New menus/specialty dining 2023

[RDCruise]

I am going on a cruise on Oasis later in the late spring/summer, which I can't wait for. The new dining menus look great. Lots of choices. I do have a question/thought about the various nightly menu theme. I am booked with Chops and Giovanni's table. I really enjoy Chops and Giovanni's will be a first time for us. I was on Anthem and went to Jamie Oliver's Table and I assume that this will be similar. 

I have always noticed that you can, in the main dinning room order, for an extra charge, a steak from Chops. No issue with that. However, now that there is an "Italian" night that is part of the main dinning cruise package, why should one pay extra for Giovanni's?  I am not looking to change or cancel my desired reservations with Giovanni mind you.  I am just wondering if others have had the same thoughts that I have. 

 I LOVE the Windjammer and the main dinning room. I also love having a special experience at one of the specialty restaurants. When I am on vacation in some special city like Paris, I would want to go to a budget friendly cafe one day but another day I would want to be wowed at great restaurant. So for me, the available RC dining variety is just simply amazing. Sometimes I feel that there are not enough cruising days to do everything that is offered on these wonderful ships. 

My first cruise was Enchantment of the Seas back around 2006 or 2007. There when you went to Chops, they would bring out a tray with all the various cuts of meat and you would choose which cut you wanted. Also it was the time of very TALL desserts! If you had a cheese cake the slice was huge and wrapped in spun sugar making it look like the Chrysler building on a plate. Once again, an experience. Now with these mega ships in order to meet the demands menus and presentations have been changed, but luckily up to now, luckily,  the quality has not.

Specialty dining is just that, an opportunity to have a culinary experience that is not available in the normal inclusive dining room(s). Do you feel that the theming of the dining room might make you not want to do a specialty restaurant?

I am curious what other's thought are on this.

 

[wordell1]

I think of the food at the MDR as a really well done catered event.  Kind of like an expensive wedding where there are several choices for entree's. The food is great, but it is cooked for a very large group which limits the quality.

Specialty Dining offers a cooked-to-order menu which allows for higher quality.

In my opinion, both are very good.

Although there is an Italian theme night, there will not be anywhere near the choices offered at Goivanni's.

[RDCruise]

47 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

I think of the food at the MDR as a really well done catered event.  Kind of like an expensive wedding where there are several choices for entree's. The food is great, but it is cooked for a very large group which limits the quality.

Specialty Dining offers a cooked-to-order menu which allows for higher quality.

In my opinion, both are very good.

Although there is an Italian theme night, there will not be anywhere near the choices offered at Goivanni's.

Thank you Wordell1. Your response makes sense and is very helpful. 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, wordell1 said:

I think of the food at the MDR as a really well done catered event.  Kind of like an expensive wedding where there are several choices for entree's. The food is great, but it is cooked for a very large group which limits the quality.

Specialty Dining offers a cooked-to-order menu which allows for higher quality.

In my opinion, both are very good.

Although there is an Italian theme night, there will not be anywhere near the choices offered at Goivanni's.

Agreed.

Mass market cruise ships making food for thousands is never going to be a Michelin 3 star (or any stars).

However every time I have gone to the MDR it has been 10 out of 10 times better than what I cook at home.  

[Suzanne Elise]

We missed Italian night on our 5 night cruise. But the spaghetti with meat sauce was really not great. We ordered it on mexico night after we had just been eating mexican food.

[Ampurp85]

I found Giovanni's to be the worst of specialty restaurants and canceled my reservation on another ship after eating at it on Oasis. To be honest, neither Giovanni's or the MDR made decent pasta. Jamie's pasta at least taste good.

I find the MDR to be meh. However I am a picky eater so I would rather pay specialty restaurant pricing if that means I get what I want. The MDR cooks for the masses, so I found the food to be bland and lacking. It's personal taste: the buffet and dining room could be amazing to one person who couldn't imagine paying extra, while someone like me can't survive without specialty restaurants.

[johnvwinchester]

Our experience is that this restaurant is wonderful across three ships. (Liberty, Adventure and Explorer)

[SpeedNoodles]

41 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I found Giovanni's to be the worst of specialty restaurants and canceled my reservation on another ship after eating at it on Oasis. To be honest, neither Giovanni's or the MDR made decent pasta. Jamie's pasta at least taste good.

 

But the new Giovanni's Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar is excellent.  Wish it was on more ships!

[Marc]

13 hours ago, RDCruise said:

My first cruise was Enchantment of the Seas back around 2006 or 2007. There when you went to Chops, they would bring out a tray with all the various cuts of meat and you would choose which cut you wanted.

Our third ever cruise was on Grand Princess back in 2002, I think. We ate at Sabatini's (their Italian restaurant). When it came time to select our appetizer, the server came around with a large tray of all their antipasti appetizers. He then proceeded to put one of each one onto our plates! We were practically stuffed after all that since it would've been rude not to eat it after he so kindly gave us everything!

[MaryCS62]

I enjoyed Giovanni's on Adventure (back in 2018). Jamie's in 2019 on Anthem didn't thrill me as much, but we will be on Anthem next month & DH really wants to go there, so we will do one night. I scheduled it for the night that I thought would be Mexican night, as nothing there really appealed, but now I'm not sure I picked the correct night. Do you think I will be able to change nights on board ship without it being a problem? I figure once onboard, I'll know for sure what night is Mexican and we can skip it then

[Pattycruise]

2 hours ago, MaryCS62 said:

I enjoyed Giovanni's on Adventure (back in 2018). Jamie's in 2019 on Anthem didn't thrill me as much, but we will be on Anthem next month & DH really wants to go there, so we will do one night. I scheduled it for the night that I thought would be Mexican night, as nothing there really appealed, but now I'm not sure I picked the correct night. Do you think I will be able to change nights on board ship without it being a problem? I figure once onboard, I'll know for sure what night is Mexican and we can skip it then

Yes, a change should be easy assuming there are seats available 

[WAYNO]

On Navigator now... Yep, the menu is slightly trimmed back, but the impact to me has so far been minimal....

 

Edited to add... Day 4, no comfort food on MDR menu.  I understand it's a theme night, but I still expected a traditional/default beef entree.  I don't do roasted tofu or enchiladas in a place where I'm expected to change into long pants.  But for the folks that appreciate such a menu, I'm still happy for you

 

Edited again... Not to worry, I'll just go to Windjammers.  It was save money night there too.  No carvery and no minute steaks.  So I filled up on salad, hamburger patties and sweet and sour chicken. Glad I had a nice lunch in Mazatlan.

I really thought the new menu would not be an issue.  I've since changed my mind.  Just possibly, this could be a reason to get more folks into specialty dining.

 

 

[Ampurp85]

7 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

But the new Giovanni's Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar is excellent.  Wish it was on more ships!

Yes, it is. I should have clarified that it is Giovanni's Table that is bad. I had the Giovanni's IK experience on Odyssey and the meatball Gigante is worth it alone. 

[WAYNO]

On 2/5/2023 at 3:39 PM, WAYNO said:

On Navigator now... Yep, the menu is slightly trimmed back, but the impact to me has so far been minimal.   I do not allow myself traditional dessert, so I order shrimp cocktail as a replacement.  Last night, shrimp cocktail was not  on the menu and they were unable to improvise in spite of shrimp linguine being on the menu.  Just a slight departure from my intended course.

 

Edited to add... Day 4, no comfort food on MDR menu.  I understand it's a theme night, but I still expected a default beef entree.  I don't do tofu or enchiladas in a place where I'm expected to change into long pants.  But for the folks that appreciate such a menu, I'm still happy for you

 

Edited again... Not to worry, I'll just go to Windjammers.  It was save money night there too.  No carvery and no minute steaks.  So I filled up on salad, hamburger patties and sweet and sour chicken. Glad I had a nice lunch in Mazatlan.

I really thought the new menu would not be an issue.  I've since changed my mind.  Just possibly, this could be a reason to get more folks into specialty dining.

 

 

And one more edit...

It's now day 6 on Navigator.  I have skipped 2 meals in the MDR just because there was nothing on the menu  interesting to me.  At the same time, our tablemates thought the changes were wonderful, but they never ordered steak or prime rib even when they had the choice.  

Bottom line... It's not just about me.  The changes, although unwelcome to some, are welcomed by far more.

[Bmac]

The one specialty dining experience I will say everyone should try at least once is the Chef's Table. We've done this a few times on different ships but the last time on Allure was amazing. The food was delicious even things that I would typically not like were very good. I will say this though, if you're planning on doing this plan for a night that you don't want or have anything to do. Our last time took four hours start to finish, but we loved it.