Dining Reservations

[zanderblue]

Hi folks, 

looking for some advice please.

My son and wife have booked first cruise with NCL for special occasion. They have booked cabin in Haven category. Cruise is in February and he is only now looking at making dining reservations and finding very limited availability. He has got a one night booked at reasonable time but the other nights are all very late at 9:00 pm. 

Any suggestions how best to manage this? Is there any access to priority booking or onshore concierge, given he’s in the Haven?

 

thanks in advance

[KateQ22003]

As they are in the Haven, they can wait until they get on board and have the concierge take care of everything. They hold a lot of reservations to be released on the ship;  they won't have any problem getting the restaurants/times that they prefer. 

 

Kathy

Edited December 17, 2019 by KateQ22003

[KarlChilders]

Only about 25% of dining times are available to pre-reserve.  When you board, all the other times will be released. As you are in the Haven, the concierge should be able to get you the times you wish.

 

[NLH Arizona]

I would write down the changes you want and the first time you meet your Concierge, in boarding area, give him/her the list.  Make sure it includes your cabin number, name and the times you would like to have dinners.

Edited December 17, 2019 by NLH Arizona

[Heckah]

I made some reservations and decided to move some and emailed NorwegianConciergeDesk@ncl.com

 

They emailed back that I was all set.  I won't know for sure obviously until my cruise next month, but it seemed like they took care of it.

 

 

[luckyinpa]

if you email them and something isnt available , 2 days before the cruise the onboard concierge looks at all the internal notes and fixes everything

 

ill tell you next week if this turns out to be the case.

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Heckah said:

I made some reservations and decided to move some and emailed NorwegianConciergeDesk@ncl.com

 

They emailed back that I was all set.  I won't know for sure obviously until my cruise next month, but it seemed like they took care of it.

 

 

The pre concierge does not have any better access to bookings as you do online. If it is sold out online, the pre concierge will also see that it is sold out. The onboard concierge has limited ability to oversell a restaurant. But, if you have preferred times, please see the concierge as soon as you embark. 

[Vyhanek]

This ^^^

The Pre-Concierge is useless.   They have no better access than what you can get online.....which is very, very little.   

 

Once your son gets onboard he will be introduced to the Concierge immediately.   At that point, they will ask for dining requests.   Its a very normal, every single cruise routine that Haven guests enjoy.    Don't worry about it.

 

My other Haven tip is to dine outside of the Haven the first evening.   The Haven restaurant will be really crowded with all the Haven guests wanting to eat there that night.    If you wait until night 2, those people will have moved on to different restaurants on the ship and your son will have great service in the Haven restaurant because they won't be that busy.    He should also avoid the last evening dining in the Haven.     Same theory applies.   Everyone else has dined the other restaurants around the ship all week.   Then comes the last night and they all realize the Haven has the best food and service on the ship and they want to eat in the Haven on the last night.   Its also very crowded.

 

[zebrazeb]

On 12/17/2019 at 9:24 AM, Heckah said:

I made some reservations and decided to move some and emailed NorwegianConciergeDesk@ncl.com

 

They emailed back that I was all set.  I won't know for sure obviously until my cruise next month, but it seemed like they took care of it.

 

 

the changes should show up on your on line account already.

[zebrazeb]

On 12/17/2019 at 9:29 AM, luckyinpa said:

if you email them and something isnt available , 2 days before the cruise the onboard concierge looks at all the internal notes and fixes everything

 

ill tell you next week if this turns out to be the case.

 

I e-mailed earlier in the week, and was e-mailed back within 10 minutes saying what I wanted was already booked, and she would forward to on ship reservations, and check when I am on ship.

I should mention we are in a Haven room, so I expect to not have any issues with the days/times I wanted.  Even though we are on a xmas cruise that is full.

[zebrazeb]

On 12/17/2019 at 12:35 PM, Vyhanek said:

This ^^^

The Pre-Concierge is useless.   They have no better access than what you can get online.....which is very, very little.   

 

Once your son gets onboard he will be introduced to the Concierge immediately.   At that point, they will ask for dining requests.   Its a very normal, every single cruise routine that Haven guests enjoy.    Don't worry about it.

 

My other Haven tip is to dine outside of the Haven the first evening.   The Haven restaurant will be really crowded with all the Haven guests wanting to eat there that night.    If you wait until night 2, those people will have moved on to different restaurants on the ship and your son will have great service in the Haven restaurant because they won't be that busy.    He should also avoid the last evening dining in the Haven.     Same theory applies.   Everyone else has dined the other restaurants around the ship all week.   Then comes the last night and they all realize the Haven has the best food and service on the ship and they want to eat in the Haven on the last night.   Its also very crowded.

 

 

Hhmm...thanks.  Re-thinking my dinner choices now.  I was thinking just that, eat the first night, and probably last night.  You logic and experience sure makes a lot of sense.  Thank you again!

[Smong]

On 12/17/2019 at 9:31 AM, zanderblue said:

Hi folks, 

looking for some advice please.

My son and wife have booked first cruise with NCL for special occasion. They have booked cabin in Haven category. Cruise is in February and he is only now looking at making dining reservations and finding very limited availability. He has got a one night booked at reasonable time but the other nights are all very late at 9:00 pm. 

Any suggestions how best to manage this? Is there any access to priority booking or onshore concierge, given he’s in the Haven?

 

thanks in advance

We never book until we are on the ship. We are always in the haven. We just sailed on the dawn in a suite and when we got on i went to the concierge to make dinner reservations and every restaurant was basically sold out for the entire cruise. We managed to get in but never the times we wanted. The concierge can only do so much. He told us so many people book online now as soon as it is available. Don’t know what people do when they don’t have the concierge. We would t have gotten in anywhere. We ate at the buffet and O’Sheehan’s the first 2 nights because we could t get in anywhere even with the concierge

[gizfish]

We have eaten in the Haven dining room on multiple cruises the first and last night and have not found an issue with crowding.  We have never had to wait.  We have also always gotten the time (or very close to it) and the days we have wanted for every specialty restaurant reservation request we have made through the on-board concierge.