HELP! Ultimate Balcony Dining?

[santos-]

MY wife and I will be on Emerald this July. Being previous RCCL cruisers we are excited to finally experience Princess. In our cruise packet it mentions the "ultimate balcony dining" but does not mention how to pre-reserve. Have any of you ever pre-reserved or can this only be done once onboard? Thanks.

[sueandkent]

MY wife and I will be on Emerald this July. Being previous RCCL cruisers we are excited to finally experience Princess. In our cruise packet it mentions the "ultimate balcony dining" but does not mention how to pre-reserve. Have any of you ever pre-reserved or can this only be done once onboard? Thanks.

 

Once you board you phone the dining phone number listed on the info pack in your stateroom. They will then book the UBD for you. You select the night, time and then the head waiter will work on the menu with you. There are different selections to choose from for dinner. The best part is the chocolate covered strawberries that come as part of dessert. Personally, I think the $100 surcharge is a bit steep for what you get. Others on here will disagree.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes it can only be done once onboard, call D.I.N.E from your cabin phone once onboard to make your reservations.

 

We have done it 4 times and for us it was well worth the $$$. :)

[arabrab]

It was lovely, very romantic, and far more food than two ordinary people could possibly eat. For our UBD on CB we had the ass't manager of room service waiting outside and bringing each course out, and a room service waiter going back and forth between the kitchen and the door to our cabin, so that was two staff members for two hours. The flower arrangment was a beautiful tropical arrangment for which I would have expected to pay at least $35 at home, and it decorated our room for the remainder of the cruise. I thought it was an excellent value (particularly when compared to prices for spa services) and my husband still talks about it. A beautiful balmy Caribbean evening simply added to the atmosphere. The only disappointment was the photographs, which were not very good. Next time I'd tell the photographer to forget about taking pictures with us at the table in front of a half-eaten meal, and instead ask that the pictures be taken with us at the railing.

 

If you're interested, do call right when you get onboard -- they could only do 2 UBDs a night when we were onboard, and none on the night of embarkation.

[ajcruiser]

You did not indicate whether you are looking for dinner or breakfast. You can pre-book balcony breakfast. Otherwise, I agree with the dinner being well worth the $$.

[SJ Cruisers]

I plan to do the Ultimate Balcony dinner on our Tahiti to Hawaii cruise September 1st. My wife's birthday is September 11th and we'll be in Maui that day on our way to Kauai. Considering what we're spending on this trip the cost of the dinner is "peanuts".

[pudgy]

I know this is a personally question but how much of a tip should you leave for this. Please lets not get into fight over tipping.

[Northshorecruisers]

Since DH and I are popping for the balcony anyway, just seems it would be appropriate to do a balcony dining.

What types of options are given for dinner...my husband is allergic to seafood. What types of options are given for breakfast....I'm allergic to eggs.

This is our first time on Princess and we've never been offered this option on HAL.

[FinelyRetired]

I'm thoroughly confused. We weren't charged extra for ordering/transferring our Main Dining dinner selections to our balcony on HAL in December.

 

Martha

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm thoroughly confused. We weren't charged extra for ordering/transferring our Main Dining dinner selections to our balcony on HAL in December.

 

Martha

 

 

This isn't HAL. ;)

[Colo Cruiser]

Since DH and I are popping for the balcony anyway, just seems it would be appropriate to do a balcony dining.

What types of options are given for dinner...my husband is allergic to seafood. What types of options are given for breakfast....I'm allergic to eggs.

This is our first time on Princess and we've never been offered this option on HAL.

 

 

Check out these answers.....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=543062&highlight=ubd

[santos-]

Thank you for all your responses. I will most certainly be reserving this as soon as i board. Since we have a suite reserved, do you think the conceirge can arrange this for me?

[5:00_Somewhere]

Since the original question appears to have been answered, I just want to echo what others have said: it's well worth the extra charge, was very romantic and the food (and service) was fantastic! One word of caution, though: don't eat much the day of your Ultimate Balcony Dinner. That meal is HUGE!!! :eek: :D

 

And most of all, Enjoy! ;)

[christydore]

Hey - very excited this is my first post!! Yeah!!

 

You may want to check in the cruise personalizer for the balcony dining. There is a section there entitles "Forms" and in that there is an order sheet you may fill out for the Balcony Dining. We are going on our honeymoon in august and we splurged ona a balcony -we really cant afford it after the wedding, and being so young and all - but we'll only do our honeymoon once so hopefully we also do this balcony dinner thing!!

[joyride]

A little more information -

 

You also choose a pre-dinner cocktail - we had cosmos, which were delivered direct from the bar with appetizers. I also felt that the pictures taken by the ship photographer were not very good, but one is included in the price, so we did find one that was OK.

 

You also get champagne with the main course.

 

The dinner choices were Steak (Filet) or Lobster or both (Surf and Turf). We did Surf and Turf and the steak was a good size and the lobster was HUGE. I was embarrased at how much food we had left over! The salad that was served with pears and a wonderful vinegarette was very good too. Everything was delicious and the waiter (who was the head of room service on the Crown) was extremely professional and classy.

 

We had 3 of us at our dinner and we tipped $40.

 

I can't wait to do this again on our upcoming TP cruise!! It is so worth the $50 each - considering you get 2 drinks, champagne, flowers, and a photograph.