NCL Still Freestyle?

With NCL building larger ships, it seems like the newer ships are distancing themselves from the freestyle concept. Sure there are no set times to dine and you can choose to eat whenever you want, but say if you want to eat at 7pm, there is usually a wait and probably won't be seated until 7:30pm because of the lines. They do have the reservations for dining, but even then you have to wait if the table that they assign is still occupied by the guests before. Also now you have to book shows like rock of ages and blue man group because the venues only hold a certain amount of guests. I think the concept still works for the older NCL fleet, but seems for the larger ships with so many people to serve, the freestyle concept is fading.

With NCL building larger ships, it seems like the newer ships are distancing themselves from the freestyle concept. Sure there are no set times to dine and you can choose to eat whenever you want, but say if you want to eat at 7pm, there is usually a wait and probably won't be seated until 7:30pm because of the lines. They do have the reservations for dining, but even then you have to wait if the table that they assign is still occupied by the guests before. Also now you have to book shows like rock of ages and blue man group because the venues only hold a certain amount of guests. I think the concept still works for the older NCL fleet, but seems for the larger ships with so many people to serve, the freestyle concept is fading.

I completely disagree.

Freestyle is about being able to choose when/where you do things. It doesn't mean that you're guaranteed a seat, or a table, or no line-ups.

You can choose Rock of Ages on any of the nights it's playing. You can choose to eat at whichever venue doesn't have lines, OR to wait at the one which does.

I think that Freestyle is what makes these larger ships work.

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We were on the Epic and didn't find that detracted from any freestyle aspect. I think that it is ideal for people who don't know what they want to eat until the time comes, and who don't know what they want to do until the day arrives. We booked Blue Man about 2 hours before it started and walked in with a few minutes to spare (glad we did too, meant we were sat at the back and could easily leave).

If someone is the sort of person who plans down to the minute for every day of their holiday then freestyle isn't for them. For us it was perfect. We went down for dinner and often had to wait, but no more than half an hour and we always got a free drink out of it so no problem there.

I don't think booking a show takes away from anything, and in reality it was only ever Cirque that needed booking, there was always spaces in legends and blue man up to the last few minutes.

NCL Term "Freestyle" used to be unique but other cruise lines developed the same concept just call it something different, for instance, RC calls it My Time Dining and Carnival calls it Your Time Dining, etc.

We had reservations for specialty dining and did have a wait, in Cagneys we had to wait 27 minutes after our reservation time. MDR your given a buzzer which is nice but you could end up waiting for a table.

I completely disagree.

 

Freestyle is about being able to choose when/where you do things. It doesn't mean that you're guaranteed a seat, or a table, or no line-ups.

 

You can choose Rock of Ages on any of the nights it's playing. You can choose to eat at whichever venue doesn't have lines, OR to wait at the one which does.

 

I think that Freestyle is what makes these larger ships work.

 

 

 

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How is that different then any other lines? You can always choose where and when to eat at . On RCL you can also choose the date and time you want to see hairspray or chicago. You can choose to see a specific game show or pool side activity, choose to eat at the buffet or main dining room or specialty restaurants on every line (CCL,Princess,Celebrity). Its not like the cruise line is forcing people to go to see shows or seeing a activity...we all choose what we want to do. I feel like the freestyle concept was geared more to the dining option where you didnt have a traditional set time of eating at 6:00 and 8:30pm. But now with so many people with the larger ships, it is hard to accommodate so many people --reasoning for the long waits.

With NCL building larger ships, it seems like the newer ships are distancing themselves from the freestyle concept. Sure there are no set times to dine and you can choose to eat whenever you want, but say if you want to eat at 7pm, there is usually a wait and probably won't be seated until 7:30pm because of the lines. They do have the reservations for dining, but even then you have to wait if the table that they assign is still occupied by the guests before. Also now you have to book shows like rock of ages and blue man group because the venues only hold a certain amount of guests. I think the concept still works for the older NCL fleet, but seems for the larger ships with so many people to serve, the freestyle concept is fading.

Agreed. The whole idea of being on vacation and just doing 'whatever" whenever you want is really not feasible on the larger ships. I did love the Epic though. Been on her twice and would sail again in a heatbeat!

NCL is freestyle no doubt about it. Yes there can be a small wait when you are given a buzzer but surely that should not be an issue. Also you can go anytime you please from 5-30 pm till 10 pm not 2 sittings.

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NCL is freestyle no doubt about it. Yes there can be a small wait when you are given a buzzer but surely that should not be an issue. Also you can go anytime you please from 5-30 pm till 10 pm not 2 sittings.

 

 

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I'm not sure of any mainstream cruise line that only offers 2 seatings (disney being the exception). They all do freestyle now.

I love Ncl because I don't want to be eating at the same time every day and deff do not want to be sitting with the same people for a week can you imagine some of the people you might be stuck beside lol

I love Ncl because I don't want to be eating at the same time every day and deff do not want to be sitting with the same people for a week can you imagine some of the people you might be stuck beside lol

haha---definitely had one of those....requested to be relocated the next night and thank God we were accommodated! lol!

I've posted this before but hey ho - if I wanted to be told when to eat; what to wear; who to eat with and where to eat I would (re)join the army!

You don't have to eat at the same time every day on other cruise lines and you do not have to sit with others either, you can have your own table.

I was surpised to learn even Holland America offers anytime dining when I was researching the Dawn and Ryndam from Tampa. NCL is not unique in offering flexible dining. They just market it more than the competition. The other lines offer both traditional and anytime dining. Personally, I like to have a choice between traditional and anytime. I like traditional when sailing without children and anytime when I do

We sailed on Allure a couple of years ago. We were with a large group that ate same time every night. I did notice that the "Anytime" lines were a mob scene all seven nights.

Maybe I am fortunate, but I have never had to wait for dinner table for two on any NCL cruise.

For me freestyle is not just a concept about how to manage a dining room but the vibe on the ship.

I still have to test MTD on RCCL, I will later this year, but I do not expect it to be similar. I even believe having traditional dining and MTD in the same dining room is rather unfortunate because of the atmosphere.

Having cruised on the Epic twice and Breakaway once. Freestyle works with the bigger ships as well. You just need the right attitude for it. I might have an advantage as I cruise alone and do not have to coordinate with others but when I see a longer wait around 7 pm I just do something else and return later. And more important I do not try it again on days 2 to 7 standing in line every day just to complain about it later. If dinner takes to long let the show go and try it another day. If the show is more important grab a bite from the buffet afterwards or go to the 24/7 dining or order from room service. It is your vacation, so why worry about those details?

The fact that a show is not just on one night is a big freestyle bonus to me.

If a group go to dinner and invite me I can simply rebook onboard, on smaller vessels I'd either miss dinner or the show!

If I've had a tiring day ashore I can change dinner plans to maybe the buffet or O'Sheehans.

Every cruise I've changed bookings or decided last minute to join the standby line for a quick 2nd city show.

So the bigger the ship the more freedom and choice for me!

How is that different then any other lines? You can always choose where and when to eat at . On RCL you can also choose the date and time you want to see hairspray or chicago. You can choose to see a specific game show or pool side activity, choose to eat at the buffet or main dining room or specialty restaurants on every line (CCL,Princess,Celebrity). Its not like the cruise line is forcing people to go to see shows or seeing a activity...we all choose what we want to do. I feel like the freestyle concept was geared more to the dining option where you didnt have a traditional set time of eating at 6:00 and 8:30pm. But now with so many people with the larger ships, it is hard to accommodate so many people --reasoning for the long waits.

Not sure I agree with the statement that "you can always choose whree and when to eat at" on other lines, particularly RCL. Yes, RCL has "my time dining" but you have to book it in advance, and you can get shut out of it and be relegated to the traditional "early" or "late" seating assigned table set up (which I was on one cruise). What other lines offer as an option is the standard on NCL. Not saying that makes it better or worse (since I have very little NCL experience -- next March on the Gem will be only my second NCL cruise), but I don't think you can say that because a certain percentage of passengers are allowed to have "my time" dining the cruise, or that they can "choose" to go to a buffet or a pay restauarant if they can't book "my time" that "all" the cruise lines now have adopted the "freestyle" system.

On the other hand, like many a poster has already said, I don't agree with the OP that NCL has "abandoned" or really even diminished its commitment to freestyle, from what I've heard. You still don't have assigned show times or assigned dining times, which is what freestyle was really all about in the first place.

I'm not sure of any mainstream cruise line that only offers 2 seatings (disney being the exception). They all do freestyle now.

But only in limited dining room space. The majority of the MDR space is still traditional 2 settings which many like. In fact on my first RCI cruise in years last summer I keep getting emails to make reservations for My Time Dining. Made no sense until we headed to the limited space set aside for open seating at 6:30 and told the first available table for 5 was 8:30. It seems most passengers made reservations for the week in advance eliminating any chance of real freestyle like dining. We ended up making a standing reservation for the rest of the cruise for 8:15 the earliest available. What we ended up with was in fact just late seating 15 minutes early.

I love Ncl because I don't want to be eating at the same time every day and deff do not want to be sitting with the same people for a week can you imagine some of the people you might be stuck beside lol

Completely, totally agree. Have had wonderful experiences with table mates, but on two occassions, had real jerks assigned to our table that by mid-week had us absolutely dreading dinner every night. Unfortunately, with six of us at the table, and just two of them, we just thought it would be too rude to ask to be moved and leave them sitting alone at a table for eight.

The thing that people are missing is that Norwegian invented Freestyle cruising and other lines are copying it. Perhaps NCL isn't becoming less Freestyle, it's just that the other lines are becoming moreso, and the differences are less obvious.

Not sure I agree with the statement that "you can always choose whree and when to eat at" on other lines, particularly RCL. Yes, RCL has "my time dining" but you have to book it in advance, and you can get shut out of it and be relegated to the traditional "early" or "late" seating assigned table set up (which I was on one cruise). What other lines offer as an option is the standard on NCL. Not saying that makes it better or worse (since I have very little NCL experience -- next March on the Gem will be only my second NCL cruise), but I don't think you can say that because a certain percentage of passengers are allowed to have "my time" dining the cruise, or that they can "choose" to go to a buffet or a pay restauarant if they can't book "my time" that "all" the cruise lines now have adopted the "freestyle" system.

 

On the other hand, like many a poster has already said, I don't agree with the OP that NCL has "abandoned" or really even diminished its commitment to freestyle, from what I've heard. You still don't have assigned show times or assigned dining times, which is what freestyle was really all about in the first place.

On RCL, you don't need to book in advanced, it is a suggestion so you don't have to wait. There are 2 lines at My time dining. One with reservations and one standby. So you can just show up and wait for a table just like on NCL.

There are assigned show times on NCL and every cruiseline. You cant just show up to the theater and expect a show to come on at 2pm because you want to see it then. lol! NCL and all cruise lines have in the evening the production shows and headliners with set times. On the bigger NCL ships, you do have a time you have to reserve....shying away from the freestyle concept of just showing up to one of the shows and finding a seat.

Cruise ships were set up years ago with 2 set dinner seatings and fixed show schedules for a very good reason. Because in that way it is easier to handle the large number of passengers and limited amount of space on a ship. The higher the density of passengers to public space, the more difficult it is going to be to allow true freestyle cruising. That is precisely the problem NCL is having on the new Breakaway. They have increased the number of passengers, and decreased the amount of public space, seemingly far too much. It is not just about MDR's. Freestyle should mean I can go to the pool when I want, I can go to a show without it being standing room only, etc.

If you are going to pack people in that tightly on the new ships, then freestyle just will not work. Well, at least not if you continue to set aside so much room for extra cost areas like the Haven, and Vibe, and the Spa, and all the specialty restaurants, and Cirque, ...

On RCL, you don't need to book in advanced, it is a suggestion so you don't have to wait. There are 2 lines at My time dining. One with reservations and one standby. So you can just show up and wait for a table just like on NCL.

There are assigned show times on NCL and every cruiseline. You cant just show up to the theater and expect a show to come on at 2pm because you want to see it then. lol! NCL and all cruise lines have in the evening the production shows and headliners with set times. On the bigger NCL ships, you do have a time you have to reserve....shying away from the freestyle concept of just showing up to one of the shows and finding a seat.

Can you image the total collapse of Freestyle if they tried to do shows like the the Jewel class ships on Breakaway/Epic sized ships. The would need a theater that holds 2500 passengers taking up a massive footprint. Worse then that imagine 2500 descending on the dining venues all at once after the first show. :eek: Better not be in the path of that stampede.

The use of smaller entertainment venues is brilliant breaking 4500 passengers into smaller manageable crowds making the ship never feel like there are not many onboard. Yes it requires some additional structure but without it Freestyle could never survive in any form.

The thing that people are missing is that Norwegian invented Freestyle cruising and other lines are copying it. Perhaps NCL isn't becoming less Freestyle, it's just that the other lines are becoming moreso, and the differences are less obvious.

I agree that other lines are copying off each other in every department. NCL was the pioneer in having a variety of specialty restaurants and now most cruise lines have copied or adapted and all have 2 or more specialty restaurants on their ships. Its all about new innovations on ships and if it works for that company, soon other cruise companies will follow. NCL Breakaway had "copied" the waterfront idea from Carnival but just enhanced it and made it more appealing. Same for the slides and ropes courses..both debuted on Carnival ships--even though both of the cruise lines have exciting ones! =) NCL has also included rockwalls on their ships, which used to be one of the trademarks on RCL.

What I hope does not happen is that every line becomes the same and very little separates them. I enjoy cruising different lines because it makes it more interesting.

Cruise ships were set up years ago with 2 set dinner seatings and fixed show schedules for a very good reason. Because in that way it is easier to handle the large number of passengers and limited amount of space on a ship. The higher the density of passengers to public space, the more difficult it is going to be to allow true freestyle cruising. That is precisely the problem NCL is having on the new Breakaway. They have increased the number of passengers, and decreased the amount of public space, seemingly far too much. It is not just about MDR's. Freestyle should mean I can go to the pool when I want, I can go to a show without it being standing room only, etc.

 

If you are going to pack people in that tightly on the new ships, then freestyle just will not work. Well, at least not if you continue to set aside so much room for extra cost areas like the Haven, and Vibe, and the Spa, and all the specialty restaurants, and Cirque, ...

Couldn't agree more...thank you for seeing my original point