Specialty dining & excursion credits on NCL

[Mommyof9]

We have booked a 7 night cruise to the eastern Caribbean in 2021.  NCL offers excursion credits and specialty dining packages for guests 1 & 2 for free.  How much are the excursion credits per port?  Is the dollar amount for our cabin or for each of us?  How do the specialty dining packages work?  

[BirdTravels]

49 minutes ago, Mommyof9 said:

We have booked a 7 night cruise to the eastern Caribbean in 2021.  NCL offers excursion credits and specialty dining packages for guests 1 & 2 for free.  How much are the excursion credits per port?  Is the dollar amount for our cabin or for each of us?  How do the specialty dining packages work?  

$50 per port per cabin for excursions. 
 

For specialty dining, you make reservations 120 days prior to cruise. Most restaurants are a la carte. You get appetizers, a single entree, an desserts. A limited number of items (like lobster);have an upcharge. 

[Budget Queen]

It depends specifically on the terms you booked.   Go to your Latitudes account and check the details of what you booked 

[complawyer]

the excursion credit is $50 per cabin not per person. if you are a platinum or plus you get an additional 15% off the price also. most of the time i dont even bother to make a dinner reservation until im on the ship unless its teppanyaki. they usually book out 1st as there is limited seating. your key card will have the dinner package imprinted already. just show it when you are done with the meal and you wont get billed for that meal.

 

you cab buy additional meals, but i figured the total cost of a dinner at say cagney's vs additional dinner packages, and it doesnt seen worth the price. hope this helped you out!

[casofilia]

@complawyer

 

if you are a platinum or plus you get an additional 15% off the price also.

 

Not totally true; 10% Silver to Platinum and then 15% Platinum Plus

 

Discounts On Shore Excursions4

10%

10%

10%

15%

20%

[complawyer]

sorry for the misinformation. promise i'll do  better next time

[PelicanBill]

On specialty dining: It will cover your entire meal for restaurants that are pay one price, such as Moderno and Teppanyaki.  Most others have gone a la carte pricing, and your dining package covers one entree, but in some venues there will be some premium menu items that are a further cost even for dining package meals.  Then what you get included is still, it seems, controversial.  The terms and conditions aren't completely clear and people were still reporting different interpretations and experiences as of February.  In some cases it was salad or appetizer, one side, and one dessert.  Other said it was unlimited sides and dessert.  I don't think we will be sure until we get new reports when cruising returns.

[drvmywifecrzy]

Also under current conditions no advance reservations are allowed.  It may or may not return once sailings resume.  

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, drvmywifecrzy said:

Also under current conditions no advance reservations are allowed.  It may or may not return once sailings resume.  

Could you explain that? My understanding from others is that you have to book online once the 120 day window starts or you risk not being able to get a table. Are you saying they're doing away with that? Thanks. Love your handle, BTW.

[drvmywifecrzy]

19 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Could you explain that? My understanding from others is that you have to book online once the 120 day window starts or you risk not being able to get a table. Are you saying they're doing away with that? Thanks. Love your handle, BTW.

 

My understanding is that yes they have currently suspended that process.  Mainly because they do not know if dining areas have special rules like 25% capacity versus the ship can sail at 50% capacity.  If too many make reservations for a particular restaurant that puts them out of compliance then what do they do.  So for the time being no advance reservations may be made.  Everyone would be on equal footing theoretically when they get on the ship.

 

No under the old method they did not book 100% of the time slots in advance online anyhow.  I don't know the % held back but you could still get reservations on board and even potentially during the cruise on the day of, etc.

 

Of course summer cruises sailing full on mega ships were more difficult then low season but going forward who knows what will be high and low season LOL 

[Kierste]

I booked all my dinners for my November cruise (that may or may not be cancelled), so advanced reservations are still taking place. They may be limiting how many are available in advance however.

[Budget Queen]

18 hours ago, complawyer said:

the excursion credit is $50 per cabin not per person. if you are a platinum or plus you get an additional 15% off the price also. most of the time i dont even bother to make a dinner reservation until im on the ship unless its teppanyaki. they usually book out 1st as there is limited seating. your key card will have the dinner package imprinted already. just show it when you are done with the meal and you wont get billed for that meal.

 

you cab buy additional meals, but i figured the total cost of a dinner at say cagney's vs additional dinner packages, and it doesnt seen worth the price. hope this helped you out!

It depends on their terms.   There have been some promotions that shore excusion credits were for each passenger.     The Platinum  shore excursion is 10%   not 15%.   

[Budget Queen]

13 hours ago, casofilia said:

@complawyer

 

if you are a platinum or plus you get an additional 15% off the price also.

 

Not totally true; 10% Silver to Platinum and then 15% Platinum Plus

 

Discounts On Shore Excursions4

10%

10%

10%

15%

20%

20% Ambassador       10% for Silver and gold as well.   

[crystalaziza]

6 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

On specialty dining: It will cover your entire meal for restaurants that are pay one price, such as Moderno and Teppanyaki.  Most others have gone a la carte pricing, and your dining package covers one entree, but in some venues there will be some premium menu items that are a further cost even for dining package meals.  Then what you get included is still, it seems, controversial.  The terms and conditions aren't completely clear and people were still reporting different interpretations and experiences as of February.  In some cases it was salad or appetizer, one side, and one dessert.  Other said it was unlimited sides and dessert.  I don't think we will be sure until we get new reports when cruising returns.

A bit off topic but,***** Please tell me that this is not the "Bill Abrams - Rochester, NY" that use to work at Cooper Vision in the 80's in the Maintenance Dept.

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, drvmywifecrzy said:

 

My understanding is that yes they have currently suspended that process.  Mainly because they do not know if dining areas have special rules like 25% capacity versus the ship can sail at 50% capacity.  If too many make reservations for a particular restaurant that puts them out of compliance then what do they do.  So for the time being no advance reservations may be made.  Everyone would be on equal footing theoretically when they get on the ship.

 

No under the old method they did not book 100% of the time slots in advance online anyhow.  I don't know the % held back but you could still get reservations on board and even potentially during the cruise on the day of, etc.

 

Of course summer cruises sailing full on mega ships were more difficult then low season but going forward who knows what will be high and low season LOL 

Hmmm,,,, as far as we know, there were no suspension of that process. We recently were able to book all specialty dining for our October cruise. Since this was a re-book of a cancelled March cruise, all of the reservations were made well into the current corona virus shutdowns. There were no restrictions. "Special rules like 25% capacity" are pure, unsubstantiated speculation. 

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by BirdTravels

[PelicanBill]

1 hour ago, crystalaziza said:

A bit off topic but,***** Please tell me that this is not the "Bill Abrams - Rochester, NY" that use to work at Cooper Vision in the 80's in the Maintenance Dept.

@crystalaziza nope! I am an IT Guy.  But I know another Bill Abrams who was a farmer out east of Rochester near me... who married a woman who grew up next door to my wife.  Weird.

[MoCruiseFan]

8 hours ago, drvmywifecrzy said:

Also under current conditions no advance reservations are allowed.  It may or may not return once sailings resume.  

 

 

We were able (just last week) to make advance reservations for our upcoming cruises.

[crystalaziza]

10 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

@crystalaziza nope! I am an IT Guy.  But I know another Bill Abrams who was a farmer out east of Rochester near me... who married a woman who grew up next door to my wife.  Weird.

If he was a pig farmer, That's the one! So funny and sorry to have bothered you, but put a smile on my face just the same! Have a great day!!

[PelicanBill]

3 hours ago, crystalaziza said:

If he was a pig farmer, That's the one! So funny and sorry to have bothered you, but put a smile on my face just the same! Have a great day!!

Fantastic! Love finding a random connection. You have a great day too!