Cost of Specialty Dining

[chaching]

We have never sailed NCL before and need some assistance. How much is the Specialty Dining and do you have to make reservations before boarding the ship? Also, are you allowed to bring two bottles of wine onboard or your own water? Thanks for your assistance!

 

[complawyer]

if you dont get the dining package included with your booking, each specialty restaurant has its own pricing, so you cant get a specific answer. if you are already booked, log onto your account, click dining, and when it shows the restaurants,you can view each specific menu.

 

i believe each passenger is allowed to bring one bottle of wine each aboard. you can also pre-order water directly to your cabin.

 

you can make reservations before sailing, you can also make reservations on your 1st day on board.

 

if you are in a suite or haven, the concierge can take care of t he reservations for you, 

 

have a great cruise and  "BON VOYAGE" i think  you will enjoy the ncl experience. by the way (if i may be so bold as to ask) what ship are you on?

 

 

[ColeThornton]

Liquor and Beverage Policy.

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq#!#can-i-bring-water-or-soda-board

[BirdTravels]

12 minutes ago, chaching said:

We have never sailed NCL before and need some assistance. How much is the Specialty Dining and do you have to make reservations before boarding the ship? Also, are you allowed to bring two bottles of wine onboard or your own water? Thanks for your assistance!

 

You are not allowed to bring any beverages on board. Wine will be held until you disembark. Water / soda / other beverages will be confiscated and thrown out at security. 

 

There are a couple of restaurants like Teppanyaki which charge a flat fee.  All of the rest of the specialty dining restaurants are a la carte. Like a restaurant or McDonalds at home, you pay for each item that you order. Many people take a dining plan which allows you to enjoy a fixed number of complete meals at a restaurant.

 

Reservations open online 120 prior to your departure date and will sell out in a few weeks. Reservations will also be available on embarkation day. Prime time dining will sell out quickly, so if you don't make reservations 120 days out, ensure that you get the restaurants and time you want as soon as you embark. 

 

Here's a couple of example menus

[ColeThornton]

1 minute ago, complawyer said:

i believe each passenger is allowed to bring one bottle of wine each aboard.

 

 

Incorrect information.    You can bring as much wine as you want but have to pay a corkage fee on each bottle.

[DCGuy64]

13 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You are not allowed to bring any beverages on board. Wine will be held until you disembark.

Incorrect, you may bring wine and champagne (as much as you like) but have to pay a corkage fee.

[ColeThornton]

1 minute ago, DCGuy64 said:

Incorrect, you may bring wine and champagne (as much as you like) but have to pay a corkage fee.

 

 

Wish I had said that.  lol         

[chaching]

Thank you! How is the Complimentary dining food? Seems pretty pricey to have to pay so much for Specialty dining.

[SSFun]

14 minutes ago, chaching said:

Thank you! How is the Complimentary dining food? Seems pretty pricey to have to pay so much for Specialty dining.

The complimentary food has been very good in the past. You may get a little higher quality in the specialty restaurants, but the food and atmosphere in the main dining rooms works for us as well. We always get the "free" dining package and use that to try out the specialty dining. You can also get complimentary food at The Local/O'Sheehans. It is more of a bar type food (wings, burgers, etc.) and we have found it to be inconsistent but definitely in the good to very good range as well.

[DCGuy64]

38 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

Wish I had said that.  lol         

Haha, oh wait, you did. LOL 😁

I was just responding to another poster (someone with more than 20,000 postings, who I thought would have known better) 😉

 

[BirdTravels]

47 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Incorrect, you may bring wine and champagne (as much as you like) but have to pay a corkage fee.

ooops... yep... sorry, wrong cruise line. Yup, i should know better. And you pay the corkage regardless of where the wine is consumed. 

 

Bringing alcohol onboard at embarkation: Beer and liquor is not allowed -- items will be secured until disembarkation day. Wine and Champagne are permitted, but you'll have to pay a corkage fee for any that is consumed onboard in staterooms, bars or restaurants. Fees are $15 for 750ml bottles and $30 for 1,500ml. There is no limit to the number of bottles passengers can bring onboard. Boxed wine is not allowed.

Edited July 1, 2021 by BirdTravels

[BirdTravels]

35 minutes ago, chaching said:

Thank you! How is the Complimentary dining food? Seems pretty pricey to have to pay so much for Specialty dining.

The food in the complimentary restaurants is fine. There are many cruise where we take most of our meals in the main dining rooms (we get a couple of free specialty meals because of our tier status). Our last cruise prior to the shutdown was a Thanksgiving cruise in 2019 and we had a very lovely Thanksgiving dinner in the Garden Cafe buffet. 

Edited July 1, 2021 by BirdTravels

[Jonslola]

33 minutes ago, chaching said:

Thank you! How is the Complimentary dining food? Seems pretty pricey to have to pay so much for Specialty dining.

 For dinner we have always enjoyed the food in the MDR finding it to range from good to excellent. As a previous poster mentioned, The Local/O'Sheehans also has good food if you are looking for pub-type fare. Some ships also have a complimentary Asian restaurant too (Lotus Garden?) that we have found to be 50/50 on quality, but still a nice option for something different.

[PatJim]

4 minutes ago, SSFun said:

The complimentary food has been very good in the past. You may get a little higher quality in the specialty restaurants, but the food and atmosphere in the main dining rooms works for us as well. We always get the "free" dining package and use that to try out the specialty dining. You can also get complimentary food at The Local/O'Sheehans. It is more of a bar type food (wings, burgers, etc.) and we have found it to be inconsistent but definitely in the good to very good range as well.

That is a very good suggestion—use the “free” dining package, if you have it, to eat at specialty restaurants.  Most popular are Le Bistro (French), Cagney’s (steak house—truffle fries & jumbo shrimp yummy), Moderna (Brazilian), LaCucina (Italian).  Ocean Blue on the newer ships has an additional surcharge.  If in a Haven suite, the Haven restaurant is complimentary.  We like it so much, we often eat there and let some of our specialty dinners go unused.

Having said that, don’t discount the ship’s  buffet for dinner.  There is usually a theme night—seafood, Asian, BBQ comes to mind.  NCL has put in a nice effort to upgrade the offerings there.  We especially love the curries👍

If you don’t have “free” specialty dinners included in your  package, you can buy a few if you want to try out some of these restaurants.  On our upcoming September 7-day cruise, the 2-meal package is $79 per person, 3-meal $99... Price you’ll pay per meal goes down as the number of specialty dinners you choose goes up.

1 hour ago, chaching said:

We have never sailed NCL before and need some assistance. How much is the Specialty Dining and do you have to make reservations before boarding the ship? Also, are you allowed to bring two bottles of wine onboard or your own water? Thanks for your assistance!

 

As mentioned above, the only liquid NCL allows us to bring at embarkation are bottles of wine.  The corkage fee is $15 per bottle, or $30 for a magnum.  If you love wine and have specific tastes or are celebrating a special occasion, it might be worth paying corkage to enjoy your own wine.  We do it whenever we don’t have the drinks package and we’re embarking from our home port in NYC.  NCL has dumbed-down their wines, so it’s harder to find ones we might enjoy,  it with a drink package, I’m quite happy to order by the glass.

[Sue Do-Over]

Book your dining reservations as soon as possible.   On our first NCL cruise, we didn't know that... and we couldn't get a single reservation the entire cruise.  We ended up standing near the hostess desk waiting until 15-minutes past the hour to see if there were any no-shows.  It was hit or miss.

 

Part of the reason they book up so fast is that each pax can book their 'own' tables, and book a table for 2 or 4 or more.  We heard other guests bragging that each of the four of them had booked each of their three slots at a different time or restaurant, giving them a total of 12 tables reserved over 6 evenings "so we have options".  They only used three and simply no-show'd the rest.  I wanted to smack her with my insulin pump.  (ha!)

 

If planning to game the reservation system, at least cancel the unused tables when you've decided for the evening or used up all your credits.

[chaching]

Great information and many thanks to all of you! We have mainly cruised with RCI and Celebrity. How would you compare the cruise on NCL to those lines? We have friends who have asked us to join them on this cruise; therefore, we are looking for as many tips as possible. This would be on the Bliss in December, 2021.

 

[hallux]

Also note - the pre-boarding reservations get snapped up quick because only a fraction are released for that time period.  The rest open on embarkation day.  The newer ships have touchscreens near the elevators (2 on each deck at each elevator bank, the Bliss is one of those ships @chaching) that will allow you to make reservations for dining and other events (including tenders for ports that require it!) without waiting in line for the reservations table.

Edited July 1, 2021 by hallux

[chaching]

Good to know, Hallux. Thank you for that information about reservations and the Bliss!🤗

ChaChing

[DCGuy64]

3 hours ago, Sue Do-Over said:

They only used three and simply no-show'd the rest.  I wanted to smack her with my insulin pump.  (ha!)

I'd have helped you smack her! 🤣What a rude thing to do, booking up so many tables so others couldn't.

We booked all of our specialty dining ASAP because we'd heard they book up fast. I wonder if/how the Covid restrictions might affect the availability of tables.

[ShelleyQT]

6 hours ago, PatJim said:

Ocean Blue on the newer ships has an additional surcharge.  

 

I've never tried Ocean Blue, but I'm hoping to do so when we cruise in December.  When I look at the Ocean Blue menu on the NCL site, it looks like there is only a surcharge on certain items.  Am I reading this incorrectly?

[RumRunner2021]

4 hours ago, ShelleyQT said:

 

I've never tried Ocean Blue, but I'm hoping to do so when we cruise in December.  When I look at the Ocean Blue menu on the NCL site, it looks like there is only a surcharge on certain items.  Am I reading this incorrectly?

No.

[rebeccac]

There used to be a surcharge for Ocean Blue, but that has gone away and now it is only a surcharge for certain items.  

[ziggyuk]

18 hours ago, PatJim said:

Ocean Blue on the newer ships has an additional surcharge.

 

Can I confirm this surcharge, I have not been before but but have a reservation on Encore, this is the second time I have read this.

The menu suggests only a couple of dishes have a surcharge, is this what you are referring to or are you saying there is a cover charge?

 

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, ziggyuk said:

The menu suggests only a couple of dishes have a surcharge, is this what you are referring to or are you saying there is a cover charge?

 

There used to be a $12 ($10 plus 20%) upcharge when using the SDP. That is no longer the case. 

[ziggyuk]

19 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

There used to be a $12 ($10 plus 20%) upcharge when using the SDP. That is no longer the case. 

 

Ah thank you that clears it up, it didn't make sense otherwise.

 

@rebeccac Sorry, for some reason I did not see you had already answered this before I even asked.

Edited July 2, 2021 by ziggyuk