Specialty Dining Upgrade?

[Jacqueline92689]

Hi! Our cruise includes 2 specialty dining meals per person (I believe) but we would like to have 6 instead. Does anyone know how we go about upgrading and if we will just pay the difference per person between 2 and 6 meals ($100) or if we have to buy a 4 night package for the other nights ($145). 
 

Also, is Food Republic the only specialty open at lunch and can we make reservations for that? If not, is it super busy?

 

Thanks!

[hallux]

Log in to your account, NCL offers an 'upgrade' package to go from 2 to 4 meals.  You may just have to buy the 4 night package as doing the upgrade plus adding another 2 night would be about the same cost.

[lx200gps]

27 minutes ago, Jacqueline92689 said:

Hi! Our cruise includes 2 specialty dining meals per person (I believe) but we would like to have 6 instead. Does anyone know how we go about upgrading and if we will just pay the difference per person between 2 and 6 meals ($100) or if we have to buy a 4 night package for the other nights ($145). 
 

Also, is Food Republic the only specialty open at lunch and can we make reservations for that? If not, is it super busy?

 

Thanks!

We're in exactly the same position as you, have 2 free and want 4 more. Our plan is to wait until we board and head down to Guest Services first thing to order the 4UDP package, currently priced at $US145/pp, as we have $US400 in OBC to use up. AFAIK, if we buy the 4UDP package now, ahead of time, we would have to put it on our credit card and not be able to use our OBCs. Others on this forum have advised us to buy it on board on the first day. In your case, if you don't have any OBC to use up, you could order the package now, its shows up in your Account when you log on to your trip booking. Go to "Explore and Plan", then under "Dining" you should see the link to order any of the Specialty Dining add-on packages.

 

As to Food Republic, when I select that restaurant, a note says "Please Book Onboard"

[Jacqueline92689]

21 hours ago, lx200gps said:

We're in exactly the same position as you, have 2 free and want 4 more. Our plan is to wait until we board and head down to Guest Services first thing to order the 4UDP package, currently priced at $US145/pp, as we have $US400 in OBC to use up. AFAIK, if we buy the 4UDP package now, ahead of time, we would have to put it on our credit card and not be able to use our OBCs. Others on this forum have advised us to buy it on board on the first day. In your case, if you don't have any OBC to use up, you could order the package now, its shows up in your Account when you log on to your trip booking. Go to "Explore and Plan", then under "Dining" you should see the link to order any of the Specialty Dining add-on packages.

 

As to Food Republic, when I select that restaurant, a note says "Please Book Onboard"

We have a bit of onboard credit, but it’s nominal enough that I can surely find something else to use that on so I have my reservations secured.

 

I do see where it’s an option to add the 4 night package, I just wasn’t sure if there was a way to upgrade from our 2 night package to a 6 night package instead rather than purchase the 4. Doing it this way would save us $45 each, but wasn’t sure if it was possible.

[KeithJenner]

20 minutes ago, Jacqueline92689 said:

We have a bit of onboard credit, but it’s nominal enough that I can surely find something else to use that on so I have my reservations secured.

 

I do see where it’s an option to add the 4 night package, I just wasn’t sure if there was a way to upgrade from our 2 night package to a 6 night package instead rather than purchase the 4. Doing it this way would save us $45 each, but wasn’t sure if it was possible.

The ability to upgrade the package is new and whether it shows up or not depends on when you booked. You can see whether it applies to you by looking in the Offer upgrades section on myncl or the app.

 

I haven’t had this option yet, so I’m not sure of the pricing. My understanding is that it is just a discount rather than paying the difference between the 2 and 6 meal packages.

 

If you don’t have the offer upgrade then your only choice is to purchase a new package for the meals you need at full price.

[lx200gps]

20 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

The ability to upgrade the package is new and whether it shows up or not depends on when you booked. You can see whether it applies to you by looking in the Offer upgrades section on myncl or the app.

 

I haven’t had this option yet, so I’m not sure of the pricing. My understanding is that it is just a discount rather than paying the difference between the 2 and 6 meal packages.

 

If you don’t have the offer upgrade then your only choice is to purchase a new package for the meals you need at full price.

I also see an "Offer Upgrade" on our booking, offering us a 33% discount on the 2UDP package, which would bring us up to 4 specialty dinners, whereupon we would still have to then purchase the remaining two we want "a la carte" from the Specialty Dining package list. Problem is, when I do the math, it's actually cheaper to just buy the extra 4 dinners as the full price 4UDP package than it is to use the upgrade discount then buy the two incremental.

[KeithJenner]

23 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

I also see an "Offer Upgrade" on our booking, offering us a 33% discount on the 2UDP package, which would bring us up to 4 specialty dinners, whereupon we would still have to then purchase the remaining two we want "a la carte" from the Specialty Dining package list. Problem is, when I do the math, it's actually cheaper to just buy the extra 4 dinners as the full price 4UDP package than it is to use the upgrade discount then buy the two incremental.

That’s interesting. So the offer upgrade is only for two meals.

 

In that case, it sounds like you are doing it the best way.

[lx200gps]

46 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

That’s interesting. So the offer upgrade is only for two meals.

 

In that case, it sounds like you are doing it the best way.

In our case, yes, the offer is specifically the 2UDP package at 33% off.  We're also being offered the booze package upgrade and two WiFi upgrade options though none of these are of any interest. We'll be waiting until we board then head to Guest Services and buy the 4UDP package with some of our OBC.

[cruise*enthusiast]

I checked my account and it does offer a UDP upgrade for $70.80 for each my husband and me, for a total of $141.60 but, when I click on the upgrade, the “details” section is blank. Any idea how many UDP meals that amount would be for?  We currently have 2 UDP meals. 

[lfreda]

25 minutes ago, cruise*enthusiast said:

I checked my account and it does offer a UDP upgrade for $70.80 for each my husband and me, for a total of $141.60 but, when I click on the upgrade, the “details” section is blank. Any idea how many UDP meals that amount would be for?  We currently have 2 UDP meals. 

The one in the upgrade is for an additional 2 meals.

[BirdTravels]

55 minutes ago, cruise*enthusiast said:

I checked my account and it does offer a UDP upgrade for $70.80 for each my husband and me, for a total of $141.60 but, when I click on the upgrade, the “details” section is blank. Any idea how many UDP meals that amount would be for?  We currently have 2 UDP meals. 

The “upgrade” give you two additional meals. If you want 6 meals, it is cheaper to buy the 4 meal package versus 2 meal upgrade + 2 meal package. 

[cruise*enthusiast]

10 hours ago, lfreda said:

The one in the upgrade is for an additional 2 meals.

When you say, “Two meals”, do you mean 2 nights for the 2 of us or 2 meals total (1 night/1meal each = 2 meals)?

 

Sorry!  A little confused. Also, are there any specialty restaurants that DON’T accept the Dining Plan?

 

TIA…..

[KeithJenner]

2 hours ago, cruise*enthusiast said:

When you say, “Two meals”, do you mean 2 nights for the 2 of us or 2 meals total (1 night/1meal each = 2 meals)?

 

Sorry!  A little confused. Also, are there any specialty restaurants that DON’T accept the Dining Plan?

 

TIA…..

The upgrade is per person and gives each two meals, so if you upgrade for both then you will get two more meals for two.

Edited July 23, 2022 by KeithJenner

[Lightnin42]

On 4/28/2022 at 8:27 AM, lx200gps said:

In our case, yes, the offer is specifically the 2UDP package at 33% off.  We're also being offered the booze package upgrade and two WiFi upgrade options though none of these are of any interest. We'll be waiting until we board then head to Guest Services and buy the 4UDP package with some of our OBC.

We tried this on the Bliss in May and we’re told you cannot get dining packages once on board. Hope you have better luck.

[lx200gps]

2 hours ago, Lightnin42 said:

We tried this on the Bliss in May and we’re told you cannot get dining packages once on board. Hope you have better luck.

Our trip was in June. We had no problem with Guest Services allowing us to use OBC to buy the desired package

[cruise*enthusiast]

On 7/23/2022 at 6:42 AM, KeithJenner said:

The upgrade is per person and gives each two meals, so if you upgrade for both then you will get two more meals for two.

Thanks Keith!

[80sGal]

Bringing an old thread back to life here.  So when can dining be reserved on NCL?  We have the two included upgrades plus will do the discounted extra two prior to cruise but when can reservations be made and will those reservations automatically be recognized in the system so we aren't charged when I try to book?    NCL NEWBIE HERE.   🙂 TIA

[hallux]

3 minutes ago, 80sGal said:

So when can dining be reserved on NCL? 

Specialty dining can be reserved beginning at 120 days prior to sailing unless you're in a suite or The Haven (those are 125 or 130 days).

 

4 minutes ago, 80sGal said:

and will those reservations automatically be recognized in the system so we aren't charged when I try to book?

If you want to do cover-charge venues AND a-la-carte, book the cover charge FIRST.  They can't charge for an as-yet unknown bill (a-la-carte charges won't be known until you order) but they CAN charge for the cover-charge places in advance if the system sees no SDP credits available (either because you don't have any or because you've already booked a restaurant even if it's a-la-carte).