Booked our very 1st NCL cruise!

Hubby & I have many cruises under our belts with RCCL, Carnival & Princess. RCCL is our favorite cruise line and our favorite ship. I started browsing the NCL boards and watched a video on the new Escape coming out and I instantly fell in love!! :):)

I talked hubby into trying the ship and after he took some time to really research it and look at everything it is going to have, he also got really excited about it.

I know NCL is going to be different for us in some areas, mainly the freestyle dining. I just want to make sure I understand how it works, so if you have any feedback, I would love to hear it.

As I understand it, we can eat wherever we'd like, is that correct? Are we able to eat in any MDR we want to? We are used to being assigned a MDR on the other cruise lines. I believe I read that the aft dining room is going to be more formal than the other 2, so if we want to eat there, then we would need to dress a little nicer than the other 2 MDR's. Any clarification on that would be great.

I have read that Cagney's is great, but we do not eat steak, so I was wondering if they have anything else or is it just steak? If they have just steak, then we'll have to pass on it.

Thank you in advance and if you have any other advice, suggestions or thoughts for NCL newbies, I'd love to hear it! We won't be cruising until 2016, so I have lots of time to learn and plan! :)

The aft MDR doesn't allow shorts - that's the extent of nicer. If you'd like to try a Specialty restaurant that we think is better than Cagney's and has a less expensive surcharge, we'd recommend Le Bistro. They do not allow shorts in this restaurant, and even my 13yo DS will happily change into long pants/jeans to eat there. I had the lamb and it was wonderful. I've heard people rave about the Coq Au Vin. They also have escargot and mussels for appetizers. Very yummy!

I know Cagney's has ribs, which they will completely debone for you at the table, which bummed DS out. Seems like they also had salmon.

For specialty restaurants, it's a good idea to make a reservation. However, if you make the reservation before you're on board, you'll be charged at the time of the reservation. If you wait until you're on board, it will then be charged to your on board account (some want to use their OBC) or fall under UDP. There is one caveat: if you want to eat at Teppanyaki, you may want to either make that reservation before you board or the moment you board. It's small with limited seating and it's the one restaurant that will have no openings.

O'Sheehan's is a great place to catch a bite, especially after excursions (and it's included). DS loves their hot wings, I love their fish & chips. They have nightly dinner specials, too.

Check out beyond ships .com for menus ...or NCL has the menus

There are some free shows you should pre book. Log onto my ncl and look under cruise summary..

Enjoy your cruise

I forgot to mention - Norwegian does the best Meet & Greets! Get on your roll call, go to the M&G. The ship's officers go to the M&G if someone on your roll call coordinated it with Norwegian. They will sometimes offer a bridge tour, dinner with an officer, etc at the M&G. Not a given, but it has happened.

We too (two) are about to board our first NCL ship.

It seems to me, from the threads I've read, that it is freestyle dining (i.e. go anytime they're open), BUT

1. Go between 7 and 8 and you may have to wait.

2. Make a reservation anyway.

Do the no-extra-payment restaurants take reservations, too?

I guess there's no reservations for lunch or breakfast?

I confess I'm looking forward to supper under the stars in the The Great Outdoors restaurant. Now that's serve yourself, right? And it is open in the evenings?

Any assistance much appreciated.

We too (two) are about to board our first NCL ship.

It seems to me, from the threads I've read, that it is freestyle dining (i.e. go anytime they're open), BUT

1. Go between 7 and 8 and you may have to wait.

2. Make a reservation anyway.

 

Do the no-extra-payment restaurants take reservations, too?

I guess there's no reservations for lunch or breakfast?

 

I confess I'm looking forward to supper under the stars in the The Great Outdoors restaurant. Now that's serve yourself, right? And it is open in the evenings?

Any assistance much appreciated.

Freestyle dining is like land-based restaurants. If you show up at a busy time, you will wait, but the hard thing to predict is when those busy times would be. The first night, everything is busy. It's like people think they will run out of food. We've not made reservations for any MDR unless we had a large party, but we normally dine early. No reservations are needed for the MDR for breakfast or lunch. Just walk in and get seated.

we walked in the MDR, Taste & Savor with no reservations and never had to wait on any of the 6 days and at various times. it seems like they keep a few tables available all the time, maybe for the reservations?

also at the MDR (Manhattan rm) i've seen people walk in to dine with shorts and sandals! i doubt its strictly enforced.

So when you say book shows are they not included? I'm used to showing up at a certain time and finding a seat. How far out can you book the shows?

We too (two) are about to board our first NCL ship.

It seems to me, from the threads I've read, that it is freestyle dining (i.e. go anytime they're open), BUT

1. Go between 7 and 8 and you may have to wait.

2. Make a reservation anyway.

 

Do the no-extra-payment restaurants take reservations, too?

I guess there's no reservations for lunch or breakfast?

 

I confess I'm looking forward to supper under the stars in the The Great Outdoors restaurant. Now that's serve yourself, right? And it is open in the evenings?

Any assistance much appreciated.

You can make advance reservations for the 2 MDRs for dinner if you wish. Sometimes there is a wait, especially if you go during peak times like 7-8without a reservation. You can book them online prior to your cruise or onboard. (I assume you're asking about the Pearl cruise coming up soon). The Great Outdoors is really an extension of the buffet. They often have a smaller buffet set up there but the main buffet is very close so, even if the smaller buffet on deck isn't open, you can still sit outdoors. You'll have a great view from the stern of the ship. It's one of my favorite places.

So when you say book shows are they not included? I'm used to showing up at a certain time and finding a seat. How far out can you book the shows?

With the exception of dinner shows, all entertainment is included in your cruise fare. On the Escape you'll have many more entertainment options than were available on the ships listed in your cruise history and reservations are recommended even though there's no extra charge. I'm not sure how far in advance you can book but I'm sure someone will answer that question.

Thank you all!! :)

I have one more quick question---what time do you normally arrive at the port for NCL? For our past cruises, we always arrived around 11am, even though our boarding passes would say 1-2pm. We were always on and eating lunch by noon, (except for our last horrific Carnival cruise a few months ago :mad:).

Thank you all!! :)

 

I have one more quick question---what time do you normally arrive at the port for NCL? For our past cruises, we always arrived around 11am, even though our boarding passes would say 1-2pm. We were always on and eating lunch by noon, (except for our last horrific Carnival cruise a few months ago :mad:).

Always arrive early so we make it to lunch.

Thank you all!! :)

 

I have one more quick question---what time do you normally arrive at the port for NCL? For our past cruises, we always arrived around 11am, even though our boarding passes would say 1-2pm. We were always on and eating lunch by noon, (except for our last horrific Carnival cruise a few months ago :mad:).

We have been getting there at 10:30am. Never any lines, walk right in, and usually on by 12.

6&8

I just want to thank everyone for being so helpful and answering questions. I have only cruised once and that was on the Disney Wonder....so the Escape is a BIG (pun intended) upgrade for us! We are super excited, yet very green in the area of knowledge on the ship. So you all being helpful is a great thing for us! Thank you! :D

This will be our first NCL cruise, too. I'm excited that it will be somewhat different from past cruises. Can't wait!

NCL is really good about keeping their electronic boards updated. You can see which restaurants have a wait, which are completely booked, and which you can just walk into. Lots of nights we walked into the restaurants without a problem. Only once when we decided to go to Cagneys last minute (which BTW, definitely has fish OP) we had to wait a half hour. We could have gone elsewhere and been seated immediately. You can always go to buffet or O'Sheehans too and walk right in if you're really hungry.

I just want to thank everyone for being so helpful and answering questions. I have only cruised once and that was on the Disney Wonder....so the Escape is a BIG (pun intended) upgrade for us! We are super excited, yet very green in the area of knowledge on the ship. So you all being helpful is a great thing for us! Thank you! :D

Hey neighbor!! I see you live in Charlotte. I'm an hour north of you in Winston-Salem! :)