Dining package disaster

[sanger727]

I was on the jade in Jan. We prebooked our SDP dinners at the 90 day mark based on the info here and with the plan that we could always change reservations onboard if it was a non-issue. Boy were we glad we had the reservations. A couple days into the cruise I looked on the iconcierge and nothing was available any night before 9; and some were booked up completely full. At one point I walked by the reservation desk listening to an angry woman say that she didn't want to eat at 9:30 at night. So yes, completely believe OPs experience.

 

When we did end up using the credits the restaurants were never full. Can see how it would be easy to make multiple reservations. We intended to eat a la carte 4 nights because we had 4SDP. But we had two rooms with a total of 3 people with 4SDP. I was able to book reservations for 4 without any charge. So I could have booked moderno 4 nights, the other room could have booked teppanyaki for 4 nights, and we could have each booked cagney's, Le bistro, and la cucina the rest of the nights since there's no booking fee for a la cartes.

 

If NCL is finding this to be an issue they really should fix it. Either charge a no show fee or do away with reservations all together.

 

 

Also this issue is completely different than a local restaurant at capacity. Restaurants stagger their staff to have fewer at open and close but to be fully staffed during prime time dinner; especially on the weekends. There's no reason that at 7:00 (which is when our reservations were for) that they shouldn't have been fully staffed.

 

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[khaide612]

It might be too much work for me, especially as Jewel doesn't have a Studio-plex and likely has a less busy solo gathering. I guess I will proceed to online booking for my two meals. I didn't even think about the absence of a cover charge with the new more expensive scheme. Cheers.

 

 

I have a booking on Getaway in Nov in the studio area so I guess the studio host will take us to a regular dining room. I noticed before on the studio notice board that people signed up to eat in a specialty restaurant and wondered if the studio host could get a reservation or have on hold?

Next year I have cruise booked on Jade and wondered if anything is done to get solos to eat together. I see on the daily solos can meet in a bar at 6 and wondered if anybody shows up and then go as a group to dining room. Do you know about these scenarios Budget Queen?

 

When I was on the Jade in January there was a very large solo group who dined and did shows together. Probably easier to coordinate on a ship with studio lounge but even the other ships have cruise staff as solo coordinators. I think on any sailing it might not be that hard to find another solo platinum cruiser to share the dining perks.

[cheech907]

Is there anything stopping one from booking all the restaurants every night at 30 minute increments and canceling the ones you don't want? I wonder if this is what causes resturants to look empty and the staff saying they are full. I cruise NCL for the freestyle dining experience - I dont want a scheduled time to eat and would rather eat when it fit in the day between activities. We did see reservations become very scarce by the 2nd day on our cruise on the getaway in Feb - So we hurried and booked one restaurant for the remaining days.

[triptolemus]

Is there anything stopping one from booking all the restaurants every night at 30 minute increments and canceling the ones you don't want?

 

 

That's not really possible. You can't do it yourself online, and I have serious doubts that a CSR at NCL would do that.

[cheech907]

That's not really possible. You can't do it yourself online, and I have serious doubts that a CSR at NCL would do that.

 

 

I have a reservation at a different restaurant each night currently - which were booked online - nothing is stopping me from booking another for the same day at a different time. Maybe I've found the loophole that keeps destroying reservations for everyone. :confused:

[KeithJenner]

I have a reservation at a different restaurant each night currently - which were booked online - nothing is stopping me from booking another for the same day at a different time. Maybe I've found the loophole that keeps destroying reservations for everyone. :confused:

 

 

 

You shouldn't be able to book them 30 minutes apart. I believe that it blocks off 90 minutes for a dining reservation.

 

So, looking at my upcoming cruise, if I have a reservation at 7.30 I could book another one for 6 or earlier or for 9 or later, but nothing in between.

 

So, you can't book a reservation every 30 minutes, but you could book 3 a night.

 

Of course, if you have other people in different rooms sailing with you then between everyone you could make a lot of reservations.

[cage keeper]

I was on the jade in Jan. We prebooked our SDP dinners at the 90 day mark based on the info here and with the plan that we could always change reservations onboard if it was a non-issue. Boy were we glad we had the reservations. A couple days into the cruise I looked on the iconcierge and nothing was available any night before 9; and some were booked up completely full. At one point I walked by the reservation desk listening to an angry woman say that she didn't want to eat at 9:30 at night. So yes, completely believe OPs experience.

 

When we did end up using the credits the restaurants were never full. Can see how it would be easy to make multiple reservations. We intended to eat a la carte 4 nights because we had 4SDP. But we had two rooms with a total of 3 people with 4SDP. I was able to book reservations for 4 without any charge. So I could have booked moderno 4 nights, the other room could have booked teppanyaki for 4 nights, and we could have each booked cagney's, Le bistro, and la cucina the rest of the nights since there's no booking fee for a la cartes.

 

If NCL is finding this to be an issue they really should fix it. Either charge a no show fee or do away with reservations all together.

 

 

Also this issue is completely different than a local restaurant at capacity. Restaurants stagger their staff to have fewer at open and close but to be fully staffed during prime time dinner; especially on the weekends. There's no reason that at 7:00 (which is when our reservations were for) that they shouldn't have been fully staffed.

 

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I thought there was a no show fee. This would really help. I have 6 specialty reservations for our upcoming cruise. 3 free and paid for 3 more on the dining plan. Kind of worried for the night we left for chance.

[karoo]

The FAQs address this:

 

Can I still split the dinner for two vouchers if I am a solo traveler (two meals for one person)?

No, this benefit is delivered as two dinners for two per stateroom. Solo travelers get two dinners for one. You cannot split the voucher in to two separate vouchers and redeem the dinners on two separate evenings. The benefit is only if there are two guests dining on the same visit.

 

 

Depends on the ship. I went to Le Bistro twice on one voucher.

 

 

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[KeithJenner]

Depends on the ship. I went to Le Bistro twice on one voucher.

 

 

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I assume this was after the changes took effect?

 

I'm sure that there are always going to be examples where onboard staff allow it, but I don't think it was ever specifically mentioned previously and now the website says that it can't be done I expect that it will happen less often in the future.

 

If I was sailing solo now then I would go expecting not to be allowed to split the vouchers and if it did happen then that's a bonus.

[karoo]

I assume this was after the changes took effect?

 

I'm sure that there are always going to be examples where onboard staff allow it, but I don't think it was ever specifically mentioned previously and now the website says that it can't be done I expect that it will happen less often in the future.

 

If I was sailing solo now then I would go expecting not to be allowed to split the vouchers and if it did happen then that's a bonus.

 

 

I'm on a cruise at the moment. Sharing my Moderno with a friend, but used Le Bistro twice.

 

 

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[lettienets]

When I was on the Jade in January there was a very large solo group who dined and did shows together. Probably easier to coordinate on a ship with studio lounge but even the other ships have cruise staff as solo coordinators. I think on any sailing it might not be that hard to find another solo platinum cruiser to share the dining perks.

Where did this solo group meet on Jade so that they could go as a group to dinner, thanks?

 

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[sanger727]

I thought there was a no show fee. This would really help. I have 6 specialty reservations for our upcoming cruise. 3 free and paid for 3 more on the dining plan. Kind of worried for the night we left for chance.

 

 

For the set fee restaurants you do need to cancel ahead or you'll be charged... for the a la cartes, no.... there's no charge for a no show

 

 

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[Cmdr Cody]

Depends on the ship. I went to Le Bistro twice on one voucher.

 

 

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Since Feb 3, 2017?

 

 

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[CarrieAP]

I booked our three reservations online a while back, but the website doesn't show how many people. I booked it for 6 to include my family in the Owner's Suite, but can't see the 6 anywhere. Where do I find this on the website? Thanks.

 

 

Wondered the same thing which got me a bit anxious. I did end up locating the number when I clicked on our cruise documents.

[KeithJenner]

Since Feb 3, 2017?

 

 

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Yes, they say they are onboard now.

 

Of course, all this really says is that this is what the staff on the Star allowed this week. It doesn't mean that they will do the same thing next week, and if they don't then the FAQs aren't of any assistance.

[khaide612]

Where did this solo group meet on Jade so that they could go as a group to dinner, thanks?

 

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Check the Freestyle Daily - every ship usually had a solo meet. I wasn't solo so have no idea.

[oteixeira]

I am going to try to explain it like this. At home, your life is freestyle right? Choose to do what you want when you want. I agree, that is how it works. Now....go look up the best restaurant with the best reviews in your area. Show up one hour before, even though they take reservations and see how long it takes you to get a table. Shoot, in my area of the country, on a Friday night, you can wait two hours for a table at Applebees, which to me is worse then O'Sheehans.

[newmexicoNita]

Thanks for posting this authoritative link. That's a bummer, especially as my next cruise is on Jewel and I'm paying the 100% single supplement. Since I'm paying for two people in my cabin, you'd think they would give me two dinners. Alas.

 

 

 

 

That's a good idea, Rochelle. It might be too much work for me, especially as Jewel doesn't have a Studio-plex and likely has a less busy solo gathering. I guess I will proceed to online booking for my two meals. I didn't even think about the absence of a cover charge with the new more expensive scheme. Cheers.

so you are paying double because you are solo; did you pay double gratuities as well? I don't think so, thus why do you think you should get 2 dinners. I just don't understand your logic? :confused:

[newmexicoNita]

by lunch time on Day 3 they were all booked.

And again - it worked for us 4 cruises before, on smaller ships though, we were booking same day , knowing plans - how long we gonna stay in port, if we want to see some show etc..

 

also...just a thought - if they sell so many SDP dinners they should be prepared for people to use them.

I am sure they are prepared, but they have no idea who is going to be eating in which restaurant and when. For many booking on line takes away from the freestyle idea. We had never had trouble booking the day of until our last cruise. With the addition of SDP the restaurants are more crowded so we have to decide ahead of time: which is more important, taking a chance on getting the restaurant and the time we want or booking prior to sailing for a guarantee. BTW: when people post "they see plenty of empty seats" remember, there are always a number of NO SHOWs. I have seen very empty seats since the UDP went into affect. eh

[Buford T Justiice]

Back to the OP's Disaster:

 

Its simply a capacity issue. A finite kitchen area, limited staff, and perhaps NCL's desire to limit supply to stoke demand.

[hawkeyetlse]

so you are paying double because you are solo; did you pay double gratuities as well? I don't think so, thus why do you think you should get 2 dinners. I just don't understand your logic? :confused:

You pay for your cruise with your cruise fare and the gratuities (and the cruise fare is a lot more than the gratuities). Plus, the gratuities don't cover specialty dining, which is what you use the Platinum vouchers for.

 

Before the recent change, the voucher actually said that an 18% specialty dining charge would be added separately to your account if you used the voucher (but in my experience they didn't actually do that).

[sanger727]

so you are paying double because you are solo; did you pay double gratuities as well? I don't think so, thus why do you think you should get 2 dinners. I just don't understand your logic? :confused:

 

 

Sure they should get two dinners per voucher. What's the difference between a cabin with 2 people where one is platinum that gets 2 dinners per voucher and a cabin with a single that gets 1 dinner per voucher. Aside from a couple hundred dollars in port fees and gratuities (which theoretically none of which goes into NCLs pocket anyway) they are paying the same fare. It's also crummy that a cabin with 2 platinums also gets only the 2 meals per 2 vouchers to share. (I understand that the solo gets only one dinner per cabin, just don't think that's right)

 

We ran into the same thing on celebrity. They have a promo with OBC being a perk but it's assigned per person. So a double cabin pays $2,000 for the cabin and gets $300 OBC, while a single pays $2,000 for the cabin and gets $150 OBC...

 

 

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[KeithJenner]

Regardless of the fairness in comparison, it's worth pointing out that a solo used to get one meal for two, that they needed to split or find another platinum to share with if they wanted to have two meals, whereas now they get two meals without doing anything and have the potential of getting four meals if they find someone to share with (based on one reading of the FAQs).

 

I occasionally sail solo and this seems to be an improvement on the position previously. I couldn't care less how it compares to others.

 

There has been one report already that they have let people split the voucher, and it wouldn't surprise me if they do so. However, if that was the policy then I'm sure it wouldn't be long before we got complaints of "how come solos get 4 meals each when we only get 2".

Edited March 4, 2017 by KeithJenner

[Bob7]

Nice post.

"People read freestyle as meaning you can decide what you want to do.

That isn't how it works in practice."

At the restaurants entry, we were asked for our cabin card.

After finding we were not staying in the Haven, the Hostess said,

"Sir, you have to understand, this restaurant is small.

We have no room for you at this time."

I assumed NCL's "freestyle" pertained to no more fixed dining times in the MDR, just show up, but was not pertaining to the specialty dining reservation system.

[$hip$hape]

I assumed NCL's "freestyle" pertained to no more fixed dining times in the MDR, just show up, but was not pertaining to the specialty dining reservation system.

In away, you are correct.

It's the same at the MDR; NCL's "freestyle" means if NCL doesn't have a table for you, you are free to wait.

Edited March 4, 2017 by $hip$hape