Please explain NCL dining

[TheHappyWanderer]

I have not cruised NCL, but have on many other lines. How does dining work? I take it there is no traditional fixed seating. I am used to the "tip" charges in the other ship's upsell restaurants. On NCL is every restaurant a "pay" restaurant?

[Maddie444]

I have only been on the NCL's Majesty. On this ship they have two dinning room's that are free. And then they have the specialty dinning, you pay for. This works out great for me, no rushing for your assigned seating.

When you go to the free dinning rooms, they will ask you if you mind seating with other guest or would you like to sit alone. Your choice.

I hope this helps.

Maddie

[Baitman19]

Freestyle Dining:

I can only speak from sailing on the Dawn, but you can eat from 5:30pm to 10:00pm. There are 3 main dining rooms (Venetian, Aqua & Impressions)that are free. There are free specialty restaurants also, La Trattoria (Italian), & Salsa (Tex/Mex). There is a buffet & a 24 hour fast food restaurant (Blue Lagoon) and 24 hour room service.

The pay restaurants are usually a French (Le Bistro), a steak (Cagney's) and a Asian (Bamboo).

Specialty Restaurants require a reservation. The other restaurants, you just show up and wait a little. Early dining is more crowded than later.

You will be charged $10.00 per person per day and that takes care of your tipping (room stewards, waiters, hostess, busboys). If you would like, you may tip a special person extra.

There is a 15% gratuity added to each drink purchased.

 

Hope that helps,

Happy sailing,

Monty

[SailAways]

Basically, there is food available all day long - at one place or another.

There are five or six different options.

 

There are specialty restaurants which are available with a Cover Charge from $12.50 to $20pp. These are, IMHO, all worth the extra They treat you royally.

 

Specialty restaurants recommend that you have reservations. If you cancel after 5PM, there is a $5.00pp fee. Between 5:30PM and 6PM, on some days, there is a 50% off in some restaurants. Check your Freestyle Daily which will be in placed in your cabin each AM when cleaning is done.

 

Weather permitting, there are barbecues available too.

 

We absolutely loved Freestyle dining, and the entire experience. We had the choice to eat when we wanted, and had a beautiful selection of restaurants and great food in each.

[Aliann]

Everyone pretty much covered the basics, and all ships are the same except that some of the newer have more specialty restaurants (the one's you pay extra for). And you don't pay like a restaurant, you pay a set fee, say $10-$20 depending on the restaurant. Along with the specialty there are dining rooms just as any cruise line, only difference is, you don't have to have dinner at either 6:00 or 8:00, you dine whenever you want as long as they are open. No reservations needed, you just show up.

 

Most ships also offer several other free options, an Italian restaurant, Mexican, etc. The smaller older ships don't have as many options as the larger one's, but there are options.

 

Dress is resort casual, not jeans, shorts, and bathing suits, this is the inbetween of casual and dressy. Capri pants for women, light summer skirts, pants, etc. - khaki's and golf shirts for men, no suit and tie, no jacket required other than formal night if you wish to participate.

 

Love my freestyle!

[Cuizer2]

I just got off the NCL Star and though the review is long, I do spend a lot of time explaining Freestyle dining. Why don't you look over the review (link below) and if you have any more questions, ask ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=13327

[katiel53]

I think it makes a difference in the ship. Some ships have 10 restaurants, other less.

 

The main dining rooms don't need reservations. (As on the Star, the Versailles and Aqua). The other dinner locations, such as LeBistro, Cagney's, LaTrattoria and I forget the Mexican restaurant need reservations. The Italian and Mexican restaurants are free though.

 

There are other free places, ie Blue Lagoon, the buffet. Your travel agent should be able to give you info based on your ship. If you can't get that info from the agent, then I guess you have the wrong agent, sorry.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Freestyle has a lot of benefits.

 

Katie

[Iggipolka]

Could someone please tell me what the free and pay resturants are on the Wind? Thanks.

[immargaret]

Could someone please tell me what the free and pay resturants are on the Wind? Thanks.

 

I did a search on the boards here using the words Wind and Restaurants and found this in one of the threads....

 

Here's a list of the five restaurants onboard the Wind:

 

1) Four Seasons Main Restaurant (Main Dining Room)

Cuisine: Continental

Dress Code: No shorts or jeans after 6:00 p.m. in the dining rooms.

Surcharge: No

Reservations Required: No

Hours

Breakfast: 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Lunch: 12:00 noon – 2:30 p.m.

Dinner: 5:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

2) Sun Terrace Dining Room

Cuisine: Italian

Dress Code: No shorts or jeans after 6:00 p.m. in the dining rooms.

Surcharge: No

Reservations Required: No

Hours

Breakfast: 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Lunch: 12:00 noon – 2:30 p.m.

Dinner: 5:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

3) The Terraces Dining Room

Cuisine: Continental

Dress Code: No shorts or jeans after 6:00 p.m. in the dining rooms.

Surcharge: No

Reservations Required: No

Hours

Breakfast: 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Lunch: 12:00 noon – 2:30 p.m.

Dinner: 5:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

4) Le Bistro French Restaurant

Cuisine: Light Italian and Continental

Dress Code: No shorts or jeans after 6:00 p.m. in the dining rooms.

Surcharge: Yes, $15 per person

Reservations Required: Yes

Hours

Dinner Only: 6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.

5) Outdoor Café/Pizzeria

Cuisine: Assorted Buffet, Snacks, Pizza

Dress Code: Casual

Surcharge: No

Reservations Required: No

Hours

Check onboard

[Iggipolka]

Thank you. I appreciate the information.

[mrg0433]

Last December we sailed NCL for the first time and loved the freestyle dining concept on the Dawn. Since then, we've taken two RCCL cruises. We really liked the RCCL ship but were frustrated with the dining room service after the NCL freestyle experience. I felt guilty on RCCL if I missed dinner in the dining room. Some other guests act like you skipped school when you don't show up for assigned dining. You can request a table for two on RCCL, but each time I did the service was so slow that I ended up not eating in the dining room after a few nights. DH got sick and tired of lukewarm meals. We did enjoy the Windjammer on RCCL Jewel of the Seas because you can pick out your own fish, meat, or poultry and watch them cook it in front of you--nice and hot too.

 

There are things I like and dislike about each ship and each cruiseline. NCL is my favorite cruiseline overall for food, dining, and entertainment--and the Dawn's movie theater with popcorn of course.

 

We have a cruise booked on Carnival in February but are already talking about our family Thanksgiving cruise 2006 on NCL Spirit. I just wish NCL would design a ship with a solarium comparable to RCCL. The NCL Dawn's indoor pool is too confining and not enough light or seating. Anybody else feel the same?

 

Mary

Plymouth, MA

[Welove2cruise2]

My DH won't cruise any other line but NCL -- simply because of FREESTYLE! I'd love to try other lines, but as long as he keeps booking the cruises, who am I to argue!!:D BTW, I LOVE freestyle too!

[NCmom]

Iggipolka and immargaret: The restaurants listed in the post above are incorrect--it came from a website rather than from someone who has been on the Wind recently.

 

There are the two main dining rooms: The Terraces and The Fours Seasons. The Fours Seasons is a little less formal--several nights on the cruise they allowed jeans and shorts. These two had the same menu. The Terraces had a la carte breakfast, while the 4 seasons had a breakfast buffet.

 

The Sun Terraces is not open for lunch or breakfast--instead it is used as overflow setting for the Sports Bar. At night, it is LaTrattoria, which does not cost extra. When we cruised this June, they did not allow reservations--now I have read they do. It is Italian most nights; our cruise had two nights when it was Mexican.

 

The Sports Bar has the nightly buffet if you don't want to eat in the dining rooms; it also has the breakfast buffet.

 

There was a small area near one pool that had three tables in it--they served a continental buffet in the morning; then pizza during the day,

 

Le Bistro was the one "pay" restaurant-$15 per person (first night was 1/2 off).

 

Have a great trip--the people are great onboard, and I loved the ship.