Booking Specialty Dining

[adonisr]

We have 3 people in our cabin.  I'd like to book some specialty dining, but when I try to book through my booking, the web site only gives party size options of 2, 4, 6.  Do they not serve odd number parties?

[KeithJenner]

12 minutes ago, adonisr said:

We have 3 people in our cabin.  I'd like to book some specialty dining, but when I try to book through my booking, the web site only gives party size options of 2, 4, 6.  Do they not serve odd number parties?

Just reserve for 4 people. The table sizes are even numbers which we assume is why they dont usually offer reservations for odd numbers.

 

The only problem is if you are booking Moderno or Teppanyaki and you don’t have dining credits to cover them. In that case you will have to pay for the extra person and get it refunded onboard or wait until onboard to book.

[adonisr]

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

Just reserve for 4 people. The table sizes are even numbers which we assume is why they dont usually offer reservations for odd numbers.

 

The only problem is if you are booking Moderno or Teppanyaki and you don’t have dining credits to cover them. In that case you will have to pay for the extra person and get it refunded onboard or wait until onboard to book.

Not a fan of having to try to get a refund for the 4th person.  I guess I'll gamble that we can book once on board.

[cruiserbear55]

2 hours ago, adonisr said:

Not a fan of having to try to get a refund for the 4th person.  I guess I'll gamble that we can book once on board.

 

    Tables are for 2,4,6,8 etc. Just book a table for four. You'll only pay for those who actually show up. You won't pay for a non-existant fourth person.

[KeithJenner]

5 hours ago, adonisr said:

Not a fan of having to try to get a refund for the 4th person.  I guess I'll gamble that we can book once on board.

You will only need to pay if you don’t have a dining package.

 

I think I worded it badly.

 

If you have the dining package and you book Moderno or Teppanyaki first then you pay nothing, whether you are booking for 1 person or 10 people. If you don’t have the dining package then you will have to pay for everyone and then claim back the unused place onboard. You don’t just pay for that one extra place.

[tomk3212]

Book it for 4 then when you board go to the Specialty Dining reservation kiosk (or just call the number) and change your reservation(s) from 4 to 3.    As an example, we recently booked specialty dining reservations on our TA cruise in April-May on Epic.  When I booked online in advance the ONLY tables they showed were '4''s; no tables for 2.  So I just made reservations for 4 for DW & yours truly then changed all the reservations to 2 as soon as we boarded the Epic.  Easy, peasy, no problemo!

 

Have a good cruise!

[adonisr]

OK - so I booked for 4.  Another question - our package includes 2 dinners at specialty dining.  We use one for this reservation that requires a "cover charge".  How do the dining passes work at the spots with A La Carte?

[KeithJenner]

4 hours ago, adonisr said:

OK - so I booked for 4.  Another question - our package includes 2 dinners at specialty dining.  We use one for this reservation that requires a "cover charge".  How do the dining passes work at the spots with A La Carte?

It’s basically one dish from each course (some items have an upcharge).

 

From the website:

 

”An SDP meal in a la carte restaurants includes 1 appetizer, 1 soup or salad, 1 main course and 1 dessert (does not apply to cover charge restaurants or Food Republic, Pincho Tapas Bar and Sushi, where a meal includes any 4 menu items). SDP does not include beverages and additional and/or premium menu items will incur charges.”

[jennjess]

How does this work when you have some of the dining party with the package and some without?

[KeithJenner]

4 minutes ago, jennjess said:

How does this work when you have some of the dining party with the package and some without?

As long as the booking is made by someone with the package then that makes no difference at the booking stage. The system assumes everyone is the same.

 

Then, when you turn up for the meal just let the server know how individual people are paying and they will sort that bit out and charge the relevant people for their food.

[depplep]

I have a dumb question never having been on NCL. The UDP says 2 meals. Does that mean 2 restaurants, or 2 people at one restaurant?

[KeithJenner]

22 minutes ago, depplep said:

I have a dumb question never having been on NCL. The UDP says 2 meals. Does that mean 2 restaurants, or 2 people at one restaurant?

A two meal package is given to the first two people on the reservation.

 

Most people take them as two meals for two.