How to get the most out of cruise ship dining

[Jason]

When it comes to planning a cruise, looking at the ship's dining options is as important (okay, almost as important) as deciding where you want to sail. Thanks to multiple onboard restaurants, there are more food choices than there are cruise ships, which can lead to information overload and lots of confusion about what is and isn't included with your cabin fare and what's worth the extra fee. For instance, Norwegian's Getaway includes six free restaurants with cabin fare, and allows cruisers to pay a la carte (or buy packages) for a whopping 16 additional restaurants. Lucky for you, we've eaten our way across a whole fleet of cruise ships and know the ins and outs of dining at sea. Read on for our tips and tricks on how to make the most out of your cruise ship dining experience.

Buy a dining package.

Are you the type of person who centers their vacation around trying new flavors or do you prefer tried-and-true familiar foods? Do you want to sit down at a reserved time for waiter service or would you rather eat whenever you feel like it at a self-serve buffet? Or, perhaps you want to enjoy a mix of both. Luckily, most major cruise ships cater to both types of diners, but to ensure you're getting the best experience for the best price, consider purchasing a dining package. Royal Caribbean offers packages that include three, four, five, or unlimited specialty restaurant visits with savings of up to 40 percent and special deals for kids. There are some limits on visiting the same restaurant more than once, and booze and soda will still cost extra (of course, there are beverage packages for purchase as well). It's easy to supplement the specialty dining with the free restaurants. Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas offers free dining at three main dining rooms, a cafe, bistro, and hot dog joint.

Free doesn't always mean casual.

Cruise ships have become very serious about providing multiple free and quality restaurants to their guests. Though you'll still find some less-than-stellar buffets (especially on budget cruises), most of the mid-range and up ships are in the gourmet game. Taste and Savor on the Norwegian Breakaway serve all-inclusive contemporary American and international dishes in semi-formal dining rooms with white tablecloths and cloth napkins. If you've ever dreamt of ordering the steak and the salmon entrees, this is your opportunity. And why not try every dessert on the menu while you're at it? Service isn't stuffy, but it's definitely a step up from the buffet line.

Make reservations before sailing.

Many specialty restaurants get booked up prior to the sailing. For instance, all Carnival cruise ships offer a 14- or 16-person Chef's Table experience for an extra fee. The reservation-only meal consists of eight courses served with Champagne and house wine. Diners are guided through each course, and some guests book this experience on every cruise they take. Other small restaurants, like show kitchens and sushi bars, also have limited seating and fill up well before the sailing begins. Another key aspect to watch for is at-sea days. Since every cruiser will be onboard, the most popular restaurants fill up fast.

Don't worry if you're a picky eater.

We get it, not everyone is a foodie. That said, many cruise ships have partnered with beloved chain restaurants and celebrity chefs to give passengers a taste of home at sea. Partnerships with celebrated chefs like Thomas Keller, Jamie Oliver, and Nobu have ramped things up for fine-dining. More casual options include Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville on some Norwegian lines, Guy's Burger Joint on some Carnival lines, and Starbucks and Johnny Rockets on some Royal Caribbean ships. Even if your ship doesn't have a chain restaurant, try to think of the all-inclusive dining establishments (many don't allow reservations anyway) as several kitchens you can access. For instance, walk into Shanghai Noodle Bar on Norwegian Breakaway for some pre-dinner apps before having a lighter meal at Savor. The ship's sports bar, O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar & Grill, makes excellent nachos for a post-swim snack. And don't forget the kids' corner at the buffet station, where you can always find burgers, hot dogs, fries, fried fish, and soft-serve ice cream.

Look carefully at the menus.

While it may seem noteworthy that a cruise ship has several restaurants, keep in mind that some of them are serving the same food in different surroundings. The Emerald Princess has three main dining rooms: Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Botticelli -- each serving identical breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices. On the Norwegian Sky, guests can choose to grab their own waffles from the buffet at Garden Cafe or have the exact same waffles served to them at the Italian restaurant, Il Adagio. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does cut down on the wow factor.

Befriend your waiter.

If you're on a cruise ship with assigned seating and meal times (available on Princess cruises), your table location, dinner companions, waiter, and waiter's assistant will remain the same for the entire trip. The best thing you can do in this situation (which cruisers tend to either love or loathe) is make friends with your waiter on the first night. Don't be afraid to tip right away, ensuring excellent service. Beyond taking your order, waiters can also help with dietary requirements and learn your preferences for food and wine recommendations. Let them know if you're celebrating something special, like a birthday. Cruise ship waitstaff is trained to go above and beyond, and you might be surprised how far they can go.

By Osyter.com via Good Morning America
Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more
For more cruise news and articles go to https://www.cruisecrazies.com

View full article

[AndiD]

Good information!  The new Celebrity Edge seems to be offering some new options for traditional dining, with each MDR specializing in a different type of cuisine.  They also have interesting extra-fee restaurants to choose from.  I have all of our dinners planned out with reservations made for our sailing on February 17, 2019!  Looking forward to trying EVERYTHING they have to offer, lol!

[scalise12]

On 5/25/2018 at 9:32 PM, Jason said:

When it comes to planning a cruise, looking at the ship's dining options is as important (okay, almost as important) as deciding where you want to sail. Thanks to multiple onboard restaurants, there are more food choices than there are cruise ships, which can lead to information overload and lots of confusion about what is and isn't included with your cabin fare and what's worth the extra fee. For instance, Norwegian's Getaway includes six free restaurants with cabin fare, and allows cruisers to pay a la carte (or buy packages) for a whopping 16 additional restaurants. Lucky for you, we've eaten our way across a whole fleet of cruise ships and know the ins and outs of dining at sea. Read on for our tips and tricks on how to make the most out of your cruise ship dining experience.

Buy a dining package.

Are you the type of person who centers their vacation around trying new flavors or do you prefer tried-and-true familiar foods? Do you want to sit down at a reserved time for waiter service or would you rather eat whenever you feel like it at a self-serve buffet? Or, perhaps you want to enjoy a mix of both. Luckily, most major cruise ships cater to both types of diners, but to ensure you're getting the best experience for the best price, consider purchasing a dining package. Royal Caribbean offers packages that include three, four, five, or unlimited specialty restaurant visits with savings of up to 40 percent and special deals for kids. There are some limits on visiting the same restaurant more than once, and booze and soda will still cost extra (of course, there are beverage packages for purchase as well). It's easy to supplement the specialty dining with the free restaurants. Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas offers free dining at three main dining rooms, a cafe, bistro, and hot dog joint.

Free doesn't always mean casual.

Cruise ships have become very serious about providing multiple free and quality restaurants to their guests. Though you'll still find some less-than-stellar buffets (especially on budget cruises), most of the mid-range and up ships are in the gourmet game. Taste and Savor on the Norwegian Breakaway serve all-inclusive contemporary American and international dishes in semi-formal dining rooms with white tablecloths and cloth napkins. If you've ever dreamt of ordering the steak and the salmon entrees, this is your opportunity. And why not try every dessert on the menu while you're at it? Service isn't stuffy, but it's definitely a step up from the buffet line.

Make reservations before sailing.

Many specialty restaurants get booked up prior to the sailing. For instance, all Carnival cruise ships offer a 14- or 16-person Chef's Table experience for an extra fee. The reservation-only meal consists of eight courses served with Champagne and house wine. Diners are guided through each course, and some guests book this experience on every cruise they take. Other small restaurants, like show kitchens and sushi bars, also have limited seating and fill up well before the sailing begins. Another key aspect to watch for is at-sea days. Since every cruiser will be onboard, the most popular restaurants fill up fast.

Don't worry if you're a picky eater.

We get it, not everyone is a foodie. That said, many cruise ships have partnered with beloved chain restaurants and celebrity chefs to give passengers a taste of home at sea. Partnerships with celebrated chefs like Thomas Keller, Jamie Oliver, and Nobu have ramped things up for fine-dining. More casual options include Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville on some Norwegian lines, Guy's Burger Joint on some Carnival lines, and Starbucks and Johnny Rockets on some Royal Caribbean ships. Even if your ship doesn't have a chain restaurant, try to think of the all-inclusive dining establishments (many don't allow reservations anyway) as several kitchens you can access. For instance, walk into Shanghai Noodle Bar on Norwegian Breakaway for some pre-dinner apps before having a lighter meal at Savor. The ship's sports bar, O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar & Grill, makes excellent nachos for a post-swim snack. And don't forget the kids' corner at the buffet station, where you can always find burgers, hot dogs, fries, fried fish, and soft-serve ice cream.

Look carefully at the menus.

While it may seem noteworthy that a cruise ship has several restaurants, keep in mind that some of them are serving the same food in different surroundings. The Emerald Princess has three main dining rooms: Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Botticelli -- each serving identical breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices. On the Norwegian Sky, guests can choose to grab their own waffles from the buffet at Garden Cafe or have the exact same waffles served to them at the Italian restaurant, Il Adagio. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does cut down on the wow factor.

Befriend your waiter.

If you're on a cruise ship with assigned seating and meal times (available on Princess cruises), your table location, dinner companions, waiter, and waiter's assistant will remain the same for the entire trip. The best thing you can do in this situation (which cruisers tend to either love or loathe) is make friends with your waiter on the first night. Don't be afraid to tip right away, ensuring excellent service. Beyond taking your order, waiters can also help with dietary requirements and learn your preferences for food and wine recommendations. Let them know if you're celebrating something special, like a birthday. Cruise ship waitstaff is trained to go above and beyond, and you might be surprised how far they can go.

By Osyter.com via Good Morning America
Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more
For more cruise news and articles go to https://www.cruisecrazies.com

 

View full article

 

All Good Points... Thanks!!

[ExpatCruise]

Good information in this posting. It seems cruise lines are going the way of airlines. In the golden years of Jet air travel everything was included, meals, drinks, luggage, pillows, blankets, travel kits, etc.  Until the airlines found that these things are sources of profit and slowing they have gone from free to paid for extras. The same thing seems to be happening with cruise dinning. 

One thing in the information that should be corrected is free dinning is not unlimited on all major cruise lines. The third or fourth largest cruise company in the world (depending  upon source) is Genting Corporation which owns Star Cruises, Dream Cruises and Crystal Cruises. They limited the free food on Star and Dream to one meal per dinning period.  When you enter a dinning area they log your room card, want a second meal, up charged.  The buffet offered on the cruises is also very limited, less than 10 hot items and again if you leave the dinning area and come back you pay a up charge.  In the dinning room for dinner you have a choice of three main items, very small and  poor quality.  Crystal Cruises does not have these limits yet but it could happen in the future, based upon the owners history.

I really hope this in not the future of cruise travel. Cruise ships have been know for supplying unlimited food for guest to keep them happy.  While I fully understand the cruise lines  want to make money, the up charge restaurants present another issue.

They market them as being a great deal they are in fact not a great deal because you have already paid for a full unlimited meal, they cruise lines save the costs of the included meal and up charge for another meal.  So the next time you see a $30 dollar up charge for these meals it should be looked at as $30 plus the $20 they save and have already budgeted. Plus they get the chance to up charge you with a added gratuity service fee of 18 to 20%. Why do guest need to pay a added gratuity to these meals when they already have a daily service fee to cover dinning? 

Guest need to understand that Cruise Lines are set up to get as much extra cash out of you that they can. It is our job as guest to get the most benefits from the cruise and limited the added cash to the cruise lines.

 

[JohnCG]

I thought the pricing on the specialty restaurants on Celebrity Edge were the most expensive of any I have seen.  $65 pp at the steak one, similarly at the French one.  We had Karen's birthday dinner at the Raw on 5 and it came to $115 for two.  Thank goodness I still had adequate onboard credit available.  Dinner in the four main dining rooms was good.  They had entrees from the other dining room available, e.g. we were in Tuscany and one night we had appetizers and an entree from Cyprus available, and another night from Normandy.  I thought dining room service was excellent from the waiter, asst waiter, and sommolier.

[jacketwatch]

$65.00 pp is ridiculous. I wonder where the ceiling is for speciality restaurants? They sure have risen over the years. 

[AndiD]

We did enjoy the Rooftop Garden Grill and did not feel the cost was outrageous and we got a discount on La Petite Chef due to them cancelling another choice, but felt the experience and food was worth the full cost.  We were perfectly happy with the various MDRs, though.

[Jan115]

Not only are the prices going up for Specialty Dining, but the suggestion for reservations at the complimentary dining rooms is annoying. I simply don't know when, where or if I'll feel like eating a big meal after a long day in port. I've been cruising Norwegian often in the last few years, and pushing advance reservation defeats the purpose of their "Freestyle" cruising. More often than not, we wait until after 8 to eat to avoid the lines for those without a reservation.

 

[jacketwatch]

The MDR’s are just fine with us. It  seems to me that people who criticize them are comparing them to fine dining restaurants when in fact these are supposed to be more like banquet style meals and I think for the most part they succeed at that.