Norwegian Tasting Menu - Iona

[TigerB]

This thread is particularly relevant to Selbourne, who has an interest in the above.

 

Dining reservations are now open for our upcoming cruise, G318, and the Norwegian Tasting Menu is one of those available for pre-booking. For us, it is on the 14th, when we dock in Helleslyt and do the cruise-by of Geirangerfjord, Sunnylvsfjorden and Storfjorden. The price is as per the regular menu, so £24 each when pre-booking, and the Peninsular discount to come off that. We've chosen an 18:30 slot, so should hopefully get a window table.

It's made my weekend being able to bag that now, with the discount, and without the stress of trying to do it onboard 🙂

Hopefully, it will be the same for you Selbourne.

 

I've booked Epicurean again for the 16th, our wedding anniversary.

I've decided not to take my tux for the single celebration night, so we've booked Sindhu for that night.

 

The only other restaurants open for pre-booking are Beach House, the Limelight Club, and the Chef's Table.

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

This thread is particularly relevant to Selbourne, who has an interest in the above.

 

Dining reservations are now open for our upcoming cruise, G318, and the Norwegian Tasting Menu is one of those available for pre-booking. For us, it is on the 14th, when we dock in Helleslyt and do the cruise-by of Geirangerfjord, Sunnylvsfjorden and Storfjorden. The price is as per the regular menu, so £24 each when pre-booking, and the Peninsular discount to come off that. We've chosen an 18:30 slot, so should hopefully get a window table.

It's made my weekend being able to bag that now, with the discount, and without the stress of trying to do it onboard 🙂

Hopefully, it will be the same for you Selbourne.

 

I've booked Epicurean again for the 16th, our wedding anniversary.

I've decided not to take my tux for the single celebration night, so we've booked Sindhu for that night.

 

The only other restaurants open for pre-booking are Beach House, the Limelight Club, and the Chef's Table.

 

Book Limelight in advance as well if you want to secure a space there

 

Then as soon as you board I recommend booking 710 club for a few slots. Its been absolutely  brilliant in there this week and the same band are on together until August

[TigerB]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Book Limelight in advance as well if you want to secure a space there

 

Then as soon as you board I recommend booking 710 club for a few slots. Its been absolutely  brilliant in there this week and the same band are on together until August

 

For us, it's a no for Limelight this trip; the fella that's on, a former X Factor winner, isn't our cup of tea.

As soon as we get to the terminal I'll be logging on to the app to try and book the 710 club.

[Selbourne]

Thanks for the info. My wife and I are keen to try this menu. Daughters less so. Beach House for them 😂 If there are fixed times, what time is the latest sitting?

[Selbourne]

5 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

For us, it's a no for Limelight this trip; the fella that's on, a former X Factor winner, isn't our cup of tea.

As soon as we get to the terminal I'll be logging on to the app to try and book the 710 club.

Funny how they promote X Factor as turning nobody’s into multi millionaire pop stars, yet the reality is that most seem to end up singing on cruise ships 😂 

 

Does anyone know who will be in the Limelight Club in late August? Daughters are keen on the drag artist that ICF raved about - or Gareth Gates 😂 

[Selbourne]

@TigerB Could I be cheeky and ask you an enormous favour please? If you could take a photo of the evening entertainment schedule from each days Horizon magazine I’d be enormously grateful. I’m assuming that it will be the same as our cruise and it will very useful to know which nights have 2 theatre shows, which nights have 3, and the times for all. I’m going to pre book as many dinner reservations as I can, but want to time the reservations so that those who want to see the shows can do so either before dinner (on nights with 3 shows) or after (when there are 2). Thanks in anticipation. 

[TigerB]

8 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

@TigerB Could I be cheeky and ask you an enormous favour please? If you could take a photo of the evening entertainment schedule from each days Horizon magazine I’d be enormously grateful. I’m assuming that it will be the same as our cruise and it will very useful to know which nights have 2 theatre shows, which nights have 3, and the times for all. I’m going to pre book as many dinner reservations as I can, but want to time the reservations so that those who want to see the shows can do so either before dinner (on nights with 3 shows) or after (when there are 2). Thanks in anticipation. 

 

I always bring the Horizons home with me, I'm a little bit sad like that. Remind me again when I return.

[Selbourne]

Just now, TigerB said:

 

I always bring the Horizons home with me, I'm a little bit sad like that. Remind me again when I return.

You’re a gent. Many thanks. You’re not as sad as me though. I have retained every Horizon, MDR menus (when provided), port guides and other paraphernalia for every cruise we have ever done - since 1996 🤣 

[TigerB]

39 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks for the info. My wife and I are keen to try this menu. Daughters less so. Beach House for them 😂 If there are fixed times, what time is the latest sitting?

 

I've just gone on to check and the only slots that are left now are 18:00 and 21:00, and only for three or more guests.  That just shows how popular it is.

I've just checked the regular booking schedule, and on each day the last sitting is 21:30.

 

I had a reminder set on my calendar for the dining reservations opening today. I was going to check first thing this morning, but was still awake after midnight so thought I would have a look. Just as well I did; we both would have been so disappointed if we had missed it.

 

My advice to you is don't go to bed early the night before yours are due to open, and keep checking after midnight.

[TigerB]

5 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

You’re a gent. Many thanks. You’re not as sad as me though. I have retained every Horizon, MDR menus (when provided), port guides and other paraphernalia for every cruise we have ever done - since 1996 🤣 

 

And our lass calls me a hoarder!🤭

My excuse of "it'll come in" doesn't wash with her anymore.🙄

[Selbourne]

47 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

I've just gone on to check and the only slots that are left now are 18:00 and 21:00, and only for three or more guests.  That just shows how popular it is.

I've just checked the regular booking schedule, and on each day the last sitting is 21:30.

 

I had a reminder set on my calendar for the dining reservations opening today. I was going to check first thing this morning, but was still awake after midnight so thought I would have a look. Just as well I did; we both would have been so disappointed if we had missed it.

 

My advice to you is don't go to bed early the night before yours are due to open, and keep checking after midnight.

Thanks for the tips. We will probably go for around 9pm as we will want to watch the transit down the fjord from our balcony, glass in hand! Obviously that would mean that we would miss any show that night (hence the desire to see the schedules).

[Selbourne]

47 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

And our lass calls me a hoarder!🤭

My excuse of "it'll come in" doesn't wash with her anymore.🙄

In general I’m the opposite of a hoarder. I tend to throw things away and regret it years later! However, we have a box (well, 3 boxes now 😂) of mementos from special things that we have done over the years which, come the day that we may be housebound, will be nice memories to look back at!
 

Our first cruise was very special (as most people’s first cruise is) and it has become force of habit to retain everything from every P&O cruise since. That’s why I am a minefield of useless information, such as how much we have paid for every cruise since 1996!
 

Unfortunately, having recently discovered the joys of cruising with Cunard, and now having two more cruises booked with them, I’m going to have to start a 4th box 🤣 

[Interestedcruisefan]

16 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks for the info. My wife and I are keen to try this menu. Daughters less so. Beach House for them 😂 If there are fixed times, what time is the latest sitting?

9.30pm was the last sitting in Epicurean. 6pm the first time.  I'm sure it will be the same for Norwegian night

 

One tip the restaurant manager gave me was if there are only 9.30pm slots left to book then still book and then speak to them about bringing forward if that's too late for you

 

Also we were booked for 6pm in there but fancied a cocktail in Crows Nest first but we're running late. We arrived at 6pm and asked if we could get a cocktail first and they said no problem 

 

So similarly you could book a 6pm slot and as long as you tell them you could sit down at 6.30pm

 

They were flexible to that extent at  least. 

 

Maybe longer If you needed

 

Main thing is securing a booking first and then asking to delay or bring forward if the time slot isn't perfect for you

[Interestedcruisefan]

One other tip for Epicurean. Most of the 6pm bookings (we were the last ones in I think) seem to get window seats as they are first in

 

That's always been the case for us so far at least

[davecttr]

4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

One other tip for Epicurean. Most of the 6pm bookings (we were the last ones in I think) seem to get window seats as they are first in

 

That's always been the case for us so far at least

Which is why on Arvia last month they were queuing for Epicurian with the queue stretching back into the Crows Nest and here's me thinking Epicurian was all about the food when a seat with a view is vital for some. They should charge extra for a window seat.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

One other tip for Epicurean. Most of the 6pm bookings (we were the last ones in I think) seem to get window seats as they are first in

 

That's always been the case for us so far at least

Whilst we tend to eat at around 6.30pm at home, we prefer to eat much later on a cruise. Thankfully, as we always have a balcony, we are never bothered about getting window seats in restaurants. When in the fjords we tend to get up fairly early to watch the transit down the fjord and then we enjoy the opposite side of the fjord from our balcony during the early evening sail out. We then dine later when the light isn’t as good and the ship is generally in the wider sections of the fjord. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

10 hours ago, davecttr said:

Which is why on Arvia last month they were queuing for Epicurian with the queue stretching back into the Crows Nest and here's me thinking Epicurian was all about the food when a seat with a view is vital for some. They should charge extra for a window seat.

The night we went in we walked past at 5.58pm. There was nobody queueing at all. The door was locked. We had to knock on the door to ask if it was ok to come back at 6.30pm. 

So if there was a queue on Iona it would have had to build in one minute before the doors opened. 

Everyone who booked at 6pm got a window seat as far as I could see so no need to queue?

 

We got the last table in the window at the very end

Edited May 28, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan