Teppanyaki guest size issue?

[JAMESCC]

We will be on Breakaway, our first NCL cruise so I don't know how thing generally work. I just went to pre-book Teppanyaki and went to choose party size and there isn't a choice for 3. There is 1,2,4 and 8, but we are a party of 3. My wife and I and our 3 year old son. Should I just put 2 down and then fix things on the ship? He isn't gonna eat much, might just eat some of our meals. Any advice would be helpful, thanks.

[xriva]

I saw "guest size" and was going to say, "I'm overweight, and I can fit in Teppanyaki", but to your actual question, the tables in Teppanyaki are designed for 8 or 10 (my wife says 10, and her memory is better), so that may be the issue.

 

I would book for 4 and fix it on the ship - that's what we did when we had my Mom with us.

 

Teppanyaki has limited seats and seatings, so booking over your actual party size is safer than booking under.

 

 

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Edited August 14, 2016 by xriva

[LrgPizza]

Put 4 down, not 2, and adjust as soon as you're on the ship. If you put 2, they might not have room to add your son.

 

For what it's worth, we've always booked for 3 at Teppanyaki, yet for some reason many say they have trouble. No clue why.

 

 

 

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[NLH Arizona]

We will be on Breakaway, our first NCL cruise so I don't know how thing generally work. I just went to pre-book Teppanyaki and went to choose party size and there isn't a choice for 3. There is 1,2,4 and 8, but we are a party of 3. My wife and I and our 3 year old son. Should I just put 2 down and then fix things on the ship? He isn't gonna eat much, might just eat some of our meals. Any advice would be helpful, thanks.

Book for 4 and when you get on the ship, go to the dining reservation desk (not sure where it is on the Breakaway, but it is next to Guest Services on all the ships I've been on) and let them know it will be for only 3. I would also at that time, let them know that your son will be eating off the free children's menu. If you don't have the SDP, they will charge you for 4 dinners, but you should get 2 charges back in the form of OBC. If you have the SDP, they will not charge you for any of the reservation.

[JAMESCC]

Wow excellent info guys, appreciate it. When I go to pre-book right now do you pay now or it goes on your on-board account? If you do then I'm paying for 4 right now upfront? I guess the question is how does it work?

[Jana60]

Put 4 down, not 2, and adjust as soon as you're on the ship. If you put 2, they might not have room to add your son.

 

For what it's worth, we've always booked for 3 at Teppanyaki, yet for some reason many say they have trouble. No clue why.

 

 

 

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I would just put two and keep my three year old child on my own lap since I don't think they have high chairs at Teppanyaki. If they do have high chairs it still wouldn't use one of the places at the grill.

[NLH Arizona]

Wow excellent info guys, appreciate it. When I go to pre-book right now do you pay now or it goes on your on-board account? If you do then I'm paying for 4 right now upfront? I guess the question is how does it work?

If you book now, you will pay for 4 upfront and then when you get on the ship, change the reservation to 3 and you will get that extra cost back as OBC and then if you choose for you son to eat off the free kids menu, you will get that 1 cost back in the form of OBC.

 

No, don't just put 2, because if for some reason the Teppanyaki restaurant is sold out, you will not be able to bring your son and you don't want him sitting on your lap for the dinner.

Edited August 14, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[JAMESCC]

If you book now, you will pay for 4 upfront and then when you get on the ship, change the reservation to 3 and you will get that extra cost back as OBC and then if you choose for you son to eat off the free kids menu, you will get that 1 cost back in the form of OBC.

 

No, don't just put 2, because if for some reason the Teppanyaki restaurant is sold out, you will not be able to bring your son and you don't want him sitting on your lap for the dinner.

 

Ok I saw other days on the cruise that do have bookings for 3. Based upon what you said I will book 3, then change my son to the kids menu when we board. It is 2016, NCL reservations should be more sophisticated than this. You should be able to choose 2 and a child.

[JAMESCC]

We like to book specialty restaurants when we board, but heard Teppanyaki might be an issue booking on-board so we now pre-booked. Any other specialty restaurants we should pre-book or the rest we can do when we board?

[NLH Arizona]

Ok I saw other days on the cruise that do have bookings for 3. Based upon what you said I will book 3, then change my son to the kids menu when we board. It is 2016, NCL reservations should be more sophisticated than this. You should be able to choose 2 and a child.

That is what I would do. Please let us know when you return how your son like the restaurant.

[JAMESCC]

That is what I would do. Please let us know when you return how your son like the restaurant.

 

OK, no problem I certainly will, and thank you for the advice.

[tinkr2]

Ok I saw other days on the cruise that do have bookings for 3. Based upon what you said I will book 3, then change my son to the kids menu when we board. It is 2016, NCL reservations should be more sophisticated than this. You should be able to choose 2 and a child.

 

As stated they are set tables for 10.On the days that 3 is not listed, they no longer have seating for 3 perhaps? You def do not want to have a child of 3 on your lap in front of a hot grill. The quicker plan is to call if you want a certain night. They can fix it for you and then you will not have to pay for your child. We were able to fix all sorts of problems with the reservations with a phone call.

[Mr and Mrs C]

If you call you can make he reservation for 3

[el820]

I'm debating about booking teppanyaki dinner with my kids. If NCL issues OBC for the kids or cancellation of the reservation, would we get a refund of the OBC if we don't spend it all on the ship? Or is it one of those OBC where you'll lose it if you don't spend it? Thanks

[ColinIllinois]

Yes, just call and make the rez for 3. No problem. If you reserve four online when you only have three then that takes away from someone else who might want to reserve that seat. That doesn't seem right.

[mjkacmom]

When we cruised, we always had to book 8 for our family of 7, and then change it onboard. We also cruised when kids were 1/2 price, but had to pay full price, and get OBC onboard. I did call, but their system wouldn't allow for 7.

[JAMESCC]

Well we booked for 3 even though we really only need 2 and a child, but its booked. They for some odd reason only had 9 PM for 3 on any night that accepted 3. I think the booking system stinks, I bet there are plenty of openings. We'll see what can be done about changing things around once on board.

[LrgPizza]

Well we booked for 3 even though we really only need 2 and a child, but its booked.

 

No, you have 3 so you really need 3, not "really only need 2 and a child". The child will take up space, I assume, unless it's a baby mouse or something you can keep in your pocket and don't intend to have it sit at the table.

[hawkeyetlse]

I'm guessing the issue is that he didn't want to have to pay a cover charge for the child (and then get it refunded on board). Sounds like he bit the bullet on that, but then booked a time that they don't even want. In that situation, I would have just waited to book on board. Teppanyaki is not that hard to get into on BA.

[1025cruise]

I could be mistaken, but I was understanding that the free children's menu (chicken fingers, etc) was NOT available at Teppanyaki.

 

But, since you need seats for 3 people, that's what your reservation needs to be for. If you only booked for two, your child might not have a place to go.

[Philob]

Well we booked for 3 even though we really only need 2 and a child, but its booked. They for some odd reason only had 9 PM for 3 on any night that accepted 3. I think the booking system stinks, I bet there are plenty of openings. We'll see what can be done about changing things around once on board.

 

The CSR told us that only about a third of the "seatings" for any of the specialty restaurants are available for advance reservations. The other two thirds are booked on board less a few for the higher suite classes.

[easyboy]

Put 4 down, not 2, and adjust as soon as you're on the ship. If you put 2, they might not have room to add your son.

 

For what it's worth, we've always booked for 3 at Teppanyaki, yet for some reason many say they have trouble. No clue why.

I agree. If you really want to book online, put 4. But better if you book on board where you can book for 3.

[LrgPizza]

Whatever the case may be I'm done with this thread and almost done with this forum. Too many rude people running around here waiting to pounce on every little thing.

 

 

No. Too many people ask for help, ignore the help, then whine.

 

 

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[DGP1111]

. . . If you reserve four online when you only have three then that takes away from someone else who might want to reserve that seat. That doesn't seem right.

 

While I totally agree that it doesn't seem right, Colin, I've been basically 'forced' to do that very thing on multiple occasions with the NCL dining system when pre-booking.

 

I log into My NCL during the wee o'clock hours of 90 days out, and have to fudge the numbers in order to acquire the time slot I want/need (usually in order to make it to an entertainment experience that follows later that same evening). I click on party size of 1, and then the drop-down box on seating times. Often the earliest will be 8:30 or later. If I change the party size to 2, I'll have the option of 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, etc. For some restaurant venues that makes no real difference, but certainly does for Teppanyaki. One of the NCL phone representatives tried to explain the rationale behind that challenge by stating that almost all of their requests are for even-numbered passengers. I asked if it was really that rare they make reservations for 1, 3, 5, or 7 people, to which the reply was, "Well, um, I, um guess I see your point, and I don't have an answer for that."

 

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Edited August 15, 2016 by DGP1111

[cot427]

NCL's online reservation system for restaurants leaves a lot to be desired. And you can't change it yourself once booked. In addition, I booked for either 5:30 or 6:00 and that's what prints out on the docs, but my calendar states 5:00 for everything. I'm not going to waste my time and call to make sure everything is set since the correct times are on the docs and my email confirmation, but man, what an awful system.

 

For Teppanyaki, on the 90 day mark, I went to book and they wanted to charge the fee upfront, even though all of us have the SDP, so I abstained. I just logged on yesterday and were about 40 days away and it now says $0 and they had a perfect time slot for one of two days I wanted and hadn't booked yet...it was fate. But very strange it went from wanting the fee upfront to not.

 

It is also weird they usually only offer even numbered parties to prebook online. I assume it has something to do with the actual table capacity. They want to fill tables before having half tables, etc. but that's just a guess.