Princess Grill Dining & Drinks Package

[Desert Cruisers]

First-time in the Grills for us.  Have a few questions.  Searched the forum but couldn't find any recent pertinent postings.

 

1. Can you request off-menu dishes?  For example, if we would like Indian food, is it possible to special order? 

2. Is lunch served on embarkation day?  If so, what are the typical hours?  This will help us decide if we arrive early or after the check-in rush.

3. Is there a dollar limit on the drinks available with the drinks package?

 

Thanks.

[Pushpit]

1) You can ask for dishes off-menu, it's more of a QG perk but they will try to assist. There could be some Indian dishes on the main menu, and there's the à la carte menu, which you will see. 

 

2) Yes, lunch on embarkation day is served, typically 13:30 to 15:00 hrs, but it can sometimes vary on individual sailings, for various reasons.

 

3) Depends on whether this is the Cunard onboard ship package or it's a drinks package associated with your booking (e.g. a travel agency arrangement. For the main onboard ship packages the drink limit is currently US$13.50, any drink over that is full price, minus 20%, but plus 15% service fee.

Edited June 22 by Pushpit

[Wedgie Wedgie]

On board QE now.

1. I asked if whole king crab legs were possible? Not without fee. 
How about halibut topped Oscar style? No problem.

 

2. Yes. We were unhappy with table 19, we now have #1.

 

3. Our package was booked in US & includes drinks to $12, the bartenders will ring drinks up to meet the threshold.

[LadyL1]

I think you find ordering off menu is more the preserve of QG!

Having said that, I don’t think you will be disappointed with the menu and quality of food that is on offer.

As far as check in is concerned, arrive at your given time, which is priority boarding, and you will be able to have lunch in the PG restaurant, at your leisure.

[WantedOnVoyage]

If you are in Queen's Grill, you can special order "at will"... Princess Grill, nope.  But Indian dishes (my favourite!) were possible in PG occasionally (in May) if you asked nicely, including kedgeree for breakfast. It helps that the maitre d' was Indian, too!  But special orders remain really a perk for QG.

 

The U.S. Grills Drinks "Package" remains resolutely at $12 limit but in May, at least, before the price increases, the bar staff throughout the ship could ring up most basic cocktails to fall within that limit. Now... not sure how it will work.  But it's important to tell them you're on the U.S. Grills package NOT the regular sold on board one.. most are pretty adept at gaming the system in your favour but it's going to harder still with the increase drink prices. 

[BigMac1953]

Unless there are delays, QG and PG open at 1:00pm on ambarkation day

.

Edited June 22 by BigMac1953

[Luckycruisers]

49 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

If you are in Queen's Grill, you can special order "at will"... Princess Grill, nope.  But Indian dishes (my favourite!) were possible in PG occasionally (in May) if you asked nicely, including kedgeree for breakfast. It helps that the maitre d' was Indian, too!  But special orders remain really a perk for QG.

 

The U.S. Grills Drinks "Package" remains resolutely at $12 limit but in May, at least, before the price increases, the bar staff throughout the ship could ring up most basic cocktails to fall within that limit. Now... not sure how it will work.  But it's important to tell them you're on the U.S. Grills package NOT the regular sold on board one.. most are pretty adept at gaming the system in your favour but it's going to harder still with the increase drink prices. 

We are in a PG in August. What is a Grills Drinks Package? Is this different to the US Grills package?

[WantedOnVoyage]

No. There is only one Grills Drink Package for North American bookings only,

[david63]

Is there any difference in opening times when the ship is disembarking/embarking some passengers part way through the cruise? - i.e. we are on QV later in the year which effectively is doing a series of one week cruises but we are doing a three week cruise (no it is not b2b2b)

[Pushpit]

3 minutes ago, david63 said:

Is there any difference in opening times when the ship is disembarking/embarking some passengers part way through the cruise? - i.e. we are on QV later in the year which effectively is doing a series of one week cruises but we are doing a three week cruise (no it is not b2b2b)

Yes, that was what I was alluding to in my previous post, there can be changes due to local conditions. So it may be that lunch will be service 12:30 to 14:30 hrs in that scenario, when there would be perhaps only a few PG guests joining at that port. Or it may just be the normal timings, typically 12:00 to 13:30.