Questions about specialty dining packages....

[hmmerr01]

Hello friends.... I have some questions about specialty dining and the dining packages. I am hoping that you guys can help me! We are avid Disney Cruise Line travelers and are looking to cruise on the Harmony or Allure this summer for the first time.

 

1. If we do a 3 night specialty dining package, do we get to choose any three specialty restaurants?

 

2. Do we get to preselect the nights we wish to schedule these? any restrictions?

 

3. Does the specialty plan cover all charges at the restaurants (including gratuities)?

 

4. what is the charge for children ages 9 and 11?

 

Thank you very much! I appreciate you!

[Clarea]

You cannot select any restaurants pre-cruise with the dining packages. You must make your reservations onboard. At this point, I believe the pre-cruise charges include all gratuities. at least I've not heard of anyone being charged gratuities. You may receive a bill for $0.00 in hopes you will add gratuities, but that is up to you.

[Ourusualbeach]

On Oasis class ships kids are half of the adult price. If you book the kids ahead of time you will be charged full price and you will be refunded the difference in refundable OBC once on board.

[hmmerr01]

You cannot select any restaurants pre-cruise with the dining packages. You must make your reservations onboard. At this point, I believe the pre-cruise charges include all gratuities. at least I've not heard of anyone being charged gratuities. You may receive a bill for $0.00 in hopes you will add gratuities, but that is up to you.

 

This may be stupid... but how do you know how to schedule your other entertainment if you don't know when you are going to schedule your specialty dining?

[hmmerr01]

On Oasis class ships kids are half of the adult price. If you book the kids ahead of time you will be charged full price and you will be refunded the difference in refundable OBC once on board.

 

Thank you. Where can I find all of this officially? I thought the flyer that I saw said $10 per child. This is all so confusing....

[Clarea]

This may be stupid... but how do you know how to schedule your other entertainment if you don't know when you are going to schedule your specialty dining?

I would pick the entertainment first and then schedule around that.

 

Also, if you want to have full control over your specialty restaurant schedule, you can always pay full price and have the ability to schedule restaurants pre-cruise.

[CatLadyFemme]

 

3. Does the specialty plan cover all charges at the restaurants (including gratuities)?

 

Thank you very much! I appreciate you!

 

A note; it does not cover alcohol (or other drinks outside of the drink package, unless you have said package), and some restaurants have up charge items as well. It does usually cover unlimited apps/desserts and one entry per person (or a set ala carte price for places like Izumi).

[Ourusualbeach]

Thank you. Where can I find all of this officially? I thought the flyer that I saw said $10 per child. This is all so confusing....

 

It was $10, then I saw $12 and then for our Oasis class cruises it said half the adult fare. I believe that it’s $12 for other ships.

 

This is from the fine print fir Chops for my upcoming Oasis cruise.

 

Children between the ages of 0-5 are complimentary and ages 6-12 are half the adult price. Please reserve product for all guests who wish to dine. Adult price will be applied for all guests regardless of age; the difference between the adult price and child price will be refunded in the form of a refundable onboard credit (unless booked with non-refundable credit, in which case OBC will be non-refundable).

[Clarea]

It was $10, then I saw $12 and then for our Oasis class cruises it said half the adult fare. I believe that it’s $12 for other ships.

 

This is from the fine print fir Chops for my upcoming Oasis cruise.

 

Children between the ages of 0-5 are complimentary and ages 6-12 are half the adult price. Please reserve product for all guests who wish to dine. Adult price will be applied for all guests regardless of age; the difference between the adult price and child price will be refunded in the form of a refundable onboard credit (unless booked with non-refundable credit, in which case OBC will be non-refundable).

Ken, is the half-price for kids just for dining packages, or is it also for single full-price restaurant reservations?

[Ourusualbeach]

Ken, is the half-price for kids just for dining packages, or is it also for single full-price restaurant reservations?

 

What I quoted was for a single restaurant. I’ll look at the packages

 

Same exact wording in the fine print for the packages.

[Clarea]

What I quoted was for a single restaurant. I’ll look at the packages

 

Same exact wording in the fine print for the packages.

Hard to keep up with the constant changes.

[Ourusualbeach]

Hard to keep up with the constant changes.

I think that is their goal.

 

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[Lfehlauer77]

We just booked a "bogo" offer. We paid $40 pp. We can choose any two specialty restaurants but had to make our first reservation for night one and was told to make the second reservation once onboard.

[seapad]

We have 2 kids in our cabin. Sp should I buy 4 people in the prepaid package, pay for 4 adult price, and request refund when we are on board to be added to our OBC?

Obviously, our preference is not to have to deal with the refund. SO can we just book the specialty package for 2 people, pay the 2 adult price, and then add the 2 children when on board? I have a hunch it may be confusing too as the staff on board will need to figure out the correct child price for a package....am I right?

 

Finally, wonder if the specialty package can be used for Wonderland as one of the dinner....

 

Thanks for the help and advice.

[Clarea]

We have 2 kids in our cabin. Sp should I buy 4 people in the prepaid package, pay for 4 adult price, and request refund when we are on board to be added to our OBC?

Obviously, our preference is not to have to deal with the refund. SO can we just book the specialty package for 2 people, pay the 2 adult price, and then add the 2 children when on board? I have a hunch it may be confusing too as the staff on board will need to figure out the correct child price for a package....am I right?

 

Finally, wonder if the specialty package can be used for Wonderland as one of the dinner....

 

Thanks for the help and advice.

There's no guarantee that any dining package will be offered onboard.

[rusty nut]

You cannot select any restaurants pre-cruise with the dining packages. You must make your reservations onboard. At this point, I believe the pre-cruise charges include all gratuities. at least I've not heard of anyone being charged gratuities. You may receive a bill for $0.00 in hopes you will add gratuities, but that is up to you.

Hi, Bob. We just recently booked a 4 night dining package online and were not charged gratuities. This is on Navigator.

 

[Clarea]

Hi, Bob. We just recently booked a 4 night dining package online and were not charged gratuities. This is on Navigator.

 

Thank-you, I appreciate the feedback.

[hmmerr01]

Oh my gosh.....what a mess. This is one of the reasons that I have stayed away from a ship that no feel the "nickel and diming" before I even book.....

[Eslader]

I've never had a problem getting a table when booking on-board. Oftentimes they will do a "courtesy" booking for you - they'll pre-book a restaurant for you the first night. If you want a different restaurant or a different time you can just change it when you get on the ship. Boarding day there's almost always someone outside one of the dining rooms handling specialty restaurants, and if the line there is too long just cruise the promenade and talk to anyone from any of the specialty restaurants -they can all book you for all of the venues, so you don't have to seek out the specific one you want. As you are looking at Oasis class, what I would do is go to central park and talk to the host at 150CP. It's almost always empty on boarding day, so there's no waiting in line to get stuff booked. I would also recommend that you make 150CP one of your restaurants, as it's great. :)

 

Oh, and since I didn't see it mentioned, Chef's Table is not covered by the package. I believe you can get a discount on it via the package, but it usually makes more sense (for us anyway) to get a package and then get CT separately.

[Becka1711]

Thank you so much for this question! We are also avid DCL cruisers, but are sailing the Harmony in April. It was a tough choice to sail a different line this time, but it was a great deal that we couldn’t pass up. I was very curious about the dining packages, so all these comments have been super helpful!

[duffyzmom]

I've never had a problem getting a table when booking on-board. Oftentimes they will do a "courtesy" booking for you - they'll pre-book a restaurant for you the first night. If you want a different restaurant or a different time you can just change it when you get on the ship. Boarding day there's almost always someone outside one of the dining rooms handling specialty restaurants, and if the line there is too long just cruise the promenade and talk to anyone from any of the specialty restaurants -they can all book you for all of the venues, so you don't have to seek out the specific one you want. As you are looking at Oasis class, what I would do is go to central park and talk to the host at 150CP. It's almost always empty on boarding day, so there's no waiting in line to get stuff booked. I would also recommend that you make 150CP one of your restaurants, as it's great. :)

 

Oh, and since I didn't see it mentioned, Chef's Table is not covered by the package. I believe you can get a discount on it via the package, but it usually makes more sense (for us anyway) to get a package and then get CT separately.

 

Thanks for this tip. We are booked on Symphony and purchased the 5 night package. Disney is our favorite cruise line and I think part of the reason is the dining. I was hoping by adding the specialty dining I would improve my cruise experience but was starting to get concerned about availability. We are open to all restaurants and just hope to experience as many as possible.