Timelines for Booking Dining and Shore Excursions

[MamaWals]

We’re taking an NCL Alaskan cruise in June 2023 on the Jewel.  Our most recent cruise experiences have been with Disney Cruise Line and it’s been almost a decade since we’ve cruised with NCL so I don’t remember if I need to book things ahead of time with NCL like we do with DCL.

 

On NCL can you / should you book specialty dining before you board?  If so, when is that done?

 

Regarding shore excursions, when do you recommend booking those?  We’ve already booked our debarkation train ride to Anchorage but haven’t booked the other shore excursions yet because I’m trying to spread out the cost, but I also don’t want to miss out if they fill up quickly.

 

Is there anything else I should book ahead of time, like spa treatments?

 

On another note, I remember NCL having white parties.  Do they still do those?  Are there any other special events I should pack specific clothes for?

 

Thank you!

[acct1975]

Generally you can book dining 125 out form sailing if you're in a category balcony or below. I personally, like booking the specialty dining in advance because I'm more likely to get the time/day that I want before they are all booked up. There's nothing worse than only being able to dine at 9:00pm when you've got kids.

 

Shore excursions, you can book whenever but I can't speak to how quickly they might fill and be unavailable.

[hallux]

1 minute ago, acct1975 said:

Generally you can book dining 125 out form sailing if you're in a category balcony or below

No, balcony and below are 120 days.  Suites, status and Haven can book at 125 or 130 days, depending on which you are.

[acct1975]

28 minutes ago, hallux said:

No, balcony and below are 120 days.  Suites, status and Haven can book at 125 or 130 days, depending on which you are.

sorry typo

 

[MamaWals]

Thank you so much!

[www3traveler]

There are dance parties nearly every night (loud, crowded, indoors, starting at 10:00 P.M. or later).  No special clothes needed for any of them.

 

How many people are in your traveling party?  If there are just two of you, you can either make reservations for the Specialty Dining when you board at the Restaurant Reservations Desk in the lobby or just go the Specialty Dining Room shortly before they open and see if they can seated.  Usually within a few minutes, you will be seated.  The one restaurant that you probably should reserve in advance would Teppanyaki.

 

Once you board go up to the Spa, tour it and see if they will be offering Port Day specials.

 

Enjoy the Jewel and Her staff.  The Jewel has one of the nicest General Managers (Hotel Director) in the system.

[marysb]

We are cruising in a couple of weeks.  I booked specialty dining and shore excursions early.  Now I just found out we could have booked main dining room as well. Now stuck with 5:30 time slots until I get on board to try to change it… or stand in long lines to get into a restaurant at a later time.  Also I just found out I have to stand in line to get entertainment reservations.

 

We are experienced cruisers, but we haven’t cruised on NCL for over 10 years.  What happened to freestyle cruising?-   Eat when and where you like and just show up early for a show.  I feel pretty stressed jumping though so many hoops just to get reservations I don’t really want.   I’m glad the itinerary is great for this cruise 

[genealogyfan]

1 hour ago, marysb said:

We are cruising in a couple of weeks.  I booked specialty dining and shore excursions early.  Now I just found out we could have booked main dining room as well. Now stuck with 5:30 time slots until I get on board to try to change it… or stand in long lines to get into a restaurant at a later time.  Also I just found out I have to stand in line to get entertainment reservations.

 

We are experienced cruisers, but we haven’t cruised on NCL for over 10 years.  What happened to freestyle cruising?-   Eat when and where you like and just show up early for a show.  I feel pretty stressed jumping though so many hoops just to get reservations I don’t really want.   I’m glad the itinerary is great for this cruise 

In the past we have never made reservations for the free sit down dining rooms and we never had a long wait (maybe at the most 4 -8 people in front of us). On my most recent cruise, there was a set up for dining reservations in one of the comedy clubs the day we boarded (there were many signs showing where to sign up). Inside there were multiple crew members who could help each person wanting to make dining reservations. I was able to move around some reservations I had already made. I do make reservations ahead of time for the specialty specific entertainment we want to see (my last ship had the show "Six" on it, so definitely wanted to see that and there were only 2 performances). I've never had to make reservations for the general -crew member type shows.

[hallux]

10 hours ago, marysb said:

Now I just found out we could have booked main dining room as well. Now stuck with 5:30 time slots until I get on board to try to change it… or stand in long lines to get into a restaurant at a later time.

On my 3 NCL cruises so far I have never had to wait more than about 10 minutes for a table at one of the MDR's.  However I DO like to eat early, 5:30 is perfectly fine with me, so that may also factor in.