Speciality Restaurants….Are they really worth it?

With the quality of food on modern cruise liners offerings food that matches or even beats the standards of many high end restaurants many cruisers often ask the question, why should I pay for one of the speciality dining’s on board? Well I’ll be honest, I have often thought this myself. In fact, quite often I can be found that engrossed in at the quality in the buffet restaurant (as well as the sheer amount of food) that I can often be found missing the evening finding to indulge myself to my holiday heart’s desire!

Well it so happens that on my Celebrity cruise on board the Celebrity Eclipse I experienced my first speciality dining in Qsine restaurant. Now, I was on the ship for a special anniversary with my partner at the time, and had been guilted into trying this restaurant. My argument for not going, was the usual; why should I pay an extra $35pp for us to eat in Qsine, when there are perfectly good restaurants on the ship included in my holiday cost? Surely the food cannot get much better than what I’ve already had?

Well, I am telling you it does get even better. Stepping into Qsine from the start was another experience for me! After being sat down to the table, rather than being presented with a standard menu our waiter for the evening handed me an iPad from which I selected my food. Now anyone that knows me, knows I am a bit of a self-confessed technology geek, so straight away I was hooked. We were shown how to use the menu on the iPad, and again me being me, I was drawn in by the cartoons used to describe the different dishes on the menu. They were bringing out my inner child (who isn’t hidden too deep), and they were doing this with food!

One of the first things that we ordered were the sushi lollipops, with sushi being one of my favourites. On arrival from the waiter my immediate thought was that this was sushi as you have never seen before. It was nothing like the £1 sushi packs I had come to love from Tesco on my lunch hour. This was a magnificent display of colour and detail that had all my senses alert. The waiter brought out a tray a marble tray with 7 or 8 ice lolly sticks protruding, all with a complex display of sushi balanced on top. It almost reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where Gene Wilder lets them explore his giant sweet garden crossed with the imagination of Heston Blumenthal. And the taste…out of this world! I was in total heaven!

After the sushi an array of other dishes followed from our waiter, each as imaginative as the next and each more different and more surprising than I could have guessed! I must say, after leaving Qsine (what felt like 10lbs heavier) I was a speciality restaurant convert. Not only did the restaurant target my taste buds, but all five senses had been targeted and I can honestly say this was the highlight of my Celebrity cruise and one hundred percent worth $35.

Have you ever dinner in one of the speciality restaurants on a cruise and what has been your favourite?