I just booked our first cruise with NCL!

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Given the 3 cruises we were looking at, I think we made the right choice. We will be cruising on the Getaway next summer, only 443 days from now! lol

 

Anything I need to know about NCL that is different than Carnival and Princess? What exactly do they mean by freestyle? Is that just referring to the fact that they don't have assigned seating? Will we need to make reservations to eat or just show up?

[maywell]

Given the 3 cruises we were looking at, I think we made the right choice. We will be cruising on the Getaway next summer, only 443 days from now! lol

 

Anything I need to know about NCL that is different than Carnival and Princess? What exactly do they mean by freestyle? Is that just referring to the fact that they don't have assigned seating? Will we need to make reservations to eat or just show up?

 

Freestyle just means doing what you want when you want to. There's no assigned seating at any of the restaurants and if you want you can make reservations but you really don't have to - free choice. (its recommend for some of the specialty restaurants but again don't really need too). They have a electronic boards through the ships that shows how crowded the restaurant, makes it easy to figure out which restaurant has a bad wait and which ones don't. There's no formal night either, dress comfortable for the cold A/C if dining indoors or on the waterfront.

 

Regarding the nickel & diming - it really very avoidable. NCL has alot of different choices in complimentary dining but if you truly don't want to deal with the MDR for more than 3-4 nights for meals costing more than $25 plus auto tip for dinner, I suggest the Ultimate Dining Plan (UDP). Otherwise the free food is not so bad, its probably a notch down from Carnival's (food is subjective - one's going to like it or not).

[Sand and Seas]

We love FreeStyle cruising. We used to cruise the other way and dressing up for dinners. Now we pack less clothes and eat dinner when we want to. No more suits & ties for my husband, and he loves that! And we've never had trouble finding food to eat at a time we want to eat. Once in awhile a dining room will hand you a pager as there might be a 30 minute wait. Often they give you a coupon for a couple of glasses of wine while you wait. If you can't wait a few minutes you can always run to the buffet.

[kchiumento]

For us it's the only way to cruise. How am I supposed to know 9 months from now that I want the 6:30 seating? What if I get back on the ship late from an excursion? I always thought that was a silly way to vacation. With NCL, I can be the last one on the ship, go take a nap and decide if I want to dress up or not for dinner at whatever time I feel like eating. We also have 3 kids, I could not imagine having to sit through a prolonged meal with cranky kids. Especially if we have to sit with strangers.

 

Welcome to NCL. I think you will enjoy it.

[monkeybone]

Given the 3 cruises we were looking at, I think we made the right choice. We will be cruising on the Getaway next summer, only 443 days from now! lol

 

Anything I need to know about NCL that is different than Carnival and Princess? What exactly do they mean by freestyle? Is that just referring to the fact that they don't have assigned seating? Will we need to make reservations to eat or just show up?

 

Did you pick the free UDP or the UBP?

 

You can and should book your dinning and shows 90 days before your cruise.

 

You can always change it once onboard.

Edited April 18, 2015 by monkeybone

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Freestyle just means doing what you want when you want to. There's no assigned seating at any of the restaurants and if you want you can make reservations but you really don't have to - free choice. (its recommend for some of the specialty restaurants but again don't really need too). They have a electronic boards through the ships that shows how crowded the restaurant, makes it easy to figure out which restaurant has a bad wait and which ones don't. There's no formal night either, dress comfortable for the cold A/C if dining indoors or on the waterfront.

 

Regarding the nickel & diming - it really very avoidable. NCL has alot of different choices in complimentary dining but if you truly don't want to deal with the MDR for more than 3-4 nights for meals costing more than $25 plus auto tip for dinner, I suggest the Ultimate Dining Plan (UDP). Otherwise the free food is not so bad, its probably a notch down from Carnival's (food is subjective - one's going to like it or not).

 

Thanks for the information! The electronic boards sound very helpful. We typically only do one dinner with a charge, however we have two booked for our next cruise. I don't think we would get our money's worth out of the UDP.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We love FreeStyle cruising. We used to cruise the other way and dressing up for dinners. Now we pack less clothes and eat dinner when we want to. No more suits & ties for my husband, and he loves that! And we've never had trouble finding food to eat at a time we want to eat. Once in awhile a dining room will hand you a pager as there might be a 30 minute wait. Often they give you a coupon for a couple of glasses of wine while you wait. If you can't wait a few minutes you can always run to the buffet.

 

I get it. We took 6 bag on our last cruise and 4 of them were fairly large bags!! And it was just my husband and I! :o We are both looking forward to packing much lighter and leaving all our formal wear at home. My husband and son would love to dine in shorts and a polo. I think we will love the freedom with this dining concept. I recall last week we went to dinner a couple of nights when we didn't want to because we didn't want to insult our table mates. We still missed the MDR 3 nights.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

For us it's the only way to cruise. How am I supposed to know 9 months from now that I want the 6:30 seating? What if I get back on the ship late from an excursion? I always thought that was a silly way to vacation. With NCL, I can be the last one on the ship, go take a nap and decide if I want to dress up or not for dinner at whatever time I feel like eating. We also have 3 kids, I could not imagine having to sit through a prolonged meal with cranky kids. Especially if we have to sit with strangers.

 

Welcome to NCL. I think you will enjoy it.

 

Thank you! I think we will. We actually slept through dinner one night on our last cruise and we didn't care in the least. We just hit the buffet and I think it was better than the nasty food Princess serves in the MDR.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Did you pick the free UDP or the UBP?

 

You can and should book your dinning and shows 90 days before your cruise.

 

You can always change it once onboard.

 

We opted for the UBP. We both like the idea of being able to drink whenever we want, as we always try to watch how much we waste on alcohol on cruises. We don't treat ourselves to it much outside of vacation, although we do love our wine on Friday night. We are considering purchasing the UDP, but we really don't think we would get our money back. We will have 4 port days and we may just opt to do something easy like the buffet or O'Sheehan's looked good. I prefer simple foods: steak, fish, chicken, salads, etc. I'm not into mixed dishes, Asian, etc. I eat Italian on occasion but I can take it or leave it because it bloats me. I do love Mexican! Does it sound like we would get our money's worth to you? I do think I would enjoy the Illusionarium and if the Brazilian steakhouse is good I would love it! Chima's is one of my absolute favorite restaurants, but I doubt it would be that good. I am a big meat eater.

 

So you recommend booking our shows and dining ahead of time?

[Rosethorn40]

NCL serves Pepsi products, while Carnival & Princess serve Coke.

 

It is very nice not having to dress up, especially in the Caribbean. When we were on the Star they had two Fee Free dining rooms. One you could come wearing shorts for dinner, the other they asked that one dress a little nicer. Both had the same menus. We found the buffet for both breakfast & lunch on NCL to be better than CCL or PCL, but at night it wasn't much good (In our opinion). Entertainment was very good on NCL.

[Jancruz]

NCL serves Pepsi products, while Carnival & Princess serve Coke.

 

It is very nice not having to dress up, especially in the Caribbean. When we were on the Star they had two Fee Free dining rooms. One you could come wearing shorts for dinner, the other they asked that one dress a little nicer. Both had the same menus. We found the buffet for both breakfast & lunch on NCL to be better than CCL or PCL, but at night it wasn't much good (In our opinion). Entertainment was very good on NCL.

 

Can you tell me what kind of clothes to pack for dinner on a 2 week Dawn cruise to Canada..we also will be on our first NCL cruise since the 70's

Jancruz1

Edited April 18, 2015 by Jancruz

[maywell]

Can you tell me what kind of clothes to pack for dinner on a 2 week Dawn cruise to Canada..we also will be on our first NCL cruise since the 70's

Jancruz1

 

Resort Casual - can get away with with t-shirts and maybe shorts that not too short. Flip-flops - that's a good question, I think you can on some ships but it depends on the Maitre'd....Le Bistro is like the only restaurant where you can't really go in there with shorts and flip-flops (unless they change that rule recently)

[monkeybone]

We opted for the UBP. We both like the idea of being able to drink whenever we want, as we always try to watch how much we waste on alcohol on cruises. We don't treat ourselves to it much outside of vacation, although we do love our wine on Friday night. We are considering purchasing the UDP, but we really don't think we would get our money back. We will have 4 port days and we may just opt to do something easy like the buffet or O'Sheehan's looked good. I prefer simple foods: steak, fish, chicken, salads, etc. I'm not into mixed dishes, Asian, etc. I eat Italian on occasion but I can take it or leave it because it bloats me. I do love Mexican! Does it sound like we would get our money's worth to you? I do think I would enjoy the Illusionarium and if the Brazilian steakhouse is good I would love it! Chima's is one of my absolute favorite restaurants, but I doubt it would be that good. I am a big meat eater.

 

So you recommend booking our shows and dining ahead of time?

 

Yes book shows and dining. Even the main dining rooms 90 days before your cruise. You can always change it onboard IMO its always good to have a ressie.

 

The Brazilian resturant is great I love the salad bar! The steak house Cagney's is really good too.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

What exactly do they mean by freestyle? Is that just referring to the fact that they don't have assigned seating?

 

Thats pretty much it. Basically it means they dont have assigned dining times. NCL is like Carnivals and Princesse anytime dining but more dining rooms.

 

Getaway has 3 for free dining rooms to choose from as well as Osheehans, which had Prime Rib 3 nights on my cruise. The MDRs Taste and Savor seemed the same to me. The Tropicana dining room had the dancers from Burn The Floor in the dancing, that was pretty cool.

 

I never made reservations for the free dining rooms but did for the pay venues.

 

Tip. The Ribeye in LA Cucina is just as good IMHO as you get in Cagneys but for half the price.

 

Have an awesome time. If they sailed that ship a Western Carrib or a longer Panama cruiseroute I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Edited April 18, 2015 by Rottweiler Puppy

[Rottweiler Puppy]

For us it's the only way to cruise. How am I supposed to know 9 months from now that I want the 6:30 seating? What if I get back on the ship late from an excursion? I always thought that was a silly way to vacation. With NCL, I can be the last one on the ship, go take a nap and decide if I want to dress up or not for dinner at whatever time I feel like eating. We also have 3 kids, I could not imagine having to sit through a prolonged meal with cranky kids. Especially if we have to sit with strangers.

 

Welcome to NCL. I think you will enjoy it.

 

FWIW other lines offer anytime dining as well.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

. Otherwise the free food is not so bad, its probably a notch down from Carnival's (food is subjective - one's going to like it or not).

 

I agree. To me its slightly below Carnival (for some reason their MDR food is usually good though I cant stand Carnivals buffets, yuk) and definitely above Princess MDR food.

 

Its 100% doable and decent.

[Jancruz]

Resort Casual - can get away with with t-shirts and maybe shorts that not too short. Flip-flops - that's a good question, I think you can on some ships but it depends on the Maitre'd....Le Bistro is like the only restaurant where you can't really go in there with shorts and flip-flops (unless they change that rule recently)

 

so usually I take black slacks and nice tops will I be over dressed..it will be cool as it is Canada the end of September.

Thanks,

Jancruz1

[fshagan]

You won't be overdressed; no one really cares on NCL. While some other lines have "anytime dining", some still have formal nights and, if you aren't dressed up, you aren't eating in the main dining rooms. NCL doesn't have any of that. On the alternative "dress up or not" night (or whatever they call it on that cruise) you'll see some people dressed up, often to get a nice family picture. But no one cares. It's one of the things people who love the traditional dining don't like about NCL.

[poolreader]

Thank you! I think we will. We actually slept through dinner one night on our last cruise and we didn't care in the least. We just hit the buffet and I think it was better than the nasty food Princess serves in the MDR.

 

I love the food in the MDR on Princess, but everything I ordered in the MDR on NCL would have made any human being sick to eat. I suggest you cancel your NCL cruise, because if you think Princess is bad you will need to spend hundreds of dollars to receive edible food on NCL.

[luvtheships]

I love the food in the MDR on Princess, but everything I ordered in the MDR on NCL would have made any human being sick to eat. I suggest you cancel your NCL cruise, because if you think Princess is bad you will need to spend hundreds of dollars to receive edible food on NCL.

 

That's ridiculous

 

The op is on the ga

 

The ga is like the ba

 

The mdr on the ba is incredible

 

 

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[RuthlessBoss]

I love the food in the MDR on Princess, but everything I ordered in the MDR on NCL would have made any human being sick to eat. I suggest you cancel your NCL cruise, because if you think Princess is bad you will need to spend hundreds of dollars to receive edible food on NCL.

 

When did you come to that conclusion? In the 1st 3pages of past posts, I see no posts about NCL, just about other cruise lines.

[maywell]

That's ridiculous

 

The op is on the ga

 

The ga is like the ba

 

The mdr on the ba is incredible

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

So is the buffet, O'Sheenan's and now the Noodle Bar on the BA. One can truly skip the eating at the specialty restaurants for the whole week with just one of the other 3 options only. And that's not including the outdoor grill for breakfast and lunch - now imagine that for the GA, she and her family are going to be okay on the cruise, lol. Besides 3 separate MDR with different decor and pace open for breakfast / lunch / dinner on seadays and port - No offense, that's better than some other cruise line who just open one for brunch on seadays only ...

[Jancruz]

So is the buffet, O'Sheenan's and now the Noodle Bar on the BA. One can truly skip the eating at the specialty restaurants for the whole week with just one of the other 3 options only. And that's not including the outdoor grill for breakfast and lunch - now imagine that for the GA, she and her family are going to be okay on the cruise, lol. Besides 3 separate MDR with different decor and pace open for breakfast / lunch / dinner on seadays and port - No offense, that's better than some other cruise line who just open one for brunch on seadays only ...

 

My daughter just came off the GA and loved the food..she is very well traveled and was really delighted with the whole ship and particularly the food ..we are going in October..

Jancruz1

[fshagan]

I assume if the food was so horrible in the MDR that it would be empty. I have never seen that on any cruise ship.

 

My opinion of Princess vs. NCL main dining rooms was that Princess did a much better job of presentation of the food and the service was faster, but it was not as good overall in the taste department as the less-well presented NCL food. That's completely subjective, of course, and others will disagree. On the whole, all of the MDR food I've ever eaten on any cruise line is inferior to a good land restaurant's food. It is more akin to the type of food you get at a banquet.

 

But is it edible? Of course. Otherwise there would be no one in the MDR on NCL.