Dining Room Menus on app?

[Caligirl33]

Does NCL show the nightly Main dining room menus on the app prior to sailing like Princess does? Trying to figure out what nights to make speciality dining reservations and it would be helpful to know that the main dining room is serving. Thank you! 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

I have never seen the actual MDR menus for each specific night on a cruise anywhere.   Normally I look at the door of the MDR that is NOT used for breakfast first thing in the morning.

[Caligirl33]

Thank you. That is what we have done in the past as well and walking in to a speciality restaurant wasn't an issue.  However, I am hearing that the speciality restaurants book up prior to sailing now. 😭

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@Caligirl33

 

However, I am hearing that the speciality restaurants book up prior to sailing now

 

What happens is that about 30% of Specialty bookings are available to book online before embarkation.   Then all the preferred times get taken VERY quickly; remember that there are a lot of people have a priority booking period and they are used to booking before the rest.

 

There is always lots of places available on embarkation day but if you want very specific times and days go straight to the restaurant reservation desk before you do anything else.

[shof515]

i really really wish Norwegian gets with the times and update their appp. the app is horrible compare to other cruise lines

[KeithJenner]

I have heard a variety of sometimes conflicting stories about how and when the nightly meals are decided on, and it does seem to vary somewhat from ship to ship, and depending on staff.

 

Based on all this, I don’t think that it would be possible for nightly menus to be posted on the app at anywhere near the time that people are making reservations online. My guess is that the decision is made regarding which menus to use when at some point during the couple of weeks before the cruise (it will depend a lot when provision orders are required).

 

The app certainly needs some work doing on it, but I don’t think that this is something that could realistically be done.

[cruiseny4life]

11 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

The app certainly needs some work doing on it, but I don’t think that this is something that could realistically be done.

Sure it could. NCL would just need to revamp their systems. Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Carnival, etc. do this. There's no reason NCL can't. They just won't. Why they won't is a separate question, but it could certainly be done. 

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Sure it could. NCL would just need to revamp their systems. Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Carnival, etc. do this. There's no reason NCL can't. They just won't. Why they won't is a separate question, but it could certainly be done. 

My point is that they just don’t know what the menus will be on specific nights over 4 months ahead of the cruise.

 

They could, of course, change it so that restaurant reservations open much closer to the cruise so that the information could be available, but that is a completely different thing.

Edited August 15 by KeithJenner

[zqvol]

19 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

@Caligirl33

 

However, I am hearing that the speciality restaurants book up prior to sailing now

 

What happens is that about 30% of Specialty bookings are available to book online before embarkation.   Then all the preferred times get taken VERY quickly; remember that there are a lot of people have a priority booking period and they are used to booking before the rest.

 

There is always lots of places available on embarkation day but if you want very specific times and days go straight to the restaurant reservation desk before you do anything else.

It’s closer to 60% - 70%  ahead of time, not 30%. 

[KeithJenner]

1 minute ago, zqvol said:

It’s closer to 60% - 70%  ahead of time, not 30%. 

Depending on which reliable source people have got the information from it is somewhere between about 10% and 90%
 

 

[zqvol]

12 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

I have heard a variety of sometimes conflicting stories about how and when the nightly meals are decided on, and it does seem to vary somewhat from ship to ship, and depending on staff.

 

Based on all this, I don’t think that it would be possible for nightly menus to be posted on the app at anywhere near the time that people are making reservations online. My guess is that the decision is made regarding which menus to use when at some point during the couple of weeks before the cruise (it will depend a lot when provision orders are required).

 

The app certainly needs some work doing on it, but I don’t think that this is something that could realistically be done.

You can find a variety of MDR menus posted online at https://profcruise.com/ncl-menus-2024/

 

That site also has the current speciality menus.

 

You will notice that the menus are mostly fish, chicken and pork. You do have the classics and Cagney’s options in the MDR but that is it for beef most of the time.

 

i don’t think you will miss anything that special by missing any day in the MDR. 

[KeithJenner]

7 minutes ago, zqvol said:

You can find a variety of MDR menus posted online at https://profcruise.com/ncl-menus-2024/

 

That site also has the current speciality menus.

 

You will notice that the menus are mostly fish, chicken and pork. You do have the classics and Cagney’s options in the MDR but that is it for beef most of the time.

 

i don’t think you will miss anything that special by missing any day in the MDR. 

Yeah, the menus are available in various places (although ones online are often out of date).

 

Personally I don’t care. We don’t tend to eat at the MDR much anyway and when we do we just see what is available on the day. It was other people who were asking for them.

[CruisingBen]

Hi, from personal experience, I have done three cruises in the last 12 months on three different NCL ships and the menu rotation for nights 1-7 in the main dining room has been the same as the link provided on prof cruise - have also seen various cruise reviews in that period and they have also had the same menu rotation.

Perhaps others have had different experiences and there are no guarantees it won't change in the future, but I'd be surprised if chicken piccata is not on the menu on night 1. 

 

Edit - actually it's this link which is the most recent version as they took off some of the items, but the rotation has been the same. 

 

https://profcruise.com/ncl-encore-menus-2024/#dinner

Edited August 15 by CruisingBen

[BDevilCruiser]

23 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

I have never seen the actual MDR menus for each specific night on a cruise anywhere.   Normally I look at the door of the MDR that is NOT used for breakfast first thing in the morning.

On the Joy a couple of weeks ago, they posted printed menus in the corridor on deck 6 IIRC (it might have been deck 8.  Near the center.)  I discovered late in the week that you could check the info screens on each deck for each restaurant and that breakfast/lunch/dinner menus would pop up when selecting the right button (you could find which MDR had lunch on the non-port days.)

 

[cruiseny4life]

20 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

My point is that they just don’t know what the menus will be on specific nights over 4 months ahead of the cruise.

 

They could, of course, change it so that restaurant reservations open much closer to the cruise so that the information could be available, but that is a completely different thing.

Very true! I was thinking more like a week or two ahead of the cruise, and certainly while on the ship. I didn't really mean four weeks out. Thanks for letting me clarify! 

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Very true! I was thinking more like a week or two ahead of the cruise, and certainly while on the ship. I didn't really mean four weeks out. Thanks for letting me clarify! 

Yeah, there is no reason why they can’t show them onboard, and maybe a little in advance.

 

And they really should.

[2bc cruisers]

Good God, I’ve got 2 15-day cruises this coming jan/feb.  I’m going to need an ozempic prescription afterwards. I gained pounds just looking at those menus 

[its the life2283]

I second the terrible app that NCL has. You will spend more time signing back into the app then you will using it. The 10 bucks they charge to communicate with family onboard is not worth it. We gave up on using it the last 2 days of outrage Bermuda cruise 2 weeks ago. Just go to restaurant day of to look at posted menu.

[Johnny60]

On 8/15/2024 at 3:44 PM, zqvol said:

You can find a variety of MDR menus posted online at https://profcruise.com/ncl-menus-2024/

 

That site also has the current speciality menus.

 

You will notice that the menus are mostly fish, chicken and pork. You do have the classics and Cagney’s options in the MDR but that is it for beef most of the time.

 

i don’t think you will miss anything that special by missing any day in the MDR. 

This list for menus is brilliant.   Thank you for posting.   We have been looking nightly and planning our meals .  Great to see what we might be having.

[GORDONCHICK]

On 8/16/2024 at 6:03 PM, 2bc cruisers said:

Good God, I’ve got 2 15-day cruises this coming jan/feb.  I’m going to need an ozempic prescription afterwards. I gained pounds just looking at those menus 

We take the stairs a lot and it seems to be a wash.

[alanstarr]

Best part of doing the Behind the Scenes tour is seeing all two weeks worth of meals posted on the kitchen wall. It's a great sneak preview of what's to come! (I usually take a photo of it.)

Edited August 28 by alanstarr

[BirdTravels]

On 8/14/2024 at 6:51 PM, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

What happens is that about 30% of Specialty bookings are available to book online before embarkation.   Then all the preferred times get taken VERY quickly; remember that there are a lot of people have a priority booking period and they are used to booking before the rest.

It is much greater than 30%. 

 

And more importantly, it is what reservations are sold pre-cruise. And what is left over for onboard booking. 

 

I am a Diamond member and are usually one of the first to board a ship on embarkation day. If I have a change I need made, I (ignoring the direction to go to muster), go straight to restaurant reservations to fix or deconflict. I have been the 2nd person in line at Restaurant Reservations and not been able to change/book the exact dates and times I wanted in popular restaurants. Sometimes not even a reasonable time on my preferred date. (Haven guests normally hand in their restaurant requests while waiting in the terminal and those will be entered later in the morning of embarkation day,,, so I am not competing against them.) So, yes, there are reservations left for onboard booking and some of them are not always desirable. Left overs. I have been on cruises where Cagney's is totally sold out (all days, all times) by 1 pm on embarkation day (90 minutes after boarding starts). 

 

NCL can save some reservations for onboard bookings, but they don't have to be the best dates or times. Let the people who take the time to book in advance have the best dates and time.

 

PROTIP: Make all of your dining reservations as soon as you are allowed pre-cruise to get the dates and times you want. 130 days for Haven and Suites guests, 125 days for Club Balcony and Top Tier Latitudes members. 120 for general guests. 12 midnight eastern time. 

Edited August 28 by BirdTravels

[gdy0354]

just off Gem. No idea why menus aren't on app like other cruise lines. When boarding there were plenty of early specialty dinner times available. Pre cruise not much was listed as available early. Go straight to reservation desk when getting on board.