MDR Reservations Now Available on My NCL

We are booked on the POA for August 16. Received this email from NCL this morning:

"Now Taking Reservations

Reserve your spot or dine when the mood strikes

You can now make reservations for our Main Dining Rooms. To reserve before you sail visit My NCL or once you are onboard see the Restaurant Reservation Desk.

Main Dining Room reservations are optional. Freestyle cruising makes it easy to dine where you want, when you want, it's all up to you."

A link takes you to your My NCL sign in page. I checked my options for the Liberty Dining Room for this upcoming cruise and they were 5:30, 6:30 and 8:30. Wonder if this is being offered for all ships including the ones with 3 MDRs and if it will be available for Taste and Savor as well.

So what do you think? Will this help to alleviate the lines some say they encounter? Or have no effect at all. I can see many people reserving and then not showing up as there is no fee to dine and therefore no loss if they don't show. But if I were a walk in, I might try to arrive near one of the non reservable time slots.

I was on the Breakaway in May. Pre-cruise I was able to make MDR reservations at Manhattan, Savor & Taste. I did so for my party one night. The rest of the nights just showed up and only had a few min wait. I generally went to dinner around 7-7:15 pm. The menus on my sailing had bigger differences some nights than others so I checked them out in the afternoon to see what was on the menus.

I was on POA during Thanksgiving. Only the first night at Liberty did I have to wait a few mins. The few other nights I ate in a MDR was the Skyline and basically waited a min or two for someone to seat us. Due to being port intensive it seemed like a lot of people ate in buffet or off the ship, etc... I did a luau on my own in Maui. And the ship had an excursion for a luau. So less hectic/crowded during dinner compared to other cruises that I have been on.

Thanks Punkincc for this posting/info. Will give it a look.

Chuck

I was on the Breakaway in May. Pre-cruise I was able to make MDR reservations at Manhattan, Savor & Taste. I did so for my party one night. The rest of the nights just showed up and only had a few min wait. I generally went to dinner around 7-7:15 pm. The menus on my sailing had bigger differences some nights than others so I checked them out in the afternoon to see what was on the menus.

 

 

I was on POA during Thanksgiving. Only the first night at Liberty did I have to wait a few mins. The few other night I ate in the Skyline and basically waited a min or two for someone to seat us. Due to being port extensive it seemed like a lot of people ate in buffet or off the ship, etc... I did a luau on my own in Maui. And the ship had an excursion for a luau. So less hectic/crowded during dinner compared to other cruises that I have been on.

Thanks for the info about the POA. I agree, with many people coming back on board at all hours, Luau and other wonderful dining options available ashore, it would not seem that the POA, of all ships, would need MDR reservations. I just wonder how all this will work out. Make things better, or make things worse. I can see many people making a "just in case" reservation, and then not showing.

Exactly! POA is unique in the NCL fleet.

I am hoping that not everybody does just in case reservations like u mentioned. But I would think that NCL would only release a certain % to book ahead anyway.

I liked the laid back feel of POA and I hope it stays that way! Even getting a specialty reservation in Jefferson's Bistro while onboard was easy.

I ate there on Thanksgiving and most of the tables were occupied.

Huh, kind of defeats the whole idea of freestyle doesn't it? Booking your dining times months in advance? Easier to just call the concierge a few minutes before you are hungry and ask them to get you a table, near the window.

When I am on vacation I avoid any schedule I can.

I noticed the Gem does not have this yet, unless it is a new feature they are slowly rolling out or i just have to wait for that 90 day window to open

Not sure how it is being rolled out, or if all ships will participate. There is another thread discussing the same topic. We are 45 days out and just got the email this am. LMB, I only wish I had a concierge available on this trip! But I agree, needing to plan every minute weeks in advance is not Freestyle. And even on the Getaway, with no concierge, we were able to walk in anywhere. Why bother with reservations?