New Specialty Dining Discounts - Kids Free / Discounted

[akcruz]

Agree, if the specialty restaurants push away the adults looking for a quiet meal, and replace them with families paying $8 for the kids I would expect thing to change. Another decision not fully thought out by Royal.

 

Lots of things pushing me away and this is just another to add to the list.

 

and before anyone with young kids complains I have been sailing with my kids since they were young. Now that they are young adults they still sail with us (their choice) however now enjoy the quiet adult meal with us in the specialty restaurants. Or at least they did until this new policy goes into effect:rolleyes:

Edited June 11, 2014 by akcruz

[suzyluvs2cruise]

welp this just ruined the specialty dining experience for me unless they limit kids to before a certain hour in order to get the free or reduced pricing.

 

and I will be quite willing to put in writing that the new policy is a deal breaker for us. ( last cruise we ate in every specialty PLUS Chef's table)

 

Looks like no early hours for children.

 

from the RCI website

 

Q: Are children allowed to dine in our Specialty Restaurants?A: Children with a parent or guardian are welcome in our specialty restaurants throughout serving hours. Reservations can be made online or onboard at the restaurant based on availability.

[richstowe]

I guess specialty dining isn't doing too well.

Well then I guess that means they are about to announce even more extra fee dining options .:eek:

 

Oh goody. Now we will have young kids in an adult atmosphere dining area. Sorry, but if I am paying an extra $35 for a nice meal, I do not want to be sitting next to a family with a three year old. Hopefully they will restrict this to early dining hours and at least leave the later times for adults only.

I have no problem with parents bringing their well behaved kids to these restaurants at full price.

[dna529]

I really don't understand why anyone would care how much I pay for my well behaved kid to eat in a restaurant. I expect my children to behave in a specialty restaurant, the MDR, or the buffet.

 

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[RSLeesburg]

I didn't notice, but is this meant to be for a limited time, or this is new policy?

 

 

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[spookwife]

I really don't understand why anyone would care how much I pay for my well behaved kid to eat in a restaurant. I expect my children to behave in a specialty restaurant, the MDR, or the buffet.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

 

 

I have a problem with paying $35 for the same meal as someone else paying $8 for

 

berhavior has squat to do with it.

[LMaxwell]

Looks like no early hours for children.

 

from the RCI website

 

Q: Are children allowed to dine in our Specialty Restaurants?A: Children with a parent or guardian are welcome in our specialty restaurants throughout serving hours. Reservations can be made online or onboard at the restaurant based on availability.

 

I don't think there were ever restricted hours for children, except possibly for CP 150 which only exists on two ships out of 21.

 

I did mis quote the email in stating % off; it is infact a % given to you as onboard credit.

 

I suspect that the $8 kids menu mirrors the restaurants regular menu but limited selection and / or kid sized portions. Further more, I bet that for 5 and under the kids menu is a chicken finger/french fry/grilled cheese type menu by default, but for $8 they can have the menu for 6 - 12 year olds. Likewise, I bet a 6-12 year old can move DOWN to the chicken finger/french fry/grilled cheese menu and incur no charge.

This is just my thoughts and I haven't called to see what's up.

 

RCI has the numbers. I bet they were getting....oh....almost NO family business. In this case they are losing 3, 4, 5 people out of specialty to the MDR or Windjammer. Now, they can get back at least the two adult covers in specialty plus additional bumps by bringing the kids.

 

Not only that, but if you book ahead, you PAY ahead. So it's a pull ahead on money by RCI.

 

In case no one noticed this should have been fairly apparent given three things.

1. Aggressive kids sail free promos

2. Re-categorizing of cabins to maximize occupancy

3. Pressures from other cruise lines offering specialty dining packages

 

Brilliant move by RCI to generate revenue.

 

The writing is in the frothy wake friends. RCI wants to steal Disneys share by being family friendly, and they are desperately trying not to get their ankles chewed off by the underdog NCL with they various options, packages, freestyle, no jacket required, family friendly attitudes.

 

If you want to escape kiddos now try Celebrity; RCI sister brand. You'll wince when you see specialty prices....

[LMaxwell]

I have a problem with paying $35 for the same meal as someone else paying $8 for

 

berhavior has squat to do with it.

 

That is a pretty big Delta, even if the food for kids is a smaller portion. However it's a bunch more revenue that RCI obviously was not getting to begin with. So when people say they like fee's because it keeps prices lower for everyone else, this is exactly what they are talking about.

 

It's not so much that the kids pay less than you, it's that before the kids weren't coming. Now they can subsidize the cost of operating the cruise. We're all just walking targets with $$$ symbols. If they can't get enough couples to fill up the place they need families. If they can't make the value proposition to a family, they need to change the value.

[LMaxwell]

 

Well I won't be bringing the kid to Chops but I will ask nonetheless

 

You should. Johnny Rockets Burger - $5.95. Full Chops meal with appetizer, salad, entree, desert in an upscale setting; $2 more. No contest.

[billjessmaddie]

I have 2 children. 1 of them is 3. I plan to take them to the specialty restaurants on our upcoming cruise. They are very well behaved as we go to Disney World often and eat at the signature restaurants there. I am not the type of parent that would allow my children to behave badly and continue to eat my dinner. My husband and I respect other diners. And if our son or daughter were bad, we would leave with them. There is nothing wrong with children being allowed to dine at these restaurants. They are people too. And everyone of you was a child once ;)

[powelweb]

For the record....the flyer she sent specifically states:

 

" Kids 6-12 now dine at Specialty restaurants for only $8 ! Ages 5 and under eat FREE ! Plus little sailors get their own menu - a round-up of kid friendly favorites from the "grown ups" menu. "

 

So still not exactly clear on who gets what menu...does that statement mean kid menu for under 5 or all kids....not really clear. I didn't bother following up because I don't intend to bring kids.

 

Well I won't be bringing the kid to Chops but I will ask nonetheless

 

 

 

Kids under 5 will have access to a special kids menu, although the rep I spoke to wasn't clear if it was the regular MDR kids menu or some other special kids menu for each restaurant, and kids 6-12 can order off the regular specialty restaurant menu.

 

I had called to confirm that a 6-12 year old would be able to order from the regular restaurant menu at the $8 price, and the answer was yes.

 

I suppose if a 6-12 year old wanted to order from the kids menu, they would be permitted to do so, but I did not specifically ask about this.

 

hope this is helpful.

[RSLeesburg]

I have a problem with paying $35 for the same meal as someone else paying $8 for

 

berhavior has squat to do with it.

 

 

A few comments...

 

Chops is $35, Giovanni's and Izumi are less expensive.

 

RCI has been selling combo packages for these three restaurants for a while now at 20 percent discount. On our last cruise, this worked out to $55 pp, which equates to $18.33 per restaurant, so while some adults were paying $35 for their meal, there were adults sitting at the next table paying $18.33 for the same meal. So,if majority of people were booking combo packages, then the average sales price per meal is probable closer to $18-20. When you take this into account, $8 is not as huge a price drop.

 

Finally, we have all seen plenty of posts on here about parents bringing children into the specialty restaurants, so this has been happening for a while. If other lines are offering families more dining options, then so does RCI if it wants to compete for those same families.

 

Like a similar poster remarked, we would remove our son if he became a nuisance. Most families would, but just like everything else in life, there are always a small handful of parents who won't, and this is always going to be the case. Everyone of us can remember a place/time where we witnessed parents who did not control their children or be more respectful of others around them. I am sure my wife and I have been those parents at some point in time - the law of averages would say that we are not all perfect parents, and our children are not perfect kids all the time. By the same token, we can all remember a place/time where we witnessed adults acting rude, disrespectful, and inconsiderate. When you go out into the world, you are going to run into these people - heck if you have long commute to work, you probably run into 3-4 of these adults every morning :). And if you decide to travel on a cruise line that is geared towards families and children, you need to expect that at some point during your cruise, some child is going to do something that will bother you. This is to be expected. You can only hope that when this happens, the parents will rise to the occasion and do the right thing.

 

 

 

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[marci22]

I had called to confirm that a 6-12 year old would be able to order from the regular restaurant menu at the $8 price, and the answer was yes.

 

Seems crazy to me that a 7 year old can order the same meal as an adult in CHOPS ($35) or Wonderland ($45) and get it for $8.

 

They've been making the ships more family friendly, but this seems like a bit too much.

[marci22]

A few comments...

RCI has been selling combo packages for these three restaurants for a while now at 20 percent discount. On our last cruise, this worked out to $55 pp, which equates to $18.33 per restaurant, so while some adults were paying $35 for their meal, there were adults sitting at the next table paying $18.33 for the same meal. So,if majority of people were booking combo packages, then the average sales price per meal is probable closer to $18-20. When you take this into account, $8 is not as huge a price drop.

 

I don't think you can consider 20% off a package as Chops = $18.33. At 20% off Chops is $28. So it's still a big difference.

 

If I was going as a couple, I would not pay full price to eat with kids paying $8. Maybe RC has considered this and feel that they will make out better overall by filling their restaurants.

 

Meals take 2 1/2 hours to come out of the kitchen when they're half full so it remains to be seen what happens to service if they've got a full restaurant.

Edited June 11, 2014 by marci22

[dorisis]

No more speciality restaurants for me. Another stupid decision by RCI.

[Jenjer]

NCL gives kids 50% off if they order from the regular menu but $8 is a deal. When I made my dynamic dinning reservations I saw that kids would be discounted but I never thought down to $8 each wow.

 

For those of you who dislike dinning with kids I would recommend booking your meals latter. Most kids at least mine eat early.

 

We ate in 7 specially dinning restaurants on NCL Getaway last week and my kids enjoyed their meals just as much as my DH and I. There were a few kids in the restaurants but not even close to being "overran" with kids.

[capecodrealtor]

"if you were commuting to work......." I'm not, I'm on vacation, and frankly, I don't anticipate having to deal with a bunch of rude adults or, for that matter, unruly kids while trying to experience a quiet dinner with my wife.

 

After 22 cruises, including many with our children, our travel choices are evolving to more land based vacations to some of the wonderful venues we have experience while cruising. Some of this change is due to the continuing erosion of the cruise experience. I believe this is another step in that continued erosion.

[dna529]

I have a problem with paying $35 for the same meal as someone else paying $8 for

 

berhavior has squat to do with it.

 

So I guess you have a problem with senior citizens discounts on land.

 

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[cruisegirl1]

Each change RCCL makes is not a big deal, but when they are put all together, the RCCL cruise experience is not what it used to be ( at least for us). We are finding ourselves traveling on Celebrity more and more. Yes, they have made recent changes too, but we find them a little less harsh than RCCL.

 

I can understand that families might frequent the specialty restaurants more often as the dining fee is cheaper than in-cabin babysitting. I don’t fault patents for wanting to bring infants/toddlers in the restaurants – as it is not only permitted, but now encouraged.

 

Regarding children and infants – well behaved or otherwise, I simply do not want to be seated next to a family with infants/toddlers when I am paying an extra $75- 100 EXTRA (plus wine) for the “dining experience” . I don’t want to schedule my dinner too late in the evening simply to avoid infants and toddlers, why should I have to?

 

Even as a stock holder, the bean counters are driving me crazy…. make that driving me away from RCCL.

 

M

[marci22]

So I guess you have a problem with senior citizens discounts on land.

 

If they want to give kids their meals for 10% off on Wednesdays, bmg.

[cruisegirl1]

if they want to give kids their meals for 10% off on wednesdays, bmg.

 

like!

 

M

[marci22]

Disney is extremely kid-oriented and kids still have to pay the going rate for an adult meal.

[marci22]

If they really want to fill their specialties, why not reduce the price all around?

 

Make Chops $20pp.

 

Family of five -> 35 + 35 + 8 + 8 + 8 = $94

 

Family of five -> 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 = $100

 

That way you get families in and the couples aren't penalized.

 

Make Wonderland $25pp etc.

Edited June 11, 2014 by marci22

[kymbakitty]

"if you were commuting to work......." I'm not, I'm on vacation, and frankly, I don't anticipate having to deal with a bunch of rude adults or, for that matter, unruly kids while trying to experience a quiet dinner with my wife.

 

After 22 cruises, including many with our children, our travel choices are evolving to more land based vacations to some of the wonderful venues we have experience while cruising. Some of this change is due to the continuing erosion of the cruise experience. I believe this is another step in that continued erosion.

 

We are doing less cruising also. We'll go spend a couple weeks in two neighboring countries, and pepper in a TA cruise when we cruise.

 

I don't really care if the kids ate for free....that doesn't phase me (what someone pays....heck, a percentage of them are eating there for free so the amount paid, for me, is irrelevant).

 

What's not irrelevant is changing the ambience of the experience. This is partly why we started trying the alternative restaurants. We all know cruise lines started to attract more and more families with children. Fine. I get it. But the specialty dining was one of the few venues where you could go whenever you wanted and other than a well behaved 12 or 13 year old, you didn't hear screaming fussy babies, parents CONSTANTLY hollering at their kids to stop running, throwing food, bothering the table next door, etc. The entire ambience changes from a 4-5 star experience to a Red Robin chain.

 

I don't think we'll have to worry about this on TA cruises, but this will definitely affect the shorter 7 day cruises. I think Celebrity might be our better choice if this is really the direction RCI is going. They are putting a lot of little eggs in one basket. Hope it was worth the gamble (i.e., attract more cruisers with small children than the amount of cruisers that don't want to experience every single venue with small children).

 

Is a sno cone setup next in the CL's?

 

Oy vey.....not good.

 

Dawn

Edited June 11, 2014 by kymbakitty

[akcruz]

Disney is extremely kid-oriented and kids still have to pay the going rate for an adult meal.

 

and they have some restaurants that are for adults only. From what I am seeing here it doesn't sound like that will be the case.

 

Have them make one or two restaurants adult only and see which get booked. Would be interesting!!