How are MDR reservations handled when a dining room is closed?

[cruisingforever20]

I'll be sailing on Getaway in late January on a 12 night itinerary with a group of 10 who like to eat together. Whenever I've sailed with this many people before I make reservations online in MyNCL for each night we plan to eat in one of the MDRs and never need to wait. 

 

I've seen in the Freestyle Dailies posted in a few recent live reviews that usually just one of the Taste/Savor restaurants are open for dinner along with the Tropicana Room. Since I'm cruising on a longer itinerary during the low season right after the holidays I'd assume it's possible I'll experience this. If I make a reservation for an MDR that ends up not being open each night, is it safe to assume that my reservation will be transferred to whichever one is open? 

 

While it's not the end of the world if the reservation is dropped and we need to wait a few minutes each night, I'm a planner and like to have everything set in advance. I appreciate any insights you all can provide!

[Laszlo]

23 minutes ago, cruisingforever20 said:

I'll be sailing on Getaway in late January on a 12 night itinerary with a group of 10 who like to eat together. Whenever I've sailed with this many people before I make reservations online in MyNCL for each night we plan to eat in one of the MDRs and never need to wait. 

 

I've seen in the Freestyle Dailies posted in a few recent live reviews that usually just one of the Taste/Savor restaurants are open for dinner along with the Tropicana Room. Since I'm cruising on a longer itinerary during the low season right after the holidays I'd assume it's possible I'll experience this. If I make a reservation for an MDR that ends up not being open each night, is it safe to assume that my reservation will be transferred to whichever one is open? 

 

While it's not the end of the world if the reservation is dropped and we need to wait a few minutes each night, I'm a planner and like to have everything set in advance. I appreciate any insights you all can provide!

Thats new, I wonder is the passenger count was down on those cruises. 

[BermudaBound2014]

27 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

Thats new, I wonder is the passenger count was down on those cruises. 

 

Passenger counts are down across the entire industry now that fall season is upon us. I have it from a very reliable source that the Getaway has less than 600 cabins booked next sailing. 

[BirdTravels]

The Tropicana Room has a section of 10-tops set up. It would be easiest to dine there. We have had a 10-top for dinner with the officers in Taste/Savor before, but it was a special table setup for us. 

[AmbitionatBay]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Passenger counts are down across the entire industry now that fall season is upon us. I have it from a very reliable source that the Getaway has less than 600 cabins booked next sailing. 

 We are on the Getaway leaving NYC on Sept. 22nd.  I posted a question to people who are currently on the Getaway if they could ask how full the ship would be on our sailing. They told me they 4,000 passengers. I was surprised and asked if they could check with someone else because I didn’t think it would be that high. They emphatically replied they were correct.  

I am believing your numbers are more accurate.  Selfishly, we were hoping for a less than full ship.  Last trip on the Joy to Bermuda we both got COVID.  

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On our recent Star sailing there was a large private group onboard and they closed the smaller dining room to the public for the use of this group.   We talked with a couple who had reservations for Aquaand their reservations were not transferred, nor were they notified until they presented themselves at the restaurant on the first dining.   We were at 60% capacity so they said it wasn’t hard to wait for a table but it was off putting that they didn’t notify reservation holders.  

[Laszlo]

12 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Passenger counts are down across the entire industry now that fall season is upon us. I have it from a very reliable source that the Getaway has less than 600 cabins booked next sailing. 

I find it hard to believe only about 30% of the cabins are booked

[spanishguy1970]

13 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Passenger counts are down across the entire industry now that fall season is upon us. I have it from a very reliable source that the Getaway has less than 600 cabins booked next sailing. 

do you know passenger capacity on my coming cruise on the Escape, in Nov? LOL..

[mjkacmom]

We are a family of 7, never make reservations, but we’re told it’s much easier to seat us in the large MDR.

[BermudaBound2014]

4 hours ago, Laszlo said:

I find it hard to believe only about 30% of the cabins are booked

 

For clarity, this is the 29th departure  I said the next sailing above). I just did a quick scan of available cabins. The system I use only shows 100 of each category, so when it shows 100 cabins available that could mean 101 or 300 (depending on category). No way to get an exact number without spending a ton of time, but there are categories with more than 100 cabins available. I think it's going to be close. 

[BermudaBound2014]

3 hours ago, spanishguy1970 said:

do you know passenger capacity on my coming cruise on the Escape, in Nov? LOL..

 

You can do the manual work and get a VERY good estimate. 🙂 

[cruiseny4life]

On 9/18/2022 at 9:02 AM, Laszlo said:

I find it hard to believe only about 30% of the cabins are booked

I don't....but I was just on a cruise where we had 1,238 passengers onboard the Getaway which has a double occupancy of just under 4,000. The sailing immediately after mine had either just under, or about the same, number of passengers booked. The next sailing is looking to be more full, so I guess it's a crapshoot, but definitely believable! 

[Laszlo]

48 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I don't....but I was just on a cruise where we had 1,238 passengers onboard the Getaway which has a double occupancy of just under 4,000. The sailing immediately after mine had either just under, or about the same, number of passengers booked. The next sailing is looking to be more full, so I guess it's a crapshoot, but definitely believable! 

Interesting, hopefully our 12 day cruise on the GA in January will only be half full but I'm not counting on it

[bluesea777]

On 9/17/2022 at 10:58 PM, AmbitionatBay said:

 We are on the Getaway leaving NYC on Sept. 22nd.  I posted a question to people who are currently on the Getaway if they could ask how full the ship would be on our sailing. They told me they 4,000 passengers. I was surprised and asked if they could check with someone else because I didn’t think it would be that high. They emphatically replied they were correct.  

I am believing your numbers are more accurate.  Selfishly, we were hoping for a less than full ship.  Last trip on the Joy to Bermuda we both got COVID.  

I understand it’s Rosh Hashanah next week Sept 26-27.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by bluesea777