Dining arrangements for large group

[SEAGURRL]

Hello!  I'm fairly new to NCL, but not cruising in general.  My adults sons/DILs/grandkids are looking into an Alaskan cruise in 2021.  We'd like to be seated together for dinner (probably not in specialty restaurants - young kids won't care) and I'm wondering if/how to make reservations nightly in the MDR for a group of 10.  The thought of showing up at the dining room at 6PM with 5 hungry kidlets and having to wait for an hour or so for a table for 10 is, well, enough to make me book with a different cruise line!  Is this do-able?    Thanks for any input!

[finny2]

Yes, you can book dining reservations for the main dining rooms on line through your ncl account or with the app before the cruise or once you get onboard.

[SEAGURRL]

7 minutes ago, finny2 said:

Yes, you can book dining reservations for the main dining rooms on line through your ncl account or with the app before the cruise or once you get onboard.

Finny - Perfect!  Thanks so much.  Unfortunately the rep I talked to at NCL didn't seem to have this info.

[finny2]

For more info you might want to read this post

 

[BirdTravels]

While you think that everyone wants to dine with you, given the option, groups find that they want to go and experience the ship. We plan one or two group dinners (not more) and let everyone try the different complimentary and specialty restaurants. Kidlets often are checked into the kids club so mom and dad can have some alone time. 

[SEAGURRL]

12 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

While you think that everyone wants to dine with you, given the option, groups find that they want to go and experience the ship. We plan one or two group dinners (not more) and let everyone try the different complimentary and specialty restaurants. Kidlets often are checked into the kids club so mom and dad can have some alone time. 

Good point!  Our starting position is that we have dinner together.  Beyond that is TBD!  

[SEAGURRL]

15 minutes ago, finny2 said:

For more info you might want to read this post

 

Thanks!  Good info.

[Silver Sweethearts]

1 hour ago, SEAGURRL said:

  The thought of showing up at the dining room at 6PM with 5 hungry kidlets and having to wait for an hour or so for a table for 10 is, well, enough to make me book with a different cruise line!  Is this do-able?    Thanks for any input!

 

Unless you have done a table for ten before with success, may we suggest you consider taking two smaller tables rather than one large one.  When you get over six guests or so at one table it can be rather hard to hear/make conversation at times.  It should also be easier to do food service for the two tables.

[don't-use-real-name]

For groups of more than 8 visit the restaurant or dining reservation desk well in advance of the event.

With enough advanced notice most any group arrangement can be made.

Specialty restaurants may not be as flexible in seating as the MDRs.

Teppanyaki has fixed seating - chairs and table immovable.

 

 

[Jen731]

We just got off the Bliss to Alaska with a party of 13. When dining opened up, we couldn’t use the website to make reservations so we called and were told to email specialeventsbliss@ncl.com. I sent all our reservation numbers and room numbers as well as our dining preferences. We were able to get all our requested reservations for main dining room and specialty. When we were emailed the reservation confirmations (by the way, that took 2-3 weeks to get), we were told we might have to sit at adjacent tables at some venues but we were able to sit together at all locations.

 

I will say, the Manhattan dining room took a LONG time the first night (over 2 hours), but there were a ton of large parties and I suspect we had a brand new server. Our party was not excited to face that again. I used the app and could reserve up to a table of 12 at Taste for another night, so we switched. We found that taste and savor did an awesome job with our large party, we were in and out of there in just over an hour. I was stressed about us not being able to sit together or the reservations being off, but they had everything perfect once we were on board. 

[SEAGURRL]

21 hours ago, Jen731 said:

We just got off the Bliss to Alaska with a party of 13. When dining opened up, we couldn’t use the website to make reservations so we called and were told to email specialeventsbliss@ncl.com. I sent all our reservation numbers and room numbers as well as our dining preferences. We were able to get all our requested reservations for main dining room and specialty. When we were emailed the reservation confirmations (by the way, that took 2-3 weeks to get), we were told we might have to sit at adjacent tables at some venues but we were able to sit together at all locations.

 

I will say, the Manhattan dining room took a LONG time the first night (over 2 hours), but there were a ton of large parties and I suspect we had a brand new server. Our party was not excited to face that again. I used the app and could reserve up to a table of 12 at Taste for another night, so we switched. We found that taste and savor did an awesome job with our large party, we were in and out of there in just over an hour. I was stressed about us not being able to sit together or the reservations being off, but they had everything perfect once we were on board. 

We're looking at the Bliss for Alaska so appreciate the input.  Since the kidlets are all young (8yrs and under) we'll probably avoid the specialty restaurants.  Thanks!

[Jen731]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:04 PM, SEAGURRL said:

We're looking at the Bliss for Alaska so appreciate the input.  Since the kidlets are all young (8yrs and under) we'll probably avoid the specialty restaurants.  Thanks!

 

Totally up to you, but the two younger kids *loved* Teppenyaki (never been so full in my life!) and they enjoyed Q smokehouse quite a bit as well because the room is so cute and the food was so tasty. 

[Jen731]

I wanted to add, I had this letter waiting for me when we got to our room on Day 1. By booking ahead we were able to get most of our dining around 6 pm, but it looks like they will be happy to help larger groups if you don’t mind dining a little earlier. 

 

[SEAGURRL]

Thanks for all the input and suggestions.  We've just booked for May of 2021 so hopefully I will remember to get dining reservations booked in advanced!