Split Specialty Dining meal?

[nick.haste.779]

My wife doesn't eat much, is there any option with Princess to split a specialty dining meal?  She can easily make a meal out of an app or 2 so it isn't really worth paying the full amount for her to have an entree...

 

Thanks

[Crown Cruiser]

I doubt it very much.

[Lady Arwen]

 Unfortunately,  you can’t split meals in the specialty restaurants except for possibly the casual restaurants such as Gigi’s/Alfredos.  We only eat dinner in the specialty restaurants and I usually only eat the app and sides and my DH will have an entree.   We pay full price for both.

[voljeep]

19 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

 Unfortunately,  you can’t split meals in the specialty restaurants except for possibly the casual restaurants such as Gigi’s/Alfredos.  We only eat dinner in the specialty restaurants and I usually only eat the app and sides and my DH will have an entree.   We pay full price for both.

yeah - my wife and I routinely split an app, and an entree when we go out at home.  We don't like to waste food anywhere - but on the upcoming SUN P - we've got Catch, Umai, and a UBD booked - now those meals, I want to last 2 hours or so - but know we will be eating a little of a lot of different things ...

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

yeah - my wife and I routinely split an app, and an entree when we go out at home.  We don't like to waste food anywhere - but on the upcoming SUN P - we've got Catch, Umai, and a UBD booked - now those meals, I want to last 2 hours or so - but know we will be eating a little of a lot of different things ...

We’re on Enchanted in 17 days and we’ve booked The Catch for three nights, Crown Grill for 2 nights, Sabatini’s for one night and we’ll try O’Mally’s on the last night.  I only eat fish and seafood, so The Catch will be perfect for me!

 

Please let me know about your experience on Sun!  We’re toying with the idea and your opinion is definitely one I’d trust.  We seem to think alike when it comes to cruising.  Have a most wonderful time!

[memoak]

On the Grand right now and expressed to the manager at Crown Grill that one steak was enough for two of us and she said they will work something out this week. Not expected but would be nice

[arizonaperson]

@nick.haste.779 I would wait till you get onboard and go to the specialty dining room of choice and ask someone there if it’s possible .I agree it’s a lot of food. All they can say is no. Of course it’s meant for per person $ dining -so have a feeling you would not be able to split anything -well technically you could split it ,but you’re going to pay for both of you regardless of how much you eat or don’t eat. Of course you can both pay the going rate and your wife can eat what she desires ( i.e. only a little.) ,that way you can experience the specialty dining room & menu or not go at all .

In specialty dining there really isn’t a à la carte option. So I don’t know how they would break down the cost of two appetizers and no entrée. But ask away.

For the casual dining restaurants like Alfredos, Vines, O’Malley‘s, etc. it’s a three course meal, but you can just have the appetizer or just the entrée, etc., and not have the whole meal and it is broken down into à la carte prices.

So many choices on food while cruising.

Welcome to your first post on Cruise Critic.

Edited August 7 by arizonaperson

[memoak]

1 hour ago, arizonaperson said:

@nick.haste.779 I would wait till you get onboard and go to the specialty dining room of choice and ask someone there if it’s possible .I agree it’s a lot of food. All they can say is no. Of course it’s meant for per person $ dining -so have a feeling you would not be able to split anything -well technically you could split it ,but you’re going to pay for both of you regardless of how much you eat or don’t eat. Of course you can both pay the going rate and your wife can eat what she desires ( i.e. only a little.) ,that way you can experience the specialty dining room & menu or not go at all .

In specialty dining there really isn’t a à la carte option. So I don’t know how they would break down the cost of two appetizers and no entrée. But ask away.

For the casual dining restaurants like Alfredos, Vines, O’Malley‘s, etc. it’s a three course meal, but you can just have the appetizer or just the entrée, etc., and not have the whole meal and it is broken down into à la carte prices.

So many choices on food while cruising.

Welcome to your first post on Cruise Critic.

And the casual dining spots here in the Grand have let us split one meal. That was at Alfredo’s (just one pizza nothing else) and Vines (one charcuterie plate). This was under the plus package last week. 2 pizza trips and one charcuterie and we still had 1 left if we wanted it. Neither venues were all that crowded

Edited August 7 by memoak

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 hours ago, nick.haste.779 said:

My wife doesn't eat much, is there any option with Princess to split a specialty dining meal?

don't think so. Our kid doesn't eat much either, and actually hated his Catch by Rudi entree, and didn't even touch the main in Sabbatini, but we still had to pay for him.

Like arizonaperson said:

 

1 hour ago, arizonaperson said:

In specialty dining there really isn’t a à la carte option. So I don’t know how they would break down the cost of two appetizers and no entrée.

 

[XBGuy]

The fee for Princess specialty dining is a cover charge.  I think of it as the price of your seat, not your food.

 

While it may be reasonable for two people to share, say, a Porterhouse Steak, I am willing to bet that those same two diners will each have individual starter courses, individual desserts and individual drinks (probably, multiple drinks--water, wine/cocktails, coffee).  Even though they are sharing that Porterhouse, both diners require the same level of attention from the service staff, and service ware (plates, bowls. cups, glasses, utensils, napkins} will have to be replaced and cleaned.  

 

Many people consider the meals at the specialty dining rooms to be excessively large.  While I understand that some have medical requirements to eat at regular intervals, I suspect that many could pass on lunch with no serious consequence.  Presumably, this would increase their dinner appetite.

 

Now, the policy of any given venue is subject to interpretation by the headwaiter.  So, asking when he/she seats you is not unreasonable.  Do not wait for the server to make your request.  He/she has no such authority, and it just puts them in the middle.

[startedwithamouse]

No, you'll pay for two. 

 

That's why Princess calls it a Cover Charge. 

 

 

[mina]

If you are not set on going to the venue, you can order various dishes from the crown grill or sabatinis thru from room service for dinner.  However, the cost is by item.  If you have a balcony, can have a nice meal with the same food.  

Edited August 7 by mina

[arizonaperson]

@nick.haste.779 In one of the main dining rooms. There are a few paid upgrades that you can do. One is a filet mignon ($19), one is a lobster tail ($19) ,and one is surf and turf, ($29) -so both of those items.

On the menu, it does not say what venue it comes from ,others say it comes from Crown Grill,( subject to availability - ship to ship) but who knows.
That way your wife could have anything that she wanted on the included cruise fare menu and you could have one of those upgraded entrees and everything else included in the cruise fare right in the DR if that appeals to you.That’s why I said earlier lots of food choices to be had.

Edited August 7 by arizonaperson

[Kay S]

8 hours ago, Crown Cruiser said:

I doubt it very much.

I agree.  The point of the extra charge is to make more money.  Princess never turns down an opportunity to get some nickels and dimes.

[MustangGT]

4 hours ago, memoak said:

And the casual dining spots here in the Grand have let us split one meal. That was at Alfredo’s (just one pizza nothing else) and Vines (one charcuterie plate). This was under the plus package last week. 2 pizza trips and one charcuterie and we still had 1 left if we wanted it. Neither venues were all that crowded

Lucky you!  On the Sapphire in May we had the Plus package.  Went to Alfredo’s 2 times and just split a pizza and they used our 4 casual meals.  We couldn’t get them to budge considering we had no appetizers or desserts.  

[memoak]

11 minutes ago, MustangGT said:

Lucky you!  On the Sapphire in May we had the Plus package.  Went to Alfredo’s 2 times and just split a pizza and they used our 4 casual meals.  We couldn’t get them to budge considering we had no appetizers or desserts.  

We are on day 1 of our b2b 2nd leg and just split a charcuterie at Vines. One plate only 1 charged

[MustangGT]

22 minutes ago, memoak said:

We are on day 1 of our b2b 2nd leg and just split a charcuterie at Vines. One plate only 1 charged

Just more of the Princess consistent inconsistency! 🤣

It wasn’t really a problem but makes us reconsider buying the Plus package as we don’t really get 2 casual meals each.  To add to the consideration - this was a 32 day cruise.  We would have had the same “benefit” if it was a 7 day cruise.  
Our next B2B will be without Plus as they are 2 seven day cruises and we will make due with the wine we can bring onboard and changing up the elite mini bar to Michelob Ulta for the alcohol items.  All good!!

[memoak]

5 minutes ago, MustangGT said:

Just more of the Princess consistent inconsistency! 🤣

It wasn’t really a problem but makes us reconsider buying the Plus package as we don’t really get 2 casual meals each.  To add to the consideration - this was a 32 day cruise.  We would have had the same “benefit” if it was a 7 day cruise.  
Our next B2B will be without Plus as they are 2 seven day cruises and we will make due with the wine we can bring onboard and changing up the elite mini bar to Michelob Ulta for the alcohol items.  All good!!

I don’t get the plus package for the dining. More to cover the 8-10 drinks and wines we each have every day

[Thrak]

One pizza at Alfredo's is plenty o food for the two of us. We can't eat an appetizer, a pizza, and a dessert each. It's a crazy amount of food for us. We will probably end up splitting one pizza and being charged for to prix fixe meals. We have pretty much given up eating in Crown Grill as it's just way too much food.

[startedwithamouse]

2 hours ago, MustangGT said:

Lucky you!  On the Sapphire in May we had the Plus package.  Went to Alfredo’s 2 times and just split a pizza and they used our 4 casual meals.  We couldn’t get them to budge considering we had no appetizers or desserts.  

You must not have asked and just assumed. Alfredo's stated it was a cover charge and if two were seated, two credits would be used.

 

We were on your cruise and just dined separately to use our casual meals.  They suggested we could get the dessert to go and wrapped half of the pizza in foil which my partner ate up at the pool watching MUTS.

Edited August 8 by startedwithamouse

[MustangGT]

6 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

You must not have asked and just assumed. Alfredo's stated it was a cover charge and if two were seated, two credits would be used.

 

We were on your cruise and just dined separately to use our casual meals.  They suggested we could get the dessert to go and wrapped half of the pizza in foil which my partner ate up at the pool watching MUTS.

Didn’t assume.  We wanted to dine together and just split a pizza.  No interest in an appetizer or dessert.  Visited two times, different servers and manager and were told we would each use our casual meal.  We could have just paid for a pizza and split it but could not use only one casual meal credit.  No big deal. Just something to consider when looking at the “benefits” of the Plus fare.

Bottom line - no consistency across the fleet.  But what’s new about that! 🤣😂

[Torfamm]

No, they charge everyone the same price even if you split meals or skip courses.
 

I think the portions are huge too. I usually quit eating before I am halfway through the main course.

[Cruisemeister2002]

22 hours ago, nick.haste.779 said:

My wife doesn't eat much, is there any option with Princess to split a specialty dining meal?  She can easily make a meal out of an app or 2 so it isn't really worth paying the full amount for her to have an entree...

 

Thanks

I can't see any reason why not. If they are prepared to give you two plates or whatever. Like with the Premier Package you get I believe two Speciality dining times. So therefore if that's 2 each I cannot see why you can't use it 4 times rather than two. But then we are talking about what individual ships and individual waiting staff allow as like with the Speciality Desserts some have said that they have just asked for gelato and received it, whilst some have said they get charged or they are refused the dessert without having all the trimmings.

[Sunset329]

We were not allowed to split a meal at Alfredo's on the Saphire Princess in April of this year. We can't both eat an entire pizza and wanted to share the pizza. We asked twice and were told that we can't share a pizza. We were on the Sky Princess in March of this year and were able to share a pizza at Alfredo's. 

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

I can't see any reason why not. If they are prepared to give you two plates or whatever. Like with the Premier Package you get I believe two Speciality dining times. So therefore if that's 2 each I cannot see why you can't use it 4 times rather than two. But then we are talking about what individual ships and individual waiting staff allow as like with the Speciality Desserts some have said that they have just asked for gelato and received it, whilst some have said they get charged or they are refused the dessert without having all the trimmings.

Sorry, you can’t split meals at the specialty restaurants.  You will be charged for two meals regardless of what you eat or don’t eat.  Some casual venues may allow it, depending on the ship.