Booking Specialty Dining...Please explain.

[lvcrzn]

Pre booking the Speciaty Dining package (4) for RC is so different than NCL. Please correct me if I am mistaken...I select a time. Once onboard and in my stateroom, I will be informed which dining venue for the first day or possibly the second day. I have to go to a specialty restaurant to reserve the next three (day and and at the same time) to change the date and restaurant if it is not what I’d like. I really do not like to eat at a specialty restaurant on the first night as I may not have the proper clothes to wear. On a previous cruise my luggage was not found until 10 pm. Are the restaurants randomly chosen? This has got to be pretty crazy on embarkation. Any advise will help.

[tekguy26]

Once you book the package, they make a reservation for you on the second day at one of the unspecified restaurants. It doesn't really matter which one because you can change it as soon as you board. But the trick is getting the preferred times you want. Since you can't book them well in advanced like you can with the dining room. But then again, booking dinner times way ahead doesn't make sense because you don't know when the show schedules are so you may end up with conflicts. It might only benefit you if you have kids and need to get in those early dining spots. The package specified we had to do day 2, I'm not sure if that was mandatory or not, since that was a formal night. I wouldn't preferred to eat in the main dining room for that, but they convinced me to keep my reservation since I couldn't find a better time another night.

 

I recommend you book your dining room seating for every night so you have those, then when you get on board, go to the specialty restaurants you want and book them. That way you have more flexibility of selecting any any night, knowing you always have the dining room. Hope this was helpful.

[BirdTravels]

Pre booking the Speciaty Dining package (4) for RC is so different than NCL. Please correct me if I am mistaken...I select a time. Once onboard and in my stateroom, I will be informed which dining venue for the first day or possibly the second day. I have to go to a specialty restaurant to reserve the next three (day and and at the same time) to change the date and restaurant if it is not what I’d like. I really do not like to eat at a specialty restaurant on the first night as I may not have the proper clothes to wear. On a previous cruise my luggage was not found until 10 pm. Are the restaurants randomly chosen? This has got to be pretty crazy on embarkation. Any advise will help.

 

Unlike NCL who allow you to pre-book your specialty restaurants with a package, Royal will assign you a restaurant. If you have specific dates and times, it is best to take care of that at any specialty restaurant as soon as you embark.

 

The random selection of restaurants is silly. But it maximizes the number of cash reservations by keeping the package people out until embarkation day.

 

 

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[lajbec]

Don't worry about what you wear on the first night anyway. We don't even worry about even if we have received our bags. As long as you don't look like you don't roll up to be seated in your swimsuit and wife beater, you'll be fine.

 

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[lvcrzn]

WONDERFUL ADVISE! Thank you ALL SO VERY MUCH!!

I GET IT!

[katiel53]

When you sign up for the package, you can choose your first night to be night 1 or night 2. I have had my first night of the package assigned in advance on Allure once and another time no restaurant was chosen for us, so we chose what we wanted.

 

When the first night was assigned on Allure, it was a restaurant we didn't want to use that night, so we changed to Chops. When you sign up for the package and choose night 1 or 2, you need to pick a time as well. We were able to get the time we wanted, so it worked out well.

 

We chose all the nights for our package soon after we boarded the ship. We do the 5 night package and near the end of the week, it seems the restaurants are more crowded. We love going to the specialty restaurants and are looking forward to doing so again.