NCL Prima - Tips for Indulge Food Hall

[brigand13]

My husband and I recently returned from the 10/31 sailing of the Prima from Galveston to Miami (by way of the ABC Islands).  I wanted to offer a tip we learned (from one of the EXCEPTIONAL service staff... seriously, these folks are TOP NOTCH) for the Indulge Food Hall which I hadn't encountered anywhere prior to our trip, but which worked like a charm.  

If you have special requests for any items you are ordering, put them in the "For" field for that item. 

This sounds like a spot where you'd indicate which person at the table a given item is intended for (and I suppose you could use it that way, but why bother when you can just claim the food as it is delivered); however, in reality you can treat it as a sort of catch all "Comment" field.  So if you prefer your meat rare (or overcooked 😉) you can indicate that.  Want the barbecue brisket sans sauce, you can indicate that.  Want to order multiple entree type items from Q or the Rotisserie but you don't need or want all the xtra side items, that too will be honored (and will prevent unnecessary food waste as well!!). 

We unfortunately didn't learn this until about midway through our cruise when the lovely crew member overheard me saying I wished there was an easy way to the bbq without sauce (I don't care for sweet BBQ sauce, especially on brisket... Texas style FTW!!) and offered up the tip.  Sure enough, tried it the next time and it worked like a charm. 

 

Other Indulge tips:

• Indulge is the IDEAL spot for lunch on embarkation day, but it WILL be crowded and since it's open seating you may have a challenge finding a table. 
• TRY THE ALMOND STUFFED, BACON-WRAPPED DATES from the Tapas menu.  Indulge has a LOT of great foods, but those dates were hands down our single favorite.  Also, they actually are a small plate (two dates per portion) so they are a great little starter/finisher bite.  
• If you have the beverage package, you can order beer/wine through the tablet.  When you do, it will indicate the normal price for the beverage even after you scan your card, but once you navigate through all the screens and "pay" it will zero out the charge. 
• The '66 by NCL beer (it's a brown ale not unlike Shiner Bock) which was only available at the Luna and Soliel bars during our sailing  is one of the best beers I found on the ship (no idea why it isn't offered in more spots).  
• The lunch and dinner menus are quite different for most of the kiosks so definitely plan to visit at least once for each meal just to try the different options.
• Portions are pretty large for many of the items and it's hard to gauge from the pictures just how much food you'll be getting.  The orders come out LIGHTNING fast though, so to avoid food waste,  err on the side of caution since you can always place another order, which will come out just as quickly.  
  
  Since Indulge is such a NEW and different thing, please feel free to ask any questions you may have and I'll try to field them.  On our 11-night cruise we ate in Indulge around 6 different times for a variety of meals so I managed to get a pretty good feel for it.  And I CANNOT WAIT to sail on a Prima-class ship again so that I'll have access to Indulge again.  😄 I realize it's impractical, but this is something I wish they could roll out to all the other ships retroactively.    

[Always Cruising]

Lots of good tips - thank you!

[cb2367]

I'm on Prima now. Those tips are helpful. I admit that the first time I ordered at indulge, I put my name in the "for" field. Other times I left it blank 

 

I had the opportunity to go for lunch and dinner. To be honest, I didn't see much of a difference between lunch and dinner menus. Some stations seemed to have the same items for lunch and dinner.

 

There was one item (don't remember what it was called, but it was some sort of pasta dish). That seems to have sold out early in the cruise. The tablets also had drinks of the day. Most showed as being sold out.

[laudergayle]

Tips for scoring a seat at the tables with the kiosks, please. 

[destar]

15 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Tips for scoring a seat at the tables with the kiosks, please. 

Lunch starts around 12, be there 10 minutes before.

 

The chicken tikka is delicious, not spicy at all, you can order the chicken by itself if you don't want the sides. Also the salads you can add a protein. The bacon wrapped dates are delicious. 

[Sand and Seas]

2 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Tips for scoring a seat at the tables with the kiosks, please. 

We usually walked in for lunch around 1pm or 1:30.  A couple of times we just had to wait a minute or two for the staff to clear an empty table.    Just before lunch closed, the staff would come around to the tables and let us know to order before the system shut down.  

[Sand and Seas]

2 hours ago, cb2367 said:

....There was one item (don't remember what it was called, but it was some sort of pasta dish). That seems to have sold out early in the cruise. The tablets also had drinks of the day. Most showed as being sold out.

I wonder if that was the Pesto Gnocchi?  It was delicious the day I tried it, but then 'sold out' the next couple of days.

[vince_g]

The filet mignon on Seaside Rotisserie's dinner menu is fantastic. The Montedito, which is crab on a sourdough toast from Tapas is really delicious. 

[cb2367]

24 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

I wonder if that was the Pesto Gnocchi?  It was delicious the day I tried it, but then 'sold out' the next couple of days.

That's what it was 🙂

 

Hopefully on another Prima cruise I'll be able to try it.

[brigand13]

19 hours ago, cb2367 said:

I had the opportunity to go for lunch and dinner. To be honest, I didn't see much of a difference between lunch and dinner menus. Some stations seemed to have the same items for lunch and dinner.

The biggest menu differences I noticed were for Tamara, Q and Seaside Rotisserie where the menus have almost no overlap.  Others like Tapas are identical for lunch and dinner.  

 

19 hours ago, cb2367 said:

There was one item (don't remember what it was called, but it was some sort of pasta dish). That seems to have sold out early in the cruise. The tablets also had drinks of the day. Most showed as being sold out.

 

I think that the food items which show as "sold out" are for the opposite meal time.  For example, I noticed that the spaetzle showed as sold out during dinner, but it's available at lunch time.  

 

Similarly for the Drink of the Day, the menu always lists all 7 DotDs, but all but the one which is available that day will show as sold out.  (BTW, you can get any DotD at the Metropolitan Bar all the time.  They are all part of the Sustainable Cocktails list which is served at the Metro Bar as a matter of course. 

[brigand13]

19 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Tips for scoring a seat at the tables with the kiosks, please. 

 

Patience?? Go at off peak times?  Nothing new really to share here.  It's the same strategy you'd use for getting a table at the buffet. 

 

You might watch for folks who look like they are finishing up and then claim the table as soon as it is vacated.  Once you've done so, you can ask one of the crew to have it cleaned ASAP (if they don't move in to do so immediately anyhow, which they may).  

[laudergayle]

3 hours ago, brigand13 said:

 

Patience?? Go at off peak times?  Nothing new really to share here.  It's the same strategy you'd use for getting a table at the buffet. 

 

You might watch for folks who look like they are finishing up and then claim the table as soon as it is vacated.  Once you've done so, you can ask one of the crew to have it cleaned ASAP (if they don't move in to do so immediately anyhow, which they may).  

Because you ate there so frequently I was curious if you had actually discovered the times that were off peak, or if there was a part of the food hall that seemed less crowded.  

I appreciate the other insight you shared…especially the FOR: usage.

[Sand and Seas]

3 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Because you ate there so frequently I was curious if you had actually discovered the times that were off peak, or if there was a part of the food hall that seemed less crowded.  

I appreciate the other insight you shared…especially the FOR: usage.

I'm not the OP, but we found the Indulge Food Hall was fairly busy every time we were there.  I hope they increase the hours for lunch.  

[prmssk]

Anyone have experience with food allergies in the food hall?  Any tips?  Do the tablets list allergens or ingredients or anything?

[The P]

5 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

I'm not the OP, but we found the Indulge Food Hall was fairly busy every time we were there.  I hope they increase the hours for lunch.  

Totally agree with you. I was on the first cruise out of NYC and it was always packed. It was only a 5 day cruise; I ate lunch there 4 times: twice at a table, twice at a counter, and was glad to find a seat anywhere!

[brigand13]

18 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Because you ate there so frequently I was curious if you had actually discovered the times that were off peak, or if there was a part of the food hall that seemed less crowded.  

I appreciate the other insight you shared…especially the FOR: usage.

 

We tend to eat at odd times (generally late) so we often were there later in the service window than a lot of folks.  For example, the couple of times we went for dinner, we went after the early show in the theater.  There was at least once around lunch time when we made a loop through, said "Nope, not today" and then headed elsewhere.  🙂 

[brigand13]

13 hours ago, prmssk said:

Anyone have experience with food allergies in the food hall?  Any tips?  Do the tablets list allergens or ingredients or anything?

 

I don't have food allergies so I didn't actively notice whether they list that sort of thing on the tablet, but I think they might have.  That said, there were always service staff around who would eagerly assist with pretty much anything.   And given the format of Indulge, it would be pretty easy to go to the counter for the specific kiosk and ask someone who is actively cooking the food.  

 

I must say I was quite impressed by their attention to stuff like this.  I think we were literally always asked if we had any food allergies/sensitivities at all of our sit down meals (specialty and MDR).