With all the talk about changes in Lattitudes, if you had your way what would you like to see??

Great, now I have that Jimmy Buffet song in my head.. "Changes in lattitudes, changes in attitudes..."

:D

I don't know what I want . . the sushi on board has never been good so unless Regent hires several real sushi chefs, it won't be impressive. I would put Italian in the same category. The only really good Italian food we've had on board is when the Officers do the cooking.

I suppose the advantage of a steak house is that assuming the ingredients are good, it's pretty hard to ruin. And hopefully, there will be more than just beef.

We've enjoyed Latitude over the years but as Marcie said, mostly when the themes were varied on the long trips. And then to be honest, it was the themes and the atmosphere in general.

Given early poll results; maybe I should have added "Japanese Steak House" ala Benihana's ;)


Greg

I voted for Leave as Is or Japanese, but my real vote is for "anything but a steak house". We're simply not fans of red meat emporiums.

On our recent eight night cruise to Alaska, we ate dinner at Compass Rose three times, the Alaskan Grill at La Veranda twice, Signatures twice, and Lattitudes once. Had the two meals at Signatures not been pre-arranged with another couple, we would have eaten there only once: we thought that all three other restaurants were better. As for steak, it certainly was available every night other than at Lattitudes; but, between the two of us, we only had it once--the Tournedos at Signatures. We could happily cruise for a month without having steak at all.

As far as I am concerned, I liked Latitudes. You can't get that type of Asian food easily - and I live in LA.

Steakhouses are a dime a dozen, and I can cook steaks at home - just have to buy quality Prime Meat and season well.

Really good Japanese food requires FRESH fish to make sushi. I can get that at home too. And Benihana? It's so commercial. Not special.

If they take the theme from the two specialty restaurants from Oceania of Toscana and Polo...those are wonderful with good variety and well prepared...we'd be really happy. We loved those two restaurants and they'd be good on Regent too.

I've never been on Oceania but both of those menus sound good. Here are sample menus (scroll down)

BUT with all this discussing.....it's my understanding that Prime 7 is a steakhouse, done deal.
Hopefully, there will be other meats and/or seafood besides beef.

I second Marcie. I would love a variety of beef, even chicken, and seafood as long as Prime 7 is the restaurant.
........................
Susan

I've pretty much accepted the change from Latitudes to a steakhouse. However, where does that leave Signatures? On our last cruise, Signatures was okay -- nothing spectacular (except the service). It sounds as if Regent will be providing passengers with two similar dining venues.

Although I do like the unique flavors of Latitudes (maybe it's a "California" thing -- grew up with loads of quality ethnic restaurants) -- the thought behind Prime 7 still eludes me. Looking forward to hearing more about it. In the meantime, in about month I'll be able to make a reservation for Latitudes -- might have to go there twice -- and take pictures:-)

I always liked Latitudes....will miss it. I think there is a place for Asian fusion. Compass Rose always does such a nice job with Steak, so I don't understand the need for a steak house.

I'm certain they will tweak it until they get it right! I remember going to Latitudes on the Voyager shake down cruise when it was the "open kitchen" venue. Each time I came back, it just kept changing and changing, and this is the newest rebirth. Nothing we can do about it, like Marcie said, it is a done deal. Englebert (HD) seemed very excited about it last time I saw him on B2B, and made the comment that Regent has spent a lot of money on this transformation. My bet is that they will differentiate it from Signatures, which is openly French. This is to have an American stamp on it, whereas Verandah goes between Mediterranean and Italian. Last cruise I was on, they were turning people away at the end of the dinner hour in Verandah because it was full. and this was not on a Formal night when people who didn't want to dress would be avoiding CR. I liked Latitudes, too. But only once on a cruise.

I'm guessing that Prime 7 menu will primarily be steak, prime rib and seafoods.. Olivia, I agree....I'm sure it will be tweaked based on comment feedback.

Anything with lobsters and prawns will go down well with me but only if fresh (not frozen). I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed my meals at Latitudes - even ate there two nights in a row last cruise. Italian comes in third after seafood and French. I enjoy steak but probably not more than once a week. Lee

We always looked forward during a world cruise to go to Latitudes, especially when they had a theme night. The evenings there were very special especially when they had performances by Frankie Holiday's daughter, Amy Baker and the crew. As it has been said before, you can get steak any night in CR and I am saddened that the "new" Latitude is a done deal.

We came to really enjoy Latitudes. We'll miss it! However, we'll give a new steak house a chance. If they do it RIGHT, I predict it will go over well. Certainly, places like Morton's, Ruth Criss, Capital Grill are all successful.

I will give it a chance, too! Can't think it will be less special than Signatures, with a big hhype when it is introduced.

sealover, I'm sure they will continue to find new ways to "re-invent" the restaurants on the World Cruises, as they always have before! Those theme nights on the Voyager often had nothing to do with the Latitudes menu!

I am glad we'll be on before drydock so we can experience Latitudes. Some Palm Springs area new friends we met on Navigator last year will be on board with us again (doing the whole Autumn Sojourn), and they have been on part of Voyager's WC earlier this year and raved about Latitudes.

But whatever Regent ends up doing with their dining venues is fine with us, we are so easy to please. Hey, we are just happy to be fortunate enough to be on board! :)

We too will miss Lattitudes. We loved the theme nights on the WC segments, and also the regular family style evenings. We live in Miami and it now seems to be the home of big name steakhouses. I just read in this mornings Miami Herald that 4 new steak restaurants with big names are slated to open this fall. I don't even eat red meat!

For those that have mentioned Prime 112, its no longer the hot hot steakhouse....Mannys has taken over that spot so I have heard. Alfred is a red meat eater so i guess we will be trying it soon. :ohmy:

We board the 18th, the day after dry dock for the Christmas cruise, so we will be in the new shakedown. I so wanted to share the current L'Attitudes with Todd since I went solo last time, but I don't think we can fit in a cruise before the already booked one timewise or budgetwise since our April, 2009 Silversea Asia 16 nighter is due already in October. I guess I will plan my Asian dining experiences for offshore on that trip since I won't be getting them onboard Voyager at Christmas.

As I posted on CC where I started the conversation, I just don't see Prime Seven as similar to the Cordon Blue Signatures but more like the Italian Steakhouse La Verandah, which had veal chops, Osso Bucco, ribeye, lobster, prawns, and other items. I would see it being a more upscale verson of this. I think as "themes" all 3 of the non-Compass Rose venues are sounding too similar unless something else changes.

I'm curious to ask those of you who voted "other" had in mind ??

We've had several wonderful Asian-themed meals in Latitudes and a couple of disappointments over the years. Since I love that type of cuisine, and the service generally has been lovely there, I had a real affection for the restaurant and so voted "leave as is." We'll see what the change brings. I'm always open to new ideas -- although I admit that if it is purely a steakhouse we'll never dine there. Not much of a red meat eater, but that's just me. Now seafood, that's another thing entirely ....

I voted other, and I was thinking a seafood restaurant would be yummy. I'm not a big steak eater (though DH certainly is) and really don't enjoy when my meal centers around that - I've gotten use do meat as an accent (if it's there at all - I'm eating a lot more vegetarian meals, though I'm not a vegetarian) and not the main focus. I take DH to capital grill for his birthday, eat a couple bites of my steak, and he'll eat the rest the next day. Makes him happy!

Seafood is the one exception - I really like a nice piece of grilled salmon - or any good fish, or shrimp, or scallops - yum!

I realize I'm in the minority though, but I can dream that they'd put in a nice speciality seafood place (I mean, hello, we're on the sea!).

Just my thoughts though!

:)
Liz

I don't think they will leave out seafood (can't, really), but it will just not have a French connection like Signatures.

Marcie --

My "other" vote was for a seafood venue, preferably with an Asian flair. One can get a steak any night in CR, La Veranda or Signatures.

Sort of "Leave it as it is" but change the menu to be more like a P.F. Chang.

We voted "other". We would like to see being a restaurant that reflects the area in which they are sailing...like they do on their longer trips. We do like Latitudes but we always enjoyed having food that reflected the area in which we were sailing...and it would be easier to get provisions that reflected that!

Isn't that what they do in La Veranda at night: Mediterranean in the Med, Alaskan Grill in Alaska, etc.?

I voted "other" and was thinking of a more specific Asian cuisines, instead of the fusion idea.

The idea of Thai, Malay, Japanese, Schezuan etc perhaps alternating thoughout a cruise. Not sure how the logistics would pan out but it would be certainly innovative.

A steak house is about the least innovative idea they could have come up with in my opinion.

First, in the interest of "full disclosure," I should point out my wife and I have never been big fans of Lattitudes. On longer cruises, for a little variation, but not often.

I agree Steak House is probably the "least innovative" (I would have used the phrase "least immaginative") idea out there. I mean many other lines have a very popular steak house sort of thing. Maybe Regent decided to go with a "known winner" strategy. Would Regent's "dining demographics" be different enough from from other lines to warrant a riskier approach? Maybe this is the result (or should have been)of the "focus group" activities? It seems (based on this thread's comments)that most folks on LCT feel there less of a "step up" from CR to Regent's alternative dining venues than we might find on other lines between the "main dining" venue and their alternative dining choices...perhaps contributing to the success of the Steak House alternatives on those lines. As a somewhat more innovative (as well as riskier and harder to execute logistically)choice, what about a Brazilian style steak house?? Just thinking out loud.

Greg

My vote is to leave it as it is...

What is a Brazilian steakhouse?

It is a steakhouse that has all sorts of meat...chicken, lamb, and different cuts of beef that are grilled and sliced offed skewers.

There is a help yourself salad bar and you also sit at the table with a card that is green or red. If green, it means you wish to be served. Red, you do not wish to be served. Waiters come around to the tables with the skewers of differing meats and you select which you'd like to try. It is unlimited.

Like many others, we really like Latitudes--changing to a steakhouse concept is disappointing to us. But I'm sure we'll try it -- and probably like it. If nothing else, we enjoy the different atmosphere in the specialty restaurants--a nice occasional change. No matter what they do with the specialty restaurants, though, Compass Rose will always be our favorite.