What is your dining tactic ??

[Sizzlechest]

I always plan and make reservations. I like to eat early and have the freedom to catch an early or late show.

 

I suspect it won't be as critical on a ship like the Gem, since it's bigger than most back when NCL was making big ships with bigger accommodations. However, on the Breakaway it was critical to make reservations. It's a bigger ship than the Gem, but the accommodations can be smaller. Not making reservations means you can miss out on things.

[AEckhardt]

I have never made reservations more than a few hours in advance but after seeing a few recent threads talking about difficulties, even with concierge service, getting into some of the specialties, I went ahead and booked for each night except embarkation day. I'm looking at this as a backup plan. Like Gershep and ncklhaus, if I want to cancel or rearrange the time, I'll just give them a call. Let's hope it works in my favor! [emoji4]

[weebobby]

I have never made reservations more than a few hours in advance but after seeing a few recent threads talking about difficulties, even with concierge service, getting into some of the specialties, I went ahead and booked for each night except embarkation day. I'm looking at this as a backup plan. Like Gershep and ncklhaus, if I want to cancel or rearrange the time, I'll just give them a call. Let's hope it works in my favor! [emoji4]

 

dont u lose your money if u book then cancel within 24 hours of eating ?

[johnlatte]

NCL's MDRs are not our favorites. So we usually just opt for a dining plan and eat mostly in the specialties.

[weebobby]

cool

we already have the UBP included and I couldnt make the maths work on the UDP so we will probably eat in the specialty on around 4 nights and the "free" eg O'Sheenans Ribs night , Shanghais etc , MDR on the other 3 nights

 

would people tend to book on the first night ?? or is it just the same as any other night for demand for tables ?

Edited June 2, 2015 by weebobby

[MrBill64]

We have the UDP on our upcoming cruise. We reserved the speciality dining venues for our sea days and will wing it on most of our port days. Not sure how wiped out we will be returning from our shore excursions and don't want to be locked into a specific time to eat dinner on those days.

[weebobby]

Hi

 

I was thinking about that same strategy for our cruise too. Might book Italian + Teppenyaki for the first two sea days and another for the third at sea day.

 

just eat non specialty / wing it the other nights

Edited June 2, 2015 by weebobby

[AEckhardt]

dont u lose your money if u book then cancel within 24 hours of eating ?

 

 

I have the UDP so I didn't pay anything upfront

[hondorner]

We take "Freestyle" literally. We never make a reservation, and we never, ever, pay for a meal, only dining where it is "free" (included in the basic fare). The "extra" fee for dining in a specialty is more than we pay for a complete meal when when dining out at home!

[weebobby]

what happens if you book a special restaurant for a fee online in advance then on the day you want to change it to another day or a different time slot on the same day?

Do you lose out financially ?

Edited June 2, 2015 by weebobby

[rhelms]

When I get hungry, I go eat.

[buckirj1]

When I get hungry, I go eat.

 

Same here. If the first venue can't accommodate me, then I try the next (or rarely, the next). They're big ships; there's always some place to eat. Reservations? Not for me.

[ellis101]

We are not UDPers so we fully embrace freestyle and wing it totally. We decide when and where to eat fairly ad hoc, with some plans made if we want to catch a show or specific activity when reading the daily perhaps but that's about as far as our planning goes

[amarvel]

We do a little of both. I love that we don't have a set dining time or place which is why freestyle works for us. However if I know we want to eat at a specialty restaurant especially on a certain night we book that ahead of time. And we usually only do to specialty restaurants during the cruise 2 nights to free the other 5 nights to figure out what we want. We also like the freedom of eating at osheehans or the buffet some nights as well as having dinner in our room at least one night.

[mitsugirly]

We are truly freestyle people. We never know what time we might get hungry or what type of food we want any particular day...until it's time. Then we always try to dress up for the MDR and that plays a factor into whether or not we go there.

 

However, if it's anything like a dinner show (Cirque on GA or Epic) then we always booked ahead of time because we know those fill up quickly.

 

If it's a specialty restaurant, we will book the day of if it's available.

 

But 99% of the time we just wing it. :D

[DaisyGoldberg]

I don't book until I'm on board, have looked at the schedule for the week and know which evenings I'm going to be skipping the shows. Those evenings are safe for booking leisurely specialty meals. I've been spoiled the last few trips and been in a suite, so getting a reservation at 4 pm for 6 or 7 hasn't been difficult. My next trip will likely be in an inside, and I'll definitely reserve earlier (that day).

 

On the evenings where we intend to go to shows, we schedule accordingly or just grab something in the buffet. Otherwise, as someone upthread commented, "when we get hungry, we go eat."

 

We've basically given up on the MDRs -- too much time for too little return. The buffet provides a lot of tasty options with minimal wait. If we want to "dine" there are specialty options that still will get us in and out faster than the MDR (if that's what we want).

[Sotermarler]

We wing it .

 

We eat late and rarely wait at an restaurant .

 

Ditto..