BOGO Dining Strict Rules?

[EuroDate20]

Happy Easter and Chag Sameach!

 

DH and I will be on Symphony of the Seas next month.  We've never bought the BOGO 2 night dining and heard it's a good value.  The rules on the cruise planner indicates dining is required on Day 1 and Day 2 for the package.  Are they sticklers for that?  We'd like to dine on Day 2 and on Day 4 on that package, so we can meet our regular waitstaff and dining partners in the MDR.  We're also hoping to eat at Hooked and 150 Central Park or Chops.   Thanks in advance for your help!  

 

[dacsmom]

It is a very good deal. It is only for nights one and two. I have heard of a very few people moving the second night to a different day, but not many. Night one is assigned to you and you can go to any restaurant and have it changed if you do not like the choice. 

[MrMarc]

The official answer is no, but my experience is to go ahead and ask once you are on board.  Expect the answer to be no, but be pleasantly surprised if they say yes.  I have found that many "rules" depend on who you ask and how you ask.

[patattack]

I was on the Symphony last December and had the BOGO.  Since this was a B2B we only bought it the second week.  We went to Chops on Day 1 and Hooked on Day 4.  Hooked was fabulous.

 

[Norwich Cruiser]

We’ve twice purchased the BOGO and on one occasion on Harmony politely asked if we could change from night two to night four but were declined.

It was no issue to us and we completely understood rules are rules.

However there is no problem with enquiring.

[Nextcruise42]

We were assigned Chops on nite one and Jaimes nite two. I requested a change to Wonderland from Jaimes. I was told they were fully booked nite two but I could have Wonderland on nite three. This was on Anthem.

[mrsaknar]

We've had BOGO twice.... Both times were able to request the restaurants of choice. When we got on board that's the first thing we did, no issues at all.  That being said, seeing this thread just reminded me to go buy our BOGO for our upcoming cruise and shoot, it's gone!  Fingers crossed that it will come back 🙂

[Sea Dog]

Following as we purchased the BOGO and read in various threads different experiences. I am hopefully on Harmony this October we can ask nicely to move BOBO to nights 3 and 4 instead of 1 and 2 as I would like to experience the MDR on the first night and the formal 2nd night. Fingers crossed.

[taglovestocruise]

17 hours ago, EuroDate20 said:

Happy Easter and Chag Sameach!

 

DH and I will be on Symphony of the Seas next month.  We've never bought the BOGO 2 night dining and heard it's a good value.  The rules on the cruise planner indicates dining is required on Day 1 and Day 2 for the package.  Are they sticklers for that?  We'd like to dine on Day 2 and on Day 4 on that package, so we can meet our regular waitstaff and dining partners in the MDR.  We're also hoping to eat at Hooked and 150 Central Park or Chops.   Thanks in advance for your help!  

 

Our last cruise on Symphony we had the BOGO, a five night package, and one thrown in by our TA.  Night 3 was our first package night, we also want to meet our table mates and not miss first formal night in MDR. Even though we picked our  time in the cruise planner when ordering the BOGO nothing was pre reserved. We were told Oasis class no longer pre reserves anything because of all the changes that are made. As soon as we boarded we went straight to Wonderland and made all our reservations for the cruise. Not even a question about starting the package later in the cruise. Only restaurant not included was Izumi Grill.  Please report back with your experience, a lot of people say no changes are allowed. We have had a BOGO and a package every cruise in the last 6 years and have never used the packages on the first two nights.

[EuroDate20]

I went ahead and booked the BOGO.   The only time available was Day 1 at 9:30 PM.  I'll make a dash to change it after boarding in a couple of weeks.   I'll let you all know how it works out.  Thank you very much for your replies!

[EuroDate20]

Now that we're back, I can report what happened but it didn't go exactly as planned.  On the BOGO, we were assigned to dine on Day 1 at 9 p.m.  That's much too late for us, and I didn't want to chance starting our vacation on a sour note if I couldn't change it.   I cancelled the BOGO and bought the Chops +1 package.   I chose to have Chops on Day 2 at 6 p.m. when I booked.

 

My husband said he wanted to try Hooked on Day 2 instead of going to Chops.  Once on the ship,  I was able to change Day 2 dining to Hooked and we went to Chops on Day 5.  The dining staff was really accommodating on Symphony without question.   I probably would've been able to change the BOGO if I stuck with it.

 

 

[cruisegirl1]

On 4/21/2019 at 1:56 PM, Swank Pad G said:

Following as we purchased the BOGO and read in various threads different experiences. I am hopefully on Harmony this October we can ask nicely to move BOBO to nights 3 and 4 instead of 1 and 2 as I would like to experience the MDR on the first night and the formal 2nd night. Fingers crossed.

 You’re going to need more than your fingers crossed. I can’t imagine that they would allow you to do nights three and four instead of nights one and two.   I’ve never read of such a request, and I’ve never heard of anything like this being honored.    At the very least, you would be requested to do night one, and you may be able to switch out night two for some other night   Switching out both, doubtful.   Your best bet is to look for some onboard discount for nights three and four once you’re on the ship. 

 

Good luck

M

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 You’re going to need more than your fingers crossed. I can’t imagine that they would allow you to do nights three and four instead of nights one and two.   I’ve never read of such a request, and I’ve never heard of anything like this being honored.    At the very least, you would be requested to do night one, and you may be able to switch out night two for some other night   Switching out both, doubtful.   Your best bet is to look for some onboard discount for nights three and four once you’re on the ship. 

 

Good luck

M

We have had BOGO and a package on every cruise for the last 5 years. We have never been required to use it on day one or day two.  Our last cruise on Symphony we were told that Oasis class ships no longer assign a night at all, which we found to be true.   The only time they require night one is with the FNDR discount meal.  Our last cruise on Symphony we paid full price a few months before our cruise for Wonderland on night 5 as that was our Anniversary and we wanted Wonderland for sure.  Once onboard we used a package night for Wonderland on night 5 and received a full $98 refund in the form of OBC. We had a BOGO, a 5 night package and a dinner thrown in from our TA.  Night three was the first night we used any 8 package meals.

[JTBCruiser]

We had the BOGO recently on the Grandeur, did Chops on night 1 and on the last nght.  Once we boarded, I went straight to Chops and had no issues with the reservations, both times at 6 PM.