advice for speciality dining please

[Brad548ye]

Hello, 

 

I'll be sailing on the Jade in August and just wondered if anyone could help me out with a speciality dining question please. So we have included with our "free at sea" deal a speciality  dining dinner. I know that some of these restaurants have either a straight cover charge or an A La Carte menu, my question is that if we use this meal credit to go to an A La Carte restaurant how much value would it entitle us to or can we just order whatever value we want and the credit takes care of the whole bill ?? 

 

Thanks

[KeithJenner]

28 minutes ago, Brad548ye said:

Hello, 

 

I'll be sailing on the Jade in August and just wondered if anyone could help me out with a speciality dining question please. So we have included with our "free at sea" deal a speciality  dining dinner. I know that some of these restaurants have either a straight cover charge or an A La Carte menu, my question is that if we use this meal credit to go to an A La Carte restaurant how much value would it entitle us to or can we just order whatever value we want and the credit takes care of the whole bill ?? 

 

Thanks

You can only order one entree. There are some upcharges on a couple of dishes, which are shown on the menus.

 

There is no restriction on apps, sides and desserts (although your waiter may apparently suggest that there are).

[Brad548ye]

Thanks for the advice Keith, much appreciated. 

[argyll1881]

I’m on the Getaway and was told I could have 1 soup/salad, 1 appetizer, 1 entree, unlimited sides and 1 dessert. That’s a LOT of food. 

[cruiseny4life]

24 minutes ago, argyll1881 said:

I’m on the Getaway and was told I could have 1 soup/salad, 1 appetizer, 1 entree, unlimited sides and 1 dessert. That’s a LOT of food. 

When I went to Cagney's on Getaway my server told me 2 sides....I was about to bursting with a salad, appetizer, entree, 2 sides, and dessert...pretty sure I didn't finish the dessert. It's sooooo much food! And I was afraid before the cruise that I'd go hungry. 

[insidecabin]

Desert to go.....

If I don't fancy soup or salad double shrimp works.

 

[nolatravelgirl]

On 5/17/2022 at 9:35 AM, argyll1881 said:

I’m on the Getaway and was told I could have 1 soup/salad, 1 appetizer, 1 entree, unlimited sides and 1 dessert. That’s a LOT of food. 

Some waiters are real sticklers on saying that this is all you can order. I wasn't interested in an appetizer but did want a soup AND salad and asked if I could forgo my appetizer and get both soup and salad. He flatly told me no.

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, nolatravelgirl said:

Some waiters are real sticklers on saying that this is all you can order. I wasn't interested in an appetizer but did want a soup AND salad and asked if I could forgo my appetizer and get both soup and salad. He flatly told me no.

Our waiter wouldn't allow me to order an iceberg wedge instead of a second side. My husband was gracious enough to let me have his salad, while I traded my side. Not going to lie, the sides at Cagney's are not worth it. The wedge salad, at least, was tasty. 
 

Onion rings, potatoes au gratin, baked potato, and whatever else we had tasted like...well they just weren't good. 

[lepidoptera]

6 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Not going to lie, the sides at Cagney's are not worth it. The wedge salad, at least, was tasty. 
 

Onion rings, potatoes au gratin, baked potato, and whatever else we had tasted like...well they just weren't good. 

I agree I wasn’t impressed with the sides at Cagney’s on my last cruise (September on the Encore). I had the truffle mashed potatoes and I thought they were horrible and even smelled unappetising. The appetisers (shrimp cocktail and tomato bisque), lamb and crème brûlée I had were all very good though. Next time I won’t order any sides I think. 

[UKstages]

6 hours ago, nolatravelgirl said:

He flatly told me no.

 

my best advice is to go ahead and order it anyway!

 

pricing is predetermined in NCL's system... NCL has already put in prescriptive rules for the way the meal is to be charged, as well as how the "free at sea" meal credit is to be applied. all your server does is put the specific menu items into the POS system after you've requested them... the server truly has no say on how it gets charged, other than applying a "FAS" credit.

 

as long as you order just one entree, you should be fine. 

[MNcruisingcouple]

6 hours ago, nolatravelgirl said:

Some waiters are real sticklers on saying that this is all you can order. I wasn't interested in an appetizer but did want a soup AND salad and asked if I could forgo my appetizer and get both soup and salad. He flatly told me no.

 

Were you using a meal from your dining package or a Platinum Dinner?  Because the terms and conditions are different.

The T&C for the dining package do not have that restriction, whereas the Platinum Dinner does.

You can print out or have on your phone the T&C to share with the waiter or maître de.  

[nolatravelgirl]

15 hours ago, MNcruisingcouple said:

 

Were you using a meal from your dining package or a Platinum Dinner?  Because the terms and conditions are different.

The T&C for the dining package do not have that restriction, whereas the Platinum Dinner does.

You can print out or have on your phone the T&C to share with the waiter or maître de.  

I am not platinum and was using the dining plan. Minor annoyance as we had plenty to eat. It wasn't like I was asking for two expensive items. I was just asking for soup/salad not caviar and lobster.

[mthayer295]

18 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

my best advice is to go ahead and order it anyway!

 

pricing is predetermined in NCL's system... NCL has already put in prescriptive rules for the way the meal is to be charged, as well as how the "free at sea" meal credit is to be applied. all your server does is put the specific menu items into the POS system after you've requested them... the server truly has no say on how it gets charged, other than applying a "FAS" credit.

 

as long as you order just one entree, you should be fine. 

We are due platinum meals on our upcoming cruise and we also have meal package. How do the rules differ?  One thing it seems is we can't book the platinum meals in advance - that doesn't feel like platinum treatment 🙂

[KeithJenner]

30 minutes ago, mthayer295 said:

We are due platinum meals on our upcoming cruise and we also have meal package. How do the rules differ?  One thing it seems is we can't book the platinum meals in advance - that doesn't feel like platinum treatment 🙂

You can book the platinum meals in advance. Just do it the normal way, but make sure that you book any with a fixed charge (Moderno and Teppanyaki) first if you also have the dining package.

 

The difference is that the latitudes meal is restricted to an app, entree and dessert, whilst the dining package meal is only restricted on entrees (despite what the waiters say). There is a specified limit to the cost on entrees, but they don’t seem to be enforcing that at the moment as prices have risen and the limit hasn’t.

[Biffire]

On 5/19/2022 at 3:19 PM, mthayer295 said:

We are due platinum meals on our upcoming cruise and we also have meal package. How do the rules differ?  One thing it seems is we can't book the platinum meals in advance - that doesn't feel like platinum treatment 🙂

Just make the reservation when and where you want. No body cares if you are paying, using FAS, or using Platinum meals until you get there.

[NW Pacific]

In my many experiences , whatever plan, you will be stuffed when you leave from any of the Specialties.  The sides are filling, but must agree, Cagney's are pretty tasteless, go with salads.

 

[phillygwm]

On 5/19/2022 at 3:19 PM, mthayer295 said:

We are due platinum meals on our upcoming cruise and we also have meal package. How do the rules differ?  One thing it seems is we can't book the platinum meals in advance - that doesn't feel like platinum treatment 🙂

Sure you can.  When you make the reservations, the system doesn't ask if you're using the dining package, Platinum perk, or paying cash.  If you're Platinum, you give the maitre d' that coupon up front, IIRC.

[DaisyGoldberg]

On 5/18/2022 at 8:56 PM, lepidoptera said:

I agree I wasn’t impressed with the sides at Cagney’s on my last cruise (September on the Encore). I had the truffle mashed potatoes and I thought they were horrible and even smelled unappetising. The appetisers (shrimp cocktail and tomato bisque), lamb and crème brûlée I had were all very good though. Next time I won’t order any sides I think. 

Just off the Pearl and the sides at Cagneys were shockingly bad. Steak was good, salad was good, soup was good.  The onion rings (all four tiny onion rings) were straight out of a frozen bag and completely unseasoned. The baked potato was virtually inedible - like it had been sitting in a chafing dish for hours. 

 

For the first time I can honestly say the main dining room outperformed Cagneys. I didn't have steak there, but I wasn't disappointed in a single entree or side or dessert. In future I don't think we'll eat at Cagneys more than once a trip, and maybe not that if they don't turn it around.

[meglet]

On Pearl 4/15 and our experience was the opposite. Had ribeye and delmonico one time, filet mignon and baked another. Lobster bisque both times. It's not Capital Grill, but I enjoyed both meals. Not a big fan of the new Le Bistro menu. It's more artsy food now, although the quality was still good.

[phillygwm]

2 hours ago, meglet said:

On Pearl 4/15 and our experience was the opposite. Had ribeye and delmonico one time, filet mignon and baked another. Lobster bisque both times. It's not Capital Grill, but I enjoyed both meals. Not a big fan of the new Le Bistro menu. It's more artsy food now, although the quality was still good.

I've had the occasional mediocre meal in the specialty restaurants, even Cagney's.  But for the most part, the food is good and the service is excellent.

 

I'll agree about Le Bistro, though in fairness, they'll do what's necessary to accommodate you.  I don't like mushrooms.  I asked the waiter if I could 86 the mushroom sauce on a dish and the chef came out telling me the dish would be dry without a sauce, but offering to whip up a different one, which was delicious.  I was super impressed by that.  And yeah, when they "happened" to include comment cards with the check, I was only too happy to fill them out.