Making Freestyle REALLY Freestyle

[punkincc]

that most lines also have traditional dining , also.

But, then again, NCL is not "most lines"

 

Yes, most lines offer Traditional dining to the vast majority of passengers on the ship. You can request "anytime", but we all know it is not truly Freestyle.

 

On an NCL ship, it is just the opposite. You can make a reservation for the exact same time each night in the MDR, maybe get the same table, and possibly the same waiter ( they rotate venues ), and it will be similar to Traditional Dining, but not exactly. And it will be really difficult to find like minded people to dine with.

 

We don't like the "Traditional" ships and their version of "Freestyle", so that is why we book with NCL. You have the same option if you do not like NCL's option to make a reservation for the same time/same MDR every night. You can simply book the cruiseline where it is done the way you like it for the majority.

 

But why anyone would book an NCL ship with 10 or 11 places to dine, and then choose to eat at the same table, at the same place, at the same time, 7 nights in a row is beyond me.

 

The last time we tried "anytime dining" on another cruise line, they sat us in the same area, at the same table for two, near the same anytime diners who were always seated in the exact same spots for the entire cruise. We might just as well have selected Traditional dining for a table for two.

Edited May 25, 2016 by punkincc

[johnrich]

I agree with the OP. I don't think they are saying to get rid of the anytime dining concept but for those of us who always enjoyed having a set table/waiter, we should also be able to choose that. And for those who say to ask for the same waiter, we've tried on both the Dawn and the Getaway and they were unable to fulfill our request.

Edited May 25, 2016 by johnrich

[punkincc]

I agree with the OP. I don't think they are saying to get rid of the anytime dining concept but for those of us who always enjoyed having a set table/waiter, we should also be able to choose that. And for those who say to ask for the same waiter, we've tried on both the Dawn and the Getaway and they were unable to fulfill our request.

 

And I have been unable to replicate the "Freestyle" experience on a "Traditional" ship because they were set up to serve their "majority" which was Traditonal diners. I could choose anytime dining, but it was far from a true "Freestyle" experience.

 

You in turn can choose to dine at the same time same place each night on an NCL ship, but it is not going to be the same experience as on a ship which is set up for Traditional for the majority.

 

Just curious if those who feel that NCL's option to reserve a table for same time/same place on NCL is not enough, are over on those other cruise line boards advocating that the cruiseline start offering a true Freestyle experience for those who want it.

[graphicguy]

I think the trend has been flowing towards "Freestyle" for a few years, now. And, I do agree that the other lines struggle with the concept, but know that's the way they have to go as it has been a competitive advantage for NCL.

 

I have seen the same thing happen with the alleged "formal nights". Very few people want to do that any more and the industry has moved to a more casual experience.

 

I have read that lines like Cunnard and perhaps some HAL cruises cater more to those groups, but it's a dwindling segment that is disappearing quickly. Even Disney announced they don't support any sort of formal dining.

 

Personally, I think NCL does a good job with this. That's one of the reasons I keep coming back to them, although I am not loyal to any cruise line.

[brookie848]

The problem with offering a traditional option is the logistics of it and that would vary from week-to-week.

 

Say it is offered in only one of the main dining rooms. Table set-ups would have to be moved in order to accommodate the large parties that go with traditional dining. So that part of the dining room can't be used for the entire night. And what if you have a 100 (just random numbers here) people set up for early seating and 200 for late? For half the night (or a good part of the night), that part of the restaurant just sits empty? Tables would need to be broken down in order to fit the smaller parties that come with freestyle dining.

 

As already mentioned, NCL offers a lot of specialty restaurants and other alternatives to the MDR. While some people do eat every night in the MDR, I think those are in the minority. Then you have the people that I read about all the time -- those that didn't like their table mates, so they don't go back to their scheduled dinner. They are now potentially choking up the system by taking a second seat by eating dinner freestyle.

 

Check out the Royal boards if you want to see a lot of complaints about people not getting the type of dining they wanted, the time they wanted, things getting switched around on them, etc. Things like this can cause issues before a cruise even starts.

 

Yes...Norwegian could do this, but what would be the return for them? Their brand is freestyle and it seems it would be a decent amount of work in order to make this run smoothly (since it is a complete departure from their way of doing things). Plus, what is traditional dining really what NCL's target customer wants?

[navybankerteacher]

Yes, just ask the host/hostess seating you that you'd like to sit at <name of waiter/waitress>'s table again.

 

We've done this in both MDR and also Specialties, and it worked very well.

In the MDR, we never had to wait more than a few minutes for a table to turn over, without any type of reservation or advance request.

 

And yes, they knew what our "regular requests", and brought a few things before we even asked.

 

With traditional there is NO wait for a table, and in NCL's MDR's you can ASK for the same waiter - but they drift, so it does not work.

 

The point is: having traditional as an option would not take away from the Freestyle concept - it would simply make it REALLY Freestyle by adding the option. Those who do not like it need have nothing to do with it.

[iceman2a]

If you want "Traditional" dinning cruise on a line that offers that!

NCL is not going to go backwards!

 

Cruised one time on Princess had anytime dinning and it didn't work very well.

Doesn't mean I will never cruise Princess agian, but I prefer NCL's Freestyle!

[mjkacmom]

I think it would cause more waiting for tables. They would have to block off the number of tables for those who signed up for traditional, but what would stop those folks from going to a specialty, or dining freestyle at another time? Those tables would just remain empty, while those wanting to dine freestyle wait for an empty table.

[graphicguy]

With traditional there is NO wait for a table, and in NCL's MDR's you can ASK for the same waiter - but they drift, so it does not work.

 

The point is: having traditional as an option would not take away from the Freestyle concept - it would simply make it REALLY Freestyle by adding the option. Those who do not like it need have nothing to do with it.

 

I tried the RCCL way last cruise....traditional and MTD. Both had wait times. I think it's because with every cruise, guaging who will want MTD or traditional changes. And, the traditional dining is dwindling...probably with each cruise.

 

On top of that, traditional is inefficient. They staff up for full traditional tables. But, some show up every night, and some don't. Some show up part of the time, some show up all of the time, some barely show up at all. But, they have to plan as if traditional diners will always show up every dinner.

 

NCL took the first step and is running Freestyle well.

[cruisemainiac]

Freestyle isn't about having everything that everyone wants. No company could ever accomplish that. Freestyle is about offering new and different choices from the normal model. At the time it was a big shift in what cruising offered. It's also not just about dining. Other cruise lines have made huge investments to go "outside of the box" i.e.. RCCL, to offer ice skating and a whole list of other things.

 

Every company has it's market niche and the successful ones know what theirs is and are laser focused on fulfilling it's mission, not to be swayed by the latest fad. When some one mentions Carnival, Holland America or NCL we all have a picture of what each represents, good, bad or indifferent. If you ever find a cruise line that offers 100% of what you want, then stay with them. Personally I'm happy with 85% - 90%, long live freestyle.

[punkincc]

With traditional there is NO wait for a table, and in NCL's MDR's you can ASK for the same waiter - but they drift, so it does not work.

 

The point is: having traditional as an option would not take away from the Freestyle concept - it would simply make it REALLY Freestyle by adding the option. Those who do not like it need have nothing to do with it.

 

OK, let's be honest here! I only recall waiting on a MDR table once in 8 or 9 cruises on NCL, and this with no reservation ( and I got a glass of free champagne for my inconvenience )! Generally, for the majority of people, the only delay in being seated is simply waiting your turn for the hostess to seat the people in front of you, a matter of two or three minutes.

 

The real wait, IMO, is for Traditional diners who must wait for their entire table to arrive, then for all to decide on an appy, then to all finish it, repeat endlessly for each course of a 5 or 6 course meal. Make sure you block out at least 3 hours on your schedule. I'll take standing in line for 5 minutes any day if it means I can eat at my own pace without listening to a bunch of people I don't know.:D.

 

And please explain how, logistically, NCL is going to set up this Traditional within Freestyle dining room to operate efficiently with staff and space. Are they going to charge you a fee if you don't show up for some reason, like they do in the specialty restaurants, as you have tied up staff and space for a table never used? Are they going to try to coerce people at the door to join your empty table for 8 like some cruise lines do us Anytime diners when we ask for our table for two?

[AndyCapn]

"Why can't McDonald's make me a Whopper? It wouldn't be difficult for them: they already have the buns, hamburger, tomatoes, lettuce and onions. I know they have their own menu and they're busy but why can't they make the burger I'm paying for the way I want?"

 

Same argument.

[Into Cruising]

it would be very easy to convert the Private room at Taste into a traditional dining room.... And no different than any other cruiseline that has traditional, it is only available until capacity runs out. You sign up for it, you use it.

 

Gee whiz, thinking on it, they could actually market it as an SDP option.

 

And it would be just as easy to block out people who opted for Traditional, from going to any other restaurant, during those hours or for the whole evening, to keep people from going elsewhere and forcing inefficiencies onto the dining room. And before you tell me it will screw up the revenue from the specialty restaurants, on any given cruise the VAST majority of passengers do not partake of the specialty dining...and only now with the dining promo's do people give it a try. If they had to pay, most would sit it out, as they did in the past. If the option was to do traditional all week, with no option for specialty dining, a subset of people would sign up. Those that like the specialty option simply would not sign up for it.

 

If there is a will, there is a way....not saying it would be cost effective for them or not. Not even saying there is a market for it, but if there was, it could easily be done, without disturbing those that feel it will hose up their freestyle experience.

 

What gets me though, is those on here who would deny others the option, even though it has zero effect on them and their freestyle. It is not for the naysayers to protest, it is for the cruiseline to find a way to please customers.

[Into Cruising]

say, "they can't do that" You might be the same people who said they could not charge for room service too! and that must have really impacted your freestyle experience.

[graphicguy]

I think you answered your own proposition. Having one dining room for two seatings, that probably won't be filled in either seating, isn't efficient, nor particularly in demand. NCL has found there isn't much of a market for traditional dining. So, they listened to their target audience to come up with Freestyle.

 

HOnestly, you can go to any dining venue, dressed how you want, with Freestyle. I'm failing to see any way to protest this because it doesn't follow protocol from a decade+ ago.

[navybankerteacher]

 

...

 

Just curious if those who feel that NCL's option to reserve a table for same time/same place on NCL is not enough, are over on those other cruise line boards advocating that the cruiseline start offering a true Freestyle experience for those who want it.

 

Why would someone who wished that NCL would offer traditional dining be inclined to want other lines to stop offering it?

 

No one is suggesting taking away your cherished anytime-only approach - just that NCL offer a REAL do-it-your-way approach (which is what they seem to claim they offer with Freestyle): which should of course offer traditional.

[NLH Arizona]

Why would someone who wished that NCL would offer traditional dining be inclined to want other lines to stop offering it?

 

No one is suggesting taking away your cherished anytime-only approach - just that NCL offer a REAL do-it-your-way approach (which is what they seem to claim they offer with Freestyle): which should of course offer traditional.

Wondering if you would like to sit with the same folks each night or just want to sit at a table with others at a certain time?

 

They could have a couple community tables, maybe holding 8 or 10, that are seated at certain times (the traditional 6:00 and 8:30) for those that want to sit with others. I think the only way they could have community tables is to have certain times for seating, because otherwise you would have folks coming at different time and that, IMHO, would be very disruptive to the dinner. Just a thought.

[blackwing]

OK, fess up. I want to know how many people like me opened this thread because we wanted to hear about a plan to bring completely nude sunbathing to the topmost sun deck. Can't get much more freestyle than that! :eek:

[blackwing]

So for the people that want traditional dining... what is it about traditional dining that you most want? 1) Same time and table each night; 2) Same waiters; 3) Same table mates; or 4) "Traditional" dining dress and no shorts/t-shirts.

 

If it's 1, 2 and 3... I agree that you could just join a roll call and find people you want to eat with and meet at the same time every night in the same dining room. I do think it's harder to have the same waiter, but I don't think it's impossible. On our cruise we had the same waiter 5 of the 7 nights, and she did know what we wanted. She brought our kids chocolate milk and a dish of peas without asking. We asked for her each night and only missed her twice.

 

If it's 4.... sorry, not going to happen.

[abbyar]

If it's 4 - those individuals can dress up when they wish. I *love* to get dressed for dinners on cruises. I have a glass of champagne while getting my makeup on and putting on something I wouldn't wear in the "normal" world (aka not business attire). I have dresses I only wear on cruises. I don't mind wearing a cocktail dress next to someone in shorts. One of my favorite memories on our Gem cruise was the suite reception in the Haven, where a wonderful couple had matching Bermuda style outfits (her dress in the same print as his shirt) and I was in a very stunning cocktail dress. It didn't matter what we were wearing - we all felt comfortable and had a blast drinking and eating off the trays being passed.

 

I think my limit would be a completely nude restaurant - I could get over nude sunbathing on a specific deck. I just don't want to be exposed to those parts at dinner!

Edited May 25, 2016 by abbyar

[xriva]

Why would someone who wished that NCL would offer traditional dining be inclined to want other lines to stop offering it?

 

 

 

No one is suggesting taking away your cherished anytime-only approach - just that NCL offer a REAL do-it-your-way approach (which is what they seem to claim they offer with Freestyle): which should of course offer traditional.

 

 

You can make reservations for the same time every night in the same place. As others have said, you can find table mates ahead of time on the roll call, if anyone else would be interested. You can do all of this without impacting other cruisers. Isn't that the definition of Freestyle?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[blackwing]

If it's 4 - those individuals can dress up when they wish. I *love* to get dressed for dinners on cruises. I have a glass of champagne while getting my makeup on and putting on something I wouldn't wear in the "normal" world (aka not business attire). I have dresses I only wear on cruises. I don't mind wearing a cocktail dress next to someone in shorts. One of my favorite memories on our Gem cruise was the suite reception in the Haven, where a wonderful couple had matching Bermuda style outfits (her dress in the same print as his shirt) and I was in a very stunning cocktail dress. It didn't matter what we were wearing - we all felt comfortable and had a blast drinking and eating off the trays being passed.

 

I think my limit would be a completely nude restaurant - I could get over nude sunbathing on a specific deck. I just don't want to be exposed to those parts at dinner!

I think you're probably in the minority of the people who enjoy dressing up. I've seen more than a few comments that they wished everyone else dressed up too. They want it to be like the days of a transatlantic crossing on Cunard, where everyone is dressed to the nines and instead of fighting for a chair by the pool, they are sitting down to an elegant tea and playing bridge. Never going to happen on NCL. I like that people can dress up or down as much as they want. Definitely makes packing a whole lot easier.

[Aquahound]

Freestyle Shmeestyle. I still don't get it. I'm an equal opportunity cruiser and I still don't get the hype of Freestyle other than it means there is no option for traditional dining. That, and the obsessive airing of Pitfall's "Freedom" on the Escape. ;)

 

You still have to plan your dinners around the shows. When I'm on NCL, I feel no different than when I'm using the Anytime options on all the other cruise lines.

 

Honestly, when I'm traveling with a group and we pick traditional dining on other lines, the service is a lot better. So I think Freestyle, Anytime, My Time, whatever, killed great service.

 

JMHO. :)

[SunshineB]

If it's 4 - those individuals can dress up when they wish. I *love* to get dressed for dinners on cruises. I have a glass of champagne while getting my makeup on and putting on something I wouldn't wear in the "normal" world (aka not business attire). I have dresses I only wear on cruises. I don't mind wearing a cocktail dress next to someone in shorts. One of my favorite memories on our Gem cruise was the suite reception in the Haven, where a wonderful couple had matching Bermuda style outfits (her dress in the same print as his shirt) and I was in a very stunning cocktail dress. It didn't matter what we were wearing - we all felt comfortable and had a blast drinking and eating off the trays being passed.

 

 

 

I think my limit would be a completely nude restaurant - I could get over nude sunbathing on a specific deck. I just don't want to be exposed to those parts at dinner!

 

 

We love to dress for dinner, too! [emoji16]. And we will on the May 28th sailing if Jewel!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[sfaaa]

NO. Forget it. If it ain't broken, don't touch it.