Getaway: what will I need to make reservations for and when do I need to make them?

[anonmom]

Sailing on the Getaway next January. Our first cruise was on the Jade, and reservations weren't needed for dinner and weren't even available for shows.

 

I hear that the Getaway is different and that due to the sheer number of people onboard you need reservations for some dinners and shows.

 

We are not planning on going to any specialty restaurants or shows that have extra costs. We would like to dine in the Tropicana Room most evenings, for the dancing, and we would like to see a couple of the included shows. Are these things we will need reservations for? When will we be able to make reservations?

 

Thanks!

[BirdTravels]

90 days before your sailing (100 days for Havens guest) you will be able to book the Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor on line at MyNCL. Without reservations, you can go standby. Immediate seating if the show is not sold out or wait until 10 minutes before show time for seating.

 

You also have the option of making reservations at the Tropicana room for faster seating. Without reservations, there may be a short wait at prime time.

 

Once you are onboard, you can also book one of the Comedy shows in the Headliners. Other than that, entertainment is just like on prior cruises, show up and enjoy.

[anonmom]

90 days before your sailing (100 days for Havens guest) you will be able to book the Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor on line at MyNCL. Without reservations, you can go standby. Immediate seating if the show is not sold out or wait until 10 minutes before show time for seating.

 

You also have the option of making reservations at the Tropicana room for faster seating. Without reservations, there may be a short wait at prime time.

 

Once you are onboard, you can also book one of the Comedy shows in the Headliners. Other than that, entertainment is just like on prior cruises, show up and enjoy.

 

Great! I don't like the idea of making a ton of reservations, since we really like doing everything freestyle, but I could handle making reservations for 2 shows.

 

On the Jade, "prime time" dining was really early, like 5:30 pm. We had heard it was best to make dinner reservations in the MDRs to avoid a wait, but never had a problem until maybe the sixth night of the cruise. For some reason we were hungry early and went down to Grand Pacific sometime before 6. It was insane. The wait wasn't even very long, maybe 10-15 minutes. But the dining room was packed. Service was definitely slower/worse than usual. (We had great service the rest of the cruise.) And the noise level was awful. Too many people having too many conversations at the same time. It completely changed the atmosphere.

 

Is prime dining time on the Getaway similarly early? Will we be fine without reservations as long as we eat around 7 or 8?

[fshagan]

We were on the Epic and missed our reservations for seeing Blue Man Group (which was on the ship at that time). We walked up the next night, 10 minutes before show time, and got in. That evidently is a common occurrence. We do like to sit near the exits (some cruise ship shows are so bad they have been shown to lower your IQ), so being in the "nose bleed" section is not a problem for us.

 

Some people love planning and some don't. We don't. The last cruise we took we had the dining plan promo and found the process of making reservations for our specialty restaurants to take away from the spontaneity we always enjoy on NCL. We cancelled a couple of our reservations and ate where we liked on that cruise (and actually had the best meal of the week in the MDR).

 

So you can do it either way. If you will be upset if you don't get into Le Bristro on the first sea day, make reservations when they first allow you to (90 days out for most of us). But there are plenty of options for those free spirits among us who cruise NCL to avoid the regimentation of planned, set dining times.

[anonmom]

We were on the Epic and missed our reservations for seeing Blue Man Group (which was on the ship at that time). We walked up the next night, 10 minutes before show time, and got in. That evidently is a common occurrence. We do like to sit near the exits (some cruise ship shows are so bad they have been shown to lower your IQ), so being in the "nose bleed" section is not a problem for us.

 

Some people love planning and some don't. We don't. The last cruise we took we had the dining plan promo and found the process of making reservations for our specialty restaurants to take away from the spontaneity we always enjoy on NCL. We cancelled a couple of our reservations and ate where we liked on that cruise (and actually had the best meal of the week in the MDR).

 

So you can do it either way. If you will be upset if you don't get into Le Bristro on the first sea day, make reservations when they first allow you to (90 days out for most of us). But there are plenty of options for those free spirits among us who cruise NCL to avoid the regimentation of planned, set dining times.

 

I forgot to mention that we aren't interested in specialty restaurants. On the Jade we bought our daughter one a la carte sushi roll as a treat at Jasmine Garden on our last night. Other than that we stuck with complimentary items in the complimentary venues.

 

I didn't love every single dish I had on board (Blue Lagoon in particular was underwhelming, and Jasmine Garden was hit or miss) but almost every meal was good, and most of them were great.

[fshagan]

I forgot to mention that we aren't interested in specialty restaurants. On the Jade we bought our daughter one a la carte sushi roll as a treat at Jasmine Garden on our last night. Other than that we stuck with complimentary items in the complimentary venues.

 

I didn't love every single dish I had on board (Blue Lagoon in particular was underwhelming, and Jasmine Garden was hit or miss) but almost every meal was good, and most of them were great.

 

You do not, ever, need reservations for the main dining room on NCL on any ship. A few people here have suggested it, and the only thing I can figure is that they have never actually sailed NCL. The only exception I can think of is if you are traveling in a large group, but even then ... we sailed with a group of 7 and were always able to be seated in the main dining rooms within 5 to 10 minutes of showing up.

 

On all of our cruises we have never had a wait for just two of us.

 

That being said, NCL dinner service can be slower than other lines; we have been in and out in under an hour, but often it can take an hour and a half to two hours to have dinner. If you are wanting to make a show, just tell your waiter and he or she will expedite things for you.