Sabatini's Price Increase

FYI, the per person price is now $25, effective today.

It was $25pp when I was on Ruby Princess last week. :confused:

It was $25pp when I was on Ruby Princess last week. :confused:

I noticed the price increase this morning and phoned Princess. The agent advised that they received a memo this morning about the increase.

Not sure why they are just getting a memo now. Here's a picture of the menu posted outside Sabatini's on Ruby Princess I took on Dec. 9th showing the price at the bottom

And the rest of the menu

I booked my upcoming cruise ten days ago and at that time, the prices on the Princess website were 20 pp for Sabatini and 25 for Crown Grill. When I looked today, it had changed to 25 for both so I called to confirm and that is what I was advised.

Another reason I wished Princess allowed advanced bookings. I made reservations and paid for in advance all of my specialty dining aboard Allure of the Seas (which I was on board the week before Ruby) months in advance. If I wanted I could change dates and times or even cancel (as long as I did it more than 24 hours in advance of the reservation), but it locked in pricing just in case there was an increase. On embarkation day it was the first thing I did on Ruby Princess after dropping off my luggage in the cabin, worried I wouldn't get a seat the whole week. Come to find out later on several days of the cruise they were wide open and they were nearly completely empty from 6pm-8pm.

We have been less than impressed with the new menu, and with the price at $25/person it will be the steakhouse for us if we dine at a Specialty restaurant on our upcoming cruises.

We have been less than impressed with the new menu, and with the price at $25/person it will be the steakhouse for us if we dine at a Specialty restaurant on our upcoming cruises.

It actually tasted better than it reads. ;) My meal in Sabatini's was one of the best I had on the ship the entire week. Each person is different, I understand that, but I felt is was well worth the $25 that I paid.

We will try them both next week and hope we enjoy them enough to return. On our last few RCI cruises, we have opted for specialty dining every night, preferring the more intimate ambiance as well as better food and service.

dmwnc1959, I agree that it is nice to be able to book and pay in advance on RCI and other lines. HAL offers that as well and we love their Pinnacle Grille.

Thanks for the info.

Cheers.

Does anyone know what Sterlings on the Sapphire charges? It used to be $15 per person.

Does anyone know what Sterlings on the Sapphire charges? It used to be $15 per person.

The prices and menus are posted on Princess.com.

The prices and menus are posted on Princess.com.

A price for Sterling's is not posted.

Not sure why they are just getting a memo now. Here's a picture of the menu posted outside Sabatini's on Ruby Princess I took on Dec. 9th showing the price at the bottom

That's very interesting: we were on the cruise before you and the charge was $20.

We have been less than impressed with the new menu, and with the price at $25/person it will be the steakhouse for us if we dine at a Specialty restaurant on our upcoming cruises.

I have to agree. For me, I'm not worried about the $5.00 increase in the charge, but we used to really enjoy the "experience" at Sabatini, as well as the wonderful food. The "new" menu just doesn't impress me, and the experience is nothing special, at least to me. We've eaten at Sabatini on every ship that had the restaurant, but I don't know if I'll bother anymore.

Princess could add $25.00 x7 day cruise=$175.00 increase across the board and make these restaurants part of the cruise package instead of getting that for a smaller fraction of the cruising population.Everyone would enjoy them then (the cost is then hidden)Princess would make more money and cruisers wouldn't complain about these extra charges.Do that with alcohol too and I am quite sure the company's profits would increase.There must be logic I am not seeing in this?

The price was 25$ on the 12/1 and 12/8 sailing of the CB

Service was slow to non existant

Brought wrong drink

DW said her food OK

Mine a lot less than OK

As far as we are concerned Sabatinis is history

Princess could add $25.00 x7 day cruise=$175.00 increase across the board and make these restaurants part of the cruise package instead of getting that for a smaller fraction of the cruising population.Everyone would enjoy them then (the cost is then hidden)Princess would make more money and cruisers wouldn't complain about these extra charges.Do that with alcohol too and I am quite sure the company's profits would increase.There must be logic I am not seeing in this?

Wow!! These restaurants just don't hold that many people! It would be mass chaos with everyone wanting to eat there since they paid extra money for them. Overall it would cause more issues.

Princess could add $25.00 x7 day cruise=$175.00 increase across the board and make these restaurants part of the cruise package instead of getting that for a smaller fraction of the cruising population.Everyone would enjoy them then (the cost is then hidden)Princess would make more money and cruisers wouldn't complain about these extra charges.Do that with alcohol too and I am quite sure the company's profits would increase.There must be logic I am not seeing in this?

Because I'd rather have the lower cruise fare and not eat at them - I have done both a number of times and was rather under-impressed - the ambience was OK but the food was nothing special - they were barely worth $20, I doubt I'll bother at $25.

And don't forget that they are not large enough to accommodate everyone so who would get to have their 'money's worth' and who wouldn't?

Because I'd rather have the lower cruise fare and not eat at them - I have done both a number of times and was rather under-impressed - the ambience was OK but the food was nothing special - they were barely worth $20, I doubt I'll bother at $25.

And don't forget that they are not large enough to accommodate everyone so who would get to have their 'money's worth' and who wouldn't?

I agree. Haven't been impressed with either Sabatini's, Sterling or Crown Grill. to us, it's just not worth the extra money.

Wow!! These restaurants just don't hold that many people! It would be mass chaos with everyone wanting to eat there since they paid extra money for them. Overall it would cause more issues.

Jamie - the weird thing is that when they were first introduced, the fee was $3 and $6 for the speciality restaurants and it wasn't overly crowded. We rarely went because we thought the food in the dining room was very good. But with the decline in food, I am certain it would be chaos.

We rarely went because we thought the food in the dining room was very good. But with the decline in food, I am certain it would be chaos.

And for us that is really the bottom line. We prefer to enjoy a good meal, freshly prepared, in an intimate atmosphere. We factor in the costs for specialty restaurants when we budget for a cruise. If the experience is disappointing, we will only go once but we are hoping to enjoy both next week on the Grand.

And for us that is really the bottom line. We prefer to enjoy a good meal, freshly prepared, in an intimate atmosphere. We factor in the costs for specialty restaurants when we budget for a cruise. If the experience is disappointing, we will only go once but we are hoping to enjoy both next week on the Grand.

I will look forward to your comments. We have had mixed results with Crown Grille/Sterlings. We have had very good meals and just OK meals. This summer on the Sapphire was just OK but 1.5 years earlier on the Sapphire was quite good.

I think I had mentioned that I also had the Grand booked for Christmas and cancelled it before final payment. If we were going, we would have flown out tomorrow and we are in the middle of a blizzard right now. So it is probably good that I cancelled it and am not worried about catching a flight an hour away (that is probably now cancelled) in the middle of a blizzard or trying to get on a later flight when everyone else is flying this weekend for Christmas. I guess everything happens for a reason. Enjoy your cruise!

Another reason I wished Princess allowed advanced bookings. I made reservations and paid for in advance all of my specialty dining aboard Allure of the Seas (which I was on board the week before Ruby) months in advance.

You could have paid in advance and locked in the price on Princess if you had wished.Just would have had to schedule once on board.

Princess could add $25.00 x7 day cruise=$175.00 increase across the board and make these restaurants part of the cruise package instead of getting that for a smaller fraction of the cruising population.Everyone would enjoy them then (the cost is then hidden)Princess would make more money and cruisers wouldn't complain about these extra charges.

 

There must be logic I am not seeing in this?

The missing logic is having the specialty restaurants handle 3200 passengers each evening.

We have been less than impressed with the new menu, and with the price at $25/person it will be the steakhouse for us if we dine at a Specialty restaurant on our upcoming cruises.

It actually tasted better than it reads. ;) My meal in Sabatini's was one of the best I had on the ship the entire week. Each person is different, I understand that, but I felt is was well worth the $25 that I paid.