Freestyle Dining Good or Bad?

[Aerobic1]

I have been charged with cruise director and "TA" for a group of 6 of us and am trying to eliminate and narrow our cruising options. I have cruised on Carnival and NCC before and have had positive experiences, but I have heard both good and bad about the "freestyle cruising" dining approach.

Some saying that you wind up paying extra to eat better, others that you don't get the attention you receive with a set table/waiter and that paying extra for many of your meals is a pain. Any thoughts on this? We're looking at Feb 2007, inexpensive rate and a GF that would like to see ruins/Mexico is a thought.

I am a seasoned cruser and have only eaten at designated seating--which I've never minded since I'm a bit of a social butterfly and pretty easy to please palate. (as long as it isn't mooing, clucking or fishing-LOL!)

Appreciate any thoughts.

There are some pretty good prices on the Norwegian Jewel and Sun, but this is so out of Carnival too.

Thanks in advance--I love CC--never have gotten bad advise her ever!

[johnql]

I happen to love NCL's Freestyle policies. Remember, it's not just about the dining set-up. It's also the fact that "resort casual" dress is deemed appropriate every night for dinner, including the optional formal nights. I love not having to dress up unless I actually want to. If, however, you find that it ruins the ambiance to be dressed up when at least half of the ship's pax are casually dressed, you might not enjoy NCL.

 

As for the dining, again, I love being able to choose when, where, and with whom to eat. An intimate table for two if the mood strikes you, or being seated with new-found friends at a larger table. It's your choice. You're not locked-in to assigned tables with assigned tablemates, crossing your fingers hoping that you're compatible with them.

 

I also love the wide range of dining venues on the newer ships (Pearl, Jewel, Dawn, Star, Spirit and Sun). The older ships don't have nearly as many restaurants (Crown, Wind, Dream and Majesty). In addition to the number of restaurants, I love the diversity of the cuisines offered on the newer ships (Asian, Italian, French, Tex-Mex, steakhouse, sushi).

 

Granted, some (not all) of the alternative restaurants carry a surcharge. What I do is I add that anticipated expense to the cruise fare. If the total is still an attractive price, I go for it.

 

As for the included main dining rooms, I have had generally good to excellent meals there, too. On the few occasions that I have received something not to my liking, I have had it immediately replaced by something else on the menu. Never a problem.

 

As for service, I do concede that traditional dining (where you have the same wait staff every night at fixed tables at fixed seating times) can provide a more personal relationship between pax and staff. With Freestyle dining, most of the time you will be seated at different tables with different wait staffs each night. If this a critical factor in your cruise experience, you might consider the service in Freestyle dining a notch below what you want. To me, I don't care whether the staff knows my name and my dining idiosyncracies and it doesn't bother me to re-order my favorite drink each night. If the staff is courteous, attentive and efficient, I am more than happy. So far, with 6 Freestyle cruises under my belt, I have not been disappointed by the service on NCL.

 

Hope this helps.

[Aerobic1]

Thanks for your input. Guess freestyle isn't "free for all" as I had feared. I enjoy getting dressed up for dinner and haven't ever experienced a bad table of people--quite the opposite. We are traveling with 6 of us this time so meeting people won't be as big of issue.

We are looking at the Majesty, Sun, Jewel due to low cost and ports that are in Mexico--and the option for Key West on Majesty. I've heard mixed reports on Majesty but the price for a week is less than $400 too.

Any thoughts? I don't want to put them on a low class, badly worn ship for their first trip, but am playing cruise director since I've done the most cruising and have received good tips from CC.

Thought?

FYI I've sailed on the NCL Norway and altho old it was a charming ship. Last year we were on the Elation--samething but still a nice cruise.

[agabbymama]

I didn't care for "Freestyle" dining on NCL Wind. We like eating early, so went to the dining room at 5:45 for dinner, the line was about 50-60 people long, so we weren't seated until almost 6:30. So we found we had to be at the dining room by at least 5:30 to be seated by 6:00. If you dined later, maybe the line wouldn't be so long. But for us the assigned time/table works just fine. The first night is the only night you have to wait. After that, once the doors are open, you can walk right to your table. "Freestyle" dining, you never get the same wait staff.

 

And I wouldn't pay for the specialty restaurants anyway. I feel I have paid for the meals on the cruise, why in the world would I pay again? If I wanted to go to a nice restaurant for ambiance and romance, I would just do that home. I think the main dining room is very fancy, formal and grand.

 

I love the formal nights, semi-formal nights, and casual nights idea. It's part of the fun and ambiance of cruising. Planning and purchasing the outfits you will wear, then dressing to the nines and seeing everyone elses beautiful gowns too. I can dress casual at home all I want, I don't have to pay thousands of dollars to stay in casual clothes onboard a beautiful vessel. To me cruising is a special/magical time and dressing up is part of that.

 

Have a great cruise, whichever you decide on.:p

[johnql]

Sorry, can't help you with any firsthand knowledge of the Majesty. I have read both good and bad reviews of the Majesty (not all that uncommon for any ship). She does have many devoted fans, tho, with many pax sailing on her repeatedly over the years.

 

I see that you've posted a new thread on the NCL forum concerning the Majesty. That's a good idea. I'm sure you will receive many firsthand reports there.

 

Good luck in your cruise search!

[LHT28]

We enjoyed Princess PC dining over ncl freestyle also on Princess you have the option of set dining if you choose.

of course there is always the specialty restaurants (fee based) if you want

On Princess you do have the formal nights so if this is not your style go with NCL.

we found the food quality better on Princess but that is always a subjective topic

[Cruzman]

I am not a fan of "freestyle", "personal choice", or whatever label you wish to put on that sort of thing. If I wanted to stand in line and wait for a random table, I can do that at just about any popular land based restaurant on any given evening. To me, part of the reason I enjoy cruising is the traditional dining experience; dining with the same tablemates, with the same wait staff each and every evening. Friendships that often develop as a result of that experience are often lifelong relationships. You just don't get that with the dine whenever you want approach. It is for that reason I haven't sailed NCL since the demise of the Norway. Just my two cents!

[Happy ks]

It's all just personal preferences.

 

While some resent paying extra, we welcome the better food and smaller, quieter environment. The small charge is nothing in comparison to what you would spend in a typical land based restaurant, so we see it as a bargain.

 

While we do enjoy getting to know our servers on a traditional cruise, it's not a necessity for us and we have found that the specialty restaurants have superb service. We enjoy each others company and have found that we spend more time talking to each other, rather than the servers, a nice touch for a couple travelling without their kids along :) !

 

Variety is a wonderful thing. We have found that we very much enjoyed our two NCL cruises with the fact that we never ate in the same place twice. We also avoid the traditional seating times and have never waited more than a minute or so to be seated.

[tom e boy]

NCL Majesty was nice, no balconies. This was our first cruise last year , to Bermuda , and loved the fact that we could do our thing on the island without thinking of our dinner time. Two resteraunts one very big and they closed at 830PM. Never had to wait in line, but we did no eat until after 7 most nights. Its a small ship in comparison to what maybe you have been on and not as glamorious. It was our 1st cruise and have nothing to compare it to. My fear as is yours, do I share a table and hope we get along, our next cruise is on the Carnival Triumph , on the Majesty, it was a private table for dinner.

[newmexicoNita]

Freestyle is what you make of it. For us, it is wonderful, for some, traditional is a better choice. Someone mentioned lines being 50-60 people long, well I can't vouch for the truth to this but we have cruise freestyle 6 times, both on ships designed for freestyle and those not, we have eaten as early as 5:45 and as late as 9pm, never have we waited more than a couple of minutes. Some think the service suffers as you do not get to know the wait staff, this may be true to a slight degree. As for eating in the specialty dining establishments versus main dining rooms, of course the meals you pay a service charge for should be better, but there is no reason to feel the rest of the food will be sub standard. Remember, not only do you have the choice of 2 main dining rooms, plus the sur charge dining, you will have other, alternative dining choices that do not have sur charges. I would give it a try. You may fall in love with freestyle, you may end up going back to traditional, but I gather from your remarks you are thinking of cruising on the Star: she is a wonderful ship. NMnita

[psklak]

In reading the posts above, Princess PC was mentioned. I have not sailed on NCL so I can't comment. However, our last 2 cruises on Princess were PC cruises (with a Disney Cruise in between) and we loved it. When you don't have children with you and want to be alone, a table for 2 was readily available. At Princess, you can call earlier in the day and request a table for 2 (or 4, or 6) at a particular time and even a particular station. This can also be done for the entire cruise if you find a particular waitstaff you enjoy.

 

As far as dressing up, you follow the dress of the day in the dining rooms. If you don't feel like dressing up, there's always the Lido deck buffet. Good food, nice ambiance at night with cloth tablecloths, etc.

 

No matter what choice you make (traditional, PC, Free-style) - enjoy!

[fun4us2do]

:) A new thread can be found in CC's Norwegian cruise line titled " freestyle dining good or bad." You can get a good idea of peoples opinions there.

 

Vince

[samtig]

Free-style dining is wonderful because you can eat when, where & with whom you want. This is especially great on port days. You can come back to the ship & relax & eat at your leisure. The food is great as are the speciality restaurants. Also resort casual is what the majority of people wear but if you wish to dress up that's ok too. The Sun is our favorite ship yet & we have a 2nd cruise scheduled. The food was great and service was the best yet. She's a beautiful ship with a very friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

[98Charlie]

We have always had good luck with seating on NCL (Majesty 2x, Star 2x,Wind and Sea).

 

Having said that, there has always been just the two of us. We like to be seated with others so usually we are seated immediately. If it's a group of six wanting to sit together there may be a wait, especially if it is during the peak hours.

 

If you are considering the NCL Majesty, be aware that some of the inside cabins are the smallest at sea. (118 sq. ft) Again, we had no real problem with the size but some people might.

 

Charlie

[Seago2]

If you are looking for your waiter to be your good friend, Freestyle won't work. Carnival's waiters will dance, sing, sign your ship picture at the end- that's the way it goes. On NCL, you maye very well get the same waiter more than once, but he will be more of a waiter and less of a showman/friend/personal server.

 

I have never stood in a line on NCL (Spirit). True, I have never waltzed in at 8pm on lobster night, either. Just go earlier or later, and if you have a big group, reserve a table earlier. I know that if they are full they will give you a buzzer and you can go sit down somewhere, or have a drink, and they will buzz you when the table is ready.

[newmexicoNita]

good points about your waiter being your friend plus the singing and dancing part, but for us, that isn't important at all. I am sure it is something the kids would enjoy: should that make or break a cruise? Obviously not. Actually after so many cruises I got a little tired of the singing and dancing, plus is a land based restaurant how important is it to know your wait person? Generally the service is what you are after not the buddy, buddy, feeling you get from the staff. NMnita

[Seago2]

True, Nita. I could care less who waits on me. However, our wait staff on Carnival really made the cruise what it was. They were great to my kids. I still email with one waiter and it's been over a year. True, all I get at this point are bizarre fwds, but... The singing and dancing was the best. Really cracked my teenagers up. When I'm with DH- who cares.

[Cuizer2]

I have been charged with cruise director and "TA" for a group of 6 of us and am trying to eliminate and narrow our cruising options. I have cruised on Carnival and NCC before and have had positive experiences, but I have heard both good and bad about the "freestyle cruising" dining approach.

Some saying that you wind up paying extra to eat better, others that you don't get the attention you receive with a set table/waiter and that paying extra for many of your meals is a pain. Any thoughts on this? We're looking at Feb 2007, inexpensive rate and a GF that would like to see ruins/Mexico is a thought.

I am a seasoned cruser and have only eaten at designated seating--which I've never minded since I'm a bit of a social butterfly and pretty easy to please palate. (as long as it isn't mooing, clucking or fishing-LOL!)

Appreciate any thoughts.

There are some pretty good prices on the Norwegian Jewel and Sun, but this is so out of Carnival too.

Thanks in advance--I love CC--never have gotten bad advise her ever!

 

For a group you are probably better off with assigned seating. The problem with Freestyle Dining with a group is you are likely to have some people show up at the right restaurant at the wrong time, or show up at the wrong restaurant at the right time. If you solve this by eating at the same restaurant at the same time every night, you might as well go with assigned seating.

 

Freestyle works better for singles, couples or a family that stays together during the day.