Can anyone use someone's SPD on the Escape?

I tried asking this before, but never got a definite answer. I hope someone who has tried this can answer my question. I am traveling with my teenage daughter on the Escape and we have the SPD as a free perk. If she does not want to go with me, can I take someone else?

I tried asking this before, but never got a definite answer. I hope someone who has tried this can answer my question. I am traveling with my teenage daughter on the Escape and we have the SPD as a free perk. If she does not want to go with me, can I take someone else?

The package is tied to your account and is marked on your card, so if you took someone else then they would have to take your daughters card with them.

As your daughters card will have the corner clipped to show that she is under 18, it will likely be clear to whoever you take that it isn't her card.

Basically, you may get away with it, and it may be that the staff don't care anyway, but there must be a fair chance that you won't be able to do it.

They still scan the card and get your picture when using the SDP.

The question is whether or not it's an issue. The SDP is like a punch card for 3,4,5 whatever number of meals. If 2 people are using up 2 SDP punches for a dinner together, who cares? The UDP is a different animal altogether because a person could eat in one place and someone else use the card in another place later, so that's not fair.

Officially it is an issue, as you are getting a discount for purchasing multiple meals. I haven't got easy access to the T&Cs, but I'd be surprised if they don't say that you can't share.

Whether the staff care is a different matter.

The question is whether or not it's an issue. The SDP is like a punch card for 3,4,5 whatever number of meals. If 2 people are using up 2 SDP punches for a dinner together, who cares?

The question is, if you decide that this rule is not convenient for you, how strictly does NCL enforce it? I don't know what happens if you tell them up front that you want to use someone else's package, and the other person knows about it and is OK with it, etc. My guess is that they will say no, so the only option is to sneakily present the other person's card as your own and hope they don't notice. I think the chances of this succeeding are probably pretty good in many cases, but they are very low if there is anything about you or about the card that draws attention and causes the staff to take a closer look.

I don't know if the photo comes up on the screen when they swipe a card in a restaurant. Ideally it should, exactly for this reason, but I think most ships are still working with pretty old equipment (or equipment based on pretty old models).

I tried asking this before, but never got a definite answer. I hope someone who has tried this can answer my question. I am traveling with my teenage daughter on the Escape and we have the SPD as a free perk. If she does not want to go with me, can I take someone else?

If you want a definite answer, the answer is no, since they are non-transferable. If you want to try anyway to see if you can get away with it, you won't get your definite answer until after you have tried. Report back and let us know if you get caught.

NCL cares: "Specialty Dining Packages are non transferable." They could have decided otherwise, but that is the rule that they have stated for the program.

 

The question is, if you decide that this rule is not convenient for you, how strictly does NCL enforce it? I don't know what happens if you tell them up front that you want to use someone else's package, and the other person knows about it and is OK with it, etc. My guess is that they will say no, so the only option is to sneakily present the other person's card as your own and hope they don't notice. I think the chances of this succeeding are probably pretty good in many cases, but they are very low if there is anything about you or about the card that draws attention and causes the staff to take a closer look.

 

I don't know if the photo comes up on the screen when they swipe a card in a restaurant. Ideally it should, exactly for this reason, but I think most ships are still working with pretty old equipment (or equipment based on pretty old models).

Well, there you go! I didn't have access to the T&Cs, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

As I mentioned, the OPs daughters card will likely have its corner clipped, which will be a bit of a give away if it is used by someone older, so it could be questioned even if they don't have access to a photo.

I tried asking this before, but never got a definite answer. I hope someone who has tried this can answer my question. I am traveling with my teenage daughter on the Escape and we have the SPD as a free perk. If she does not want to go with me, can I take someone else?

The question is whether or not it's an issue. The SDP is like a punch card for 3,4,5 whatever number of meals. If 2 people are using up 2 SDP punches for a dinner together, who cares? The UDP is a different animal altogether because a person could eat in one place and someone else use the card in another place later, so that's not fair.

So we did try it, and it WAS enforced..and then we escalated our situation and it was allowed.

Your mileage may vary, but it's not impossible.

We had a friend we were going to lunch with, and he had purchased more SDP meals than he had time to use (because he wound up going to MDR with friends instead of using SDP), so he had prepaid meals, and people (us) upon whom he wished to bestow them.

The hostess told us that was impossible, but a quick call to Martin ( F & B manager) and an explanation of the scenario led to us being seated and taken care of.

I don't know if it's because the hostess misunderstood, or because Martin bent the rules because it was the maiden TA....

Stephen

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The FAQ/terms say that you cannot use your SDP to purchase meals for someone else, and that there are no refunds if you don't use up all your meals, etc. Of course the F&B Manager can bend the rules however he wants, so the hostess misspoke by saying it was "impossible", but it sounds to me like she understood everything perfectly.