tapas on the gem

[helpme]

The tapas bar on the gem are the appetizers free or is this a speciality restaurant

[Eloise4Ever]

Tequila/Tapas is a speciality restaurant with a $10 surcharge. However, the following statement was made (about the Jewel, on this thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1230202&page=2 )

 

"The Tapas Bar was free appetizer-like food when you purchase $10 worth of drinks"

 

I have also seen it said a couple of times on these boards that you get a "free" martini if you eat there and pay the $10. This was not our experience when we ate there but things might have changed since then. I do know that Tequila always seemed to be empty on our last cruise so maybe NCL figured they needed to do something to entice people to eat there!

[johnql]

The tapas bar is separate from the restaurant. You can sit there and order just the tapas. My understanding is that the tapas are all free with the order of a drink. However, a few people on CC have indicated that they were able to order the tapas without ordering a drink.

[flowerchild]

We did Tapas on the Dawn...they were at the bar next to the Tex Mex restaurant. There is a menu floating around here somewhere. They were free, but we were asked to order a drink...They are served at dinner time. We made friends with the bartender, he was really nice, I think his name was Manuel, a Filipino gentleman.

 

Do all the NCL ships have the tapas now? That is great news!

[johnql]

Do all the NCL ships have the tapas now? That is great news!

I don't think the older ships do. AFAIK, the Dawn, Star, Jewel, Gem, and Pearl have the tapas bars. I'm assuming that the Epic does, too, but that's just a guess.

[Mc_Cruiser]

The Tapas is available at the bar between the Mexican restaurant and Blue Lagoon on the Pearl, Gem and Jade at least that I have been on. It was free, and available during the day. We were always having a drink, but haven't ever heard of anyone being asked to buy a drink to get the tapas. It does go very nicely with a drink though ;)

 

If you eat at the mexican, you do get a small Margarita for 'free' with the cover charge (not a Martini).

 

Looking forward to having some in a few weeks time. It was one place we missed on the Epic, but in 7 days would likely have had no time to eat there.

[flowerchild]

I don't think the older ships do. AFAIK, the Dawn, Star, Jewel, Gem, and Pearl have the tapas bars. I'm assuming that the Epic does, too, but that's just a guess.

 

Thank you! I'll be looking for tapas on the Star in 1/2011!

[johnql]

Thank you! I'll be looking for tapas on the Star in 1/2011!

You know, I just checked the eateries list on ncl.com and they don't have a Tex-Mex restaurant (or the tapas bar) listed for the Star. What happened? Did this restaurant somehow get removed or replaced during the recent renovations?

[Seawishes]

We were on the Jewel in March, and were very well taken care of at the Tapas bar. As others have said...on the Jewel the Tapas bar is on the balcony above the atrium floor between blue lagoon and tangos. We went to the Margarita tasting early in the week and met the bartender (Junefirst AKA "Chips" Ohoy) who I would best describe as having ADD/ADHD whose symptoms manifest themselves in the serving of alcohol and tapas. He's very friendly, very funny, very generous with his drinks and food.

 

Aside from the margarita tasting that we did on the at-sea day......At the Tapas Bar on the Jewel it was always possible to do a "tequila tasting" (listed near the drinks of the day in the freestyle dailies). For $15 dollars, you'd get a shot (and when I say shot, I mean he usually served a full tall shot glass) of four different tequilas that were lined up on the back wall of the bar. You'd let him know which ones you wanted to taste...We even asked for the superpremium tequila as part of the tasting and he smirked to indicate that that tequila is usually not eligible for the tasting, but he did it for us anyway. I should note that while doing this tequila tasting, we had also ordered margaritas which were sitting in front of us, and he'd continually come by and pour more tequila on top of our drinks.

 

As for the tapas, we actually ate dinner there at the bar one night. Four of us sat down and ordered five or six of the tapas, thinking that we'd each get a little taste of each of the plates....well, when he put the order in, he essentially ordered 4 peoples' worth of each plate, so that a giant plate with 4 servings of calamari came out next to a giant plate of four servings of chorizo, next to four servings of taquitos....etc. It was insane and we didn't finsh it all.

 

Of course, I was never quite sure if his manager (a woman who looks like your best ally in a prison riot) loved or hated this bartender (or any living creature for that matter). Sitting at his bar was a blast, which is what should matter, but you definitely got the sense that the revenue people would not be happy with him.

[Eloise4Ever]

The Tapas is available at the bar between the Mexican restaurant and Blue Lagoon on the Pearl, Gem and Jade at least that I have been on. It was free, and available during the day. We were always having a drink, but haven't ever heard of anyone being asked to buy a drink to get the tapas. It does go very nicely with a drink though ;)

 

If you eat at the mexican, you do get a small Margarita for 'free' with the cover charge (not a Martini).

 

Looking forward to having some in a few weeks time. It was one place we missed on the Epic, but in 7 days would likely have had no time to eat there.

 

MC, interested to hear about free tapas and margaritas on the Gem, as I said earlier, we didn't see any evidence of this. We were offered a margarita before we ordered dinner at Tequila but we had to pay for it (in addition to the cover charge)! I hope you get to visit Tequila when you are on the Gem next month and would be very interested to hear what the current deal is there. Would also love to hear how you enjoy the cruise in general as we will be doing the Greek Isles itinerary in October. Enjoy :)

[flowerchild]

You know, I just checked the eateries list on ncl.com and they don't have a Tex-Mex restaurant (or the tapas bar) listed for the Star. What happened? Did this restaurant somehow get removed or replaced during the recent renovations?

 

That is a very good question...I just checked myself and could not find it...

[VUCruiser]

The tapas bar on the Jewel was the best kept secret. Bartender was great, tapas tasty, and had it to ourselves often even when its dining area was hopping and Blue Lagoon was packed. Found it halfway through and wished we found it day one.