The beginning of a horrible era.

[Lovely Cruise]

I believe "freestyle dinning" is wonderful for "groups." I traveled with 10 people on the NCL Jewel in 2006 and the dinning situation worked out perfectly. In fact no one even entered the main dinning room. We had a wonderful food and a great time at the Mexican, French, Steak House....

[Calicruiser101]

Just talked w/ my sister in law and I was showing her pictures of our cruise a few weeks ago and she brought up that they had cruised for their honeymoon. I asked how she liked it and would she go again and she said she wasn't sure. She liked the relaxing part and the shows but hated that she had to eat at a certain time and had nothing in common w/ those seated at her table. For them the time schedule and sitting w/ strangers for a week was an enormous turn-off. I told her about the other options on some of the other cruise lines and she said that sounded sooooo much better and that she would probably cruise again if she could do it that way. I agree that times are changing and people are not wanting to have a pre-set dining time and would rather have the choice between the 2 options. I know that is one thing I would like and my family, parents, sister and her family all agreed that we didn't like having to be somewhere each night at the same time in the same place.

[miami]

It might be a great concept for people who have never cruised before.

 

It has nothing to do with being a first time cruiser. It's a personal choice. There are lots of people who have cruised before that love the freestyle or anytime dining and optional formal nights.

[nitenurs2]

I love the way Princess does dining where you can choose "Personal Choice" dining or traditional. That doesn't mean you can bounce from one to the other at your whim, though.

 

We chose anytime, because we were in some ports later and had late excursions. When we got back on the ship, we could still go to the dining room for dinner. Had we had an assigned dining time, we would have missed that a few times.

 

We chose, this trip, to have tables for two.

 

The only night there was a wait was the 2nd formal night (And there would not have been a wait, had we not requested a table for 2) but we were prepared for it. We went to the dining room, put in our request for a table for 2 and then went to a few photo stations to have our formal pictures taken, as we had planned.

Our table was ready in about 15 minutes.

 

With Princess, you can ask to be at the same table every night so that you will have the same wait staff. Not sure if that's possible with NCL.

 

I love having both options available as Princess does it, so most people are happy.

[GottaLuvCruising]

 

It has nothing to do with being a first time cruiser. It's a personal choice. There are lots of people who have cruised before that love the freestyle or anytime dining and optional formal nights.

 

I've cruised 25 times and I prefer the flexibility. "Personal choice" really works for us.

[enjoyinglife]

I wouldn't mind if Carnival added a "choice" that being that I could still choose the traditional, and others who want it, could choose the freestyle type of dinner. Both my husband, my son and I like meeting our new table mates, but understand that others would prefer a choice. I just hope they would not do away with it all together.

[momofmn00]

Check out my poll about dinner seating options @

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=605084

PLEASE VOTE!!!!:D

[Cruise, J.D.]

I LOVE anytome dining-I'm really sick & tired of people telling me WHEN to eat,WITH WHOM to eat,and WHAT to eat.What if you tablemates are idiots? What if you're not hungry at 6 or 8:30? Sitting with strangers and making small talk with people I have NOTHING in common with for 7 nights and listening to everybody's lfe stories)including the waiters is NOT a priority for my vacation....If I want someone to dine with,I'll ask some close friends or family to come along on the cruise.....

 

LOL. I completely agree.