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Bogo or chops plus one?

bayonne

By bayonne,
in Royal Caribbean International

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c-leg5

c-leg5

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Allure is only allowing night 1 and night 2. They decided AFTER we booked otherwise. 

 

Maybe too many of us idk why they suddenly decided to enforce this. Every ship is doing it however they feel like I've read. 


Did you book for a later night ON THE SHIP on first day and then it was changed?

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:


Did you book for a later night ON THE SHIP on first day and then it was changed?

Yes exactly what happened. I was about the very first person booking bogo. I booked night 1 and night 4 chops at 5 pm. I happened to notice chops at 745 pm night 2, different night, way different time. I had mama mia at 7:30 or I might not have pushed. Tried several times and the loyalty ambassador I'd never met called down and and you can eat at 5 pm tonight outside, take it or leave it. Serious attitude. Are you kidding me sit outside?

 

Then my food was all wrong.. 3 out of 4 not acceptable .. but I left and went to my show and ate pizza for dinner as I hadnt eaten what they brought. My waiter said he would pass on my steak was cooked wrong. So i get all these charges .. like i no showed at 745 i think and went in the next day and was amazed the head guy told me there were no complaints last night. So one is u truthful. 

 

So he comped me a lunch today when I said I'm rating the food 2 out of 10, though they dont have truffle fries for lunch. My truffle fries they didnt have any truffle flavouring. My waiter says mam I can assure you these are truffle fries. Like I dont know unseasoned from seasoned. And my pork belly was a block of just fat. My steak cooked wrong, I ate 2 bites and sent it back and left. Decided I'm not eating more if I dont like rare meat. 

 

Amazing the head guy said no complaints last night. 

 

So I ate the first night with a lady and saw her post she got the diamond lady to fix hers when they changed to you have to eat night 1 and night 2. So she got her time, I had a fight with several. She too booked..but 150 not chops so maybe it was easier to change. I'm going to be on next week and following her!! She knows the ropes. All I got was push back. 

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c-leg5

c-leg5

Posted
Posted (edited)
27 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Yes exactly what happened. I was about the very first person booking bogo. I booked night 1 and night 4 chops at 5 pm. I happened to notice chops at 745 pm night 2, different night, way different time. I had mama mia at 7:30 or I might not have pushed. Tried several times and the loyalty ambassador I'd never met called down and and you can eat at 5 pm tonight outside, take it or leave it. Serious attitude. Are you kidding me sit outside?

 

Then my food was all wrong.. 3 out of 4 not acceptable .. but I left and went to my show and ate pizza for dinner as I hadnt eaten what they brought. My waiter said he would pass on my steak was cooked wrong. So i get all these charges .. like i no showed at 745 i think and went in the next day and was amazed the head guy told me there were no complaints last night. So one is u truthful. 

 

So he comped me a lunch today when I said I'm rating the food 2 out of 10, though they dont have truffle fries for lunch. My truffle fries they didnt have any truffle flavouring. My waiter says mam I can assure you these are truffle fries. Like I dont know unseasoned from seasoned. And my pork belly was a block of just fat. My steak cooked wrong, I ate 2 bites and sent it back and left. Decided I'm not eating more if I dont like rare meat. 

 

Amazing the head guy said no complaints last night. 

 

So I ate the first night with a lady and saw her post she got the diamond lady to fix hers when they changed to you have to eat night 1 and night 2. So she got her time, I had a fight with several. She too booked..but 150 not chops so maybe it was easier to change. I'm going to be on next week and following her!! She knows the ropes. All I got was push back. 


Sorry to hear you are having dining problems again.

 

I can understand as a solo person it is more difficult. If you were a couple and you got two meals for price of one on the first night you could have just canceled second night that was changed, if you didn’t like it and still had some benefit. As a solo if you pay full rate first night you would need to get half refunded if you didn’t get to second dining. 
 

I have never tried to eat later in the week. Do you get anything to show the reservation you have made on the first day? Does it appear in your app so perhaps you could screenshot it so you could dhow it was changed without consent? Was it clear when you booked it you wanted to use BOGO?
 

I am surprised Diamond concierge couldn’t have helped you.

 

 Not a connoisseur on truffle fries - I thought they were just fried, or baked, in truffle oil, or could be seasoned with truffle salt?

Edited by c-leg5
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nelblu

nelblu

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

Allure is only allowing night 1 and night 2. They decided AFTER we booked otherwise. 

 

Maybe too many of us idk why they suddenly decided to enforce this. Every ship is doing it however they feel like I've read. 

Unless it's quite recent, I was able to get the BOGO for nights 2 & 5 on Oasis August 20 sail.  The booking was done on board and not pre-booked. 

 

The funny thing was that I was cruising with family members and I had made pre-cruise reservations of Chop's +1 for them.  Went to Chop's when boarded and asked the Maitre D to book my BOGO and he gives me grief by telling me that it's a party of 8 and the table was set up for 7.  Mind you, this was as we boarded, and the Chop's was for the 2nd night.  I looked at him and said I have 3 children and I'm sure you can squeeze another chair.  Well, when we got there, it was a totally different table (by the wine refrigerator) than the one he pointed out.

 

Gets better, the second restaurant reserved was Giovanni's.  When he entered my BOGO, he screwed it all up as he had all of us in Chop's instead of G.  So instead of being Chop's and some other restaurant it was C & C.🤣

Was able to resolve it but instead of 5:30 we ate at 7:45.

 

I'm solo and never had any problems getting the BOGO for different nights.

Edited by nelblu
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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:


Sorry to hear you are having dining problems again.

 

I can understand as a solo person it is more difficult. If you were a couple and you got two meals for price of one on the first night you could have just canceled second night that was changed, if you didn’t like it and still had some benefit. As a solo if you pay full rate first night you would need to get half refunded if you didn’t get to second dining. 
 

I have never tried to eat later in the week. Do you get anything to show the reservation you have made on the first day? Does it appear in your app so perhaps you could screenshot it so you could dhow it was changed without consent? Was it clear when you booked it you wanted to use BOGO?
 

I am surprised Diamond concierge couldn’t have helped you.

 

 Not a connoisseur on truffle fries - I thought they were just fried, or baked, in truffle oil, or could be seasoned with truffle salt?

Judy who is the more seasoned pax, doing the same said she got the diamond lounge lady to fix hers and she was happy. So you are right. I should have asked her not the loyalty lady who I just happened to see. 

 

My truffle fries tasted exactly like WJ unseasoned fries. I saw twanger?  on radiance post a while back he didnt get any truffle seasoning, and sent them back. Lunch are unseasoned it's just dinner has them. I've had truffle fries and know what truffle seasoning tastes like. These were just like WJ fries. 

 

And as I posted on my allure thread I did have some Mdr luck. I went in and dinner night 3 was mdr and I sat alone at a 8 top and a fun couple invited me to sit with them so starting night 4 I got to move and the floor mgr arranged it. He said one more night then I could move. They wound up alone at a 6 top. So I really enjoyed that. It's just that one thing. Everything else is 100%. Just that one thing and having to fight to eat inside or miss my show. 

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Unless it's quite recent, I was able to get the BOGO for nights 2 & 5 on Oasis August 20 sail.

Judy posted on my roll call it just started and was this week .. never happened before but this week someone decided to enforce it .. after we booked our meals. Hey had they sent me a note with the change I'd have been happier.

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nelblu

nelblu

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Judy posted on my roll call it just started and was this week .. never happened before but this week someone decided to enforce it .. after we booked our meals. Hey had they sent me a note with the change I'd have been happier.

All ships or selective.

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RFerrington

RFerrington

Posted
Posted

My experience is that BOGO has always been a better choice ($$-wise) than Chops+1.  We pay ~$75 PP (including gratuity) for Chops, making the meals ~$38 PP/ per meal.  Chops+1 is running about $85 PP (before gratuity), making each meal ~$52 PP/per meal.  I have never done Chops+1 so I don’t know if you can eat both of your meals at Chops or if you have to choose a less expensive option for night #2…but if you have to choose a less expensive option, that would cause the value to be even lower than my example above b/c a Chops meal is more expensive than, say, Giovanni’s.
 

We just boarded Adventure and were able to book Chops tonite (night 1) and night 4.  We will both pay full price tonite and then get a $-0- bill on night 4.

 

We had a similar experience last week on Freedom. No problem paying on night 1 and then eating “for free” later in the week.

 

On Wonder, a few weeks ago, we had a similar experience to @firefly333, where we were required to use both of our BOGO on nights #1 and #2.  Much less enjoyable but we made it work.

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, bayonne said:

Firefly, very sorry to hear of your issues. But please maybe answer my questions? Which is a better value, bogo or chops + one.

also, can bogo be used at lunch.

thank you very much

I thought I had. On allure bogo has to be used only night 1 or night 2. I'm on a 2nd week and it's still being enforced.

 

So I can book bogo izumi and 150. And just pay for izumi. 39.99 plus 18% was 47.xx total plus extra tips. 

 

If I were to book chops and 150, id pay for chops I think around $80. For bogo and then it's not such a good value.

 

Chops plus 1 you can use when you want which isnt the case with bogo on allure. Just last night I had the discussion about booking bogo only night 1 and night 2. I'm solo not a couple which is why 2 nights have to be booked. That is why supposedly they changed my time from night 4 to night 2 this week on chops. They claim to have gotten a memo from rcl to enforce bogo and said its fleetwide. I said if its fleetwide I've have seen other posts, not just my roll call from solos. 

 

It's not completely a yes or no answer. My free 2 days of wifi goes down today, so if I dont answer it's because I dont have wifi, I'm still on the ship next week. 

 

If you dont want night 1 and 2 bogo isnt the best deal. Seems right now every ship is treating it differently. Allure claims enforcement will be fleetwide. Idk. 

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted (edited)
13 hours ago, bayonne said:

Firefly, very sorry to hear of your issues. But please maybe answer my questions? Which is a better value, bogo or chops + one.

also, can bogo be used at lunch.

thank you very much

I did explain the allure pricing on my thread exactly, allure is charging bogo as whatever the first restaurant costs. Izumi is 39.99 plus 18%. And whichever is the 2nd is free. I just tip. Samba would be cheaper also etc.

 

They claim they got a memo last week after I booked my 2 nights to enforce only allowed night 1 or 2.

 

So it entirely depends which 2 restaurants you want. And if it's important to eat another night. My birthday is in 4 days so I'd have picked my birthday but couldnt with bogo. 

 

Lunch wasnt included since I had to start night 1. If a couple not solo might have been able to work it out differently as well. My internet will be down in a few hours, so cant answer after this if it's still not clear.

Edited by firefly333
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jean87510 Great Review Rare

jean87510

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I did explain the allure pricing on my thread exactly, allure is charging bogo as whatever the first restaurant costs. Izumi is 39.99 plus 18%. And whichever is the 2nd is free. I just tip. Samba would be cheaper also etc.

 

They claim they got a memo last week after I booked my 2 nights to enforce only allowed night 1 or 2.

 

So it entirely depends which 2 restaurants you want. And if it's important to eat another night. My birthday is in 4 days so I'd have picked my birthday but couldnt with bogo. 

 

Lunch wasnt included since I had to start night 1. If a couple not solo might have been able to work it out differently as well. My internet will be down in a few hours, so cant answer after this if it's still not clear.

I will be D+ after my October cruise and just starting to look at benefits.  My apologies if you've answered this or I may not be understanding - You can only do the bogo the nights 1 and 2 if you are a couple technically?  That is I would have to use my BOGO night 1 or 2 and husband  would have to do the same?  We couldn't pick any other nights?

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jean87510 Great Review Rare

jean87510

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, RFerrington said:

My experience is that BOGO has always been a better choice ($$-wise) than Chops+1.  We pay ~$75 PP (including gratuity) for Chops, making the meals ~$38 PP/ per meal.  Chops+1 is running about $85 PP (before gratuity), making each meal ~$52 PP/per meal.  I have never done Chops+1 so I don’t know if you can eat both of your meals at Chops or if you have to choose a less expensive option for night #2…but if you have to choose a less expensive option, that would cause the value to be even lower than my example above b/c a Chops meal is more expensive than, say, Giovanni’s.
 

We just boarded Adventure and were able to book Chops tonite (night 1) and night 4.  We will both pay full price tonite and then get a $-0- bill on night 4.

 

We had a similar experience last week on Freedom. No problem paying on night 1 and then eating “for free” later in the week.

 

On Wonder, a few weeks ago, we had a similar experience to @firefly333, where we were required to use both of our BOGO on nights #1 and #2.  Much less enjoyable but we made it work.

This is helpful.  Thanks.  I just canceled a dining package for Radiance next September as it's Alaska and we can only manage 2 specialty dinners before we fall asleep at the table.  Will be new D+ and like this benefit!

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, jean87510 said:

I will be D+ after my October cruise and just starting to look at benefits.  My apologies if you've answered this or I may not be understanding - You can only do the bogo the nights 1 and 2 if you are a couple technically?  That is I would have to use my BOGO night 1 or 2 and husband  would have to do the same?  We couldn't pick any other nights?

The benefit is written it is for nights 1 or night 2. For any D+ couple solo whomever. People are asking for exceptions to what's written and being allowed on other ships but allure says they were told no more exceptions. People are posting well 6 months ago they were on such and such ship and allowed a exception to what the benefit is designed for. To fill less requested nights is what bogo is designed for. Like everything else the bean counters are stepping in. 

 

I'm a nobody in a balcony. If you have a suite a exception might more likely be granted, but not last week or this week on allure. 

 

BND is usually at least in a JS so her experience might not be yours. It wasnt just me another poster on my roll call also had her date and time changed and went to the diamond ambassador who fixed her time. We both were moved from our 2nd dates later in the week to night 2, formal night at times we didnt choose. She had 150, and had less trouble changing her time than I had with chops. I went to the loyalty ambassador..not the diamond lady and she was not as good about it. I went for something else a random bottle of champagne addressed to a different passenger. She said it came from guest services not her so maybe that's why she was huffy and not the best attitude acting like this was all my fault. And asked her about my chops dining time while I was there. I wouldnt be back to her I hope.

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nelblu

nelblu

Posted
Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That is the policy - what happens on any one ship and any one time may be different.

👍 It may be different from ship to ship and also the itinerary and port of departure.  For instance, I'm sailing Oasis from Bayonne on October 9th and Chop's +1 was available for booking.  However, my 3 sailings in 2024 on Anthem (2) and Symphony none listed.

Edited by nelblu
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nelblu

nelblu

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, molly361 said:

If you were guaranteed to be able to use your BOGO on ANY nights that would be the better deal but if you want to make sure that you can eat nights OTHER than nights 1 and 2 for sure then I would go with Chops plus 1

But even with C+1 there's no guarantee as to date/day or time for the 2nd restaurant.

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nelblu

nelblu

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, marci22 said:

At least you won't be forced into Night 2 for the second restaurant. A lot of people like to eat in the MDR on night 2.

Not me, I usually use the BOGO or Chop's+1 on the 2nd night or the first formal (?) night.

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