Your experiences switching E4 Pinnacle Grill Reservation

[skurvish]

There have been some posts about people pre-booking a Pinnacle Grill dinner and having the E4 free-dinner substituted. I am curious how others have fared doing this.

 

I have a group of 20+ all on E4 and I would like to see if we could make a pre-booking for the group one night and use the E4 freebie. I imagine we may have to make multiple bookings but that would be OK. Has anyone done this before? Is there any way to determine pre-cruise what the availability is on any particular night in order to set up something like this?

 

Any other ideas are welcome.

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

[cayman09]

Good luck, I only had a party of two and was unable to change it despite going to the manager in person within an hour of boarding.

[POA1]

1 hour ago, skurvish said:

There have been some posts about people pre-booking a Pinnacle Grill dinner and having the E4 free-dinner substituted. I am curious how others have fared doing this.

 

I have a group of 20+ all on E4 and I would like to see if we could make a pre-booking for the group one night and use the E4 freebie. I imagine we may have to make multiple bookings but that would be OK. Has anyone done this before? Is there any way to determine pre-cruise what the availability is on any particular night in order to set up something like this?

 

Any other ideas are welcome.

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

You may have to call HAL reservations. Online booking only takes up to six guests. We've combine pre-reservations using our Explore 4, but there were never more than 6 of us. The risk is always that they'll tell you they can substitute your E4 and refund your prepaid. However, that's never happened to us.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We only had the Explore4 two times -- could not change the date and there was just the 2 of us -- plus we were staying in the Pinnacle Suite.

[ellieanne]

We had trouble getting our group of 6 with the Explore4 Pinnacle Grill dinners all on the same reservation, I can't imagine a group of 20 all taking over the restaurant the same time. You can ask and see if the Pinnacle Grill Manager will work with you. But I would be prepared for a group that large to have the meals at separate times in smaller groups.

 

Also, my Explore4 Pinnacle Grill dinner was not pre-scheduled, so I had to visit the Front Desk & Pinnacle Grill Manager several times to get the full cost refunded. And I am convinced they only refunded the full cost because I had physical copies of the paperwork indicating it was a complimentary perk with the Explore4. My advice would be to make sure you designate someone in the group to be in charge of keeping physical copies of the paperwork indicating all the perks that accompany your Explore4 package -- either one person for everyone, or one person in each group.

[POA1]

Another thought - Since you want the cost refunded, each couple might be better off making the prepaid reservation, but having everyone select the exact same date and time. That way, you aren't on the books and they just have to group you as best as they can. 

[skurvish]

Thank you all for your replies. Lots to consider.

[Alberta Quilter]

I would try to make your reservation with Ship Services well in advance of the cruise.  I did this for my group of 10 but that was in the days before E4.  Explain the situation and maybe they can make a notation that your group of 20 would like to have their free PG dinner at the same date and time.  Make sure to have all the booking numbers for your group at the time you make the call.

[POA1]

6 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

I would try to make your reservation with Ship Services well in advance of the cruise.  I did this for my group of 10 but that was in the days before E4.  Explain the situation and maybe they can make a notation that your group of 20 would like to have their free PG dinner at the same date and time.  Make sure to have all the booking numbers for your group at the time you make the call.

This is probably the best advice so far.