How does complimentary (promotion) specialty dining work?

[MaryBethV]

We are looking at booking a cruise where the promotion includes one night of specialty dining. Does anyone know how that works? Do we make reservations in advance through our cruise personalizer? Or do we have to wait until we are on the ship? Can we choose any specialty dining restaurant on any night?

 

Thank you!

[Colo Cruiser]

22 minutes ago, MaryBethV said:

We are looking at booking a cruise where the promotion includes one night of specialty dining. Does anyone know how that works? Do we make reservations in advance through our cruise personalizer? Or do we have to wait until we are on the ship? Can we choose any specialty dining restaurant on any night?

 

Thank you!

How did you get the dinner? What promo?

You cannot pre book.

Sounds like the one you received you can pick any night that is open and the specialty restaurant.

There may be a voucher in your stateroom upon arrival maybe not but it will be listed on your account.

Call the DINE line from your cabin or stop by the restaurant.

Every ship handles this differently.

[vjblk]

We have usually had a card in the cabin telling us what restaurant and day and time.  You can have it changed though.

[cubfan63]

10 minutes ago, MaryBethV said:

We are looking at booking a cruise where the promotion includes one night of specialty dining. Does anyone know how that works? Do we make reservations in advance through our cruise personalizer? Or do we have to wait until we are on the ship? Can we choose any specialty dining restaurant on any night?

 

Thank you!

 

Had the booking promotion for free specialty dining on Ruby Princess last September 2018.    Could not pre-book thru personalizer.  This was all handled (quite well) on the ship. 

 

Right after boarding and going to my room, I called the Dine Line about it and they said I had been pre-assigned to the last night at the Crown Grill.  I told the woman on the Dine Line, this was not my preference and could I pick something else.   She said no problem.  I ended up switching to a Crab Shack on the first formal night.  

 

There was no voucher in room (by the way) like I expected, but that was no issue.

 

At check-in for dinner at Crab Shack, I mentioned to the Head Waiter about the free dining and he said he would deal with at end.   At completion of meal, when I would normally present my card to pay, the Head Waiter came over with my voucher (he had it) and I signed it.  I saw him do similar with other tables.  

 

There is is no guarantee that each ship will handle 100% the same as to whether you receive the voucher or it will go to the specialty dining internally, but absolutely call the Dine Line right away when you get to your room to make the arrangements as you want.

[Yukonjake]

3 minutes ago, cubfan63 said:

 

Had the booking promotion for free specialty dining on Ruby Princess last September 2018.    Could not pre-book thru personalizer.  This was all handled (quite well) on the ship. 

 

Right after boarding and going to my room, I called the Dine Line about it and they said I had been pre-assigned to the last night at the Crown Grill.  I told the woman on the Dine Line, this was not my preference and could I pick something else.   She said no problem.  I ended up switching to a Crab Shack on the first formal night.  

 

There was no voucher in room (by the way) like I expected, but that was no issue.

 

At check-in for dinner at Crab Shack, I mentioned to the Head Waiter about the free dining and he said he would deal with at end.   At completion of meal, when I would normally present my card to pay, the Head Waiter came over with my voucher (he had it) and I signed it.  I saw him do similar with other tables.  

 

There is is no guarantee that each ship will handle 100% the same as to whether you receive the voucher or it will go to the specialty dining internally, but absolutely call the Dine Line right away when you get to your room to make the arrangements as you want.

The Emerald handled it similarly.  There was a chit in the stack of mail outside our cabin for the Crab Shack for our first night out. Not being a seafood fan, we took it by the Crown Grill on the way to the Crab Shack and asked if we could use it there. "Sure, sure,!"they said and sat us immediately.

[MaryBethV]

Thank you all so much! I'll just plan on calling the Dine line right away once on board.

[tillys mom]

We had a time for the Crown Grill for the first night on board, but as others have said, I called and changed to venue and night we wanted. We usually skip one formal night for a speciality dinner. 

[halfapair]

3 hours ago, cubfan63 said:

 

Had the booking promotion for free specialty dining on Ruby Princess last September 2018.    Could not pre-book thru personalizer.  This was all handled (quite well) on the ship. 

 

Right after boarding and going to my room, I called the Dine Line about it and they said I had been pre-assigned to the last night at the Crown Grill.  I told the woman on the Dine Line, this was not my preference and could I pick something else.   She said no problem.  I ended up switching to a Crab Shack on the first formal night.  

 

There was no voucher in room (by the way) like I expected, but that was no issue.

 

At check-in for dinner at Crab Shack, I mentioned to the Head Waiter about the free dining and he said he would deal with at end.   At completion of meal, when I would normally present my card to pay, the Head Waiter came over with my voucher (he had it) and I signed it.  I saw him do similar with other tables.  

 

There is is no guarantee that each ship will handle 100% the same as to whether you receive the voucher or it will go to the specialty dining internally, but absolutely call the Dine Line right away when you get to your room to make the arrangements as you want.

Hi Cubfan63 - since you were dining at the Crab Shack on a formal night, were people all dressed up to eat crab? Just asking because we don't really want to dress up for formal nights, so we look for alternate venues that might be more casual that night. Crab Shack would be a good choice if it's less formal.

[racj846]

On formal nights all that is required in any speciality restaurent is smart casual.

[LMADAMS91]

We had a specialty dining promo with our July 2018 cruise on the CB.  No voucher in our room and it wasn't on any of our accounts (4 rooms/8 people.)  I had to go to guest services to have the charge removed from all 8 of our accounts.  Not sure why it was missed but was handled without a problem once the error was pointed out. 

[Grburkart]

On 2/25/2019 at 4:55 PM, MaryBethV said:

Thank you all so much! I'll just plan on calling the Dine line right away once on board.

If you plan on calling the dine line, ask for seats at the Chefs Table while you’re at it. It’s hard to get and it’s around $100.00 but, from what I understand, it’s an incredible event. 

 

Glenn

[Thrak]

On 2/27/2019 at 10:15 PM, Grburkart said:

If you plan on calling the dine line, ask for seats at the Chefs Table while you’re at it. It’s hard to get and it’s around $100.00 but, from what I understand, it’s an incredible event. 

 

Glenn

 

I know people rave about the Chef's Table but it's not for us. There is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much food! I don't want to pay $100 per person and eat maybe 10% of the food they serve. We rarely eat at Crown Grill or Bayou Cafe for the same reason. We simply can't eat the amount of food they serve. Yes, I'm fat but it's "solid" fat. The "hollow" is all upstairs in my head.

[rocklinmom]

Oh wow, that's good to know that the specialty dinner vouchers might not be in the cabin anymore.  I'll be curious to see how it's handled on the Crown this summer.    

[memoak]

10 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I know people rave about the Chef's Table but it's not for us. There is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much food! I don't want to pay $100 per person and eat maybe 10% of the food they serve. We rarely eat at Crown Grill or Bayou Cafe for the same reason. We simply can't eat the amount of food they serve. Yes, I'm fat but it's "solid" fat. The "hollow" is all upstairs in my head.

Totally agree about the amount of food - way to much and usually pretty just so so wines - would much rather do a Crown Grill or Sabatini's dinner