So tell me the truth about freestyle cruising!!!

[Jenbo57]

Is it wonderful?!? I've been hesitant to sail with Norwegian, but recent changes Celebrity made to our Alaska itinerary has prompted me to cancel with them and book Norwegian (couldn't believe the deal I got)! I'm not a really a "dress for dinner" kind of gal, and I like the idea of being able to eat whenever it's convenient for us, but are we (three couples) really going to be able to get into the restaurant we want at the time we want, without having to wait? The whole system sounds almost too good to be true!

 

What's good and maybe not so good about it?

 

Thanks!

[DMH15]

I love freestyle. I also liked tradtional. I would go back on Celebrity in a second. Same for RCI - did not care for Carnival as much, personal preference only - you may love it.

 

I am a chef although I do not work in the industry, so I love the specialty restaurants (I do not care for buffets). I have always gotten reservations, I've just had to be flexible sometimes. I just like being in charge of my own schedule - especially dining. Sometimes with traditional you just don't feel like getting up and dressing for dinner (and by that I mean getting out of shorts or bathing suit - or even pjs).

[cynbar]

We were on the Gem in June, and never had to wait at the main DRs for a table for 2. However, the specialty restaurants usually require reservations which you have to make in advance, and some (teppanyaki for instance) can be hard to get. Some people have reported no problem getting reservations, others have posted they were quite dissatisfied. We didn;t experience this but we had the concierge to make our reservations. It's really not true that you can just decide what you feel like at the last minute, then go to the restaurant to be seated. However, we enjoyed the freestyle concept and would do it again. The only thing that bothered us was that some cruisers seemed to take the "freestyle" theory too far when it came to dress -- some of them were more than casual, they were downright sloppy, and we're not usually ones to worry about what others are wearing.

[jkrislc]

It's the main reason we booked NCL this coming January. I actually wanted to try HAL this time around and even liked Princess' itinerary a little better, but now that we have an infant I couldn't imagine dealing with anything other than freestyle. While HAL and Princess have "anytime dining" they still have formal and semiformal nights, And while we could opt for the buffet on these nights, the buffet doesn't provide lobster and whatnot that you would miss in the dinning rooms if you chose not to dress up.

 

My wife is less of a cruise enthusiast than I am, but it was easy to convince her to go with NCL as she fell in love with the freestyle concept in Hawaii. She never liked assigned dining times or having to sit with other people at dinner. Even though we can often get a table for two (now three) on RCI, which we had last time, the fixed dining time was still a bit of a nuisance.

 

Given everything we need to bring for our son and the airline limitations for luggage, I can't imagine packing formal wear for a cruise since you'd only wear it once or twice. Further with freestyle cruising, I feel you can enjoy your vacation more as you have more options available to you. The advantages far outweigh any disadvantages.

 

To sum up, "Yes, it is that wonderful," as long as you don't need someone to learn you name and always bring you your soda at dinner and your coffee with dessert without asking. Personally, I don't find it all that hard to ask.

[MNFreeze]

We have only sail Norwegian and love it but my SL and BL have sailed other cruise lines and went with us on our last Norwegian cruise. We were concerned because they kept saying before the cruise how they liked that the waiter knew what they wanted before the sat down and all that. Well they ended up really like the freestyle dining. They especially liked it on port days as in other cruises they sometimes felt rushed to get back, clean up and get to the dinner room. With Norwegian we were able to come back to the ship, relax and then head to dinner no matter what the time was.

 

I am sure you will like it as long as you don't go into it with the feeling you are going to hate it.

[lambs2]

With a party of six, should you decide to eat dinner together, you can make reservations for ANY of the restaurants 24 hours in advance (or 48 hours if one of the couples has a CC cabin or above). You don't have to do that every night, unless you want to, but it is certainly a great option to consider!

[dontstayathome]

We cruised two weeks ago and LOVED freestyle. We loved that we could eat at "whatever o'clock". Our extended family are now planning a cruise (all 25 of us!) in two years and after hearing about "freestyle" cruising...they will only look into NCL cruises.

[*Luv2Cruz*]

You're gonna love it!:)

[newmexicoNita]

Is it wonderful?!? I've been hesitant to sail with Norwegian, but recent changes Celebrity made to our Alaska itinerary has prompted me to cancel with them and book Norwegian (couldn't believe the deal I got)! I'm not a really a "dress for dinner" kind of gal, and I like the idea of being able to eat whenever it's convenient for us, but are we (three couples) really going to be able to get into the restaurant we want at the time we want, without having to wait? The whole system sounds almost too good to be true!

 

What's good and maybe not so good about it?

 

Thanks!

the whole thing depends on what you mean by getting into the restaurant and what time you will normally be eating. We have rarely had any wait and usually eat about 6:30 or so, sometimes we choose even a later time. The busiest, normally, depending on the cruise will be about 7pm to 8:15. This is just a guess. If you do have to wait, it won't be long and most of the ships will give you a beeper. It is much like eating at Outback or someplace like that. The busiest times and days there may be a slight wait. Lobster nights are the longest.

 

Be sure and let us all know how it went when you return...

 

Nita

[sunflower girl]

I have cruised with both Princess "personal choice" and NCL "free style". I found both concepts to be about the same, never had to wait long for a table EXCEPT when I requested a certain waiter, and even then it was not long. And I liked both much better than being told what time I had to eat.

 

On NCL we requested the same waitstaff 5 out of 7 nights, and received the same type of service I had received on other lines. The other 2 nights we ate at specialty restaurants.

 

I slightly prefer Princess over NCL and Carnival but that is more because of the decor and "feel" of the ship as oppposed to service.

[Sailor's Girl]

The freestyle concept is the thing I'm most apprehensive about for our upcoming trip to Bermuda. We chose Norwegian because of the itinerary, price and proximity to home, and freestyle came with the package. How difficult is it to get seated at a decent time if you forget to make a reservation in the morning? We like to have a seated dinner, and not have to juggle the buffet, which I understand is the fall-back.

[newmexicoNita]

The freestyle concept is the thing I'm most apprehensive about for our upcoming trip to Bermuda. We chose Norwegian because of the itinerary' date=' price and proximity to home, and freestyle came with the package. How difficult is it to get seated at a decent time if you forget to make a reservation in the morning? We like to have a seated dinner, and not have to juggle the buffet, which I understand is the fall-back.[/quote']

 

the smaller the party, the easier it is to get seated immediately regardless of the time you choose....

 

Nita

[MrLee]

The freestyle concept is the thing I'm most apprehensive about for our upcoming trip to Bermuda. We chose Norwegian because of the itinerary' date=' price and proximity to home, and freestyle came with the package. How difficult is it to get seated at a decent time if you forget to make a reservation in the morning? We like to have a seated dinner, and not have to juggle the buffet, which I understand is the fall-back.[/quote']

 

On the 2 cruises I've done with NCL I've never had to wait. If you go between 7-8 you might have a short wait. The main restaurants will only take reservations for 8 people or more as a rule. I'm not sure if this applies to suite passengers.

[Clay Clayton]

I am a freestyle convert. I enjoy getting dressed up but not having to do so makespacking so much easier plus you don't have that rush back to the ship to shower like MN Freeze said, and if you are having a great conversation with someone in the bar for your pre-dinner cocktail, you don't have to suddenly get up and leave. In our 28 nights of freestyle dining, we only had one time where we hit the main dining room and there was a wait. If that happens, don't forget that you can sometimes move yourself up the list by offering to be seated at an eight or ten top rather than just the six of you. We had did this that one time and ended up having a great conversation with a couple from South Africa....and of course unlike on a traditional cruise, if you don't like the table mates, you don't ever have to eat with them again! In this case, we did and ended up joining them for lunch a few days later. The other thing to keep in mind is that each ship and I suspect iteniary differs on when and where guests want to eat. On Jade in the eastern med in April, there was NEVER a problem to get into the specialty restaurants. We made reservations for the big birthday celebration night but we really didn't need to have it turned out. While the main dining rooms were always busy, the only time I saw a real wait was when you tried to eat relatively early. I think because of the port intensive iteniary, most folks wanted to eat early to get to bed early. Anyway, don't stress about it....you will have a great time!

 

Clay

[cantwaitt]

You do not need a reservation for the restaurants that are included. And if you like, you can go into one of those as late as 10:30 and get full service like it was 6:30.

 

There sometimes is a crunch from 7:15-8:30 or so, and you may wait 20-30 minutes. Depends.

[jimjamxx]

On NCL we requested the same waitstaff 5 out of 7 nights, and received the same type of service I had received on other lines. The other 2 nights we ate at specialty restaurants.

That is just what we did. Requested certain waiter, and only had to tell them what time. Never had a problem

[Philly Steve]

During our RCI cruise last October, we applied our own version of "freestyle," eating in the dining room three out of the seven nights and enjoying the Windjammer the rest of the time (we tipped the wait staff in both dining rooms). Can't wait to check out "official" freestyle this time around! :) I think we're going to love it.

[Jenbo57]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses/opinions! I think we're really going to enjoy this new (to us, anyway) way of cruising. Now I've got 11 months to read reviews/acquaint myself with the ship, and all of the great places to eat! :D

[luddite]

It is diffucult to imagine that you won't enjoy the cruise. You won't have horrible wait times. There are several restaurants to dine at. If one has a wait, try another, its not like you need to hail a cab to get around.If you want to pony up a bit, you can dine in the specialties.

My wife and I are particularly fond of dining with other amenable guests. We have always met someone on board and decided that a meal together would be fun. We also will request a shared table with complete strangers, with the caveat that they must be pleasant fun travellers. Only once have we been seated with a grumblepuss. When we finally talked gardening, he came around. Turns out their son lives about a 1/2 mile from us. The world isn't really so big after all, I guess.

 

We sometimes travel with friends/relatives. We don't always dine together. People will tell you " Oh you're going on a cruise? Well, you've gotta do this and you've just GOTTA do this other thing!" Here's a secret for ya: You don't GOTTA anything. You're on a cruise. Relax. Have a beer. Enjoy. Say hello to complete strangers and find a conversation. Have another beer. Find some music. Listen. Have another beer.

Beer is proof that God loves us.

 

Have fun, I wish I was going with you.