New to NCL Freestyle help

[POGO28]

Have cruised many times. Cruised NCL many years ago. We will be new to Freestyle and not sure how this works. Are there many different fare included restaurants and can you reserve times and dates prior to cruising.

 

How many specialty (extra price) restaurants and can you resesrve pre cruise.

 

We will be a group of 6 and I am thinking whatever we could reserve pre cruise might be helpful.

 

Are there long waits in the MDR. I am assuming there are no table assignments as are traditional. I am just a little confused and your help would be great.

 

Thanks

[collegecruiser346]

The restaurants that are included in the cruise price are the Buffet, 2 main dining rooms, room service, the outdoor grill, and Blue Lagoon (Most NCL ships have it) I don't think you can reserve any restaurant (regular or specialty) before the cruise. If you are in a suite, you can reserve them for every night all at once, once you board. If you are not in a suite, you can reserve them the day before you want to go. As far as wait times, some people say they waited 20mins, some say no wait at all. I think the longest wait I've ever had was maybe 10 minutes, and I'm always requesting a table for 2.

[POGO28]

Thank you.

 

I have always wanted to sail out of Boston as we live here and you don't have to deal with airlines etc.

[bakerintn]

If you would post the name of the ship that you will be on, I'm sure that you will get more specific information.

 

Seating for six should not be a problem in any venue. Reservations can be made in the main dinning room....limited times (early or late) and maybe a minimum number of people.

 

The specialty restaurants are just for dinner (unless you are in a full suite)

 

don't go to the main dinning rooms just as they open for dinner..there will be a long line and wait. Count on 1.5 hours for dinner in your planning.

 

When you first board, the crew will try to get you to go to the buffet for lunch....the largest main dinning room will be open for lunch, too...much better choice to start your cruise by going there (not open until 12:30 typically).

[sottovoce]

One of the great advantages of freestyle is NOT to have to make dinner reservations in advance.

[CruisFran]

I have always wanted to sail out of Boston as we live here and you don't have to deal with airlines etc.

 

Hey Pat!! There is nothing like sailing right out of Boston!! Are you talking next year...on the Dawn? We have sailed her a few times...enjoyed her! NCL is different from Princess or Royal Caribbean. Think of freestyle like going out to dinner at home, if it's busy you wait. Avoid the most popular times. You will have a choice of dining alone, or sharing a table with others...I think you said there will be 6 of you...so it should be easy to avoid the latter. No pre-cruise advance booking of restaurants. We adapt to whichever line we're sailing....and have never had a bad cruise!

 

We leave on the Spirit on the 10th of Sept...can't wait! We did the repo from NOLA to Boston in April, really enjoyed the ship!! Lots of specialty restaurants on NCL, only a couple of no extra charge ones. We find the food to be good, making it unnecessary to book the specialty, unless you choose to...but food is subjective, and also varies from ship to ship, or cruise to cruise!!

 

Hi to Joe! Happy planning!!:)

[newmexicoNita]

Have cruised many times. Cruised NCL many years ago. We will be new to Freestyle and not sure how this works. Are there many different fare included restaurants and can you reserve times and dates prior to cruising.

 

How many specialty (extra price) restaurants and can you resesrve pre cruise.

 

We will be a group of 6 and I am thinking whatever we could reserve pre cruise might be helpful.

 

Are there long waits in the MDR. I am assuming there are no table assignments as are traditional. I am just a little confused and your help would be great.

 

Thanks

 

you can't reserve prior to sailing but with 6 you won't have too many problems.

 

As for the MDR, you can reserve the morning of but it really isn't necessary. We only waited twice on our last cruise, one time, a couple of minutes, the other about 20 or so.

 

As for the specialty dining rooms, those you can reserve a day in advance. Most of the NCL ships offer a Mexican restaurant, Italian, Asian, French and Steak house. They vary in price, from $10 per person to $25.00. Including in your price are 2 MDRs, Blue Lagoon, (comfort food) the buffet, and the outdoor grill as well as, of course room service.

 

Nita

[POGO28]

We are going on the Dawn.

 

thanks everyone and Fran great to hear from you. We think of the cruise buds often.