KeithJenner

I’ve always been able to book dining reservations through the app, including on both my cruises this year. I suspect that your experience was due to teething troubles on the Prima.

You can do it on the app, or you can go to the restaurant reservations place. They usually have a specific area set aside for this on embarkation day, often in one of the restaurants. Dont go to Cagneys itself. It will either be unstaffed or (on older ships) serving lunch to suite guests.

When the points required to change levels changed many people were grandfathered into the old requirements, so you are one of many who had this happen. As it is a positive thing there aren’t hundreds of threads on here going on about it.

As above, yes you will as long as it is two separate reservations. It won’t necessarily happen automatically though. Speak to the CruiseNext rep on your first leg to make them aware.

Sorry, but I can’t really comment on that. One full meal a day is plenty for us, so lunch is usually a snack from o’Sheehans or maybe a sandwich in the buffet and we don’t usually start drinking until later, so I have never tried asking for a bottle at lunch. Im sure people have posted on here that they could get bottles of wine at lunch though.

There may not be a dress up or not night. There hasn’t been one on either of our cruises this year, including on the Dawn. Since covid they don’t seem to have restarted on some ships.

The lack of dress code in the aft MDR does, as you say, seem to be more on the newer ships (Breakaway and plus), but not all of those. I have certainly been on ships where the no shorts rule applied in 3 restaurants (Le Bistro, Ocean Blue and aft MDR). This discussion is about the Dawn. The dress code in the aft MDR is much more common on the older ships. I can say for sure that they shorts weren’t allowed in the aft MDR on the Dawn two months ago.

That is incorrect. Shorts aren’t allowed in most aft dining rooms on NCL. On the Dawn it is Venetian.

That is correct.

It sounds like someone has got confused, which is fairly common when NCL phone staff become involved. Be careful if you do decide to call them yourself. I will just say that it isn’t just the amounts that are different depending on the country, but the whole basis of the charges can vary. However I think that Canada is the same as the US in that the charge for free at sea is the 20% gratuities on the beverage and dining package (I’m ignoring the fact that you may be paying extra for a room that qualities for the deal as I assume that the numbers you quote are both for the same room). Those gratuities are paid with booking and there is no further charge for those gratuities. I wonder whether someone is thinking of the service charge that is charged to your account each day (totally unrelated to free at sea). This is currently between $16 and $20 per person per day (US dollars). It isn’t the amount that you were quoted but perhaps it is confusion surrounding this that makes your TA think there is a further free at sea charge to come.

When you reserve a restaurant, you are not selecting any of them as being included in the dining package, you are just reserving the table. How you pay for it is decided at the restaurant. Just book whatever restaurants you want and they will use your dining credit earn you eat.

Multiple entrees are specifically not included. The T&Cs just mention Cagneys and Le Bistro, but in effect it relates to everywhere (other than the 4 dishes thing in some restaurants). It isn’t something which I know of having been tested, but I think we can be quite confident that it isn’t going to work if someone does try it.

Honestly, talk to the people that are posting the stuff that is relevant to what you are saying. I’ll say it again, I agree with you.

If you were answering the previous posts then you probably should have quoted them, rather than mine. I agree with what you said, by the way, and I’m good for holidays thanks.

You totally missed my point.

Honestly, it really isn’t just the Haven bartenders who will do this.

We seem to have started talking about the standard beverage package. This discussion is about the premium plus package where the maths is a lot different.

You say you don’t drink. Did you take the basic free at sea package when booking? I don’t think you can get free at sea plus unless you took the free at sea beverage package.

Absolutely fine in Taste and Savor. In the aft MDR it depends on the ship. I’m not sure whether the Getaway is one that allows shorts or not.

I think this really depends on what you like. If you aren’t much of a drinker but want to try a few things then I absolutely agree. There are loads of options available under the normal package. However, even if you don’t drink huge amounts but have a few specific, expensive, drinks that you like and especially if you enjoy champagne, then the extra cost can make a massive difference. If you like coffee and sparkling water as well then it becomes even better value.

I’m mainly a beer and wine drinker and mainly upgrade for the wine options. Whilst there have sometimes been wines that aren’t available there have always alternatives which work for us. When it comes to spirits, I have no specific types that I must have, but if you really need your specific brand then you may be disappointed.

I think there is a Cellars wine bar on the Escape. We found that bar really good on our last cruise for trying out different wines. I picked a different wine each day to try. We like Champagne too, which quickly makes the plus package worth it. Also don’t forget the non alcoholic drinks. I often grab a coffee when passing Starbucks and always enjoy an espresso after meals (not that they always charge for that anyway). We also get through lots of sparkling water. As mentioned above, the staff are always keen to help you get value out of the package, everywhere on the ship.

You can do all that outside the Haven too.

The T&Cs for the dining package actually look like they may need updating for some restaurants, but they cover most of them: ”SDP meals can be enjoyed at American Diner, Cagney’s Steakhouse, Food Republic, Italian, Le Bistro, Los Lobos, Moderno Churrascaria, Pincho Tapas Bar, Q Texas Smokehouse, Raw Bar, Seafood, Sushi and Teppanyaki.”

No, it is basically a 2 meal dining package. Can be used at all speciality restaurants. The T&Cs are on the website.