Freedom dining questions

[bobnjeff]

We’ve just booked the Oriana for July 2019 and chose Freedom Dining. Now friends have suggested there are issues with this. We usually like to eat around 7pm. Any thoughts or concerns about this? We usually prefer to join others randomly as we do on other cruise lines like RCCL and Celebrity. Thanks for the advice. Our only other experience with P&O was on the Arcadia which only had fixed seating.

 

 

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[wowzz]

We’ve just booked the Oriana for July 2019 and chose Freedom Dining. Now friends have suggested there are issues with this. We usually like to eat around 7pm. Any thoughts or concerns about this? We usually prefer to join others randomly as we do on other cruise lines like RCCL and Celebrity. Thanks for the advice. Our only other experience with P&O was on the Arcadia which only had fixed seating.

 

 

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Not sure what your friends mean about "issues" ? 7 is probably a busy time, but if you do not specifically want a table for two, you shouldn't have any lengthy wait.

 

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[wowzz]

I should just add that Arcadia now has freedom dining as well.

 

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[Slugsta]

We have been doing Freedom dining on PandO for some time now and never had any big problems. Yes, there is sometimes a wait, especially at busy times, but it has never been long. As has been said, it tends to be a longer wait if you want a table for 2.

[bobnjeff]

Thank you. We never want a table for two. We do that at home every night. Part of cruising for us is meeting people from different places so we always ask to be seated with others. Our friends were concerned that there could be very long waits especially just as the dining room opens. We don’t mind waiting a little bit.

 

 

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[terrierjohn]

Thank you. We never want a table for two. We do that at home every night. Part of cruising for us is meeting people from different places so we always ask to be seated with others. Our friends were concerned that there could be very long waits especially just as the dining room opens. We don’t mind waiting a little bit.

 

 

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We have never had to wait on P&O when prepared to share a table in the Freedom MDR.

[Selbourne]

We have never had to wait on P&O when prepared to share a table in the Freedom MDR.

 

Same experience with us, and we much prefer the flexibility to dine whenever we wish, to fit around port departure times, entertainment etc.

[kersh]

No issues at all on Oriana freedom dining.

[snaefell]

No issues at all for us with freedom dining even though we always ask for a table for 2,never had to wait very long.

[groovechick]

We did Freedom dining for the first time last year on Aurora, no problems at all. We usually went down to dinner around 7 pm, there might have been 2-3 groups of people ahead of us at the desk, we were usually seated (table for 4 or shared) within a couple of minutes. We found it tended to be busier at 7.30-8.

[Harry Peterson]

If you don't specify a table for two, you're unlikely to have to wait long. Usually it's just a minute or two, and the longest we've ever waited has been 5 minutes.

 

I love Freedom Dining - never done anything else, and wouldn't under any circumstances. It's the same food, an identical MDR, but without the rigidity of fixed times.

 

I love meeting different people for every meal and on only two occasions have we ever felt that the company was anything less than superb. One table we joined seemed to consist entirely of East London/Essex wide boys and wives (wealthy but obnoxious - we left before coffee) and another an arrogant woman with a loud voice who pretended she had some kind of special relationship with the waiters, to whom she was constantly patronising and rude (we noticed we weren't the only ones avoiding her on subsequent nights).

 

Most people have been delightful, and we loved the variety.

[bobnjeff]

Wonderful to hear the good reports. We will stay with Freedom dining and enjoy the flexibility to dine when we want and to meet new folks along the way. Very much appreciate all the comments.

 

 

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[Clodia]

Whether travelling alone or with a friend I have never had to wait on Freedom Dining as long as I/we were happy to share, which I am because it's nice meeting new people every evening. I think there was only one night in about 6 cruises where there was a short wait.

[Slugsta]

We always like to share a table with others. Even so, on a couple of occasions we have been sent away with a pager. I don't think we have ever actually finished our drinks before we were paged . . .

[aliandy]

Agree with all the other positive comments. Always done Freedom Dining and never had to wait long even when requesting a table for 2. The pager system works well.:)

[NoFlyGuy]

Agree, if you are happy to share there should be no problem. The problems come when requesting a table for 2.

 

In February on a 12 night Canaries cruise we twice had to wait just over 1 hour and over 30 minutes on another two nights.

Probably didn't help ourselves by picking 'busy' times between 7:15 and 8.

[Goosebear Mum]

On Aurora, a year ago we regularly had to wait an hour or more. Last Christmas we were seated very quickly whether we shared or not. I’m not sure what was different, but must have been something!

[Selbourne]

We have done 3 Cruises on Aurora within the last year and never had to take a pager. Although we prefer to share a table, on several occasions when we dined at 8.30pm or later we were asked if we wouldn’t mind having a table for 2 as flow was slow and it would take a while to fill a table! There are loads of tables for 2 in the MDR on Aurora.