Encore and speciality dining questions

[dans0202]

I am on the Encore next month with a group and trying to pick which restaurants to book.  We have 3 free dinners in the speciality restaurants.  They all look great but I am trying to understand what is included and what is extra.  I have tried to read some posts and search the internet but things just seem to change so fast and the NCL website seems to be unclear on up charges.

Can anybody please verify which speciality restaurants are included in the 3 dinners and which restaurants or meals have up charges.

Also if somebody has a platinum coupon for a free speciality dinning restaurant (say Cagney's) how does this meal differ from if they used 1 of their 3 free dinners

Thanks
Dan

[esm54687]

2 hours ago, dans0202 said:

I am on the Encore next month with a group and trying to pick which restaurants to book.  We have 3 free dinners in the speciality restaurants.  They all look great but I am trying to understand what is included and what is extra.  I have tried to read some posts and search the internet but things just seem to change so fast and the NCL website seems to be unclear on up charges.

Can anybody please verify which speciality restaurants are included in the 3 dinners and which restaurants or meals have up charges.

Also if somebody has a platinum coupon for a free speciality dinning restaurant (say Cagney's) how does this meal differ from if they used 1 of their 3 free dinners

Thanks
Dan

On NCL's website are the SDP'sT&Cs:

 

https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions

 

NCL's website also covers Latitude Platinum dinner (main difference is it's limited to one of each course and a $20 cresit on the entree):

 

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-faq/what-do-specialty-dinner-benefits-cover

 

Things don't change that fast but always print out information that is applicable for your promo and bring issues to the maitre de or guest relations.

Edited November 13, 2019 by esm54687

[Victorious8]

5 hours ago, dans0202 said:

I am on the Encore next month with a group and trying to pick which restaurants to book.  We have 3 free dinners in the speciality restaurants.  They all look great but I am trying to understand what is included and what is extra.  I have tried to read some posts and search the internet but things just seem to change so fast and the NCL website seems to be unclear on up charges.

Can anybody please verify which speciality restaurants are included in the 3 dinners and which restaurants or meals have up charges.

Also if somebody has a platinum coupon for a free speciality dinning restaurant (say Cagney's) how does this meal differ from if they used 1 of their 3 free dinners

Thanks
Dan

 

Just off the Encore, you can use your credits in all speciality restaurants. Some have specific items that have additional charges - none of them had an additional cover charge. Generally lobster was always about 19$ extra. In the steakhouse a few cuts were more. In Ocean Blue I was told I would get charged a few more dollars for the premium sides I selected (the difference in the normal sides price), I didn't argue about it with them at all but they ended up not charging me the 3$ each it would have been. 

 

With the platinum I suppose you are said to be limited to less appetizers/starters but I didn't seem to feel like the experience was any different from when I used a dining credit vs. when I went as a guest of a platinum cruiser. It was always way more than enough food. Chances are high that even if you order an extra app they will comp it. There is a lot of debates about what is actually included with the dining credits - my experience was that at each venue they explained what was included, if I ever ventured off from that they would tell me there would be a charge, I said okie doke, then there was no charge. My two memories of this are from Ocean Blue and then also American Diner when I got an extra salad as I felt I needed some kale at that point in the trip. 

 

Also with platinum we got a bottle of wine, this was exciting for me since the only Zinfandel they had was not sold by the glass and they had a bottle at Cagney's.