How to Navigate Freestyle Dining?

[surdacki]

This is the first Freestyle cruise we are taking (Norwegian Spirit-9/30/06). Although I love some of the formalities of "classic cruising", my wife does not. She does not like formalwear on vacation nor does she like scheduled dining (first seating is too early and 2nd is too late). So we hope this will be a cruise we can both enjoy as I'm fine with relaxing and leaving the tux at home, BUT...

 

I'm worried about wandering around the ship looking for a restaurant that's got a free table for my wife and 2 kids. This is vacation for us and I don't want to have to wait around for a table like we do at most North Dallas restaurants on Friday or Sat nite. Should I expect a wait? Should I book each nite at the beginning of the cruise? (that sounds like what my wife wanted to avoid in the first place) Any guidance would be appreciated!

[melika091900]

you will love freestyle dining it made a huge difference on our cruise...

there were so many places to eat and alot of them are better with reservations. you can always call that day on the phone and ask them what they have avail so you dont have to go there and wait,

i know the speciality one, teppanyaki we had to reserve a few days ahead of time,

most of the time , we ate at all the deck parties/barbques they had or the buffet, it was just as good as any of the resturants in my opinion...

have a great cruise...

Melissa

[MidtheNight]

The specialty restaurants typically all require a reservation if you wish to dine at a specific time or even get in the door most nights as they have very limited seating capacity. The main dining rooms however are very large and typically don't have a problem (except on sea days....we have always seemed to have a long wait-30 to 60 minutes-on a sea day).

[superjerryw]

Having just cruised on the Dawn, I think it's best to devise a plan at the beginning of the cruise. We stopped at Guest Relations and they gave us the menus for the speciality retaurants as well as a full set of menus for the dining rooms for the entire week. We then looked at the dining room menus and decided which nights there was nothing really exciting and we would eat in a specialty restaurant instead. As mentioned, it's best to book the specialty restaurants as far in advance as possible. As for the dining rooms, we went about 6:30 each night and had no problem being seated immediately. If you go later, you may have to wait.

[Zeno]

With a party of only 4 you should not have any problems being promptly seated in the dining rooms whatever time you go at. One exception to this

on Captain's Dinner night (lobster night) - eat early or late. Everyone seems to turn up at the dining room at 7PM that night. On our last cruise we (party of 3) ate at 6PM that night and were seated immediately. However when we left the dining room (shortly after 7PM) there was a HUGE line up. On other nights we had no problems being seated with occasional minimal waits (no more than about 5 minutes) anywhere from 6PM to 7:30PM.

Specialty restaurants - you really should make reservations and make them early in the week rather than later. We lucked out on one cruise by just turning up at one of the specialty restaurants and they were able to seat us because of a cancellation.

[NJBear]

This is the first Freestyle cruise we are taking (Norwegian Spirit-9/30/06). Although I love some of the formalities of "classic cruising", my wife does not. She does not like formalwear on vacation nor does she like scheduled dining (first seating is too early and 2nd is too late). So we hope this will be a cruise we can both enjoy as I'm fine with relaxing and leaving the tux at home, BUT...

 

I'm worried about wandering around the ship looking for a restaurant that's got a free table for my wife and 2 kids. This is vacation for us and I don't want to have to wait around for a table like we do at most North Dallas restaurants on Friday or Sat nite. Should I expect a wait? Should I book each nite at the beginning of the cruise? (that sounds like what my wife wanted to avoid in the first place) Any guidance would be appreciated!

 

Hi there,

I'll share my experiences in dining on the SPirit with you and a brief personal viewpoint of freestyle dining.

 

Visualizing the ship as a neighborhood of restaurants there are 2 restaurants that have the same menus but different decor(main restaurants), you can go to these restaurants at any time they are open and be seated with no additional costs.

 

There are a few other restaurants ..Asian, tempanyaki (cook on the table in front of you),french, steakhouse that you can make reservations for with a small additional charge. There is also an Italian restaurant (they convert part of the buffet area at night), a 24 hr diner type , and a pub that serves fish and chips in the afternoons all no extra charge.

 

On the ship there are large TV screens placed about that have ALL of the dining venues listed with up to date status as to how busy they are, and how many tables are available (for instance 12 tables for 2 are free at that time)--find a screen, look around and you don't have to wander from restaurant to restaurant :-)

 

Enjoy the cruise, relax and I think you may find that this is a good compromise for you and the wife . If there happens to be a wait for any reason they have beepers that you can wander about with and when they're ready it will flash and vibrate

[newmexicoNita]

The specialty restaurants typically all require a reservation if you wish to dine at a specific time or even get in the door most nights as they have very limited seating capacity. The main dining rooms however are very large and typically don't have a problem (except on sea days....we have always seemed to have a long wait-30 to 60 minutes-on a sea day).

30-60 minutes: where are you getting these ideas? I am sorry, but after 6 freestyle cruises I can say this should not be the case: 1 exception: formal night optional (which is lobster night as well) and trying to dine between 7 and 8pm. We have cruised with 2 of us, 4 of us and 6 of us, never waited more than a couple of minutes except for when there were 24 of us on the Jewel last year. We usually eat about 6:30-6:45. Again, I can't imagine why you would have had such a long wait. NMnita

[Zeno]

30-60 minutes: where are you getting these ideas? I am sorry, but after 6 freestyle cruises I can say this should not be the case: 1 exception: formal night optional (which is lobster night as well) and trying to dine between 7 and 8pm. We have cruised with 2 of us, 4 of us and 6 of us, never waited more than a couple of minutes except for when there were 24 of us on the Jewel last year. We usually eat about 6:30-6:45. Again, I can't imagine why you would have had such a long wait. NMnita

 

My experience is the same as Nita's. We never had to wait long - in 3 NCL cruises our longest wait was under 10 minutes. On 2 of the cruises there were 3 of us and on one cruise just the 2 of us.

[newlywedcruisers]

Don't they give you buzzers if you have a wait? I doubt I'd have a problem w/ walking around the ship for 15 minutes, unless I was REALLY hungry, but then I'd just go to the buffet, then the main restuarant :D ;)

[johnql]

My experience is the same as NMnita's. I've been on 6 Freestyle cruises and I've only had to wait to be seated twice - and each time was 5-10 minutes, tops.

[jimc_usa]

Hi there,

I'll share my experiences in dining on the SPirit with you and a brief personal viewpoint of freestyle dining.

 

On the ship there are large TV screens placed about that have ALL of the dining venues listed with up to date status as to how busy they are, and how many tables are available (for instance 12 tables for 2 are free at that time)--find a screen, look around and you don't have to wander from restaurant to restaurant :-)

 

I don't remember seeing the screens. Do you remember where they were on the ship?

[NJBear]

I don't remember seeing the screens. Do you remember where they were on the ship?

 

Yes, one was on the starboard side rear at the entrance between where the shows were and the elevators on the stairwell side of the wall, there was another perhaps midships or more forward starboard going to the casino--I recall those 2...Btw--I'm a friend of bill W too <g>

[melika091900]

remember on lobster night, you can order it from ANY resturant on the ship. except the buffet of course..

 

we ate at the endless summer on the star and they got the lobster from the main dining room for our dinner... you can do this.... its better to eat where it will be less crowded and still get your lobster : )

[awatt]

As a family of four with two young children we find it easy to get a table early i.e at 6PM nightly. What we usually do is make a standing reservation same waiter/time/table the first night (I know this is not exactly the freestyle concept but it is what works for us, and it is very freestyle for us in that we don't have tablemayes and have to chit-chat). But when we show up at 6PM I have never seen a line, so even if you wanted to try different restaurants, earlier is better.

 

Another thing that has worked for us is once in a while having the kids eat early either at the buffet, or order room service. They go to kids club at 7Pm then we have an adult dinner a little later than usual.

 

Don't stress over this, you don't have to wait on any lines if you choose the right time to dine. Enjoy your cruise.

[Chipster2]

Do they have the restaurant info screens on all of the ships?

[electricron]

Do they have the restaurant info screens on all of the ships?

I believe they do on all the ships with art work on their bows. The only ship that will have art work that doesn't is the Sun. I have a feeling the Sun will have the big screens added during the same dry dock it has the art work painted on its bow, if the screens haven't already been added. The Sun's next dry dock is scheduled for January 2007, after it's 7 day cruise starting on Dec 31, 2006 (ending on Jan 7, 2007) and before it's 5 day cruise starting on Jan 23, 2007. That dry dock starts less than 4 months from now.

 

I don't believe any older ships that will never have art work painted on their bows will ever get these screens. All of these older ships are scheduled to depart, or will depart NCL fleet by the end of 2010.

[happytogoing]

Mostly, just enjoy the flexibility...

 

We have eaten anywhere between 5:30 and 8-9 pm, depending on the activities of the day, with no waiting, although I would agree that peak time seems to be around 7 pm...... for us, it was a table for either 2 or 4..... no problems ever....... no more than 5-10 minutes just to be seated, as others have said.....

[samtig]

Been on 2 Norwegian cruises & the longest wait was 5 minutes, twice. We really enjoy free style cruising, especially on port days. Can eat whenever you want to after a long excursion day. If there is a particular pay restaurant we want to go to, we book a reservation by phone from our cabin as soon as we board.

[jimc_usa]

Yes, one was on the starboard side rear at the entrance between where the shows were and the elevators on the stairwell side of the wall, there was another perhaps midships or more forward starboard going to the casino--I recall those 2...Btw--I'm a friend of bill W too <g>

 

Congrats! - our next cruise on the Dream in Oct has a whole bunch of us with workshops on sea days, with many speakers.