Ventura - Club or Freedom

[HEVnDEN]

We are new to cruising, we are not sure to go for the Freedom or Club meal plan, could you tell us your views? thanx

[BrianI]

Really its down to personal choice. The menu, food and dress code are the same whichever you choose. The advantages of Club dining is that you have the same table, same people, same waiters for the duration of the cruise. The advantage of Freedom is that you have flexibility.

The timing of the theatre shows is based around club dining times so if you want to see the shows, you have to pick a time to dine to suit.

There are two shows a night on Oceana, usually 8:30 and 10:30 and three on Ventura/Azura at 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00.

Brian

[Denarius]

On Club, you dine at the same time on the same table with the same people every night. Waiters get to know your preferences, and you get to know your dining companions. Many long term friendships have been formed this way, but equally you may find that you have little in common with others on your table or may actually dislike them.

On Freedom, you dine at a different table with (usually) diferent people. You can choose when you dine to suit your plans for the evening. You meet many more people, and if you are unfortunate to meet people you dislike, you can console yourself with the thought that you do not need to dine with them every evening for the rest of the cruise or request a table transfer.

On balance, I think that the advantages of freedom dining far outweigh those of club, and would opt for it every time.

[u2cruiser]

We tried Club dining last cruise, not through choice, but because we booked late and Freedom was full. Although we were able to change our assigned table to share with nice people we met onboard on our CC meet and greet, we still found it too restricting and we felt obliged to turn up more than we would in Freedom dining.

 

We've booked early this time to secure Freedom dining. :)

[cruiseluvva]

We had always chosen Club Dining and it had worked really well - until last Spring on a 35 night cruise.

 

Our table companions, while really nice, took great offence when we explained we wouldn't want to dine in the main dining room every night. We would never eat that much food, even if we could manage it - and we couldn't! LOL

 

It meant there was an uncomfortable tension as they felt the whole table should turn up every night - but we didn't I'm afraid!

 

We are now booked for Freedom Dining on our next cruise! Much simpler.

[HEVnDEN]

thanks for your replies, we have booked Freedm, so looks like we have made the right decision