Freestyle. Is it really all that?

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

I have not yet sailed on Norwegian but they are on my list.

 

Recently I have noticed the Norwegian television commercials. The commercial states that there are cruiselines that tell you when to do this and to do that. But not on Norwegian.

 

As far as I can tell the only thing about freestlye is that you can eat whenever you want. What else is there to freestyle that the other cruiselines dont offer? Is that it? You just get to eat when you want? :confused: Princess offers freestlye in addition to traditional dining. Is this nothing more than an exaggeration?

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

I have not yet sailed on Norwegian but they are on my list.

 

Recently I have noticed the Norwegian television commercials. The commercial states that there are cruiselines that tell you when to do this and to do that. But not on Norwegian.

 

As far as I can tell the only thing about freestlye is that you can eat whenever you want. What else is there to freestyle that the other cruiselines dont offer? Is that it? You just get to eat when you want? :confused: Princess offers freestlye in addition to traditional dining. Is this nothing more than an exaggeration?

[slotaddict]

I have not yet sailed on Norwegian but they are on my list.

 

Recently I have noticed the Norwegian television commercials. The commercial states that there are cruiselines that tell you when to do this and to do that. But not on Norwegian.

 

As far as I can tell the only thing about freestlye is that you can eat whenever you want. What else is there to freestyle that the other cruiselines dont offer? Is that it? You just get to eat when you want? :confused: Princess offers freestlye in addition to traditional dining. Is this nothing more than an exaggeration?

 

I'm not sure I would call it an exaggeration. You can eat when you want, where you want, in addition to the regular dining rooms, there are other places to eat, speciality restuarants and other dining venues that are free. On a traditional cruise you either eat at 6:15 or 8:30. I don't think that the older Norwegian Ships are as well suited to freestlye, I have only ever been on the Dawn.

What does Princess consider freestyle?? Is it the same food as the main dining rooms? never been on a Princess cruise, but I see you will not be aboard Princess until 10/07.

[dwrist]

I have not yet sailed on Norwegian but they are on my list.

 

Recently I have noticed the Norwegian television commercials. The commercial states that there are cruiselines that tell you when to do this and to do that. But not on Norwegian.

 

As far as I can tell the only thing about freestlye is that you can eat whenever you want. What else is there to freestyle that the other cruiselines dont offer? Is that it? You just get to eat when you want? :confused: Princess offers freestlye in addition to traditional dining. Is this nothing more than an exaggeration?

 

Ron' date=' you might find the following post interesting and helping with understanding freestyle cruising. It isn't all about dining. It is about choices we can make for clothing, disembarking, dining. Also at the top of the posts list, there is a post "What you should know about cruising NCL".

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=474046

 

Happy cruising on NCL if you decide to try. :)

[mikedw]

On the other lines, it's only an option. NCL is all resort casual, leave the suits, tuxedos, and gowns at home. Being in the travel industry, I've come across a lot of professionals who would not take a cruise on a traditional cruise line, because they don't want to dress up on vacation, also when you disembark, is freestyle too, you just have to be off the ship at a certain time. My boss said it best after he got back from the christening of the Pearl, it's like spending the weekend in Time Square with all the options you have for eating and entertainment. Freestyle is not for everyone, but for the 80 plus percent of the population who have never cruised because of all the traditional formality it's probably a perfect fit. Personally I don't care if the waiter knows my name and preferences as long as the food is good, I'm fine. Have a great day.

 

Michael

[flyingpirate]

Freestyle is all that and more.

 

Give it a try.

[Arwenmark]

There is the dining of course, you can eat where, when and with whom you want you can do a specific table or set of waiters etc. if you want. But it also includes the non-dress code, optional formal wear, you can stay in your room longer on debarkation day.

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

Ok I think I am getting a better understanding now. The replies were a little more specific than the commericial. The commercial leads one to think that some cruiselines tell you when to work out, or go for your a morning walk around deck etc.

 

I do plan on Norwegian in the future, in fact I had Norwegian Jewel booked for last year but there was a huge mix up with my TA and Norwegian concerning the final payment and I gave up and booked another cruise instead.

 

Thanks for all of your kind replies.

 

For those who have seen the commercial I am sure you can understand what I mean. Its too general and a bit misleading.

 

Thanks again!

[Desert star]

Truely I have been on Princess and not everyone wears "blue" :D

Don't get me wrong, we had a great cruise on the Jewel, but the comericals are misleading for the other lines.

[johnql]

I have a friend who takes most things (books, tv, movies, commercials, etc.) very literally, so I know that not everything gets its message across. However, NCL's commercials (to me) are clearly satirical and are not meant to be taken literally. The main thrust of the commercials is to point out that NCL's Freestyle cruising is different, goes against the grain, swims against the flow, of most mainstream cruise lines. With that in mind, it becomes clear that NCL is promoting freedom of choice - you choose when to dine, with whom to dine, where to dine; you choose to dress up or to dress down; you choose to make reservations for specialty dining or go to other dining venues (main dining rooms, buffet, Blue Lagoon, etc.) without reservations; you choose to dine early, go to a show, and then have dessert afterwards; you can even choose to have two dinners (once before and once after the show). Et cetera.

[mbisson]

To my family, it's all that and a box of chocolates!

[silkhair1]

We love freestyle because we do not have to dress up. That is our favorite part.

[thewolffs]

Having been on both Norwegian and Princess, I can tell you that Norwegian has way more choices as far as dining goes. I actually preferred the food on Princess over Norwegian, but I prefer Norwegian overall. On Princess we had 2 main dining rooms to choose from and 2 specialty restaurants. On most of the newer Norwegian ships, you have 3 main dining rooms, 6 or 7 specialty restaurants (2 are free) plus a couple of fast food options. I loved my Princess cruise and it is hard to pick one cruiseline over the other, but I tend to lean toward NCL. I like the fact that I don't need to dress up on formal night. I loved to do that on my first couple of cruises, but now I don't. I also like hanging out in my cabin on the day of disembarkation. On a longer cruise, I really like having the extra dining options. I have to say that I've never had a bad cruise and I would cruise again on Princess and RCCL in a minute, but there is something about NCL that makes it my favorite.

[KeystoneCruiser]

A quick synopsis of Freestyle:

 

1.) There are optional formal nights. Formal nights are OPTIONAL in ALL restaurants and dining venues on board all NCL ships. They no longer designate one dining room as formal only. Resort casual is perfectly acceptable in all dining rooms on ALL nights. Resort casual means no shorts, jeans, t-shirts, etc. after 5:00 p.m.. Polo shirt, dockers/kahkis, sneakers are perfectly acceptable in all dining rooms at all times. Jeans, shorts, t-shirts are allowed in the buffet and Blue Lagoon (diner on some ships) at all times.

Only about 40% of the passengers will dress up on the first optional formal night. (even less on the second) The 40% will range from tuxes down to shirt/tie. The other 60% will be in resort casual. On Hawaii cruises, the formal number drops to about 30% formal, 40% resort casual and the other 30% in Hawaiian attire, which is also acceptable. (no shorts)

 

2.) There are two or three main restaurants per ship and these serve the traditional cruise fare. These restauarants do not take reservations and do not have a charge. They are open between 5:30 and 9:30 and you just walk up and ask for a table like an onshore restaurant. During the peak hours of 6:30-8:00, there might be a short wait for a table.

 

3.) There are 3-6 specialty restaurants on board each ship and these range from a Steakhouse to Asian to Italian to European. These restaurants all require reservations. (which can be made for the whole week the first day) Some of these require a cover charge of between $12.50 and $20 per person. They are open the same hours as the main restaurants.

 

4.) You have no set dining times and no set table mates. You also do not have the same waiter each night. You can request a waiter again, but it could result in a longer wait. (and the waiters do rotate through some of the venues. We had a waiter we liked on the Dawn and one night, he wasn't available because he was a "relief waiter.")

 

5.) Freestyle disembarkation means that you can wait in your cabin until called. No being herded into public areas like cattle. You can also take advantage of Express Disembarkation, where you can carry your own luggage off and be in the first group off the ship.

 

I love Freestyle and that is why I love to cruise NCL.

[Leafpeeper]

We really enjoy cruising on many different cruiselines. There are things we like about all of them. Besides the ability to choose from so many different dining venues, we very much enjoyed having a movie theater on NCL Dawn and NCL Star--especially on sea days. The movies were current and there was plenty of popcorn. I can't wait to see what movies will be playing on our upcoming NCL Star cruise.

[Arwenmark]

Ok I think I am getting a better understanding now. The replies were a little more specific than the commericial. The commercial leads one to think that some cruiselines tell you when to work out' date=' or go for your a morning walk around deck etc.

 

I do plan on Norwegian in the future, in fact I had Norwegian Jewel booked for last year but there was a huge mix up with my TA and Norwegian concerning the final payment and I gave up and booked another cruise instead.

 

Thanks for all of your kind replies.

 

For those who have seen the commercial I am sure you can understand what I mean. Its too general and a bit misleading.

 

Thanks again![/quote']

 

The commercial is clearly satire, however I have been on ships that had Group walks around the deck and so forth. so it is not THAT far off LOL

[carrievision]

I've sailed on NCL and Royal Caribbean, and both were great. I do think the main difference is in the dining, but to me this is definitely why we like NCL better.

 

When it's just me and hubby, we've only gone on NCL, and freestyle is the way to go. We're pretty active when the ship is at port, and I couldn't imagine trying to get changed/showered for a 5:30 or 6:30 dinner. At the same time, there's days when we're at sea that we feel like eating at that hour. We also enjoy eating lots of different foods and having a choice besides the main dining room fare - some nights, it just doesn't appeal at all!

 

Along that idea.. there's days when we feel like we want to just have a table to ourselves for dinner. Other days, we've decided to sit with a new group of people. A few times, sitting with a new group has been great and we've decided to dine together again. Other times, we just didn't hit it off with the people that we dined with. I can't imagine having to eat with people you don't particularly care for every night. With freestyle, we can do whatever we like.

 

I don't think freestyle is ideal when you have a large group. We went on a cruise with Royal Caribbean for our wedding. We had a group of 20 people, and we all ate in the dining room together every night. It was nice to have the one time of the day when we all "convened." In this case, I was happy we used RC instead of NCL. It would have been possible to set up the same situation on an NCL ship, but we probably would have missed a lot of the dining options with such a large group.

 

Embarkation on NCL (compared to RC) is MUCH smoother. No hanging out in the public areas and dragging your things around... You can just leave your stuff in your room and come back and get it when you feel like departing.

[newmexicoNita]

I have not yet sailed on Norwegian but they are on my list.

 

Recently I have noticed the Norwegian television commercials. The commercial states that there are cruiselines that tell you when to do this and to do that. But not on Norwegian.

 

As far as I can tell the only thing about freestlye is that you can eat whenever you want. What else is there to freestyle that the other cruiselines dont offer? Is that it? You just get to eat when you want? :confused: Princess offers freestlye in addition to traditional dining. Is this nothing more than an exaggeration?

I haven't read the other responses, but to us, freestyle is much more than the eat where and when you want though that is the biggest part of it. Yes, Princess offers a form of freestyle but not 10 restaurant choices. HAL is also giving flex dining a try. You also can stay on the ship, in your cabin until your luggage tag color is called; plus the dress code in much more relaxed, but you have the option to dress up if you want. It is just an entire different atmosphere. I just have some friends (not cliants) that returned last week from their first cruise: it was on Princess. She loved it, he said, if he cruises again it will be on NCL because of the relaxed atmosphere and the choices he didn't have on Princess, mainly the dress code. Both formal nights they ate in the buffet because Bob didn't want to dress up. BTW, he dresses up quite often, including wearing a tux. He just doesn't think vacations and Tux go together. NMnita

[osiebosie]

The only NCL ship I've sailed since the inception of freestyle is the Majesty, an older ship which is not really suited as well to the freestyle concept. I think it would work much better on one of the larger ships that have been built for freestyle.

 

For me, traditional or freestyle really doesn't matter. I've done both. I enjoy both. This last cruise, I didn't pack a suit for dh, but he still wore a tie on "formal" night. I just wore a very comfy skirt with a sweater and dressy open-toed shoes. But I also like getting all decked out on formal nights and knowing everyone else is decked out, too. In other words, it would not be a major factor in choosing a cruise. I would go more for itinerary and pricing first.

 

Just try it and see.

 

Shay

[Tarheelbelle]

The only advantage to me of Freestyle is being able to go to one's cabin upon embarkation, and being able to wait in one's cabin to disembark. I prefer Princess Personal Choice and how they handle it to NCL Freestyle dining. Also, I do like the fact that there is a more formal atmosphere on Princess, RCL, and Celebrity, and I do think they are a slightly higher end product. That said, the 2 NCL cruises I have done have been good and I enjoyed myself, maybe in a different way.

[Toyz711]

after our last cruise, DH has said "it's the only way to go". i agree.

many, many food choices, any time you want..we never had a wait except for 15 mins for a speciality. we were "freestyle" all the way. in 7 days we only repeated ourselves (for dinner) twice. 1 reservations, made the day before. i think set dining hours are a thing of the past for us.

casual clothes work for us also. never felt like we were on a 2nd class ship..we had 1st class service all the way. lovely room, friendly staff.

[BeachBumMama]

So many helpful people have answered your question, I just wanted to cast my vote for freestyle too. I love freestlye and am spoiled, it's hard for me on any other cruise line to have an 'appointment' for dinner. When on vacation I like doing what I want when I want. And not having to pack the pantyhose!

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

BeachBumMamma,

 

I agree so many people have been very helpful!

 

Personally all this hub bub about freestyle isnt going to sway my decision. I will sail NCL in the future, but not because of freestyle, which seems to be all about dining and wearing what you want.

 

At any rate, I stick with my original opinion that the commercial is a bit misleading. Experienced cruisers can tell the fact from fiction, but a person who has never cruised before may actually believe what they see in the commercial.

 

Thanks again to all for your answers and thanks to everyone for being so polite! (We all know how the cheerleaders can get sometimes)

[newmexicoNita]

BeachBumMamma' date='

 

I agree so many people have been very helpful!

 

Personally all this hub bub about freestyle isnt going to sway my decision. I will sail NCL in the future, but not because of freestyle, which seems to be all about dining and wearing what you want.

 

At any rate, I stick with my original opinion that the commercial is a bit misleading. Experienced cruisers can tell the fact from fiction, but a person who has never cruised before may actually believe what they see in the commercial.

 

Thanks again to all for your answers and thanks to everyone for being so polite! (We all know how the cheerleaders can get sometimes)[/quote']Misleading? Aren't most advertisements meant to sell the product thus exagerted? Anyone other than a child that takes any commercial at face value is very niave to say the least. NMnita

[johnql]

Misleading? Aren't most advertisements meant to sell the product thus exagerted? Anyone other than a child that takes any commercial at face value is very niave to say the least. NMnita

This reminds me of the lawsuit that was just thrown out a few days ago by a judge. A few years ago, a commercial (Pepsi, I believe) promoted the collection of points when buying the product. You could trade the points in for a variety of items (t-shirts, hats, jackets, some more expensive items, etc.). At the end of the commercial, they rolled out a Harrier Jet and indicated that you could get the jet for 7,000,000 points (or something like that). Somebody actually tried to take advantage of the so-called offer and Pepsi said, "No way. We were just kidding." The judge ruled that any reasonable person could tell that the offer was not real and was done as a joke.

 

Bottom line - much of marketing is not meant to be taken literally. You'd think that being bombarded by ads would teach people that lesson.