Group cruising on NCL Breakaway

[NCKhotdogman]

I am sorry that you are frustrated. I agree that 5:30pm would be unacceptable for dinner for our family, as well.

 

I assume from your posts that you booked this cruise yourself so don't have a TA to go to bat for you? Are you working with a PCC or with the group booking department? Have you tried escalating the issue up the chain of command?

 

While I agree with other posters that I think something different might be arranged once onboard, if it is that important to you to have a later dining time, I wouldn't count on it. If they can't get you a later time, is it too late to cancel your booking?

 

As others have suggested, if you show up at any NCL MDR with 19 people all trying to eat together, I can only see that becoming an exercise in frustration for your family members and the NCL dining staff, night after night. The only way freestyle would work for you is if your family were willing to break down into smaller groups and sit wherever they have space.

I booked it with a PCC from NCL. And when I booked it she totally convinced me she would handle everything for me. This was meant to be a special cruise. I am tuning 50 and will celebrate being a 4 year cancer survivor. So I wanted to share this with my family. And yes, we all did want to eat dinner together.

I did escalate to corporate office and they said that was all they could do. Once on board I can try for something else.

But as you stated, you realize my frustration. Once on board (July 4th week), we will not be able to work anything out. I am the type of person who plans everything. Then puts it to bed until the cruise. And I leave nothing for chance. And then I can enjoy my cruise.

If I could get a refund, I would. And I would immediately go to RCL or Clelebrity. I need to leave from NY or NJ since for medical reasons I can not fly.

Thanks for you input. We shall see! And hope for the best!!

[blackwing]

I guess I should have said that in my original message. I do not have a problem with multiple tables adjacent to one another. I have a problem that I am being FORCED into a 5:30 dinner. And basically told tough. Even though they promised totally different.

Why are you being forced? If you really all want to eat together, break up your party of 19 into 3 parties of 6, 6 and 7. Then try and make 3 separate reservations for the time you want. You can talk to the maitre D during the afternoon to see if they could try and get 3 tables close to each other.

 

I'm sure the specialty restaurants could also accomodate you, I saw huge tables at Le Bistro reserved.

[lovetrauma]

I booked it with a PCC from NCL. And when I booked it she totally convinced me she would handle everything for me. This was meant to be a special cruise. I am tuning 50 and will celebrate being a 4 year cancer survivor. So I wanted to share this with my family. And yes, we all did want to eat dinner together.

I did escalate to corporate office and they said that was all they could do. Once on board I can try for something else.

But as you stated, you realize my frustration. Once on board (July 4th week), we will not be able to work anything out. I am the type of person who plans everything. Then puts it to bed until the cruise. And I leave nothing for chance. And then I can enjoy my cruise.

If I could get a refund, I would. And I would immediately go to RCL or Clelebrity. I need to leave from NY or NJ since for medical reasons I can not fly.

Thanks for you input. We shall see! And hope for the best!!

 

You mentioned you will be on the BA for July 4th. So I am assuming you are on the June 29th sailing. If so here is the link to the Roll Call.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1894015

[GUEST080219]

There is a very good reason to not allow reservations in the MDR for times in the middle of the opening times.

Lets assume a group that needs three of the bigger tables in the MDR. They want to have a reservation at 7.30pm and the MDR open at 6pm.

What happens now is that while everyone else who does freestyle dining occupies the valuable table space for as long as they eat, lets say 90 to 120 minutes the group blocks the three tables for the 90 minutes until 7.30pm and their dining time on top. That is not fair to the rest of the guests and a bad idea in general.

[baffy]

I also have a group of 13 people on the Breakaway. My mother is gifting this cruise to our family. It is her wish that we all eat together (2 tables one of 6 and 7). I am glad I read this because I want to make sure her wish is realized after everything she is doing for us! ;)

[Dblack87]

We are having a group of 18-20 for our wedding on the breakaway. We were able to schedule a specific time for our whole group on the day of our wedding (the second sea day), but have ran into the same issue as you for the other two nights we would like to schedule group dinners. We noticed that we could go on our myncl account and book a reservation at 8:30 for up to 8 ppl, so our plan is to just go on two or three of the accounts from our party and book those times, then go to the Maitre D when we board and let him know the reservations are connected and we want to be near each other. The group coordinator on the boat said this was probably the best course of action.

 

We did something similar on the Epic a couple years ago with a group of 12. We just made a reservation for the group dinners with the maitre d usually the night before while we were waiting to be seated for that night's meal. It worked out well. But I understand your frustration, I wish they could be a little more accommodating to a larger group dining, but I also understand that with the "freestyle" model it makes that harder. I think that is why RCI and Carnival can accommodate groups easier.

 

We also had some issues with our general booking of the cruise that I was surprised by but our PCC has been on our side the whole time, and we did finally get things straightened out. I'm crossing fingers for upgrades down the line for all our trouble! Good luck to you!

[NCKhotdogman]

I also have a group of 13 people on the Breakaway. My mother is gifting this cruise to our family. It is her wish that we all eat together (2 tables one of 6 and 7). I am glad I read this because I want to make sure her wish is realized after everything she is doing for us! ;)

What a nice gift. Enjoy. All I can say is book as much as you can before hand. And get it in writing. Last year when my husband and I sailed, as just 2 people, it was chaotic on The Breakaway. And at that time I booked The Haven which should have assured that we were catered to. And that was not the case. So I fear leaving anything to chance. But all that being said, enjoy yourself!