Topsiders for Dinner....

[Favorite Auntie]

There was a thread about this a while back....but I can't find it! Anyway....has anyone out there had dinner at Topsiders?? Was it sit down or buffet? Was it the same food as served in the roatation dining rooms?

I was telling my mother that I thought it was sit down with food comparable to the dining room and she didn't believe me (she said that she did but I could tell that she didn't)....

Any help would be appreciated...

 

[ThreeCircles]

Favorite Auntie--

I remember the thread about this subject as well! It seems that one of the posters on that thread did indeed have dinner at Topsiders one evening and said that it was quite enjoyable. I believe I remember him stating that they had the tables done up nicely with tablecloths and that the waiters took your order for the main entree while they had a salad/soup buffet set up. Wish I could remember more.

Travis and I both love the dining rooms but we're thinking about trying this one night on our upcoming back-to-back cruises in Aug/Sep.

 

[lsmac]

Jason is right. While we prefer to eat in our rotation dining room, we returned late from an excursion one time and decided to eat in Topsiders. It was very nice with low lighting and tablecloths etc. You went to a buffet and picked your salad etc., but the waiter came and took your main entree order. Then you could go get dessert from the buffet as well when done. They also offered bar service for dinner here as well.


Lisa

 

[dan and scott]

We have done dinner at Topsiders several times on our last 3 cruises. They are open between 6-8:30. They take youre cabin number,seat you, you select your entree', drink, etc., and then you proceed to get your salad on the buffet line.
The food is mostly what they are serving on rotation that night.
The wait staff wait on you hand and foot just like they do in the main dinning rooms. Topsiders takes on a whole different feel in the evening--it really is quite beautiful. It is casual and have ate there in shorts before.

Scott

 

[Favorite Auntie]

OK....what about tipping?? Do you need to tip additionally here?

 

[Favorite Auntie]

OK....whay about tipping?? Do you need to tip additionally here?

 

[dan and scott]

no tipping required

Scott

 

[LuvMyRedHeads]

I think my family would enjoy eating at Topsiders. I wanted to make sure I know you can wear shorts hear during the day. But can you really wear shorts hear at night. That would be great. I just want to make sure before I show up there and am not dressed properly. Thanks for any responses.

 

[ThreeCircles]

Yes, you can wear shorts during the evening at Topsiders. This area has really been set aside for those who don't wish to dress up for the dining rooms in the evening.

 

[max123]

We ate there during our 8/21 western cruise and it was great. We came back late from KYW and decided to eat there. We were one of the only families there and had a GREAT meal.

thanks

 

[6915meh]

Does Beach Blanket on the 3-day also offer this type of open seating dining?

We will be coming back late from our dolphin swim on the Nassau day and wanted to try and still make dinner and show. I guess we will be returning close to 7pm as the ferry leaves Blue Lagoon at 6pm (30 minute ride and 10-15 minutes to get taxi and get back on ship).

I have posted a thread a few days ago about anyone who has info on the late ferry from Blue Lagoon but I guess we are the only ones not lucky enough to get an earlier time for the swim/encounter.

 

[S. C.]

Don't know the answer for beach blanket.

Wanted to let you know when we did the dolphin swim at blue lagoon they brought us back to the ship. We only had to get a taxi over to paradise island to get on the ferry before the swim.

 

[hilltopfamily]

I believe I may have been one of the previous posters on this subject. We went to topsiders 1 night and it was fabulous! Our server was impeccable--far better than the server we had in our dining rooms. In fact, he was every bit as good as our server in Palo. (in all fairness though it was not busy while we were there so he had less people to care for) We did tip him because we asked the hostess and she stated it was up to us if we felt his service warranted it, and boy did it! I don't believe they are tipped otherwise??

We still dressed up nicely (though you don't have to) and the tables were done w/linen, etc. Menu was not extensive but did have 5 entrees to choose from. We did not, however, have to go up to get our salad or dessert, they were brought to us after we ordered so it was a completly "served" meal, no buffet aspect to it. It was beautiful to sit right at a window up there and see the scenery!! In the dining rooms, we had pretty poor table locations and not the most enjoyable tablemates, but in topsiders we were able to sit just the 5 of us at a table right at a window!!

 

[Favorite Auntie]

I wonder why nobody mentions this option for dinner - or if they do, they make it sound like it is buffet, similar to lunch. The Passporter does not even mention the sit down dinning offered at Topsiders....I guess it's a secret.

 

[tkd lisa]

I'm not sure if it's permanent, that's probably why it's not in the guidebooks. It wasn't offered on our January Wonder cruise, and I haven't heard of it being offered on the 3 or 4 day cruises by anyone.

DCL appeared to answer some peoples suggestions that they wanted an option for dinner that was more than pizza or room service without the need to dress up. Since the dress up thing is more of an issue on the 7 days, that's likely why it's on the magic.

It does appear that it will be permanent, since I think it's been going on for about a year or so now, so maybe it will be added to the documentation soon.

 

[4nana]

I think it is a great alternative for those who do not want to eat in the dining rooms, cabin or fast food area for whatever reason. This sounds like the perfect solution. We were on the Wonder recently and this was not an option at 'Beach Blanket Buffet.'

 

[abitjaded]

Topsider's is also the ultimate in "carry out". The night my husband and I went to Palo my mom could not find anything on the room service menu that appealed. The kids and she were too tired to go to the restaurant. So we went up to Topsiders to look. The food was nicely displayed, all courses set out. One of the servers filled a tray with appetizers, salad and desert, then we waited a bit (though he said we did not need to wait, he would come when it was ready) while they prepared a fresh dish of one of the displayed entrees. He covered everything then followed us back to the cabin and set up the table. We tipped him, and voila! Almost Conciege service in a category 7. This was on Tropicali night on the Magic. I thought the food looked better than the regular restaurants, and it did not appear to be any of the food from the regular Tropicali menu.

Carla

 

[ragdoll]

We tried Topsider's for dinner one night on our recent cruise and absolutely loved it! One of the best meals we had. It was very quiet and relaxing. Would definitely do it again.

 

[Dreamer04]

This is a great tip! What I love about it is that there is no planning required. One night if we feel like skipping the dressing up routine and still want good food, we now have Topsiders as an option. Excellent!!

 

[sushilover]

I think Topsiders for dinner is available only on the 7 night cruise. I seem to remember my waiter saying "casual dining is an only offerred on the 7 day cruises". That was back in July 2002 so they may have changed since then.