Freedom Dining?

[suvicki]

Hi

I am thinking of going on a 7 day cruise on Oceana, it will be my first cruise.

I dont know whether to go for traditional dining or freedom dining. I will be with my 17 year old daughter.

With traditional we will be seated with the same people each night, is that right?

freedom dining it will likely be different people each night?

Also have you got any comments of the quality of the food?

Which food in included and which has a cover charge?

Is room service 24hr and is there a charge for this?

Thanks for any help.

[supered]

Hi suvicki

 

My comments are based on Ventura as she is the only P&O ship I've been on, so things might be slightly different on Oceana. Although we'll find out soon as we are going on her on 9th May!

 

You are correct with Traditional (Club) Dining you will be seated with the same table mates each night. In Freedom it is likely you will be seated with different people, although a couple of nights we sat with people more than once. This sometimes happens as people tend to come to dinner at roughly the same time each evening. When we did Freedom Dining on Ventura we liked sitting with and meeting different people. We ended up saying hello to lots of folk aroubd the ship. If you are willing to share then it is likely you will be seated very quickly.

 

I thought the food on Ventura overall was very good quality. My only comment would be that the Restaurant menus were not that adventurous for our tastes. But I guess that would be a plus for a lot of people. Having said this we enjoyed every meal and the choice was excellent, it just wasn't that exciting (except for the Lobster Thermidor on the Captain's Gala evening and the Stilton that was available every night if you asked). The Buffet food was fabulous at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. In the evening they have themed buffets and the Indian one was second to none. It was honestly some of the best Indian food I have ever tasted. They should have one on your cruise and I would recommend you skip the Restaurant on one night for that. It was well worth it.

 

The vast majority of food is included. The venus that charge a cover charge are Cafe Jardin (Marco Pierre White Restaurant) for Dinner, The Horizon Grill in the evening and The Plaza Bistro. These are the Select Dining Restaurants and make a nice change from dining in the main restaurant. Cover charges vary and I'm not sure what they are for Oceana , so can't comment further.

 

Room Service is available 24 hours a day. The majority of items are free but some do have a small charge. A menu will be in you cabin and items that are chargeable will be clearly shown.

 

I hope that helps.

 

Eddie

 

PS If any of the above is wrong for Oceana I hope that someone will correct me.

[BrianI]

Freedom dining and Club dining are exactly the same menu and food and restaurants are exactly the same. The difference is that on freedom you can eat anytime from 6pm to 10pm, whereas on club dining you have choose either first sitting 6:30pm or second sitting 8:30pm. On club dining you sit at the same table each night, whereas on freedom you are allocated a table as you enter. You may have to wait if you go at peak times. Also bear in mind that the theatre show timings are based around club dining times so the theatre shows are usually 8:30 and 10:30

Brian

[The Monocled Mutineer]

Further to Brian L's reply Club and Freedom Diners also have the choice of dining for free in the evening at the dinner buffet (Beach House-Ventura & Plaza=- Oceana).

 

Both Club & Freedom diners can also pay a supplement and have dinner at Select Dining Venues.

 

These are:

 

Ventura - The White Room (indoors or out doors option), East or Las Ramblas

 

Oceana - Cafe Jardin (MPW), Horizon Grill (?) outdoors.

 

HAVE A WONDERFUL CRUISE!

[elsiemay]

just returned from a cruise on the Oceana, done the mexican riviera, out of this world, I would go for freedom dining as myself and friends done, same food is seved as in others but you can choose to go there between 6.oopm till 10.oo pm, also you can really go there between 7.00am (breakfast it is a kind of serve yourself - u name it-its there) - 10.00pm each evening meal is different, i.e carribean, chinese, tex mex, our own, continental, there will always be something there that you will like,, at breakfast, if u like omelettes, u have to ask 4 it and it s made in front of u, there is also marco pierre whites which is free from 10.30pm -till, about 7.00am, amongst others which at certain times arefree, some do a cover charge at set times, these are well noted, also keep checking outside yr cabin as information is put there everyday,Ithink there is a room service charge of about a pound if u order to yr room, onthe Oceana, there is a free laundry on certain decks, washing machine, dryer, iron and board, shop sells washing tabs, room service laundry very expensive, keep chek on shops, oncertain nites they do promotions and offers on drink and cigs, so keep an eeye on info thats put outside yr cabin, there are formal and, semi formal nites,its up to u, but if u want to kinda be treated and wined and dined then one of the restaurants u have to show up nice, the top deck is were they have some good nites entertainment, check the info outside cabin, its normally called Lido Deck 12, Hope u have a good time as we did, we realy miss everyone,