freestyle not just at NCL

[momofteens]

After sailing on the SKY April 11 and enduring the worst service I've Ever experienced on a cruise ship I want to remind everyone that they do have otherCruise line options when it comes to Freestyle dining. PRincess cruise lines has Freestyle or Traditional seating. You choose. After cruising with both lines I will say Farewell NCL. THey certainly do not deserve my business. No one should have to grin and bear itwhen cruising. There are too many great cruise lines out there.

[CruisinMatt]

Did you post a review?

 

_________________________

NCL Norway 2/00 - Eastern Carib.

Costa Atlantica 2/01 - Western Carib.

Costa Atlantica 2/02 - Eastern Carib.

NCL Dream 3/03 Valparaiso - Miami

Costa Mediterranea 3/04 Western Carib.

 

Proud member of the PPS-Passport Pusher Society

~~ www.savemartha.com ~~

[CruisinMatt]

Nina, you can email it to me at the address in my profile.

 

_________________________

NCL Norway 2/00 - Eastern Carib.

Costa Atlantica 2/01 - Western Carib.

Costa Atlantica 2/02 - Eastern Carib.

NCL Dream 3/03 Valparaiso - Miami

Costa Mediterranea 3/04 Western Carib.

 

Proud member of the PPS-Passport Pusher Society

~~ www.savemartha.com ~~

[johnql]

This appears to be a thread that's going to become a "bash NCL" thread. Before that happens, I'd like to voice a contrary opinion. I've been on 4 NCL cruises and have found their service, food, entertainment, and overall product excellent. I've also been on 4 Princess cruises and wouldn't have a problem sailing with them again. However, let's keep in mind that Freestyle cruising also covers a "resort casual" dress policy, not just the dining options.

[zimmerjulie]

I agree that there are wonderful options out there for people that do not want to choose NCL.

 

I also agree with johnql that having dining choices does not equal having Freestyle. I know that the OP was concentrating on the dining aspect, but there are other elements of Freestyle that we have really enjoyed that have no relation to dining. Freestyle has really made disembarkation day a lot "kinder and gentler" for me. Getting up at 6 to be out of the cabin at 7 to meet in a public lounge with everyone else and their carryons made for a grumpy start of an overall yucky day of leaving a cruise. Sleeping in, having a nice breakfast in the dining room, then returning to the cabin to retrieve carry-ons and walking off the ship in a leisurely fashion was quite valuable to me on our last two cruises...made it a lot easier to face that day of traveling on the airlines and getting back to "reality". This isn't the case for everyone, but it definitely has been for me.

 

The option of dressing "resort casual" each evening is also nice, especially on shorter getaways.

 

I always hope that people will have positive cruise experiences, because I love cruising so much and want others to enjoy those great feelings, especially after following their "anticipation" phase on the boards. That doesn't always happen, of course.

[jeannep]

Here is my 2 cents:

 

We loved the Dawn last June. The service was wonderful and always done with a smile. Only waited 1 time for a table and that is because we went a little too early and Impressions wasn't opening till 6:30. Dinners were at a leisurely pace and we never missed a show.

The boat was so clean.

We also went on the Crown a few years ago and loved it also.

Carnival Sensation was terrific and so was the Rembrant.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that I love to cruise and nothing can dampen my spirits when I am on a ship.

 

CAN'T WAIT TO GO ON THE DAWN AGAIN IN MAY!!!!!!

 

Regal Empress

NCL Crown 6/98

Premier Rembrant 6/00

Carnival Sensation 2/02

NCL Dawn 6/03

 

till we sail on the Dawn 5/04

[legalcruiser]

Hey Jeannep - seeing your countdown clock has made me very excited. I can't believe we will be on the beautiful Dawn in a little more than 3 weeks and I can't wait to have a fabulous time!

 

Dawn 5/23/04

RCCL Enchantment 7/02

Carnival Glory 8/03

 

[98Charlie]

DW and I cruised the Dawn Princess last December. One dining room was traditional and the other, nearly identical in configuration and one deck below, was "Personal Choice". We opted for the personal choice and found it to be very similar to the Freestyle experience. For those who like Freestyle dining but not NCL it's a good alternative.

 

We had wondered what the service would be like on the American Flagged ships. We thought it would be difficult to staff with all American workers and recieve the same level of service. Time will tell, but the early reports during the transition are certainly not good.

 

I can't fault nina or momofteens for leaving NCL from what I have heard of their cruises. Thanks for the posts. We will still be using NCL but won't be on any of their American Line until we hear a lot of positives.

[jenn_m]

I believe that service is one of the most important parts of a cruise - it can definitely make or break someone's vacation. I feel horrible for everyone on the Sky who has had to deal with the American trainees.

 

That being said, the best cruise I have taken was on the NCL Dawn. And, in fact, it was a lot better than the Princess cruises that I have been on (although I had a great time on those, too!). I just want to point out for anyone who is doing research on what cruise line to try that there is so much more research to do than on that line. Two ships on the same line can be completely different. I don't think that I would like a ship like the Majesty half as much as I liked the Dawn. And, as we have seen, something can change at the last minute that may make one cruise not as great as the next one (lke the staff).

 

I still think NCL is a great line, though, and deserves a first (or second) chance.

[vjblk]

I was also on the 4/11 Sky sailing out of San Juan and I have to agree that the dining room service really could have used some improvement. We had one truly bad experience one night but the other nights weren't too bad. We just chalked it up to the server having an off night. Granted I didn't think the service was up to the same par as some of the other lines but again training was probably the issue and hopefully NCL will get some of the bugs worked out. And it really was only the flow of the meals. With only a table of two it seemed that the courses didn't flow in a smooth manner all of the time. We did have some long waits on a couple of nights at the Seven Seas but the rest of the nights the wait was only about 5 minutes. We didn't think that was too bad. At good restaurants at home, the wait has been longer. And that's what we always tried to remember. That we have encountered off nights at our favorite restaurants at home too and at restaurants when we've been on land vacations. We didn't always expect to get in with no wait.

 

We did experience some of the griping by the staff in the Garden Cafe. One staff member was literally yelling at another behind the counter. Don't usually see this. Another time someone was complaining about the fact that they didn't like always having to take care of the racks of trays. Again, one doesn't usually hear this kind of thing in the middle of the dining area. The only other thing we didn't like about the Garden Cafe was that the tables never got cleared in a timely manner. Always plenty of empty tables but noone around to clear them. Didn't find that convenient either when you're trying to find a place to set your tray.

 

There also seemed to be alot of the equipment out of order. It was irritating to always have to try to figure out which juice dispenser or ice machine was working that morning. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't every day.

 

This was our first experience with NCL and we're not really sure if we'll try it again. There were just enough minor inconveniences that made us wonder if this is the way it always is. But we still enjoyed our vacation and didn't let the below par dining service wreck the whole cruise. We picked NCL for this cruise because of the ports of call and those didn't disappoint.

 

valerie

[pam512]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by johnql:

This appears to be a thread that's going to become a "bash NCL" thread. Before that happens, I'd like to voice a contrary opinion. I've been on 4 NCL cruises and have found their service, food, entertainment, and overall product excellent. I've also been on 4 Princess cruises and wouldn't have a problem sailing with them again. However, let's keep in mind that Freestyle cruising also covers a "resort casual" dress policy, not just the dining options.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

I agree with you. I have been on several NCL cruises over the past few years and I have only had one sort of bad experience and that was simply because the ship was full of college and high school kids. Short of throwing them all overboard, there wasn't much that could be done to control the chaos.

 

I've been on NCL, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Princess. There are great and not so great things about all of them. There are things that happened on each of my cruises that would cause some people to say "I will never sail on this line again", but a lot of people will just shrug it off and continue on. I am the latter. I am fairly easy to please. And you need to realize you are dealing with human beings. We can't expect perfection from every crew member. Everyone has bad days. If it happens on your cruise, that's too bad. But if you work, remember that you probably have bad days at work too.

[ninafromct]

Just to clarify, I LOVED the freestyle concept. I loved no set dining time, I loved resort casual and disembarkation was wonderful. I still haven't finished my review , I can only type short posts during the day.

 

I thoroughly believe that what cruisers on the non-training ships experienced was a night and day difference from what we experienced. If the service had been minimally efficient, our cruise would have been probably the best we've taken. We too loved, loved, loved the itinerary, and had a ball on the islands. It's just a terrible shame that NCL didn't keep enough experienced crew on staff to do a minimally acceptable job of serving their guests.

 

We weren't looking for cold washcloths around the pool or sorbet between courses, just a glass of water at dinner, a clean room and clean tables and meals taking less than 2 hours would have been enough.

 

Matt, I'll e-mail you when I'm finished.

 

No tagline, on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

[The Scotsman]

I wish people wouldn't assume a bad experience noted on this forum is an opportunity to 'bash NCL'. Why can't you take at first hand that people do have bad experiences on NCL.

 

I have sailed NCL 3 times, Princess 1 and Carnival 2 times. I have to say NCL is our preferred cruise line. But and it is a big but... as with mumofteens and ninafromct we unfortunately suffered the rather poor service on the Sky this year. We all know well enough the reasons. The issue is should we be paying full price for this quality of service when to all intense purposes this past couple of months have been akin to a shakedown cruise which is always discounted.

 

If you want to think this is 'bashing' NCL then fine think what you want. I am still a fan but am still disappointed in our last experience.

[Kayla's Mom]

I just have a question becasue I am not sure I fully understand and am booking a new cruise soon -- this issue of other lines and freestyle. I am looking at Princess and other cruiselines which have alternative dining, but you folks seem to say that's not the same as Freestyle. Is Freestyle just casual dress, too? Don't the other lines offer that, too? Am I missing something?

 

Legend of the Seas 8/02

NCL Star to Hawaii 04/04

[newmexicoNita]

Kayla, what Princess offers and true FREESTYLE are really not the same, but similar. As for the service on the Sky, my thoughts for what they are worth: is it just the fact the crew is in training or is it saying something about American workers? Maybe an all American crew isn't willing to put out the same efforts as some other employees? Just a thought. NMNIta

 

Commodore 1984, Costa 1985, RCL 1987, Chandris 1989, NCL 1989, Commodore, 1991, NCL 1997, Carnival 1997, Carnival 1998,NCL 1998, NCL 1999, RCL 2000, RCL 2000, NCL 2002,NCL 2003, Celebrity 2003, NCL 2004

[Kayla's Mom]

Thanks, but I still honestly don't understand. I'm looking for a line with a choice of dining but with a better kids program than what I experienced with NCL. If Freestle isn't just "an attitude" maybe someone can fill me in on what the practical differences are.

 

Legend of the Seas 8/02

NCL Star to Hawaii 04/04

[Dolphins]

Having previously sailed on HAL, RCI, Princess, CArnival and Celebrity, I found my Norwegian Dawn 11 day cruise in January exceeded all expectations. The combination of free-style dining and 10 restaurants to choose from has spoiled us for other cruise lines. We cancelled a 10 day Caribbean cruise on QM2 in November for another 11 day Caribbean cruise on the Dawn. We got a larger cabin, an extra day, freestyle variety at a much lower price. Not having to fly anywhere is the icing on the cake and it will be difficult to lure us away from Dawn in the future.

[awatt]

Let em remind everyone that the traditional dining experience can be achieved on an NCL freestyle ship.

 

Our first night on the Dawn we were so pleased with our waiter Prince(request him if you can!) that we approached the maitred d" and arranged a table with Prince at 6PM every night in Impressions. It was a fabulous dinner every night,great food and exceptional service.

 

Obviously you can't make auch a request at the busiest times,probably 6:30 to 8:30. But if traditional dining is your wish it can be done.

 

Also,I think people should consider the flip side. With traditional dining if your waitstaff is subpar,you are stuck with them for the week. Whereas with freestyle you are not.

We experienced this on our Disney cruise in January. What a disappointment with our servers,they were really bad and we had no other otions. We accepted it and did not let it ruin our cruise or cloud the positive aspects of that trip.

[zimmerjulie]

The main elements of Freestyle are: dining, attire, gratuities, and disembarkation. I have described above why I much prefer freestyle disembarkation. Dining is also a biggie for me, as being able to be flexible in dining times/places is great. Resort Casual attire can be a welcome thing, especially after a long, active day in port. This isn't a big issue for me, though, as I like to dress up one night anyway (on a 7 night or more length cruise). I think this may appeal most to people who "dress up" every day for work and just hate to do so on vacation. Freestyle doesn't limit them to the buffets or room service on optional formal nights.

 

Freestyle gratuities - automatically charged to onboard account. I don't want to get into a tipping discussion on this thread, so I'll just list it and say that I consider it to be convenient.

[ninafromct]

Does anyone know what the differences are between NCL's freestyle and Princesses? Nita mentioned that there are differences, and I'm curious as to what those differences are exactly. Princess is a line that I haven't tried but am seriously considering for next year as it offers flexible dining and from what I've read, great service.

 

Has anyone sailed both lines since the inception of Freestyle on both who can make a comparison?

 

BTW, Nita, during our discussion with James Deering (hotel director on Sky), he mentioned that the American crew was NOT as service oriented as a foreign crew, and that they couldn't be expected to provide the same level of service. You may be onto something with your theory.

 

No tagline, on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

[zimmerjulie]

Princess has "Personal Choice" dining, where you can select to dine in the traditional manner at an assigned seating time (early or late) OR you can choose to use the other restaurant for flexible dining. I understand that you can not switch between the two, but must decide beforehand which method you will be using throughout the cruise. Sounds like a nice option.

[ninafromct]

Thanks Julie. I wonder if the other restaurant has the same menu and uses the same kitchen as the traditional dining room? I really, really loved not being tied to a schedule while on vacation, so in that regard, NCL spoiled me for traditional cruises with set dining times. That is just so unnapealing to me now, especially with all the kids.

 

No tagline, on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

[johnql]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The Scotsman:

I wish people wouldn't assume a bad experience noted on this forum is an opportunity to 'bash NCL'. Why can't you take at first hand that people do have bad experiences on NCL.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can and do differentiate between negative reviews and NCL-bashing. Everybody has a right to relate their bad experiences. And yes, I fully concede that not every aspect of every cruise is up to everybody's standards or expectations. However, we have all read posts that snowball and I thought that this thread had the potential to do so. But it hasn't, which is great. So, what's the difference between just expressing a negative view and bashing? There's no definitive answer to that, but usually it involves gross generalizations based on one experience; or ranting based more on emotion than objective facts; or it's a review that criticizes without any detailed explanation; or it's a post that lacks perspective other than an inordinately one-sided account of what happened. And bashing often ends with the overly dramatic "I'll never sail with them again" promise. I guess, for me, I view bashing the same way as the Supreme Court once described pornography: I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

[shoreguy]

I think the is a bigger difference between Freestyle and personal choice depending on which NCL ship you choose. It is about choice not only on when you eat but where and what you eat. Personnel choice only addresses when.

 

That said I have to believe Freestyle will continue to improve as the fleet is updated. It gets better with each new ship. I have saided most of the ships in the fleet some before freestyle and have to believe freestyle is a challange on the Majesty, Sea, Dream. Wind. It only gets better as you move up the fleet from Sky to Sun to Star to Dawn.

 

Having 10+ resturants and a ship designed with Freestyle in mind makes a big difference in the satisfaction with the program.

 

When you cruise makes a difference as well. On the Dawn which always sails full there is a difference in full. The ship handles Freestyle for the most part without a hitch with 2300 passengers (2 per cabin). It is a challange when the ship is packed with families and gets close to 2900 passengers. More fannies then seats in the main dining rooms. Reservations tough to get in the specialty resturants.

 

If you want to really enjoy freestyle jump on the Sun or Dawn in October or early November you may never want to go back to a traditon ship. On the other hand my guess sailing the Sea or the Wind over Xmas or spring break could turn you into one of the cronic complainers found as of late on CC.

 

Princess is an option I am looking at for my next cruise. As I posted before I was sure I would hate Freestyle and now I can't go all the way back to traditional.

 

One thing everyone has to agree on even those that continue to bash the cruiseline, NCL is willing to try new and different approaches to cruising. Freestyle, year round from NY, NCL America. Change has risk and not everything works out perfect the first time. Those that don't embrace change my find their cheese gone one day

 

Seaward 1/89,Southward II 1/91,Windward 10/93,

Norway 3/94,4/96

Dreamward 4/97

Dream 12/99

QE2 4/02

Carnival Spirit 7/02

NCL Sun 10/03

NCL Dawn 2/03,7/03,2/04

 

No Clock = No Next Cruise

[newmexicoNita]

Shoreguy pretty well summed up the differneces. All Princess offers in the choice of traditional or alternative with one restaurant for each. I don't know if the newer ships have specialty restaurants, but they certainly do not offer 10 choices. I do agree with JohnQ's statements about some using every opportunity to "bash" and why I don't know. It is a fact theat NCL has always been the instigator of change. Not only freestyle and year round sailing from NYC, but cruising the Caribbean period, offering a private island, sailing out of Houston, docking in Roatan, and I am sure other ideas like making sure we bring no liquor aboard (bad one that time) LOL

 

NMNIta

 

Commodore 1984, Costa 1985, RCL 1987, Chandris 1989, NCL 1989, Commodore, 1991, NCL 1997, Carnival 1997, Carnival 1998,NCL 1998, NCL 1999, RCL 2000, RCL 2000, NCL 2002,NCL 2003, Celebrity 2003, NCL 2004