Need help on which restaurants I should use my 2 specialty dining meals

[cfarrow2112]

Hi All, my family (Me, Wife, daughter = 14, son = 16) are on the Prima in a couple of weeks for 7 day cruise to Bermuda. 

This is my wife and I's "second attempt" to go to to Bermuda in the past year as out last cruise was diverted to New England and Canada due to hurricane. (Boo!)

 

So, I booked 4 specialty dining reservations for this trip: Hasuki, Onda, Cagneys and Food Republic.

I'm trying to figure out which 2 I should use my "free at sea" specialty dining meals, and which ones I should just pay out of pocket (or buy 2 more meals, if that's the best option).

 

To provide more info, my wife and I are "good eaters".. and my son (who is 6'4" at age 16) can eat a truck if asked.  My daughter, however, is more of a "dainty eater".  While she will easily scarf down 3 or 4 avocado rolls...everything else is a "very small portion" and usually not main entrees (a bowl of mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, maybe a couple of meatballs or plain noodles).

 

What do you suggest?

 

Thanks!!!

[Pitzel]

Do all four of you have "free at sea" meals or just you and your wife?

I would check the menus and figure out -- roughly -- what everyone might order at each place and then price it out and determine if it makes more sense to pay a la carte or buy an extra 2-night/3-night/4-night dining package for anyone (or everyone) in your family.

Our teen is a very picky eater, so we are planning on paying for him a la carte since he likely won't eat appetizers or salads anywhere we go for dinner. We figured the most he might order at any restaurant is about $35-45 (before gratuities), which is typically less than the per meal specialty dining package costs.

[debenson0723]

If you only have specialty dining for you and your wife, I would probably send the kids to Indulge or the buffet where they can eat as much or as little as they like. At 16 my son would rather eat at the buffet much more than a 'fancy' dining place. He even went to the Local multiple times on his own, 

Other than that, I would say pay a la carte for Food Republic but like the previous poster mentioned, price out the restaurants and make a decision that way.

[ppcox]

I would use your Free at Sea for Cagney’s and Onda and pay for the other two.

[cfarrow2112]

Hi All, thanks for all the great feedback.   FYI - All 4 of us have the "free at sea" plan.... so we each get 2 free specialty dining meals.

[Pitzel]

The good news is that you don't all have to use your specialty dining credits at the same restaurants.

 

If your daughter is a dainty eater, have her use one of her credits for Hasuki (since she will pay the same whether or not she eats a little or a lot). She should then use her second credit at whichever restaurant she is likely to eat the most (value-wise). Then, go a la carte for the remaining 2 restaurants.

For everyone else, determine if you are likely to eat more than $59 at each a la carte restaurant (since that is the cost of Hasuki and the cost per meal of purchasing an incremental 2-meal dining package). If so, you may be better off purchasing an additional package. If not, have each person plan to purchase a la carte for the 2 least expensive places and use their credits for the 2 most expensive places.

Chances are that most, if not all, of you may choose to pay a la carte at Food Republic, but it will ultimately come down to what you plan to eat there.

[cruiseny4life]

You didn't ask this, but I'm going to voice my opinion anyway. 🙂 That's what Cruise Critic is for, right? 

 

Personally, paying a la carte would never work for my husband and I. The prices NCL charges are absolutely insane, especially for the petite portions they provide. Now, using our dining credits, we never went hungry as the credits cover plenty of food. If purchased a la carte, we'd have to spend far more than any comparable restaurant on land. 

As an example, we ordered a total of nine items at Food Republic. We used two dining credits and planned to pay a la carte for the extra item. Had we not used the dining credits, our bill would have been $230!! For Food Republic! That's insane. A glorified appetizer restaurant. The food tasted good, well most of it, but it was so not worth the menu price. 

 

Here's the $15 portion of Peruvian Beef Skewers:

 

 

$19 Pho - it was not good, by the way. I could get triple this bowl (and better) at a local place:

 

 

We had the same experience in La Cucina. The portions were pathetic. The lasagna (menu price $24) was 2 inches wide, by 4 inches long, by maybe 2 inches high. Never! And $19 for a small bowl of pasta (no larger than the next course of Olive Garden's never-ending pasta bowl, if you're familiar with that). Again, the quality was mostly good (not the lasagna). But, gosh I just cannot find any justification in NCL's a la carte prices, especially when guests are paying for all included meals, which means NCL is also saving money when someone does not eat at the MDR/buffet/etc. 

 

Here's the very pathetic serving of fettucine alfredo ($19):

 

 

And the small, not good lasagna ($24): 

 

 

I know my opinion on this is probably contrarian, but the prices are just sadistic for the a la carte diner. I will always take the included Free at Sea meals and consider (again) the upgraded two meal specialty dining, but I'll almost certainly never pay a la carte for a meal on NCL. 

 

 

[Pitzel]

On 4/9/2023 at 9:31 PM, Pitzel said:

For everyone else, determine if you are likely to eat more than $59 at each a la carte restaurant (since that is the cost of Hasuki and the cost per meal of purchasing an incremental 2-meal dining package). If so, you may be better off purchasing an additional package. If not, have each person plan to purchase a la carte for the 2 least expensive places and use their credits for the 2 most expensive places.

I stand corrected. If everyone has the 2 meal specialty dining package already, upgrading and adding 2 more meals runs about $35 per meal per person, not $59. $59 would be the cost per meal if you were buying a 2 meal package outright rather than upgrading an existing package. 
 

At $35 per meal per person, I would just go ahead and upgrade everyone and not have to stress about it!

[happy cruzer]

21 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

You didn't ask this, but I'm going to voice my opinion anyway. 🙂 That's what Cruise Critic is for, right? 

 

Personally, paying a la carte would never work for my husband and I. The prices NCL charges are absolutely insane, especially for the petite portions they provide. Now, using our dining credits, we never went hungry as the credits cover plenty of food. If purchased a la carte, we'd have to spend far more than any comparable restaurant on land. 

As an example, we ordered a total of nine items at Food Republic. We used two dining credits and planned to pay a la carte for the extra item. Had we not used the dining credits, our bill would have been $230!! For Food Republic! That's insane. A glorified appetizer restaurant. The food tasted good, well most of it, but it was so not worth the menu price. 

 

Here's the $15 portion of Peruvian Beef Skewers:

 

 

$19 Pho - it was not good, by the way. I could get triple this bowl (and better) at a local place:

 

 

We had the same experience in La Cucina. The portions were pathetic. The lasagna (menu price $24) was 2 inches wide, by 4 inches long, by maybe 2 inches high. Never! And $19 for a small bowl of pasta (no larger than the next course of Olive Garden's never-ending pasta bowl, if you're familiar with that). Again, the quality was mostly good (not the lasagna). But, gosh I just cannot find any justification in NCL's a la carte prices, especially when guests are paying for all included meals, which means NCL is also saving money when someone does not eat at the MDR/buffet/etc. 

 

Here's the very pathetic serving of fettucine alfredo ($19):

 

 

And the small, not good lasagna ($24): 

 

 

I know my opinion on this is probably contrarian, but the prices are just sadistic for the a la carte diner. I will always take the included Free at Sea meals and consider (again) the upgraded two meal specialty dining, but I'll almost certainly never pay a la carte for a meal on NCL. 

 

 

Agree that the food pricing is not much of a value.  True in our opinion of almost all specialty restaurants on the main lines.

 

The lines probably are charging the premium for the real estate and staff that the restaurants use same as the jump in prices to larger cabins.

 

We go mainly for slightly better food and much better dining experience than the included.  Not so much to get our money's worth vs. land based options.

[jemz1949]

Check out Palomar as an option

[JGmf]

On 4/9/2023 at 3:01 PM, cfarrow2112 said:

Hi All, my family (Me, Wife, daughter = 14, son = 16) are on the Prima in a couple of weeks for 7 day cruise to Bermuda. 

This is my wife and I's "second attempt" to go to to Bermuda in the past year as out last cruise was diverted to New England and Canada due to hurricane. (Boo!)

 

@cfarrow2112 If you are on the April 23 sailing, then your group and mine are in sync. 

 

We're on the Prima to Bermuda on the 23th, and yes, we were also on the hurricane-diverted September 22 Getaway trip to, er, Canada. (Love you Canada, but not in late September when we packed for Bermuda instead).

 

On the topic of where to eat, we've opted first to dine at places not yet on other NCL ships, so Onda and Palomar.  We're also doing Los Lobos as that option hasn't been available on the ships out of NYC we've taken.  (Also, to us, Cagney's has disappointed us too many times to deserve another shot).

[SoCA6ft5]

I agree with considering a purchase of the 2 meal upgrade for $70.80 each ($69 plus 20% service charge). We just got off the Prima and a typical charge for our meals, had we not had the package, would have been $85 per person. (Onda, Cagney's, Palomar, & Le Bistro). Hasuki may have gone up to $70.80 per person ($59 plus 20%).  Food Republic seemed redundant given a similar experience in the Indulge Food Hall & Nama Sushi.

 

I agree with JGmf on Cagney's. It was pretty miserable on the Prima. Everything was so messed up-such that the manager offered us a free meal if we would come back. We couldn't face another meal there though.

 

[cfarrow2112]

21 hours ago, JGmf said:

 

@cfarrow2112 If you are on the April 23 sailing, then your group and mine are in sync. 

 

We're on the Prima to Bermuda on the 23th, and yes, we were also on the hurricane-diverted September 22 Getaway trip to, er, Canada. (Love you Canada, but not in late September when we packed for Bermuda instead).

 

On the topic of where to eat, we've opted first to dine at places not yet on other NCL ships, so Onda and Palomar.  We're also doing Los Lobos as that option hasn't been available on the ships out of NYC we've taken.  (Also, to us, Cagney's has disappointed us too many times to deserve another shot).

 

Hi JGmf, too funny!   Yes, we are on the Prima for the 4/23 embarkation. I feel like NCL "owes us" for that change to itinerary last Sept.  🙂

 

Unfortunately, it's not gonna be as warm in Bermuda as I hoped for.... upper 60s is the latest forecast.

 

 

[cfarrow2112]

21 hours ago, SoCA6ft5 said:

I agree with considering a purchase of the 2 meal upgrade for $70.80 each ($69 plus 20% service charge). We just got off the Prima and a typical charge for our meals, had we not had the package, would have been $85 per person. (Onda, Cagney's, Palomar, & Le Bistro). Hasuki may have gone up to $70.80 per person ($59 plus 20%).  Food Republic seemed redundant given a similar experience in the Indulge Food Hall & Nama Sushi.

 

I agree with JGmf on Cagney's. It was pretty miserable on the Prima. Everything was so messed up-such that the manager offered us a free meal if we would come back. We couldn't face another meal there though.

 

 

My family LOVES sushi... but the sushi menu at Food Republic looks better than Nama.  My kids and wife are exclusively maki roll eaters... and Nama didn't have many options (at least, not ones they would be drawn to).

[SoCA6ft5]

3 hours ago, cfarrow2112 said:

Unfortunately, it's not gonna be as warm in Bermuda as I hoped for.... upper 60s is the latest forecast.

 

 

Our forecast last week was in the 60's as well but we found it to be "t-shirt" weather none-the-less.  It only felt cool after the sun went down.  The times at sea were a whole other thing, however..brr!