Jayestravellingadventures

I must admit as a frequent cruiser I tend to not experience the speciality restaurants onboard unless its for a special occasion. A handful of cruisers only eat at the Speciality restaurants, where others like myself stay within the Freedom and Club restaurants.

There is a number of Speciality Restaurants on cruise ships, these are not included in the cruise fare and you’ll be required to either pay a small fee or a fee per dish depending on the restaurant. Regular cruisers know these as ‘Speciality’ however P&O refer to them as ‘For a little extra’.

Across the fleet these include: The Limelight Club, The Beach House, The Olive Grove, The Market Café, The 710 Club, Room Service, Taste 360, The Glass House, Sindhu, The Keel + Cow, Epicurean, Ocean Grill and Green & Co Feat Mizuhana. Some may be harder then others to book, as The 710 Club and The Limelight Club are both venues which offer entertainment.

To avoid disappointment due to the venue being fully booked, its best to book on your cruise personaliser as far in advance as possible. Once you embark, on the P&O app they are shown as unavailable, and you are advised to go to the restaurants themselves to enquire about availability. If they are showing as full, you are then place on a cancellation or no show list.

Sindhu is the only Specialty restaurant I have tried onboard, It was a must for me as I love Indian food. I found there wasn’t much of an option of mild food to choose from, as you have to pay if you don’t like it then you would then need to pay for another option. Portions weren’t small and there wasn’t much room for dessert after. My advice would be to check the menu before attending, as there isn’t much “traditional” options for picky eaters.

If you have purchased a Drinks Package, you can use them in any Speciality restaurant onboard for the same drinks around the ship. The only downside is that drinks costing £6.95 and over are excluded, however you do receive 20% off these as well as bottles of wine.

On board Credit is one reason to try the Speciality restaurants as you can dine in luxury without the cost. You may also not like the location of your set table in the MDR (main dining room), who you have been seated with (if you’ve chosen that option), or been given a seating time that’s not preferred (1830 or 2030). You may not like the food options in the MDR. There is plenty of options to your preference which are all acceptable, everyone has different tastes which is why there is ample amounts of food options to choose from.

I would like to try more Speciality restaurants with my cruises moving forward however, I do have a comfort in the MDR. This will be something I will need to overcome, as when I’m on holiday I love to try new foods, in the MDR I can do this as the menus are divers and I trust the waiters to help pick what I will be eating. Eating in the MDR you have the ease of knowing, if you don’t like the food you can have another dish, however in the Speciality restaurants that’s not the case.