Did you get your SDP?

[Planmaam]

After reading on here about the problems getting specialty dining reservations for those having the package as an ammenity, just wondering what your experience was.

 

Did you get all your free meals? Did you have trouble making reservations? Did you have to stand in line at the restaurant and wait for a table?

 

And most importantly, did any of you NOT get one/any of your free, pre-paid amenity dinners at a specialty restaurant?

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Ddmc]

We have been on three cruises with the SDP. Once we paid, and two times it was a promotion. We have found that as long as we had a reservation, our SDP was honored. We may have waited 10 minutes at most. That being said, we make our reservations at the 90 day mark as soon as we are able.

[sanger727]

We had the 4SDP as a promo. We were able to do all of our bookings ahead of time online without paying any cost. We ate in all the restaurants we scheduled at our reserved times with no issues and no cost. Haven't really heard of anything different happening.

[gymbomb]

I have only heard of problems when people didn't reserve ahead of time and the restaurants were booked.

 

 

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[EllieinNJ]

I made all my reservations ahead at the 90 day mark, but when on board I realized some of the times conflicted with shows I wanted to see. Tried to change to 8:30 or 8:45 but wasn't available so had to take 9pm. That being said, showed up right after show (8:30) and was seated immediately.

[EllieinNJ]

Forgot to mention this was for Le Bistro and Cagneys.

[poona1]

As a side question, when does the kitchen open and close on the specialty restaurants and for how long do they continue waiter service...sorry i don't mean to sidetrack the main op post but just worried if there is a conflict with a show, i might have to book in at a later time

[EllieinNJ]

For all the specialty restaurants, the first seating is at 5:30pm and the last seating is at 10pm, with 15 minute increments between them. Also, they will hold your reservation for 15 minutes past your reservation time.

[ella99]

We booked less than 1 month before our Gem cruise and had 4 SDP. I was able to reserve online for all 4.

 

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[Dayana]

I have had it both as promotion and paid out of pocket. I found hat I like the idea of freestyle (no reservation) types of vacations as there can be a lot to do on he cruise and at port and don't like feeling constrained to keeping a reservation that may no longer work for us and MANY times being unable to change time and dates.

 

 

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[canuckinindia]

If you have the SDP promo do you have to make all your bookings before you board, or can you just turn up to a specialty restaurant and subject to availability be seated (with the meal being covered by the promo?)

[Rhea98]

... can you just turn up to a specialty restaurant and subject to availability be seated (with the meal being covered by the promo?)

In my experience on two ships, yes.

 

 

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[SuperCrewBear]

We had a 5 dinner package on a 10 night cruise. No problems whatsoever with using it. I had made the 1st reservation ahead for the first night of the cruise at Cagney's. The other four dinners we decided on those at random but typically made the reservation at least the day before. There's was a large touch screen located in most of the elevator lobbies where one could make reservations. Easy. I don't remember ever having to wait except at Teppenyaki - I think it was just waiting at the table for everyone else at the table to arrive.

[mdsgu]

We had the 3SDP as a promotion plus a dinner at LeBistro from our TA. I booked all four (including Cagney's) at the 90 day mark. As soon as I could after boarding, I made a few changes to the times of the reservations, and each night we were seated exactly on time.

[Gimmiethebeach]

On my first NCL cruise we booked 20 days out so there were basically no reservations left to book online. On my second one, I booked all dining reservations ahead of time but didn't get all the times I wanted. So for both cruises I reserved what I wanted as we were boarding via iconcierge. Just as soon as I could connect to the ship's wifi I got on there and booked everything. I have nothing booked for my cruise at the end of the month so will do the same thing then.

 

 

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[biker@sea]

Cruise on Dawn 6-9-17

We did Freestyle walk up with NO reservation at all @ Cagney's, La Cucina , Los Lobo and Bamboo Twice.

 

We were seated promptly in all venue's.:cool:

[zqvol]

After reading on here about the problems getting specialty dining reservations for those having the package as an ammenity' date=' just wondering what your experience was.

 

Did you get all your free meals? Did you have trouble making reservations? Did you have to stand in line at the restaurant and wait for a table?

 

And most importantly, did any of you NOT get one/any of your free, pre-paid amenity dinners at a specialty restaurant?

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.[/quote']

 

They only release 30% of the reservation slots before boarding. You will not have any issue getting your reservations when you board the ship, as long as you do it the first day.

 

As far as standing in line, just like on land when you have reservations that can sometimes occur.

[MNcruisingcouple]

They only release 30% of the reservation slots before boarding. You will not have any issue getting your reservations when you board the ship, as long as you do it the first day.

 

 

 

As far as standing in line, just like on land when you have reservations that can sometimes occur.

 

 

 

We've done the same thing, board the ship and make dinner reservations as soon as possible. Never had an issue.

 

 

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[babynurse06]

I genuinely don't know where those reports of "not being able to use SDP credits" come from. I have platinum status on NCL, and I have never, on any ship, had a problem eating somewhere. The "away" ships are a bit more difficult and do require a little more planning. I do make reservations, particularly for Cagney's and Le Bistro, as they tend to book full consistently since the SDP became a frequent promo. personally, I don't like Teppanyaki, so I skip it, but it also requires a reservation. My last cruise was on the Getaway last fall. I made reservations ahead of time for Cagney's one night and Le Bistro one night. We walked into La Cucina twice, the sushi bar once and Ocean Blue once. You can almost always find somewhere to eat, maybe not at the exact time you wanted, or with a slight wait, but you should NOT have trouble using a credit somewhere. The smaller ships are even easier. They do actually tend to be truly freestyle, and require very little pre-planning.

[happy traveler69]

So here's a dumb question- if for whatever reason we are not able to get any reservation for the restaurants at anytime during the cruise, do we get our money back? We have it as a free promotion so we only pay the grats. If we don't eat, do we get the grats back?

I'm brand new to NCL!! Don't beat me up!!

 

 

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[yankees111]

So here's a dumb question- if for whatever reason we are not able to get any reservation for the restaurants at anytime during the cruise, do we get our money back? We have it as a free promotion so we only pay the grats. If we don't eat, do we get the grats back?

I'm brand new to NCL!! Don't beat me up!!

 

 

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Unfortunately not. You pay gratuities regardless.

 

 

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[Barb Nahoumi]

We didn't prebook any specialties with our promos. There were four of us, and we booked our reservations at the Guest Services desk. This was on the Dawn.