Ability to upgrade Free at Sea Specialty Dining Package - New?

[PeeDeeEX]

I have a few questions on the dining package before pulling the trigger on this:

 

1. From research, I know of the following inclusions for the Encore restos (feel free to correct if I am wrong):

• Le Bistro, Cagneys, and Ocean Blue: No limit on apps, sides, and desserts. One entree each.
• Teppanyaki: Meal included with the $49.99+ cover
• Food Republic: 4 items on the menu (includes dessert?)
• What are the limits on the other restaurants like Q, Onda, Los Locos, etc?

2. Getting this upgrade means potentially forgoing 4 free dinners (2 from free at sea + 2 with the upgrade) in the MDRs. For $140 more, is it worth skipping on the free MDRs over the specialty restos? I'm a first time cruiser with NCL so I don't really know what to expect from the MDR food. Menus look interesting though.

 

3. Thinking also of adding this upgrade to my 12 year old niece (cruising as the second person on one cabin so she already has the 2 specialty meals from the Free at Sea promo) and buying 2 additional Two meal Specialty Dining packages for my son and nephew (both 9 years old). At first, I thought that the SDPs for the boys would be a waste but I am pretty sure they would enjoy Teppanyaki (they love Benihana type restaurants), Q, and/or Food Republic. Both are pretty healthy and adventurous eaters for their age as well. I'm thinking the adults can enjoy a couple of meals in Cagney's, Le Bistro, or Ocean Blue, then have family meals in Teppanyaki, Q, or Food Republic. Is it best to upgrade my niece and/or buy the 2 SDP meal plan for my nephews? What do you all suggest as the best course of action here?

 

Sorry for the long post. First time cruiser with NCL. First and last cruise was six (!) years ago with DCL.

 

Thanks!

[n4w]

There are other complimentary options in addition to the MDRs.  Just saying...

 

Ask the kids, I'm sure they could find other ways to spend the money that would be more satisfying.  It's not like the choice is specialty dining or go hungry.

Edited March 5, 2022 by n4w

[luckyinpa]

i just logged in and looked at the pricing in general. 250 for 7 meals. royal offers unlimited for under 200 and it does include some lunch on sea days. cant imagine eating 2 dinners in a nite but def if you liked the dessert in one place vs the other

[Cruiseandgamble]

Here's another data point.  Booked a 7-day Western Med cruise on the Epic for June on Jan 22, 2022 (both invoice and booking date).  The below upgrade option appears in the summary, but not on the 3 other cruises I booked before the Free At Sea Dining offer change.

[TrumpyNor]

I have two cruises booked for summer 2022 (July/August), that I booked already last year (using FCC from 2020 and 2021 cruises that were cancelled). There is currently no possibility to upgrade the Free At Sea dining package at a reduced price. Same with our cruise for summer 2023, that I booked in January 2022 - no possibility to upgrade the Free at Sea dining package. Could it be that it is because on all three cruises we have 2 and 3 free dinners already (2 dinners on 7-day cruises and 3 dinners on longer cruises) - as they were all booked before they reduced the Free at Sea dining to include only 1 meal???

[ggTexasGal]

Thank you @Cruiseandgamble and @TrumpyNor!

From your datapoints, it would seem that we might be seeing what I had tried to point-out in earlier posts.  Bookings made prior to when NCL reduced the Free at Sea dining to include only "X meals"

(# based on length of cruise).

The other thing that had occurred to me is that possibly the use of FCC(s), also MIGHT prevent one's account from receiving the offer. (Just a thought!  I cannot say for certain, since our booking utilized several of my criteria, with the exception of one cruise we booked AFTER January 17, 2022!

 

None-the-less, it seems that NCL has made a reasonable concession with the upgrade offer, where they can generate a bit more income, from select cruisers who wish to have more Specialty Dining meals, utilizing the reduced pricing.

[TrumpyNor]

4 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

I have two cruises booked for summer 2022 (July/August), that I booked already last year (using FCC from 2020 and 2021 cruises that were cancelled). There is currently no possibility to upgrade the Free At Sea dining package at a reduced price. Same with our cruise for summer 2023, that I booked in January 2022 - no possibility to upgrade the Free at Sea dining package. Could it be that it is because on all three cruises we have 2 and 3 free dinners already (2 dinners on 7-day cruises and 3 dinners on longer cruises) - as they were all booked before they reduced the Free at Sea dining to include only 1 meal???

 

1 hour ago, ggTexasGal said:

Thank you @Cruiseandgamble and @TrumpyNor!

From your datapoints, it would seem that we might be seeing what I had tried to point-out in earlier posts.  Bookings made prior to when NCL reduced the Free at Sea dining to include only "X meals"

(# based on length of cruise).

The other thing that had occurred to me is that possibly the use of FCC(s), also MIGHT prevent one's account from receiving the offer. (Just a thought!  I cannot say for certain, since our booking utilized several of my criteria, with the exception of one cruise we booked AFTER January 17, 2022!

 

None-the-less, it seems that NCL has made a reasonable concession with the upgrade offer, where they can generate a bit more income, from select cruisers who wish to have more Specialty Dining meals, utilizing the reduced pricing.

My 2023 cruise was booked on January 17th, and just lists that I have promotional speciality dining included, but it does NOT specify how many... 

[HxFx]

Hello, We are on the same cruise as OP and got the same offer. We have the 2 free at sea plus a meal at Le Bistro from Amex. I thought you can not reserve specialty restaurants ahead of time if it was from some kind of deal. Is that true? I think it might be difficult reserving 5 specialty meals if we have to wait until we get on board. This is my first time with NCL so I could be wrong. TIA!

[swmichigan cruiser]

13 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

i just logged in and looked at the pricing in general. 250 for 7 meals. royal offers unlimited for under 200 and it does include some lunch on sea days. cant imagine eating 2 dinners in a nite but def if you liked the dessert in one place vs the other

We have a 21 night cruise booked and thought about adding at least seven more specialty meals and when we first looked it was $179 not $250 and if we  bought more than 7 meals it went up I think about $10 each meal and now it went up to about $25 per meal.  So they convinced me that I didn't need to buy more. 

[n4w]

1 hour ago, HxFx said:

I thought you can not reserve specialty restaurants ahead of time if it was from some kind of deal. Is that true? I think it might be difficult reserving 5 specialty meals if we have to wait until we get on board.

only 25% of reservation slots are available pre-cruise, the other slots are available after boarding (touch screens throughout the ship, through the app, or through your in-cabin TV).  All recent reports indicate no problems getting reservations due to reduced capacities.

[ggTexasGal]

Deleted

Edited March 5, 2022 by ggTexasGal
wrong post

[ggTexasGal]

6 hours ago, HxFx said:

Hello, We are on the same cruise as OP and got the same offer. We have the 2 free at sea plus a meal at Le Bistro from Amex. I thought you can not reserve specialty restaurants ahead of time if it was from some kind of deal. Is that true? I think it might be difficult reserving 5 specialty meals if we have to wait until we get on board. This is my first time with NCL so I could be wrong. TIA!

What might become difficult, unless reserved 1st (prior to For-A-Fee Restaurants), you would be asked for the fee per person!

You may reserve as many "Ala Carte Menu" restaurants as you choose online pre-cruise. 

[HxFx]

10 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

What might become difficult, unless reserved 1st (prior to For-A-Fee Restaurants), you would be asked for the fee per person!

You may reserve as many "Ala Carte Menu" restaurants as you choose online pre-cruise. 

That's interesting. So no charge until I actually go to the restaurant for the a la carte restaurants (and then my free at sea or upgrade could be applied at time of meal)? Am I right that only Moderna and Teppenyaki are the set fees and all others are a la carte? Thanks!

[ggTexasGal]

1 minute ago, HxFx said:

That's interesting. So no charge until I actually go to the restaurant for the a la carte restaurants (and then my free at sea or upgrade could be applied at time of meal)? Am I right that only Moderna and Teppenyaki are the set fees and all others are a la carte? Thanks!

This might sound as if I am being sarcastic, so please, understand I am not!

They won't pre-charge for the Ala-Carte Restaurants, because, they don't know what anyone is going to order.  So, YES, Free at Sea, or upgrade, could be applied at time of meal!

The restaurants that are "set fee," or ala carte, vary from ship to ship.

YES, Moderno and Teppanyaki are "set fee" restaurants.

[ggTexasGal]

8 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

My 2023 cruise was booked on January 17th, and just lists that I have promotional specialty dining included, but it does NOT specify how many... 

(Not being sarcastic) The number of specialty meals might be listed on the second page of your invoice.  Our perks are listed under "Add-ons", which is below "Special Requests", all are under the "Remit Payment" information. 

Yet, I do realize that USA invoices might be very different!

[TrumpyNor]

1 hour ago, ggTexasGal said:

(Not being sarcastic) The number of specialty meals might be listed on the second page of your invoice.  Our perks are listed under "Add-ons", which is below "Special Requests", all are under the "Remit Payment" information. 

Yet, I do realize that USA invoices might be very different!

I always book our cruises through NCL in the US. 🙂 On my online summary it is not listed how many free dinners are included. But on my email confirmation it states under the add-ons 4 promotional meals p.p. included. So a much better offer than if I booked my 2023 cruise one day later than I did.... So very happy about that.

Thank you for making me check again. 😊

[KeithJenner]

We can’t see the upgrade option on either of our current bookings (both booked last year).

 

It is likely that I will call tomorrow to upgrade the cabin one of the bookings. It will be interesting to see whether doing that will trigger this option for us.

[TrumpyNor]

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

We can’t see the upgrade option on either of our current bookings (both booked last year).

 

It is likely that I will call tomorrow to upgrade the cabin one of the bookings. It will be interesting to see whether doing that will trigger this option for us.

It seems like eg. bookings done before January 17th 2022 have more FREE promotional speciality meals, so it will cost you more "out of pocket" to have the same amount of speciality dinners if booked after January 17th. So it is very likely that if you upgrade, that it will give you the option to upgrade your dining package as well, but there will be less dinners included that are "free". So actually a better deal before than nowj - unless of course you do a very good deal on purchasing your cabin upgrade. 😊

Edited March 6, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[nagguks]

You will only have this offer if you booked after they changed the perks or made a price check adjustment on your cruise after change of perks.

Edited March 6, 2022 by nagguks

[KeithJenner]

12 minutes ago, TrumpyNor said:

It seems like eg. bookings done before January 17th 2022 have more FREE promotional speciality meals, so it will cost you more "out of pocket" to have the same amount of speciality dinners if booked after January 17th. So it is very likely that if you upgrade, that it will give you the option to upgrade your dining package as well, but there will be less dinners included that are "free". So actually a better deal before than nowj - unless of course you do a very good deal on purchasing your cabin upgrade. 😊

Yes, that is my thinking.

 

In our case, the dining should be the same, as we got 2 meals and that is the current offer in the UK. We pay a flat fee rather than gratuity on the free at sea offers, so I don’t think that bit will change for us, but it will be good if this triggers the dining upgrade as that will be a significant saving.

 

We will potentially lose on the internet as we were intending to upgrade that to unlimited which I expect to cost more now, but hopefully we will save more on the dining. That is getting off topic though.

Edited March 6, 2022 by KeithJenner

[dmms]

So after reading this thread, I checked my NCL app and the specialty dining plus option was there with price of $70.80 pp.  Had the yellow banner with star on it denoting offer upgrade.
Of note - I had called NCL last week and upgraded our room due to price drop. We sail on Escape March 26. 
Sooooo. I called NCL and spoke to a very helpful person who had to do a little digging. She said it was a new dining promo - two specialty meals for $70.80 pp. The regular price for the two meal plan is $104pp. Added it to our meal plan - total $141.60. She said it was such a new thing that her supervisor had to figure it out. 
Love discounts!

And CC because I glean such great info from this forum!!

Now I will try Food Republic for lunch one day!

Thanks😎

[ggTexasGal]

25 minutes ago, dmms said:

Now I will try Food Republic for lunch one day!

?s for those who have been on ships with Food Republic...

We have not been a ship with Food Republic. Is it open for lunch?

Also, can the FAS Dining be applied at lunch, if FR is open at lunch?

[aswmammoth]

On 3/6/2022 at 1:38 AM, KeithJenner said:

We can’t see the upgrade option on either of our current bookings (both booked last year).

 

It is likely that I will call tomorrow to upgrade the cabin one of the bookings. It will be interesting to see whether doing that will trigger this option for us.

This is what happened to us, we’ve been booked since November and had no specialty dining upgrade offer. 
 

Called today to upgrade our room, and our updated reservation has the option to upgrade dining package.

[KeithJenner]

3 hours ago, aswmammoth said:

This is what happened to us, we’ve been booked since November and had no specialty dining upgrade offer. 
 

Called today to upgrade our room, and our updated reservation has the option to upgrade dining package.

Didn’t work for me.

 

I upgraded yesterday and still no dining upgrade showing.

 

The cost to upgrade the internet has increased so it looks as though the perks have changed and I would expect to see the dining upgrade.

 

If it doesn’t show up by the weekend I’ll give my PCC a call, but I expect he will struggle with that one. Based on my previous experience I will probably need to explain that the dining upgrade offer is a thing.