Large group and freestyle dining question

[Mjasp]

Hi everyone,

We are going on the Gem in February, our first time on NCL and Freestyle cruising.

 

We will be going with a large group, currently 14 but may be more. On past cruises when we cruised with a large group, they would give us 2 tables mext to each other, but with Freestyle dining will we be able to sit together at all?

 

Can we make reservations for dinner for the week? I'm sure NCL must accomodate large groups in the dining room even though they have freestyle dining, because if groups didn't sail on NCL they would lose a lot of money.

 

Anyone with a large group who has sailed on NCL please let me know what NCL did to accomodate you.

 

Thx

[Don Haynes]

I am not sure what the largest table in the main dining room is on the Gem. NCL will arrange for a large group, possibly using one or two tables, usually very early or very late in the evenings with reservations. Meet and arrange large group reservations with the Maidre D....

 

Its been my experience with large groups a group dinner is welcomed once or twice during a week cruise. The others may wish to dine separately on other nights, to have a romantic dinner with their spouse...

[euro cruiser]

We were on the Gem in July with a group of 11. There is a center table in the Grand Pacific dining room that will hold about 14 - we had plenty of elbow room when we sat there.

 

Other nights we were put at tables next to each other or they put tables together, it depended on how early we made the reservation.

 

When we called ahead (same day, just several hours before), we were able to sit together. When we just showed up, the best they could do was put us at tables next to one another.

[uneamie]

With a group that large it will be hard to socialize with everyone anyway....so I would suggest doing the entire group only 2 or 3 nights and then do smaller groups of the group or just let everyone make individual dining decisions as the cruise goes along.

 

Perhaps a few small groups might want to do Cagney's or Le Bistro...but I don't think those restaurants accommodate large groups, but here's a thought.....reserve the Teppanyaki one night...that's a really fun experience of chefs cooking your food right in front of you...and the food is fabulous...You all can dine together in little groups but still together. Just make sure that you reserve that as soon as you get on the ship for the entire group....I heard they extended their dining hours.

 

Here's a pic of that.....

 

[Mjasp]

Thanks for all your answers, I'm glad they can accomodate large groups.

 

We always sail with large groups and each family does whatever they want to do all day long on their own and we get together at dinner to talk about our day. But with this freestyle thing we actually may want to try a restaurant or two.

 

Hmmm...Next thread will be...What is your favorite restaurant on the Gem