Warning about Ultimate Balcony Dining

[rbtan]

2 hours ago, XBGuy said:

Excellent job, @Steelers36, giving a rundown on the UBD.  Of course, I have to add a couple comments.

 

• I always order the beef tenderloin entree, and Mrs. XBGuy always orders the lobster tails.  One time the person taking our order specifications really tried to convince me to go for the Surf 'n' Turf.  I turned him down, but he persisted.  Finally, I explained that I knew that Mrs. XBGuy would not be finishing her lobster tails, and, so, I would, in fact, be getting some.  Anyway, I am pretty sure that in all my UBD experiences--four going back to 2013--I have received two of the beef filets.  I would characterize them as "average" size.
• I always ask for my beef to be prepared rare.  In four tries it has come to me medium four times.  Oh well.  Some people have real problems.
• For our cocktails we always order a glass of wine--Chardonnay for her and Cabernet Sauvignon for me.  It's not very good, but we down the glass (we're too cheap to toss it) and then pour from our stash.
• Of our four UBDs, we have only had one on the balcony.  The one time we had it on the balcony we were in an aft suite, and, so, the balcony was protected from the wind.  Also this was a Mexico cruise.  So, it was it was very comfortable being out there.  Our other UBDs have been in balcony cabins.  We find it to be very comfortable inside.  We have never felt cramped at all.
• We once requested that they not send the photographer.  That did not work.  Minutes after the waiters set up the table for us a photographer knocked.  I was not going to chastise her.  We just posed as she requested  In a few minutes it was done, and we were able to start on our Champagne.
• One of our UBDs was scheduled for a Formal Night.  We decided to go ahead and dress up.  When the server knocked she was absolutely thrilled that we had done so.  She seemed particularly attentive that evening.  Lotsa fun, and I learned something.

We both did the surf & turf. It was excellent. Portions were really generous in size. The Apps, especially the Pate' were excellent as well. We did request no photography as well. They just took one picture & went on their way. Overall it was an excellent romantic dinner. We had a double rainbow outside as the evening rain was departing. We had hoped to eat outside. The Balcony on the minisuite was more than generous. The big problem was once underway, the wind from sailing made it an impossible task to eat outside. In 2024 we have a rear facing corner Penthouse on the Sky Princess. I think it will work out fine.

[XBGuy]

17 hours ago, rbtan said:

We both did the surf & turf. It was excellent. Portions were really generous in size. The Apps, especially the Pate' were excellent as well. We did request no photography as well. They just took one picture & went on their way. Overall it was an excellent romantic dinner. We had a double rainbow outside as the evening rain was departing. We had hoped to eat outside. The Balcony on the minisuite was more than generous. The big problem was once underway, the wind from sailing made it an impossible task to eat outside. In 2024 we have a rear facing corner Penthouse on the Sky Princess. I think it will work out fine.

 

Wind on the balcony is the exact problem we were avoiding.  Another popular workaround is to have the UBD on your balcony while in port.  We prefer to be at sea, but also the port schedule has never worked out for us.  I agree that your 2024 experience on the Sky Princess should be very good.

[voljeep]

7 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

Wind on the balcony is the exact problem we were avoiding.  Another popular workaround is to have the UBD on your balcony while in port.  We prefer to be at sea, but also the port schedule has never worked out for us.  I agree that your 2024 experience on the Sky Princess should be very good.

our first sea day is Thanksgiving - and we like that menu 

next 2 days are port days leaving at 6pm - which is fine for us to 'start' the UBD

true aft on Baja deck - kinda in the middle

 

hopefully wind won't be a problem - "IF" the CB is having it at all

[XBGuy]

17 minutes ago, voljeep said:

our first sea day is Thanksgiving - and we like that menu 

next 2 days are port days leaving at 6pm - which is fine for us to 'start' the UBD

true aft on Baja deck - kinda in the middle

 

hopefully wind won't be a problem - "IF" the CB is having it at all

 

Have a great cruise.  I am envious.

[voljeep]

11 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

Have a great cruise.  I am envious.

thanks - 3rd try - 2020 - well...covid ... 2021 ... i was coming off kidney surgery (went extremely well) - 2022 - we'll see next week

[Incognito1]

We booked this on our April TA.  Booked the night we were in port, but it was still too cold to hang out on the balcony so they moved it inside.  This was wonderful.  It was served course by course over a 90+ minute period.  The two waitstaff members were highly attentive, non-obtrusive, and clearly had experience in a high-end restaurant (which is what this felt like).  It was a romantic setting with music, a nice setting, and fake candlelight.

 

It was also a great deal if you don't have Princess Plus. $119 included 2 drinks of our choice ($19x2=$38) and a half bottle of champagne ($32).  We were able to modify the meal choice and got the same entrees we would've gotten in the Crowne Grill ($39x2 = $78) but larger portions, free photo ($20?, though the ones the waiter took with our own camera were far better), fresh flowers on the table, specialty desserts, and the head of room of room service as our waiter.  Of course, it was another $70 in tips, but it was money well spent.

 

We will likely do this whenever we have a balcony.

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, Incognito1 said:

It was also a great deal if you don't have Princess Plus. $119

Thanks for the updated price from $100 to $119…it is one of our favorite dining experiences with the other being the Winemakers Dinner on Royal-class ships (reading that has increased from $40/pp to $45). For awhile the UBD was available to book in advance by pre-paying but don’t see it as an option for our Discovery cruise in April 2024.

 

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, Incognito1 said:

We booked this on our April TA.  Booked the night we were in port, but it was still too cold to hang out on the balcony so they moved it inside.  This was wonderful.  It was served course by course over a 90+ minute period.  The two waitstaff members were highly attentive, non-obtrusive, and clearly had experience in a high-end restaurant (which is what this felt like).  It was a romantic setting with music, a nice setting, and fake candlelight.

 

It was also a great deal if you don't have Princess Plus. $119 included 2 drinks of our choice ($19x2=$38) and a half bottle of champagne ($32).  We were able to modify the meal choice and got the same entrees we would've gotten in the Crowne Grill ($39x2 = $78) but larger portions, free photo ($20?, though the ones the waiter took with our own camera were far better), fresh flowers on the table, specialty desserts, and the head of room of room service as our waiter.  Of course, it was another $70 in tips, but it was money well spent.

 

We will likely do this whenever we have a balcony.

$70 for an hour and a half dinner?

[Bgwest]

4 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

We booked this on our April TA.  Booked the night we were in port, but it was still too cold to hang out on the balcony so they moved it inside.  This was wonderful.  It was served course by course over a 90+ minute period.  The two waitstaff members were highly attentive, non-obtrusive, and clearly had experience in a high-end restaurant (which is what this felt like).  It was a romantic setting with music, a nice setting, and fake candlelight.

 

It was also a great deal if you don't have Princess Plus. $119 included 2 drinks of our choice ($19x2=$38) and a half bottle of champagne ($32).  We were able to modify the meal choice and got the same entrees we would've gotten in the Crowne Grill ($39x2 = $78) but larger portions, free photo ($20?, though the ones the waiter took with our own camera were far better), fresh flowers on the table, specialty desserts, and the head of room of room service as our waiter.  Of course, it was another $70 in tips, but it was money well spent.

 

We will likely do this whenever we have a balcony.

$70 for two = $35 for each server. Wondering how you arrived at that figure?

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

$70 for two = $35 for each server. Wondering how you arrived at that figure?

If the dinner is $119 a normal 20% tip would be around $25. The tip you mention is more like what we would tip out our reserve class crew for an entire cruise

[trbarton]

Here’s the current prices for some of the Speciality meals. 
 

Tom😀

Edited June 26, 2023 by trbarton

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

If the dinner is $119 a normal 20% tip would be around $25. The tip you mention is more like what we would tip out our reserve class crew for an entire cruise

I’m wondering how @Incognito1might respond to your speculation. 
 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Bgwest

[memoak]

I am a good tipper but $70 equates yeti more than 50 % tip

[rbtan]

23 hours ago, Bgwest said:

$70 for two = $35 for each server. Wondering how you arrived at that figure?

Generosity? We're in the hospitality field. We take good care of our own.Some tip more than others.Kind of like the dinner I set up for a large party 2 weeks ago. The client(the wife who booked) loved it & said we'll call in a generous tip.............Yup, still waiting.> This past Sat. did the same thing set up a large dinner party. The woman asks how much should I tip? I say whatever you wish. It's up to you. She pulls cash out of her purse. The first 3 bills were $100 bills. She gives us 2 $10's. A 20% tip would normally be over $100. So it goes.Plenty tip nothing.Oh well.

[Napagirl]

On 6/27/2023 at 2:58 PM, rbtan said:

Generosity? We're in the hospitality field. We take good care of our own.Some tip more than others.Kind of like the dinner I set up for a large party 2 weeks ago. The client(the wife who booked) loved it & said we'll call in a generous tip.............Yup, still waiting.> This past Sat. did the same thing set up a large dinner party. The woman asks how much should I tip? I say whatever you wish. It's up to you. She pulls cash out of her purse. The first 3 bills were $100 bills. She gives us 2 $10's. A 20% tip would normally be over $100. So it goes.Plenty tip nothing.Oh well.

Those of us who work or used to work in the hospitality industry get it and usually are big tippers. IYKYK (if you know, you know - for those who don't follow acronyms) 

[Astro Flyer]

Even after the restart there was an option to pre-book the UBD on the Cruise Personalizer. Now that specialty dining is on the Medallion app I do not see the UBD booking option.

 

Has anyone found the UBD pre-booking option for their cruise on the app?

 

[Bgwest]

It appears @Incognito1was a drive by and is gone. P

[suzyed]

On 11/6/2022 at 8:15 AM, Sn0cruiser said:

I was excited to see UBD offered again and booked (and of course paid for it) in the website.  I did print out my travel summary before we left since that appears to be the only proof you have that you have paid.

I phoned guest services this morning (we’re currently on the Caribbean Princess) because I had booked for tomorrow and hadn’t heard anything yet.  Seems they don’t offer UBD and had no information that I had booked it.  I had to take my printed travel summary down to (hopefully) get a refund to my OBC which I then hope to see as a cheque sometime in the next month or four.

 

It may just be this ship, but you may want to wait until you are on board to book UBD just in case.

 

We had the same experience, also on the Caribbean.  I thought it was strange that they let us reserve and pay for it and they don't offer it.
We did it in January on the Enchanted and it was lovely!

[suzyed]

On 11/7/2022 at 11:14 AM, suekel said:

I just booked this for my 11/27 Hawaii on the Royal.  We have a front facing mini with the huge balconies.  We overnight in Honolulu and we're doing it the night we stay there so no wind.  Hopefully it comes in courses but either way, it will be wonderful.  

Good choice doing it in Honolulu!   We did ours on the Enchanted on a port day but we came back to the ship after our tour and did it then!

[suzyed]

On 11/7/2022 at 11:18 AM, PescadoAmarillo said:

My dear grandparents, who were born in the first decade of the 20th century, were convinced (!!!) that drinking anything but a hot beverage with a hot meal would cause the food to become an undesolvable mass in the stomach. No matter how I tried to convince them otherwise, they were resolute. I drank coffee when I dined with them from my early childhood. That’s why the original remark struck me as being so funny. 

My mother-in-law always drank coffee with her meal.

[Incognito1]

On 6/26/2023 at 1:20 PM, voljeep said:

$70 for an hour and a half dinner?

We had only the $25 gift cards left.  Had planned to tip each one card, but the head waiter was really wonderful.  My partner added a $20 bill to the envelope.  The waiter had mentioned that he only did one dinner per night, and giving him the same as the assistant felt cheap.  Was definitely worth it. 

 

Might also have had something to do with ending on a half bottle of champagne ;-)

[suzyed]

On 11/7/2022 at 1:54 PM, Steelers36 said:

I can speak for Island Princess.  It was offered in the CP prior to cruise date and I ordered it via DINE line after boarding.  So, they are doing it here.  The day has not yet arrived, so IDK if it is the traditional serving or all-at-once.  Since Covid protocols are gone (other than suggestions or recommendations), I hope they are doing it as usual.  Perhaps I will call again and let them know we have zero issues with team members being in our cabin and near us.  Our waiters in the DR are maskless.

When we did it in January 2023 the waiters served the meal course by course.  I thought we would feel funny about having them in our cabin but it was a very comfortable, fun and yummy experience.  The waiters, one of whom was doing the UBD for the first time seemed to be enjoying it as much as we did!  The guys were fun and interesting and very nice!  It started to rain as we started to eat dessert but they quickly and efficiently brought everything inside!
The ONLY downside was with the smaller balconies on the newer ships, it was hard to get the right angle to take the photos since the sliding doors did not open wide enough.  The took several pix with my iPhone and those came out nice!
Wish we could book in advance and use OBC but they want you to prepay.  I think next cruise we will wait until we get onboard and book.
Definitely recommend UBD!

[suzyed]

On 11/15/2022 at 1:23 PM, alanasgpa said:

Do pics still come with the UBD?

yes

[suzyed]

On 6/26/2023 at 3:16 PM, Astro Flyer said:

Thanks for the updated price from $100 to $119…it is one of our favorite dining experiences with the other being the Winemakers Dinner on Royal-class ships (reading that has increased from $40/pp to $45). For awhile the UBD was available to book in advance by pre-paying but don’t see it as an option for our Discovery cruise in April 2024.

 

I just checked the price for the UBD on Regal for our cruise in September and it stated $110 which is $10 more than it was on Enchanted in January.

 

[Steelers36]

17 minutes ago, suzyed said:

yes

Your post takes me back and we did have a photo taken - outside as I recall, although we setup to eat inside due to weather conditions.  There was only 1 day left in the voyage and never got the photo.  Afterwards. I didn't try to contact the ship and then forgot and now it will be much too late.  Perhaps a do-over is in our future.