Exchange Pinnacle dinner for Tamarind?

[avian777]

It may not be the price difference, but the demand. The Pinnacle Grill is not open every day for lunch, which limits the already limited spaces even more. If demand for Pinnacle Grill lunches is high enough, why would the cruise line lose the money from a paying diner in favor of a complimentary meal which costs the cruise?

 

On the cruises I've been on, the Pinnacle Grill was never booked out for dinner, and in fact, most nights when I passed, it was practically empty all night. I've never seen more than 8 tables occupied at once for dinner. But lunch was incredibly popular. There was always a waiting list in the hopes someone would cancel lunch in the Pinnacle Grill. So the demand for lunches in the Pinnacle Grill has always, in my experience, been much greater than the demand for dinners. In which case, I can see why the ship would say no to the switch from lunch to dinner, even with the price difference between the two meals.

 

Spot on, ellieanne - IMO you hit the nail squarely on the head: it's obviously not a question of cost; it's most likely a question of demand. (y)(y)(y) Nice to see a Post that is based on logic and common sense.

[POA1]

We switched a PG dinner for a lunch - but we did it as soon as we boarded. They did inform us that we were losing out because lunch is less. My advice is to try to switch as early as possible to beat the rush. The worst that can happen is that they tell you no. We've always found them accommodating.

[kazu]

We switched a PG dinner for a lunch - but we did it as soon as we boarded. They did inform us that we were losing out because lunch is less. My advice is to try to switch as early as possible to beat the rush. The worst that can happen is that they tell you no. We've always found them accommodating.

 

 

Excellent suggestion POA1 :D

 

On the cruises I've been on, the Pinnacle Grill was never booked out for dinner, and in fact, most nights when I passed, it was practically empty all night. I've never seen more than 8 tables occupied at once for dinner. But lunch was incredibly popular. There was always a waiting list in the hopes someone would cancel lunch in the Pinnacle Grill. So the demand for lunches in the Pinnacle Grill has always, in my experience, been much greater than the demand for dinners. In which case, I can see why the ship would say no to the switch from lunch to dinner, even with the price difference between the two meals.

 

Just go to show that experiences can vary depending on ship and itinerary and the demographrics of those on board. Twice on the same ship, the PG dinner was sold out (other than the 9 pm time on a couple of nights) by the first night of the cruise :eek:. There were a number of grumbling 5* Mariners who didn't pre book ;)

 

Lunch on the other hand was available. I always book on embarkation day but we decided to do another one and had no problem getting the day of our choice.

[avian777]

... Just go to show that experiences can vary depending on ship and itinerary and the demographrics of those on board. Twice on the same ship, the PG dinner was sold out (other than the 9 pm time on a couple of nights) by the first night of the cruise :eek:. There were a number of grumbling 5* Mariners who didn't pre book ;)...

 

Huh? :confused: As 5* Mariners, our 5* PG dinners have always been "pre-booked" for us by HAL/Mariner Society. Has HAL/Mariner Society changed the way it handles the 5* Pinnacle Grill dinners insofar as reservations?

[kazu]

Huh? :confused: As 5* Mariners, our 5* PG dinners have always been "pre-booked" for us by HAL/Mariner Society. Has HAL/Mariner Society changed the way it handles the 5* Pinnacle Grill dinners insofar as reservations?

 

Am I understanding your post correctly? Your dinners were prebooked irregardless of your date or time of preference? And by the Mariner Society?

 

I've been 5* for a while and I've never had a dinner prebooked other than purchasing them myself on line to choose my time and place and then simply ask my 5* to be applied to the dinners where it's applicable and get refunded.

 

If I don't pre book and prepay, I've always had to go to the PG to book my dinners as did the 5*'s on that cruise.

 

That's the way it's been on at least 5 different cruises we've been on so far. Yes, the PG knows I am 5* but I have to make the reservations. It's never been done by the Mariner Society for us or any other 5* I've sailed with that I know of.

[POA1]

Unless the reservation system has changed since 2016, the "pre-bookings" are done by a PG employee. He or she will have a list of names and cabins to enter into the system - for everyone who's getting a comp'd dinner or has a prepaid reservation from bookings made online before the cruise. On a sailing with a lot of Explore 4 customers, it can be a pretty big list.

[sail7seas]

It may not be the price difference, but the demand. The Pinnacle Grill is not open every day for lunch, which limits the already limited spaces even more. If demand for Pinnacle Grill lunches is high enough, why would the cruise line lose the money from a paying diner in favor of a complimentary meal which costs the cruise?

 

Could be. I think you make good points.

[avian777]

Am I understanding your post correctly? Your dinners were prebooked irregardless of your date or time of preference? And by the Mariner Society?...

 

For a fact I cannot say that our 5* Pinnacle Grill dinners have been "pre-booked" by the Mariner Society ... or by HAL Ship Services ... or by the Pinnacle Grill itself ... or really by any specific person or entity. All I can say is that SOMEONE has always pre-booked our 5* PG dinners for us. It's entirely possible that our TA has made these arrangements for us, having dealt with us long enough to know our preferences. In any event, we have never needed to do anything with regard to our 5* PG reservations, either pre-cruise or after boarding.

[avian777]

Unless the reservation system has changed since 2016, the "pre-bookings" are done by a PG employee. He or she will have a list of names and cabins to enter into the system - for everyone who's getting a comp'd dinner or has a prepaid reservation from bookings made online before the cruise. On a sailing with a lot of Explore 4 customers, it can be a pretty big list.

 

That certainly makes sense to me.

[sail7seas]

For a fact I cannot say that our 5* Pinnacle Grill dinners have been "pre-booked" by the Mariner Society ... or by HAL Ship Services ... or by the Pinnacle Grill itself ... or really by any specific person or entity. All I can say is that SOMEONE has always pre-booked our 5* PG dinners for us. It's entirely possible that our TA has made these arrangements for us, having dealt with us long enough to know our preferences. In any event, we have never needed to do anything with regard to our 5* PG reservations, either pre-cruise or after boarding.

 

 

None of my 5* Pinnacle dinners were ever pre-booked by them I always booked the date and time of our choice and no issue was ever made about it. Easy :) All I ever did was make the reservation of our choice..

[iflyrc5]

We have done 3 cruises since becoming 5 star and HAL has never pre-booked our Pinnacle reservations. I have gone to the Pinnacle as soon as we board and made the reservations for the day and time we wanted.

[POA1]

That certainly makes sense to me.

 

The person that did the data entry happened to be our waiter for one particular cruise. It was a Collector's B2B during a pretty big Explore 4 period. He spent hours getting everything input into the system. That was when I realized that most pre-assigned slots are really just a matter of where you fall on the list as it's being entered into the reservations.

[sail7seas]

Is it mainly Explore 4 bookings that are pre-arranged by Pinncle and you are told when to go? But the Mariners 5 * are time and day of oour choice? We always book what we want. Explore 4 is less and less attractive the more I read about it.

[ellieanne]

Is it mainly Explore 4 bookings that are pre-arranged by Pinncle and you are told when to go? But the Mariners 5 * are time and day of oour choice? We always book what we want. Explore 4 is less and less attractive the more I read about it.

 

I only went to the Pinnacle Grill because I had it free with the Explore 4. It was not pre-booked for me, we got to schedule it at our convenience. But I am noticing that, like everything else in the cruising experience, can differ based on each cruise.

 

As for the rest of the Explore 4 perks, I found them worthwhile, but that was me. The cost/benefit analysis has to be made by each individual cruiser. Even with a visit to the ship's doctor, I came away spending less than I have on any previous cruise. That was good for me, but not so much for the cruise line.

[SFO Peter]

o.k. Feedback Time.

 

The request to switch free 5 star Pinnacle dinner to Tamarind dinner was a polite no even though Pinnacle costs more than Tamarind.  The free 5 star dinners were not assigned specific dates like the free dinners from promotions.   I had to make the reservations for Pinnacle on board ship.  I am not passing judgement - just reporting what occurred so others will know.

 

Peter