Price Increase on Specialty Dining

[Abercrombie2019]

Someone else posted on another thread that Specialty Dining prices had increased to $45.  I thought this deserved its own thread.  I checked on the app and Sky Princess is now showing $45 for Crown Grill, The Catch and Sabatini’s.

[dog]

So I paid $90 US for 2 for the Catch by Rudi for Sky March 2025.  Will I be charged additional grat. At restaurant.  Do not have a package.

[asctony]

All other Cruise Lines are much more expensive!

Anywhere from $60 to over $100 per person.

Princess has the best price.

Even on their Plus & Premium pkgs.

[Abercrombie2019]

6 minutes ago, dog said:

So I paid $90 US for 2 for the Catch by Rudi for Sky March 2025.  Will I be charged additional grat. At restaurant.  Do not have a package.

I think the policy is 18% gratuity applied to your folio after you eat at the restaurant (without the package).

[milolii]

Yes, and there will be a $10 fee per person for a “no show”at an SD restaurant.  Effective August 31. Information source: Princess CVP. 

[Abercrombie2019]

15 minutes ago, asctony said:

All other Cruise Lines are much more expensive!

Anywhere from $60 to over $100 per person.

Princess has the best price.

Even on their Plus & Premium pkgs.

I’m not passing judgement, just sharing info.  
The price increase makes the new premier package even more attractive.  I just hope they don’t start messing around with the menus.

[h20skibum]

That $45 price has been showing for quite some time on the app.  So it is just over $53 with grats, per person.  

[Abercrombie2019]

Just now, h20skibum said:

That $45 price has been showing for quite some time on the app.  So it is just over $53 with grats, per person.  

My understanding is that $45 for Sun Princess was showing for some time.  The price just recently changed (between yesterday and today) on the app for Sky for me.

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

My understanding is that $45 for Sun Princess was showing for some time.  The price just recently changed (between yesterday and today) on the app for Sky for me.

That’s what I noticed also.  The Sun started out with higher prices SD and also the Specialty Coffee/Tea prices are higher on the Sun.  So, that will probably follow suit too. IDK

 

[Boiler Cruiser]

So, with the new price for the Crown Grille & Sabatini's being $90 for 2 people, the $90 for the Princess Premium promo pays for itself pretty quickly.  That is, if you go to either restaurant more than 2 times on a cruise.

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

I think the policy is 18% gratuity applied to your folio after you eat at the restaurant (without the package).

18% 90 = $16.20 ... we would have tipped around $20 anyway in cash ... now it will go thru the folio - too bad for them

[h20skibum]

38 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

My understanding is that $45 for Sun Princess was showing for some time.  The price just recently changed (between yesterday and today) on the app for Sky for me.

Ah, got it.   That should have been an indication where prices for the rest of the fleet were headed.

 

Now I wonder how the app will differentiate between the old Premier and the New Premier.  It shows two SD eligible under current premier.  Maybe they will rename the new premier to something else.

[h20skibum]

34 minutes ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

So, with the new price for the Crown Grille & Sabatini's being $90 for 2 people, the $90 for the Princess Premium promo pays for itself pretty quickly.  That is, if you go to either restaurant more than 2 times on a cruise.

That is if they don’t limit it to less desirable times so they can sell more individual bookings for restaurants 

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

That is if they don’t limit it to less desirable times so they can sell more individual bookings for restaurants 

picking your own venue, date, and time for specialty dining will go the way of picking your own cabin ... all we have at this time is a guaranteed dining.  You can sign up for this each morning thru the dine line to be waitlisted for that day... if available as per the terms and conditions you agreed to.

[wallyj]

36 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Ah, got it.   That should have been an indication where prices for the rest of the fleet were headed.

 

Now I wonder how the app will differentiate between the old Premier and the New Premier.  It shows two SD eligible under current premier.  Maybe they will rename the new premier to something else.

Pretty sure they will make some sort of differentiation like they did for the Plus50 before the casual dining, desserts and fitness classes were added and Plus was increased to $60/day. They said if you already purchased the old premier at $80, you are not required to upgrade, so they will have to know if you are not entitled to unlimited drinks, WiFi devices and SD.

[Wishing on a star]

So, to make sure I understand, The upcharge is $45...  But this does not reflect any gratuity.

My husband usually overlooks our folio,  so I am not sure if this additional gratuity, automatically added, is something more recent?

 

We will have PREMIER on our next cruise.  

So, this gratuity will be charged whether one has a package or not?

[LACruiser88]

36 minutes ago, voljeep said:

picking your own venue, date, and time for specialty dining will go the way of picking your own cabin ... all we have at this time is a guaranteed dining.  You can sign up for this each morning thru the dine line to be waitlisted for that day... if available as per the terms and conditions you agreed to.

I chatted with four different DRO's this week and they are pulling their hair out figuring how to accommodate the SD requests that will be coming with this new Premier upgrade.

 

As usual, corporate management did not discuss this upgrade with them prior to the decision to offer it.  

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

I chatted with four different DRO's this week and they are pulling their hair out figuring how to accommodate the SD requests that will be coming with this new Premier upgrade.

 

As usual, corporate management did not discuss this upgrade with them prior to the decision to offer it.  

P could have easily upgraded Premier to include increase in the number of SDs based on the length of the cruise - up from 2 period.

[Wishing on a star]

Of course, they did not...  🤔

More chaos and issues and questions that should NOT exists...

We will be at Customer Service, first thing on our next sailing,  trying to get a more acceptable time for Crown Grill.

[Wishing on a star]

They most likely expect to increase the capacity of these Specialty restaurants...

Last time we did Crown Grill, the manager was taking in as many people who could be 'worked-in'.

The experience was BAD.  The vibe, service, and food, were like a cheap chain steakhouse on a busy Saturday night.

We much preferred our experience right in the MDR.

Edited August 24 by Wishing on a star

[Abercrombie2019]

13 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

So, to make sure I understand, The upcharge is $45...  But this does not reflect any gratuity.

My husband usually overlooks our folio,  so I am not sure if this additional gratuity, automatically added, is something more recent?

 

We will have PREMIER on our next cruise.  

So, this gratuity will be charged whether one has a package or not?

The menus on Princess.com all show this line (this one is from The Catch).

 

 

but FAQs for Crew Appreciation shows this -

 

Edited August 24 by Abercrombie2019

[Astro Flyer]

2 hours ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

I think the policy is 18% gratuity applied to your folio after you eat at the restaurant (without the package).

That was my experience at Sabatini’s on Discovery in April. I didn’t have a package so don’t know if the 18% tip was added to those included specialty dinners or not.

 

[PacnGoNow]

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

P could have easily upgraded Premier to include increase in the number of SDs based on the length of the cruise - up from 2 period.

Agree.  Easiest and fair. 

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

That was my experience at Sabatini’s on Discovery in April. I didn’t have a package so don’t know if the 18% tip was added to those included specialty dinners or not.

 

We just saw it on the folio, the next day.  We did not have it included in a package.

[LACruiser88]

7 minutes ago, voljeep said:

P could have easily upgraded Premier to include increase in the number of SDs based on the length of the cruise - up from 2 period.

They might have to make a change once this upgrade blows up in their face with complaints!