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Speciality Dining Package


deriam2000
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Does anyone ever wait to see what the MDR menu's look like before booking the specialty restaurant? Ideally I'd love to be able to look over the MDR menu and book the specialty restaurants on nights where the MDR menu does not look too appealing.

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How de we use the Specialty Dining Package with A la Carte' dining? A la Carte, as it would imply we would pay per item, however how do we then use the Specialty dining we have already paid for?

The SDP will cover your apps, sides, desserts, etc. The only limitation (as of now) is that your SDP will cover only 1 main entree. Any extra entree will be full menu price for that entree. You bill will be zeroed out if nothing "extra" is ordered.

 

 

Some restaurants require an up-charge in addition to the SDP used. Food Republic doesn't take the SDP and everything is a la carte.

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i did the same thing when booking los lobos it would only give 7 or 9 so thought maybe it opens at 7, the first day i walked over and they booked me for 530 on a different day and basically said what maniacal cruiser said.

if i remember correctly on the breakaway you could make reservations from an electronic touchscreen board in the atrium, on the dawn it was at the desk or thru the app. please correct me about the breakaway as the location might be wrong. The epic would be closer to the breakaway setup

Edited by ellasmomanddad
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If you book online, can you change them when you get onboard?
Yes, just go to the dining reservation desk which can either be next to the Guest Services desk or they have a temporary desk set up on embarkation day at one of the restaurants (on my last cruise on the Dawn, it was at the Asian restaurant). Edited by NLH Arizona
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Does anyone ever wait to see what the MDR menu's look like before booking the specialty restaurant? Ideally I'd love to be able to look over the MDR menu and book the specialty restaurants on nights where the MDR menu does not look too appealing.

 

 

I got the 3-night SDP package and ended up eating it for 4 nights, plus another dinner at Food Republic. The two "extra dinners" were both nights on which I chose specialty over the MDR.

 

 

I had reserved all 3 nights on my plan beforehand. On one of those nights, I ended up showing up early because I had nothing else to do, so I had a drink at the bar and they found me a table a little earlier than my reservation. My fourth "normal" (not FR) specialty dining night was at Le Bistro, and I just walked up and they seated me right then and there.

 

 

Of course, some places book up more than others, and I guess if you want a prime time and/or have a larger group, reservations matter more.

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If you book online, can you change them when you get onboard?

 

On the Escape we could also adjust, add or cancel our dining reservations on our TV. Made it so much easier than going down to the touch screens in the halls.

 

And never be afraid to just go to the restaurant and ask to be seated even withour a reservation. Specialy if you are a small party of 2 or 4. You might wait a few extra minutes. But people cancel or skip their reservations all the time and tables that were reserved will be available 15 minutes after a no show.

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Does anyone ever wait to see what the MDR menu's look like before booking the specialty restaurant? Ideally I'd love to be able to look over the MDR menu and book the specialty restaurants on nights where the MDR menu does not look too appealing.

 

I'm not sure I would want to do that on the larger ships, if I really wanted the specialty restaurant, since there would be far more people on the ship booking meals. But, yes we've did that for all of our cruises. We've cruised the Star and Dawn and had no problem getting a reservation for around the time we wanted to eat. My reasoning had nothing to do with wanting to research the MDR menu though, but the fact I had no idea what I would be doing, at what time, days down the road.

 

In saying that, there were no promotions of "free at sea" at the time we sailed. With one of those options being the specialty dining package, I'm not sure how easily it would be to get a reservation by waiting. I think you would have to weigh out how important eating in the specialty restaurants are to you and whether you wish to take the risk of them being full.

 

On my upcoming cruise, I still have no plan on booking pre-cruise or fighting with the masses for dining reservations as soon as I get on the ship, when I have no idea what I'm doing 4 or 5 days from then. So I will wait till I get the daily news to decide. But if the specialty dining venues are full and I can't get a reservation, then it's no biggy to me and won't ruin my cruise. I'm not a foody and the MDR has always been good when we've sailed NCL, so I'm willing to take that risk.

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