Freestyle vs MyTime, YourTime, AnyTime dining

Never have this issue. We cruise as a group with 2 other couples, so the six of us occupy a table at dinnertime. If we have to wait a bit-----no problem.

We've done them all and they are all very similar except Freestyle. The other cruise lines encourage passengers to share their dining experience, ask if you'd like to share and fill up the tables quickly- if you prefer to dine alone you may have to wait for a table. With Freestyle you have to let them know that you prefer to share and many nights you may end up dining alone. 7 out of 12 nights we sat for over 20 minutes waiting for others to join us and finally had to order and ate alone. I won't be back

What?

What a load of nonsense.

Finding dinner companions isn't hard.

This is exactly what I've been saying to others who say they're the same. They're not. This is precisely why we only sail on NCL.

 

I cannot IMAGINE going into a local restaurant and them expecting me to dine with strangers. That would be horrific.

 

 

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They aren't the same.

The other lines that maintain fixed table and 'My Time' or whatever they choose to call it mostly fail at both. Multi-purpose machines generally do poorly at any task. Same in the dining rooms.

Nice thing about Freestyle is that you can choose how you dine. We just took our sixth NCL cruise, a 14 day TA on the Star. We have eaten by ourselves, with total strangers and as a group.

I was also on the Star 14 day TA and dined most nights with 2 couples. There were some nights we invited others, several with the minister who did the Sunday church services and his wife and towards the end of the cruise we invited the production singers and we ended up at a table for 12 in the Aqua restaurant and had a wonderful evening. I am not sure we could have done that on the other lines.

John

We love the freestyle concept. We were just on the Epic 2 weeks ago and even with 4100 passengers on board (and she was at capacity), we NEVER had to wait for a table in any of the restaurants. We did mostly the main dining rooms, O'Sheenhan's, The Garden Buffet, and Shanghai's one night. We were very happy with the service and food overall. Sure, there were times when it took a bit longer for dinner in Taste, and we were not really wowed by the dessert selections, but we'll certainly be back to freestyle cruise. We like not being forced to sit with strangers, and we usually ended up meeting and chatting a bit with couples seated near us anyway. Abd we liked choosing when and where we were going to eat. Sometimes we were hungry at 3:30 and others not till 11pm. Not being tied to a set time and place are a wonderful concept and i'm not sure why other cruise lines wouldn't implement something similar.

They aren't the same.

The other lines that maintain fixed table and 'My Time' or whatever they choose to call it mostly fail at both. Multi-purpose machines generally do poorly at any task. Same in the dining rooms.

That's what I said. :)

I loved freestyle - the not having to dress up if you don't want to is great, but cagneys fills up quick so gotta always have reservations! but still, to each his/her own

as for meeting people while dining - we have done it every time when we cruise, except with NCL, but it wasn't a turn off by any means, we met people through other avenues - Cruise Critic Meet n Greets and just different places on the ship - we even ended up eating wit hpeople we meet at cruise critic and it was great fun!

I loved freestyle - the not having to dress up if you don't want to is great, but cagneys fills up quick so gotta always have reservations! but still, to each his/her own

Even after UDP was launched, on Getaway we were only once turned away from Cagney's when we tried to have a late dinner ex tempore (it would have been our third non-reserved Cagney's dinner that week - actually in four nights - so we didn't mind the change of plans at all).

Other than that I've never had any problem getting in to Cagney's on any ship - with or without a reservation.

Even after UDP was launched, on Getaway we were only once turned away from Cagney's when we tried to have a late dinner ex tempore (it would have been our third non-reserved Cagney's dinner that week - actually in four nights - so we didn't mind the change of plans at all).

 

Other than that I've never had any problem getting in to Cagney's on any ship - with or without a reservation.

We had UDP and did reservations, but we ended up meeting some people on the ship and wanted to switch some around. At LeBistro, they kept on telling us they were full, when there were TONS of tables inside and outside available. Finally I told them we were fine dining outside and they let us do it. Said most people felt it ruined the ambience, but it was fine. Cagneys was impossible to get into without reservations

Altho, I went on the Getaway over Labor Day, so maybe was busier?

I'll still do UDP again, but only do reservations at my favorite spots, Cagneys and LeBistro

We had UDP and did reservations, but we ended up meeting some people on the ship and wanted to switch some around. At LeBistro, they kept on telling us they were full, when there were TONS of tables inside and outside available. Finally I told them we were fine dining outside and they let us do it. Said most people felt it ruined the ambience, but it was fine. Cagneys was impossible to get into without reservations

 

Altho, I went on the Getaway over Labor Day, so maybe was busier?

 

I'll still do UDP again, but only do reservations at my favorite spots, Cagneys and LeBistro

Well, you said yourself that you observed tons of tables empty although you were denied a reservation. What this tells me is that each venue reserves only a certain percentage of tables, leaving a certain percentage open for those who prefer Freestyle ( which is the stated dining style of NCL ).

It would be strange indeed if a Freestyle ship fully booked every single table for the entire cruise leaving those who truly want to experience Freestyle Dining out in the cold. I have no proof of this, but how else do you reconcile the conflicting experiences of cruisers, those who report they are shut out of a venue due to "no reservations" vs those who report they never had a problem getting in without a res.

I have never been turned away from Cagneys or Le Bistro as a walk up, but conceivably, if I had called and asked for a reservation for the same time we walked up, I could have been told there were "no reservations available". "No reservations available" does not necessarily equate to no tables available. My advice when told there are no reservations would be to simply walk up and try your luck.

That's what I said. :)

:) Hah! We agree!

Well, you said yourself that you observed tons of tables empty although you were denied a reservation. What this tells me is that each venue reserves only a certain percentage of tables, leaving a certain percentage open for those who prefer Freestyle ( which is the stated dining style of NCL ).

 

It would be strange indeed if a Freestyle ship fully booked every single table for the entire cruise leaving those who truly want to experience Freestyle Dining out in the cold. I have no proof of this, but how else do you reconcile the conflicting experiences of cruisers, those who report they are shut out of a venue due to "no reservations" vs those who report they never had a problem getting in without a res.

 

I have never been turned away from Cagneys or Le Bistro as a walk up, but conceivably, if I had called and asked for a reservation for the same time we walked up, I could have been told there were "no reservations available". "No reservations available" does not necessarily equate to no tables available. My advice when told there are no reservations would be to simply walk up and try your luck.

I suspect part of it may relate to staffing levels at different times of the day. There may be tables but may not be the staff to serve them, at least at certain times.

Well, you said yourself that you observed tons of tables empty although you were denied a reservation. What this tells me is that each venue reserves only a certain percentage of tables, leaving a certain percentage open for those who prefer Freestyle ( which is the stated dining style of NCL ).

 

It would be strange indeed if a Freestyle ship fully booked every single table for the entire cruise leaving those who truly want to experience Freestyle Dining out in the cold. I have no proof of this, but how else do you reconcile the conflicting experiences of cruisers, those who report they are shut out of a venue due to "no reservations" vs those who report they never had a problem getting in without a res.

 

I have never been turned away from Cagneys or Le Bistro as a walk up, but conceivably, if I had called and asked for a reservation for the same time we walked up, I could have been told there were "no reservations available". "No reservations available" does not necessarily equate to no tables available. My advice when told there are no reservations would be to simply walk up and try your luck.

we did walk up to the restauramt and ask and were told they were "full" and finally i asked why they were full when there were all those tables outside and they said they didnt think we would want to eat on the tables outside because it lessened the ambiance, but when i said we didnt care we were seated right away

just bizzare, who knows

We've done them all and they are all very similar except Freestyle. The other cruise lines encourage passengers to share their dining experience, ask if you'd like to share and fill up the tables quickly- if you prefer to dine alone you may have to wait for a table. With Freestyle you have to let them know that you prefer to share and many nights you may end up dining alone. 7 out of 12 nights we sat for over 20 minutes waiting for others to join us and finally had to order and ate alone. I won't be back

I am not quite what you are saying. are you saying your don't like freestyle or u do? If you are saying you do not, we have the opposite feeling: we prefer Freestyle because we do have the option of eating alone. We don't mind sharing sometimes, but we have had the experience of sharing too many times. Eating with you 1 outer couple is almost impossible and we have often gotten cold food. With NCL we almost always just share a table with one other couple or we eat along.

I've been doing Freestyle/My Time/Your Time/Anytime on 5 different cruise lines for several years now and not once was I ever encouraged to eat with others. DW and I always ask for a table for 2 and always get it. The concept hasn't been a failure on any line I've sailed, so I'm not sure where some of these accounts of having to eat with others are coming from. On other lines, just like on NCL, if a table for 2 isn't availble, you have to wait.

To each their own.

 

That's exactly why I like NCL freestyle dining...I don't have to sit with some passenger who is boring me with intimate details of their lives five minutes after I've introduced myself.

+1... this is one of the best things about NCL to be honest.

Luckily the one time we were on a cruise line that didn't offer this (X) we had a group of 8 so we had our own table.

Some may prefer more traditional style cruising - there are cruise lines for that. NCL isn't one of them.

Luckily the one time we were on a cruise line that didn't offer this (X) we had a group of 8 so we had our own table.

You must have just missed the option to book Celebrity Select Dining when you booked. It was implemented in August, 2009.

You must have just missed the option to book Celebrity Select Dining when you booked. It was implemented in August, 2009.

Really? We were there in Dec '09 and they didn't have it. Maybe it was a ship by ship rollout.

Nice to know they have that option now though! I miss the T-pools.

On other lines, just like on NCL, if a table for 2 isn't availble, you have to wait.

I've dined alone on NCL many nights. I was always given the next available table, even if it was a "4-top" and I was dining alone. I was never asked to wait specifically for a "2-top." YMMV. :-)