Does dining plan upcharge = platinum dinner upcharge? (appetizers)

[erdoran]

The new Cagney's menu has several appetizers with SDP upcharges - but - if I keep my Platinum dinner entree to under $35, can I then order any appetizer and dessert I want and walk out owing $0?  Anyone know?

[schildiams]

do you have a copy of the menu?

 

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, erdoran said:

The new Cagney's menu has several appetizers with SDP upcharges - but - if I keep my Platinum dinner entree to under $35, can I then order any appetizer and dessert I want and walk out owing $0?  Anyone know?

I am on Gem. At Cagneys, I was told the upcharge applied when I ordered the crab cake. I told them I thought that was ridiculous, the menu states dining package upcharge and I didn't have a dining package. When the bill was presented to me, I was not charged anything extra for the crab cake appetizer.

[schildiams]

Also the dining terms says that everything on the menu is included in the SDP except the seafood extravaganza. Please post menu if you have it, i might cancel the SDP on my upcoming cruise depending on the circumstances.

 

Edited November 17, 2019 by schildiams

[Starry Eyes]

We were told by the waitress such appetizer surcharges would be applied to Platinum voucher dinners in Cagney’s while on the Sun this month.  We asked to see the manager confirmed that surcharges would apply per corporate offices and he could not/would not waive them.  It seems odd to us (I hope I recall all the items and numbers correctly) as the crab cake was base priced at $15  (and we would pay a $5 surcharge) yet the thick sliced bacon was priced at $16 (no surcharge on that).  I suppose it is “Norwegian Corporate Mathematics” and I should not try to understand.   As ambiance, service, and food quality are better in Le Bistro than Cagney’s,  the surcharge did encourage us to select Le Bistro for both our specialty dining evenings on the second cruise.

Edited November 17, 2019 by Starry Eyes

[Starry Eyes]

8 minutes ago, schildiams said:

Also the dining terms says that everything on the menu is included in the SDP except the seafood extravaganza. Please post menu if you have it, i might cancel the SDP on my upcoming cruise depending on the circumstances.

 

Sorry, I did not take a photo of the menu.  What ship will you be sailing and how many nights will you have specialty dining?  Depending on those answers, you might find the specialty dining package worthwhile without Cagney’s...honestly, you can get a good steak in other venues.  

[PortFees45]

It shouldn't, but it does. It's such a tacky slap in the face to NCL's most loyal customers. 

[Zippeedee]

It is starting to sound like they are slowly killing Cagney's the way they messed up Margaritavile.

I just don't get it.  If the quality even remotely matched the prices I'd have an easier time with the crazy pricing. Has anyone had the $15 shrimp cocktail and paid $15?

Edited November 17, 2019 by Zippeedee
hit enter too soon

[schildiams]

1 hour ago, Starry Eyes said:

Sorry, I did not take a photo of the menu.  What ship will you be sailing and how many nights will you have specialty dining?  Depending on those answers, you might find the specialty dining package worthwhile without Cagney’s...honestly, you can get a good steak in other venues.  

Thanks 🙂 My worry is that this will happen in ALL of the restaurants.

[PortFees45]

8 minutes ago, schildiams said:

Thanks 🙂 My worry is that this will happen in ALL of the restaurants.

Not the Haven restaurant...those are literally the only passengers Frank Del Rio cares about. Everyone else can eat slop out of a bucket as far as he's concerned. 

 

For their convenience, of course. 

Edited November 17, 2019 by PortFees45

[erdoran]

1 hour ago, schildiams said:

Also the dining terms says that everything on the menu is included in the SDP except the seafood extravaganza. Please post menu if you have it, i might cancel the SDP on my upcoming cruise depending on the circumstances.

 

Went looking for the menu I saw and don’t remember where it was, but there were a number of appetizers with upcharge, Ocean Blue too.  The Seafood Extravaganza is old—a few months ago SDP got Ocean Blue included free, no upcharge, and the Extravaganza was removed from the menu.  Then just recently someone on my roll call talked about how lobster & surf & turf are upcharged on SDP, and I saw menus posted someplace else with multiple appetizer upcharges.

 

There are lots of nice sounding choices with no upcharge, and that is exactly what we will be ordering with SDP and with Platinum.

[schildiams]

How can they do this without updating the dining terms online? Once again, violating false advertising laws.

[Starry Eyes]

34 minutes ago, schildiams said:

Thanks 🙂 My worry is that this will happen in ALL of the restaurants.

I understand.  Our Cagney’s surprise was was one night one of a b2b cruise on which we had a total of eight specialty dining vouchers.  After learning of the Cagney’s surcharge, we checked the rest of the menus; none of the others on the Sun had a surcharge,  

 

I suppose I would understand if the surcharge item was far more expensive/exotic than other appetizers.  The price of the Cagney’s crab cake is similar to appetizers without a surcharge.  The amount of crab is similar to that in the Le Bistro crab appetizer.  So, I just do not understand the point (unless people on SDP are ordering numerous crab cakes per person...maybe when their entree is suboptimal...but that which would be better solved by preparing better entrees and/or limit crab cake to one per diner). Platinums are already limited to one app.

Edited November 17, 2019 by Starry Eyes

[schildiams]

If they are uncharging , they need to update their terms. Ridiculous.

[Starry Eyes]

12 minutes ago, schildiams said:

If they are uncharging , they need to update their terms. Ridiculous.

Ah, a point we made that night.  We were told it came from corporate, but if we were unhappy with a charge we could take that up with guest services.  Of course, we know we all too often gets a blank stare or an unusually thick accent at guest services on that ship, so we opted out of that frustration.

 

If really they want to change the policy they should indeed change the term and conditions, though it strikes me as unfair of them to change the terms and conditions of the SDP long after people booked the package as part of their cruise fare.  If those ingredients are really to expensive, just remove those appetizers from the menu.  Maybe come up with something new and creative and tasty for Cagney’s...did they ever think of that?

 

1 hour ago, Zippeedee said:

It is starting to sound like they are slowly killing Cagney's the way they messed up Margaritavile.

I just don't get it.  If the quality even remotely matched the prices I'd have an easier time with the crazy pricing. Has anyone had the $15 shrimp cocktail and paid $15?

I think they ruined Cagney’s when they went from fixed price to ala carte.  Downhill since.  Sad.

[zqvol]

10 hours ago, erdoran said:

The new Cagney's menu has several appetizers with SDP upcharges - but - if I keep my Platinum dinner entree to under $35, can I then order any appetizer and dessert I want and walk out owing $0?  Anyone know?

 

Yes, you get one app, one salad, and one dessert.

[PortFees45]

4 minutes ago, zqvol said:

 

Yes, you get one app, one salad, and one dessert.

They charge platinum voucher users the upcharges on the appetizers

[EllieinNJ]

I think each individual ship's restaurant manager can use his discretion to charge or not charge you.  On our February cruise on the Sun we ate in Le Bistro with our platinum coupon.  We wanted both escargot and mushroom soup and asked the waiter if we can have both and forgo the dessert.  He asked the manager and it was okayed.   After dinner we were surprisingly handed the dessert menu and was told we could still order dessert.  Very classy.