RCL fans, have you tried 'Freestyle'?

[London-Calling]

Here are a couple of questions for you all, inspired by 'Dynamic Dining':

 

Have you cruised NCL?

 

Did you like 'Freestyle'?

 

If you have not cruised with NCL, why not?

[BrianAlt]

I have not.

 

What I have done is this: The Almost Complete Food Lovers Guide to the Oasis of the Seas

 

I don't see much of a difference. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know, how so?

[hitaway4]

Here are a couple of questions for you all, inspired by 'Dynamic Dining':

 

Have you cruised NCL?

 

Did you like 'Freestyle'?

 

If you have not cruised with NCL, why not?

 

I sailed on the Epic a couple of years ago. I didn't have any major issues with Freestyle dining.

 

We pretty much had reservations every night at different places and everything was always prompt. We probably waited at most, 10 minutes for a table after checking in, but we were a group of 8. When we did have to wait those 10 minutes, they tell you to find a seat at a bar/lounge close by and they'll come get you when the table is ready.

 

I'm in vacation mode while on a cruise. 10 minutes lounging by a bar doesn't bother me in the least. It'd be even better if the phone App they are coming out with could buzz or ring your phone when you're ready to be seated after checking in.

 

And one more thing. I think RCCL is going to take it up a notch. People can call it NCL version 2 or whatever they want, but there will be differences and I believe RCCL will take it to a new level. Times are changing and I'm glad RCCL is keeping up with father time.

Edited April 3, 2014 by hitaway4

[MMOMOM]

Here are a couple of questions for you all, inspired by 'Dynamic Dining':

 

Have you cruised NCL?

 

Did you like 'Freestyle'?

 

If you have not cruised with NCL, why not?

 

We did a last minute 10 days out, for the right price cruise on NCL's Epic last month. While not liking the Epic at all for many reasons, I can't bash the line as a whole since I understand the Epic is a 'one of a kind' ship and the crew and service were very good. However, I have done many Royal Caribbean cruises, as well as Carnival and HAL. We've done MTD, and set dining on all, and each one worked out well. We actually prefer MTD since 6:00 is usually too early for us and the 8:30 a little too late sometimes. What I observed with NCL's Freestyle was that first, it seemed to me that not having a 'somewhat of a time frame' for dining, since you can eat pretty much any time of the day or not, left a lot of cruisers maybe 'drinking their meals'??!! LOL!! Could be that it was a Spring Break week, but I thought the drinking was a little over the top compared to other ships I've been on. Secondly, we got the best meals in the 'fee' restaurants. The buffet on many occasions was better than the MDR or complimentary places. The food on the whole was either just warm or cool. I agree with the OP that Royal Caribbean will probably do it up a level, as they do with most things, and the new Dynamic Dining will be fine on the ships they put it on. I see people complaining about MTD all the time, but we've never had an issue or had to wait very long. I see it as very flexible and we like that when on vacation. The first night might be a little slow, but that is sometimes true in the MDR as well. We've been able to eat with others, or alone and usually given the choice. We've even been able to ask for a certain waiter. I really think this new concept is just meeting the usual 'fear of change' type thing and in the end will work out fine. But, that's just me! :)

[Dave85]

After my upcoming May cruise my next two will be on Breakaway and Quantum, and I look forward to writing a comparative review.

 

I'm sure others wil beat me to it since I'm not planning on sailing Quantum until May '15. I expect that these comparisions will be a hot topic of conversation here in Quantum's first few months of service!

[Maraprince]

Yes...on several different sized NCL ship with the same issues:

 

-- if we agreed to share with others, we were seated quickly.

-- waited for the menu until all tables in wait staff area was filled

-- waited for order to be taken

-- no water or bread/rolls provided until first item showed up

-- wait staff of 4-6 cleaned empty tables, while "new" tables only were

served by 2 wait staff

-- long wait between courses

-- if something was forgotten or was incorrect, waiter "disappeared"

-- over all time sitting and waiting was always approx. 2 hrs. even if

courses were skipped

-- hard to get to shows before they started unless you left before dinner

service was completed

 

MARAPRINCE

[kccrzr]

We took one NCL cruise with so-called "free-style" dining (misnomer, if you ask me) and hated it. Ridiculous wait times and lackluster service at best. Haven't gone back. I sure hope RCI can manage Dynamic Dining much better.

Edited April 4, 2014 by kccrzr

[mike@sea]

I made several NCL cruises and never had an issue with Freestyle. Worked out very well!

 

It is uncomplicated and gives you the freedom it promises. No need for reservations and you will be seated in an acceptabel time, just as in any restaurant on land. Wait time during and before dinner is comparable to a restaurant on land. Food quality in free restaurants on NCL is mostly very good, definitely no complaints there. Wait staff mostly efficient and very polite and cheerful. No complaints either.

 

Cannot understand the negative comments at all as they absolutely do not reflect my experience. When you book NCL, you get exactly what they describe, nothing less (and nothing more, unless you pay extra..).

Besides, if NCL wasn´t any good, they would´t be as succesful as they are!

[dfishner]

We did the NCL Pearl a few years ago and we really liked the choices of restaurants on board the ship, we did not do the MDR except for breakfast. We never waited for a table we were just two. Food and service were very good. Our favorite were the French and Sushi restaurants. We would do another NCL cruise in our future sailings.

[cruisegal3]

I have done both Freestyle and My Time, no reservations, and remember very long wait times on NCL, none at all on Princess.

 

What concerns me is what I was told earlier this week when I was called to place my reservations for the Quantum, 4/24/15. I said that I would just show up at the free restaurant of my choice when I was ready for dinner, that I had no idea 12 months in advance what time /venue I desired on each day of my cruise.

 

The Dynamic Dining rep said RCCL was not going to operate that way, that passengers would not be able to "just show up" because the restaurants were small and I needed to make my reservations now or wait until after May 15 when everyone could book. I was fairly shocked; I did not book any reservations.

 

From what I was told-- and of course I have no idea whether this rep was accurate-- I was left with the impression that anyone who wants to eat when the mood hits on any given day will be dining up in the Windjammer, not in any restaurant onboard.

 

Anyone know of any different info regarding showing up at a restaurant and being accommodated?

 

Linda

[hitaway4]

Anyone know of any different info regarding showing up at a restaurant and being accommodated?

 

Linda

 

 

If you mean the complimentary restaurants, you can probably get in without a reservation. Any of the $$ restaurants like Wonderland, you wouldn't be able to get into unless there was a last minute cancellation or you get lucky.

 

You will however, most likely be able to make a reservation the day of. You might not get a preferred time slot, but it'll most likely be open.

[yj2cute]

I've done one NCL Freestyle cruise and have not gone back. While I enjoyed the ship and the entertainment, the dining was the worst of all our cruises. We did not do any specialty restaurants, just the MDR, and the food and service were both sub par to any other cruise we've taken, including Carnival.

 

I am, however, excited about Dynamic Dining and believe Royal will do it much better than NCL's Freestyle. I'm looking forward to something new. And worse case we don't like it, we have plenty of other RCCL ships to sail that do not feature DD.

[marci22]

What concerns me is what I was told earlier this week when I was called to place my reservations for the Quantum, 4/24/15. I said that I would just show up at the free restaurant of my choice when I was ready for dinner, that I had no idea 12 months in advance what time /venue I desired on each day of my cruise.

Linda

 

Why not just make some reservations now at a time you like and change them later if you want to? I think that would be easier than trying to make a lot of reservations at the last minute.

[Arubamoose]

We were pretty Loyal to Royal until we sailed the Norwegian Dawn. Our first go round with freestyle. We enjoyed it. Hit all of the pay restaurants except Hibachi and had no issues with the included venues with wait times or the quality of the food. Next was the Sun. Smaller scale - still enjoyed it but did miss the set dining for the friendships and small talk. Back to RCCL and a blip with MSC (fantastic cruise) and then on to the EPIC. We had our adult girls with us and had some issues with the included dining as one is a vegan and one a vegetarian. Pay dining was a different story. They were over the top in catering to their diets. We never had that issue with Royal ever. We did the Allure as My Time Dining and wound up with the same waiters and they went out of their way to please them.

 

Our next is the Jade. I don't expect any issues as it is just me and DH.

 

I think that Freestyle has issues when hit with out of the norm requests like a vegan diet. Their idea of accomodating my DD was pasta with tomato sauce and that grew old quickly. But they had no issue with the buffet and the Oriental and Italian restaurants were terrific! But for a regular un-finicky person who will eat anything - they were fine.

 

But I can't wait to try Dynamic Dining. I'll be Loyal to Royal for at least a few more cruises after the Quantum.

[London-Calling]

We did not do any specialty restaurants, just the MDR, and the food and service were both sub par to any other cruise we've taken, including Carnival.

 

To get a good meal with NCL, you normally have to pay a surcharge!

 

Of course if NCL keep the free options at a 'mediocre' level, the surcharge ones do better. If the MDR food was too good, the surcharge rooms would lose income.

 

I fear the same with Quantum!

[DEIx15x8]

I have not cruise NCL mainly because of Freestyle. We never pay for meals while on a cruise so the choice to pay for venues does not appeal to us. I also am not one to make decisions on the fly. I prefer having things planned long in advance so I can just go with the schedule on vacation and not worry about deciding what I'm going to do or eat at any moment. It reduces the number of arguments and helps make the vacation much more enjoyable.

[Dave85]

To get a good meal with NCL, you normally have to pay a surcharge!

 

Of course if NCL keep the free options at a 'mediocre' level, the surcharge ones do better. If the MDR food was too good, the surcharge rooms would lose income.

 

I fear the same with Quantum!

 

Or, the other direction they can go is to simply build the increased MDR qualify into the cost of the ticket... making up for any hypothetical lost specialty dining revenue that way (and let me note that even with better MDRs I'm quite confident specialty dining will still thrive). As the new and exciting offering I'm quite confident they can sustain a slightly higher pricing level with the Quantum Class.

 

I have nowhere near the technical expertise to state with any certainty that this would be a revenue neutral move for Royal, but logically it makes sense. I, for one, am willing to pay slightly more for better quality MDR fare. I realize not everyone shares that opinion.

[negc]

We have experienced NCL's Freestyle Dining, Princess' Anytime Dining, and Royal's My Time Dining and have come down heavily in favor of My Time Dining. On our NCL cruises we found that there was little or no correlation between what the message boards showed as availability in the ship's restaurants. When they showed the main dining room was practically full, we found that we were seated almost immediately in a room that was pretty much empty and when the signage indicated that the room had a good amount of available capacity, we experienced a lengthy wait when we arrived at the dining room. On Princess, we had lengthy waits and were issued beepers, which to me are a sign that waits are pretty much par for the course. With RCI's MTD, which we initially approached with much skepticism due to our experiences with NCL and Princess, we never experienced a wait longer than five or six minutes, whether we had made advance reservations or simply showed up when we wanted to dine.

We will be sailing on an NCL ship this summer and will have another opportunity to see if things have improved but I am not overly optimistic.

[Calker]

We thoroughly enjoyed our dining experiences on NCL. When we were ready for dinner, we just checked in and were seated within a few minutes. Our longest wait for a table was about 15 minutes.

 

I don't remember ever feeling rushed nor the meal dragging. We were always able to get to the theatre/show with time to spare.

 

I hope RCCL does away with reservations - how do I know today what I will want to do for dinner in December.

[roe2ship]

My last cruise was on NCL Breakaway. The MDR food was just okay, and service was a hit or miss. There were times we waited too long between courses and times where the food was barely warm. We always walked in the dining room and were seated immediately....varied times between 6:15 -7:15. We usually like to try at least one or two specialty restaurants and we found LeBistro to be excellent in food and service. That was our first time on NCL and we came to the conclusion that if we return we most likely need to book more of the $$$ restaurants to thoroughly enjoy our dining experiences. Whether or not "freestyle" has an impact on the quality of food and service....maybe it does.

Edited April 18, 2014 by roe2ship