Freestyle Dining Questions

[jmarilyn]

DH and I have never been on a freestyle cruise... we're actually booked on Celebrity Zenith to Bermuda this coming June at the advice of our travel agent (I also have been on a Celebrity cruise before and loved the food, etc). However, I have read some good things about freestyle dining and am thinking about trying NCL for our next cruise. I just have 3 questions:

Do most freestyle restaurants have a cover charge?

What is the cover charge usually?

Do you have to leave a tip each time you go to a freestyle restaurant (as opposed to leaving one tip at the end of the week for main dining staff)?

 

Thanks in advance. ;)

[ron46936]

Most of the Freestyle restaurants do not have a cover charge. The ones that do vary some are ala carte.

 

Tips are charged to your onboard account. You don't do the envelop thing. An extra tip to room service can be given at the time of service. If you have a butler then a cash tip can be given at your discretion.

 

Freestyle is basically a lot less hassle than traditional.

[jmarilyn]

Oh so they automatically charge your room a certain tip amount or do you get to chose how much tip you will leave?

[ute_fan]

There is a $10 per day per person charge for each person in your cabin. I don't know what the current status is -- you used to be able to negotiate it down for poor service (not that we ever did), but I've read it is supposed to be "mandatory" now. It covers the servers, cabin staff, maitre' d, etc.

 

For us, the ability to being able to dine when it is convenient for us is wonderful. We love freestyle cruising -- not that we've ever experienced traditional. We did get servers we were very satisfied with on both our cruises, and requested to be seated in their area each night -- probably had the same server 4 out of 7 night on the 1st cruise, and 5 out of 7 on the next. If they don't have space in their area at the time you show up, you can either choose to wait, or be seated in another area. We tipped both servers extra because we felt they were exceptional in providing us with not only great service, but also great information as new cruisers.

 

Part of what I didn't think I'd like about cruising was being seated at a table with strangers, and needing to make conversation -- I'm slightly hard of hearing, and not always comfortable with a large group of people with multiple conversations going on. Just another reason why freestyle works well for us.

[jmarilyn]

OK, sounds good. Thanks for the information. We'll probably try a NCL next time! ;)

[niya305]

DH and I have never been on a freestyle cruise... we're actually booked on Celebrity Zenith to Bermuda this coming June at the advice of our travel agent (I also have been on a Celebrity cruise before and loved the food, etc). However, I have read some good things about freestyle dining and am thinking about trying NCL for our next cruise. I just have 3 questions:

Do most freestyle restaurants have a cover charge?

What is the cover charge usually?

Do you have to leave a tip each time you go to a freestyle restaurant (as opposed to leaving one tip at the end of the week for main dining staff)?

 

Thanks in advance. ;)

 

HTH

 

* Norwegian Sea- 4 Freestyle, 1 specialty ($15pp cover charge)

* Majesty, Wind, Dream, & Crown- 5 Freestyle, 1 spec. ($15pp)

* Sun- 5 Freestyle, 4 spec. ($12.50 to $15pp)

* Dawn & Star- 7 Freestyle, 3 spec. ($12.50-$20pp)

(Dawn has an a la carte sushi/teppanyaki bar)

* Spirit- 5 Freestyle, 3 spec. ($12.50-$20pp)

* Pride of Aloha- 3 Freestyle, 3 spec. ($12.50-$15pp)

 

The tipping (gratuities) are automatically charged to your onboard account @ $10pp, per day... NCL used to allow this charge to be adjusted (it still does, sort of). Basically, if there is an issue with the service you need to bring it to the attention of a "head" person so that they issue can be taken care of & hopefully resolved, however, if you still feel uncompensated, then they will adjust the charge accordingly... The reason they changed this policy is b/c many passengers just like to reduce the charge or even take it off altogether for no reason; now NCL makes you bring the issue to their attention so that they can have an opportunity to correct it so the rest of your vacation is not affected. VERY UNDERSTANDABLE, but you know there will always be those cheapskates out there.

[katiel53]

I understand the tips are added to your account, but what about tips for the specialty restaurants that have a charge? On Celebrity, as an example, if you go to the specialty restaurant, the charge is basically the tip. No additional tipping is necessary unless you have the desire to. Is it the same policy on NCL?

 

Katie

[shoreguy]

I understand the tips are added to your account, but what about tips for the specialty restaurants that have a charge? On Celebrity, as an example, if you go to the specialty restaurant, the charge is basically the tip. No additional tipping is necessary unless you have the desire to. Is it the same policy on NCL?

 

Katie

 

No additional tipping is required - I usually leave a little extra only because the service is exceptional.