Is it more difficult to get specialty restaurant reservations now

[Family Travel Story]

For anyone who has been on an NCL cruise over the last few weeks have you noticed that with all the people getting the free UDP; are the reservations at specialty restaurants more difficult to obtain. I'm asking because we're going on the gem in a few weeks and would like to eat at lebistro twice in Cagney's twice but don't want to eat every night at an upcharge so we're not buying the dining plan

 

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[cliffd64]

All responses to this type of inquiry lately suggest that there is no impact on specialty restaurants due to the promotions.

[Guindalf]

Despite the appearance here, relatively few people have the UDP, so the answer is no.

 

Obviously, if you don't book in advance, some of the specialty restaurants are difficult to get into at peak times and Teppenyaki MUST be booked as early as possible, but on the Dawn in January, we were able to eat wherever we wanted provided we didn't try at the busiest times without a reservation. We had the UDP and ate in Cagney's three times as well as all the other pay restaurants at least once each (including two in one night for early appetizers and dinner later).

[FrugalMother99]

We have the UDP promo. We're newbies & haven't cruised yet, so I'm not sure how the reservation system works. But, I just made dinner ressies for a party of 4 for every night of our June/July 12 night Mediterranean sailing on the Spirit. I could NOT make ressies @ Cagney's or Shogun at all & had difficulty making ressies @ LeBistro & Teppanyaki, unless we wanted early OR late seating. We're sailing during a busy time of the year & on a smaller ship, so that may be the issue for us.

Edited March 28, 2015 by FrugalMother99

[trex-de]

I posted a similar question last weekend. Zero responses. I am hoping that is good news. We do not have a udp but are considering purchasing separately. Would hate to pay and then have everything booked.

[LrgPizza]

UDP has been given away in various promos ever since it was first introduced. We had free UDP on our cruise last May. Nothing has changed "the past few weeks", as you said. Reservations will be the same as always. Not all passengers book at the same time, so not everyone gets the same promos.

[punkincc]

We do not have a udp but are considering purchasing separately. Would hate to pay and then have everything booked.

 

We have the UDP promo. We're newbies & haven't cruised yet, so I'm not sure how the reservation system works. But, I just made dinner ressies for a party of 4 for every night of our June/July 12 night Mediterranean sailing on the Spirit. I could NOT make ressies @ Cagney's or Shogun at all & had difficulty making ressies @ LeBistro & Teppanyaki, unless we wanted early OR late seating. We're sailing during a busy time of the year & on a smaller ship, so that may be the issue for us.

 

Keep in mind that NCL will not totally book up a restaurant or a show or an excursion pre cruise, and I doubt they book them to 100% capacity ( except Teppanyaki ) even during the cruise. That would not be very Freestyle, (eat where you want, when you want), now would it?

 

They will reserve space so that those who do not know what they want to eat 90 days in advance can make bookings once on board. If you are really particular about date and time, check with them as soon as you board. At worst, you may have to shuffle the schedule of venues a little.

 

We might book one or maybe two in advance, the rest we make on board either the day before or the day of or sometimes we just walk up. We always get in.

[dlynn0366]

Keep in mind that NCL will not totally book up a restaurant or a show or an excursion pre cruise, and I doubt they book them to 100% capacity ( except Teppanyaki ) even during the cruise. That would not be very Freestyle, (eat where you want, when you want), now would it?

 

They will reserve space so that those who do not know what they want to eat 90 days in advance can make bookings once on board. If you are really particular about date and time, check with them as soon as you board. At worst, you may have to shuffle the schedule of venues a little.

 

We might book one or maybe two in advance, the rest we make on board either the day before or the day of or sometimes we just walk up. We always get in.

 

I just got off the Gem & I'd have to say booking specialty restaurants was not as easy as previous ie for ex if I wanted Cagney's for the next night the times available were either 5:30 or 9 pm so I'd have the concierge do our bookings several days ahead.

[sail7seas]

Are there any sort of priority reservations such as for high number of day repeaters?

 

[rochelle_s]

Are there any sort of priority reservations such as for high number of day repeaters?

 

 

Not so much. But if you are in a suite you will have full concierge services and they can do magic, pretty much get you in whenever you like. When passengers reach Platinum on NCL one of the perks is having concierge service. That being said there have been numerous reports of folks who are not in suites saying it is very difficult to contact them for any of these extra perks when they reach this level.

 

 

Rochelle

[Kinofdc]

For anyone who has been on an NCL cruise over the last few weeks have you noticed that with all the people getting the free UDP; are the reservations at specialty restaurants more difficult to obtain. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

 

No, no difficulty whatsoever. For the last 4 most recent cruises (11 days, 10 days in Jan 2015, 10 days in Feb, 10 days earlier this month), shortly after the butler escorted me to my stateroom during embarkation, I would fill in the special restaurant reservation form from the concierge and hand it to the butler. For all 4 cruises totally 41 dinner reservations (most frequently in the Le Bistro and Cagney's, but I did rotate a bit to Moderno and the others), the concierge would either call me or visit me in my suite, within 15 minutes after I handed the forms to the butler, to inform me that all the reservations were made. Everything worked as expected, and there wasn't one single glitch in 41 dinner reservations, in 4 cruises across 3 continents.

 

If you worry about not being able to secure reservations for specialty restaurants during your cruise, you can always go through the Pre-cruise concierge (just follow the instructions from Vivian's letter welcoming you to the Haven, usually arriving with special color-coded priority luggage tags approximately 7 weeks or so prior to sailing) to make reservations ahead of time. However, I haven't had any need to so far.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Kinofdc

[punkincc]

I just got off the Gem & I'd have to say booking specialty restaurants was not as easy as previous ie for ex if I wanted Cagney's for the next night the times available were either 5:30 or 9 pm so I'd have the concierge do our bookings several days ahead.

 

Well, if you have the services of a concierge, no sweat. You are going to get in.

 

And yes, we have been told the same thing and just walked up on the same night at the time we wanted and have gotten in with a short wait. We have done this more than once when no "reservations" we're available. Once we were asked if we could come back in 30 minutes. We grabbed a drink and enjoyed some music while we waited. No "reservations" does not necessarily mean no "seats" are available.

 

By all means, if a time is very important, pre reserve it well in advance. Otherwise, just relax a little, and go with the flow. You will get in.

[zqvol]

Well, if you have the services of a concierge, no sweat. You are going to get in.

 

And yes, we have been told the same thing and just walked up on the same night at the time we wanted and have gotten in with a short wait. We have done this more than once when no "reservations" we're available. Once we were asked if we could come back in 30 minutes. We grabbed a drink and enjoyed some music while we waited. No "reservations" does not necessarily mean no "seats" are available.

 

By all means, if a time is very important, pre reserve it well in advance. Otherwise, just relax a little, and go with the flow. You will get in.

 

First only a very small percentage of people cruising have the UDP and there does not appear to be any impact on the availability of reservations. The bigger impact comes from the ability to make reservations on line ahead of time.

 

A concierge will not be able to do you any good if the restaurant is already full, all they can do is get you on the wait list.

[punkincc]

First only a very small percentage of people cruising have the UDP and there does not appear to be any impact on the availability of reservations. The bigger impact comes from the ability to make reservations on line ahead of time.

 

A concierge will not be able to do you any good if the restaurant is already full, all they can do is get you on the wait list.

 

NCL only releases "some" of the reservation slots online pre cruise. A percentage are held back to allow people to book when they board, or even to just walk up. NCL has never said exactly how many slots they allow to be reserved. I don't think it is ever 100 capacity for any given evening. Have you ever seen a complaint that a concierge could not get someone in somewhere? I think more often than not they are successful because the restaurant is not really "full" at 7:30, they are just not accepting more reservations at 7:30 ( unless the concierge makes the request ). This is why if you call reservations you are told "no", but if you just walk up at 7:30 you are seated in just a few minutes.

 

If a 7:30 on a Thursday night is critical, then book it as soon as you board or talk to the concierge as early in the week as possible.

 

Simply trying to reassure some people who imagine that they are going to buy a package and then be totally shut out on board.

Edited March 29, 2015 by punkincc

[roger001]

The last few cruises, yes, the specialty restaurants have filled more quickly. The restaurant status boards will show many of the times filled early in the day. I did notice however, although the time was shown filled, there were still quite a few empty tables while we were dining. I believe the restaurants only book to the level at which they have an adequate number of serving staff available. The iconcierge feature on the Pearl worked nicely last week for booking on board.....or checking your account.

[mearsfansinboise]

Just got off the Star this past Sunday and the answer is YES.

We did not book our specialty restaurant reservations when they handed us the sheet when we boarded, and when we tried to book through our concierge mid-sailing, we were outta luck. Everything was booked solid - he could do nothing for us - except there was La Cucina at like 9pm one evening and 9:30 the other. Book the specialty restaurant reservations ASAP.

[mking8288]

We can only speak for the Breakaway 3/22/15 to 3/29/15 sailing last week (reference - BA 3/23/14 to 3/30/14 also)

 

Speciality reservations seemed more difficult to book once on the ship, as folks with OBC were trying as well, except for 9:00 PM, 9:30 PM & alike especially on Sea Days & early ones (5:30 PM or 6:30 PM) Prime time preferred by many seemed blocked but concierge apparently can pull strings.

 

As Platinums, we were able to book 2 nights at reasonable time for us to dine - but, noticed many empty small tables for both seatings (we typically finished our meals in 90 minutes, or less) Ditto for the vacant tables at La Cucina. Shanghai Noodles, a la carte PAID dining - walk-ins -was virtually emptied every night, except for some of the higher up crew members eating there at off-peak hours (so, definitely no reservations necessary)

 

Not surprisingly, staffing level for LeBistro seemed consistent with actual # of diners.

 

Holiday & summer bookings might be very different - for the BA, I counted roughly seating for 800 at 6 of its paid specialty dining venues, thus, it can easily served 1/3 of the pax with 2 seating sessions.

[Homosassa]

LOL - someone just posted a thread about ironic threads. This thread is a perfect example of irony for the "Freestyle" cruise line.

[mpk218]

Just my 2....

 

Just off the Getaway. 3/21-3/28.

 

After day 2 all was booked solid. We actually tossed one of our "dinner for two platinum " coupons.. Just got the wine.. Concierge could do nothing , that was a first ..

 

Book early ;)

Edited March 31, 2015 by mpk218

[TaylorJNJ]

FWIW, I called the pre cruise concierge today for April 5 sailing that I booked last minute. Couldn't get any reservations on line, and the PCC told me she was very sorry but no, she couldn't get me reservations. She told me to ask on the ship and there was a chance they could squeeze me in at some point. So for those who still have a shot, I would book immediately.

[tarheelmjfan]

Unfortunately, the more recent posts sound more logical & what I was afraid of.

[drvalo]

For anyone who has been on an NCL cruise over the last few weeks have you noticed that with all the people getting the free UDP; are the reservations at specialty restaurants more difficult to obtain. I'm asking because we're going on the gem in a few weeks and would like to eat at lebistro twice in Cagney's twice but don't want to eat every night at an upcharge so we're not buying the dining plan

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

 

I do believe there is a difference between "getting a reservation" and "freestyle eating". It does seem they limit the number of reservations they allow, BUT several have said when they do get a reservation, the restaurant is only about 1/3 filled. They found that "frustrating". Check the various board around and you will see many tables available, often even in prime time. Even though you cannot get a "reservation", it does not mean there are no tables available. The person who took my reservation actually told me this when my preferred time was not available. She said there would be tables; to just show up. She was correct. It is probably true that does not work for Teppanyaki and, maybe Le Bistro, but the others seemed to usually have tables available. It seems they leave some open for freestyle eating.

[mking8288]

Before leaving for our Breakaway cruise on the 22nd, I checked the approximate seating capacity of various venue - the 6 major specialty dining has a combined capacity for serving 800 guests in one seating, and, given their operating hours, can easily handle 2 rounds of dining, even if the times are staggered a bit to even out the bottleneck in services - thus, they can do up to 1,500 or 1,600 guests with ease. That's not counting the Cirque Dinner Show under the Tent (which doesn't run nightly, but ...) and then there is the Garden Cafe and exclusive dining for those living the Haven life. Finally, the 3 MDR - Savor, Taste & Manhattan has a combined capacity of 1,250 guests with a turnaround for taking care of 2,500 guests.

 

Even with the BA/GA ships running at 110% or 120% capacity, up to its peak/legal maximum of 5,000+ pax, there should be excess or reserved capacity on short notice = walk-up diners willing to wait & pay the extra bucks for it. It is a popular trick & myth often used by fine establishment to jack up the impression of high demands & long waiting lists for scoring a prized reservations ... we sat thru 2 evenings of dinner services at prime time lasting 90 minutes, and DW & I counted at least 6 to 8 empty & vacant tables for the duration. Whether they are properly staffed to handle the rush above their anticipated demands, including the kitchen with the items to satisfy the orders are some of the "side" questions. It's not uncommon for one or more service "stations" or sections in the dining area to the "closed" for the entire session.

 

Teppanyaki is usually the exception but no thanks, we don't feel like take a full shower & rinsing out our hair afterward just to watch a show of dancing knife & spatula. Coming out of LeBistro, we can smelled the greasy odor from the cooking ... :D

[negn]

Just off Epic and had comps for specialty restaurants through CAS and Platinum. Went to book 1st day and was able to get reservations but only the 6:30 or 9 PM seatings