First Time NCL Poster with a question?

[Oi]

Can anyone tell me exactly how freestyle cruising works? The restarants that are on board, do you pay for all of them except the dining room? I know that there are a lot of specialty restaurants, do you pay one price for them like a cover charge?

 

I've really been curious about this and decided to post.

 

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you and...

 

Happy cruising!

[shoreguy]

What ship ?

 

On the Dawn there are 10 resturants only 3 have a "cover charge" that require a reservation. Two are free specialty resturants that also require reservations. There are 3 very different main dinning rooms, just show up any time between 5:30 and 10 PM. There is a 24 hour fast food restuarant with some very good choices. Last but not least there is the buffet.

[Oi]

Oh, I was not thinking a specific ship, sorry. I was thinking more in general...but it sounds like there are quite a few restaurants you dont have to pay for. is it a la carte prices on some pay restaurants. Can you walk in to the ones that accept reservations?

 

thanks for all your help.

[KeystoneCruiser]

All NCL ships now have Freestyle Dining. That means that the dining rooms are open for set times. (5:30 - 9:30 usually) and you just go to the restaurant of your choice when you want to. Just like in a regular restaurant, you tell the Maitre'd how many people are in your party and they will escort you to a table. Of course, like any restuarants, if you go during prime dining hours (6:30-8:30), you may have to wait for a table. Unlike regular restaurants: 1.) you can request the same waiter each night or have different waiters each night. 2.) You can ask to be seated with other guests if you like to meet and mingle or you can dine with just your party. 3.) Unless you go to the specialty restaurants, it doesn't cost you! (except alcohol or pop) And you can order seconds or two entrees!

 

The Specialty restaurants have a cover charge of between $10 and $25 per person (or ala carte in some of the asian ones).

 

The other part about Freestyle is that you don't have to dress up for dinner. You can wear polo shirts, sundresses, kahki slacks or a pant suit, each night! (including the optional formal night). The only restrictions is no shorts, jeans, cut-offs or tank tops after 5:00 p.m. in the restaurants. (that dress would be acceptable however in the buffet)

 

On the Star there are the five restuarants and the buffet (out of 10 eating venues) which are free and four which are pay. As for just walking up to specialty restaurants, you can try, especially on the first couple of days, but they get booked up pretty solid late in the week.

 

Freestyle dining is the best! (IMO)

[Oi]

Thank you for a great explanation! Freestyle sounds A LOT better than I thought!

 

Happy Cruising!

[NewEnglander]

We're sailing on the Majesty in a few months ... The cookies and cake slices that are on the counter at the Coffee Bar, are they free or do you pay extra for those?

[johnql]

Can anyone tell me exactly how freestyle cruising works? The restarants that are on board, do you pay for all of them except the dining room? I know that there are a lot of specialty restaurants, do you pay one price for them like a cover charge?

 

I've really been curious about this and decided to post.

 

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you and...

 

Happy cruising!

Here are the differences between Freestyle and traditional cruising:

 

1) Dining - With Freestyle, you are free to dine where you want, when you want, and with whom you want. There are no fixed seating times, nor is there an assigned table with a fixed set of tablemates for the entire cruise.

 

Pros - You can eat when you're actually hungry or when it fits your schedule. No rushing to get ready after a late excursion. Or check out the night's activities and schedule your dining around what you want to do. You can even dine early (5:30 or so) and then grab a dessert (or another full meal, for that matter) at 9:30 if that's what you want.

 

Depending on your mood, choose an intimate table for two. Or arrange to have dinner with a couple that you just met on an excursion or onboard. Or, if you're feeling really sociable, ask to be seated at a large table. It's up to you.

 

Since you're not assigned to a specific table, there's no pot luck in getting assigned to a table filled with incompatible people. You may be lucky and get some wonderful people, but you may be unlucky.

 

Depending on the ship, Freestyle dining can offer you a multitude of dining venues with a wide range of cuisines. The newer ships (e.g., Dawn, Star) offer several surcharge restaurants and several "included" restaurants.

 

Cons - If you want to dine at peak hours (7 or 7:30), you may encounter lines at the dining rooms to be seated. This is especially true for larger parties. For a party of two, such as myself, I've never had to wait longer than 5 minutes on 4 Freestyle cruises.

 

You will not receive that extra, personal touch from your wait staff since you won't have the same personnel every night. With fixed dining, the staff usually gets to know your idiosyncracies, your names, your background, etc. Many people like that.

 

You won't get to know the same set of tablemates (unless you make it happen). Some cruisers love having the opportunity to form friendships with their assigned tablemates. If you end up sitting with a series of different tablemates, you might get tired of the same old chit-chat that everybody goes through initially.

 

No age-old dining room traditions, such as the Baked Alaska Parade.

 

The older, smaller NCL ships (Sea, Wind, Dream, Majesty, Crown) were not designed specifically with Freestyle dining in mind. As a result, there are far fewer dining venues compared to the newer ships (Dawn, Star, Spirit, Sun, Pride of America, and the soon-to-be-launched Jewel). This tends to exacerbate the problem with lines waiting to be seated since there are fewer options available.

 

2) Attire - Freestyle deems "resort casual" attire as appropriate every night, including the optional formal night(s).

 

Pros - Much less to pack. Also, some people simply prefer not having to get dressed up. After all, it's a vacation.

 

Cons - Some people feel that the ambiance of formal night is ruined when half the cruisers aren't dressed up.

 

3) Disembarkation - With Freestyle, you can stay in your cabin on disembarkation morning as late as you want, until your category is called. You're not required to wait in a public lounge.

 

Express Disembarkation allows you to get off the ship first if you're willing to carry all of your bags off by yourself. This is good for people with early travel connections.

 

Hope this helps.

[miami]

Suggestion.... make your dinner reservations when you first board the ship. We were told at the reception desk that you could only make reservations the day before. We kept getting late times and were told at the reservation desk that we could have made them all the first day. We missed some shows since we were eating late.

[johnql]

Suggestion.... make your dinner reservations when you first board the ship. We were told at the reception desk that you could only make reservations the day before. We kept getting late times and were told at the reservation desk that we could have made them all the first day. We missed some shows since we were eating late.

Very good advice. I believe both the Dawn and Star now accept reservations for the specialty restaurants for the entire cruise on the first day. Not sure if it's a fleetwide policy change.

 

I'm not sure I fully understand your last statement about missing shows. I often eat late on a Freestyle cruise but have never missed a show. You just go to the early show instead.