Ultimate Balcony Dinner Review

[Jacqueline]

You changed my mind about this !

Jacqueline
Constellation 3/20/04
HAL Westerdam 7/30/04
Tahitian Princess August 2003
Grand Princess Western Caribbean 2003
Brilliance of the Seas Baltic 2002
Ocean Princess- Alaska 2001
Celebrity Zenith- Bermuda 2001
Grand Princess Med 2000

[rob_ n_tam]

Hi Bostonlass-

The Bell Box is where your call connects to when you call to order room service. We might call it the Bell Stand (as in a hotel) I'm not sure why they call it that, but I included it just to make it easier for folks that are trying to reserve the dinner.

Have a great cruise

[bostonlass]

Thanks so much for this detailed review and the pictures! I'm definitely going to try to set this up for Caribbean night and suprize my hubby-to-be. I mean it's our honeymoon so I'm thinking "why not"?? [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

RCCL Navigator 04/16/05
Princess Caribbean 10/16/04
Disney Wonder 04/18/04
Carnival Carnivale 05/88

Go Red Sox!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cruiserforlife]

Great review,thanks for posting it!

Hopefully with everyone requesting this service,the level of excellence as you so perfectly described it will remain high.

It sounds so perfect...

"a bad day at sea is better than a great day at work and a lousy day at sea is still pretty damn good!"

[Jane110]

Sounds terrific. Glad you had such a wonderful evening.

Unfortunately, it's not offered on the Grand Princess.

[Bob R.]

Rob_&_Tam,
Sounds like a great romantic meal on the balcony! How about scanning the photos that you received with the package? I'm sure we would all like to view your experience not only in our minds but visualily(sp?). Thanks in advance!

Bob R.
Fantasy 1992
Grand Princess 2001
Destiny May, 2002
Grand Princess Sept. 2002
Carnival Legend Sept. 2003
HAL Zuiderdam Nov. 2003
Caribbean Princess Sept. 2004

[rollingstone]

rob n tam, am sooo glad that I found your review. My husband and I had already decided to do this but after reading what you had to say, he had our travel agent call Princess to book it ahead of time! Unfortunately, this can only be done once you are on the ship. I think that the $100 price tag turns some people off, but if you eat in one of the alternative restaurants,buy a bottle of wine to drink with your dinner and have your picture taken, it will cost about the same.
One Ultimate Balcony Dinner $100
One Ultimate Good Time priceless!

Royal Princess 03/1997
Royal Princess 10/1999
Grand Princess 02/2001
Carnival Sensation 12/2001
Raddison Paul Gauguin 04/02
Norwegian Magesty 11/02
Voyager of the Seas 03/03
Caribbean Princess 10/16/04
Celebrity Mercury 02/07/05

[Baroo]

solid post, sounds like this might make it on my must do list

____________________________________________________________
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00bfff&cdt=2004;12;4;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img] [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=270104271&p=1"]Diamond Princess - 12/4/4 to Mexico[/url]

[mom2bcr]

WOW!! Thanks for all the info! I was searching for info on the Ultimate BAlcony Dinner and your review showed up!!! That is amazing! I hope it's still available WAYYYYY down the road in Nov. 2005!

Your pictures were great, too!

Thanks!

[Suncat]

Just wanted to pop you guys back on top! Your review is what convinced me to book the Ultimate Balcony Dinner! Thanks!;)

[The Warden]

:mad: I just got off the phone with Princess and the Special Balconey Dinner isn't offered on the Island Princess going to Hawaii on 10/21. Jeff the Princess guy said the best we could do was Room Service. Doesn't seem like the same thing! Maybe I can just get a tray from the buffet. :(

[shamrock2]

[quote name='bcs819']I agree, just the photos alone woul be worth that price! Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!

Bernie


"so many cruises, so little vacation time"
Diamond Princess - September 2004
Grand Princess - March 2003
Carnival Pride - June 2002
Carnival Victory - June 2001[/QUOTE]

I'm pretty sure you only get one photo complimentary. We did the dinner two weeks ago and they took about 4-5 photos and give you one complimentary that night. (Unfortunately for my wife and I, it was the worst photo). The balcony dinner is awesome and you really only need one picture to remember the moment. I wholeheartedly recommend it! I just didn't want to get your hopes up on getting multiple pictures......although you can probably buy the extras. have fun! and I may be wrong, others may have gotten more photos complimentary ( i just wanted to share what they gave us)

[WeRockChalkKU]

Dear Princess,

I am going on the Island for a 15 day to Hawaii and I would love for the ultimate balcony dinner to be available.

Mahalo

[2boomers]

Hi,

This is something I would really like to do on our Jan. 8 cruise for my 50th birthday. It will be our first ever cruise and it would be an extra nice setting for this occasion. This may sound like a dumb question but what is a Bell Box and where do I find it? Is it some kind of phone, I just want to make sure so that I can make a reservation as soon as I get on board because after that great review there may be quite a rush on to get one of nights reserved!

Thanks,
Helen

CP Jan.8/05

[Julia’s Journey’s]

This sounds great, will have to try it on one of our future cruises.
Thanks for the reveiw and pics.

[kadiebug12]

Thanks so much for the review! We're getting married onboard, reception ending at around 6PM and we're thinking of doing this dinner for our wedding evening in our room. Can you schedule it ahead of time?

[Suncat]

See my Ultimate Balcony Dinner Review at...

[url="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=67665&page=5&pp=25"]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=67665&page=5&pp=25[/url]

There should be pictures of the food there too!!!!;)

[vince_g]

According to Princess, ultimate balcony dining is offered on all Princess ships. This comes straight out of the 'Cruise Answer Book' that I just received with my pre-cruise documents. There seem to be some posts saying it might not be offered on all ships. Gee, maybe Princess doesn't know what they're talking about!

[rob_n_tam]

We just checked back after being off the board for some time and we were amazed this post is still kicking around. Hope many more enjoy it and are convinced to try it.... truly once in a lifetime!

[thepocketrockett]

Do you know if they have it on the Coral? Me and the hubby will be celebrating our 30th and hubby's 60th (you didn't hear it from me;) ) on the ship and wouldn't it be terrific to have that unique ship experience? Have already been to Sabatini's on the Grand so, for a few dollars more we could have a really nice, exclusive experience. Does anyone know which ships it's served on?

[roohound]

I called about that same question just last week, since someone pointed out in the pre-cruise docs it says it's available on all Princess ships.

I was told by one of the Princess reps (after first explaining to him what the Ultimate Balcony Dinner is) that at this time, a rollout date for thebalcony dinner on the Coral Princess is unknown.

I will ask onboard next week to see if I can get some better info.

[bab]

I also called Princess last week to see if this was available on the Golden yet - the rep I spoke with said that her documentation says that it is not yet offered on the Golden but to check once on-board because some of the ships are in the process of starting to offer it and she (the rep) said that she might not have the latest information. So, I figure next week after we board I'll try and find out!

[AnnMorin]

Our 12 year old son will be joining us on the cruise, we have a Dolphin Mini suite on the star, he would be more than happy to just eat regular room service and watch TV while my husband and I dined on the ultimate on the balcony. Do they insist it is for all members of your cabin party or can we order dinner for two? Any word on if this can be done in advance yet?

[ghgeckos]

If your lucky you could book your balcony dinner when the youth program has it's parents night out and they take the kids to dinner at the buffet.

[MommyInSC]

Do you get to pick the time of your dinner or is it a set time???