How does D+ Bogo dining work if….

[zanydoc]

The first and second night of your cruise are Christmas Eve and Christmas and you are on Explorer with the only specialty restaurant offerings being the “Holiday”  $99 dinners at Chop’s and Giovanni’s?  Will they still let you do it, or will they allow different days of the cruise other than 1st and 2nd nights? Has anyone had an experience with this during Christmas cruising? Thanks! 

[SilkySal]

I have no experience regarding your question. However, I have read that the "holiday" specials are usually excluded from any sale or promo, so I would bet that the BOGO for D+ and above would not be honored at all that week. Just my personal opinion. Maybe someone else has experience for this.

[Hogbay]

Yes holiday dinner is a pay only affair ,no bogo or Dining package accepted. 

[taglovestocruise]

4 hours ago, zanydoc said:

The first and second night of your cruise are Christmas Eve and Christmas and you are on Explorer with the only specialty restaurant offerings being the “Holiday”  $99 dinners at Chop’s and Giovanni’s?  Will they still let you do it, or will they allow different days of the cruise other than 1st and 2nd nights? Has anyone had an experience with this during Christmas cruising? Thanks! 

Things are always changing week to week and sailing to sailing. That being said we have used the D+ BOGO at least 4 times on different ships. We have never booked for day 1 or 2. We have been required to book and pay by day two but have reserved for mid or late week. Last sailing on Quantum we used the BOGO on nights 5 and 9 and we booked, payed and reserved as soon as we boarded.  

[PhillyFan33579]

From my experience, when cruising over holidays the staff will allow you to use the BOGO benefit on nights other than the holiday night(s). Additionally, I have frequently, but not always, been allowed to use the BOGO on nights other than the first two nights, depending on how booked the speciality restaurant(s) are for that cruise. 

[jewopaho]

All bets (and perks) are generally off on holiday "specials". You've got a better shot talking to your Diamond Concierge than any F&B people or Guest Services personnel. Best of luck. Let us know how you fare.

[zanydoc]

Thanks, everyone-I’ll see if they will allow us to do the Bogo on different days. 

[zanydoc]

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post a follow up about this topic on my experience aboard Explorer during the holidays. They did NOT allow us to use our D+Bogo dining benefit at all during this cruise. I asked at dining reservations and the Diamond lounge concierge and they both told me no can do. I asked if I could use it later in the cruise, nope. I asked why and they said no D+ benefit or any discounts allowed during this cruise. I was a wee bit frustrated as my son had just turned 18 and had acquired this benefit as well. Oh well, maybe next time!

 

[nelblu]

8 minutes ago, zanydoc said:

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post a follow up about this topic on my experience aboard Explorer during the holidays. They did NOT allow us to use our D+Bogo dining benefit at all during this cruise. I asked at dining reservations and the Diamond lounge concierge and they both told me no can do. I asked if I could use it later in the cruise, nope. I asked why and they said no D+ benefit or any discounts allowed during this cruise. I was a wee bit frustrated as my son had just turned 18 and had acquired this benefit as well. Oh well, maybe next time!

 

After the rejection, you should have gone directly to the SR Maitre D and tried your luck.

 

Are the Christmas and New Year's sails considered the only Holiday sailings.  I've never sailed on those days and had no problem using the D+ coupon on other holidays, e.g. Easter, 4th of July, Labor Day etc.

 

[RFerrington]

27 minutes ago, zanydoc said:

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post a follow up about this topic on my experience aboard Explorer during the holidays. They did NOT allow us to use our D+Bogo dining benefit at all during this cruise. I asked at dining reservations and the Diamond lounge concierge and they both told me no can do. I asked if I could use it later in the cruise, nope. I asked why and they said no D+ benefit or any discounts allowed during this cruise. I was a wee bit frustrated as my son had just turned 18 and had acquired this benefit as well. Oh well, maybe next time!

 

WOW !  This is the first time I've ever heard of them not allowing BOGO at ALL.  I would have been much more than "frustrated".  I'm wondering if EX has some weirdo dining/booking rules as I have been completely unable to book a boarding day lunch on our upcoming EX sailing (4-5-24).  The lunch offerings simply do not include Day 1.  I thought this was some kind of database FUBAR but now I'm wondering if it is intentional.  We have sailed EX many times and never had any issues with booking or using our BOGO.  I'm sure that your particular issue was related to it being a holiday sailing, but that doesn't make it right (IMO).  Thanks for the feedback.

[RFerrington]

18 minutes ago, nelblu said:

After the rejection, you should have gone directly to the SR Maitre D and tried your luck.

 

Are the Christmas and New Year's sails considered the only Holiday sailings.  I've never sailed on those days and had no problem using the D+ coupon on other holidays, e.g. Easter, 4th of July, Labor Day etc.

 

We were just on AD for both Christmas and NY and had no problem whatsoever booking our BOGO meals.  In both cases they allowed us to use our second BOGO later than day 2.  It does seem as though Christmas and NY seem to be the big "holidays' that have limits to dining options but we are booked on AL over Valentine's Day and there is something in their dining packages about a special holiday meal so I guess we'll see how that one goes.

 

Special note about our recent Christmas and NY bookings on AD. Not only did they allow us to use our 3 day dining package AND our BOGO over these holiday sailings, but we were able to dine right along with those who paid the big bucks for the special "holiday meal" menu.  They seated us on either Christmas Day or Christmas Eve (can't recall at the moment) with the "regular" Chops menu and those who had paid extra had a separate menu and whatever additional dining options they were entitled to.  There was really no difference.  I had been afraid that they wouldn't allow us into the restaurant at all on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but on AD, at least, there was no problem at all.

 

I agree, @nelblu, if I had been told "no" to using my BOGO I would have taken it ALL the way to the top.  I think that's absolutely WRONG and EVERYone in the management chain on that ship would have heard from me...

[nelblu]

21 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

I'm wondering if EX has some weirdo dining/booking rules as I have been completely unable to book a boarding day lunch on our upcoming EX sailing (4-5-24).  The lunch offerings simply do not include Day 1.

Must be a ship to ship thing or some special event.  I'm sailing on Anthem Easter week and have reservation for lunch at Jamie's on Easter Day, March 31 for a party of 8.  In addition, got a good price of $14.99 per adult during Royal's Pasta Day promo.😊

 

Now if I can only get an early embarkation time as the reservations are for 12 PM.😜

[Hoopster95]

Regardless of all of our previous million+ cruises, wealth of experience, and personal/recent experiences on other sailings, we all need to remember::

 

"Royal Caribbean reserves the right to modify the Crown & Anchor® Society, Club Royale®, and MyCruise® Rewards programs along with their terms and conditions, at any time and without notice. ©2023 Royal Caribbean Ltd. Ships Registry: The Bahamas."

 

To me, and knowing RCI over the last decade, this to me means "If we can make more money from cruisers by changing or reducing something (C&A), even if temporarily (so that we don't piss too many people off), we will"

 

We also all need to remember that each ship makes decisions independently... a "rule" or "benefit" applied/change/removed on one ship may not have occurred on another ship docked next door. So the OP's experience on Explorer may have been different on Adventure for example.

 

RCI = "Really Consistently Inconsistent"

[Oxo]

30 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

We also all need to remember that each ship makes decisions independently... a "rule" or "benefit" applied/change/removed on one ship may not have occurred on another ship docked next door. So the OP's experience on Explorer may have been different on Adventure for example.

 

RCI = "Really Consistently Inconsistent"

The main paragraph I totally disagree with is the one I kept from your posting. I know it is true, however, it is one that should be changed since it is RCI policy/procedures and not Ship decisions. Any Corporation should have standard (SOP) that apply to all. This causes confusion, mistrust, complaints and Urinated Passengers. LOL 

[Arubamoose]

5 hours ago, nelblu said:

In addition, got a good price of $14.99 per adult during Royal's Pasta Day promo.😊

 

 

Do tell about this Royal Pasta Day Promo....

I could definitely be on board about this!!!!

 

We plan on using at least one of our BOGO's on Jamie's on the Anthem in a few weeks.