A La Carte Dining

[goodmanl1975]

I am on a 11 night cruise to Italy, Croatia & Greece that leaves October 14, and my confirmation from NCL states that I have 4 nights of specialty dining for free.  We also bought two additional nights, for a total of 6.  
 

When I booked my dining reservations tonight for the 2 nights I paid for, my confirmation email says they are subject to a la carte pricing.  Exactly what does this mean?  
 

Since I have the dining package for 6 nights, doesn’t that cover the full cost of the meal for 6 nights, unless I pick something that has an additional premium surcharge noted on the menu, or an additional entree?  
 

It has been 3 years since our last cruise, so I want to make sure I understand what the package covers.

[razor7_us]

Those that are listed a la carte are listed on the menu with varying prices. Your meal plan includes these restaurants as well and you are entitled to select your appetizer(s), main entre and dessert(s).  By all means, make your reservations for those meals as soon as you can to make sure you get the dining time you want.

[goodmanl1975]

1 minute ago, razor7_us said:

Those that are listed a la carte are listed on the menu with varying prices. Your meal plan includes these restaurants as well and you are entitled to select your appetizer(s), main entre and dessert(s).  By all means, make your reservations for those meals as soon as you can to make sure you get the dining time you want.

Thank you for the reply.  Much appreciated.  

[BirdTravels]

22 minutes ago, goodmanl1975 said:

When I booked my dining reservations tonight for the 2 nights I paid for, my confirmation email says they are subject to a la carte pricing.  Exactly what does this mean?  

 

Your package(s) cover your meal costs. Multiple appetizers, an entrée, and dessert(s). There may be a few items on the menu that identify an upcharge (e.g., lobster). Other than that, your bill is covered. One waiters will try to tell you that only one appetizer is covered,,, but that is not in the terms and conditions of the promotion. We just order what we want and have never been charged. 

 

On the menu below, everything on the menu would be covered by the dining package except the Lobster Thermidor which would cost an additional $10. 

 

This bill was for 4 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts, all covered by the dining package (UDP is the old name for the dining package which is now the SDP, but the Points of Sale have never been updated).

 

Or a dinner an Onda - 3 appetizers, 2 entrees, 3 sides, 2 desserts

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by BirdTravels

[cruiseaholic78]

2 hours ago, goodmanl1975 said:

Thank you for the reply.  Much appreciated.  

I was told that for our cruise (14th October)the “free dining” could only be booked once on board. From your comments it would seem that you can prebook “paid” ones, I wonder if there will still be spaces available when we finally board. Must join the roll call.

Happy planning

Rosalyn

[KeithJenner]

51 minutes ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

I was told that for our cruise (14th October)the “free dining” could only be booked once on board. From your comments it would seem that you can prebook “paid” ones, I wonder if there will still be spaces available when we finally board. Must join the roll call.

Happy planning

Rosalyn

Yes there will certainly be reservations available when you board as they only release a proportion for pre booking.

 

They can book up quickly though, so don’t hang around.

[rebeccac]

Just a warning, I booked 5 different specialty restaurants at the beginning of August for our Thanksgiving cruise and when I called to make a change to one of the bookings, I found out that none of the previous booking existed anymore.  I had even received a confirmation for the original bookings.  I suppose I could have argued to get back my exact reservations, but I was able to rebook to something close to what I had except for one.  I may try to argue that one once onboard.  Moral of the story, I am going to be re-checking that my bookings still exist on a regular basis between now and my cruise.   

[goodmanl1975]

Thank you everyone for the replys.  I have all my reservations booked, for both the 4 free nights and the 2 nights I paid for.  And so far they are showing up on my reservation online as well.  

[goodmanl1975]

12 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

I was told that for our cruise (14th October)the “free dining” could only be booked once on board. From your comments it would seem that you can prebook “paid” ones, I wonder if there will still be spaces available when we finally board. Must join the roll call.

Happy planning

Rosalyn

I was able to book my 4 free nights at 120 days before embarkation.  I booked my remaining two that i bought last night.  

[BirdTravels]

On 9/21/2021 at 1:11 AM, cruiseaholic78 said:

I was told that for our cruise (14th October)the “free dining” could only be booked once on board. From your comments it would seem that you can prebook “paid” ones, I wonder if there will still be spaces available when we finally board. Must join the roll call.

Happy planning

Rosalyn

That is 100% incorrect information. The system has no idea whether you are booking a "free" dinner or paid dinner. Type of payment is determined when you are at the restaurant, not months ahead. 

 

Book all reservations exactly 120 days prior to departure. 

[pbenjamin]

37 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

That is 100% incorrect information. The system has no idea whether you are booking a "free" dinner or paid dinner. Type of payment is determined when you are at the restaurant, not months ahead. 

 

Book all reservations exactly 120 days prior to departure. 

Is this via a conversation with the server?  Do they ask you when you are seated? When you sign the bill?  I ask because we attend to use the two freebies and do a la carte on another.  I don't want them applying the free at sea credit to the one that we'll do a la carte...

[ChiefMateJRK]

45 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Book all reservations exactly 120 days prior to departure. 

As a further point of clarification....  The bookings appear to open up at 12:00 am eastern time.  I live further West, so I was able to log in a few hours prior the day before.  It was 15 minutes after 12:00 am Eastern time and I was able to book 6:00 pm dining for all but Ocean Blue (6:30).

[pbenjamin]

18 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

As a further point of clarification....  The bookings appear to open up at 12:00 am eastern time.  I live further West, so I was able to log in a few hours prior the day before.  It was 15 minutes after 12:00 am Eastern time and I was able to book 6:00 pm dining for all but Ocean Blue (6:30).

 

Yes, I've able to do things after 9 pm Phoenix time.  You can see the NNN Days to Go thingie kick over at midnight EDT.  

[kochleffel]

25 minutes ago, pbenjamin said:

Is this via a conversation with the server?  Do they ask you when you are seated? When you sign the bill?  I ask because we attend to use the two freebies and do a la carte on another.  I don't want them applying the free at sea credit to the one that we'll do a la carte...

 

The server will take and scan your card, and if you have anything (remaining) in the SDP should ask whether you want to use it.

 

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you're limited to one of each course. They're thinking of Platinum dinner certificates, which do have that restriction.

 

One other thought: NCL service in all dining rooms tends to be leisurely--or gracious, as they see it--so if you are eating before a show, tell your server.

[cruiseaholic78]

Ok back again and read all your posts, I have a feeling that this is because they are just starting up but I can’t book ANY dining at all. They all show ‘ not available to book.Please check back later or once on board, NCL chat and my TA have both confirmed this so maybe this is because of the start up. Our cruise is within 21 days.

Rosalyn

[Fifi1910]

3 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

Ok back again and read all your posts, I have a feeling that this is because they are just starting up but I can’t book ANY dining at all. They all show ‘ not available to book.Please check back later or once on board, NCL chat and my TA have both confirmed this so maybe this is because of the start up. Our cruise is within 21 days.

Rosalyn

Some ships at the moment aren’t able to be booked beforehand. 
We’re on the Epic next week and no dining is available to prebook. 
 

[happy cruzer]

Looking at the receipts that Bird posted, they deduct 1UDP Discount for 2 people to dine?  So the couple must dine the same night at the same restaurant and use one discount?

 

Also the terms and conditions on the NCL site mention one entree for Cagney's and Le Bistro.  So you could do multiple at others like Ocean Blue or Onda?

 

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

 

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, happy cruzer said:

Looking at the receipts that Bird posted, they deduct 1UDP Discount for 2 people to dine?  So the couple must dine the same night at the same restaurant and use one discount?

 

Also the terms and conditions on the NCL site mention one entree for Cagney's and Le Bistro.  So you could do multiple at others like Ocean Blue or Onda?

 

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

 

No, you don't need to use the UDP as a couple. They are individual, so can be used by each person when they like. For example, we sometimes use just one UDP credit whilst two others share a latitudes meal.

 

Usually everyone gets individual receipts with the UDP deducted. I assume that in the example above they joined them to make things easier for the server.