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This specialty dinner on Utopia of the Seas is pricey, but worth it (once)

Utopia of the Seas was the first of Royal Caribbean’s ships to feature the Royal Railway, a sort of speciality-dining-meets-immersive-entertainment experience. I’d been on Utopia a few times, but I hadn’t convinced anyone to check out this rather pricey specialty option with me (it retails at $140pp at full price) — until now.

Recently, I surprised a friend of mine on Utopia of the Seas, and we decided on a whim to check out the Royal Railway experience during the cruise. It had been sold out when I looked in the cruise planner, but we were lucky enough to book when there was a last-minute cancellation.

This dinner is definitely an experience beyond your regular specialty meal. You meet up and are given a welcome drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic, as you choose) while you wait for everyone to arrive. Then you’re escorted into your railway car and shown to your seats.

The entertainment part of your experience has to do with a group of ne’er-do-wells who are involved in a potential train robbery. I didn’t find this part particularly interesting to be honest; I was sitting with my back to the center of the car, where a lot of the “action” took place. Rather than craning my neck around to see what was going on, I pretty much just checked out of this part of the experience.

I was much more interested in — an pleasantly surprised by — the food offered at the Royal Railway. Between my friend and I, we sampled all of the appetizers and found most of them to be very good. Dinner for both of us was braised short ribs, and we had the well-known chocolate “cigar” for dessert. I found the food to be really top-notch and there was certainly plenty of it.

The neatest part about Royal Railway is how it actually does feel like you’re on a train, through a combination of LED “windows” and specially placed vibrations in the seats. Royal plans to replicate this concept on its upcoming Legend of the Seas, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they execute it differently.

After the meal, my friend and I agreed that while we enjoyed the experience, we wouldn’t necessarily do it again. The $283.20 price tag for two people was high for a specialty dinner, though it could be argued that the entertainment aspect of this experience went beyond your usual meal. But I was definitely glad that I had done it once!