NCL specialty dining plan prices

[vince_g]

Just noticed the price of the 3 night SDP has gone from $80 to $95.  My guess is this occurred at the same time as the price increase on certain spirits.  Don't know about you, but I just don't think the specialties are worth it anymore.  For myself, all the cutbacks make the specialty dining feel not so special.  I will take the dining plan as a perk, but I would not pay that price of $95.  How about you?

[erdoran]

29 minutes ago, vince_g said:

Just noticed the price of the 3 night SDP has gone from $80 to $95.  My guess is this occurred at the same time as the price increase on certain spirits.  Don't know about you, but I just don't think the specialties are worth it anymore.  For myself, all the cutbacks make the specialty dining feel not so special.  I will take the dining plan as a perk, but I would not pay that price of $95.  How about you?

Is that with or without the auto-grat?  If without, don’t forget the 20% upcharge.

[Two Wheels Only]

Is the pre-cruise price $79 plus 20% = $94.80?

[littlelulu01]

All specialty dining packages increased by an even $12 a couple months ago.  I think it was in November sometime.  Doesn’t amount to much extra if taken as a perk. 

 

If you’re on a longer sailing and need to supplement with an additional dining pkg, the $12 extra isn’t all that bad for good food and service.  We used to get pretty good food in the mdr but the last 3 sailings we concluded it isn’t worth the risk anymore to hope for a good meal in mdr so we gave mdr up. We’re on vacation and I’m not going to taint my opinion of my vacation over a couple hundred extra $.

 

They increased the number of specialty dinners on the longer sailings from 4 max to 5 max. IMO if you’re on the longer sailings it’s better to take another perk at this point and just pay for the 14-21 meal pkg oop because the more you purchase the better the discount. Anymore I just purchase hubby a pkg and then I order off menu without the pkg. For now anyways it comes out to be much less for us. 

[BirdTravels]

10 hours ago, vince_g said:

Just noticed the price of the 3 night SDP has gone from $80 to $95.  My guess is this occurred at the same time as the price increase on certain spirits.  Don't know about you, but I just don't think the specialties are worth it anymore.  For myself, all the cutbacks make the specialty dining feel not so special.  I will take the dining plan as a perk, but I would not pay that price of $95.  How about you?

That was the price back in August. 

 

We we have had $75 per person meals at Cagney’s. Paying $30 is a deal. On the Getaway, we had all you can eat lobster, oysters, prawn at the raw bar (that was a $80 pp bill). 

 

Is specialty dining new? Nope, been doing it for 20 years. 

 

Do you NEED to eat at specialty restaurans? Never. The food in the MDR is wonderful. 

 

But,,, if you WANT to eat at a specialty restaurant, the package is still a deal. 

[littlelulu01]

The price all in with the grats was $82.80. It’s now $94.80. It amounts to an additional $2.40 on the free at sea if taken as a perk.

 

Instead of max 4 meals as a perk on longer sailings they switched to max 5 meals as a perk.  7 night sailing still get 3 meals as perk. All specialty dining packages prices increased by an even $12 but this increase was done a few months ago. 

 

The cost per meal goes down as you increase the number of meals purchased in the pkg, diminishing the perk value so worth it to potentially take a different perk if only eating specialty.

 

Oop I can eat much for less $ without the package but husband benefits from the package price. 

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by littlelulu01

[vince_g]

17 minutes ago, littlelulu01 said:

The price all in with the grats was $82.80. It’s now $94.80. It amounts to an additional $2.40 on the free at sea if taken as a perk.

 

Instead of max 4 meals as a perk on longer sailings they switched to max 5 meals as a perk.  7 night sailing still get 3 meals as perk. All specialty dining packages prices increased by an even $12 but this increase was done a few months ago. 

 

The cost per meal goes down as you increase the number of meals purchased in the pkg, diminishing the perk value so worth it to potentially take a different perk if only eating specialty.

 

Oop I can eat much for less $ without the package but husband benefits from the package price. 

 

One of my upcoming cruises I did a double meta upgrade with points from my NCL MasterCard.  So booking an inside cabin and upgrading into a balcony.  Since the inside cabin only came with 1 perk, I chose the beverage plan.  Recently we were discussing buying a 3 night SDP, and I jokingly said I had better do it before they raised the price.  We will be on the Dawn, and last time we cruised Dawn, we really loved Los Lobos.  That was one of the reasons I wanted the package.  As for Cagney's, Moderno, and LeBistro, we have done them so much, we are over them.  We remember when they were really good (before all the cutbacks).  

 

Also after always having the promotional SDP, we of course had to make reservations.  Lots of times we ended up not being that hungry and would have been happy just having a salad in the buffet or something light.  Last trip we even felt that all the reservations we made were just another commitment, and we would have been happier without.  Last thing I want to do on vacation is have to keep appointments.

 

I wish we could use our Moderno/La Cucina platinum dinner coupon at Los Lobos.  I guess we will just go to Los Lobos a la carte.  

[littlelulu01]

On our bliss sailing we were able to use plat vouchers at los lobos, Q, or La Cucina because no Moderno on ship. 

 

Ocean blue on bliss didn’t have lobster or crab unless you count as an ingredient in soup or appetizer. The, “local” specialty for ocean blue on the Bliss was fresh oysters.  Not sure about, “fresh” oysters from the pacific nw on day 3-7 of an Alaskan cruise.  I thought it was funny looking at the menu that touted pacific nw fresh seafood and not having king or dungeness crab.  Those are definitely on the menu on any decent land based pnw or Alaska seafood specialty venue. Lobster not always on the menu in pnw land based but we ate at Anthony’s yesterday and they had Maine Lobster and filet mignon as the special.  It wasn’t that expensive.  Lobster and crab are easily frozen and I see no reason not to offer up for an up charge on a ship. I’d take the ability to pay substantial up charge to order lobster and other deleted menu items any day.

 

I’ve taken to finding an excellent server at the beginning of a sailing, tipping well, and making sure we we have him or her scheduled for most of our meals really increases our food quality and dining enjoyment. We had excellent luck with Le Bistro on the Bliss.  We just ordered different menu items and mixed it up. Our service was outstanding and our food cooked to perfection.

 

 Set dinner isn’t an issue for us.  We just set it up with hostess first night to ensure same server even if it’s following them to different venues. 

[graphicguy]

Had Lobster and Steak at Ocean Blue....some of the best I’ve had anywhere.

[littlelulu01]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Had Lobster and Steak at Ocean Blue....some of the best I’ve had anywhere.

On the Bliss ocean blue?  It’s not on the Bliss ocean blue menu or at least it wasn’t for Alaska. 

[graphicguy]

/|\. Getaway

[BirdTravels]

Yeah, the Bliss menu is totally different from other ships.