Pride of America restaurant reservations???

[Cheeseliz]

My husband and I have crised several times, but never on NCL - We've done several different types of dining systems, but nothing like the Freestlye Dining that NCL does. We've done the seated dining table, set time everyday system with Princess (years back) and Disney, and we've done the newer go where you want with Princess and never has a problem. I've read a few posts about the NCL food, so I don't expect much, but wants the deal with making all the reservations and waits of 45 minutes? I thought the idea was to operate like normal restaurants, you go to where you want that night and wait (maybe 10-15 minutes) for a table. I've planned our vacation to a tee, but never expected that I'd have to plan all of our meals in order to make reservations the first day on ship!!!! What gives? Any tips? What are the half price nights at the paying speciality restaurants?

[Cheeseliz]

My husband and I have cruised several times, but never on NCL - We've done several different types of dining systems, but apparently nothing like the Freestlye Dining that NCL does. We've done the seated dining table, set time everyday system with Princess (years back) and Disney, and we've done the newer go where you want with Princess and never has a problem. I've read a few posts about the NCL food, so I don't expect much, but wants the deal with making all the reservations and waits of 45 minutes? I thought the idea was to operate like normal restaurants, you go to where you want that night and wait (maybe 10-15 minutes) for a table. I've planned our vacation to a tee, but never expected that I'd have to plan all of our meals in order to make reservations the first day on ship!!!! What gives? Any tips? What are the half price nights at the paying speciality restaurants?

[lambs2]

For our June 3-10 Pride of America cruise the half price nights at the specialty restaurants were Sunday and Tuesday. (Not sure if they change them, so you need to hear from a more recent cruiser to confirm this!) Tuesday night was also optional formal and Lobster night in all main dining rooms. The free specialty restaurant, Little Italy, also requires early reservations as they book up very quickly. We actually ate there twice during the week because we love Italian food and we enjoyed the smaller setting and could book seats right by the window both times. The only other specialty restaurant we went to was the Lazy J Steakhouse (EXCELLENT!). We didn't try La Bistro because we had read a numer of times here on the boards that it really wasn't worth the extra charges. We made reservations for the week as soon as we got on the ship. We just walked from restaurant to restaurant because we wanted to see them and exactly where they were located on the ship. The maitre'd's were all very nice and accommodating. I was a bit disappointed because they would not let us book reservations for either main dining room because we were just a party of two. Yes, it does seem like a bit of a hassle to book those early reservations. Make sure you write them down with the times and keep them in a place you will remember (like your wallet) because if you do not cancel ahead of time and miss your reseravtion time in a pay restaurant you will be charged $5per meal anyway. We were very glad we took that little bit of extra effort to book ahead because then we were not disappointed.

[dagtoking1]

Being a frequent NCL cruiser I would say not to believe everything you read about the food. I find the food on NCL to be very good.

 

While I have not been on POAM (booked for POAM in November, 2006) I was on the Jewel last December and we never waited to be seated in the main dining rooms. True, POAM has two less dining rooms, but the food in the main dining rooms was more than adequate. We did try the specialty steak house and that was good, but we had surf and turf and truthfully I found the lobster in the main dining room on lobster night even better, although the desserts and other things in the steak house were really good.

 

I wouldn't stress to much about the reservations. There will be a run on the times most people want to eat, like between 6-8 in the specialty restaurants but you'll get reservations. We liked the specialty italian restaurant on the Jewel and plan to make at least one reservation for that while on POAM, and we will probably check out Jefferson's Bistro at least once being that we tried the steak house already on the Jewel, but otherwise we plan on eating wherever. I think putting too much emphasis on reservations takes away from the relaxation. If you have to eat at a certain time every night what's the sense of cruising freestyle? Part of the fun is being able to do what you want when you want and by the end of the seven (7) days you'll be so sick of food you won't even care. What is it they say...you go on as passengers but come off as cargo? LOL.

[knotheadken]

We just finished the POAm cruise started on July 15, 2006.

 

I heard alot of people state that they couldn't get into the specialty resturants at all. We ate at Lazy J and East Meets west once each. We also ate at the Liberty and Skyline, once at each. They like reservations for more than two people at these. There were only two of us and we got in pretty fast, 5 minutes?

 

We normally eat at some nice resturants at home and didn't get too excited about the food. It was fine to pretty good, just not "out of this world" good. Lots of fresh pinapple (go figure)

 

We prefured the Aloha buffe because there was no dress code at all, and we could pick and choose a little of each from the vast selection. The buffe is like a casino. There is also two section the the Aloha, indoor and outdoors on the back of the ship. We mostly ate outdoors with the view.

 

We also felt the service was just fine, no problems really. Some waiters might have been more freindly than others but they all took good care of us. The management is diffinantly out in force watching and directing things. They are working to please. Let them know if you need something (within reason) and they take care of it. We tipped our room stuart a few dollars a day and they kept giving us fresh towels thru out the day.

 

The aloha Buffe is also set up at 5am with coffee and pastries for us east coast early risers. The first morning at 4:30am we were all looking for coffee. The sunrise view is also fantastic from there.

 

Drinks - Canned beer $4, draft beer $6, Tumbler full of drambuie $6.25, skip the bear go for the mixed drinks. Bailey's with a little coffee in a tall coffee glass $6.25.

[Cheeseliz]

Thanks everyone for your input -I'm not going to worry too much about reservations then - I'll just try to get us into Little Italy and the Lazy J steakhouse, but be flexible with everything else - Can't wait to go!!!!!

[CruisinMK]

I think Jeffersons is a must do. Also another tip, book the italian restaurant for 5pm the day of the Napali viewing on Kauai. You'll see perhaps the best view from any cruiseship scrolling by your window while you eat.

[lozzajelly]

Read your reply when in November are you sailing? We're on the PofAm on the 11/11?

 

Lozza

:D

[dagtoking1]

We are on the same sailing as you...flying in from South Florida.

 

We are renting cars in Maui and Kauai, doing OLL in Maui. We'll do a tour in Hilo, not planning much for Kona, and will do a tour on the last day if we get a late flight. How about you?