Free At Sea- Dining Question

[barbiecruiser27]

NCL Noobie here 🙂 Am I reading this correct- that 6-8 night sailings on get 2 specialty meals per sailing. It will be 2 in the cabin for a 7 night Alaska sailing (hopefully!). Would we get 2 meals for the entire sailing only??

[BirdTravels]

Passenger 1 and Passenger 2 get two meals each. 

 

2 meals for the entire sailing. 

 

If you want more, you can buy an additional package. If you are sailing on the Encore, you can use it at

 

You can order appetizers, one entrée, and desserts at a la carte restaurants: 

   Le Bistro - French

   Cagney's - Steaks

   Ocean Blue - Seafood

   Los Lobos - Mexican

   Onda - Italian

   Q - BBQ

 

You can use it for one of the set combinations (that's all they serve)

   Teppanyaki - Japanese

 

You can select 4 items from the menu at:

   American Diner (lunch)

   Food Republic (Sea Day Lunch, All Dinners)

 

 

 

[razor7_us]

You are also entitled to eat unlimited meals at any of the free dining rooms or the buffet if that was your concern. 

[complawyer]

dont be alarmed or concerned, the dining package refers to meals in the specialty restaurants. instead of paying their prices, your dining package allows both of you 2 meals at any of these.

i would personally recommend cagney's and or moderno, although teppanyaki is my favorite

[JamieLogical]

Many people find the meals in the main dining rooms to be more than adequate. You will also be able to eat 24/7 in O'sheeehan's/The Local or most of the time in the buffet included with your fare.

[Captain_Cruising]

 

 

 

[SSFun]

The specialty restaurants are nice to change things up but the food in the main dining rooms is very good as well. We've always been happy  with both the food and service in the dining rooms. And since there are 3 main dining rooms, you can change from one night to another which you eat at. That way you have a different atmosphere each evening. You will not go hungry on your cruise! We have never paid extra for food on the ship - just used our specialty dining meals and eaten at the "free" venues for all other meals.

[CruisinCorey2525]

12 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Passenger 1 and Passenger 2 get two meals each. 

 

2 meals for the entire sailing. 

 

If you want more, you can buy an additional package. If you are sailing on the Encore, you can use it at

 

You can order appetizers, one entrée, and desserts at a la carte restaurants: 

   Le Bistro - French

   Cagney's - Steaks

   Ocean Blue - Seafood

   Los Lobos - Mexican

   Onda - Italian

   Q - BBQ

 

You can use it for one of the set combinations (that's all they serve)

   Teppanyaki - Japanese

 

You can select 4 items from the menu at:

   American Diner (lunch)

   Food Republic (Sea Day Lunch, All Dinners)

 

 

 

Doesn't Ocean Blue have an upcharge? 

[JamieLogical]

7 minutes ago, CrusinCorey said:

Doesn't Ocean Blue have an upcharge? 

 

Not anymore, no. There is an upcharge for some specific items on the menu.

[CruisinCorey2525]

3 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Not anymore, no. There is an upcharge for some specific items on the menu.

Cool! Thanks! 

[Dejlig Ko]

I read sometime ago, but can’t find it now, that several members have said that Los Lobos can be better a la cart rather than using a specialty dining credit. Any details to share, since I can’t remember why?

[The Traveling Man]

47 minutes ago, Dejlig Ko said:

I read sometime ago, but can’t find it now, that several members have said that Los Lobos can be better a la cart rather than using a specialty dining credit. Any details to share, since I can’t remember why?

I would agree.  When we dine in Los Lobos, we usually order several appetizers and skip the main course altogether.  Even if you do order a main, the combined price of the various courses usually comes out to less than the value of the dining credit if you used it in Cagney's, Le Bistro, etc.

[JamieLogical]

1 minute ago, The Traveling Man said:

I would agree.  When we dine in Los Lobos, we usually order several appetizers and skip the main course altogether.  Even if you do order a main, the combined price of the various courses usually comes out to less than the value of the dining credit if you used it in Cagney's, Le Bistro, etc.

 

Q can also be quite cheap. We usually use OBC for Q and save our specialty dining credits for more expensive options.

[The Traveling Man]

2 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Q can also be quite cheap. We usually use OBC for Q and save our specialty dining credits for more expensive options.

Agreed.  Only thing is, I'm from Texas.  We tried Q one time.  Never again.  Yes, they serve a whole mess of meat on a plate there, but it doesn't even come close to measuring up to even ho-hum, everyday, fast-food quality barbeque in Texas, and it sure doesn't represent the best-of-the-best you can find here, Kansas City, Memphis, etc.  The main objection I have to NCL Q is that the meat seems to be cooked for an hour or two at most, not slow-smoked for 10 to 12 hours.  It's tough, lacking in flavor, and just plain disappointing.

[complawyer]

40 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

I would agree.  When we dine in Los Lobos, we usually order several appetizers and skip the main course altogether.  Even if you do order a main, the combined price of the various courses usually comes out to less than the value of the dining credit if you used it in Cagney's, Le Bistro, etc.

traveling man, it's good to hear from  you again

[hallux]

56 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

The main objection I have to NCL Q is that the meat seems to be cooked for an hour or two at most, not slow-smoked for 10 to 12 hours.  It's tough, lacking in flavor, and just plain disappointing.

To be fair - it's difficult to smoke meat to a Texan's liking when you're not allowed to burn things with flames, everything has to be done with electricity...

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

To be fair - it's difficult to smoke meat to a Texan's liking when you're not allowed to burn things with flames, everything has to be done with electricity...

To be fair, that's true, which is why I don't bother with Q any longer.  We gave it a shot, hoping for the best, but i would rather spend my specialty restaurant credits in another restaurant that can do things right.

[saltsandknit]

The best thing in Q honestly was the smoked peach margarita. 

[Oakman58]

Since we are Platinum Latitudes members we plan to use one of our Latitudes dinners at Q.  I want to try their Texan Crab Cakes and Brisket.  My wife wants to try the Chili and Pulled Pork.  I don't expect great BBQ but since this is the first time we will be on a ship with the Texas Smokehouse we have to try it.

[BirdTravels]

22 hours ago, Dejlig Ko said:

I read sometime ago, but can’t find it now, that several members have said that Los Lobos can be better a la cart rather than using a specialty dining credit. Any details to share, since I can’t remember why?

I would agree. The portions are big and most items can be shared. You can make your own Mexican buffet. We always tell our server to order everything immediately and bring it out to the table as soon as it is ready (versus serving courses). 

[Oakman58]

The American Diner is another restaurant that I wouldn't use the dining credit on.  The menu prices are no higher than most land based restaurants.  I definitely want to try their Lobster Roll "sliders" and the French Dip.

[luckyinpa]

ouch when did this go down from 3, seems like a rip now. has anyone priced out the individual restaurants like teppanyaki. seems like 40 per meal on a 7 day cruise is really really high. 

[hallux]

5 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

ouch when did this go down from 3,

Early last year...

[Centexcruiseaddict]

I guess this is how you ask a question, but here goes. If I'm the included dining package, can I only eat at Moderno and Teppanyaki, which charge a flat fee? Im im able to use the package at Le Bistro and Cagneys, how much are you limited to before you have to pay extra?

Thank you

 

[JamieLogical]

Just now, Centexcruiseaddict said:

I guess this is how you ask a question, but here goes. If I'm the included dining package, can I only eat at Moderno and Teppanyaki, which charge a flat fee? Im im able to use the package at Le Bistro and Cagneys, how much are you limited to before you have to pay extra?

Thank you

 

 

At al la carte restaurants like Cagney's and Le Bistro, you are limited to one entre. Other than that, there are no limits on appetizers or deserts. The caveat being that some items on the a la carte menus have an upcharge over the specialty dining credit. For example, the surf & turf at Cagney's.