain's night as this one tends to be more formal than the 2nd one. The dining for us is a major part of the experience for us.

 

I do want to tell you that it really doesn't matter if it is your first or as in our case our 10th cruise we are just as excited. The novelty never seems to wear off!! Have fun!!!

[lyndamarie6]

I am 43 been on 30 cruises and took my first Royal Caribbean cruise last month, liked it so much that I booked up the Mariner for July.

 

The dining room- You get service and attention where the buffet you have to go up and down and sometimes wait a bit for your food if there is a line. The menu does change day to day, they have certain items that always are available should you not choose to have the daily choices, those always offered are Steak, Salmon, Chicken Breast, Pasta dish and a vegeterian dish. You can always ask for baked potato also. In the dining room you do get special items that you would not get at the buffet (I have never eaten dinner at the buffet although seen them) such as lobster, beef wellington, filet mignon, escargots (I won't eat them but my 14 year old daughter had them with my husband and she loved them go figure maybe I try it next cruise), shrimp cocktail to name a few. I was disappointed with the dessert menu on Royal Caribbean so if the first night on the Mariner we are also disappoited on the desserts we will eat in the dining room and head up to the Windjammer for dessert a little later on.

Formal nights now some will argue with me but this is my opinion and my experiences (I have been on 30 cruises) you will find men who wear just a long sleeve dress shirt, dress pants and a tie no jacket, and you can wear a dark pair of pants and a nice top, and nobody will give you the eye, they didn't give us the eye and we were not the only ones dressed like that. So don't let the formalwear scare you not to go to the dining room on those nights. There are two formal dinners and I have to say the menu is the best (lobster, filet mignon, etc) during these evenings. Go.

 

As far as breakfast and lunch we only eat mainly in the windjammer which selections are decent and food is just good (it is better than Carnival, NCL and a Princess cruise) but this is my opinion don't forget. For breakfast they have a fresh ham carving and the eggs was always warm, not greasy potatoes they were good...and lunch they had an assortment of hot and cold items and a carving. If you like eggs benedict the best I ever had on a cruise is on Royal Caribbean and that is only served in the dining room. I generally do eat breakfast in the dining room on port days sometimes. Its nice to have the choice and different atmosphere.

 

We never did the pay dining although our next cruise we are planning on trying Chops and Portofino's to see what people waive about, perhaps we will do it every night if we see a huge difference in food.

 

Dont be overwhelmed, its all going to be fun and you will have choices on what to do day and night. Once I tried my first cruise when I was 10 my parents never stopped and neither do I married with children. My kids have been on 12 cruises so far and they love it!!

[DonnaK]

We always eat dinner in the dining room. Interacting with the wait team and the outstanding service are highlights of the cruise experience that we wouldn't dream of missing! We prefer the buffet for breakfast and lunch, though.

[KS17]

Good advice. Thanks to all for your replies! :D

[cb at sea]

I'm just not a "buffet" person! I paid to be waited on--so my choice it the dining room! The Windjammer is ok for lunch, but we do breakfast in the dining room, as well. Doesn't take any longer, really, and it's a much more relaxing and refined experience!

[jeanmw]

We just got back from our first-ever cruise (on the Mariner) a couple of weeks ago, and my husband and I ate in the dining room for diinner every night but one, and breakfast and lunch in the dining room as well on most days. We found the food to be better in the dining room than in the Windjammer and we just liked the relaxed atmosphere and service much better than the buffet. We ate in Portofino's one night and were very impressed -- wonderful food and service. Especially the desserts -- well worth the $15 per person charge)! Also, like a previous poster stated, don't be too worried about the "formal" nights. I wore a long-ish black skirt with a dressy top on both nights, and my husband wore slacks and a sport coat with a tie and he was fine. But there were many men with just sport shirts and slacks and no one really looked out of place. You'll really enjoy the dinners in the main dining room. Jean

[RoofingPrincess]

On my 9-night, I think I ate three meals in the Windjammer... lunch on boarding day, and then a quick lunch between an activity and our CC Meet & Mingle on an at-sea day... and breakfast on the last day. My feeling was, hey, I can eat cafeteria-style at work! When I go out to dinner at home, much of the time it's at family-style restaurants like Ruby Tuesday's or TGIFriday's, so the white-tablecloth-and-tons-of-tableware atmosphere of the dining room had real appeal for me. It also seemed to promote a relaxed pace for dinner, and I actually appreciated the size of the portions (some folks say they're too small) as I was trying to watch my weight -- in a buffet, I know I would be tempted to take (and then eat) too much!

I hadn't been planning to go to Portofino's, but I won dinner for 2 at our Meet & Mingle -- and was that an awesome dinner! I had enjoyed the food & service in the dining room -- but Portofino's was utterly amazing, possibly the best meal I've ever had! That's an experience I would definitely repeat.

[imatarb]

I noticed that most of the entrees served in the dining room were duplicated in the Windjammer, so if we didn't feel up to going to the main dining room, we could always head for the buffet.

 

Enjoy!

[SJS]

For us dinner in the dining room is an event not to be missed. I like the smaller portions also since I don't ususally have appetizers and dessert! We also tried Chops and will do that again - absolutely wonderful meal and service and worth the extra $$. We prefer the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch. I want as much time by the pool or for tours as possible during the day. No matter what you choose, have a great time!

[TheEngineer]

We always do dinner in the dining room or a specialty restaurant. Breakfast, we usually sleep through, and lunch we usually do a buffet. Occasionally we go to the dining room for lunch.

[dfgf]

I do both. While my wife is getting ready for dinner, I go to Jade (on the Voyager-class ships - it's the Asian buffet) and eat a ridiculous amount of sushi. Usually I'm too stuffed for much of a dinner once we're actually in the dining room, but that's okay - sushi is my favorite food anyway. The sushi from RC isn't that great (the salmon is smoked, not raw for example), but I still enjoy it. Also gets me out of my wife's hair so she can have the whole stateroom to get ready.

[madisonswims]

Do you know what the price for a child is in the specialty restuarants?

[mjyanne]

Do you know what the price for a child is in the specialty restuarants?

 

The price is $20/person for dinner and the ages are 13 and up (there was anthoer thread about younger children being allowed, etc, etc). Now don't get this started again:eek: .

 

Some specialty restaurants do a lunch menu and the price is $10/person but it is a different menu.

 

The price is well worth it as the food is prepared when ordered (rather than for 3000 people) and the service is 2nd to none (usually).

[madisonswims]

Okay, so I guess we can't go to the specialty restaurants anyhow. One less thing to worry about... It is too bad though. Cooking and food are great loves of mine...

 

Thanks mjyanne!