Explore4 question

[g&gtravel]

Regarding the explore4 program, when receiving dinner in the Pinnacle Grill, can reservations be made pre-sail or do must you do this onboard?

Thanks, g

[boards]

Any thoughts on how it is working? or has it yet to be in place?

[sherilyn70]

You do not get to make the reservation, they assign it to you. Whether the time or date they assign can be changed has yet to be determined since it just started.

[CruiserBruce]

And, it just started with a few select cruises across Christmas. Jan 1 was the otherwise official start.

[g&gtravel]

Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to hearing how this entire explore4 program is actually working.

[Jridou]

You do not get to make the reservation, they assign it to you. Whether the time or date they assign can be changed has yet to be determined since it just started.

 

When we went into our stateroom we found a card that informed us that we had been assigned the first night at 9:30 PM, however we already had reservations for the Pinnacle for that night. We were able to change the Explore4, but our choices were pretty limited, only a few nights left, after 9PM, even for a party of 2.

 

Honestly we weren't overly impressed by the Pinnacle anyway. Service was very mediocre, and they didn't have a bunch of things from the new menu yet (the brussel sprouts or the fries with truffle aioli) The table next to us received the truffles at the end of the meal ~ with a bite taken out of each one!

[sherilyn70]

When we went into our stateroom we found a card that informed us that we had been assigned the first night at 9:30 PM, however we already had reservations for the Pinnacle for that night. We were able to change the Explore4, but our choices were pretty limited, only a few nights left, after 9PM, even for a party of 2.

 

Yikes, there is no way I'm eating after 9pm! I eat around 6pm on most nights. If this continues to be a trend I may give up the explore4 deal and take whatever comes up next with a price drop. :)

[GeriatricNurse]

Yikes, there is no way I'm eating after 9pm! I eat around 6pm on most nights. If this continues to be a trend I may give up the explore4 deal and take whatever comes up next with a price drop. :)

 

Me too! :) If DW & I have been assigned late dining in the Canaletto on our upcoming explore4 booked cruise & if it cannot be changed to 5:30 - 6:00, then we will see if we can somehow be given a 'credit'! ;)

[boards]

If Hal assigns us a time after 9 PM for our Explore 4 promotion in Sept. - it will no thank you if they won't improve on the time. We will have 21 days for them to reschedule it, so they should be able to arrange it. But should not jump to conclusions to soon, till we see how it is working out.

[frankc98376]

We've already booked 6 nights out of 11 in the Pinnacle. We normally eat in the Pinnacle every night. I can't eat at 9:30 for many reasons.

If that is our only choice for our Explore 4 dinner so be it. We'll scrap it and eat in the MDR. In fact if we end up stuck in a noisy corner by the Atrium on the first night due to crowds we'll likely ask the Concierge to cancel the rest of the nights and just use MDR or Canaletto.

[travelinjones]

Pinnacle Grill meals through the Explore 4 are pre-assigned --and with 650 guests qualifying for the Pinnacle Grill last week on the Nieuw Amsterdam, plus all of those who pre-booked, there was little flexibility to change the reservation.

 

Nor is there a credit back if you don't use the assigned time and can't attend and the Pinnacle can't accomodate a change for you. They did seem to try. (You didn't pay for it -- it's a freebie promo.)

 

However, the Pinnacle Grill manager assured us that they take your standard dining time into consideration and try to schedule you around that i.e. early-dining guests get early times and late diners get later time slots.

 

Three other tips:

1) the promotion only covers two guests per stateroom -- if you have a third and forth guests, they have to pay full price.

2) Many of the Explore 4 guests didn't show up for there reservation, so there was a chance to be accommodated by getting on the wait list.

3) Those guests who don't plan to show should cancel their reservation -- they are taking slots from others.

 

We bought our cruise too late to qualify for Explore 4, but we pre-booked 2 regular nights + Le Cirque in the Pinnacle. Despite being a busy holiday cruise, and the first week of the new menu, and the first week of Explore 4 -- we thought the Pinnacle service and food was as good or better than ever.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We booked 4 cruises having the Explore 4, lost 2 already because of price drops 400$ per person saved on each cruise ..

Edited January 2, 2014 by we're sailing away....

[Cruising-along]

Yikes, there is no way I'm eating after 9pm! I eat around 6pm on most nights. If this continues to be a trend I may give up the explore4 deal and take whatever comes up next with a price drop. :)

 

No way we'll eat after 9pm either. We'll be on a port-intensive cruise with early mornings. I would be willing to even exchange the dinner for lunch at the Pinnacle. I prefer their lunches over their dinners anyway. ;):)

[lindaler]

. . . and they didn't have a bunch of things from the new menu yet (the brussel sprouts or the fries with truffle aioli) The table next to us received the truffles at the end of the meal ~ with a bite taken out of each one!

 

Who took the bite? I am glad we don't eat in the PG because I would not like someone sampling my food before it was served.

[peaches from georgia]

Reservation scheduling problems should come as no surprise to anyone or shouldn't. From the first day Explore4 was announced you could tell what would happen and many posters at that time forecast it. Though no one is getting a 'free' Pinnacle dinner (weren't most of the cruise fares that included Explore4 jacked up?), there certainly was going to be prime dinner time slots held and given to regular pax paying the full PG cost.

[sherilyn70]

Pinnacle Grill meals through the Explore 4 are pre-assigned --and with 650 guests qualifying for the Pinnacle Grill last week on the Nieuw Amsterdam, plus all of those who pre-booked, there was little flexibility to change the reservation.

 

Nor is there a credit back if you don't use the assigned time and can't attend and the Pinnacle can't accomodate a change for you. They did seem to try. (You didn't pay for it -- it's a freebie promo.)

 

However, the Pinnacle Grill manager assured us that they take your standard dining time into consideration and try to schedule you around that i.e. early-dining guests get early times and late diners get later time slots.

 

Three other tips:

1) the promotion only covers two guests per stateroom -- if you have a third and forth guests, they have to pay full price.

2) Many of the Explore 4 guests didn't show up for there reservation, so there was a chance to be accommodated by getting on the wait list.

3) Those guests who don't plan to show should cancel their reservation -- they are taking slots from others.

 

We bought our cruise too late to qualify for Explore 4, but we pre-booked 2 regular nights + Le Cirque in the Pinnacle. Despite being a busy holiday cruise, and the first week of the new menu, and the first week of Explore 4 -- we thought the Pinnacle service and food was as good or better than ever.

Thanks for getting all of that information for us! I'm sure we'll probably see different results based on ship as well. I'm hoping that by the time June comes more people will have canceled out the explore 4 for price drops and that will mean less demand. Since we didn't go with a fixed time for dinner it's hard to say what time they will give us... I'll just wait and keep an eye open to see how this continues.

[OVgirl]

Yikes, there is no way I'm eating after 9pm! I eat around 6pm on most nights. If this continues to be a trend I may give up the explore4 deal and take whatever comes up next with a price drop. :)

 

If this was the only option offered to us, we would probably eat some late snacks and then maybe just do apps and dessert in PG on their dollar.

[sherilyn70]

This will no longer be an issue, just dropped Explore 4. Called and got the new Above and Beyond deal with a $500/pp reduction in price, 50% reduced deposit still on it and the $150 OBC. Now we'll also get the 10% off our excursions.

[sunnygidget]

We cruise in three weeks with explore 4. Here's the thing, there are 3 of us in the same cabin, the explore 4 covers only 2 of us for the Pinnacle grill not a problem we will cover the 3rd person, but how do we get a reservation for the 3rd person at our table if they already assign us ahead of time and it's waiting in our cabin upon arrival?

[Katie333]

Thanks for the updates.

 

We are one of the apparent few who had explore4 added to the discounted price cruise we booked, and kept our OBC and other perks (bottle of wine + shoreside event). Our cruise is now priced at over $800 more pp on the HAL website.

 

So we're keeping this perk and hoping to enjoy it. With that said, unless it happened on a long port day, dining at 9:00 is not my typical preference. With that said, we don't tend to keep a regular meal time when cruising. I'm going into this assuming that we won't be able to use the time they give us but hoping we will.

[regnig]

I'm hoping that as this promotion gets into full swing that more will come back and post their "reservation" experience. We have 8 people traveling (4 staterooms) and our TA has them all linked together. We are hoping beyond hope that all our Pinnacle Grill reservations will reflect this but ..............

 

Question, does anyone know who we should contact onboard if we wanted to attempt any changes to the reservations or found we needed to cancel?

Thanks

[g&gtravel]

Reading experiences of Sherilyn and Kattie, we are in the Kattie experience. TA checked yesterday and current rate is $600 pp more than we paid. We, too, will make best of the situation.

[peaches from georgia]

I'm hoping that as this promotion gets into full swing that more will come back and post their "reservation" experience. We have 8 people traveling (4 staterooms) and our TA has them all linked together. We are hoping beyond hope that all our Pinnacle Grill reservations will reflect this but ..............

 

Question, does anyone know who we should contact onboard if we wanted to attempt any changes to the reservations or found we needed to cancel?

Thanks

Go to the Pinnacle as soon as you get on board and talk with the Manager if you need to ask for any changes.

[OVgirl]

We cruise in three weeks with explore 4. Here's the thing, there are 3 of us in the same cabin, the explore 4 covers only 2 of us for the Pinnacle grill not a problem we will cover the 3rd person, but how do we get a reservation for the 3rd person at our table if they already assign us ahead of time and it's waiting in our cabin upon arrival?

 

Just take your assignment card to the PG when you board and ask to add the extra person to your table. Shouldn't be a problem.

[sunnygidget]

Just take your assignment card to the PG when you board and ask to add the extra person to your table. Shouldn't be a problem.

 

Thank you, so much. This is what we will do right after we board/