Dining packages

Are the dining packages available once you’re onboard,

or must they be purchased prior to the cruise. Also reservations on the packages can only be made onboard, so does that mean there is a good chance you’ll be stuck with a choice of very early or very late dining.

Are the dining packages available once you’re onboard,

or must they be purchased prior to the cruise. Also reservations on the packages can only be made onboard, so does that mean there is a good chance you’ll be stuck with a choice of very early or very late dining.

I believe they are only available to order on line (prior to the cruise) and not available on the cruise (at least, I haven't seen them).

Yes, you are stuck at what has not been reserved. A lot depends upon on how many people prebook or book as soon as they are on board and if there is Explore4 or a dine around perk on the ship.

If there are none of the perks during your sailing you should have some flexibility on some days but if not, you will probably have a very early or late dining time.

It varies from cruise to cruise.

We booked the PG twice before the cruise and selected a 6 PM setting which worked out fine for us. They were 3 hour affairs and we both enjoyed them. I would book them before you leave for your cruise.

We also ate in the Main Dining around that time. The first couple of nights that we ate there we had no reservations and our wait was just a few minutes. We ended up sharing a table. Because we wanted to dine alone we made reservations for another night and that worked well. Afterwards we were told reservations were not available. I think more cruisers who ate in the Lido were getting tired of the fare up there and decided to eat in the MD area.

Funny thing is we would usually see the same deserts that we had in the MD also in the LIDO. Maybe the chocolate cake would be missing whip cream, or a piece of fruit would be missing on the LIDO desserts but they were the same. Overall though we thought the breakfast and lunch items in the LIDO were good. I loved the NY pizza and my wife loved the Dive-In.

Don't worry.... you won't go home hungry.

If you know what nights you want to eat in the specialty restaurants, book them now and don't worry about the savings.

We had a cruise where many, many people had free dinners for the Pinnacle via several different promotions, 5 star mariners entitled to free dinners, etc. There were no reservations available once people got on the ship. And the Pinnacle even had to open at 5 to get in all the reservations.

That doesn't always happen -- but I wouldn't chance it.

How often do people board the ship and getting a specialty dining reservation is hard to get? We are new to HAL and the other cruise line we use - Princess - it is easy to get a dining reservation at the specialty venues. I hate to pre plan all my meals but want to enjoy some of the dining places that HAL offers.

I booked the Ultimate Dining Package on Nieuw Statendam for the 5 dinners.  It states someone will contact me once onboard to make all the dinner reservations.  Is this really the case, or should I attempt to make them myself the minute I board the ship?  

4 hours ago, eroller said:

I booked the Ultimate Dining Package on Nieuw Statendam for the 5 dinners.  It states someone will contact me once onboard to make all the dinner reservations.  Is this really the case, or should I attempt to make them myself the minute I board the ship?  

There should be a card or card(s) in your room when you board (or shortly after on embarkation day).  

The card will specify the dining day and time or ask you to dial a # to reserve.  Usually it's the former IME.

On 3/23/2018 at 10:02 PM, dcl1710 said:

How often do people board the ship and getting a specialty dining reservation is hard to get? We are new to HAL and the other cruise line we use - Princess - it is easy to get a dining reservation at the specialty venues. I hate to pre plan all my meals but want to enjoy some of the dining places that HAL offers.

Other than one ship we have been on (Prinsendam) it's usually not too difficult as long as you are not fussy about your dining time.

Thank you for your reply.  Hopefully they don't just arbitrarily assign the date and times.  I would assume I speak to someone to give my preferences and we see what works out best.  

Last cruise ours were preassigned and we had to call and change them. It was not a big deal, but sat on  hold a while.

56 minutes ago, dundeene said:

Last cruise ours were preassigned and we had to call and change them. It was not a big deal, but sat on  hold a while.

Ok thanks for the info.  Perhaps some of the times will actually work out that they assign.  We shall see.  

7 hours ago, kazu said:

The card will specify the dining day and time or ask you to dial a # to reserve.  Usually it's the former IME.

We were given a free dinner at the Pinnacle Grill on our upcoming cruise.  Does this mean that they get to decide the day and time we can use it?

I think it should also be noted that the length of the sailing can also affect speciality restaurant availability. If 200 people have promos for a dinner in Pinnacle, it’s going to be a tighter fit on a 7-day cruise than a 14-day sailing.

12 minutes ago, Betty in Cozumel said:

 

We were given a free dinner at the Pinnacle Grill on our upcoming cruise.  Does this mean that they get to decide the day and time we can use it?

It really depends.  I’ve seen both the cards where your dinner has been assigned (you can try to get it changed) and I’ve seen the requests to call for reservations and choose an available date and time.

I suspect it is dependent on how long the cruise is and how many passengers have this perk.

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

It really depends.  I’ve seen both the cards where your dinner has been assigned (you can try to get it changed) and I’ve seen the requests to call for reservations and choose an available date and time.

 

I suspect it is dependent on how long the cruise is and how many passengers have this perk.

 

 

 

 

Thanks!  This will be on a 14 night cruise in Asia.