Avoiding the lines for dinner

[Phoenix cruiser]

On our Bahamas cruise on the Gem this past March they had land restaurant style buzzers if there was a wait. You could go anywhere on the ship and they worked. We often would sit in one of the lounges and listen to music until the buzzer went off. It was a tremendous enhancement over standing idly in line. Have they replicated this on other NCL ships? We sail the Spirit next March.

[deepnite10]

is this in main dining or specialties?

[Toyz711]

sometimes in the main dining rooms.

we saw a basket of them, behind the hostess...but never saw them give them to anyone. we had no lines, last dec...took the hostess a couple of mins to check people in and seat them but that was all. we, usually, ate at the gardens...the windows was busier, they may have had lines?

[Ms belp]

The buffet has never had lines. Neither has Cagney's or Le Bistro when we made reservations.

[discjoker]

They had this for the main restaurants on the Spirt when I cruised her in June of 2006.

[Phoenix cruiser]

Thanks for the replies. Since our cruise in March was over spring break it was a full ship and the buzzers were needed. We never waited more than 20-30 minutes even at peak dining times. This was only for the 2main dining rooms. The speciality restuarants require timed reservations and the buffets are get your food and seat yourself.

[garycarla]

Wow - in all of our cruises, the only time we saw even a short line was just after the early show let out and everyone went to eat at once. We have seen the buzzers sitting there, but never had to use one in a half dozen cruises. Not saying they are never lines or waits, we just did not see them.

[greywillow]

Wow - in all of our cruises, the only time we saw even a short line was just after the early show let out and everyone went to eat at once. We have seen the buzzers sitting there, but never had to use one in a half dozen cruises. Not saying they are never lines or waits, we just did not see them.

We were given a buzzer just once on our fall 2006 Jewel trans-Atlantic. We spent a minute or two deciding where we would go while waiting and, before we started going there, the buzzer went off. Couldn't have been five minutes.

 

I think all of the "newer" NCL ships have the buzzers.

[Ask4Jay]

We saw them on our Jewel T/A in 2005 in a basket behind the Maitre d', but did not see them in action. Do not remember seeing them last year, didn't pay any attention. Hey, I was on vacation!

[Phoenix cruiser]

It is hard to judge "lines" for us since with the buzzer system you get it and walk away. The fact that we waited up to 20-30 minutes once or twice on the spring break cruise indicates there might have been one otherwise. However, we could always have eaten somewhere else rather than wait. On our Hawaii cruise in 2003 there were times when the wait for the main dining rooms was over an hour. That was on the Wind which had much fewer dining options. We finally learned how to time our arrival for minimu wait time. Obviously every cruise is different, why else would we keep going back for more!

[lambs2]

A couple nights we had lines and buzzers on the Pride of America, but that was two years ago. One night we even had to wait for our reservation at the steakkhouse about 15 minutes (they didn't give a buzzer). This past March on the Jewel we never encountered a line for food anywhere (except ice cream in the afternoons!), but we also ate early every night so not sure about "prime time".