New to Sapphire - a few questions

[CTCruisers]

We reached Sapphire level with our last NCL cruise and had a few questions:

 

Dinner With Officers - The note says to to go to the cruise next desk to register. Do you have a choice of restaurant and times or they just assign something randomly based on their availability?

 

Priority restaurant and entertainment seating - Does this mean we do not have to wait in line for shows like the Cavern Club Beatles shows and comedians or does it apply to just the main theater shows?

[ChiefMateJRK]

25 minutes ago, CTCruisers said:

Priority restaurant and entertainment seating - Does this mean we do not have to wait in line for shows like the Cavern Club Beatles shows and comedians or does it apply to just the main theater shows?

I'm also new to Sapphire, so have the same questions.  From what I've recently read here, the priority entertainment seating applies to shows that have reservations and allow you to skip the standby line.  I haven't tried that yet.  I've also read that for some restaurants you will be seated quickly while others have to wait.  It may depend on ship, sailing, day of the week, phase of the moon, etc.

[KeithJenner]

Priority seating g really does vary by ship. We very rarely go to shows, but I have seen an area reserved for Sapphire and above on a couple of occasions (half of the front row was on the Spirit for example).

 

As for the restaurants, we have on occasion felt that maybe we got a nicer table than others and that may have been due to latitudes status, but this varies. I've never been to a restaurant when they weren't seating everyone straight away, so can't say whether you get anything in this situation.

 

It is one of those things where I wouldn't expect it to result in anything, and if it does then it is a bonus.

[julig22]

Only done 1 dinner. No choice of time or restaurant.  Signed up day 1, got an invite a few days into the cruise.

[FLAHAM]

Dinner with officers is in an MDR on one designated evening.

[Joken35]

Which restaurant did you eat in?

 

[podgeandrodge]

I think it's generally the MDR.  For me, and I may be in the minority on this, wanting to have dinner with "officers" suggests that I am somehow lucky to find myself in their company.   Each to their own!

[FLAHAM]

I have found the dinners with officers to be an enjoyable change.  They are usually talkative and have interesting stories to tell.  Don’t pass up this Latitudes benefit.

[The Traveling Man]

8 hours ago, CTCruisers said:

We reached Sapphire level with our last NCL cruise and had a few questions:

 

Dinner With Officers - The note says to to go to the cruise next desk to register. Do you have a choice of restaurant and times or they just assign something randomly based on their availability?

 

Priority restaurant and entertainment seating - Does this mean we do not have to wait in line for shows like the Cavern Club Beatles shows and comedians or does it apply to just the main theater shows?

Yes, you need to register at the Cruise Next Desk on the day of embarkation for several Latitudes benefits, including Dinner With The Officers, Behind The Scenes Tour, and others.  You will be notified a day or two later of when and where to meet your officer(s) for dinner.  We have been to 13 DWTO in one of the MDRs, 3 in Le Bistro, and one in Cagney's.  You don't get to choose the location, date, or which officer(s) will join you. 

 

It varies from ship to ship, but usually the priority seating benefit means that for shows which require reservations you can skip to the head of the standby line even if you haven't made a reservation.

[smillerholmes]

11 hours ago, CTCruisers said:

We reached Sapphire level with our last NCL cruise and had a few questions:

 

Dinner With Officers - The note says to to go to the cruise next desk to register. Do you have a choice of restaurant and times or they just assign something randomly based on their availability?

 

Priority restaurant and entertainment seating - Does this mean we do not have to wait in line for shows like the Cavern Club Beatles shows and comedians or does it apply to just the main theater shows?

Just came off my first cruise with Sapphire benefits - 20 days on the Sun

 

I signed up for Dinner with Officers, Wine Tasting and Behind the Scenes tour.

 

I got my Wine Tasting invite first - I missed it because I was not feeling well.

 

Behind the Scenes tour invite was sent a few days later.  Laundry area, Galley and Theater were included.  There is also a paid tour that will include the Engine Control Room and Bridge which is $129 (I believe this is available for any Latitude level)

 

I received my Dinner with Officers invite towards the end of the cruise.  It was my understanding that they had done several "sessions" so this is a pretty popular perk.  Mine was in the MDR - I didn't have the beverage package this time since I had drinks through the Casino, but both red and white wines were provided and liberally dispensed during the meal.

 

I cannot speak to the priority seating perk as I have not had a reason to try to utilize this yet.

 

P.S.  The free laundry perk which starts at the Platinum level is not to be overlooked and I can confirm receiving 3 baskets of laundry on my 20 day cruise.  YMMV as this is not written anywhere, but people always ask about the laundry perk on longer cruises so this is just extra information.

[The Traveling Man]

9 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

The free laundry perk which starts at the Platinum level is not to be overlooked and I can confirm receiving 3 baskets of laundry on my 20 day cruise.  YMMV as this is not written anywhere, but people always ask about the laundry perk on longer cruises so this is just extra information.

My wife and I are each Diamond Latitudes members so we have taken advantage of the free laundry offer many times.  Years ago we each would receive a laundry coupon, but now NCL provides only one coupon per stateroom.  The terms and conditions listed on the Latitudes page of the NCL website, however, specify that this perk is per Latitudes member, not per stateroom, so we are entitled to two free bags of laundry per cruise.  We asked about this on a cruise several years ago and were told that we could simply write "Latitudes Free Laundry" on the laundry ticket and we would not be charged even if we did not attach a laundry coupon.  It has worked for us on more than a dozen cruises since then, as we have never been charged for laundry.  On longer cruises of two weeks or more we often have submitted laundry bags three or four times per cruise.  Again, we have never been charged for laundry since we made Platinum.

[The Traveling Man]

15 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

Dinner with officers is in an MDR on one designated evening.

Depending upon how many Sapphire, Diamond, and Ambassador members are on board, there may be several groups in the MDR on the same evening, each seated with a different officer.  I have seen as many as four tables in the same MDR on the same night.  If there are enough Latitude members who sign up for DWTO, some officers may "pull a second shift" and have dinner with a different group of passengers on each of two or more evenings during the cruise.  Most of these dinners are held in one of the MDRs, but some officers prefer to dine in one of the specialty restaurants.  This happens more often when you dine with the Captain or General Manager rather than a junior officer.  We have been invited to Le Bistro three times with GMs and once to Cagney's with the Chief Engineer.  On our most recent cruise we had dinner in the MDR with the GM one night, then saw the Captain and another group of Latitudes members having dinner together in Cagney's a few nights later.

 

Usually each Latitudes member gets to have DWTO just once per cruise, even if the cruise is more than a week in length.  Some cruises, shorter than five days or so, do not provide this benefit.  On a couple of cruises, though, we have been able to have DWTO twice on the same cruise.  One of these was a 15 day Trans Atlantic, while the other was an 11 day Mediterranean.

 

In the past, most dinners were for five or six passengers and one officer.  Lately the trend has been toward more passengers and two or more officers, all seated at a rather large table.  A recent post on another thread on this forum indicated that there was seating for more than 20 persons at one table.  I prefer the smaller groups.  You can more easily engage in meaningful conversations when you are seated in a more intimate gathering.

[SeaShark]

22 hours ago, CTCruisers said:

Priority restaurant and entertainment seating - Does this mean we do not have to wait in line for shows like the Cavern Club Beatles shows and comedians or does it apply to just the main theater shows?

 

 

According to the Latitudes Dept:

 

Priority Restaurant & Entertainment Seating:

Provides priority seating, based on availability, in main dining rooms. Please visit the hostess stand advising your latitude status and they will take care of the rest. As for entertainment, there is a special section in the theater roped off for the shows you choose to attend. This is applicable to complimentary shows in the theater.

[julig22]

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

My wife and I are each Diamond Latitudes members so we have taken advantage of the free laundry offer many times.  Years ago we each would receive a laundry coupon, but now NCL provides only one coupon per stateroom.

There is no laundry coupon.  Yes, the information/instructions are printed underneath the 2 dinner coupons on the card they leave in your room but it is not a coupon, even though it may look like one.

"Write your full name, stateroom number and Latitudes Rewards status on your laundry slip..." is what it says. No mention of attaching a certificate. Vs "Please give your server this certificate..." that is printed on the meal tickets.

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

There is no laundry coupon.  Yes, the information/instructions are printed underneath the 2 dinner coupons on the card they leave in your room but it is not a coupon, even though it may look like one.

"Write your full name, stateroom number and Latitudes Rewards status on your laundry slip..." is what it says. No mention of attaching a certificate. Vs "Please give your server this certificate..." that is printed on the meal tickets.

They used to indicate that you should attach them to the laundry ticket.  To be honest, I really haven't looked at them carefully in the last five years or so.  Thanks for the update.  I had not noticed the change in wording.