Online reservations for "a la carte" restaurants

[Cruise4Real]

When we reserved Moderno online for our April cruise, we had to pre-pay the $20 X 2 cover charge when we made the reservation. Any idea or thoughts as to how they will handle these kind of "one-off" reservations (i.e., made WITHOUT UDP or SDP) going forward with the new "a la carte" menu? They can't very well be expecting you to make your order (and pay) months in advance, can they?

 

The more I think about this, the more I can see "issues" that NCL may not have fully figured out. If they DON'T force you to put "skin in the game" by pre-paying, don't they risk people making reservations and then cancelling (or just not showing up) without penalty? Or say you show up for your reservation but all you get is just a dessert to split? But now that time slot is unavailable to another party to reserve who were planning on over-indulging with a multiple course feast.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Cruise4Real

[punkincc]

When we reserved Moderno online for our April cruise, we had to pre-pay the $20 X 2 cover charge when we made the reservation. Any idea or thoughts as to how they will handle these kind of "one-off" reservations (i.e., made WITHOUT UDP or SDP) going forward with the new "a la carte" menu? They can't very well be expecting you to make your order (and pay) months in advance, can they?

 

The more I think about this, the more I can see "issues" that NCL may not have fully figured out. If they DON'T force you to put "skin in the game" by pre-paying, don't they risk people making reservations and then cancelling (or just not showing up) without penalty? Or say you show up for your reservation but all you get is just a dessert to split? But now that time slot is unavailable to another party to reserve who were planning on over-indulging with a multiple course feast.

 

My understanding is that there will be no charge for booking pre cruise because, as you said, how would they know how much to charge you. Your bill could be $50 or $20.

 

And I doubt they have thought this through at all. Plenty of people will be coming in with res and without to have an appy, dessert, or a shared entree. If a res IS made, they will have no idea if you will be there for 20 min or 2 hours and it will be more difficult for them to block out reservation times. Some of those "unintended consequences" that sometimes happen when things aren't thought through.