No matter what dining package you have, you will have at least one credit per person that can be used at any of NCL’s specialty dining restaurants. On our Alaskan cruise, we had two specialty dining credits per person that came with our “Free at Sea” deal and we had one per person on our Bahamas cruise.
There is little explanation on these credits, that we could find, so we had to ask a lot of questions. Now that we’ve, mostly, figured it out, we wanted to share what we learned with you. Also, we’re going to talk about the restaurants we went to and what we thought of them.
How do the credits work?
Our understanding is that these credits let you order one appetizer, one soup or salad (maybe both), one entrée, and one dessert per person. The drinks that are available are based on your drink package so we thought of food and drinks as separate entities to keep it straight in our heads. Much like the regular dining rooms, waiters will simply scan your keycard to “pay” for the meal. Your dining credits show on your NCL account.
In order to use your credits the gratuities have to be paid upfront, so make sure those have been paid. You can check your NCL account or talk with guest services about this.
You will need to make a reservation, especially at the more popular restaurants. You can do this at guest services or the concierge desk (in the Haven). It is probably a good idea to book your reservations as soon as possible to ensure you get the times you want. Deciding on a time was a bit difficult for us because we were not sure what the daily schedules looked like (past the current day) or when certain events that we wanted to attend were (such as theatre performances). However, we were able to get reservations when we wanted them at the places we most wanted to try.
What did we eat?
After reading some other blogs and watching some YouTube videos, we decided on using our credits on the first cruise at Cagney’s Steakhouse and Le Bistro. These seem to be common to most of the Norwegian fleet as they were also on the ship for our next cruise. We also were able to get lunch at American Diner on the first day for free (as Haven guests).
At American Diner, the food is pretty standard Americana. We wouldn’t really recommend using a credit here, but the food was good. We shared some cheese sticks which were pretty standard. Courtney- I got the chicken club sandwich and fries and, again, good, but standard. Mal- I had the shrimp and grits. The shrimp was grilled and tasted good, the sausage was spicy but also tasty. The grits were just okay. They had a strange texture, which is saying something because they are grits.
We had heard rave reviews of Cagney’s Steakhouse more than any other restaurant so we went to it first. Both of us got the filet mignon with truffle mashed potatoes and broccoli for our entrée. Mallory got a Caesar salad and Courtney got a wedge salad for starters. We were dining with Courtney’s mom and dad as well, so we tried four desserts: the apple pie, the blueberry crumble, the butterscotch cheesecake, and the chocolate cake. We really enjoyed our meal here. The truffle mashed potatoes were so creamy and had strong truffle flavor. We like our steaks medium well (don’t @ us), and ours were cooked a little too done to the point of being a bit dry. The bread served with the meal was not warm and the broccoli was completely unseasoned, but all the other food was excellent and well prepared. All of the desserts were phenomenal, but the apple pie and blueberry crumble were probably our favorites. The chocolate cake gets a lot of rave reviews as does the cheesecake and both are well deserved, but the others were a bit lighter after the rest of the meal.
We used our second meal credit at Le Bistro and are VERY glad we did. The food was phenomenal. We both got the French onion soup which was served in a fancy crock and was very cheesy. For our entrees, we also got the same thing, the beef tenderloin with potatoes. This time our steaks were cooked to perfection. We started the meal a bit sluggishly with some escargot. Courtney- I was feeling adventurous and while they tasted fine due to being cooked in butter, garlic, and herbs, they had a very shrimp like texture that was off putting as I do not like shrimp. We ended the meal with the Ile Flottante and the Frasier. Both looked beautiful and were delicious without being overly sweet. We highly recommend Le Bistro.
On our second cruise, we had one specialty dining ticket. We decided to use it at La Cucina to try something different .
We had read that La Cucina was fairly standard Italian cuisine (anyone else hate the word ‘cuisine’? IDK) akin to Olive Garden, but we did not find that to be the case and thought it was excellent. At La Cucina, you could choose one thing from each section of the menu which sort of equated to two entrees as far as we were concerned. We had the Insalata Di Ruculo E Grana and the Antipasi di Salumi Misti, Formaggi E Verdure (aka arugula salad and antipasto plate) for our starters. Both were great, albeit a bit basic. We followed that up with the Beef Lasagne Al Forno and the Ravioli Di Gamberi. Courtney- The lasagna was extremely good, possibly the best I have ever had, even including lasagna I ate in Italy.
We did not get a pizza, though the table next to us got some and took them to go. From the secondi options, we got the Pollo Cacciatore and the Osso Bucco. We had heard the Osso Bucco was one of the best dishes at La Cucina though it was a bit outside our norm. It was extremely good and essentially fell to pieces it was so tender. We got the Torta di Ricotta and the Torta di Cioccolate) though we had to take them to go. Both were good though not super memorable.
Overall, Le Bistro was probably our favorite of the specialty dining options we tried. We opted to try places that seemed outside our normal dining options so we didn’t want to go for things like Barbecue or Hibachi because we have easy access to those at home. You are bound to find good food no matter where you choose to use your dining credits. Just make sure not to waste them!
Our McTravels 