Grrrr! Purchased the three night dining package during a special sale.

[Cant_w8]

Purchased the three night dining package during a special sale. Now, I go online and see that X is giving people on our cruise the option to purchase reservations at a price which is not as good as ours. No good dinner times are available! Unbeknownst to me, with this “special price ”We’re not allowed to make reservations until we’re onboard.” What a scam!!! Please, someone tell me that it’s not the scam it appears that it is! We paid for an amount equal to a specialty lunch. Guess they think I’ll pay that much per person for lunch when they advertised it as a dinner package!  No thank you! Please, someone tell me that I’m wrong! 

[1025cruise]

It's a new thing that they are allowing package buyers to prebook their meals.

[bikerunner]

10 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

It's a new thing that they are allowing package buyers to prebook their meals.

That’s not available yet.   Pkg at this point is you buy it. They will assign you the first night somewhere and then when you get onboard  you book the other nights of the pkg.    has been this way since they started offering pkg speciality meals.  It says that in the highlights section 

[mahdnc]

26 minutes ago, Cant_w8 said:

Purchased the three night dining package during a special sale. Now, I go online and see that X is giving people on our cruise the option to purchase reservations at a price which is not as good as ours. No good dinner times are available! Unbeknownst to me, with this “special price ”We’re not allowed to make reservations until we’re onboard.” What a scam!!! Please, someone tell me that it’s not the scam it appears that it is! We paid for an amount equal to a specialty lunch. Guess they think I’ll pay that much per person for lunch when they advertised it as a dinner package!  No thank you! Please, someone tell me that I’m wrong! 

If I read your post correctly, it always has been like that--you cannot get an assigned dining time when you buy a specialty dining package. That is the tradeoff for getting the package discount. When you get on board, you can then nail down your specific dining times. If you buy specialty dinners separately, you pay a higher price but you get to pick your time based on availability.

 

As for as lunch is concerned, it sounds like you are talking about the "Specialty Restaurant Trio" dining package which is for 2 dinners + 1 lunch.  The product description makes that pretty clear.  Usually the trio dining package pricing takes into account that lunch should be cheaper than dinner.  The other package is the "3 Night Specialty Dining Package" which is for 3 dinners.

Edited November 9, 2023 by mahdnc

[zitsky]

Why don't you just, you know, cancel the dining package you're so unhappy about?  And make individual reservations?  People do it with excursions all the time when prices change.

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by zitsky

[Mike981]

31 minutes ago, Cant_w8 said:

Please, someone tell me that I’m wrong! 

 

You are wrong. 🙃

[Georgia_Peaches]

We have always been able to acquire dinner reservations at decent times (for us, 7:00 - 8:00) once on board.  I had read on CC that they hold back reservation time slots and, TBH, I was skeptical.  However, once on board, was pleasantly surprised at how relatively easy it was to secure a time.  Additionally, if you end up with a time that is later than you had hoped, you can always check back for cancellations or arrive a little early to see if space is available.  We had a 9 PM reservation for Tuscan Grille...the only spot available.  On the evening of, we stopped by the M'd stand to let them know we were willing to take an earlier time if one was available.  We were seated almost immediately.  My very wordy way of saying that I think you will be fine.

[hcat]

Maybe you can cancel?

 

We always book sep and pay ahead for time and date we want. All set for next cruise...  My concern is if they will give priority choice to "package bookers" when the program changes..

 

If we can't get early specialty res we'll try to get res in the mdrs or become buffet foragers!

[Lastdance]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

Maybe you can cancel?

 

We always book sep and pay ahead for time and date we want. All set for next cruise...  My concern is if they will give priority choice to "package bookers" when the program changes..

 

If we can't get early specialty res we'll try to get res in the mdrs or become buffet foragers!

We book all single dinners, pay and select our time, as we like to eat early.  Then, we usually ask if the restaurant is opening earlier and ask for a certain table if possible.  Of course, that was when we had tons of OBC to spend onboard.  Now, we may be seeing you in the buffet🙅‍♀️

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Lastdance said:

We book all single dinners, pay and select our time, as we like to eat early.  Then, we usually ask if the restaurant is opening earlier and ask for a certain table if possible.  Of course, that was when we had tons of OBC to spend onboard.  Now, we may be seeing you in the buffet🙅‍♀️

we can save seats and  forage together..and  talk abt the good old days on X!

[DaKahuna]

@Cant_w8 Did you bother to read the package description where it says you makes reservations on board.  This has been a very much discussed issue here on CC for years.

 

[NMTraveller]

Well the difference now is that with the demise of the MDR,  more people are booking specialty dining.  Therefore the difficulty in finding a suitable dining time with the dining package.

 

We used to be able to find suitable dining times with the package.  Now we book without it.

[Bullswood]

Can you still cancel the whole/unused package once on-board if acceptable times not available?

[adolfo2]

17 hours ago, Cant_w8 said:

Unbeknownst to me, with this “special price ”We’re not allowed to make reservations until we’re onboard.” What a scam!!! 

Not a scam... you got a very “special price" (i.e. cheap price) for the package and because of this you get the leftover dining times once onboard. Those paying full-price get first crack at making a reservation. 

[dazey]

We have purchased the 3 night dining specialty package many times and once onboard went to the one of the dining rooms and arranged times for the remaining two night that were not assigned yet.  However, the past few years I have purchased three specialty restaurants reservations separately(one is always Sushi on Five or Raw on Five which is always totals less than the other specialty restaurants).  The difference in cost was minimal, got to choose times and nights we wanted before getting onboard and I did not have to be bothered going to make reservations as soon as I got onboard.

 

Either way works. I would not worry.

[Lastdance]

5 hours ago, adolfo2 said:

Not a scam... you got a very “special price" (i.e. cheap price) for the package and because of this you get the leftover dining times once onboard. Those paying full-price get first crack at making a reservation. 

Gotta LOL, as I read this as you get the leftovers...oh how my mind works sometimes!