NCL food overhaul

[LrgPizza]

NCL Food overhaul.

[DorothyB]

Thanks - lots of changes . . .

[negc]

Let's just hope that the talents of the cooks preparing the food are as good as those of the folks who write these press releases which make such great promises about improved food quality. :rolleyes: Has anyone done a count of how many times over the past several years we have read about the improvements being made to the food on NCL and other lines, and how ofter have they delivered on their promises.

We'll be on Dawn next month and will be interested in seeing just what quality of food and service we will find.:)

[medicalma'am]

This is awesome! We will have new options to explore on our Nov. Sun cruise! And the July 31st roll out date, we will be able to see the changes from cruisers posted hopefully.

 

Food has been a subject of major complaints of late and NCL is doing well to listen and respond.

[logan25]

I will say I'm intrigued. It'll be November before I can check out the changes.

[yj2cute]

I like the option to be able to make reservations for main dining. But isn't that the opposite of Freestyle dining? I hope on July 31 I'll be able to reserve dining times for my Oct. Breakaway cruise.

[dalgirl]

That is great especially for those with large family groups who want to make sure their dining times are set - we will continue to go "freestyle."

 

And remember, more is not necessarily better so there are still going to be those who complain about the food....

 

But I am glad to see the changes to mix things up...

[cruiserninja1]

 

This is from their Facebook Page

[spidybabe]

Glad to see NCL is changing some things around. We love NCL, but it has been getting very repetitive...the food, the shows, the events.... sometimes I can sit back and know what the CD is going to say next.... and we know the lunch menu by heart.....

BUT...this does change the freestyle concept a bit. First book shows in advance now meals too....

We will probably continue to freestyle also, as I barely know what I want to do tomorrow...let alone weeks in advance..LOL

Safe sailing

[sparks1093]

I like the option to be able to make reservations for main dining. But isn't that the opposite of Freestyle dining? I hope on July 31 I'll be able to reserve dining times for my Oct. Breakaway cruise.

 

I see being able to make a reservation as something that enhances Freestlye Dining because it is still me that is making the decision what time (and where) to eat, I am not stuck with early seating or late seating. (Yes, I know that the other lines offer some version of anytime dining but that is limited to a certain percentage of passengers, it's not available to everyone).

[LrgPizza]

When Getaway was launched, it was said that she was testing a new menu that would eventually be released fleetwide. I wonder if anything is going to change on her, or if this is simply an announcement that the other ships are catching up to what was already done on Getaway.

[hscruiser]

Any idea which day on a 7- night cruise the Chocolate day is?

[Powriv]

Interesting idea on the reservations for complimentary restaurants.

 

I am not sure I would take advantage of it as I do like deciding for myself what time I want to eat. Should calm the nerves of those passengers that recently arrived from formal dining times to be able to choose their dining time and not wait around especially if they are large group

[Amo57]

As if i needed an excuse, now I'm even more excited for my upcoming trip :D The website mentions that the Sugarcane Mojito bar from the Getaway will "soon" be a fleet wide thing. If soon means before my trip I now might have to consider the drink package :eek:

[shof515]

will the Gem have all of these changes by next year?

[kapoho2]

I am very, very disappointed in this new concept of being able to make reservations 90 days in advance. This totally defeats the concept of Freestyle Cruising. We were on the Getaway in May where this new concept was being tested. Basically, we lost all of our Freestyle rights.....having not made reservations for anything in advance, we were unable to secure entertainment or dining reservations once onboard. Everything was booked up. We actually ate dinner in the buffet several evenings after not being able to secure any other reservations that interested us. We do not like to have to plan out our week on the cruiseship months in advance. We loved the spontaneity of Freestyle.

 

While on that cruise in May, I often wondered how many of those advance reservations were actually kept and how many were just forgotten about. Freestyle was the reason we kept coming back to NCL. Now we are looking elsewhere as the Freestyle atmosphere is a thing of the past.

[Cretia]

Does this mean that the menus that debuted on the Getaway won't be on the Jade before next year?

 

If so, I'm disappointed :( I really liked the sound of them.

[Amo57]

I am very, very disappointed in this new concept of being able to make reservations 90 days in advance. This totally defeats the concept of Freestyle Cruising. We were on the Getaway in May where this new concept was being tested. Basically, we lost all of our Freestyle rights.....having not made reservations for anything in advance, we were unable to secure entertainment or dining reservations once onboard. Everything was booked up. We actually ate dinner in the buffet several evenings after not being able to secure any other reservations that interested us. We do not like to have to plan out our week on the cruiseship months in advance. We loved the spontaneity of Freestyle.

 

While on that cruise in May, I often wondered how many of those advance reservations were actually kept and how many were just forgotten about. Freestyle was the reason we kept coming back to NCL. Now we are looking elsewhere as the Freestyle atmosphere is a thing of the past.

 

I agree. I don't like it but I'm going along with it. I'm sailing 8/24 and have booked my shows already and the specialty dining that I want to do but i would much rather decided while on board and just walk in to whatever show or restaurant i feel like at the time. Unfortunately i'd probably miss out on some things I want to try. On the other hand, I am traveling with 9 people so I'm glad that I'm able to do this. If it was just my wife & I, we would just go freestyle and do whatever we could based on availability but it's harder to do that with a big group.

[Mack704]

I am very, very disappointed in this new concept of being able to make reservations 90 days in advance. This totally defeats the concept of Freestyle Cruising. We were on the Getaway in May where this new concept was being tested. Basically, we lost all of our Freestyle rights.....having not made reservations for anything in advance, we were unable to secure entertainment or dining reservations once onboard. Everything was booked up. We actually ate dinner in the buffet several evenings after not being able to secure any other reservations that interested us. We do not like to have to plan out our week on the cruiseship months in advance. We loved the spontaneity of Freestyle.

 

While on that cruise in May, I often wondered how many of those advance reservations were actually kept and how many were just forgottenentertainment about. Freestyle was the reason we kept coming back to NCL. Now we are looking elsewhere as the Freestyle atmosphere is a thing of the past.

 

 

I don't understand. Being a newbie to NCL, and booked for my first NCL cruise next May on the Getaway, I'm was looking forward to "freestyle cruising". Your narrative indicates you were unable to secure entertainment AND dining reservations because they were all booked up.

 

The entertainment reservations I can relate to, having sailed on the Oasis of the Seas and having to book all major shows in advance. But are you implying all complimentary dining in the main dining rooms is now reservation only?

 

Everything else I've read on these boards seems to indicate booking a dining reservation is only an option. Are you saying NCL has done away completely with freestyle dining in the MDR's? Were you turned away at the Maitre'd stand and told they were all booked up? Please elaborately or explain.

 

Harvey

[Amo57]

Does this mean that the menus that debuted on the Getaway won't be on the Jade before next year?

 

If so, I'm disappointed :( I really liked the sound of them.

 

It says starting this month so I'd say theres a good chance.

[Amo57]

I don't understand. Being a newbie to NCL, and booked for my first NCL cruise next May on the Getaway, I'm was looking forward to "freestyle cruising". Your narrative indicates you were unable to secure entertainment AND dining reservations because they were all booked up.

 

The entertainment reservations I can relate to, having sailed on the Oasis of the Seas and having to book all major shows in advance. But are you implying all complimentary dining in the main dining rooms is now reservation only?

 

Everything else I've read on these boards seems to indicate booking a dining reservation is only an option. Are you saying NCL has done away completely with freestyle dining in the MDR's? Were you turned away at the Maitre'd stand and told they were all booked up? Please elaborately or explain.

 

Harvey

 

They have not done away with Freestyle. The reservations are still an option. I have read a lot of reviews and posts saying it was hard to get into a specialty restaurant without a reservation. I don't think they would ever turn you away from the MDR but i have also seen people complaining about a long wait depending on the time of the year and time you want to eat.

 

This will be my first time on a ship this large so I'm curious to experience all this first hand and see if it's for me or if I'll go bag to the smaller ships. I have been on smaller ships where a steakhouse was the only specialty restaurant and after day 2 I could not get reservations for any of the remaining days. It's pretty disappointing.

[LrgPizza]

The part about reservations in the MDR is not a new announcement. That was announced a few weeks ago, and has even been discussed here previously.

[pokerpro5]

First off, while it is nice to change things up so frequent cruisers experience something different, don't expect a major improvement in MDR food. The MDR food quality is fairly low because it saves money for the cruise line, and that's how they keep their prices competitive.

 

I don't understand the people who complain about the MDR food, yet won't spend a measly $119/pp (tiny percentage of most cruise travel budgets) for the Ultimate Dining Package. At the same time, many of these people waste money foolishly in areas where they could easily save. I don't get it.

 

Anyway, I see both sides of the reservations thing. It must be really annoying for large parties having difficulty getting their large tables without reservations. At the same time, I understand that more reservations = fewer open tables = longer waits for people without reservations.

 

However, you need to recall the way it was on all cruise lines prior to freestyle dining. You would be assigned to a set dining time EVERY NIGHT, and you couldn't change it. If you didn't like that time, you either accepted it or missed dinner. I once even had an experience on Princess in the mid-90s where the arrogant waiter "punished" me for being 15 minutes late by serving my meal 15 minutes after everyone else in my family, even though we all ordered at the same time!

 

The set dinner time was especially bad because you typically had something like 6:30 or 8:30, and neither were optimal for all days. The 6:30 sucked when you had a port day and it would cut into your time on the later port days. The 8:30 sucked because you couldn't see the earlier shows that took place at 8:15, and instead would be stuck with the 10:30 shows, and would often be too tired to want to go. You couldn't alternate between dining times.

 

So this is still WAY better than the old model.

[Hikini]

I'm really excited that the new menus will be in effect for our September cruise on the Jewel.

 

Trying not to get carried away as I read between the lines, but I'm suspicious that they are 'doing away' with the chocoholics buffet. Maybe I'm wrong.....

[Hikini]

I have to admit that I have been guilty in the past of complaining that the menus don't change often enough. I was talking to my DH about this and he said, "But we go to ________ and to __________ (fill in the blanks with your local restaurants) and their menus haven't changed for years, and you're ok with that. Why aren't you ok with it on a cruise?"

 

Hmmm.....ok, I'll shut up then! :D