Sun - Specialty dining & reservation ?

[SUNNY D]

So we will be on the Sun in June NB to Alaska Mon-Mon. We plan to eat in port 2, maybe 3 nights. We determined it wouldnt be cost savings to pay the $119 per person for the UDP so we will be paying seperately for each. We plan to try all four restaurants, La Cucina, Le Bistro, Moderno and Teppanyaki. We can make reservations now online. Ive read Teppanyaki is difficult to get into so I assume it would benefit us to book at least that one now. Otherwise, what do the experienced cruisers recommend? Should we book them all ahead of time or are there any that are safe to get into on the ship without reservations. Another CC member told me none of these restaurants are open for lunch so we reservations for dinners only.

 

Also, is there lobster served in the MDR on any nights?

 

Thanks for any advice!

[TrumpyNor]

So we will be on the Sun in June NB to Alaska Mon-Mon. We plan to eat in port 2, maybe 3 nights. We determined it wouldnt be cost savings to pay the $119 per person for the UDP so we will be paying seperately for each. We plan to try all four restaurants, La Cucina, Le Bistro, Moderno and Teppanyaki. We can make reservations now online. Ive read Teppanyaki is difficult to get into so I assume it would benefit us to book at least that one now. Otherwise, what do the experienced cruisers recommend? Should we book them all ahead of time or are there any that are safe to get into on the ship without reservations. Another CC member told me none of these restaurants are open for lunch so we reservations for dinners only.

 

Also, is there lobster served in the MDR on any nights?

 

Thanks for any advice!

 

If you can be a little flexible regarding dinner times, then it shouldn't be any problem just making the reservations when you are on board, even if it is for later the same day. The Teppanyaki it is smart to pre-book though, just because of the limited space...

Edited March 11, 2015 by TrumpyNor

[rjm11]

We were on the Sun over Thanksgiving last year, and ate in specialty restaurants almost every night. We only prebooked Teppanyaki- this is important especially on the Sun because they only have one table set up (maybe 8 people?)... the bigger ships have more. All the other reservations we made the day of- though usually in the morning when we had a better idea of what we'd be doing that day. It's true that they aren't typically open for lunch, though there were a couple "special" lunch opportunities like the murder mystery lunch that were held in one of the specialty restaurants. Sushi was also available for lunch.

[jjikids]

Lobster only in the specialty restaurants.

[SUNNY D]

Thanks for the info....I'm thinking of booking Teppanaki our first night. Ship departs at 4pm, I'm looking at a reservation at 6:30 or 8pm ....is there one that would be better over the other in regards to shows or activities that might be going on? Not sure what the drill is first day and how much will even be happening. Thanks!

[rjm11]

What time does the ship sailaway? There's typically a sailaway party, if that interests you. The Muster Drill has always been in the afternoon when we've sailed, but could vary if it's a late departure. Otherwise it's totally personal preference- most of the shows are shown twice a might- around 7:00 and around 9:00- so you could likely make one or the other with either reservation.

[SUNNY D]

What time does the ship sailaway? There's typically a sailaway party, if that interests you. The Muster Drill has always been in the afternoon when we've sailed, but could vary if it's a late departure. Otherwise it's totally personal preference- most of the shows are shown twice a might- around 7:00 and around 9:00- so you could likely make one or the other with either reservation.

 

Itinerary shows departure at 4pm. Never sailed NCL before so dont know when they typically handle the muster drill. We would possibly attend a sailaway party if they had one :)

[Guindalf]

There's a lobster & shrimp pasta in the buffet on around the second or third day, but no more lobster night. :(

 

As said, you can get a lobster tail in Le Bistro and a lobster tail pasta (has a whole split lobster tail) in Cagney's.

[RIvacationgirl]

Muster drill for us was around 3:30pm. We did have reservations for specialty restaurants and actually switched them on board and it was no problem. We tend to eat around 5:30-6pm, and noticed it was never busy. However, as time progressed it was much busier as it got later, and by 7:30pm it may have been hard to get in. I hope this helps. Our favorite was La Cucina!

[Loucat]

We had the ultimate dining package in February 2015.

We originally booked Teppanyaki for 3 nights. The food was too salty so we switched to Cagneys. Service was disorganized and food not that great.

Another onboard switch to LeBistro which was the best of all.

We had lobster tails (excellent) and stayed eating there for the remainder of the cruise.

We did see people trying to book Teppanyaki on board and that was not easy as the seats are limited and they get booked up. We were not tuned into LaCucina; did not like the menu.

All menus are on the NCL site but you can ask for variations.

[SUNNY D]

We had the ultimate dining package in February 2015.

We originally booked Teppanyaki for 3 nights. The food was too salty so we switched to Cagneys. Service was disorganized and food not that great.

Another onboard switch to LeBistro which was the best of all.

We had lobster tails (excellent) and stayed eating there for the remainder of the cruise.

We did see people trying to book Teppanyaki on board and that was not easy as the seats are limited and they get booked up. We were not tuned into LaCucina; did not like the menu.

All menus are on the NCL site but you can ask for variations.

 

We booked Teppanyaki for 8pm our first night. We plan to hopefully go to each restaurant during our cruise. I have heard mention of Cagneys....is this on the Sun as its not listed online under my dining options?

[bossrat]

There is a Cagney's on the Sun. For one reason or the other it is not listed for making online reservations. You can however call and make the reservations by phone.

[SUNNY D]

There is a Cagney's on the Sun. For one reason or the other it is not listed for making online reservations. You can however call and make the reservations by phone.

 

Thank you for the info! Is this one you would recommend reserving now or is it possible to get in after we are on the ship? I reserved Teppenyaki now only because of advice that its hard to get in to but seems the consensus was I could wait on the others and decide when we are there....but didnt know there was a Cagneys so didnt ask about that!

[bossrat]

I'm no expert mind you, but I think you would have no problem getting into Cagney's if you waited to get a reservation when you got on the ship. I think the NCL policy is that they only accept reservations prior to boarding up to a certain percentage of tables, based on what someone else once told me, thus allowing an opportunity for people to reserve something once on board.

 

But, I called and got reservations for my small group just because we knew we wanted to eat there at least one night. So if you want to be sure, a 10 minute phone call would be the way to go.

[RedRover96]

We're on the UDP, I've booked all 7 nights at all 5 restaurants on the Sun, just a phone call away! I know that is counter to the "Freestyle" however you might have problems with a good time for you if you wait too late to book.

[bossrat]

That is exactly what we did. My group of 8 are all on the UDP and have reservations at a restaurant each night. We have some minor adjustments for the times to make once onboard since due to their restrictions some of our party's reservations are at a different time (even though one person booked all the reservations on the same phone call. Go figure.) My Mom insisted on booking in advance since when she and my dad went on a cruise a couple years ago in Hawaii, all the specialty restaurants were booked full by the time she and dad tried to make reservations on board. (Knowing how my Dad was, he probably waited until an hour before dinner each night to get a reservation.)

[SUNNY D]

We're on the UDP, I've booked all 7 nights at all 5 restaurants on the Sun, just a phone call away! I know that is counter to the "Freestyle" however you might have problems with a good time for you if you wait too late to book.

 

I know what you mean. I think if we had the UDP I'd probably book them all ahead and not chance it. But since we dont have the UDP we will probably chance it. Just hate locking ourselves into a time not knowing how we will feel or what we will be doing on any particular day. Since we plan to eat in port at least 2 nights, there is no cost savings to buying the UDP for us, otherwise I was going to purchase it.