Are you cruising with Norwegian Cruise Lines and wondering if the specialty dining is actually worth it? In this video I’ve shared our experience dining at the specialty restaurants on the Norwegian Bliss, rating our experiences, and sharing my final verdict on whether you need to get a specialty package or not.
0:00 – Intro
0:55 – Menus
3:41 – Specialty Restaurant Overviews
6:45 – Our Experiences – QTexas Smokehouse, Los Lobos, La Cucina, Cagney’s Steakhouse
9:18 – Final Verdict
10:16 – Closing & Coming Soon
#norwegianbliss #norwegiancruiseline #cruiseship
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From: https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/onboard-packages/dining-packages
Specialty Dining Package – Norwegian Bliss
With a Specialty Dining Package (SDP), you can conveniently sample a wide array of unique restaurants for one set price. Customize your experience by selecting the number of meals you want during your cruise. Go medium-rare at Cagney’s Steakhouse, savour délicieuse French cuisine at Le Bistro or try succulent Brazilian barbecue meats at Moderno Churrascaria. The choice is yours and the flavours endless!
Specialty Dining Packages are honoured in the following restaurants: American Diner, Cagney’s Steakhouse, Food Republic, Italian, Le Bistro, Los Lobos, Moderno Churrascaria, Pincho Tapas Bar, Q Texas Smokehouse, Raw Bar, Seafood, Sushi and Teppanyaki. Dining options vary by ship.
34 Comments
I'll be going on the Norwegian Bliss in March and have two free Specialty dining meals included. Cagney's sounds like a good option and I think we'll be doing Q smokehouse since my partner likes country music and there's evening entertainment there.
Scammer attack: portfolio, income, trading service in comments … who cares, I am here to enjoy the ride
Excellent and very helpful. Please do a video or a just describe what you had in the main restaurant(s) for your breakfast, lunch and dinner. Please also address your favorite desserts and wine. Thank you!
Norwegian Cruise Line looks a good company, the service is nice and clean and the food also looks tasty and in good quality
That dining package looks like a big plus on your holiday!
Great variety on food on this cruise!
All the best!
Wow! Y'all ate well on this cruise! It's incredible how much these meals would cost without the package, so it definitely looks like the package is definitely worth if you are a steak eater. As vegetarians though it's probably not worth it for us.
Omg I need to travel with you guys! My mouth is watering when it came to the desserts!! The shrimp! Yummmmm. Take me on your travels!! Such a delicious video! 😋
The food seems to be delicious. Its good to take a package for this meal else it will make a big hole in the pocket
I'm booked on the Bliss for November, 2023. I do have Free at Sea, but I am staying in the solo studio. I think that only includes 1 specialty meal, so I will probably book Cagney's. A friend of mine from FL is on the same sailing, so I will not be totally solo. It is my first cruise with NCL, so I am both nervous and excited. I have enjoyed both videos of the complimentary dining and specialty.
Thanks. Very helpful. I'm booked in a studio for April 2.
All food looks so delicious makes me hungry while watching 😄 Dining package is really a good choice 👍
Cruise food can be hit or miss but the restaurants that you pay extra for are usually worth the upgrade! Looks Like you had a ton of options! And those streaks looked delicious! Thanks for
Exploring the options for us! Appreciate you appreciating the food!
Did the same thing when we were at the All-Inclusive Resort. The extra sometimes is well worth it. These all sound fantastic. I'd be so down for the wine bar. Add a steak from the steakhouse?! Yes please. You're on a boat so you'd figure the seafood spot would be epic. Love the decor for the Texas Smokehouse. Now I live in Texas so I'm picky on Texas BBQ. The plates look good. Mmm empanadas. Oh carbonara come to me. My favorite pasta dish. Oh those steaks look good. I'd do a good ole Ribeye myself. Excellent review.
Great video!
Had friends who voyaged on the Bliss to Cabo (first time cruisers), and they absolutely loved it. I was on the Encore last year, and took advantage of the "Free at Sea" promotion. The MDR that week was a real bummer, as the menu was very very small, the service was extremely slow, and the food quality was pretty "meh." I noticed most passengers that week steered clear of the MDR, as I did. The two specialty restaurants I chose were Le Bistro, and Cagney's. Cagney's was a sure fire hit with me, all except the raspberry creme brûlée. I'm a big time traditionalist when it comes to creme brûlée, so the fact that they threw raspberry flavor in there was a total thumbs down. Give me plain old traditional creme brûlée anytime, but don't throw flavoring in there. It ruins it. What's more is that good creme brûlée always has a nice hard crust on top, which this did not have. The menu options for Cagney's were plentiful, and my steak came out perfect. Le Bistro was pretty ho-hum for me. Next time I will do Ocean Blue. As for the buffet, I thought it was spot-on, except for the pizza. NCL's pizza does not compete with Royal or Princess. But then, NCL does other things very very well that other cruise lines do not.
The French restaurant is totally worth it!! My fav!!
Thank you Sara and Allan for great videos. Your videos are always well explained and detailed.
Thank you for this honest review. We’re cruising Alaska in September and have the free at sea. I was trying to decide whether to get more dining packages however I don’t think I should because there is absolutely no way I could eat that many courses. I would be full after the first course 😂. My husband will manage more food but I think you’re correct that the free at sea is enough.
I'll be on the NCL Spirit in May so, thanks for this video. I know we'll be going to Cagney's and (I think) La Bistro. I am curious to know what you think about the drink packages, especially the Starbucks package. I would need to drink 3 Starbucks drinks per day to get the benefit of the package. I drink a lot of tea: English Breakfast, Peppermint, and Camomile. It looks like I can get those at the buffet.
We just went on the Joy. Q's was by far the worst of our specialty dining. Most of the food went unfinished and dessert was almost inedible. Cagney's was the best of the bunch and everything was excellent. The teppanyaki was average and the show part wasn't that good as they have left out a lot of the tricks that most of the cooks do, like the smoking volcano and drawing with egg. Food Republic was just okay also. I do live in an area that has excellent asian foods, and Food Republic was just average. In the future, I'd do just Cagney's and eat in the buffet, as they had featured entrees every night and it looked good.
Agree about the extra cost. PLEASE make a video about HOW to RVSP for the restaurants. We had NEVER been to a buffet on Carnival but was forced to do the buffet, was good, more times than not on our first NCL on the Breakaway last week.
Thank you for sharing, good info 🥰
Can we order multiple appetizers and desserts (no additional charge) with the free at sea specialty dining package? Thank you
Free at Sea gave us 3 Specialty Dinner Meals for our 15 day cruise on the Bliss. We ate at Teppanyaki, Los Lobos, and La Cucini. We could not get reservations for Cagneys or Le Bistro or Ocean Blue, and we would like to have tried them. We enjoyed our meals at all three. In fact, we liked the Teppanjaki food and experience so much, we ate there a second time on our last night. Being from Texas, we did not even think about eating at the Q Texas Smokehouse, as we assumed we would be disappointed. I did go to the Q to have a Shiner Bock at the Q Bar and to listen to the country rock band. You could not get a Shiner Bock at the District bar, only at the Q!
I always get the Osso Buco at La Cucina.Wondetful… Specialty dining is fun. But you tend to overeat, and the regular dining rooms are terrific, also.
Great Job on pointing out how to maximize your value with the dining package.
We usually eat at cagneys with either le bistro or la cucina or Onda with our free at see package.
If we want food republic or Q or Los lobos or teppankyI we just pay for it
Thank you for sharing
thank you for your review: i get one meal of specialty dining included in my upcoming cruise and was wondering if i should pay for two more. seems like you get the most value at La Cucina and Cagneys for the 59 bucks per meal pricing of the specialty dining. The mexican and BBQ restaurants, it seems like i might get a better deal going to an on land place here in Las Vegas, where 30-40 bucks might not get you a dessert included but will get you a significant amount of food.
Not sure if you have ever visited las Vegas but would you compare the quality/ taste of the food on the NCL cruise buffet to like a Golden Corral buffet, or a typical vegas buffet? or is it much better quality like the baccanal/ bellagio/wynn casino buffets?
thank you
When you have SD does your drinks come with your drink package
6/10 for the bbq place? really?
I think having two dining credits with the Free at Sea promotion is enough for a 7 day cruise. It’s often hard to get reservations and I wind up stressing about wasting them. Plus, there are enough options with main dining rooms, buffet, Local etc that there isn’t enough time to try it all.
Upcoming 7-day NCL Hawaii cruise. I'm taking your advice and just using the 1 specialty dining package that is included. Your video was an outstanding expose of what to expect from each dining option. Thank you!
Thank you for a good honest review
Totally new at this and taking our first cruise this December.. I have no idea how the specialty dining works.. We have the free at sea package, so have 2 meals.. But.. what does that mean lol.. What do we get for that at the restaurants? And at the hibachi place, they also have sushi, how does that work? edit:: NM see Teppanyaki doesnt have sushi…
we like alan hes funny