Specialty Dining reservations - in advance vs on board

[momin05]

A family member wants to purchase a dinner for my husband and me. I assume the easiest way for her to pay for our dinner is to make the reservation online before we cruise. If we make a reservation in advance, can we change it once on board (subject to availability, of course) if it conflicts with something else we want to do?  
 

if we wait to make the reservation onboard, I assume they charge it to each person’s S&S, making it difficult for someone to treat us. 
 

Thanks in advance!

[lazydayz]

Simplest way would be a Carnival gift card.  Then you can make your reservation on board at a time convenient for you.

 

That said, the few times I had wanted to change a paid reservation, there was never an issue except maybe eating 30 minutes before or after your preferred time. 

[momin05]

10 hours ago, lazydayz said:

Simplest way would be a Carnival gift card.  Then you can make your reservation on board at a time convenient for you.

 

That said, the few times I had wanted to change a paid reservation, there was never an issue except maybe eating 30 minutes before or after your preferred time. 

Thank you. Good to know the reservation can be changed. We don’t usually do specialty restaurants but want to try JiJis, given all the rave reviews. 

[momin05]

54 minutes ago, TreyB said:

We always do the specialty restaurants on a cruise, it just makes for a nice experience and evening. Much more relaxed. We’ve done JiJis and Cucina del Capitano and we feel both are worth the upcharge. On our upcoming Panorama cruise in October we will be doing both of those again plus the Steakhouse which we have never done before. 
 

I’m a compulsive planner so I always make the reservations online lol. 🤣

Thank you!  I just made my reservation!

[Haljo1935]

We had reservations for Steakhpuse and Teppanyaki (2 people each night per reservation, same cabin, B2B) and wanted to switch nights to take advantage of the free wine in steakhouse for first night each week. Called in, was told had to do it myself online and that the only option was to cancel and rebook. All good so long as no penalty and I would get refunded for the cancelations. "Yes, give it a few business days to process and you'll see a refund." If I used OBC to cover part of the charges,, will it be refunded back to the booking so I can use it again for something else Ok? "Yes, just allow about 72 hours and you'll see it." Ok, I'll do it.

Canceled 2 nights (4 total dinners cuz 2 people) and made new reservations for both people both weeks (4 total dinners) for Steakhouse, see charge immediately pending on my card. Same for Teppanyaki  - Canceled 2 nights & made new reservations and immediately saw pending charges on my CC. Added Il Viaggio for 2 nights, immediately saw those pending charges, as well.

Waited a few days to check for the OBC and CC credits. I see $96 OBC on one booking (charge forc2 Steakhouse w/o 18% tips) and $10.32 OBC on the other booking). Receipt from original reservations has 18% tip charged on all of the reservations, so I paid it at time I reserved. 18 % on $96 is $17.28. What is $10.32? No additional OBC has shown up on either booking and calls to Carnival say it's been issued. So now we're out $118.68 in OBC and have paid twice for a couple dinners - how do I get it resolved and has anyone else experienced the same? Could I have simply moved the reservations once on board and still have gotten the wine the first night?

That free wine has now become very expensive. 

 

 

[momof3cruisers]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

We had reservations for Steakhpuse and Teppanyaki (2 people each night per reservation, same cabin, B2B) and wanted to switch nights to take advantage of the free wine in steakhouse for first night each week. Called in, was told had to do it myself online and that the only option was to cancel and rebook. All good so long as no penalty and I would get refunded for the cancelations. "Yes, give it a few business days to process and you'll see a refund." If I used OBC to cover part of the charges,, will it be refunded back to the booking so I can use it again for something else Ok? "Yes, just allow about 72 hours and you'll see it." Ok, I'll do it.

Canceled 2 nights (4 total dinners cuz 2 people) and made new reservations for both people both weeks (4 total dinners) for Steakhouse, see charge immediately pending on my card. Same for Teppanyaki  - Canceled 2 nights & made new reservations and immediately saw pending charges on my CC. Added Il Viaggio for 2 nights, immediately saw those pending charges, as well.

Waited a few days to check for the OBC and CC credits. I see $96 OBC on one booking (charge forc2 Steakhouse w/o 18% tips) and $10.32 OBC on the other booking). Receipt from original reservations has 18% tip charged on all of the reservations, so I paid it at time I reserved. 18 % on $96 is $17.28. What is $10.32? No additional OBC has shown up on either booking and calls to Carnival say it's been issued. So now we're out $118.68 in OBC and have paid twice for a couple dinners - how do I get it resolved and has anyone else experienced the same? Could I have simply moved the reservations once on board and still have gotten the wine the first night?

That free wine has now become very expensive. 

 

 

Talk to @Eli_6 She had some major issues with getting refunds on gift cards and I believe OBC. She might have some tips.  All the issues I read about make me not want to pay anything ahead of time.