On Aug 30, 2:06 pm, Nonnymus wrote:
> I have a fairly negative reaction to specialty restaurants on a cruise
> ship. When I purchase a cruise, I expect that the main dining room will
> serve high quality food, properly prepared and properly served.
And, for the most part, it is. Well...maybe not "high" quality, but
certainly good quality. When you're preparing that quantity of food
for that many people, my expectations for high quality go out the
door. From my first cruise, dining room food has met my expectations,
which I try to keep realistic - I expect the food to fall somewhere in
between a "wedding factory" catering hall and a moderately priced
restaurant (entr=E9es in the $25-$35 range).
I
> expect the menu to change daily to give me a selection of foods and
> preparation, such as an Italian themed menu, French themed menu during
> different nights. When a specialty restaurant is presented as a place
> for the "best steak," or "best service," then I feel it's done at the
> expense of the main dining venue.
So far, that hasn't been my experience. There are still themed nights
in the dining rooms, with a different menu each evening - Caribbean,
French, all-American, Italian, etc. I have found that the specialty
restaurants do have a higher level of service and higher quality food,
but I haven't noticed that the dining room has suffered any.
> I guess the thing in a nutshell is that if a ship's main dining room
> serves excellent food with the anticipated service and variety, then if
> folks want to pay extra for a specialty venue, I don't have a problem.
And, that's pretty much what's happening. The use of the word
"excellent" is pretty subjective. I've had a few excellent dishes in
the dining room, but overall, I wouldn't rate the food as
excellent...but many people would! Even if there were no specialty
restaurants on any ships, and all the effort and expense for good
quality service and food was concentrated in the dining room, I doubt
even then, that I'd call it "excellent". When you're preparing that
quantity of food for that many people, with a very limited budget
(it's been a while, but a long time ago, someone posted how much each
cruise line spends for food per day, per passenger - amazingly small $
$ amounts) to achieve excellence is quite a stretch.
> However, if a specialty restaurant(s) is pushed by the line and poor
> food or service in the main dining room is the alternative, then I guess
> I'd resent it deeply.
I've never felt that the specialty restaurants were pushed on me. I
think maybe you're getting (just a little) irked about a situation
that, in my experience, doesn't exist. Maybe it's the case on NCL with
freestyle. I've only cruised on ships with traditional dining, and
have not found what you've described to be the case.
Lee
>
> Nonny
>
> --
> ---Nonnymus---
> You don't stand any taller by
> trying to make others appear shorter.
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