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Dining package "courtesy booking"


Meridian

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Hi All 

On the 3 or 5 day dining package you have to select a courtesy booking for the first day.   The question i have is,  can I cancel this and swap - as its a 10 day cruise and I dont really want it on the first night at all and also the onlky time available is 9pm which is hopeless with 2 small kids.    

Another question is -  for the restaurants like Jamies Italian where there is no surcharge and its not ala carte pricing -  can we order what we like,  like the main dining room - 3 starters if we so desire or is it just one like a normal restaurant? 

Thanks for any insight.  

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The chances are that they won't even make a courtesy reservation for you but, in any case, as soon as you board head to one of the speciality restaurants and book your slots for the whole cruise. It will make the whole process quicker and easier if you bring a list with you of the days, times and restaurants you want, as well as some plan Bs in case it genuinely isn't possible to get one or more of the slots you want. For example, we once wanted Giovanni's on a night they had a mystery theatre activity on there, so they weren't taking bookings at all for that night.

As far as food is concerned, I believe you can order pretty much as much as you want of everything except for Chops, where I think you're limited to just one main course.

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I called RCL yesterday. Basically, you can have the UDP and then purchase individual meals with a set time and date. Once onboard, cancel the individual meals and get your UDP put in the slot. Your money is refunded sometime later. Ties up a lot of money. Usually, the ship will have a meal reservation desk manned somewhere on embarkation day.

I may use this method for Hibachi, since there were only two bad time slots left on our last cruise.

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11 hours ago, Meridian said:

Hi All 

On the 3 or 5 day dining package you have to select a courtesy booking for the first day.   The question i have is,  can I cancel this and swap - as its a 10 day cruise and I dont really want it on the first night at all and also the onlky time available is 9pm which is hopeless with 2 small kids.    

Another question is -  for the restaurants like Jamies Italian where there is no surcharge and its not ala carte pricing -  can we order what we like,  like the main dining room - 3 starters if we so desire or is it just one like a normal restaurant? 

Thanks for any insight.  

The reason they make the courtesy reservation for the first night is because many cruisers don't research their cruise ahead of time.  By asking the package purchases to dine that night, they are making sure the restaurants are busy on the first night before others understand that they are available.  It does not matter where/when the courtesy reservation is made, it's purely a bookkeeping trick to hold a certain number of reservations.  The availability you see online before the cruise is for purchasing specific reservations outside of a package.  Even if a restaurant appears completely booked before the cruise, there are spots available for people that purchase the package.  No one can access those spots until they get on the ship.  Some people get very worried that they won't be able to book where and when they want.  Most posters here will confirm that they have no trouble making their dining reservations for the whole trip on the first day.  If you wait until later, then yes, you are competing with everyone on the ship and have to be more flexible.

Most restaurants will let you order as much of anything you want.  Chops limits you to one entree but as many sides/appetizers/deserts as you like.

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11 hours ago, Meridian said:

can I cancel this and swap - as its a 10 day cruise and I dont really want it on the first night at all and also the onlky time available is 9pm which is hopeless with 2 small kids.   

The pre-purchased dining plans (3 or 5 night or unlimited) are purchased at a discount.  One of the "rules" of purchasing these discounted packages is that the dining plan must be used on either night 1 or 2 for reasons that @Atlantix2000described above.  So even if you do not want to dine on the first night, they will almost certainly require you to use the first night on of your plan on night #2.  Do they ever make exceptions ?  Of course...but going strictly by the "rules", you would need to use your first night of the package either on night #1 or night #2.  As long as night #2 is ok with you, you should be fine.

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9 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

The pre-purchased dining plans (3 or 5 night or unlimited) are purchased at a discount.  One of the "rules" of purchasing these discounted packages is that the dining plan must be used on either night 1 or 2 for reasons that @Atlantix2000described above.  So even if you do not want to dine on the first night, they will almost certainly require you to use the first night on of your plan on night #2.  Do they ever make exceptions ?  Of course...but going strictly by the "rules", you would need to use your first night of the package either on night #1 or night #2.  As long as night #2 is ok with you, you should be fine.

Thanks for your response and to the others as well.

Guess they sold a lot of packages as 9pm is the only slot on day 1 and no slots at all on day 2 which would have been fine.

Ill just deal with it when we get there I guess.  

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On 9/7/2022 at 10:00 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

The pre-purchased dining plans (3 or 5 night or unlimited) are purchased at a discount.  One of the "rules" of purchasing these discounted packages is that the dining plan must be used on either night 1 or 2 for reasons that @Atlantix2000described above.  So even if you do not want to dine on the first night, they will almost certainly require you to use the first night on of your plan on night #2.  Do they ever make exceptions ?  Of course...but going strictly by the "rules", you would need to use your first night of the package either on night #1 or night #2.  As long as night #2 is ok with you, you should be fine.

I disagree with your statement that the 3 or 5 night packages require you to eat on nights 1 or 2.  Saw this discussion somewhere else, so I checked my cruise planner and nowhere did it state that for those packages that you must use one of the meals on night 1 or 2.

Now it does say that for the Diamond + bogo.

If you can document (like a picture of a web page) that requirement for the 3 or 5 night package. It does say that they will make a complementary reservation for night 1 or 2 only not that one of the dinners has to be used that night.

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I just ate at Chops, it was my courtesy reservation of 8:30. Place was pretty full even for an after 8pm reservations. I have Chops +1 and they required a night 1 or 2 reservation.  The same was required for my 3N package. Haven't had the chance to do a 5N but I imagine that 1st or 2nd night reservation is always required. 

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On 9/9/2022 at 2:22 AM, CruiseGus said:

I disagree with your statement that the 3 or 5 night packages require you to eat on nights 1 or 2.  Saw this discussion somewhere else, so I checked my cruise planner and nowhere did it state that for those packages that you must use one of the meals on night 1 or 2.

Now it does say that for the Diamond + bogo.

If you can document (like a picture of a web page) that requirement for the 3 or 5 night package. It does say that they will make a complementary reservation for night 1 or 2 only not that one of the dinners has to be used that night.

Try putting it in your cart. It will ask you to choose night one or two. Or maybe that's just the UDP? It's been a bit since I last got the three-night. 

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A courtesy reservation is made for night one or two, but can be changed once aboard based on availability. The below is from the 3 night dining package on an Anthem sailing out of Bayonne.

Important details and advisements

  • A courtesy reservation will be made for Day 1 or 2 of your cruise based on your preferred dining time. You will receive your courtesy reservation confirmation in your stateroom on the first day of your cruise.
  • All additional reservations or changes to your courtesy reservation must be made once onboard at any specialty restaurant.
  • Not valid for premium experiences including: Wine Pairings Dinners, Taste of Royal, Mystery Dinner Theater and Holiday Celebration Dinners.
  • Child pricing applies to children between the ages of 6-12. Children ages 0-5 are complimentary. Children must order from the kids menu. 
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On 9/7/2022 at 10:22 AM, Atlantix2000 said:

The reason they make the courtesy reservation for the first night is because many cruisers don't research their cruise ahead of time.  By asking the package purchases to dine that night, they are making sure the restaurants are busy on the first night before others understand that they are available.  It does not matter where/when the courtesy reservation is made, it's purely a bookkeeping trick to hold a certain number of reservations.  The availability you see online before the cruise is for purchasing specific reservations outside of a package.  Even if a restaurant appears completely booked before the cruise, there are spots available for people that purchase the package.  No one can access those spots until they get on the ship.  Some people get very worried that they won't be able to book where and when they want.  Most posters here will confirm that they have no trouble making their dining reservations for the whole trip on the first day.  If you wait until later, then yes, you are competing with everyone on the ship and have to be more flexible.

Most restaurants will let you order as much of anything you want.  Chops limits you to one entree but as many sides/appetizers/deserts as you like.


If you have the UDP, once you get on board, can you go to one of the specialty restaurants and book all of your specialty dinners for the week, at all the other restaurants?   Or do you have to go to each restaurant and make your reservation with them?  

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17 minutes ago, TMatl said:


If you have the UDP, once you get on board, can you go to one of the specialty restaurants and book all of your specialty dinners for the week, at all the other restaurants?   Or do you have to go to each restaurant and make your reservation with them?  

You should be able to make all of your specialty restaurant reservations atone time in one place.

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On 9/17/2022 at 5:41 PM, Matthew G said:

is it more efficient to book all you reservations in person with a concierge at one of the specialty restaurants or use the app to book as soon as you fist board?

THANKS

The answer is going to depend on your level of comfort with technology.  The host at each specialty restaurant is going to be able to book your meals quickly and they will also be able to quickly give you alternatives if your first choices aren't available.  The fastest app users might have similar success but I suspect most users would be slower.  Here's a couple ways to think about it:

When you see those self-service ordering stations in fast food restaurants, what do you do?  Are you the type that walks up, hits a couple buttons, and has your order placed in seconds?  Or are you the type that spends 10 minutes cursing at the machine while the line grows behind you?

What's your take on self-checkout at the grocery store?  If you love them and can use them efficiently, great.  Or do you have always have trouble because you don't know how to tell the machine what kind of vegetable you're trying to weigh?

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