Need Help Booking Complimentary Dining on Rotterdam

[Djptcp]

DH and I will be sailing on the Rotterdam again in late Feb. and we have 1 specialty dining promotion and the free Signature Beverage Package. I just tried booking the complimentary specialty dining promo - I clicked on Complimentary, made the reservation for the Tamarind the day and time I wanted, but then it asked for my credit card information. Why did it do that if the meal is complimentary?? Do I have to pay for it now and then the amount is added back in to our onboard account once we are onboard? Help please.

 

Also, we have never had a complimentary beverage package before. How does that work? Do we receive the information in our stateroom?

 

Thanks.

[CruiserBruce]

Don't think they're offering Tamarind as one of the complementary dinners.  Only Pinnacle and Canelleto.

[Ryten]

In general, if you wish to book a specialty restaurant prior to the cruise, it can only be reserved by prepaying for the reservation, notwithstanding your complimentary meal.

 

That being said, we just returned form the 12/1 Rotterdam cruise with the same package you have. One of our first stops was to the restaurant reservation desk which is located just outside the Pinnacle Grill, deck 3 midships. We were assigned a date for the Pinnacle but easily able to change and book additional dinners, once on board. Just about any day and time was available. Availability may have influenced by a half full ship, so you might take that into consideration. We actually got lucky with our assigned day, as they added the Pinnacle Gala to the day we were assigned and they actually accepted the reservation as paid in full! (Cost was about $120 per person).

 

Hope this helps, have a great cruise.

[Florida_gal_50]

29 minutes ago, Ryten said:

In general, if you wish to book a specialty restaurant prior to the cruise, it can only be reserved by prepaying for the reservation, notwithstanding your complimentary meal.

 

That being said, we just returned form the 12/1 Rotterdam cruise with the same package you have. One of our first stops was to the restaurant reservation desk which is located just outside the Pinnacle Grill, deck 3 midships. We were assigned a date for the Pinnacle but easily able to change and book additional dinners, once on board. Just about any day and time was available. Availability may have influenced by a half full ship, so you might take that into consideration. We actually got lucky with our assigned day, as they added the Pinnacle Gala to the day we were assigned and they actually accepted the reservation as paid in full! (Cost was about $120 per person).

 

Hope this helps, have a great cruise.

I’ve never had a problem making reservations on the ship prior to covid.  When I was on the koningsdam in November they were super booked up right from the get go.

 

Op, I don’t recall seeing anything in my cabin about the drink package.  I just used my cruise card and I was good to go.  They did however slip other people’s drinks on my tab but I did get it fixed fairly quickly.

[Mary229]

I booked last week and as was said one credit was for Pinnacle and one credit was for Canaletto. 

[catfluff]

There are two spots to check the Complimentary Dining during the reservation process. Make sure you check the circled boxes like I’ve shown in the screenshot here. Once you do, the price will adjust.

 

 

[Djptcp]

Thanks for your responses. We will wait to make reservations until we board.

[Sea42]

18 hours ago, catfluff said:

There are two spots to check the Complimentary Dining during the reservation process. Make sure you check the circled boxes like I’ve shown in the screenshot here. Once you do, the price will adjust.

 

 

That worked for us. We made our complimentary reservations for our May cruise for our desired dates and times.

We will wait to book any extra dinners with our discount until we are onboard. It appears it can be a hassle to get the the discount applied to prebooked reservations once you're onboard. I donn't want to spend my time dealing with that.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Sea42

[CaliforniaAC]

We booked our specialty dining ahead of time on the Nieuw Amsterdam that we sailed on last month and had no problems getting our discounts applied to our account once on board. It was done automatically for us then you can check your account on your television to make sure everything is correct.

 

We also booked our complimentary dinner at the Pinnacle Grill before we left and were not charged for it.

 

The advantage of getting the reservation at a certain time was important to us, so we didn't want to wait until we were on board. 

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

 

AC

[RedneckBob]

22 hours ago, Djptcp said:

DH and I will be sailing on the Rotterdam again in late Feb. and we have 1 specialty dining promotion and the free Signature Beverage Package. I just tried booking the complimentary specialty dining promo - I clicked on Complimentary, made the reservation for the Tamarind the day and time I wanted, but then it asked for my credit card information. Why did it do that if the meal is complimentary?? Do I have to pay for it now and then the amount is added back in to our onboard account once we are onboard? Help please.

 

Also, we have never had a complimentary beverage package before. How does that work? Do we receive the information in our stateroom?

 

Thanks.

I am on this cruise. Booked this cruise last week and was able to book complimentary dinner at Tamarind last Friday. No issues. You just need to find the boxes to check for comp on dining site

[cirquskid]

On 12/18/2021 at 3:05 PM, Djptcp said:

DH and I will be sailing on the Rotterdam again in late Feb. and we have 1 specialty dining promotion and the free Signature Beverage Package. I just tried booking the complimentary specialty dining promo - I clicked on Complimentary, made the reservation for the Tamarind the day and time I wanted, but then it asked for my credit card information. Why did it do that if the meal is complimentary?? Do I have to pay for it now and then the amount is added back in to our onboard account once we are onboard? Help please.

 

Also, we have never had a complimentary beverage package before. How does that work? Do we receive the information in our stateroom?

 

Thanks.

You must call to book it and they will do the Comp dining reservations for you!

 

[MTAK]

You don't have to call to book, I just did ours yesterday for our April Rotterdam cruise.

 

@catfluff posted a screenshot above that shows how to do it with the check-boxes circled in yellow.  You have to click the drop-down arrow next to 'Use Complimentary Dining?' to see them.

[MTAK]

On 12/18/2021 at 4:13 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Don't think they're offering Tamarind as one of the complementary dinners.  Only Pinnacle and Canelleto.

It depends on the promo at the time of booking.  I booked in January 2021, I believe under a View and Verandah promo.  My choices for complimentary dining were Tamarind or Pinnacle.

[VacationCharlene]

I just booked, after reading this post, our TWO complimentary dinners for Caneletto and Pinnacle Grill, easy peasy for our July 2022 VOV cruise on the Zaandam.  Easy to navigate....no cost to us.....and we are now reserved 🙂  with an email confirmation.  If we change our minds on the dates it will be an easy fix once we are onboard.  We have the HAVE IT ALL.  Merry Xmas all 🙂

 

[FlorenceItaly]

Very helpful.   Thank you.  I was able to book our two complimentary dinners for Pinnacle and Canelleto for our August 2022 cruise.