Making "anytime" dinner reservations in the MDR<s>?

[PaperSniper4]

Can we make a dinner reservation with our "anytime dining"? We have already made our two specialty dining reservations at Cagney's and Le Bistro, but I wonder about the rest of the nights. We usually dine at home around 6-630pm. I know we can just show up, but I wonder if we'd be smart to make reservations.....if that's possible. And if it is possible, when and how can we make those MDR reservations?

 

We're on the Breakaway from NOLA March 2024.

 

 Thanks

 Doug

[schmoopie17]

You can make MDR reservations at 120 days out...125 days if you're up the ladder of Latitudes membership. Same time frame as specialty dining...which you've obviously already done.

 

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by schmoopie17

[BirdTravels]

1 minute ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Can we make a dinner reservation with our "anytime dining"? We have already made our two specialty dining reservations at Cagney's and Le Bistro, but I wonder about the rest of the nights. We usually dine at home around 6-630pm. I know we can just show up, but I wonder if we'd be smart to make reservations.....if that's possible. And if it is possible, when and how can we make those MDR reservations?

 

We're on the Breakaway from NOLA March 2024.

 

 Thanks

 Doug

You can make reservations for the main dining rooms. It may speed your seating by a few minutes. But, reservations are unnecessary. Freestyle dining allows you to show when you want. All min ding rooms serve the same menu. 

[UKstages]

my experience with reservations at the MDRs is not that they are not necessary, but they are typically ignored. you show up, there's a throng of hungry people waiting to see the host/hostess and you can't very well move to the front of the line... even though you should be able to. after all, YOU have a reservation... most of them probably don't.

 

once you announce yourself to the host/hostess (and it's almost always a hostess on NCL), the reservation doesn't seem to matter. seating is not expedited, in my experience. you're still waiting with the throng and the folks who were there before you will likely get seated before you do. whether that's because they got there first or they have a reservation with an earlier time than yours, or the MDR is the one place where NCL has inexplicably chosen to honor priority restaurant seating for sapphire, diamond and ambassador guests... is unknown.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

To make sure that a large party gets a table fit for your group BOOK; otherwise, as @BirdTravels says, there is NO advantage for a group of 2 or 4.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On the BA in February you could make reservations in Manhattan but not the other MDRs.  

[PaperSniper4]

Thanks. How was the Manhattan? The last time we sailed on the Breakaway in October 2022 we used the Manhattan exclusively as as MDR; never tried the other two (Savor? Taste?). I honestly cannot remember if we made reservations, but I usually will if possible. Might be a wasted effort, but never hurts.

 

How was the Manhattan in February? I heard some talk it was noisier than the other two, at least as far as the Breakaway went.

 

Commodore cruise line (not to mention Chandis)? Wow,you must be as old as we are!😄 I tried to sail with Commodore, but I was working two jobs (FedEx/USNR) at the time and could never fit in a cruise. Their cruise line appealed to me since we live near Memphis and NOLA was "just down the street".

 

 Doug

[CruiseMH]

13 hours ago, UKstages said:

my experience with reservations at the MDRs is not that they are not necessary, but they are typically ignored. you show up, there's a throng of hungry people waiting to see the host/hostess and you can't very well move to the front of the line..

Two weeks ago on the breakaway there were two lines.One for the people with reservations and one for the people without.

 

[IAcruising]

1 hour ago, CruiseMH said:

Two weeks ago on the breakaway there were two lines.One for the people with reservations and one for the people without.

 

 

This was the case the first night on the Escape. Full ship to Bermuda and the first night was a cluster. We had reservations and walked in. Strongly recommend reservations for the first night. After that it was walk-in at any of the three MDR's.

 

[LatinaInTexas]

We like to eat at a set time so we did make reservations ahead of time. There were times when we were told 30+ minute wait time until we said we had a reservation, then we were seated within a minute or two. One time the wait was about 5 minutes. Worked great for us especially if we had somewhere to be after dinner she didn't want to worry about being late.

[PaperSniper4]

15 hours ago, LatinaInTexas said:

We like to eat at a set time so we did make reservations ahead of time. There were times when we were told 30+ minute wait time until we said we had a reservation, then we were seated within a minute or two. One time the wait was about 5 minutes. Worked great for us especially if we had somewhere to be after dinner she didn't want to worry about being late.

I made reservations. We prefer to eat early, and do prefer to have reservations. It was easy to do online, I did not realize I could make the MDR reservations until this week. I always book the two specialty venues ASAP, but I've been overlooking the regular MDRs. For our next cruise, I booked each of the three MDRs. On our last Breakaway cruise we used only the Manhattan....without reservations. I don't recall any waiting, but then I've probably forgotten if we did.....🤔

[dbrown84]

On 11/17/2023 at 9:50 AM, BirdTravels said:

You can make reservations for the main dining rooms. It may speed your seating by a few minutes. But, reservations are unnecessary. Freestyle dining allows you to show when you want. All min ding rooms serve the same menu. 

That's my new learned thing for today.  I never knew you could reserve the MDR ahead of time in the app.  Not that I'm going to do it as I rarely eat in the MDR due to the slow service 

[Vagabond Knight]

We did our first NCL cruise in October on the Dawn.  My husband made all the dining reservations online ahead of time.  The first night, we went to the Venetian at our "scheduled" time, gave them our name and said we had a 7:30 (or whatever it was) reservation.  They told us there are no reservations unless you have a large group.  My husband whipped out his phone and showed them the screenshot of all our dining reservations for the week (which included both MDRs and specialty restaurants) and they acted kind of snippy with us, insisting that there are no reservations in the MDRs.  Asking "Then why was I able to make reservations online?" and showing the screenshot did not impress them... they just looked at us like we were crazy.  The food was excellent on the Dawn for the most part, but the reservations (or no reservations) thing in the MDRs was confusing and rather annoying.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Vagabond Knight
typo

[Travelling2Some]

1 hour ago, Vagabond Knight said:

We did our first NCL cruise in October on the Dawn.  My husband made all the dining reservations online ahead of time.  The first night, we went to the Venetian at our "scheduled" time, gave them our name and said we had a 7:30 (or whatever it was) reservation.  They told us there are no reservations unless you have a large group.  My husband whipped out his phone and showed them the screenshot of all our dining reservations for the week (which included both MDRs and specialty restaurants) and they acted kind of snippy with us, insisting that there are no reservations in the MDRs.  Asking "Then why was I able to make reservations online?" and showing the screenshot did not impress them... they just looked at us like we were crazy.  The food was excellent on the Dawn for the most part, but the reservations (or no reservations) thing in the MDRs was confusing and rather annoying.

I have noticed that there is frequently a "disconnect" on NCL between information given by Corporate in Miami and what the actual practice is on individual ships when it comes to dining.  I am guessing (?) that the individual managers on the ships influence policies so they are not uniform fleet wide.  I do find being given misleading information particularly annoying too.  Especially if it results in wasting my time, as it usually does.  Somebody skipped a meeting somewhere I guess, lol.

[Travelling2Some]

BTW, one helpful hint picked up here on CC over the years has been the suggestion to book a specialty restaurant on the first night.  The MDRs tend to be a bit chaotic that night.  Not sure if it is new crew or the turnaround process but it does seem to be a thing.

[ready2cruzagain]

On 11/17/2023 at 9:50 AM, BirdTravels said:

You can make reservations for the main dining rooms. It may speed your seating by a few minutes. But, reservations are unnecessary. Freestyle dining allows you to show when you want. All min ding rooms serve the same menu. 

It really helps to have that reservation in the MDR on holidays. We have been on for Thanksgiving several times and while those without a wait were told 45 minutes to an hour, we were able to go right in with our reservation. If they get really far behind they do honor those reservations.

[cruisinmeme]

You make your reservation for dining room just like you did the other reservation. Go to the restaurant you want and pick your time. 
we will be on breakaway in march 2024 also and I WAS able to make reservation in 

Taste restaurant .

may not be necessary but last cruise I saw them shut down the line within 15-20 mi a of opening so…. I would assume that reservation would mean something. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

I book my specialties and then "fill in the blanks" with blanket 5:30 MDR reservations.  Takes a few minutes and I have until 5:25 on the day of the cruise to change my mind.

 

(yes, I cancel earlier in the day than 5:25 if we make other plans...)

[mugtech]

On 11/18/2023 at 12:57 PM, IAcruising said:

 

This was the case the first night on the Escape. Full ship to Bermuda and the first night was a cluster. We had reservations and walked in. Strongly recommend reservations for the first night. After that it was walk-in at any of the three MDR's.

 

First night is a great time to do specialty dining.

[Bonthewater]

I went into the app and can't see the ability to make MDR reservations even though I am within 120 days.  When do the reservations for MDR open?

[graphicguy]

I must be an outlier.  I don’t make reservations for ANYTHING.  I just show up to the restaurant I want to dine at, when I feel like it.  I RARELY wait more than 5 or 10 minutes, if that.  Mostly, I am seated immediately,  I thought that was the purpose of Freestyle?

[graphicguy]

I do think NCL’s WEB SITE is in serious need of a revamp.  It’s not very reliable and it’s way slow.  

 

As such, obviously there’s a disconnect.  The folks who man the seating station computer when you walk up, don’t see the reservations made on line before you cruise many times.  

 

If you want to make reservations, I’ve found those made on board are recognized.  But again, even when I’ve been told there was a long wait (couple of times I was told there was a 30 minute wait at the NOODLE BAR), I would put my name in and have a seat within 5-10 minutes by just walking up.

 

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, graphicguy said:

 I just show up to the restaurant I want to dine at, when I feel like it.  I RARELY wait more than 5 or 10 minutes, if that.  Mostly, I am seated immediately,  I thought that was the purpose of Freestyle?

It is.  That's what we generally do as well.  I just have some reservations in my hip pocket in case DW and DD insist that they want to eat dinner in the MDR.  Those reservations are FULLY refundable at any time! 🤣

 

The last thing I want to do is to have to wait around until six to eat dinner and wind up getting a crappy seat (or none at all) in my target bar/lounge for a seven O'clock performance of whoever it is that just became my favorite new performer.  I have evidence to believe that those performers really appreciate my front row attention and engagement.

 

disclaimer: it could also be the Scotch😏

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, graphicguy said:

But again, even when I’ve been told there was a long wait (couple of times I was told there was a 30 minute wait at the NOODLE BAR), I would put my name in and have a seat within 5-10 minutes by just walking up.

Well, yeah, that works for you @graphicguy  But you're a much more likable guy than "some of us."  They take one look at me (with my sweats and slippers trying to pass for code-compliant), and just say "you might as well have a seat, it may be a while."😀

[ColdCruise]

19 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I book my specialties and then "fill in the blanks" with blanket 5:30 MDR reservations.  Takes a few minutes and I have until 5:25 on the day of the cruise to change my mind.

 

(yes, I cancel earlier in the day than 5:25 if we make other plans...)

 We follow the same process.  I usually pick 5:30/6:30 for everything as it gives us time for leisurely meal before 2nd performances.
 

We weren’t able to prebook MDR online at the same time we booked out Viva specialties but initiated a chat session from the app or web site and the person chatting made them for me. That was before we upgraded to a suite.

 

interestingly (or not) we wanted to change an MDR reservation  time yesterday on Viva and the suites concierge said it couldn’t be done as there were no MDR reservations once on board. Left scratching my head ….