New dining package on Anthem -- BOGO 2 Night Dining Package - 2 meals for $30!

[cot427]

Best I can tell, it started at the beginning of April, which is when I posted the thread. SMHCPA posted on the 14th that they were leaving on the 18th and would come back in a couple of weeks to report on how it worked. So hopefully we will hear something this week.

 

Given that you are supposed to be able to change the reservations, where they put you initially should not be a big deal, of course changes would be subject to availability.

 

I would hope also if you are not happy with your choice, they would issue you a credit. But the only no-go would be Izumi - and I honestly hadn't looked into it until just now. I had no idea it was only sushi, noodles, soups and salads. I had always been under the assumption that it was hibachi too. I love sushi, but definitely don't want to make a meal out of it.

 

Just checked the availability as far as times. They still have 5:30, 6:30, 8:00 and 8:30 for my sailing. 6:00 was offered earlier but is now gone.

[cot427]

Well - with the recent "snafu" from Royal UK, I jumped on the deal. So I signed up for 6:30. As with others, it only shows up on Day 1. Very interested in feedback, but I will definitely be reporting back regarding my experience.

 

A weird note: I tried to book each of the 3 of us using different credit cards, as allowed by the site, but after completing the first I got "inventory unavailable" for the other ones. So I canceled the first and booked all 3 using the same card and it let me complete the booking for 6:30.

[Morris4me]

There is nothing on the website to indicate that it would not be.

 

Hopefully someone who booked this will be sailing soon and will be able to report back on how it worked for them.

 

 

We are on the May 5th sailing and booked the BOGO. My Cruise Planner Shows "BOGO dining for 2 nights" on the first night of our sailing and nothing for the second night. Chose 6:30. Will have Wi-fi on the ship and I will report back as to how it works. We are pretty flexible so I'll be happy with any of the specialty restaurants they choose for us.

[MisterBill99]

We are on the May 5th sailing and booked the BOGO. My Cruise Planner Shows "BOGO dining for 2 nights" on the first night of our sailing and nothing for the second night. Chose 6:30. Will have Wi-fi on the ship and I will report back as to how it works. We are pretty flexible so I'll be happy with any of the specialty restaurants they choose for us.

Please do let us know how it works for you. And if you don't mind, maybe ask someone how easy it would be to change one of the reservations, just so the rest of us have some information.

[SMHCPA]

We did this on our 4/18 cruise. There was no reservation made for us at all - we did it at wonderland after muster. We ate at Chops the first night and Wonderland the second night. Absolutely no problem getting what we wanted.

 

The only thing I would caution is that if you have kids be careful. We had to bring them the first night so we picked Chops. I read before hand that kids would be charged $10 or sometimes nothing if they ordered from the kids menu. This is NOT the case! They were charged $10 if they ordered from the kids menu and FULL charge if they ordered from the regular menu. Had I known this I would have just gotten the BOGO for them as well. To pay $10 for the to eat pizza we could have gotten for free was ridiculous IMO, especially when we were being charged $15 for the entire menu. The second night they ate with the kids club and we went to Wonderland alone. I was so sure the waiter made a mistake on this that the next day I asked at guest services and they confirmed that was how it worked.

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 1, 2016 by SMHCPA

[jonj]

We did this on our 4/18 cruise. There was no reservation made for us at all

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Can you provide a bit more information? were you able to get into the restaurants of your choice? were there any restrictions on which restaurants it could / could not be used?

[SMHCPA]

Can you provide a bit more information? were you able to get into the restaurants of your choice? were there any restrictions on which restaurants it could / could not be used?

 

 

Sorry I accidentally hit send too quick, please see the edit.

 

 

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[MisterBill99]

We did this on our 4/18 cruise. There was no reservation made for us at all - we did it at wonderland after muster. We ate at Chops the first night and Wonderland the second night. Absolutely no problem getting what we wanted.

Thanks for reporting back! Did they say whether there SHOULD have been reservations made for you, or is this the way it's going to be for everyone (or is this a matter of one hand not knowing what the other is doing)? In any event, it's good news that it worked as I had hoped, $30 for any 2 meals of my choice.

 

That really sucks about the $10 charge for kids being for eating off a crappy kids menu. I would have expected something like the normal food in the restaurant if you're paying $10. What did you end up doing? If it were me, I would have tried to avoid paying at all and just give my kids some of my food, but the restaurant might not go along with that (especially since you can order unlimited appetizers and desserts). Have you looked for other discussions about that on this board?

Edited May 2, 2016 by MisterBill99

[SMHCPA]

Thanks for reporting back! Did they say whether there SHOULD have been reservations made for you, or is this the way it's going to be for everyone (or is this a matter of one hand not knowing what the other is doing)? In any event, it's good news that it worked as I had hoped, $30 for any 2 meals of my choice.

 

That really sucks about the $10 charge for kids being for eating off a crappy kids menu. I would have expected something like the normal food in the restaurant if you're paying $10. What did you end up doing? If it were me, I would have tried to avoid paying at all and just give my kids some of my food, but the restaurant might not go along with that (especially since you can order unlimited appetizers and desserts). Have you looked for other discussions about that on this board?

 

No - in fact when we first asked at Jamie's just before muster she had no idea what the 2 night deal was and insisted there was no such thing. Then she looked at my account, saw it and told us to go to wonderland to look into it. We never had an trouble getting any reservations we wanted anywhere the entire cruise so even if they assigned you I would think you could switch them.

 

 

We paid $10 each for them at chops the first night. I shared my steak and shrimp cocktail with my "eater" and we just ordered more sides. That was fine since I like the sides anyway. The whole situation was so ridiculous we really thought the waiter was mistaken. When guest services confirmed he was correct we just had the kids eat with the kids club the next night when we went to Wonderland. If they had not wanted to do that I would have switched to Jamie's and I would have tried to just share with them.

 

 

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[Zigggyaussie]

We did this on our cruise last week. We had to choose our restaurants on boarding. Chose Jamie's and wonderland.

 

Took kids to Jamie's. Was told 5 year old free and 9 year old $10. They ate off kids and regular menu. In the end they didn't charge anything for the kids.

 

For wonderland we went without kids. There was a surcharge of $19 but only for one person i.e. the surcharge was bogo as well which seemed fair. Kids came for dessert after kids club and they brought enough for all of us without any extra for the kids.

 

I think it was an excellent deal. But it was new and staff were a but sketchy on the details.

[SMHCPA]

We did this on our cruise last week. We had to choose our restaurants on boarding. Chose Jamie's and wonderland.

 

 

 

Took kids to Jamie's. Was told 5 year old free and 9 year old $10. They ate off kids and regular menu. In the end they didn't charge anything for the kids.

 

 

 

For wonderland we went without kids. There was a surcharge of $19 but only for one person i.e. the surcharge was bogo as well which seemed fair. Kids came for dessert after kids club and they brought enough for all of us without any extra for the kids.

 

 

 

I think it was an excellent deal. But it was new and staff were a but sketchy on the details.

 

 

We were not charged a surcharge for Wonderland, nor was there any mention of it. They even brought us three entrees because we wanted the pork and the beef and our waiter wanted us to try the fish. I agree they didn't seem to have quite figured the deal out yet. Still very glad we did it. Do have to say that we did not feel either chops or wonderland would have been worth the full surcharge without the discount.

 

 

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[MisterBill99]

For wonderland we went without kids. There was a surcharge of $19 but only for one person i.e. the surcharge was bogo as well which seemed fair. Kids came for dessert after kids club and they brought enough for all of us without any extra for the kids.

 

I think it was an excellent deal. But it was new and staff were a but sketchy on the details.

The surcharge definitely seems wrong and I would have complained. There is nothing on the website that says that you may have to pay more, except in the case of a la carte restaurants where you only get a $30 allotment. Did you mention it to anyone onboard?

[MisterBill99]

We were not charged a surcharge for Wonderland, nor was there any mention of it. They even brought us three entrees because we wanted the pork and the beef and our waiter wanted us to try the fish. I agree they didn't seem to have quite figured the deal out yet. Still very glad we did it. Do have to say that we did not feel either chops or wonderland would have been worth the full surcharge without the discount.

Wonderland doesn't charge extra for additional entrees as Chops does. When we ate there, we wanted the short rib and fish, and the waiter also brought the chicken because he said it was good (we weren't thrilled with it). We don't eat pork so that wasn't an option.

 

Would you have been OK paying an extra $9 for Chops and $19 for Wonderland (for the 2 of you, not per person)?

Edited May 5, 2016 by MisterBill99

[SMHCPA]

Wonderland doesn't charge extra for additional entrees as Chops does. When we ate there, we wanted the short rib and fish, and the waiter also brought the chicken because he said it was good (we weren't thrilled with it). We don't eat pork so that wasn't an option.

 

Would you have been OK paying an extra $9 for Chops and $19 for Wonderland (for the 2 of you, not per person)?

 

 

No actually - because when we signed up for the deal it specifically said we could eat at those places and said nothing about adding a surcharge. I would have argued that hard. The wording about the kids was very vague - they said they would give us a good deal for the kids (or something to that effect). I did not feel the deal for the kids was good at all but that's my opinion so I didn't make too much of a fuss about it.

 

When I said I didn't think the full surcharge would be worth it I meant I would NEVER pay $39 or $59 each to eat there.

 

 

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[bethgsimm]

Just off the April 30th anthem and had prepurchased the bogo deal.no reservation had been made in advance , so I booked chops when I got on board. Night two I had prepaid and prebooked Wonderland . They ended up keeping my time slot for wonderland and fully refunding the prepaid amount. So I got my preferred date and time for the bogo cost . Great deal

[ranchette]

Do you have to pre purchase the BOGO for $30 or can you get it on the ship the first day?

We have already reserved Wonderland for day 3 if we cancel do they credit your credit card or give you OBC?

[cot427]

THANK YOU! everyone for the feedback regarding this package.

 

I have it booked for 5/14 - I'll let everyone know if they fixed the kinks and in fact have it booked for me. If not, I'll be heading straight to Wonderland during the day to make reservations.

 

It seems like nobody has had their reservations made, but can you clear up the surcharge? It seems like one person had it at Wonderland but someone else didn't?

Thinking about choosing Chops and Jamies because of others in my group, but I would like to try Wonderland.

[bethgsimm]

Do you have to pre purchase the BOGO for $30 or can you get it on the ship the first day?

We have already reserved Wonderland for day 3 if we cancel do they credit your credit card or give you OBC?

 

We did receive our Wonderland refund as an onboard credit since we were on the ship when they refunded it .- probably could have asked for it on credit card, but we didn't.

I thought the bogo was for first 2 nights only ? So not sure if you can get wonderland on day 3 with the bogo. We prebought bogo , was not offered on the ship .

[bethgsimm]

THANK YOU! everyone for the feedback regarding this package.

 

It seems like nobody has had their reservations made, but can you clear up the surcharge? It seems like one person had it at Wonderland but someone else didn't?

Thinking about choosing Chops and Jamies because of others in my group, but I would like to try Wonderland.

 

We did not have a wonderland surcharge

[MisterBill99]

Do you have to pre purchase the BOGO for $30 or can you get it on the ship the first day?

We have already reserved Wonderland for day 3 if we cancel do they credit your credit card or give you OBC?

 

We did receive our Wonderland refund as an onboard credit since we were on the ship when they refunded it .- probably could have asked for it on credit card, but we didn't.

I thought the bogo was for first 2 nights only ? So not sure if you can get wonderland on day 3 with the bogo. We prebought bogo , was not offered on the ship .

That's the standard way of refunding pre-purchased dining, back to your on-board account. However, unlike some on-board credit from your TA, it's considered refundable, so if you end up not spending everything, it will get credited back to whatever you have set up as your payment type (credit/debit card). And they'll use any non-refundable OBC you have first, so you would end up with the part that is refundable.

 

That is a good idea to pre-book Wonderland the second night. My plan was to eat there that night as well. We did this on Celebrity Silhouette a couple of years ago when I bought the "Ultimate Dining Package" once I got on board (which gave you free unlimited dining). Our cruise included Valentine's Day, and I was concerned (rightfully so, it turned out) that Murano would be full that night. So I pre-booked it and paid for it, then got a refund once on the ship but kept the reservation time.

 

Presumably ranchette would cancel their day 3 Wonderland reservation and go one of the first two days, instead. If you cancel prior to the cruise, your credit card gets refunding. Cancel on the ship and it's OBC.

Edited May 5, 2016 by MisterBill99

[MisterBill99]

I did not feel the deal for the kids was good at all but that's my opinion so I didn't make too much of a fuss about it.

 

When I said I didn't think the full surcharge would be worth it I meant I would NEVER pay $39 or $59 each to eat there.

Wonderland is "only" $49 but I agree with you. When I got it for 30% off in January that was about what I was willing to pay.

 

I checked the wording on the website last night and they say that for the $10 kids meal they are supposed to get kids versions of the normal menu items (and it certainly implied it was from the restaurant you're dining in). Not some crappy pizza or other stuff that's no better than WJ.

[MisterBill99]

 

We paid $10 each for them at chops the first night. I shared my steak and shrimp cocktail with my "eater" and we just ordered more sides. That was fine since I like the sides anyway. The whole situation was so ridiculous we really thought the waiter was mistaken. When guest services confirmed he was correct we just had the kids eat with the kids club the next night when we went to Wonderland. If they had not wanted to do that I would have switched to Jamie's and I would have tried to just share with them.

I found a Chops kids menu from Grandeur in another thread here and it has steak and shrimp cocktail. Is that not what you were given?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49872176&postcount=9

Edited May 6, 2016 by MisterBill99

[SMHCPA]

I found a Chops kids menu from Grandeur in another thread here and it has steak and shrimp cocktail. Is that not what you were given?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49872176&postcount=9

 

 

No - I would have been fine with that.

 

There was no steak or shrimp cocktail offered on the kids menus we got. In fact those were not offered on any of the kids menus. We were able to order those things for my son off the classic menus in the complimentary restaurants but Chops would have charged us $39.

 

 

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[davy jones]

Can I reserve now and pay onboard using OBC?

[Clarea]

Can I reserve now and pay onboard using OBC?

Nope, On Board Credit means onboard.