Norweigan Cruise Line no longer making dinner reservations for main dining rooms

[zqvol]

4 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

sorry if I'm a little slow, but I want to make sure this is only for MDR?  OP said the rule was for any non a la carte restaurants.  Does that mean you can't make reservations for moderno and teppanyaki either?

It only applies to the MDRs 

[bluesea777]

17 hours ago, InMyFreeTime said:

Hello

Decided to give NCL another chance after a poor experience on the Encore.   Booked 2 weeks for this coming Christmas and New years on the Bliss.  Being a Platinyum level member I am entitled to earlycreservations at 125 days prios.  Called in today to make dinner reservations and found out that NCL is no longer allowing any reservations for any non ala carte restaurants.  Is this new or has it been this way for a while.  My first impression is dissapointment that NCL is again cutting services unless you are willing to pay extra to get an ala carte every night to let you actually make a reservation.  My experience is that trying to get into Manhatten was always an extremely long wait with them having now idea of when you would be seated if you arrived in the past without a reservation.  Are other cruise lines also now refusing to provide reservation service.  I was already hesitant to try NCL again and am now looking at having to stand in long lines hoping to get into the main dining room for a dinner

 

Tip: everyone will want to dine in the dining rooms on Xmas Day, and there are bound to be queues with finely dressed up people .... how about going to the Garden Cafe instead? There is always a whole turkey at the carving station and you get to choose the sides, and the gravy is so wholesome!

 

 

[poohdreaming]

This is just my opinion. Lines were longer during perk hours. But it did not take very long. It did not matters if you had reservations or not, it go by line. This happened on a cruise that I went on back in Feb of 2024. NCL is freestyle. If you want to go back to the same dining room with the same table at the same seating time, then you might like MSC cruises. Carnival cruises accept reservations through their app.

[Asawi]

25 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

sorry if I'm a little slow, but I want to make sure this is only for MDR?  OP said the rule was for any non a la carte restaurants.  Does that mean you can't make reservations for moderno and teppanyaki either?

No problem booking speciality restaurants!

[ready2cruzagain]

4 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

sorry if I'm a little slow, but I want to make sure this is only for MDR?  OP said the rule was for any non a la carte restaurants.  Does that mean you can't make reservations for moderno and teppanyaki either?

No, you can still make reservations for Moderno and Teppanyaki, I just made them last week at 125 days out.

 

[LatinaInTexas]

Lots of different experiences so let me add mine. On my first cruise I was able to make all MDR reservations online. It worked for me because we like eating at a set time. Because we had a reservation we did bypass a 25 minute wait time once other than that without a res what time would have been short.

My May cruise could not make reservations ahead of time but when I got on the ship I could make all MDR reservations for the week on the app.

Just got off the Jade Saturday and again could not make reservations ahead of time but again could make all reservations once on the ship on the app. We like to eat at 6 so no real lines that early but if we passed by at 7 or later saw many unhappy people waiting every night.

[brer111]

Last year we made reservations for the main dining rooms and what a joke. We usually eat early and the line was long waiting for entry into the dining room. I went to the stand and let them know I had a reservation.. I was told you have to get in the line. So, I am not even going to bother making them. This was on the Breakaway.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tudlum]

we were able to book Moderno and Teppanyaki on line 120 days out, this was the Breakaway

Edited August 23 by Tudlum

[zqvol]

16 minutes ago, Tudlum said:

we were able to book Moderno and Teppanyaki on line 120 days out, this was the Breakaway

No issue booking specialty restaurants on any ship (well of course, subject to availability). The issue being discussed is the MDR

Edited August 23 by zqvol

[Snowysmom]

I made MDR reservations for the Gem cruise I did on Aug 9.  No problem doing it when I made the specialty reservations at 120 days out.  We were a party of 5.  I did see alot of people waiting when I would walk by the MDRs around 7 or 7:30 and they have beepers for waits.  

[ChiefMateJRK]

8 hours ago, brer111 said:

Last year we made reservations for the main dining rooms and what a joke. We usually eat early and the line was long waiting for entry into the dining room. I went to the stand and let them know I had a reservation.. I was told you have to get in the line. So, I am not even going to bother making them. This was on the Breakaway.

 

 

 

 

 

That's interesting.  I would like to hear from others in this situation.  A Seinfeld episode comes to mind (the rental car reservation).

[The Traveling Man]

12 hours ago, brer111 said:

Last year we made reservations for the main dining rooms and what a joke. We usually eat early and the line was long waiting for entry into the dining room. I went to the stand and let them know I had a reservation.. I was told you have to get in the line. So, I am not even going to bother making them. This was on the Breakaway.

That brings to mind an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and friends were told that they didn't have a reservation at a restaurant, even though Jerry had been very specific in making one weeks earlier.  His comment to the restaurant host was something like "Oh, you're very good at taking reservations, you're just not good at honoring reservations."  Why does NCL even bother to accept a reservation if they're going to make everyone stand in line, reservation or not?

 

OOPS!!!  I just saw the post by @ChiefMateJRK - I think you're correct that it was a car rental instead of a restaurant.

Edited August 24 by The Traveling Man

[ryarger]

13 hours ago, brer111 said:

I was told you have to get in the line. So, I am not even going to bother making them. This

The reservation guarantees you a table when you get to the front of the line. People without reservations may get to the front of the line and find there is no room and have to get on a waiting list.

 

The reservation doesn’t entitle you to cut the line. That would be rude.

[gizfish]

1 hour ago, ryarger said:

The reservation guarantees you a table when you get to the front of the line. People without reservations may get to the front of the line and find there is no room and have to get on a waiting list.

 

The reservation doesn’t entitle you to cut the line. That would be rude.

Where I come from, when one makes a reservation, it's for a table at the time they make it.  It certainly is not rude to expect that someone with a reservation should be seated before those without.  How can it guarantee a table when you get to the front of the line?  That would mean they were already holding the table since they can't predict which parties of what numbers will reach the front of the line when.  And, since they are holding the table, why not just seat the people who reserved it when they get there?  If NCL does start taking reservations for the MDR, they should simply do what the other cruise lines do and have a separate line for those with reservations.

[European_CruiseGirl]

On 8/22/2024 at 2:42 AM, shof515 said:

which ships has long lines? with all ships having 2-3 main dinning rooms that spreads out the crowds where the lines is very short and often moves quick. if one room is crowded, go to the next room

We were on the Joy during spring break time which most likely equals with holiday sailings. Unless you had a reservation to MDR or went very early or late to eat the waiting time to get into MDR was 30-75mins. Each and every time we went there. 

[JillK]

On 8/22/2024 at 12:32 PM, dbrown84 said:

sorry if I'm a little slow, but I want to make sure this is only for MDR?  OP said the rule was for any non a la carte restaurants.  Does that mean you can't make reservations for moderno and teppanyaki either?

As others have said, yes you can make reservations at the specialties. 

 

Also note that reservations are generally required to ensure a seat at Shanghi's - the free restaurant as it is quite popular. This held true for both the Jade and the Epic. Can only be made at the hostess stand once on board. 

[dbrown84]

1 hour ago, JillK said:

As others have said, yes you can make reservations at the specialties. 

 

Also note that reservations are generally required to ensure a seat at Shanghi's - the free restaurant as it is quite popular. This held true for both the Jade and the Epic. Can only be made at the hostess stand once on board. 

I love shanghai's, but I've never had to make a reservation.  Just walking up has been totally fine 

[ryarger]

8 hours ago, gizfish said:

And, since they are holding the table, why not just seat the people who reserved it when they get there? 

Who is to say the other people in the line don’t also have reservations? There are one or two people handling the line. If you have a mad rush of people with reservations coming from all directions that is chaos.

 

Get into an orderly line. Approach the host one by one. Those with reservations get seated immediately. Those without get seated if there are non-reserved tables available or get put onto a list.

 

Simple, polite and civilized.

[schmoopie17]

12 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

 

OOPS!!!  I just saw the post by @ChiefMateJRK - I think you're correct that it was a car rental instead of a restaurant.

It was definitely a car rental. Then Jerry says, "And HOLDING the reservation is the important part."

 

It's funny how many of life's everyday situations can be traced back to a "Seinfeld" reference, especially considering it was a show about nothing.

 

Now, back to the reservation conversation...

[mking8288]

FWIW, if you choose to dine early at 5 or 5:30 PM (early "seating" without a reservation for a small party of 2, 3, 4 or 5) ... unless there is a 7 PM show in the main theater (huh, Wheel of Fortune, Price is Right, etc. maybe not as popular) with the *Away/+ class ships or the "older" mid-sized ships in the fleet - doing a walk-up usually isn't bad.  The problem is from the back of the long line that snaked up / around the corner (or stairs) and you cannot see b/c it's wall-to-wall people, that ... eventually (if not when doors open) they get the host/ess to open up 2 kiosk/podium to ease the surge for everyone to try to rush inside - then you got "issues" in dealing with flow management of crowds.  Then, they sometimes ask / insist / must swipe everyone's key card, one at a time, for each cabin to do their headcounts - it get slower and worst if their onboard computer servers are acting up & being sluggish.  If there are large groups ahead of you, unfortunately, you know what it means as that crowd will all be standing there & blocking anyone else from seeing or trying.  

 

On ships with Taste & Savor or equivalent, we prefer to go & dine there vs. the larger MDR, some with the mini dance floor and nowadays, virtual music instead of live background music (unlike the old days).  If you do, indeed, have a reservations and/or have & manage to inform/show the host/ess & their attention of your status (Sapphire, Diamond, etc.) - sometimes, you luck out and do get a bump with priority seating as a (not guaranteed) consideration, not "skip" the line of everyone else already in front of you ... and, if they aren't out of those vibrating 😆😁😤 pagers - you are still handed one - step aside & wait, and, they will try, try, try to get to you when a table is available.  We've seen the chronic shortage of crew members worsening the whole madness b/c of recent cutbacks - they do not have enough "escorts" to grab those printed menus to show you to your table.  Ships are sailing mostly full these days and this is reality, sadly.  With inexperienced and newly hired crew working their assigned stations learning the ropes, dissatisfaction isn't surprising - assistant managers often scrambled to clear tables and take manual orders on slips vs. using the portable handhelds, trying to compensate ... as they've done it all and risen from the rank via promotions & hard work (spoke to a number of them about some of the issues we observed since the C19 restart)

 

Prima class ships have their sets of unique challenges and I'm not going to dig further but you get the general picture, the issues have received the attention of the manager on duty, the overall restaurant manager, the F&B director and even the GM via written communications - and it is as if they haven't heard, seen and been briefed by junior members of their operations team.  This sets of photos taken onboard the Prima on 2 different sailings ... 6 months apart and eventually the same managerial teams ... imagine walking toward the AFT Hudson MDR that's ahead, around the corner ... trying to figure out if there is a line, 2 lines, where is the podium, which podium is for what, while scanning around to see who's there - greeters & host/ess standing around, staring intensely at their display monitor/work station laptops ... and the uniformed striped "officers" huddled among themselves, backs turned away & ignoring the guests, some utterly confused ...   On multiple occasions, it didn't matter which line you're on, whether you had a "confirmed" reservation or not, the size of your party or group, or anything else that mattered or not. 

(If a picture is worth a thousand words, each - here you are ... what do see and make up your story lines and give it your best "spin" on what's going on) 

 

  By the time you get inside, you looked and realized the dining room isn't full yet ... but, you wait another 5, 10 minutes to have someone come back to fill your glasses with water ... and wait for your food order to be taken, and, wait for your starter, and ...  That's the direction of the innovative freestyle dining on NCL these days, anything goes and everything is possible, and nothing is impossible, good luck.  Some evenings are great and others, we dine elsewhere, instead to avoid getting upset, YMMV and it depends often on the ship, the itinerary and the specific days - roll the dices and give that virtual "Wheel of Fortune" "reservation" function on the NCL app, a good "tap" to hope it's your lucky day.  

 

  For ships with functioning, real-time reservation display status - check those before taking the walk over, if you don't have a reservation to dine at a given time.  

 

P.S.  It doesn't help when management opts to close down the MDR as early as 9 PM to 9:30 PM instead of keeping them open as late as 10 PM, and the buffet is roped off & closed as early as 9 PM, and from what we gathered, by 9:30 PM fleetwide these days ... "cheers" to sail and sustain, to optimize guests experiences onboard.  Really, huh - IMHO, yours truly, just another Latitudes Diamond cruiser since 2000 & lately surveyed often by the NCL "Inner Circle" ... not that it matter.  

 

Wondering why another NCL Ambassador were sailing B2B on Princess recently - take a half hour to browse her recent report, think for a few moment and you begin to understand a little better.  Maybe, maybe not ... we just have to agree to disagree.  No need to quote or respond, feel free to flame & ignore.  

 

 

Edited August 24 by mking8288

[JSar]

On 8/23/2024 at 3:00 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

That's interesting.  I would like to hear from others in this situation.  A Seinfeld episode comes to mind (the rental car reservation).

This is essentially what happened on the Bliss last fall... I had reservations but there was a line I had to stand in even though I had a reservation. When I got to the front - they didn't even ask if I had a reservation. I usually had to wait 5-10 minutes. 

 

On the GEM however - they asked every time and there was NEVER a line. 

 

Anyhow - this change explains why I haven't been able to make MDR reservations for my upcoming cruise. I don't care though - there was never a line on the GEM and on the bliss like I said - the wait was 5-10 minutes for me. I have my specialty dining reservations and that is all that matters. 

 

 

Edited August 25 by JSar

[Tudlum]

I actually booked ahead Moderno,  Teppanyaki and Cagneys ahead of cruise 120 days out on Breakaway in December   I tried to do MDR once on board and they said the only free restaurant was Shanghai.  All the other MDR you just show up.  I was pleasantly surprised we did not wait.  I go on the Getaway in December, We shall see. LOL. Happy Cruising!!!!!!!!!!