Is it absolutely necessary to make reservations for specialty restaurants?

[kimgoblue]

We will be on the Spirit July 3 and are interested in several of the specialty restaurants. I'm wondering if we absolutely must make reservations in advance. One of the best things about vacation for me is not being tied to a clock or schedule - we would rather wait for an open table than make reservations in advance. (Plus I like to check out the menu in the main dining room to see if that appeals.) Could someone who's sailed with NCL recently let me know if reservations for the specialty restaurants are really a necessity? Thanks!

[sparks1093]

Recommended but by no means required. Many ships have electronic displays in several areas which show how busy each dining venue is at any given time. I believe they posted the dinner menu outside the MDR around lunch time when we were on the Sky.

[2inTul]

We will be on the Spirit July 3 and are interested in several of the specialty restaurants. I'm wondering if we absolutely must make reservations in advance. One of the best things about vacation for me is not being tied to a clock or schedule - we would rather wait for an open table than make reservations in advance. (Plus I like to check out the menu in the main dining room to see if that appeals.) Could someone who's sailed with NCL recently let me know if reservations for the specialty restaurants are really a necessity? Thanks!

 

No you absolutely do not need to make reservations at the specialty restaurants. It is just like in the real world. If you are willing to maybe wait a few minutes there usually is not a problem.

 

The only exception to the above is the Tapanyaki restaurant as there is limited seating and a reservation is strongly suggested.

[Zeno]

We will be on the Spirit July 3 and are interested in several of the specialty restaurants. I'm wondering if we absolutely must make reservations in advance. One of the best things about vacation for me is not being tied to a clock or schedule - we would rather wait for an open table than make reservations in advance. (Plus I like to check out the menu in the main dining room to see if that appeals.) Could someone who's sailed with NCL recently let me know if reservations for the specialty restaurants are really a necessity? Thanks!

 

In a word - No. But you must be flexible. On our last cruise we went to a couple of specialty restaurants and made NO reservations. We just turned up and hoped for the best - we were very lucky. At 1 restaurant we were seated immediately and at the other we were told that we could make a reservation for 1/2 hour from that time - we did.

 

Now I think this is most likely to work if you dine early or late. I think it would be least likely to work if you turned up at one of the more popular restaurants at 7PM (prime time).

 

It also would help if you had two restaurants in mind and then checked them out in order of preference and if a fall-back to the dining room was acceptable.

[iceman2a]

I have walked up without reservations several times, twice on the Pearl in Alaska and once on the Sky. Never more than a 10 min wait, but always check the monitors to see where seating is avlbl!

[che5904]

You may not get exactly the time you wish but we've never had a problem getting in when we booked in the afternoon around the time we wanted. When we were on the Star, we phoned later in the afternoon for Cagneys requesting 6, they couldn't fit us in until 6:30. 1/2 hour either way wasn't a big deal to us.

 

Cagney's is the only specialty restaurant we've been to on either of our cruises so I can't speak for the more popular like Le Bistro, Teppanyaki or Modernos

[spacepotatoes]

From our experience, no. Like others have said, as long as you are flexible, walking up is not a problem. We did notice on the Sky that Cagney's filled up on the last night so that might be something to keep in mind. The Bistro on the Pride of America was also pretty packed on the last night.

[VideoTech]

We've also found that the specialty restaurants seem to do more business on sea days. My guess is that people plan more in advance for dinners on sea days.

[downsized]

We've had to wait for seating at a specialty restaurant a time or two, but never for very long.

 

Too...if you are in a suite, call the concierge. He/she can most generally get you in when you want...even at the last minute...if not, within 30 minutes, or so...but you will then have reservations, and will not have to stand in line.

 

Even though we sail in a suite, the concierge has always tried to have us book reservations for the entire week. That is simply something that we do not care to do. We would rather see how our day is going, and how our "tastes" for the day may be.

That TexMex dinner that sounded so good on Saturday may not be exactly what we want on Thursday.

On Thursday, a burger and fries at the pool may be exactly what we want!

[SFO-F/A]

We've made reservations at Le Bistro, Cagneys and Tempanyakki. Usually 7-7:30.

We've been able to walk into the other restaurants, no problem.

[gagal10]

Thanks y'all.. Good to know.. :) We made ressies for what we thought we wanted on the Pearl because we thought we had to, but it might be more fun to be spontaneous.. :)

[sparks1093]

but it might be more fun to be spontaneous.. :)

 

The heart and soul of Freestyle!:D

[ripjerry95]

When we said the Jewel last year we made reservations for all of the specialty dining..But that's us..you don't have to..the menus for the speciality dining are located at the information desk..and the menus for the MDR's are posted outside each around lunch time..Just go with the flow if you are the type that doesn't want to have a fixed schedule..Reservations for some of the more specialized events like the "Jazz Brunch" I believe reservations are strongly recommended..

[kimgoblue]

Thanks to all of your for your insights -- spontaneous is exactly what we want to be on our vacation!

[roger001]

Additionally, the reservation desk (with all the menus) is open most all day. So if you get an urge during the day to have dinner in one that evening, just drop by her desk and she can tell you what times are going to be busy and if reservations look like a convenience for you.

[gagal10]

This may not be the right place to ask this, so I apologize if it's not. Does the Epic have any sort of Brunch??? Palo's Brunch was my favorite thing about Disney, so we'd love to do one on the Epic..

 

TIA.

[newmexicoNita]

We will be on the Spirit July 3 and are interested in several of the specialty restaurants. I'm wondering if we absolutely must make reservations in advance. One of the best things about vacation for me is not being tied to a clock or schedule - we would rather wait for an open table than make reservations in advance. (Plus I like to check out the menu in the main dining room to see if that appeals.) Could someone who's sailed with NCL recently let me know if reservations for the specialty restaurants are really a necessity? Thanks!

 

No, it really isn't but without them you may not get the seating time you would like. Many think because the restaurants do not always look full, they have plenty available tables. The truth is, there are only a few on the wait staff and to keep the service at its finest the sur charge restaurants will normally, only allow for about 50% occupancy. On the nights they run specials like 20% off or buy one, get one free they are filled to capacity the entire evening. Normally, if you do not want to make reservations you should not plan on eating until at least 8:30pm.

[cuprsnel]

We have sailed NCL three times and we eat in the specialty restaurants every night and we have never made reservations. We don't like to plan our meals in advance and would rather play it by ear. Rarely had any issues with this strategy but there are so many dining options that in the event of a wait we just go somewhere else. We have never done teppanyaki but that does look crowded so you may want to make reservations otherwise if you are a little flexible I wouldn't bother.

[mitsugirly]

Recommended but by no means required. Many ships have electronic displays in several areas which show how busy each dining venue is at any given time. I believe they posted the dinner menu outside the MDR around lunch time when we were on the Sky.

 

Does anyone know if the Spirit has this electronic display to show if there are available seating at the restaurants? I loved this feature on the Epic last year.