Alternative Dining

[slapchips]

Just off Celebrity Galaxy ( a BIG mistake ). I found out too late that Galaxy does not cater to guests who don't want the regular 2hour seated/waited-on dining every night. The Alternatives were meagre and poor ( barel acceptable, really ). In essence they offer another seated/waited-on option which was OK, but no real self-service alternatives. On offer in this category was soup, a (basic) salad bar, sushi, stir-fry and a hot dish ( always served cold )

 

Clearly, Galaxy is to be avoided, but my question is : does that apply also to other Celebrity ships ?

 

Perhaps more experienced cruisers could give me pointrs on how to avoid the take-it-or-leave-it approach of Galaxy and tell me which lines offer a real alternative in the form of a buffet in the evening for the nights when you don't want the full sit-down thing. Any help ?

[JanineM]

Try a line other than Celebrity. They normally offer the full-service dining room, the sit-down alternative dining (limited menu) in the buffet, pasta/pizza/salad bar in the buffet, specialty dining and room service. Seems like plenty of choices to me!

 

On Royal Caribbean they have the Windjammer open in the evening so you can have buffet.

[slapchips]

thanks Janine. I think you are probably right: I'll stick to the others. However, on the matter of "plenty of choice", it certainly sounds that way. But the reality ( certainly on the Galaxy ) is a little different. The food in the alternative venues is barely acceptable ( except the sit-down one ). So, which the list of options sounds great, the reality falls far short. I have problems with being served "hot" dishes cold ! and variety is desireable. Anyway, one lives and learns -- it's just a pity I had 14 days to learn my lesson on Galaxy !!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

HAL offers the Lido each evening for those you do not wish to dine in the dining room. The Lido dinner is buffet and offers nearly all the same items that is served in the main dining room.

[Gonzo70]

All Celebirty ships are similar, but the newer ships have more alternative restaurants to choose from (these are high quality ones, but sit down service with a fee attached).

 

Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Carnival all have buffets with wide selection for dinner. I think Princess does as well, but am not sure.

[kitty9]

The Galaxy is one of their oldest ships, and built when everyone seemed happy to be in the main dining room without the need for other alternatives. Celebrity's M Class ships have other alternatives such as their sushi bar, a sit down casual dining area, a high end alternate restaurant and their Aqua Spa cafe. Their Solstice Class ships have many, many more options.

 

But isn't it interesting that once the cruise lines started with their pay extra alternates, the food in the main dining rooms declined rather far?

 

Don't judge Celebrity on the experience on Galaxy. Just know that X has sold Galaxy and she will be leaving the fleet to cruise in the European market.

[cb at sea]

I'm not sure the "buffet" (while it may have many choices) will be much more than "buffet-style" food. Certainly not the same as the dining room. At least, IMO! Not a big fan of buffets, no matter HOW much is out there! And, I think all of the lines have streamlined their food choices--whether it's in the dining room or the alternative eating places.

[wwinfl91]

Both HAL and Princess offer a version of dine when you want service for dinner. We have tried the service on both and found we liked it. Celebrity and RCL haven't went to it yet. NCL also has it but we haven't been on them yet. Many of the premium cruise lines (Radisson, Regent Seven Seas, Silverseas) also offer this as a standard.

 

We have on been on Celebrity once and were a little disappointed because everything we had heard about Celebrity was how good and upscale the food was but in our opinion it was about the same as other good cruise lines, Princess, HAL, RCL, etc.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[ChristynBJ]

Another great alternative that I learned to love on Celebrity:

We were able to order room service from the Dining room menu each night, as long as dinner service was still in progress. We had the food delivered as we like it to our room and enjoyed it at our leisure. :) My favorite way to dine.

[LizaMM]

I have yet to sail Celebrity so I can't speak about the line but....

 

Carnival offers Anytime Dining option in the main DR (during certain hours) on 2 ships right now - Legend and Liberty - and plan to institute it fleetwide during 2009. The buffet dining on the Lido Deck is also quite extensive with many selections in the main buffet area which are in the Dining Room as well as "specialty" stations (pizza, mongolian grill, Asian, Indian etc) that are dedicated to certain foods throughout the cruise....there is even a sushi bar on many ships which is open for a couple of hours each evening.

 

 

The Spirit Class (Legend is one) of ships are not as "glitzy, kitchy" as some of the other Carnival Ships (although the Conquest Class are my favorite) as well as being a bit smaller and laid out in a very Pax friendly manner.

[leeanninfla]

Royal Caribbean has the as you wish dining option on most of their ships now, only stipulation with this is that you must prepay gratuities with your booking for this option.

[CruisnGram]

If you want the widest variety of places to dine, with no set dining times, you should try NCL.

 

If you chose to eat in one of the main dining rooms, it usually doesn't take nearly as long to eat as it does with conventional dining, as you can sit at a table for 2...not a large table.

 

In addition, the buffet is nice (if you like buffet's) in the evening as tables have linen table cloths, candles, etc. to make it a nicer atmosphere. However, if you intend to frequent the buffet a lot, I would suggest one of the newer NCL ships that have equipped the buffet with action stations which make it flow a lot better.

 

CG