Feeling like "freestyle" isn't so freestyle....

[AandBmom]

We've sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL.

 

While NCL talks all about being Freestyle, I found it more difficult to book specialty restaurants, especially for a group of 6, book shows, get turned away for not having reservations, etc. If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard. Also, you may feel like 5:30 dinner reservations are great 2 months in advance but that day you nap at 5pm and oops, missed it.

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone else actually found figuring out what's included, what costs more money, what needs prebooked, etc more annoying than just being able to show up at any show or restaurant when you want???

 

Also NCL talks like you can't dine on other ships whenever you want. Well we haven't had a fixed MDR time on any ship in years, all seem to offer some sort of "my time" dining.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Mac4YYZ]

So don't sail with NCL. Problem solved.

 

Sent from my SM-T320 using Forums mobile app

[casofilia]

Go on small ships not the large ones; we have no trouble on them.

[beerman2]

We've sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL.

 

While NCL talks all about being Freestyle, I found it more difficult to book specialty restaurants, especially for a group of 6, book shows, get turned away for not having reservations, etc. If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard. Also, you may feel like 5:30 dinner reservations are great 2 months in advance but that day you nap at 5pm and oops, missed it.

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone else actually found figuring out what's included, what costs more money, what needs prebooked, etc more annoying than just being able to show up at any show or restaurant when you want???

 

Also NCL talks like you can't dine on other ships whenever you want. Well we haven't had a fixed MDR time on any ship in years, all seem to offer some sort of "my time" dining.

 

Just my 2 cents.

If you nap at 5:00 p.m. with a 5:30 dinner reservation it's not oops, it's on you.

 

Never had an issue "figuring" things out, being you have multiple post on CC you should know you can get answers here.

 

It's not NCL most things you mention you should have known.

[casofilia]

{Snipped}

If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard.

 

Could I suggest that you take a magnet, some paper and a pen. Write a note of what you are to do the next day; from the overall cruise information you have prepared before you left home; and put it under the magnet where you are bound to see it!!

[drvalo]

Go on small ships not the large ones; we have no trouble on them.

 

I agree. The whole scheduling requirement was the worst thing about the Epic. We have decided to try to steer clear of those large ships.

[mkmaj]

I haven't been yet, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Show up to the main dining rooms/buffet/pub/noodle bar whenever, make reservations for the specialty restaurants. I wouldn't expect to be able to just walk in to an upscale restaurant at home, so I wouldn't expect to on a ship either. I would also expect to show up and honor my reservation or lose it.

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

[fshagan]

I haven't been yet, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Show up to the main dining rooms/buffet/pub/noodle bar whenever, make reservations for the specialty restaurants. I wouldn't expect to be able to just walk in to an upscale restaurant at home, so I wouldn't expect to on a ship either. I would also expect to show up and honor my reservation or lose it.

 

The larger ships are more challenging because they have the large, broadway type shows. As far as the Jewel class ships, and the Star, Spirit, etc. go, you don't need reservations for shows, or MDR dining.

 

You can also wait until you board to make reservations for the specialty restaurants. We usually make them prior to boarding when we having the dining plan. We have never had a problem either switching the reservation 24 hours before, or cancelling, or remembering that we had a reservation.

[ilsh75]

I agree that I feel less "free" on breakaway thank on the gem. The free style is what was keeping me from trying out RCI buy Breakaway doesn't feel like that you have to plan everything or stay in long line. Up sell on breakaway was really worth it.

[Eleteace]

It only feels less free for the speciality restaurants, the main dining room/osheehans is very free :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[philip_eunice1]

I have a link that might help u

https://www.royalcaribbean.com

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Oakman58]

I agree. The whole scheduling requirement was the worst thing about the Epic. We have decided to try to steer clear of those large ships.

 

I agree also. I recently came back from a cruise on the Epic and now know I don’t like cruising on the mega ships. I really didn’t like having to make reservations for the shows in the theater and comedy club.

 

Any future cruises my wife and I book will be on the smaller ships.

[luckyinpa]

this is what i do for every cruise. when i get email confirmation for reservation, i print it out and it goes in my suitcase. also the times are on your NCL.com account and i print out those confirmations but sometimes they are 'off' by 30 min. no idea why.

 

i also have the PDF on my phone and put the reservations in my phones calendar, which even works at sea

 

using one or all of my ideas above should help any passenger remember their reservation time even if they made them 90 days ago.

 

and while i get you never know when you will nap, you can always try to change the reservation and especially with outdoor venues you have a better chance at 'walkups'

[KeithJenner]

It totally depends on what you consider freestyle to mean.

 

If it is important to you to be able to just turn up to shows etc without any reservations then the smaller ships will be better for you.

 

However, you don't have much choice of shows. There is the show in the main theatre or some musicians in bars.

 

For me, freestyle is more about having choices as to the entertainment I go to. On the big ships I have the choice of the show in the theatre or the dinner show or headliners or the other music venue (fat cats/cavern etc).

 

The negative to this is that reservations are often required. That isn't a problem to me, so I find the new ships massively more "freestyle" than the older ones.

 

Each to their own, but on the new ships it is important to try to get it out of your head that freestyle means being able to turn up when you want and being guaranteed to get in. That's never been the case, and in my opinion has never really been what freestyle is about.

[LrgPizza]

I wouldn't make reservations for a group of 6 anyway. You might not all want to do the same things all the time. Freestyle also can mean that if 2 want to dine without the other 4, they can and don't have to be tied down to reservations or the group. :D

[kathybelcher2433]

As far as staying organized, I just take a screen shot or a photo of my reservations and keep on my phone. No paper. No problems. Now, back to my nap[emoji3]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[sjbdtz]

Don't forget that your booked times / reservations are all available for display on the TV.

 

As for Freestyle, nobody does it quite like NCL, as far as I understand.

 

 

Our one trip on Princess (22 days), they had 4 separate restaurants you could choose from, with Anytime Dining.

 

Not bad. Except they all had the same menu, and were just partitions quartering the 1 big dining room into 4.

 

And their premium steakhouse? Well, that was 8 tables in the buffet which were partitioned-off in the evening.

 

 

Not quite the same as Le Bistro on the Dawn, where you're dining next to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Old Masters.

 

 

Lastly, just because somebody else copies you, doesn't mean you have to stop doing what you're doing.

 

 

 

 

Stephen

 

 

.

[NHL Philly Fan]

We've sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL.

 

While NCL talks all about being Freestyle, I found it more difficult to book specialty restaurants, especially for a group of 6, book shows, get turned away for not having reservations, etc. If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard. Also, you may feel like 5:30 dinner reservations are great 2 months in advance but that day you nap at 5pm and oops, missed it.

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone else actually found figuring out what's included, what costs more money, what needs prebooked, etc more annoying than just being able to show up at any show or restaurant when you want???

 

Also NCL talks like you can't dine on other ships whenever you want. Well we haven't had a fixed MDR time on any ship in years, all seem to offer some sort of "my time" dining.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

Nope not at all. BTW you are able to show up when you wnat to eat at the MDRs.

[Driberif1]

We've sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL.

 

While NCL talks all about being Freestyle, I found it more difficult to book specialty restaurants, especially for a group of 6, book shows, get turned away for not having reservations, etc. If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard. Also, you may feel like 5:30 dinner reservations are great 2 months in advance but that day you nap at 5pm and oops, missed it.

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone else actually found figuring out what's included, what costs more money, what needs prebooked, etc more annoying than just being able to show up at any show or restaurant when you want???

 

Also NCL talks like you can't dine on other ships whenever you want. Well we haven't had a fixed MDR time on any ship in years, all seem to offer some sort of "my time" dining.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

 

I was on the Epic as a group of 5 not long ago and we wanted to be safe and we booked reservations at the specialty rest. before getting on the ship and the only openings were later times, Not once did we actually go and eat at the times we planned. Each day we got hungry earlier and would "walk up" to any place we wanted and our longest wait to be seated was about 5 minutes. We have also went as a group of 3 on the Escape and Getaway with the same scenario and no waits longer then 5 minutes when walking up. So many people get nervous thinking the ship is so big and so many people that it will be tough to get in places but there are so many places to eat and things to do that it is spread out enough you really should not have a tough time going where you want when you want.

[laurabegorrah]

Remember, the whole 'Freestyle' sales pitch was launched by NCL in, what, 1990s? Early 2000s? And back in those days, they were the only line (or the only large mass market line) doing dine anytime, no formal nights, multiple specialty, etc. When other lines saw how successful NCL was, they started rolling out their own versions. And as NCL launched larger and larger ships, with even more dinning and entertainment options, the need for crowd and line control grew and freestyle became less and less free. But that has only been in the last 5 years or so, since Epic. Go back to the Jewel class ships, and freestyle is still similar to how it was back at the inception.

 

As for keeping track of what i booked, my day job is analytics, so I tend to do a spread sheet for everything. lol I have it as a google doc, and check it from time to time on board to remind me what I had scheduled when. Everything is normally listed in your account as well, either on your in room TV or the iConcierge app.

Edited January 11, 2017 by laurabegorrah

[blackwing]

We've sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL.

 

While NCL talks all about being Freestyle, I found it more difficult to book specialty restaurants, especially for a group of 6, book shows, get turned away for not having reservations, etc. If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard. Also, you may feel like 5:30 dinner reservations are great 2 months in advance but that day you nap at 5pm and oops, missed it.

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone else actually found figuring out what's included, what costs more money, what needs prebooked, etc more annoying than just being able to show up at any show or restaurant when you want???

 

Also NCL talks like you can't dine on other ships whenever you want. Well we haven't had a fixed MDR time on any ship in years, all seem to offer some sort of "my time" dining.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Pardon me for asking, but how do you function in your everyday life? How do you remember which restaurant and time you made a reservation at for Friday night? What about doctor's appointments? School conferences? Appointments to have the HVAC guy come to service your system? What you need to get from the grocery store or Target?

 

Do you write anything down, or do you just make appointments and then rely on your memory or wait for them to call you to remind you?

 

I have never forgotten to go to anything on a cruise. It's extremely easy to go to MyNCL, print out your listing of booked dining reservations and show times and bring the papers with you onboard.

 

I do agree that the specialty restaurants tend to book up. But even then, on the first day, you could just go to the guy taking reservations in the Atrium and see what is available. Or even just show up at the restaurant. With the fairly newish a la carte system and not needing to pay in advance, plenty of people make reservations and then just change their minds and not show up.

[Nola26]

We've sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL.

 

While NCL talks all about being Freestyle, I found it more difficult to book specialty restaurants, especially for a group of 6, book shows, get turned away for not having reservations, etc. If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard. Also, you may feel like 5:30 dinner reservations are great 2 months in advance but that day you nap at 5pm and oops, missed it.

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone else actually found figuring out what's included, what costs more money, what needs prebooked, etc more annoying than just being able to show up at any show or restaurant when you want???

 

Also NCL talks like you can't dine on other ships whenever you want. Well we haven't had a fixed MDR time on any ship in years, all seem to offer some sort of "my time" dining.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Sorry for your disappointment. I have had great experiences dining on NCL and seeing shows. Specialty dining tends to encourage reservations, but MDRs do not, even for a group of 6. I don't bother with Specialty options.

 

Shows can be reserved on some ships and walk up only for others. If it is an extra charge show you reserve and purchase onboard or pre cruise, we have done both. Comedy shows in smaller venues are reserve onboard or wait in line near show time in hopes of getting seated. If show is in theater walk in is typical. Later arrivals may not find 6 seats together but there will likely be 6 seats open.

 

Dine when you want is always true on NCL. Between the pub, MDRs, buffet and snacks in the casino I can always find something. There may be limitations, but having a sit down meal anytime is a definite option.

 

I use the Explore & Plan tab ncl.com pre cruise to plan and can see what is comp and extra charge and if I want. Onboard the large kiosk screens give the same real time and I have used one to book a pay show onboard. You can also do this on the TV in your room or the iConcierge app.

 

While cruising I am willing to change or cancel plans, roll spur of moment, etc. that is my freestyle and NCL is phenomenal for me.

[tbear046]

We've sailed on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL.

 

While NCL talks all about being Freestyle, I found it more difficult to book specialty restaurants, especially for a group of 6, book shows, get turned away for not having reservations, etc. If you want to get everyone in to the things you want it's helpful to book in advance, like before your vacation starts....but you often forget what you booked for when once you're aboard. Also, you may feel like 5:30 dinner reservations are great 2 months in advance but that day you nap at 5pm and oops, missed it.

 

Anyway, just curious if anyone else actually found figuring out what's included, what costs more money, what needs prebooked, etc more annoying than just being able to show up at any show or restaurant when you want???

 

Also NCL talks like you can't dine on other ships whenever you want. Well we haven't had a fixed MDR time on any ship in years, all seem to offer some sort of "my time" dining.

 

Just my 2 cents.

I peruse these boards, research, ask questions and line it all up! Our last cruise was so "freestyle" relaxing that I cried getting off the ship! Everything I prebooked is on my e-docs! Easy peasy!

 

Terri Lee

[havenfan]

Everything is normally listed in your account as well, either on your in room TV or the iConcierge app.

 

I was on the Star a few weeks ago and I couldn't find any record of my reservations on the iConcierge app, not even the ones I made on the app itself. I obviously can't use it right now, but do you remember how you looked them up?

[luckyinpa]

i dont remember seeing my reservations on the app either

 

i DO wish they had MDR menus on the app or tv screen . why in the world dont they? is it technologically impossible?