Specialty restaurant reservations

Heard it can be hard to get reservations in the specialty restaurants at times. Traveling on the Gem next month and starting to feel like I should book now. I would rather wait till I'm on the boat but dont want to miss out either. Any shared experiences and tips would be appreciated

Only about 1/3 of the reservations are available to be booked beforehand.

We booked four nights in the Speciality restaurants online and before our departure. Received e-mail confirmation. Three days into our cruise we turned up at Bistro to discover that we did not have a reservation and on checking we did not have any other reservations. We then had to re reserve with what times were available. If you do book online I would check with Guest Relations as soon as you board.

We booked four nights in the Speciality restaurants online and before our departure. Received e-mail confirmation. Three days into our cruise we turned up at Bistro to discover that we did not have a reservation and on checking we did not have any other reservations. We then had to re reserve with what times were available. If you do book online I would check with Guest Relations as soon as you board.

Wow, I'm sorry. What ship did this happen on? I will make a note to print our reservation confirmations, or screenshot them on my phone before leaving.

I make the reservations beforehand. You can always change or cancel onboard.

Heard it can be hard to get reservations in the specialty restaurants at times. Traveling on the Gem next month and starting to feel like I should book now. I would rather wait till I'm on the boat but dont want to miss out either. Any shared experiences and tips would be appreciated

You should have booked reservations exactly 90 days prior to your cruise. Prime time dining will sell out. Not so bad if you want to eat at 9:30 each night. It the time you want are no longer available, you’ll spend time n your embarkation waiting in [long] lines to make reservation. Or use a touch screen kiosk to book a table.

Wow, I'm sorry. What ship did this happen on? I will make a note to print our reservation confirmations, or screenshot them on my phone before leaving.

We have always gotten an email with a list we can print out to show we have those reservations. Have never had a problem on board, but like to have that print out just in case.

You should have booked reservations exactly 90 days prior to your cruise.

Does NCL actually open online reservations for the specialty dining restaurants right at 90 days prior

to departure or do they fudge a little earlier or later?

Yes, I had a print out of the reservations and a copy on my phone - but both Cagneys & Bistro didn't have the reservations.

In fact when we arrived at Bistro they would not accommodate us till they had seen our written confirmation !!! Only then did they re book the reservations.

The ship was the Spirit and it was the Christmas/ New Year cruise

Does NCL actually open online reservations for the specialty dining restaurants right at 90 days prior

to departure or do they fudge a little earlier or later?

Yes, at 90 days for most. At 100 days for Haven

We eat early (5:30) and had no problem booking the restaurants that we wanted. I am OCD about having my ducks in a row and always print any confirmation and keep a folder with all of my cruise, airline and excursion paperwork. If you print your confirmations and keep them with you, you should have not problems.

Only about 1/3 of the reservations are available to be booked beforehand.

Where on board do you make the restaurant reservations? It my first ncl cruise so want to go straight to make them first thing

Where on board do you make the restaurant reservations? It my first ncl cruise so want to go straight to make them first thing

I don't know which ship you are on but many of the ships have restaurant reservations just to left of Guest Services.

I don't know which ship you are on but many of the ships have restaurant reservations just to left of Guest Services.

Duh lol :')...Im on the Gem.

Flexibility is the magic word. We are ready and willing to change the day, time or venue. Hey, we’re on a cruise, no schedule. Done 15+ cruises, never went hungry. On our last cruise we celebrated our 60th anniversary without advance reservations. Had a lovely dinner for 2, a little later than our usual dinner time.

Here’s to unpredictability

Where on board do you make the restaurant reservations? It my first ncl cruise so want to go straight to make them first thing

I think the best thing to do is download the iConcierge app before you get to the pier. Once you can connect to the ships WiFi (no charge, just pull up your WiFi settings on your phone), you can make all of your reservations. On one of our cruises we could connect while we were waiting to board, and on another it was while we were on the gangway boarding. Tons of availability!

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I think the best thing to do is download the iConcierge app before you get to the pier. Once you can connect to the ships WiFi (no charge, just pull up your WiFi settings on your phone), you can make all of your reservations. On one of our cruises we could connect while we were waiting to board, and on another it was while we were on the gangway boarding. Tons of availability!

 

 

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Great idea! I just downloaded the app. So, when you connect do you put in your reservation number, or since you are connecting to that ship on that date, you provide your cabin number and name?

All I can use now is the countdown clock.

IConcierge recognizes when it is connected to one of the ships’ WiFi networks and will let you register then. So, once onboard, connect to the ship’s WiFi and then launch the app. I think (from memory) it asks for name, cabin and birthdate and then you can see your charges and make reservations.

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IConcierge recognizes when it is connected to one of the ships’ WiFi networks and will let you register then. So, once onboard, connect to the ship’s WiFi and then launch the app. I think (from memory) it asks for name, cabin and birthdate and then you can see your charges and make reservations.

 

 

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Excellent! Thank you.

We have 3 specialty restaurant dinners included in our cruise, I have the ressies already done, and a printout of the confirmations, but I'd love to confirm through the app rather than run around the ship figuring out where to go to confirm. The other features in the app are nice, too.

Excellent! Thank you.

 

 

 

We have 3 specialty restaurant dinners included in our cruise, I have the ressies already done, and a printout of the confirmations, but I'd love to confirm through the app rather than run around the ship figuring out where to go to confirm. The other features in the app are nice, too.

If you have made reservations and got a confirmation then what are you trying to confirm?

If you want to see your reservations onboard to make sure that they have reached the ship then iconcierge is unlikely to help anyway. It usually doesn’t show prebooked items (actually, from memory I think it never shows them).

If you go to the reservation desk then they can print out confirmation slips for you.

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Excellent! Thank you.

 

We have 3 specialty restaurant dinners included in our cruise, I have the ressies already done, and a printout of the confirmations, but I'd love to confirm through the app rather than run around the ship figuring out where to go to confirm. The other features in the app are nice, too.

the app does not have this feature .you can view your reservation using the cabin tv. I forgot what it is called, somewhere in the cabin tv menu system there is an calendar icon that says cruise planning or cruise calendar or something like. it will show you all the shore excursions you booked, the shows you booked, the dinning reservations.

Excellent! Thank you.

 

We have 3 specialty restaurant dinners included in our cruise, I have the ressies already done, and a printout of the confirmations, but I'd love to confirm through the app rather than run around the ship figuring out where to go to confirm. The other features in the app are nice, too.

I misunderstood about the app. I thought it showed existing ressies. I'll just check on board. I remember last year on the Spirit there was a podium near Guest Relations that confirmed for us. I'll head for that.