Dining Service on NCL - Please be honest

[fivegirl]

A question to readers/cruisers of NCL: I was on Spirit in July and just got off the Jewel. I found that on both occassions there were long waits in the 6:30 to 7:30 zone at the major, free restaurants. Most annoyingly there were actually long waits to just get the beeper to wait even more. Is this common fleet wide? I was on Crown and Dawn just a few years ago and this was not the case, even with freestyle. Can folks weigh in with their own experiences?

[tlovesdis]

I just got off the Star and we never once had to wait at any place to eat, breakfast, lunch or dinner! We went to Versaiile twice, once at 6pm and once at 7, with a party of 8 and 14 the second time and didn't have to wait!

[lola4795]

We were on the Pearl in March and never had to wait.

[NW Pacific]

We were on the Pearl in July, never had to wait for either of the two main dining rooms.

[BalconyBumz]

I was on the NCL Star and I will summarize the dining service in one word. S-L-O-W. Of course it wasn't worth the wait for their food either. The main dining room wasn't as slow as the Mexican restaurant. We sat there for 3 hours one night before we got all our food.

[vette]

We just got off the Star. We ate at the Versailles 4 nights and Aqua 2 nights (Teppanyaki the first night). We had a party of 9 and never had a wait. Most nights we arrived a the dining room around 7:30. The service was excellent and the food delicious. The Star is a star!

 

Vette

[ute_fan]

We recently sailed on the Dawn. It was our 6th NCL cruise, and we had waits and long lines at the dining room every night. I have no idea why, as we've never had that issue before. It may have been the itinerary, or the relatively "old" age of the passengers (it was a Canada/New England, port intensive itinerary), but it was really quite annoying.

 

I've seen people complain before and always been one of the ones who jumped in with "we've never had that problem", but now I know what they're talking about.

 

My other guess is that, maybe with the economic problems, there were more folks trying to eat in the main restaurants rather than pay the surcharges at the specialty restaurants. In any case, the service definitely wasn't up to par.

[DAGVBSB]

I have never had to wait to be seated on any NCL cruise that I have taken. We usually go to eat between 5:45 and 6:30 because my wife and mother in law think eating later than 7:30 will make you fat... (go figure...)

 

 

I too thought NCL's food service was slow. Seated at 6:00 and not out until after 7:30 p.m.. I thought it was due to Freestyle, but after my first non NCL cruise this summer on the RCCL Explorer of the Seas, I discovered that NCL was actually the same or shorter than the "formal" dining experience. (or else the Explorer was just extremely slow.....)

[mlbcray]

We got off the Star in July. Party of 6 adults never had to wait in a resturant.

The food was great evry night. The service was great evry night.

[terrymtex01]

Of the four NCL cruises we have been on we did have to wait one time to be seated in the main dining room and it was during "rush hour" which is between 6:30 and 7:30 or 7:00 to 8:00. We have many times walked by the dining rooms at that time and seen people waiting. We have also gone during that time and been seated almost immediately. I don't know if you will be able to get a definative answer or not, but I will say that sometimes you may have to wait if you go during prime times and sometimes you may not have to wait. It just all depends on the cruise, the other pax aboard, what time you leave port if it is a port day, etc. I do agree that I think the main dining rooms are getting busier than in the past due to the economy and people not wanting to spend money on the Surcharge Restaurants.

[terrymtex01]

I was on the NCL Star and I will summarize the dining service in one word. S-L-O-W. Of course it wasn't worth the wait for their food either. The main dining room wasn't as slow as the Mexican restaurant. We sat there for 3 hours one night before we got all our food.

 

 

And you actually waited for three hours to get it? I don't know if that says more about you or the cruise ship.

[jkrislc]

My boss just got back from her first cruise on the Jewel and she complained of long waits also. She believed it was related to the down turn in the economy and an unwillingness to spend as freely onboard. As a result, she said that the specialty restaurants were empty every night, which flooded and overwhelmed the dining rooms.

 

Her arguments seemed logical to me especially since people were locked into the cruise after final payment.

[dukejr]

I have had very few waits, but the service time for meals does seem to take longer recently..

[maui34]

We just sailed on the Sky 10-20. Never had a wait. Dinner was always 1 1/2 hrs and that was with desert, coffee and taking our sweet time. Crossings and Palace service was great. Now breakfast was alot slower.

[TheYearofMe]

I am comaring apples to oranges but we've never waited. However, we eat very early at 5:30 or so. I enoy the food, but I normally dine in the specialty restaurants. The Aisian restaurant is fantastic and very under utilized.

[islandgirlejfan]

I don't know...it doesn't seem that logical to me. The cruise was booked spending usually in the area of least $1500, unless of course someone got a ridiculous last minute rate. I just can't see how is spending 25 dollars (using one of the highest surcharges I have seen) for two going to make that big of a difference even with the current decline in the economy, when you have shelled out quite a few dollars already to go on the cruise, but hey, that is just me.:confused: I would be more apt to cut the bar tab. At $8 bucks a pop (most people not realizing you can turn in the glass, get another drink and pay less) for two to drink would cause a lot more damage over the course of a cruise! On this last cruise, we saw the same people just drink and drink and drink. Hubby and I wondered how people can afford to do that at the price of it! :eek:

 

At any rate, the only place we encountered a little slower service was Le Bistro. The serving crew that evening more than made up for the lags.....friendliest group we encountered!:D

 

It did make me think of one other thing though...we lived in Europe for several years and went back to visit friends a few years ago. Dining there is an event...it's a time to enjoy the food, the conversation and the people you are with. For the most part, you will almost have to ask for the check, especially true in France where even when people were lined outside the door of a neighborhood bistro, we were never just kicked out because we had completed our meal. I was told one time by my German doctor that Americans just rush everything....could it be really that we have forgotten what it is like to enjoy those in our company?

 

My boss just got back from her first cruise on the Jewel and she complained of long waits also. She believed it was related to the down turn in the economy and an unwillingness to spend as freely onboard. As a result, she said that the specialty restaurants were empty every night, which flooded and overwhelmed the dining rooms.

 

Her arguments seemed logical to me especially since people were locked into the cruise after final payment.

[logcabin]

I always hear people complain about how long it take to eat on an NCL ship. This always makes me laugh. Any good, upper scale place will take about 3 hours to comlete a meal. They don't rush you, give you time to digest between courses, etc. It is suppose to be an "event". Time to relax, talk, enjoy a few glasses of a good wine, savor each course, etc. People make me laugh when they say service is slow and it took 2+ hours.. It should.. If you want to have a faster meal, grab a burger at the grill.

 

Having said that, in my 4 NCL cruises we have NEVER waited to be seated for a meal.

[jkrislc]

I don't know...it doesn't seem that logical to me. The cruise was booked spending usually in the area of least $1500, unless of course someone got a ridiculous last minute rate. I just can't see how is spending 25 dollars (using one of the highest surcharges I have seen) for two going to make that big of a difference even with the current decline in the economy, when you have shelled out quite a few dollars already to go on the cruise, but hey, that is just me.:confused:

 

I thought that at first too. But if you consider when final payment was due a lot has changed since then. And while the surcharge is minimal in comparison to the cruise's costs, if you're concerned about the economy, your job, etc. You're going to tighten your belt and limit spending. But since the cruise is paid for, you're going on that.

[uppitycats]

We just got off the Jewel a couple of weeks ago. The longest we had to wait at Tzar's was 20 minutes. After that, if we saw a line at Tzar's, we went over to Azura and were seated right away. It's like people forget that there are 2 restaurants available! And we never saw any lines at the specialty restaurants. This was a New England /Canada tour, with lots of us "old people", lots of us on walkers, in wheelchairs, etc.

[AFT_LOVER]

We dined on Jewel 10/18-10/28 dealing with all the illness cautions with servers for everything from butter to salt & pepper to sugar & its taste alikes that had to be served with 2 forks. Coffee was cold by the time he cream showed up to be added to it.

 

6:30 dinner at Le Bistro had no line and plenty of table choices for us for their marvelous food & service. The port day BOGO sdpecials had us eating at all of them but not Cagneys. Again never a line like we saw forming at 4:30 at Tsars. WHEN WE ATE THERE WE HAD A 30 MINUTES LINE TO GET IN. And we were first ones in.

 

 

A question to readers/cruisers of NCL: I was on Spirit in July and just got off the Jewel. I found that on both occassions there were long waits in the 6:30 to 7:30 zone at the major, free restaurants. Most annoyingly there were actually long waits to just get the beeper to wait even more. Is this common fleet wide? I was on Crown and Dawn just a few years ago and this was not the case, even with freestyle. Can folks weigh in with their own experiences?

[timGB]

Our next cruise is on the Pearl, and one of the reasons for choosing NCL again was the dining. We sailed on Spirit out of New York in 2006 and had to wait once for a table during the 11 day cruise. We were given a pager and just went to the bar for a drink, and got called to our table after about 10 minutes. I heard no complaints from any of our fellow cruisers during that cruise.

 

Our last cruise was a back to back on RCCL Legend of the Seas. Both weeks were completely opposite in terms of service and only goes to show that a ship can slip in standards and service from one week to the next. We actually stopped going to our table and had room service for the last couple of days because the service at the dining room was appalling.

 

We will let you know what the Pearl is like for service and waits when we return

[SuiteRose]

I always hear people complain about how long it take to eat on an NCL ship. This always makes me laugh. Any good, upper scale place will take about 3 hours to comlete a meal. They don't rush you, give you time to digest between courses, etc. It is suppose to be an "event". Time to relax, talk, enjoy a few glasses of a good wine, savor each course, etc. People make me laugh when they say service is slow and it took 2+ hours.. It should.. If you want to have a faster meal, grab a burger at the grill.

 

Having said that, in my 4 NCL cruises we have NEVER waited to be seated for a meal.

 

I couldn't agree more, nothing is more annoying than being pushed to finish a meal. If you go to the dining to have a five course meal, of course it should take you 1 1/2 hours. If you want to eat in a couple of minutes, the action station buffets are wonderful.

 

 

On our last cruise, I saw some lines at the dining room door but they were simply people who showed up at the same time and they were quickly seated. On one occasion, when we asked for a table for 2 we were told that it might be 1/2 hour but if we sat with others we'd be seated right away. We opted to sit with another couple and had a wonderful conversation.

[bakerintn]

a couple of thoughts ....

 

the randomness of the wait / no wait experience is a normal occurance where people seeking service are concerned. Ask anyone who works retail. manages a call center or fast food restaurant. It is typically either very busy or very slow ... that's just the way that it is. No manager builds, equips or staffs for the busiest times because then all that expense is wasted during the normal to slow times (unless they get super-premium revenues for the extra service). The pain, then, is always felt by the customer during the busy times.

 

Second, imagine the restaurant being totally empty until it opens. People queue up before it opens and when it opens, each person / group needs to be "processed" -- answering questions about seating preferences, waiting for an escort, getting seated (and in the process keeping nearby tables from being able to be seated), etc. Then, the next group. This "front end" time slows down the process until all in line have been seated. Once all in line have been seated, the next group will get fast service .... until all the seats are taken. Then the wait starts again, and moves slowly as you wait for the next group to finish dinner, leave the table and clear the room. This scenario ensures "lumpy" service ... slow, fast, slow and there is really nothing that any restaurant manager can do much about. Its all a matter of the "luck of the draw" ... the fastest seating will be when the initial line has been seated and there are still seats available. If the initial line is so large that the restaurant will fill up immediately, then the service will be slow all night. You want to get there in the time slot where the initial line has been seated, yet the restaurant is not full, and be willing to take any table. The day, the events, the weather, the economy, your wellness feeling and many other factors will determine when that point in time is, and you just have to be lucky to get there at that time. Certainly, trying to get in just as a restaurant opens is not typically a good time-saving strategy, but about 2 hours after it opens seems to me to be a good general time to check it out.

[ukbecky]

We dined on Jewel 10/18-10/28 dealing with all the illness cautions with servers for everything from butter to salt & pepper to sugar & its taste alikes that had to be served with 2 forks. Coffee was cold by the time he cream showed up to be added to it.

 

6:30 dinner at Le Bistro had no line and plenty of table choices for us for their marvelous food & service. The port day BOGO sdpecials had us eating at all of them but not Cagneys. Again never a line like we saw forming at 4:30 at Tsars. WHEN WE ATE THERE WE HAD A 30 MINUTES LINE TO GET IN. And we were first ones in.

I'm confused - doesn't the main restaurant open at 5:00? If you got in line at 4:30, wouldn't that explain the 30 MINUTE LINE?

 

To the OP:

It depends on a lot of variables so every cruise is different. We've seen waits for opening (some sea days and, oddly, our Baltic cruise) and (on the South America sailing) long lines at 9pm and later. I've been on 2 or 3 ships with a noro outbreak and that has always affected the service in the restaurants - one of the hazards of cruising in the fall and winter months.

 

We see the waits and notice the trends and change accordingly since we do not like lines.

[nicknack]

I was on the NCL Star and I will summarize the dining service in one word. S-L-O-W. Of course it wasn't worth the wait for their food either. The main dining room wasn't as slow as the Mexican restaurant. We sat there for 3 hours one night before we got all our food.

 

Just so everyone knows where this so-called "balcony bum" is coming from, she takes every opportunity to slam NCL , apparently on the basis of the one NCL cruise she took. Here's what another poster responded in response to another of the Bum's previous posts:

 

"I guess you're just not very pursuasive -- You don't really think you are changing anyone's opinion, do you? By posting everywhere in big purple letters, you lose all credibility. You've just recently joined Cruise Critic. Others have seen posters who do this before. After awhile no one will believe anything you have to say.

 

It's easy to see when someone has a vendetta."

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=15785842&postcount=55

 

You usually can find her on the other cruise line boards, slamming NCL and promoting Celebrity.