Confused about dining

[TravelingSmurf]

My husband and I are looking to book a cruise for March. It is between NCL (Star) and Carnival (Spirit). We have done Carnival twice before so we are interested in trying something new. But I am a bit confused about dining on NCL. Do you make reservations for the non-specialty restaurants, or just show up? If you just show up, and it is prime time, how long do you have to typically wait? There is only 2 of us, does that make a difference? I have read some negative things about long lines so I was wondering how much of a problem it really is.

 

Thanks for the help,

Cari

[discjoker]

No reservations are needed for the non-specialty restaurants. You just show up. A table of 2 should not have much of a wait. On my last NCL cruise (Spirit in June) I think the longest we (just my wife and I) had to wait for a table was 15 minutes and that was on "lobster night" in the dining room. On that night they gave us a vibrating pager that went off when our table was ready. Larger parties usually have a longer wait but a party of 2 should have no problems getting right in most nights.

[dolfandude]

discjoker is correct. Other than lobster night you wont' find much of a wait BUT............try the speciality restaurants. Even if you just show up there late without a reservation. A party of 2 is easy to seat. :)

 

Steve

[lukes]

We are a party of 4 and ate in the two main dinning rooms 11 out of 12 nights. We never had to wait more than 3 or 4 minutes to be seated and most nights were seated right away. We ate anywhere from 6 - 7:30, later might have been busier.

[CPT Trips]

I can only speak for the Spirit recently. We were a party of three, we typically ate immediately after the 7:30 show (so about 8:30). We were always seated right away . . . the longest wait was for us to sanitize our hands:)

Blue Lagoon (salad or wings or fish and chips) in the late afternoon was all it took to okeep us fueled up until the late dinner.

[Arwenmark]

to the original poster, you don't say whether you are looking to be seated by yourselves or with others. there is no wait to be seated with others. and I have never had more than a ten minute wait for table for two.

[TravelingSmurf]

Thanks for the responses. I think we are going to do NCL. All I know is we better make a decision soon!! :)

 

Cari