Specialty dining question

[NotADopey1]

Is the fee for dining in a specialty restaurant in addition to the food order?  Does the same apply to specialty restaurants charging a la carte?

[DarrenM]

6 minutes ago, NotADopey1 said:

Is the fee for dining in a specialty restaurant in addition to the food order?  Does the same apply to specialty restaurants charging a la carte?

A la career restaurants, you pay for what you order. No entry charge.

[NotADopey1]

Thank you, Darren!  

[DarrenM]

5 minutes ago, NotADopey1 said:

Thank you, Darren!  

We have booked 3 speciality restaurants for May on celebrity constellation.

 

Paid for two and the sushi restaurant is a la carte. No charge.

[NotADopey1]

Is that the same with NCL?

[DarrenM]

No idea. Never sailed with them.

[leaveitallbehind]

Your question is a bit confusing. Typically with most cruise lines, the fee you pay for dining at specialty restaurant is simply that - the fee you pay to eat there and that is the cost for whatever you have from the menu.  It is not in addition to any other charge.  (Although gratuities may be separate). There may be unusual and specific items on some menus that are "premium" in nature that may carry an additional charge, but that is not typical.

 

A la carte charges are also what you pay for the individual items that you order those restaurants that have that menu structure.  There is no separate fee as the a la carte item charges are the fees you pay.

 

I believe that is the program with NCL's specialty restaurants.

Edited February 14 by leaveitallbehind

[Philob]

NCL would have a pp fee that'll cover most items on the menu or if you order 3,4... extra desserts or entrees.

[NotADopey1]

Yes, but they also have ala carte menus at some of the venues

[leaveitallbehind]

35 minutes ago, NotADopey1 said:

Yes, but they also have ala carte menus at some of the venues

At which you would pay the a la carte item prices as ordered.  They should not have a separate fee or cover charge.

 

If you are thinking in terms of including an a la carte restaurant as part of a specialty dining package, I believe the consensus would be to not do that as the fixed fee covers the normal specialty restaurants regardless of what you order and is typically higher than what you would spend at the a la carte venues - especially as that is directly dependent on what you order a la carte, which is in your control.

 

It's pretty basic:  the base cruise fare you pay includes meals at the MDR and any other included venue.

 

If you want to eat at a non included specialty restaurant, you pay a separate fee for that venue, which typically includes all items on the menu with no additional charge. (other than perhaps gratuities). 

 

If you eat at an a la carte venue, there is no separate fee to do so as you pay as you go for items ordered at their individual pricing on the a la carte menu.

 

Because of the pay as you go nature of the a la carte venues, you would not typically include them as part of any specialty dining package as the fixed fee would typically exceed the pay as you go total. This is most common with (a la carte) sushi restaurants.

Edited February 15 by leaveitallbehind

[NotADopey1]

Thank you.

[hallux]

2 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

If you are thinking in terms of including an a la carte restaurant as part of a specialty dining package, I believe the consensus would be to not do that as the fixed fee covers the normal specialty restaurants regardless of what you order and is typically higher than what you would spend at the a la carte venues - especially as that is directly dependent on what you order a la carte, which is in your control.

 

On my recent cruise on NCL the free-at-sea meals (less than $20 'service charge' at the time of booking) allowed me to get a $100 meal at no charge at the steakhouse (Cagney's).  That was an app, soup, entree and dessert.

 

I'd have to go do the math for my Le Bistro order but I think that was a similar cost. 

 

Considering a 2-meal package is $99pp if you pay out of pocket and ONE meal can run up a bill of that much at an a-la-carte restaurant, it's absolutely worth it if you want to go to those venues.  The cover charge venues may not carry the same value with the SDP unless you're only using the free-at-sea meals.

[NotADopey1]

Thank you