Restaurant Reservation Questions

[columnwest]

My partner and I are going to be on the Norwegian Sun 7-night Alaska Cruise departing this Sunday.

 

We want to dine an as many of the premium restaurants as possible. My questions are:

 

How do you actaully make reservations? Do you go to the restaurant itself or the purser or someone else? Can you only make same-day reservations or could I book different restaurants in advance?

 

When do they "open" for taking reservations? I've been on some cruises where there is a literal stampede to get to the front of the line for restaurant reservations after the lifeboat drill. Is that the case on the Sun?

 

How fast do the premium restaurants book up? Can you, for example, expect to be able to drop by the the French restaurant on the 4th day of the cruise around lunchtime and book dinner for two for that same evening? Or do all the slots for the whole cruise book up within the first day?

 

Thanks.

[uppitycats]

My partner and I are going to be on the Norwegian Sun 7-night Alaska Cruise departing this Sunday.

 

We want to dine an as many of the premium restaurants as possible. My questions are:

 

How do you actaully make reservations? Do you go to the restaurant itself or the purser or someone else? Can you only make same-day reservations or could I book different restaurants in advance?

 

When do they "open" for taking reservations? I've been on some cruises where there is a literal stampede to get to the front of the line for restaurant reservations after the lifeboat drill. Is that the case on the Sun?

 

How fast do the premium restaurants book up? Can you, for example, expect to be able to drop by the the French restaurant on the 4th day of the cruise around lunchtime and book dinner for two for that same evening? Or do all the slots for the whole cruise book up within the first day?

 

Thanks.

 

The folks who are in the high-cost suites can make reservations (or have their butler make reservations) for all of the specialty restaurants on the first day.

 

For the rest of us -- you can call from the phone in your stateroom, no more than 24 hours in advance, to make a reservation. Or there is a table set up in the main lobby area near the purser's desk, where you can go any time during the day and see what times are available in the restaurant you want to go to, and make a reservation.

 

Or you can simply show up where and when you want to eat, and there are often tables available. We never made a reservation and were able to eat in all of the specialty restaurants that we wanted to. I'm told that the Teppanyaki (sp?) - -the one where the cook entertains you with the grill and flipping food and all that -- requires a reservation, mainly because the space is limited, so if that is on your wish list, you might want to be sure to reserve there.

 

When we were on the Jewel, folks "stampeded" to the reservations table as they got on board. We didn't. After the life boat drill we went to the table to check things out, and there were plenty of tables still available for all of the restaurants, so it just didn't seem to us that there was that big a rush or concern.

 

Also check your Freestyle Daily. We encountered several offers for 2/1 "deals" for various restaurants - -not all of them, and certainly not every day, and you had to reserve between specific times (like, 5:30 - 7:30)..but that was a very good deal. I don't know, of course, if they'll have such offers when you cruise, but it paid for us to read the fine print!

[LJH1]

You haven't stated what sort of cabin your in but if your in a balcony cabin you can make resy's 48 hours in advance. If your a gold or platinum Latitudes member it's 72 hours.

[Arwenmark]

You haven't stated what sort of cabin your in but if your in a balcony cabin you can make resy's 48 hours in advance. If your a gold or platinum Latitudes member it's 72 hours.

 

When did they add this perk for Gold members? I have never heard it before.

[njhorseman]

When did they add this perk for Gold members? I have never heard it before.

 

 

I can't say exactly how long it has been a Gold perk, but it is:

 

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPages.html?pageId=MembershipBenefits

[cpdad]

My partner and I are going to be on the Norwegian Sun 7-night Alaska Cruise departing this Sunday.

 

We want to dine an as many of the premium restaurants as possible. My questions are:

 

How do you actaully make reservations? Do you go to the restaurant itself or the purser or someone else? Can you only make same-day reservations or could I book different restaurants in advance?

 

When do they "open" for taking reservations? I've been on some cruises where there is a literal stampede to get to the front of the line for restaurant reservations after the lifeboat drill. Is that the case on the Sun?

 

How fast do the premium restaurants book up? Can you, for example, expect to be able to drop by the the French restaurant on the 4th day of the cruise around lunchtime and book dinner for two for that same evening? Or do all the slots for the whole cruise book up within the first day?

 

Thanks.

As others have noted, the number of people wanting to eat at the extra-charge specialty restaurants seems to be declining, at least in my experience. When I was on the Star last year to Alaska, we could walk up to any restauant (except Teppanyaki) and be seated immediately, without a reservation.

 

We preferred the flexibility of Freestyle dining and did not want to book reservations a day in advance. We did not need to eat at a particular restaurant at a particular time. If you desire the reassurance of having a firm reservation, then visit the small desk in the main lobby (atrium) or call from your cabin phone and make a reservation. There will not be any employees at the speciality restaurants at "noon" to take your reservation, since these rastaurants are generally open only for dinner. A few of them may be open for lunch on a sea day, but this is not always the case.

 

The time frame you have for making such reservations will vary with the type of cabin you have, as noted in previous posts.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

There is a new perk for Gold Members

Priority Restaurant Reservations

 

Reserve the best seating available at any of our specialty reservations, up to 72 hours in advance

 

While on the Dawn in June we had a letter in our cabin indicating the benefit.

Unfortunately the girl at the reservation desk did not seem to know of this. I went to reserve Cagney's 48 hours in advance of our annniversary and she did not want to reserve for me. She was wanting to hold firm on the 24 hour rule.

I showed her my card that said GOLD MEMBER and she asked if I was in a balcony or suite.

Ultimately, she said she would make an exception and booked the reservation.

 

I did mention this to Candace, the Latitudes/Future Cruises representative. I told her that I was not complaining (after all I did get my reservation) but was wondering if I was correct in my understanding of the perk. She understood and agreed with my interpretation and was appreciative of the feedback.

 

Funny thing is we were one of three occupied tables that evening!