E-Mail from Carnival: "Please give us your opinion of Carnival's Supper Club"

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Anyone else received this?? (Forgive me if it's been addressed previously, I have all but given up on the built-in search feature!)

 

It started like this:

 

Dear Valued Guest,

We are conducting a survey among people who have dined at the Supper Club/Steakhouse, our alternative restaurant. We value your opinion and hope you will tell us what you think. The survey should take you less than ten minutes and you may find it interesting.

There was a coded link which took me to the survey. MANY questions once there including how important different aspects of the experience were to me: portion size, quality, service, live music, dancing, ambiance, etc....

 

They also had a few parts asking if I would be interested in other alternative venues (for fees from $5-10 up to something like $25) - including an all out steakhouse, Italian food, Brazilian Steakhouse, etc..

 

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Unfortunately there was not an option to give any comments of my own, as the survey did get me thinking (and remembering). Three significant things came to mind regarding previous trips (we have had dozens) to their supper clubs:

 

1> The servers DON'T need to hover and watch you (that makes us feel uncomfortable ) - they also don't need to sit there for 5+ minutes and talk to you multiple times (like they are your friend) while you are trying to enjoy your meal. Keep the conversations a bit shorter. Don't get me wrong we do enjoy being friendly and getting to know them a little, but we REALLY don't want to hear their problems (think Debbie Downer). In all honestly, this only seems to occur when we have 2-3+ evenings there during one sailing - perhaps they get to know us too well - maybe we are partly to blame.

 

2> During times (becoming more commonplace) when there is not any live music PLEASE PLEASE make sure that there are some fleetwide ACCEPTED cd's to compliment the experience. During our last supper club trip (3 times on the Glory 8/31/08) on two evenings they played some cd's which included music we felt was not appropriate for the place/time. I'm trying to recall some examples... Blind Melon and Pink were two for sure (Cheryl helped jog my memory)!!!

 

3> Make sure that every staff person there has SPOTLESS/CLEAN clothing. If this is really upscale, then I should not be sitting there being served by someone (this happened on two ships) with permanently stained (worn/faded) clothing. The one fellow we brought it up to (yes, I felt the need to ask him) apologized and then told us that it was their personal responsibility and that he would be out some $ to get new sets. Not sure if that's the case or not, but either way they should not be there like that!

 

It just seems like the are cutting corners/slacking in certain respects when I think back to our first supper club experience on the Legend in 2004.

 

I was reminded of how nice a $30 reservations only meal could/should be we we dined in Ocean Liners on the Celebrity Constellation last week. I will say that Carnival does have them beat on portion size - but not in the ambiance and service department. The quality of the food is a toss-up. Though there was the option of a wine pairing meal on Celebrity (about $100 per person) which was quite a treat. Not something to do very often, but a nice change.

 

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Anyone else noted other shortcomings (or accolades) which you think Carnival should know - to help them improve their product??

 

Tom

[TexasRain]

I only have a one time experience with the supper clubs and that was back in February of this year onboard the Freedom at the Sun King Supper Club. My DH and I thought the experience was absolutely wonderful and well worth the $30 per person charge. We had a really great bottle of wine to compliment the dinner.

 

DH had the prime rib I think and I had the Surf and Turf, both where very good. I will have to agree about the hovering though. While I understand the staff was trying to be attentive, at times, I did want to say, "Did you learn about the hula hoop rule in school?":D Not a big deal, but I did notice.

 

We are going on the Conquest on Sunday and have reservations at their supper club, The Point, so I will have another experience to draw on. I will report back when we return on whether I enjoy it as much as the Sun King.

 

Getting WAY EXCITED!:D:D

[imacruiser2]

Yes, I got a survey also.

[tximprov]

I did not get the email, but i do have one experience in the Point Supper club on the Conquest. When I made the reservations i had two options, 9 or 930 pm, I started calling first thing that morning as soon as they began making res. I figured others had made reservations early. When we arrived, There was one other table eating and they left soon after we arrived. We were the only guests in the room, there was no live music, no ambiance music. The food and service was wonderfull, It did seem a bit as if they were hovering, but I wrote that off as us being the ony table in the place. Other than that, I felt a bit rushed. As if the last ones in a place before they close and the staff wants to hurry and get out of there. Which probably was the case. It is billed as a 2 to 2 1/2 hour dinning experience, I was going to time if for fun but the martinis ruined my memory. Best martinis Ive ever had. All in all, not sure I would do it again. I like the dinning room.

[dclark]

My complaints about the supper clubs:

(on conquest class ships at least) No window to see ocean!

Never any help to pick night. I always try to see dining room menu for week and it is like pulling teeth to see it.

I have seen live music only once, other wise cd's- cheesy.

Last two times, supper club was freezing!

Food and service excellent though.

[NevadaHiRoller]

I got the same survey.

[Azure Moon]

The survey sounds like they're thinking about moving towards dining venues such as NCL has (Cagney's steakhouse, Teppayani (sp.), Mama's/or Papa's Italian, etc.)

 

Hubby and I have only been to a Carnival supper club once and that was on the Legend.

 

Our experience:

 

•The food was as wonderful as we'd read it would be!

 

•The live entertainment didn't last very long - maybe due to so few people eating in the restaurant and the time of the evening :confused:. This was somewhat disappointing since the live music always sounded like a highlight of eating in a supper club. (I still think live music should be played in the main dining rooms since the majority of passengers eat their evening meals there.)

 

•I didn't care for the waiting standing so close and watching us while we ate. It made me feel self-conscience (sp.) and I didn't feel as though hubby and I could have a private conversation.

 

•The room was nice, but that was due to the ship's decor rather than a room housing a supper club. The "candle" lamp was a nice touch. There was a wall separating the tables in the section of the club we were seated in that kept me from seeing the entertainers perform music and the dance floor, so that was somewhat disappointing.

 

Overall it was an enjoyable experience, not sure we'd do it very often though.

[bmacri]

I was looking at the online Supper Club Menu and looking at desserts, I didn't see my favorite ones.

 

I don't know what my favorite is called but it's a dessert that comes on a long tray with four little cups of different desserts. They are not only tastey but visually beautiful.

 

Does anyone know if these are still on the menu?

 

This is for Carnival Spirit

[valancy1]

I was looking at the online Supper Club Menu and looking at desserts, I didn't see my favorite ones.

 

I don't know what my favorite is called but it's a dessert that comes on a long tray with four little cups of different desserts. They are not only tastey but visually beautiful.

 

Does anyone know if these are still on the menu?

 

This is for Carnival Spirit

 

I had these at Harry's in September aboard Liberty:

 

 

Don't know/remember what they were called either except YUMMY. :D

[JoeU]

I had these at Harry's in September aboard Liberty:

 

 

Don't know/remember what they were called either except YUMMY. :D

 

 

This is the Chocolate Tarte with Bitter Chocolate Pate. I had it twice on the Miracle on our cruise to nowhere in October.

 

As for the e-mail question, I did get that same e-mail. We ate both nights in the Supper Club on our CTN, and twice on our April cruise on the Valor. I didn't get the same "hovering" feeling everyone else got. I don't remember if there was live music on the Valor, but there was definitely live music both nights on the Miracle. I also like the Spirit Class Supper Clubs better because of the ocean views from the resturaunt. The food is awesome, and the service is always top notch. Since my DW and I drink wine at dinner, we got to know the sommolier's on both trips. On the CTN, we had him do a dinner for us where we told him what we ordered, and asked him to match wines for each course based on our tastes. He brought us a glass for each course, including the Electra for dessert. This was alot of fun, and a great dining experience. It is also something we probably wouldn't get in the standard dining room. Overall, a great experience.

 

As for the survey, it looked to me like they were thinking of changing the theme. The only resturaunt concept that interested me was the cooking school concept where they show you how to prepare the things on the menu, and basically make your own dinner. It sounded like gourmet cooking school. Otherwise, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Joe

[dclark]

I hope they don't "cheap out" what they serve like RCL did with Portofinos. Yes, people still rave about Portofinos, but I when I went there five years ago, I think it was only $15pp and I had lobster stuffed ravioli, pan seared scallops and a huge lobster tail as main course. I don't know about those scallops, but the lobster is gone. Rather than serve a lobster tail, they eplaced that with a "seafood skewer" which had a just a chunk of lobster and even that might have discontinued.

[iluvdoxies]

Tom, I agree with the hovering----

 

We went with some friends one night and they asked for a bottle of Korbel and were told "that isnt champagne"--well they sure do sell it in the dining room as champagne. Thought that was a bit rude.