Best day to go to Specialty Dining Restaurant?

[CableKC]

I'm considering booking a NoTS 4 Night Cruise and was looking at when to go to a Specialty Dining restaurant ( likely Chops ).

Which day do you think is the best and easiet day to try to get a Specialty Dining Restaurant reservation?

I saw some YouTube Short that suggested that it's a good idea to go to these popular Specialty Dining Restaurants on Embarkation Day since a lot of people want to start off in the Main Dining Room for dinner.

Thoughts?

[Ampurp85]

I always say night 1 is the best night for specialty dining because the welcome abord menu is boring and usually it is chaotic. Think about it, most of the staff has spent the day preparing the ship for new guest, they are tired and learning the new pax preferences. So mistakes and long wait times can happen. Specialty restaurants don't deal in volume, so it is a much more relaxing experience. 

[CableKC]

4 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I always say night 1 is the best night for specialty dining because the welcome abord menu is boring and usually it is chaotic. Think about it, most of the staff has spent the day preparing the ship for new guest, they are tired and learning the new pax preferences. So mistakes and long wait times can happen. Specialty restaurants don't deal in volume, so it is a much more relaxing experience. 

Good way to look at it.  I'm thinking that it also be would be a good way to set the a good tone for the rest of the trip as well on the 1st night of the cruise.

Thanks for replying.

[ChessE4]

We pick a specialty lunch on a sea day. Night 1 we like to meet our MDR team and table mates. That probably wouldn't be important on a short cruise, leaving a specialty dinner something to anticipate with pleasure.

[OCSC Mike]

Since the food itself is most important to me and my wife is picky, we choose a night where there's really nothing on the MDR menu for her.

All good suggestions here, just depends on your priorities and preferences.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Many people like to choose a specialty restaurant on "formal" night (not that there is a formal night anymore), which is USUALLY on night #2, but b/c so many people like to choose that night, it can sometimes be difficult to get a reservation...it just depends on what you like to do.

I agree with @Ampurp85.  I really hate the menu on the first night in the MDR so I will almost always choose that as one of my specialty dining nights.  Also, I am different from most people and couldn't care less who my servers are, or if they know me...so I have no special interest in "meeting' my MDR servers on night #1.  I would go so far as to say that I would actually PREFER to have a different server and a different table on every night of the cruise, but that almost never happens so I just do whatever is convenient for the maitre'd/staff.

I'm not sure if you will have any sea days on a 4 night (most likely you will have 1), but you also might consider doing a Chops lunch as opposed to a dinner.  The menu is very similar and the cost is less.  I guess you could look at both menus and see if there's anything offered at night that you can't live without and if so, there's your answer.... 

[CableKC]

9 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Since the food itself is most important to me and my wife is picky, we choose a night where there's really nothing on the MDR menu for her.

All good suggestions here, just depends on your priorities and preferences.

Is there a routine MDR menu where NoTS picks the theme for each night from cruise to cruise?

or

Is it totally random where the theme nights are different from cruise to cruise?

Also,what are the themes?

Italian

Mexican

American?

French?

Just guessing here, don't really know.

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, CableKC said:

Is there a routine MDR menu where NoTS picks the theme for each night from cruise to cruise?

You can find menus in the app. For cruise itineraries that repeat over and over the menu order basically stays the same for months and months. For more unique itineraries it's a little different.

[jbrinkm]

I did a specialty lunch on boarding day for the first time last year and really loved it. We're doing it again on our upcoming cruise.

Different people probably prefer different theme nights depending on their personal tastes. My family doesn't like the Italian night so I'm trying to book our Wonderland dinner on the night when that is the theme, but I have one of those unique itineraries that @OCSC Mike just mentioned so I'm having trouble figuring it out. I made three reservations on different nights and will cancel two when we board and I see the order of the menus finalized.

Also, I don't know what your stops are but we have one night when we're in port until 9 or 10pm and we are usually scheduled for early dining in the MDR. That would also be a good night because we can book a later dinner just that one night and stay on the island later. It also might be easier to book on a night like that because some people will eat on shore or choose the WJ. 

I would suggest the last night to have a special farewell but keep in mind that you will also need to pack that evening.

One other thing to keep in mind is that people who buy the dining package have a restaurant "courtesy" reserved for nights 1 and 2. If they decide not to keep it, more spots might come open after boarding (if you don't get a time you like on day 1). 

[CableKC]

7 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Many people like to choose a specialty restaurant on "formal" night (not that there is a formal night anymore), which is USUALLY on night #2, but b/c so many people like to choose that night, it can sometimes be difficult to get a reservation...it just depends on what you like to do.

I agree with @Ampurp85.  I really hate the menu on the first night in the MDR so I will almost always choose that as one of my specialty dining nights.  Also, I am different from most people and couldn't care less who my servers are, or if they know me...so I have no special interest in "meeting' my MDR servers on night #1.  I would go so far as to say that I would actually PREFER to have a different server and a different table on every night of the cruise, but that almost never happens so I just do whatever is convenient for the maitre'd/staff.

I'm not sure if you will have any sea days on a 4 night (most likely you will have 1), but you also might consider doing a Chops lunch as opposed to a dinner.  The menu is very similar and the cost is less.  I guess you could look at both menus and see if there's anything offered at night that you can't live without and if so, there's your answer.... 

I'm definitely leaning towards choosing Chops as one of the Specialty Dining options that I  go with.  But I'd be concerned that going to Chops for lunch may be too heavy of a meal.    Although it would mean that I can walk it off for the rest of the day, I also enjoy having a really nice dinner with the family. 

[CableKC]

I have another question related to Specialty Dining on NoTS.

Has anyone tried the Chef's Table specialty dining on NoTS before?

I'm considering that as an option for my Wife and I but wasn't sure when it's offered and on which days.

Is it worth it?

 

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, CableKC said:

I have another question related to Specialty Dining on NoTS.

Has anyone tried the Chef's Table specialty dining on NoTS before?

I'm considering that as an option for my Wife and I but wasn't sure when it's offered and on which days.

Is it worth it?

 

Chef's table has a set menu, it won't differ no matter what ship you sail. You can look in the cruise planner and see when it is being offered as well as the menu. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

 

That certainly is a valid concern.  We cannot eat 2 big meals for lunch and dinner so typically if we have a big lunch we will either skip dinner entirely or just plan on getting a light snack in the evening.  That’s the primary reason why the Unlimited Dining Plan just doesn’t work for us anymore.  It’s just too much food for us these days.  I used to be able to eat that much but I can’t do it now.  It’s nice to have the flexibility to skip a meal if you want to !   I will usually make a dinner reservation (MDR, Coastal Kitchen….whatever we’ve decided on) but if we decide to skip it, it is so nice to be able to just cancel and do nothing !

[Smokey79]

Just wanting to add this because I found the situation to be strange. Every night on this sailing, we have seen them allow crew members to eat at the specialty restaurants during the (what I consider) prime times from 6 to 9. It’s a full boat but our genie said they’re having real issues booking seats in them. It’s good for the crew at least.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

12 hours ago, Smokey79 said:

Just wanting to add this because I found the situation to be strange. Every night on this sailing, we have seen them allow crew members to eat at the specialty restaurants during the (what I consider) prime times from 6 to 9. It’s a full boat but our genie said they’re having real issues booking seats in them. It’s good for the crew at least.  

To clarify....the Genie is having trouble booking his/her guests into the specialty restaurants during peak hours due to crew being allowed to eat there ?  I just want to be sure I understand what you're saying....

[Smokey79]

4 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

To clarify....the Genie is having trouble booking his/her guests into the specialty restaurants during peak hours due to crew being allowed to eat there ?  I just want to be sure I understand what you're saying....

 They were having issues getting passengers to book seats so they were allowing the crew to become the paying guests for a discounted rate. 
 

We had a 7:45 seating at 150 Central Park and there were as many tables of crew as there was passengers. We really didn’t notice a crowd in any specialty restaurant the entire sailing*.

*We booked Izumi on night 1 and both tables were all Star class so I’m not sure just how busy it really was. 

[Ampurp85]

2 hours ago, Smokey79 said:

 They were having issues getting passengers to book seats so they were allowing the crew to become the paying guests for a discounted rate. 
 

We had a 7:45 seating at 150 Central Park and there were as many tables of crew as there was passengers. We really didn’t notice a crowd in any specialty restaurant the entire sailing*.

*We booked Izumi on night 1 and both tables were all Star class so I’m not sure just how busy it really was. 

I noticed that on my last couple of sailings, they were trying hard to get people to book specialty restaurants. I plan to rely on this for my shorter sailing when the UDP isn't worth it. 

[CableKC]

I have yet another stupid question.

My 20 year old son and his GF will be joining us on the cruise.   

Are they are able to dine on their own because they're over the age of 18 for the Specialty Dining restaurants?

I'm assuming that there isn't any age concerns over 18 years old, but I wanted to double check.

 

 

[CableKC]

15 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

To clarify....the Genie is having trouble booking his/her guests into the specialty restaurants during peak hours due to crew being allowed to eat there ?  I just want to be sure I understand what you're saying....

It sounds like it's better to just go get dining reservations in person and as soon as possible.

Assuming that I plan out where I want to go on which days, am I able to try to book dining reservations at the various specialty restaurants on Day 1 when we board?

I figure that we'll plan to go to 2 specialty dining restaurants or 1 specialty restaurant and Chefs Table for a 4 night Cruise.

[WAAAYTOOO]

8 hours ago, CableKC said:

It sounds like it's better to just go get dining reservations in person and as soon as possible.

Assuming that I plan out where I want to go on which days, am I able to try to book dining reservations at the various specialty restaurants on Day 1 when we board?

I figure that we'll plan to go to 2 specialty dining restaurants or 1 specialty restaurant and Chefs Table for a 4 night Cruise.

Yes, your best bet is to go take care of that FIRST thing.

[OCSC Mike]

8 hours ago, CableKC said:

It sounds like it's better to just go get dining reservations in person and as soon as possible.

Maybe I'm missing something. If you're not purchasing a dining package, you should book everything pre-cruise in your cruise planner to save 10% and pick your day/time.

[cruisellama]

I've tried different days and our experience is day 1 tends to be the least crowded and formal nights tend to be the more heavily trafficked.  Foods the same.

[Biaggio]

Check the MDR menus when it’s posted. Don’t like what you see, book Chops, etc

[CableKC]

13 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Maybe I'm missing something. If you're not purchasing a dining package, you should book everything pre-cruise in your cruise planner to save 10% and pick your day/time.

That's my thought too.   My initial plan is to do Chops or one of the other Specialty Restaurants on Night 1 and then do go to the MDR on Night 2 ( which I think usually is the Formal Night? ).

I would like to do the Chef's Table on Night 3 ( for my Wife and I while having everyone else do their own thing ) and then finith it off with the MDR on the last night of the curise as a family.

[AshleyDillo]

On 3/16/2024 at 2:47 AM, CableKC said:

Are they are able to dine on their own because they're over the age of 18 for the Specialty Dining restaurants?

I'm assuming that there isn't any age concerns over 18 years old, but I wanted to double check.

No issues with them dining on their own at the specialty restaurants. Make sure they know there's an additional cost for them if they don't have a dining package or a pre-purchased reservation.