I should get 5 "free dinners" but can only book 4

[Sundiego]

We're booked on the Escape Transatlantic which is 16 nights. So that entitles us to 3 dinners with the dining package. We are also Platinum, so that's 2 more dinners. I have 4 of the dinners booked. When I try to book a 5th, NCL wants to charge me.

 

Any tips on this?

 

Thanks!

 

Denise

[debenson0723]

2 minutes ago, Sundiego said:

We're booked on the Escape Transatlantic which is 16 nights. So that entitles us to 3 dinners with the dining package. We are also Platinum, so that's 2 more dinners. I have 4 of the dinners booked. When I try to book a 5th, NCL wants to charge me.

 

Any tips on this?

 

Thanks!

 

Denise

Call or book on board.

[ChiefMateJRK]

You need to book the fixed charge dining within the first three selections.  Mr. Jenner will likely weigh in more accurately.

[Dcoy]

If your attempting to book a reservation for a restaurant that you already have booked, you need to call. For some reason the system online will sometimes not allow you to book one restaurant for two different nights. 

[LGW59]

40 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

Call or book on board.

Please don't call and tie up the line with something so minor that can be taken care of on-board

[BirdTravels]

47 minutes ago, Sundiego said:

We're booked on the Escape Transatlantic which is 16 nights. So that entitles us to 3 dinners with the dining package. We are also Platinum, so that's 2 more dinners. I have 4 of the dinners booked. When I try to book a 5th, NCL wants to charge me.

 

Any tips on this?

 

Thanks!

 

Denise

Fixed price restaurants need to be booked first. If you want to do it yourself, call and cancel all reservations and start over. Or wait until you are onboard, FIRST book your entertainment, THEN fix your dining reservations around your entertainment. 

[Sundiego]

Thanks everyone. We booked this cruise kind of late and many of the on-line dining slots are picked over. So I'll just keep the 4 I have and do my best to tweak once onboard.

 

Denise

[KeithJenner]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

You need to book the fixed charge dining within the first three selections.  Mr. Jenner will likely weigh in more accurately.

I can’t be more accurate than that. 🙂

Edited July 31, 2022 by KeithJenner

[IronRobi]

2 hours ago, Dcoy said:

If your attempting to book a reservation for a restaurant that you already have booked, you need to call. For some reason the system online will sometimes not allow you to book one restaurant for two different nights. 

Is this true for all dining venues or just the paid ones? Been trying to book all our dining for 2 days now. Initially tried booking all 7 together and got a bunch of "no longer available" messages. So I started booking individually and got the first 4 days booked, but the last 3 days regardless of restaurant or time slot I'm booking just seem to disappear from the cart and won't let me complete. 2 are MDR's and 1 is a specialty, all 3 are already booked within the first 4 days.

 

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

Please don't call and tie up the line with something so minor that can be taken care of on-board

If you want your selection of dining time without having to wait for anytime dining, or getting stuck with a 9pm time because everybody else booked up the premium spots online, it's usually best to get them all taken care of in advance.

[DavidToronto]

2 hours ago, Dcoy said:

If your attempting to book a reservation for a restaurant that you already have booked, you need to call. For some reason the system online will sometimes not allow you to book one restaurant for two different nights. 

Interesting.  I tried to book the day after final payment and ran into this issue.  When I called, I was told the remaining 3 days were fully booked in every restaurant on the ship.  Was told to try to book on ship.  Have to say, pretty awful experience so far.  Likely this will be both my first and last NCL cruise.

[debenson0723]

10 minutes ago, IronRobi said:

Is this true for all dining venues or just the paid ones? Been trying to book all our dining for 2 days now. Initially tried booking all 7 together and got a bunch of "no longer available" messages. So I started booking individually and got the first 4 days booked, but the last 3 days regardless of restaurant or time slot I'm booking just seem to disappear from the cart and won't let me complete. 2 are MDR's and 1 is a specialty, all 3 are already booked within the first 4 days.

 

If you want your selection of dining time without having to wait for anytime dining, or getting stuck with a 9pm time because everybody else booked up the premium spots online, it's usually best to get them all taken care of in advance.

There is no 'anytime dining' per se on NCL for the MDR.  You want to eat at 5, you show up at 5, want to eat at 6:27, show up then.  Unless you have a large group, you will typically get in within minutes. And if one of the MDRs doesn't have room, they will normally direct you to the one that does.  In all my NCL cruises, I have never made a reservation in the MDR. As for Specialties, they only release about 30% online...the rest you can book onboard (or call and tie up the line 😉).

[KeithJenner]

20 minutes ago, IronRobi said:

Is this true for all dining venues or just the paid ones?

All dining venues.

[IronRobi]

9 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

Unless you have a large group, you will typically get in within minutes. 

I did this once. Group of 2. I think we got in within minutes once. The rest of the time we were 20-30 minutes standing around and killing time waiting for a table. I've found as a party of 2 with pre-reserved times you'll sometimes get a table that sits 4 because it's all they have available at your scheduled time. But if you go the freestyle route, they'll wait for a table of 2 to open and save those open tables of 4 for walk-ins with 4 in their group.

[LGW59]

47 minutes ago, DavidToronto said:

Interesting.  I tried to book the day after final payment and ran into this issue.  When I called, I was told the remaining 3 days were fully booked in every restaurant on the ship.  Was told to try to book on ship.  Have to say, pretty awful experience so far.  Likely this will be both my first and last NCL cruise.

Will you not cruise NCL again because you are having a problem making specialty dining reservations?

[hallux]

56 minutes ago, IronRobi said:

If you want your selection of dining time without having to wait for anytime dining, or getting stuck with a 9pm time because everybody else booked up the premium spots online, it's usually best to get them all taken care of in advance.

 

51 minutes ago, DavidToronto said:

When I called, I was told the remaining 3 days were fully booked in every restaurant on the ship.  Was told to try to book on ship.  Have to say, pretty awful experience so far.  Likely this will be both my first and last NCL cruise.

Something to consider - for some reason NCL only opens a portion of the reservations before the cruise.  The rest open on embarkation day.  Make an effort to get that done as soon as you board.

[Beach Life 1]

2 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Please don't call and tie up the line with something so minor that can be taken care of on-board

????    Tie up the line?   If someone has a question,  they have a right to call anytime they want.  If they tie up the line,  too bad.  Is this a joke?   If  so,  I guess I didn't get it.

[The Shrike]

1 hour ago, DavidToronto said:

Interesting.  I tried to book the day after final payment and ran into this issue.  When I called, I was told the remaining 3 days were fully booked in every restaurant on the ship.  Was told to try to book on ship.  Have to say, pretty awful experience so far.  Likely this will be both my first and last NCL cruise.

As others have said, only a limited amount of reservations are offered online.  Once you get onboard you'll have a few options.  Reservations can be made:
-  In the Atrium
-  In touch-screen kiosks located at a few of the elevator areas
- Through the App.

[LGW59]

8 minutes ago, jezabel80 said:

????    Tie up the line?   If someone has a question,  they have a right to call anytime they want.  If they tie up the line,  too bad.  Is this a joke?   If  so,  I guess I didn't get it.

!!!!!   No was not a joke!  Of course they do silly, as much asI have the right to think easy things that can be resolved w/o a call should be done on board silly!  You probably still don't get it, but there it is.

[Beach Life 1]

1 minute ago, LGW59 said:

!!!!!   No was not a joke!  Of course they do silly, as much asI have the right to think easy things that can be resolved w/o a call should be done on board silly!  You probably still don't get it, but there it is.

  I  guess only certain people with certain questions are allowed to call NCL.  Yeah,  I get it now.  Silly me.

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, jezabel80 said:

  I  guess only certain people with certain questions are allowed to call NCL.  Yeah,  I get it now.  Silly me.

well I do like the lines to be open when I have to call and ask about my luggage tag questions, so there is that

[CaptainBazz]

1 hour ago, DavidToronto said:

Likely this will be both my first and last NCL cruise.

Wow..one minor issue and you are giving up on cruising NCL again...does this happen often...are there any vacations left you can take...

[mearsfansinboise]

We had this issue as well - took care of it via the "Chat with an Agent" feature on the NCL site.  It was updated and correct about 15 minutes after the chat ended.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

6 hours ago, Dcoy said:

If your attempting to book a reservation for a restaurant that you already have booked, you need to call. For some reason the system online will sometimes not allow you to book one restaurant for two different nights. 

Not necessarily true, I did it last month for Cagneys on the Star.

[Sailing12Away]

In my 6+ cruises with NCL, the only time we've made reservations for the MDR was when we had a slightly large group of 4, and that was only because we were in the garden villa and the concierge was eager to help us 'book it' so we let him. 

 

All other times we've walked up (party of 2) and had no issues getting a table within a few minutes. Longest wait was on the Epic for O'Sheehans one night when we went at 7pm. No issue... mozied over to the bar and they grabbed us 5 mins later. I didn't even know you could pre-book dining times for the MDR.

[EllieinNJ]

I was able to book 3 of my four specialties, Le Bistro, Cagney's and the barbeque one.  For the Asian one it said to book on board.