New to NCL - just booked Getaway! A few newbie questions...

[hscruiser]

Hi all,

 

After being pretty loyal to Royal Caribbean so far, my family and I will be trying the Norwegian Getaway this August! We are so excited to experience a ship that will be only about half a year old when we're onboard. Although we, admittedly, tended to automatically only look at Royal Caribbean options when planning for this summer, the unmatched selection of specialty restaurants (we will be doing the Ultimate Dining package) and interesting selection of entertainment, plus the Freestyle Dining concept, won us over. I do have a few questions that I hope you can help me with.

 

1. When can reservations be made for dining and/or entertainment?

 

2. What shows on Getaway are eligible for online prebooking?

 

3. Royal Caribbean has free lemonade and iced tea (in addition to coffee, tea, juices, etc.). Does NCL also have this?

 

4. I understand that reservations can be made for specialty restaurants, but can they also be made for the main dining rooms? If so, when can these reservations be made? We would like to try the MDR at least one night, and I've heard that peak times sometimes have lines.

 

Thank you so much! I look forward to reading and learning as much as I can about NCL as we eagerly await the Getaway! :)

[mizLORInj]

Hi all,

 

After being pretty loyal to Royal Caribbean so far, my family and I will be trying the Norwegian Getaway this August! We are so excited to experience a ship that will be only about half a year old when we're onboard. Although we, admittedly, tended to automatically only look at Royal Caribbean options when planning for this summer, the unmatched selection of specialty restaurants (we will be doing the Ultimate Dining package) and interesting selection of entertainment, plus the Freestyle Dining concept, won us over. I do have a few questions that I hope you can help me with.

 

1. When can reservations be made for dining and/or entertainment? Usually 45 days from date of sailing

 

2. What shows on Getaway are eligible for online prebooking? Second City shows, Legally Blonde, and Burn the Floor. I think an upcharge dinner thing too called Illusionarium(?) show too

 

3. Royal Caribbean has free lemonade and iced tea (in addition to coffee, tea, juices, etc.). Does NCL also have this? YES and other drinks

 

4. I understand that reservations can be made for specialty restaurants, but can they also be made for the main dining rooms? If so, when can these reservations be made? We would like to try the MDR at least one night, and I've heard that peak times sometimes have lines. Can't book the already included restaurants in advance. We didn't have long waits on Breakaway--even at peak times. Maybe 20 minutes max and that was for 6 of us.

Thank you so much! I look forward to reading and learning as much as I can about NCL as we eagerly await the Getaway! :)

 

ENJOY!! I hope you can still pick up the new ship smell!

Edited March 5, 2014 by mizlorinj

[hscruiser]

Of course I already have another question...

 

Since we booked a Large Balcony (B6) cabin, the first two guests get the free Ultimate Dining package through the Ultimate Freesome sale. We had our travel agent go ahead and prebook the Ultimate Dining package for the third and fourth guest. Online, our reservation shows the third and fourth purchased Ultimate Dining packages, but shows nothing about the packages for the first and second guests that came for free. (The invoice from the travel agent does show that we got the promotion.) Where online would it reflect this? Will I still be able to prebook dining reservations online, even if NCL doesn't "register" the free dining packages prior to the cruise?

[punkincc]

To answer your question about reservations in the MDR, it was posted in the Freestyle Daily on our 2-22 cruise that reservations could be made in all three main dining rooms on a first come, first served basis. You would need to make the reservations onboard at MDR, Restaurant Reservation Desk or by calling 050.

 

We did not find it difficult to get seating without reservations. We got immediate seating for 4 in MDRs Tropicana and Taste and also as walk ins at Moderno. We only reserved Cagneys, and actually we did that on board the morning of.

 

For our cruise, there were no comedy shows available for pre booking. There are two rotating comedians, no Second City on this ship. Only Imaginarium, Legally Blonde, Wine Lover's Musical lunch/wine tasting and Burn the Floor were available for booking prior to the cruise.

Edited March 6, 2014 by punkincc

[SoCA6ft5]

Just some minor corrections to the great answers mzlorinj gave you. I recently did my pre-booking for the Getaway. There was no online reservations for the Levity comedy shows (which took the place of 2nd City for the Getaway). The Illusionarium Dinner Show can be pre-booked ($29 premium, $24 regular). Dinner reservations are made in just one passenger's name (you state how many are in your party. If you make the reservations online, you will have to pay at the time of reservation. I believe others have stated that you need to see the purser for a refund, so it might be better to wait until you're onboard to make your dining reservations.

Edited March 6, 2014 by SoCA6ft5