Confused on BOGO Dining Option

[DrivesLikeMario]

How does the BOGO Dining Option work?  I know we get 2 specialty dining venues for the price of 1 and I realize we have to use them on Day 1 and Day 2, but I'm unsure how we book the actual restaurants.  When I tried booking it online, it only gave me the option to choose a TIME, not a restaurant.  How do we know we'll get the restaurant we want for both nights?  Thanks for the help!

Edited February 20, 2019 by DrivesLikeMario

[myk249]

3 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

How does the BOGO Dining Option work?  I know we get 2 specialty dining venues for the price of 1 and I realize we have to use them on Day 1 and Day 2, but I'm unsure how we book the actual restaurants.  When I tried booking it online, it only gave me the option to choose a TIME, not a restaurant.  How do we know we'll get the restaurant we want for both nights?  Thanks for the help!

They choose the restaurant for you. You can check what that is in any specialty restaurant as soon as you board the ship. If you want to change it, you are usually able to at that that time. 

[katiel53]

When you get onboard, you can either go to one of the restaurants you want to use for the BOGO and make reservations for both nights, or depending upon the ship, there may be a kiosk or area to go for specialty restaurant reservations.

 

When we sailed on Harmony last month, we had the Ultimate Dining Package and no reservations were made for us for the first night as we were told many people cancel the reservations made for them, so now none are assigned and the cruiser can make the reservations once on board.

 

I don't know if that happens with BOGO as well.

[johnjen]

Yeah, it's not very well explained....just my luck they'd put us in Izumi.....not worth the risk. Besides, takes us away from our table mates the first two nights - then when you show up at the table, everyone's like "who are these people?"

[nelblu]

26 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

How does the BOGO Dining Option work?  I know we get 2 specialty dining venues for the price of 1 and I realize we have to use them on Day 1 and Day 2, but I'm unsure how we book the actual restaurants.  When I tried booking it online, it only gave me the option to choose a TIME, not a restaurant.  How do we know we'll get the restaurant we want for both nights?  Thanks for the help!

 

As soon as I boarded the Symphony OTS on Feb. 2nd, went directly to Chop's which was the closest to the embarkation deck.  Made reserves to Chop's on night 1 and playing ignorant, asked the hostess if she could make reserves for me to Hooked Seafood for a different date other than the 2nd nite.  Was successful and got the 2nd restaurant on the 4th night, therefore spreading the 2 nite package.

[taglovestocruise]

When we were on Symphony we were told no reservation are assigned. Had the BOGO and used it for Wonderland night three and 150 CP on night 4. 

[mattb31]

As a side note I called recently to inquire about the BOGO and the agent told me one of the reservations needed to be on night 1 and the other one could be used on any other day of the cruise that there was availability.

[LuCruise]

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

When we were on Symphony we were told no reservation are assigned. Had the BOGO and used it for Wonderland night three and 150 CP on night 4. 

How did you manage that?  BOGO is supposed to be for nights 1 and 2.

[Snit13]

26 minutes ago, mattb31 said:

As a side note I called recently to inquire about the BOGO and the agent told me one of the reservations needed to be on night 1 and the other one could be used on any other day of the cruise that there was availability.

 That is how it is supposed to work but on Oasis I changed them when we boarded.  There was a table set up just as we walked on ship.  No argument from them.  Just ask and smile.

[taglovestocruise]

33 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

How did you manage that?  BOGO is supposed to be for nights 1 and 2.

They only seem to care about FNDR. We have had a BOGO or a BOGO + 3 night, or a BOGO + 5 night and a BOGO + 3 night + 5 night on every cruise for the last 6 years. We have never used them on the first 2 nights, always like to meet table mates on night 1. Our last cruise on Symphony we were told they no longer make any pre reservations at all. We had a small problem booking our reservations on our Symphony 12 night transatlantic through the cruise planner.  Called C&A to get things right and after going back into the cruise planner to make sure all was well we found we had Solarium Bistro night 1 at 8:30, BOGO on night 1 at 8:30, 3 night package on night 1 at 8:30 and the 5 night package on night 1 at 8:30. Once onboard we found out Oasis Class is doing away with making any reservations.  On Symphony we paid full price for Wonderland to make sure we had it for a special dinner. That was night three and we ended up making that our first reservation with the package and was given a fully refundable OBC for canceling the full price reservation.  We also canceled the 3 night a week before the cruise.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thanks, everyone!  Really helpful to read your experiences with it.  Thank you!

[Slickdaddy96]

So I'm going on Allure in April.  The wife and I wanted to do 1 or 2 specialty dining restaurants.  We were looking at Samba and then probably Giovanni's.  I know we don't get a choice on the restaurants supposedly, but we had my time dining anyway and couldn't do my time dining the first night because it interferes with Mama Mia and there was one other night as well a show messed up our my time dining cause the earliest they let you do my time is 6:45pm-7:00pm.

 

So they will book us a restaurant Day 1 correct?  Will we be able to change that restaurant if it isn't Samba or Giovanni's.  I assume they book us the 2nd night for another one?  Will we be able to change the restaurant and night of that 2nd one.  I realize we are stuck with night 1 which is fine I just want to make sure we can change either of the restaurants and can change the 2nd night to our 5th night instead.

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Slickdaddy96 said:

 ... So they will book us a restaurant Day 1 correct?  Will we be able to change that restaurant if it isn't Samba or Giovanni's. ...

Yes, and yes, space permitting.

[JeffT237]

On 2/20/2019 at 4:19 PM, Snit13 said:

 That is how it is supposed to work but on Oasis I changed them when we boarded.  There was a table set up just as we walked on ship.  No argument from them.  Just ask and smile.

We are set to cruise soon on the Oasis and have a dining package.  In the past we took care of all of our reservations at any specialty restaurant as soon as we booked, in your recent experience on the Oasis there was a table set up specifically for speciality restaurants?  That would be convenient and you indicate it was near where you boarded, is that in the Royal Promenade? Thanks

[Atlantix2000]

On 2/20/2019 at 4:09 PM, johnjen said:

Yeah, it's not very well explained....just my luck they'd put us in Izumi.....not worth the risk. Besides, takes us away from our table mates the first two nights - then when you show up at the table, everyone's like "who are these people?"

 

If you combine specialty dining with my time dining, you don't have to worry about missing your table mates or your assigned wait staff.  In my experience, there are a lot of half empty tables in the main dining room anyway.  It's just as likely you'll be alone at your table on night 3 because that's when your table mates decided to do specialty.