Do many pay Ala Carte?

[matj2000]

We have an upcoming cruise on NCL.

 

I was browsing the planner and noticed almost all pay restaurants are now ala cart and quite expensive.

 

It used to be one set price around $15 - $30 per person or some nominal fee that was sort of reasonable.

 

With the ala carte style you wind up paying just as much as you would at a restaurant off the ship.

 

I cannot image spending $150 $200 per meal for a party of 4.

 

Do many do that?

[shof515]

if you have the dining package, you do not pay the al la carte pricing. at the end of your meal, your final bill should be zero

Edited November 17, 2019 by shof515

[matj2000]

1 minute ago, shof515 said:

if you have the dining package, you do not pay the al la carte pricing. at the end of your meal, your final bill should be zero

 

I understand that

 

But does everyone have the dining package?

 

We got the 3 dinner special included,  so I looked at buying another 3 nights but it is almost $500 for our family of 4.    I see no value in that.

 

I thought about just doing an extra pay restaurant and pay,   That is how I came up with the original question.

[Sweetnspicy]

I only pay Al la cart for sushi! I have a 5 night dining package and my other 6 days of my upcoming cruise I will be fine in the main dining rooms or the buffet.

[BirdTravels]

55 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

I cannot image spending $150 $200 per meal for a party of 4.

 

Do many do that?

Yes. So,,, when we are eating with the package, we'll order a bunch of stuff and enjoy. Our dinners at Ocean Blue in August were $85 pp. We'll pick a "cheaper" restaurant and order less food if we are paying "cash" for dinner. We typically have a lot of OBC, so another dinner out is one way of spending some of that money. 

[Peachypooh]

We only eat in the specialty restaurants if we are using our Platinum benefits or if we have a

package. Judging by people that are being seated before me almost all were in that category.

However I am sure people do pay as they go along but as for how many I do not know.

 

[pixiedust777]

Yes we pay a la carte at the specialty restaurants.

We book a specialty dining venue for every night of our cruise.

However, I do not want to be stuck with an expensive dining package and then be dissatisfied with specialty dining places or change my mind and just want to eat at the buffet one night. 

Each ship and each cruise the quality and service at each dining venue has varied from superb to please I just need to leave. We have cancelled repeat reservations to Cagney's on our last 2 cruises. 

We always pick the dining package as one of our perks and then have no issue paying out of pocket for the remainder of our specialty restaurant meals.

 

[FLAHAM]

I have most often seen people pay a la carte when he or she was the third person in a cabin, thus not eligible for the perk, and wanted to accompany the first two passengers to one or two specialty restaurant dinners. 

[matj2000]

Another follow up question:

 

Does the specialty dining restaurants ever do any sort of specials or promotions during the cruise?

 

I RCCL they do things like 1/2 price on the first night of the cruise or sometimes late seating.

 

Different things to get people in at less at slower times 

[pixiedust777]

3 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

Another follow up question:

 

Does the specialty dining restaurants ever do any sort of specials or promotions during the cruise?

 

I RCCL they do things like 1/2 price on the first night of the cruise or sometimes late seating.

 

Different things to get people in at less at slower times 

Have never seen a dining special on NCL on any night.

Cruises we have been on have been sold out for the duration of the voyage by the second night for the popular specialty dining venues.

[Starry Eyes]

20 hours ago, matj2000 said:

Another follow up question:

 

Does the specialty dining restaurants ever do any sort of specials or promotions during the cruise?

 

I RCCL they do things like 1/2 price on the first night of the cruise or sometimes late seating.

 

Different things to get people in at less at slower times 

No, we have not seen that in many years.  They do not need to do it now.  With so many fares incorporating perks, there are many people with sdp.  Add in Platinum vouchers and you soon have sufficient demand for specialty dining on most cruises that there is no need to run specials. 

 

As as others have mentioned, ala carte sushi makes sense is some.  The Mexican restaurant prices aren’t as high, so some people pay ala carte there and save there sdp for more expensive places.  Most people seem to have SPD or vouchers.

[JamieLogical]

I have done a few of the specialty restaurants without using SDP credits. Q on the Bliss (and now Encore) has a big platter you can share for about $22 iirc that isn't worth wasting an SDP credit on.You can also be pretty frugal at Los Lobos, La Cucina, and even Cagney's if you skip an entree and just go for the more substantial appetizers. I also always do lunch at Margarittaville one day of the sailing and just pay the $14 per person cover charge rather than doing an SDP credit. However, for the most part, I am just content to eat at the MDRs or O'sheehan's/The Local when I'm not using SDP credits. The MDRs really are quite good!

[laurabegorrah]

On 11/17/2019 at 10:41 AM, matj2000 said:

 

We got the 3 dinner special included,  so I looked at buying another 3 nights but it is almost $500 for our family of 4.    I see no value in that.

 

I thought about just doing an extra pay restaurant and pay,   That is how I came up with the original question.

 

Short answer, you will see both the MDR and the buffet are still very well visited, and there aren't enough seats in the specialty places for everyone no board to eat there every night.  I wouldn't invest in buying extra nights of the package.  Use the 3 meals that you have in the al a carte places (ie: Cagneys, le bistro, la cuchina).  If there are nights where you don't like the MDR/buffet/o' sheehans as an option, you can go to one of the specialty places that is still one price - moderno lol. 

 

Side note, while La Cuchina is al a carte, you can still eat pretty cheaply, so if you could hitTeppenyaki as a free choice.  While Teppenyaki is single price, it's an expensive single price  - I would never pay for it.  It's not bad, but it's kind of meh - it's worth it at free lol

[graphicguy]

In talking to one GM on the Escape last Summer, he told me that 85% of people who were cruising had the Specialty Dining Package.  And, that 90+% had the Drink Package.

 

So, suffice to say, the majority of people have the Dining and Drink packages.

 

I've never seen any "specials", per se, regarding booking SDP on board, though.

 

As others mention, the MDRs are quite good.  If I didn't get Specialty Dining credits being Platinum Latitudes, I sure would be happy just eating in the MDRs.