Coastal Kitchen on Harmony (should I be frustrated or not ?)

You are not missing anything with Harmony's CK. I have also been on Oasis, Anthem and Quantum and their CK's are better. CK on Harmony is much slower, worse food quality and not as friendly.

 

Take the money you saved on the balcony and go to Jamie's.

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Does anybody know if suite guests can take non-suite guests to CK if they pay extra for them? This is actually the policy on Celebrity. A suite guest can take a non-suite guest to dinner with them in Luminae for $30.

No way to pay for dinner at Coastal Kitchen.

A compromise would be to order off the CK menu and send it to your room, that way none of you are breaking their rules by being in the restaurant, but you get the food.

I'm not sure I've run across any marketing information that says "on an availability basis only". It does say reservations required. Maybe that's their way out.

 

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I suspect you are right...hence the "requirement for reservations". Have had friends in JS cabins that could not get in on some nights, due to full house being used by full suites guests and of course if ship has unusually high Pinnacle members. ;)

CK hostess told me once it is on availability basis for JS.

I would say you should not be frustrated, as the perk is for those booked in the JS.

We sailed in a full suite on Ovation and there were times that the CK was full and they couldn't accommodate people who wanted to eat there for dinner.

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You do not need to book that way. RCCL allows kids to be in the same quadrant if under 21 years old.

No you should not be frustrated. The rules are crystal clear, dinner for Jr suite guests only based on availability. Only an entitled person would be upset for not getting their way and having the rules broken for them. Imagine if the entire ship had that expectation. Sometimes before we get upset we need to reflect and look at the bigger picture, not just at what you want and didn't get. If you got it in the past, be happy about that and don't turn it into an expectation.

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Does anybody know if suite guests can take non-suite guests to CK if they pay extra for them? This is actually the policy on Celebrity. A suite guest can take a non-suite guest to dinner with them in Luminae for $30.

I have had guest a few times, no charge. The last time we were told it was limited to 2 one time during the cruise. This was on o/a, did not try on harmony. You have to be flexable and pick an off peak time. Ymmv

Yes, you're overreacting.

 

Here's another example: Say you book a flight to Europe with your family of 4. You buy yourself and one kid tickets in business class, with a nice meal on real china, better wine, more snacks between meals etc. You buy your wife and the other kid seats in economy with TV dinner type meals. Would you expect the flight attendants to take business class meals back to your wife and 2nd kid because you are "a family of 4?" Of course not; their booked fare class doesn't include that perk. Same with Coastal Kitchen and family members not traveling in suites. If suite perks are important to you, book all family members in a suite.

There is one big difference there. A business class seat on an airplane is designed to accommodate one person and I would not expect the flight attendant to allow two people to squeeze into it. Therefore, I would not expect the flight attendant to provide an extra meal with it. However, most Junior Suites on the Harmony are designed to accommodate up to four paying customers so it is not entirely unreasonable to expect it to include CK meals for 4 paying customers, even if one or two of those paying customers elect to pay extra money for additional accommodations outside of the suite.

It always seemed interesting to me that the best way to get "perks" at an affordable price on RCI is to squeeze as many people into a suite as it is capable of accommodating. This is not necessarily true on other cruise lines. For example, some Yacht Club rooms on MSC are rather small but they still come with all the perks of the Yacht Club so you can have a room for two in the MSC Yacht Club for about the same per person price as it would cost per person to squeeze 8 people into a two bedroom star class suite on RCI.

A compromise would be to order off the CK menu and send it to your room, that way none of you are breaking their rules by being in the restaurant, but you get the food.

Suites can get Coastal Kitchen as room service?

Ah there you are! See OP I told you there are plenty of nasty trolls on here.

 

Yes, our folks enjoyed Barefoot beach. They used 6 extra lounge chairs (aunt and uncle were there too). They also enjoyed the buffet, especially my FIL - he may have had enough lamb chops for several people. We also kept our beach butler pretty busy bringing drinks for our expanded group.

 

Oh and one more thing, they were also escorted off the ship by the concierge on debarkation day.

What boggles the mind is that you see absolutely wrong with that. Suppose half the suite guests on BB thought it was perfectly fine to bring along a half dozen family members who were not entitled to the extra perks? Can’t help but think you would be first in line at GS to register your complaint.

We just got off the Harmony 7/7/18 sailing and found the Coastal Kitchen to be excellent.

We did a semi B2B on the Harmony and then Oasis. Will be posting results shortly.

There is one big difference there. A business class seat on an airplane is designed to accommodate one person and I would not expect the flight attendant to allow two people to squeeze into it. Therefore, I would not expect the flight attendant to provide an extra meal with it.

You really want to nitpick? Geez. I was simply giving another example of different perks for different booking levels. :rolleyes:

No you should not be frustrated. The rules are crystal clear, dinner for Jr suite guests only based on availability. Only an entitled person would be upset for not getting their way and having the rules broken for them. Imagine if the entire ship had that expectation. Sometimes before we get upset we need to reflect and look at the bigger picture, not just at what you want and didn't get. If you got it in the past, be happy about that and don't turn it into an expectation.

 

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There have also been reports that sometimes even those in A JS have not been allowed or have been limited in how often they can dine. It all depends on the ship but I would not expect that non suite guests get to use suite guest privileges, family or not. If it happens and they allow it great, take that as a bonus but not an expectation.

Agree. Multiple cruisers in Jr Suites on Cruise Critic have reported they were not able to use Coastal Kitchen even once on their 7 nite cruise. Though this is usually around Holidays. It's not a guaranteed benefit even for Dinner while staying in Junior Suites, it is space limited...

Can you point out where it says based on availability? Really just curious.

 

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I guess if you can't get a ressie because there is no availability, you would be out of luck.

In reality, I would guess it is like most requests made by client's or customer's to any service provider. You act respectful and reasonable and they try to accomodate.

You demand and act entitled, you will likely be pointed to the MDR.

(Pro tip, the underpaid and overworked staff on the cruise ship dont really care "how much you paid" for your perceived right to badger and belittle them).

I have seen both kinds on cruises (and in everyday life). I try to be, and try to teach my boys to be the former.

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Can you point out where it says based on availability? Really just curious.

 

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Here it is.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-dining/coastal-kitchen

Here it is.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-dining/coastal-kitchen

It says: "For Pinnacle Guests only, based on availability. Junior Suites for dinner only, based on availability". So it would appear that for dinner, the same restriction applies to Pinnacle Guests as to Junior Suite Guests (unless the Pinnacle Guests are in Sky or Star class). Nevertheless, there are several postings on Cruise Critic about JS Guests not getting into CK but I have never seen a posting about Pinnacle Guests not getting into CK.

I hope you tipped them well

 

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Very well.

I completely agree with you a husband, wife and two children...should have allowed you all!!!

Thanks to everyone for your insight... As the OP it is always interesting to see how these questions bring out so many strong feelings (both ways)...

Some clarification for some who have posted.

1. My mention of Diamond status was only because I wanted to point out this was not my 1st cruise.
   
2. The four of us are a family, we just choose to book 2 cabins... As pointed out it actually costs MORE this way than booking 4 Pax in the same room.
   
3. The other passengers were kids.... we should be able to eat together - no ? I understand that that is what the MDR is for, however its not like I was asking for non-related adults to join us. This example could certainly be used about the posts at Labadee.... Can the kids not share the cabanas because they are in a Central Park room ?? I don't believe that even the pundit(s) would say the kids should be allow to join the parents.
   
4. Last but not least, if the Mgr would have made a suggestion such as "right now we're full - check back later" perhaps it would have allowed for the situation to evolve to a win - win for all; however it was the immediate determinate remark that really set me back (and what prompted this post in the 1st place).
   

On the RCCL website, in the FAQ document regarding the Royal Suite Class, it says reservation required for Sea Class for dinner at Coastal Kitchen.

 

I guess if you can't get a ressie because there is no availability, you would be out of luck.

 

In reality, I would guess it is like most requests made by client's or customer's to any service provider. You act respectful and reasonable and they try to accomodate.

 

You demand and act entitled, you will likely be pointed to the MDR.

 

(Pro tip, the underpaid and overworked staff on the cruise ship dont really care "how much you paid" for your perceived right to badger and belittle them).

 

I have seen both kinds on cruises (and in everyday life). I try to be, and try to teach my boys to be the former.

 

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I pretty much said that in post #40.

Everybody needs reservations for dinner. Well, maybe Star doesn't. I've seen Genies get seats at Comedy Club without a reservation.

So who gets the reservations for Coastal Kitchen?

The newer ships seem to be able to book via cruise planner for GS and above.

I guess the full suites could request them through the concierge in the week before boarding.

People in the know could email the CK manager the day before the cruise starts. [emoji6]

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Here it is.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-dining/coastal-kitchen

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It says: "For Pinnacle Guests only, based on availability. Junior Suites for dinner only, based on availability". So it would appear that for dinner, the same restriction applies to Pinnacle Guests as to Junior Suite Guests (unless the Pinnacle Guests are in Sky or Star class). Nevertheless, there are several postings on Cruise Critic about JS Guests not getting into CK but I have never seen a posting about Pinnacle Guests not getting into CK.

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Thanks to everyone for your insight... As the OP it is always interesting to see how these questions bring out so many strong feelings (both ways)...

 

Some clarification for some who have posted.

 

1. My mention of Diamond status was only because I wanted to point out this was not my 1st cruise.
   
2. The four of us are a family, we just choose to book 2 cabins... As pointed out it actually costs MORE this way than booking 4 Pax in the same room.
   
3. The other passengers were kids.... we should be able to eat together - no ? I understand that that is what the MDR is for, however its not like I was asking for non-related adults to join us. This example could certainly be used about the posts at Labadee.... Can the kids not share the cabanas because they are in a Central Park room ?? I don't believe that even the pundit(s) would say the kids should be allow to join the parents.
   
4. Last but not least, if the Mgr would have made a suggestion such as "right now we're full - check back later" perhaps it would have allowed for the situation to evolve to a win - win for all; however it was the immediate determinate remark that really set me back (and what prompted this post in the 1st place).
   

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