UDP reservation times are TERRIBLE :(

[SissasMomE]

Have you sailed post NCL changing the rules to allow pre-boarding reservations in the complimentary restaurants also? If so, and you have had no problems getting in, that is very reassuring. Thank you :)

 

Right now, even the complimentary restaurants have only 5:30 or 9:30 reservations available on Sea days. Seems like the new policy of allowing reservations in all venues may be counter-productive to the entire free-style concept.

 

Hmm - I'm not sure. Our last cruise was in April. I never tried to make a MDR ressie, so I'm not sure if the policy was in place when I sailed or not. Also, are you sailing the Breakaway? For some reason, that ship always had complaints of wait times in the MDR. I'm not sure why. We didn't have an issue on the Getaway.

[Bettytrouble]

Reservations are guaranteed with the UDP with 24 hours notice.

Go to the "terms and conditions" and FAQ section.

 

 

Have you tried calling in as well?

[js]

I didnt read all the responses but last year I wanted to readjust my times for a party of 10 for four restaurants. As sion as I got on the ship, I went to each location and changed ally times without any problems.

 

I would be like you though. I would not want to be eating so early but I would book and them as soon as your onboard go readjust.

[BermudaBound2014]

Reservations are guaranteed with the UDP with 24 hours notice.

Go to the "terms and conditions" and FAQ section.

 

 

Have you tried calling in as well?

 

Thank you for sharing. This information answers some of my question but does not solve the problem. At least I know I can't be turned away entirely IF I make reservations 24 hours in advance (which I don't really want to do but will for the small venues); however I tend to wonder if the only reservations available will be the 5:30 slot which doesn't work for us :(.

[EyeSeaEwe]

NCL only opens 10% of reservations for dining and shows to pre-booking. The other 90% is only available once you are on board.

[BermudaBound2014]

NCL only opens 10% of reservations for dining and shows to pre-booking. The other 90% is only available once you are on board.

 

Is this a written policy? If so, I'd be more inclined to purchase UDP.

[buckirj1]

It is different now for sure. No doubt about it. I'm sure the dining packages aren't helping ....

 

What's starting to happen at NCL now is exactly what happened at DisneyWorld when their dining plans were introduced. Unfortunately, these days it seems you have to plan if you want to eat at a specialty restaurant. Fortunately, the pendulum inevitably swings back sooner or later. And most fortunate of all...there's always somewhere to eat:)

[skiwee]

I just made all of our dining reservations last week for

Our upcoming November cruise. I had 6 in our group and got all our times we wanted. The agent told me that only %10 of seatings are allowed to be reserved prior. The rest are saved for onboard booking.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[SissasMomE]

What's starting to happen at NCL now is exactly what happened at DisneyWorld when their dining plans were introduced. Unfortunately, these days it seems you have to plan if you want to eat at a specialty restaurant. Fortunately, the pendulum inevitably swings back sooner or later. And most fortunate of all...there's always somewhere to eat:)

 

We really don't waste the money on them anymore. It's not like back in the day when a speciality restaurant was truly a 5-star dining experience. Now, it's more like Outback, or comparable. <shrug> We can get that here, so why bother. We do it now if we're traveling with someone who has never tried it, or if our daughter wants to dine in one of them. Other than that, we can take them or leave them.

 

Now Disney is a different story :)

Edited August 9, 2014 by SissasMomE

[pe4all]

When we cruised on Breakaway (our first NCL cruise) we had booked the (then available) 3 restaurant package. I booked the restaurants the moment the opened up online. We eat at 5:30, so no problem getting that time. However, as we left the restaurants - especially towards the end of the week - people were literally screaming at the host/hostesses because the dining times were all booked up - except for the 9:30 slot. I booked our Gem restaurants (7 slots) when that opened up, and Teppanyaki would only let us book a 2 or 4 person slot. Well, there are 3 of us cruising. I called NCL, and they booked a 4 person slot for the 3 of us. I have to cancel one when on board, which kind of makes no sense to me! Anyway, will see how this works out. Preferred only booking the 3 restaurant package. If the UDP doesn't work on Gem, we will skip it on Epic and just book individual restaurants when they open online, to work around the shows.

[SuiteCruiser]

I have never made dinner reservations before getting on board, and the only reservation I've made more than same day was Teppanyaki. I don't think you have anything to worry about. If you're trying to make reservations online before boarding you really aren't using Freestyle at all. Do I want to eat at Le Bistro at 7:30, but wind up with 8:15? Sometimes, but if you're flexible, it doesn't matter. Not all available seats are listed for early reservations, in fact half or less than half has been what we've been told. Just FYI, I've been on Breakaway, Gem and the Sky since this the UDP came out.

[NYcruzzer]

How unfortunate :( I was under the impression that NCL was the "free-style" line. If I'm understanding you correctly, on NCL the only truly free-style is the buffet?? It appears that even the free restaurants report extremely long waits at popular times for those without reservations, so that doesn't seem like free-style to me :(

 

You are correct. I'd stick with the buffets if I were you.....

[wasiii]

.....freestyle meaning that you can go eat anytime you want to. It does not mean that they have to have a seat available for you exactly when you want. There are over 4000 people on the ship wanting to eat. The reason for the reservation process is to take some of the confusion away from on the ship to doing it before hand. Not everyone is going to be able to eat exactly when they want. Unfortunately in this case it is first come first served, even as far as having reservations go.

 

If you don't want to make reservations before you get on the ship then don't. Just realize that the longer you wait the less of a chance at getting your exact dining time.

 

I booked my shows that I wanted to attend. I booked no dining times though for two reasons. Firstly, we're not sure of when we are going to be doing things on/off the ship. Second, I can ask the concierge to make the reservation for me.

 

I know not everyone has access to the concierge. We didn't have it last year but I wanted to get it for the Queen this year because she deserved it.

 

wasiii

[EyeSeaEwe]

Is this a written policy? If so, I'd be more inclined to purchase UDP.

 

I don't know if it is written where it is available to the public, but it is the way they do things. Call you PCC and ask.

[punkincc]

How unfortunate :( I was under the impression that NCL was the "free-style" line. If I'm understanding you correctly, on NCL the only truly free-style is the buffet?? It appears that even the free restaurants report extremely long waits at popular times for those without reservations, so that doesn't seem like free-style to me :(

 

I don't know where you are getting this impression. We recently cruised on the Getaway which is the sister ship of the Breakaway and there were NO waits that I either saw or experienced myself in any of the free venues. We walked into Tropicana at peak hours and were seated immediately. We only made one reservation pre cruise. The rest of the time, we ate when and where we felt like it. If you are worried, and your specific dates and times are important, make them at the reservation desk or the venue upon boarding. If you are more flexible with date and times, then you can put it off till the day before or even the day of. There is likely to be availability. We often looked at the restaurant availability boards around the ship and the availability always looked good. The only one I would do pre cruise or as soon as you board is Teppanyaki as it is a small venue and probably has much less availability.

[mac622]

Just returned a few weeks ago from the Breakaway. As far as making reservations at the specialty restaurants when you get to the port after you check in they will have tables set up to make your reservations. While we were waiting to board we made all our reservations for the specialty restaurants that we wanted. We were able to get times from 6:30 till 7:30 with no problem. You can also make your reservations once you board the ship by guest services they have a special area where you can make the dining reservations, but I would really try and do it at the port. Have a wonderful cruise!

[KeithJenner]

From my experience, the situation in the speciality restaurants seems totally random since the UDP was introduced.

 

We were on the Spirit and Epic earlier this year. Almost all restaurants were available every night for walk ups.

 

I'm currently on the Jade (sitting on my balcony with a bottle of wine :) ) and last week the restaurants were very full. We couldn't get into Le Bistro 48 hours in advance, and almost everything was booked up for the final two days from about mid week.

 

This week (second week of a B2B) it looks very different. Teppenyaki was fully booked for the week on embarkation day, but most restaurants were available for walk ups today (first sea day). We have made our reservations for later this week and had lots of options.

 

I asked why it was so busy last week and was told it was because of lots of UDP bookings. It seems that there aren't as many sold this week.

[soaringfalcon]

Have you sailed post NCL changing the rules to allow pre-boarding reservations in the complimentary restaurants also? If so, and you have had no problems getting in, that is very reassuring. Thank you :)

 

Right now, even the complimentary restaurants have only 5:30 or 9:30 reservations available on Sea days. Seems like the new policy of allowing reservations in all venues may be counter-productive to the entire free-style concept.

 

We just got back yesterday. The only restaurant that was unavailable was Teppanyaki. It only has 2 tables on the Gem so that's not surprising. The Gem was sailing completely full, over 3K passengers on board, and there was never a wait at any of the free dining rooms. We were easily able to get reservations, once onboard, for La Cucina and Cagneys.

[galleycook]

When the room is full...it's full. That has nothing to do with "Freestyle" :p

 

No different than a land based restaurant. You may get lucky as a walk up at some of the restaurants.

 

Well I wouldn't say that is entirely true or the point. NCL promotes the "eat what you want, where you want, when you want" concept. Making reservations for a particular time starts to approach the fixed seating procedure of other cruise lines. The implication is that the rules that apply to other cruise lines are not applicable on NCL.

 

I don't think it would be unreasonable for someone unfamiliar with the Free Style concept to believe they could just walk up to a restaurant at any time and get a seat. People who regularly sail with NCL know what Free Styling really means.

[Joanne652]

We just returned from the Pearl to Alaska and we had no problems getting into the specialty restaurants with the UDP. We made reservations at the guest services desk on the first sea day for the whole week and had no issues at all. Only 3 in our group though. We loved the package, would definately do it again. Was well worth the $119.

[SuiteCruiser]

Well I wouldn't say that is entirely true or the point. NCL promotes the "eat what you want, where you want, when you want" concept. Making reservations for a particular time starts to approach the fixed seating procedure of other cruise lines. The implication is that the rules that apply to other cruise lines are not applicable on NCL.

 

I don't think it would be unreasonable for someone unfamiliar with the Free Style concept to believe they could just walk up to a restaurant at any time and get a seat. People who regularly sail with NCL know what Free Styling really means.

 

That may be true, but they've got to realize there are 4000 people on board and they are also going to want to eat. I don't think it's that big a jump to realizing that you may not get a table at the time you want to walk in.

[galleycook]

That may be true, but they've got to realize there are 4000 people on board and they are also going to want to eat. I don't think it's that big a jump to realizing that you may not get a table at the time you want to walk in.

 

That may be the reality but it's not the way NCL markets it (IMO). This is off their website;

 

Freestyle Dining

 

No set dining times, no assigned tables, a relaxed dress code and more restaurants than days in the week on every ship, so you can enjoy whatever you're hungry for, whenever you're hungry.

 

If I'm new to NCL, I might think that I can walk up to a restaurant and get in without reservations. I might assume that they have done it enough times and have enough different venues that they know how to feed a few thousand people over the course of 3-4 hours without anyone waiting. I'm going to assume they have implemented and advertise a concept because they know how to make it work.

 

Last year we did a Celebrity cruise and chose the "Anytime" dining option. Whenever we'd ask our butler if we needed reservations, he would always say no....just walk up. Every time, we ended up waiting, and on one evening for almost an hour. We chose Anytime because we didn't want to be tied to a fixed time everyday. It surprised us that the butler seemed to think we could just walk up though. We did book the Specialty Restaurants just to make sure we got in.

[BermudaBound2014]

As mentioned, I personally don't mind waiting in the slightest and certainly don't expect to be seated immediately anywhere (even the complimentary restaurants). My concern is paying an additional $119 for UDP and being turned away entirely from restaurants because I did not make a reservation days in advance (as has been mentioned in this very thread).

 

I admire all of you who are willing to make your reservations weeks/months prior to sailing, but I have a hard time knowing what I want to eat for dinner tonight, let alone choose where and when I want to eat before I even step aboard ship.

 

Happy Sailing!

[Starry Eyes]

As mentioned, I personally don't mind waiting in the slightest and certainly don't expect to be seated immediately anywhere (even the complimentary restaurants). My concern is paying an additional $119 for UDP and being turned away entirely from restaurants because I did not make a reservation days in advance (as has been mentioned in this very thread).

 

I admire all of you who are willing to make your reservations weeks/months prior to sailing, but I have a hard time knowing what I want to eat for dinner tonight, let alone choose where and when I want to eat before I even step aboard ship.

 

Happy Sailing!

Your logic makes complete sense.

 

Of course, if you make show reservations, you may find certain dinners fall into place fairly easily (for example dinner before or after the comedy show). If you also decide to wing it on the shows, then each night is free to spend as you please.

 

Personally, on day 1, I'd still book reservations Teppanakki and probably LeBistro to avoid disappointment. Maybe reserve them late in the cruise...if you go as walkins sooner, you could cancel those reservations; some other passenger will likely be thrilled to snag the spot you vacate. Or maybe you'll want to go again.

 

Please post again after your cruise to tell us how it worked out for you.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Starry Eyes

[Excitedcruiser2012]

We did have to wait a few times to get into the main dining room on the Jade recently but it wasn't a problem. We were asked to wait in a bar and we're given a voucher for free drinks!!