Do you save money by booking dining before the cruise?

[biksgirl]

Hello. I was thinking of booking a dinner at Izumi for a night on my upcoming cruise on Rhapsody departing on July 18th from Rome.  

 

Do you save money by booking prior to being on the cruise?  

  

 

Is it best to book on the one Sea Day, or is there a special dinner or something that night? It's been a while since I've been on a RCL cruise.

 

TIA  🙂 

[firefly333]

I have not seen discounts for 1 dinner. They discount 3 dinners or unlimited. I havent seen izumi alone discounted pre cruise.

 

Sometimes onboard if they have extra capacity they offer discounts and come around in the buffet.

[biksgirl]

okay great, appreciate it.

[Jerseygirl1416]

Check your cruise planner for your particular sailing. On my planner most of the specialty restaurants are on sale and cost less to book ahead than the on board regular pricing. After checking the price on your planner you can check the app to see the on board price for your sailing to see if they are cheaper to book in advance.

[FionaMG]

I was thinking about booking Teppenyaki for one night on my recent cruise on Odyssey, the idea being to book it for a night that had a menu we didn't particularly care for in the MDR. Ahead of time, I could have got it in the cruise planner for $38 pp but I didn't want to book and then it potentially clash with a menu we liked and not be able to change.

Once on board, the price was $54 pp, so we ended up not booking it at all.

 

Note that your one sea day could potentially be formal (aka lobster) night unless it's the very last night of the cruise, if that matters to you. 

[Jerseygirl1416]

2 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I was thinking about booking Teppenyaki for one night on my recent cruise on Odyssey, the idea being to book it for a night that had a menu we didn't particularly care for in the MDR. Ahead of time, I could have got it in the cruise planner for $38 pp but I didn't want to book and then it potentially clash with a menu we liked and not be able to change.

Once on board, the price was $54 pp, so we ended up not booking it at all.

 

Note that your one sea day could potentially be formal (aka lobster) night unless it's the very last night of the cruise, if that matters to you. 

You can actually see the MDR menu for every night of your cruise in the app anytime before your sailing.

[FionaMG]

16 minutes ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

You can actually see the MDR menu for every night of your cruise in the app anytime before your sailing.

I know but unless you're on a fairly standard 7-night itinerary they tend not to be very reliable until you're actually on board. The particular menu we wanted to avoid changed days in the app several times in the run-up to our cruise. It didn't help that ours was a non-standard 9-night cruise and the first European sailing following the transatlantic, so the menus were all a bit haywire. 😕

[nelblu]

You would be better off of purchasing chops  +1 as this dining option is usually cheaper than on board. 

Edited May 24, 2022 by nelblu

[PigsCanFly]

We booked Hibachi at 15% discount for an upcoming Oasis in June.  Our son wanted to do that restaurant for his birthday, so we made reservations to ensure the date.  In our past cruises we often are approached by crew offerring discounts on some specialty restaurants.

[biksgirl]

2 hours ago, FionaMG said:

I was thinking about booking Teppenyaki for one night on my recent cruise on Odyssey, the idea being to book it for a night that had a menu we didn't particularly care for in the MDR. Ahead of time, I could have got it in the cruise planner for $38 pp but I didn't want to book and then it potentially clash with a menu we liked and not be able to change.

Once on board, the price was $54 pp, so we ended up not booking it at all.

 

Note that your one sea day could potentially be formal (aka lobster) night unless it's the very last night of the cruise, if that matters to you. 

great info thanks! 

[biksgirl]

2 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

You can actually see the MDR menu for every night of your cruise in the app anytime before your sailing.

I'm in the app right now and can't see the menus. Could you walk me through where to find this? sorry, not the best at technology!

[Sunshine3601]

18 minutes ago, biksgirl said:

I'm in the app right now and can't see the menus. Could you walk me through where to find this? sorry, not the best at technology!

Do you have your sailing open on the app?   Select dining option then select main dining room and should show the word menu in blue, click on that.  

At the bottom of the screen you can day 1, day 2, etc.

 

Also, if you go to cruise planner on royal Caribbean site you will see pricing for specialty restaurants.   Most serve lunch at a much cheaper price for almost the same menu as dinner.

[dri-b]

Related question - if I already have a reservation for Izumi (booked a while ago on sale) and want to change nights, can that be done, or do I have to cancel and rebook at the current price?  Can I wait until I'm onboard to revise the reservation?

 

Just got wind  that the we may have accidently booked for formal night, and I'd rather be in the main dining room that night.

 

(8-night cruise on  the Mariner June 18 - the menu's just posted, so I'm only going off the fact that lobster is on the menu that night, but I've also read that even the menus may adjust once we're on board).

 

All advice is appreciated!  Thanks!

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, dri-b said:

Can I wait until I'm onboard to revise the reservation?

Yes, though the availability might be slightly less. You should be able to adjust date/time of the existing booking.

[biksgirl]

23 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Do you have your sailing open on the app?   Select dining option then select main dining room and should show the word menu in blue, click on that.  

At the bottom of the screen you can day 1, day 2, etc.

 

Also, if you go to cruise planner on royal Caribbean site you will see pricing for specialty restaurants.   Most serve lunch at a much cheaper price for almost the same menu as dinner.

I did what you said, but the word menu doesn't appear. I will keep trying. Thanks for the help 🙂 

[Sunshine3601]

16 minutes ago, biksgirl said:

I did what you said, but the word menu doesn't appear. I will keep trying. Thanks for the help 🙂 

That's odd.   Did you try selecting different decks for the MDR?   I'll see if I can send you some screenshots to help you.

[biksgirl]

12 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

That's odd.   Did you try selecting different decks for the MDR?   I'll see if I can send you some screenshots to help you.

I did. I can see the menu for other restaurants, but for some reason it doesn't show on the Main Dining room

 

[rudeney]

I was playing with this earlier today and the MDR "Menu" option was flaky.  Exit the app and try again.  Remember, this is RCI's IT department you are relying on! 🤣

[sailor05]

The past couple cruises I've had people from Royal and ask if we had specialty dining and were offering deals. On the Adventure they offered a bogo AFTER first offering a % discount and we jumped on it.

[dri-b]

17 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Yes, though the availability might be slightly less. You should be able to adjust date/time of the existing booking.

Thanks - any hints how?  I can't seem to find anywhere (app or website) to change/reschedule?

[Biker19]

25 minutes ago, dri-b said:

Thanks - any hints how?  I can't seem to find anywhere (app or website) to change/reschedule?

Under your order history in the planner (website), there should be an option to cancel and maybe modify a previous order.

[Kmermaid]

Looking at the Chops + one option in the planner and it gives a choice of day 1 or day 2 and dining times.  We are on a four day cruise and would like to do specialty dining on day 3 and 4.  So this offer is only good for day 1 or 2?

[FionaMG]

13 minutes ago, Kmermaid said:

Looking at the Chops + one option in the planner and it gives a choice of day 1 or day 2 and dining times.  We are on a four day cruise and would like to do specialty dining on day 3 and 4.  So this offer is only good for day 1 or 2?

In theory, yes, although you get occasional reports of people successfully changing to different days once on board. You absolutely shouldn't count on that happening, though.

[8esther8]

4 hours ago, Kmermaid said:

Looking at the Chops + one option in the planner and it gives a choice of day 1 or day 2 and dining times.  We are on a four day cruise and would like to do specialty dining on day 3 and 4.  So this offer is only good for day 1 or 2?

No, they will only let you book the first dinner ahead of time, on day one or two; you book the other when you board the ship; you can book for any other day you want. Go directly to the other restaurant you want when you go onboard.  If you were booking several night, such as with the dining plan, you can book them all at the first restaurant on board.  I just got off the Ovation last week and did this.

[celoplyr]

I booked the Izumi prefixe for my sailing date.  It was $23 or $28 (can't remember which) and should work for the $35 meal.  Savings is savings. I'm hoping to go with my cousins when they go as part of a package.