Thinking of Trying Norwegian.. Questions

As you can see, minus one cruise, I've only cruised Carnival. I've enjoyed all my cruises, and yes I know about the stigma of Carnival being the "Wal-Mart" of cruising. Anyway. I usually cruise with my parents and brother. We are eying a cruise this August on the Norwegian Dawn out of Boston. So... here are my questions that I can't seem to find the answer to reading on the Norwegian site

1. Activities. Will there be the standard trivia games and such through out the day? If I'm not sitting and chilling in a hot tub.. I'm usually at trivia contests during the day

2. Assigned dining times. Does Norwegian have assigned dining times in the main dinning rooms? We find that works best for us on a cruise as opposed to your time dining.

3. Reserving shows and restaurants. Paid restaurants is a given, all cruise lines make you do reservations for those. Do you have to reserve the free restaurants? Do you have to reserve all shows even like comedians and such?

Thanks!

Yes, No, No...from my experience..

That's a shame on the dining times. We always enjoy having the same wait staff every night.

When we cruised on the Pearl a few years ago, we usually ate dinner around 6. There was a waiter named Garry who we really liked, so we always requested to be seated at one of his tables if available. They always accommodated our request.

The reason we cruise NCL is because of the freestyle concept. They move the staff all over the ship, one day they may help you in the MDR, and the next day they may be in a specialty restaurant.:D

That's a shame on the dining times. We always enjoy having the same wait staff every night.

You can speak with the maitre d and request the same time/table each night.

I believe you can book MDR times online ahead of time.

Edit: yep, my cruise next week offers to let me book MDR reservations online.

That's a shame on the dining times. We always enjoy having the same wait staff every night.

NCL is our favorite due to freestyle dining, no set times!

Ugh... lol. The more you talk about free style dining the less I want to do it. It's nice to have the same waiter who knows your name and knows your likes and such. If we do decide this cruise how long is the wait time in the main dining room each night to get a seat?

Freestyle do what you want when you want, and dress however you like it's an amazing concept. I liked it a lot.

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Same for me, freestyle is the only way I will cruise. The concept of a set time every night, seated at a table with strangers, is horrifying. That's why I only started cruising last year (didn't know freestyle was available) and I am loyal to NCL. Although it seems some other lines have noticed how popular it is and are starting to offer similar options.

But if the same dining time everyday and staff is important to you, maybe you should stick with Carnival. That's why it is so great to have different lines offering different options, there is something out there to make everyone happy!

There is trivia throughout the day starting in the morning. It last about 15 minutes to play.

We love NCL, and have sailed with them for our last 6 cruises, but are sailing Carnival next week. Doing the anytime dining on Carnival and hoping and hoping it's more like Freestyle on NCL. I know there'll be slight differences, but looking forward to trying a new itinerary on the Glory. I've sailed with family on past cruises, and it worked well to just set a time that you go to dinner each night, then just meet at the dining room and request the same wait staff.

Of all the things I'm reading about Carnival, I'm thinking it'll be more alike than different, even in regards to dining. I hope you have a great time, whichever line you choose!

Ugh... lol. The more you talk about free style dining the less I want to do it. It's nice to have the same waiter who knows your name and knows your likes and such. If we do decide this cruise how long is the wait time in the main dining room each night to get a seat?

I have found the wait time to be minimal, at most 5 to 10 minutes...it really depends on what time you dine. And as someone upthread mentioned, you CAN make reservations for the MDR if you want and ask to see if a waiter you prefer is working in that restaurant that evening. I prefer the freestyle cruising because I am not always hungry at the same time every night, may decide to go to a show earlier or later, or just get caught up in all the fun I am having and want to eat when I get around to it.

And just so you know, there are no formal nights either.

Whenever we chose the MDR on NCL, the wait was nonexistent. The nights we chose to dine in Savor (one of three MDRs on the Getaway), we had the same waitstaff.

I doubt that we will ever return to Carnival, NCL is that much superior. Check my siggy, we've sailed Carnival a LOT.

Surprisingly, out of all my cruises I've only been seated with strangers once. We normally end up getting assigned at a table for 4. Works out good.

Another question, and this is good for the poster going on Carnival. Carnival still assigns you a dining room even if you are doing anytime dining. Are we still assigned a dining room on Norwegian so that you don't have everyone flocking to one dining room over another?

To try and answer your questions and maybe make you feel better: usually you can arrange to have the same wait person every dinner but you need to check that out and it might mean you will have to wait some evenings. I really think you will enjoy true concept free style if you give it a chance. However if this is going to big such a big deal, maybe you would be better off with some other line. NCL introduced freestyle in about 2000. It has become so popular, all lines now offer it in some form.

You ask about games, yes, there are plenty of games such as Trivia, even on port days. We too, love to play them.

No,you do not make reservations for the MDR, but you might want to set something up. As for specialty dining, even then you can often just walk up and get seated. I wouldn't count on that though. As for the wait in the MDR, it is very short. What many do is, check in, get your name on a list and head to a bar. They will call you when a table is ready. Usually the wait is about 15 or so.

Ugh... lol. The more you talk about free style dining the less I want to do it. It's nice to have the same waiter who knows your name and knows your likes and such. If we do decide this cruise how long is the wait time in the main dining room each night to get a seat?

Since you don't seem to have seen my post, you can make reservations online for the MDR before your cruise.

Really, though, you don't sound like you really don't want to be on NCL due to pre-conceived ideas.

Why are Americans so opposed to "eating with strangers?" It wouldn't kill you to chat with other passengers. It's actually quite interesting, you've got people from all walks of life on cruise ships. Makes for good conversation.

Traditional dining and freestyle both have their perks. It's nice to not have to make reservations, have no wait, walk into the dining room, sit at the same table you eat at every night, have the waiters know your name, and your favorite glass of wine ready.

It's also nice to have flexibility to schedule activities and not be restricted to dining times.

Personal preference, really. Also dependent on the ship and activities available on board. If you're on a "tight schedule" the freestyle works best.

Are we still assigned a dining room on Norwegian so that you don't have everyone flocking to one dining room over another?

So I am willing to give your time dining a try but let me ask you this. Do you feel rushed at dinner? Or do you feel it runs too slow? How long are you normally eating for in the main dining room. And even though there is no formal night(yay one less thing to pack) , is there a night were you can get lobster tails or prime rib on the menu.. lol

Since we are new to NCL we would probably want to try one of the specialty restaurants, which we normally don't do the food is good in the dining room in our opinion. Which one do you recommend they all look so good.

We really enjoy freestyle dining. Best way to describe it is like going out to dinner at home. Enjoy your day as you like rather than planning your schedule around dinner. And when you are ready to eat, you can pick between two MDRs (mostly the same, one is slightly dressier, but as long as you have long pants on and a nice shirt; we just go to whichever has no line) or the blue lagoon (set menu) whenever you are ready to eat.

Because it’s just like eating out at home, you get to set the pace of your dinner. There’s no getting 100 apps out, then waiting to get 100 mains ready. The next course comes when you finish the previous course. So you set the pace of your meal. Also, since they aren’t cranking out the mains catering style, you have a lot more freedom to make changes to your order. Anything that isn’t pre-made or pre-mixed, can be changed. So can switch sides, leave toppings/sauces off, etc.

There is no lobster. I believe prime rib may be available one night. But I’m not positive.

As far as specialties - everyone raves about cagney’s. Our trip to cagney’s on the jade was a huge let down but I’m willing to write that off as unusual. We really enjoyed la cucina. Teppanyaki is a Japanese steak house. Similar to what you can get at home but still good. We also like to hit moderno every cruise but it’s not to everyone’s taste. Moderno is more about variety than high quality meats.

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Which one do you recommend they all look so good.

Aside from mentioning that I've always enjoyed the food in the MDR, I'm going to recommend you try Teppanyaki, why?

1. It's a dining and entertainment experience in one.

2. It offers a nice selection of choices (chicken and scallops are my favourites)

3. It's a flat rate so no guessing what the bill will be at the end.

IMO you need to go with an open mind, if you're interested in trying a different cruise line, be prepared for a different experience.

Enjoy your cruise.

Why are Americans so opposed to "eating with strangers?" It wouldn't kill you to chat with other passengers. It's actually quite interesting, you've got people from all walks of life on cruise ships. Makes for good conversation.

There are good strangers and there are strange strangers.

I have cruised with my mom and sis. We are VERY social.

Most experiences dining with strangers has been great. But a couple of bad experiences go a long way.

There was the time we were seated with strangers and a couple were from one of the suburbs of our hometown and we still talk by email... great couple. But there was also a gentleman at our table who complained he was sick from his daughter keeping the air too cold in the cabin. He proceeded to sneeze all over his hands, wiped them on the front of the shirt and before I noticed he handed the breadbasket to my mother. Within a few days she was sidelined to the cabin with bronchitis.

There are also instances where people eat like they're at a trough and it's gross.

But the funniest is night we sat with this nice older couple. We asked how they had met and she proceeded to go on in graphic nature about how on their first date he had been so great in bed. She used some pretty explicit language and I just looked at my mom and we had to hold back from just cracking up laughing.

I'd say the best way to dine with strangers is to meet people in line and strike up a conversation and then suggest dining together if you think it would be a good experience.

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In the past (18+ yrs ago) we did Royal Caribbean. We did NCL first time last year. Yes, we did miss the personal touch of the same table nightly with same wait staff. It’s like going to a restaurant at home. You may see the same waiter and you may not. Although it was a noticeable difference, it’s not a dealbreaker as we enjoyed the cruise and never felt so relaxed on a vacation with my 4 kids in my life [emoji23].

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