Set Dining / Freestyle Dining - who does what?

[susieh]

Can anyone help please?

 

Is there a thread anywhere that can tell me which Cruise lines do set dining and which do freestyle or anytime dining? We have just come back from our first (and last) NCL cruise and we hated freestyle dining - the hype did not match the experience for us.

 

We want to go to the Caribbean in 2008 and are looking at P&O as we have cruised with them twice before and loved it - but they are only there certain times of the year so we would like to see what other options we have.

[Andee]

Oceania has all open seating dining, which is one of the reasons it's our favorite line.

 

Princess offers both open seating (which they call anytime) and traditional dining.

 

Celebrity only has traditional dining.

 

I believe that Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Carnival have only traditional dining, but I haven't sailed on those lines.

[cherylandtk]

Andee is correct on all the above lines. HAL keeps trying out different options at various times on different ships, but has yet to implement something fleetwide.

 

Note that open seating on Princess is not the same as "freestyle" on NCL. For one thing, the dress codes apply in all the dining rooms, regardless of the type of seating.

[joeyd50]

susieh, may I ask way you hated Freestyle Dining?

Thanks

Joe

[cruisead]

The lines that have traditional dining are Carnival, Princess (in one of their venues), HAL, Celebrity, RCCI, MSC, Costa, Crystal and Cunard. And we agree with the OP. NCL, after trying them twice, never again. Poor service and waits for a table during the evening. If I wanted to stand in line for a table, I'd stay home and go to a local restaurant. Plus, we like developing a rapport with the same wait staff on a ship. Don't have that with NCL.

[Happy ks]

susieh, may I ask way you hated Freestyle Dining?

Thanks

Joe

 

 

People either love it or they hate it!

 

We've done a couple of NCL cruises, but mostly we've cruised with traditional dining. Both worked fine for us, we do the late dining so we don't have to eat so early.

 

If I were to take another NCL cruise, I would budget to eat in their specialty restaurants every single night. All of the meals we had in their main dining room were pretty sub-par. We never had to wait in line or anything, the service was OK.

 

But, the specialty dining on NCL has been some of the best food at sea for us.

 

My husband has had a couple of clients who cruised NCL to the Caribbean and they did not care for it either. But, their are a lot of people looking mostly for price, a lot of people who want quantity over quality, there is a cruise line for just about everyone.

 

We have only cruised on NCL Star, once in Hawaii, once a repo cruise from LA to Vancouver. Some very discerning friends of ours cruised the same ship to Mexico this past winter and enjoyed it. We did tell them to eat in the specialty dining rooms, though. The dining room is fine for breakfast and lunch.

[KarenMF]

The lines that have traditional dining are Carnival, Princess (in one of their venues), HAL, Celebrity, RCCI, MSC, Costa, Crystal and Cunard. And we agree with the OP. NCL, after trying them twice, never again. Poor service and waits for a table during the evening. If I wanted to stand in line for a table, I'd stay home and go to a local restaurant. Plus, we like developing a rapport with the same wait staff on a ship. Don't have that with NCL.

 

I have stood in line for traditional dining, smushed in the crowd waiting for the doors of the dining room to open and let the masses in for our seating time - I have done both early and late seating and experienced that. I will still cruise ships that have traditional seating, I'm not letting that stop me, but I wanted to point out that I have waited for traditional dining as well as for freestyle - and I have not waited for freestyle, too. All I really care about is that I'm on a ship and on vacation :D

[Cruzman]

I have stood in line for traditional dining, smushed in the crowd waiting for the doors of the dining room to open and let the masses in for our seating time - I have done both early and late seating and experienced that. I will still cruise ships that have traditional seating, I'm not letting that stop me, but I wanted to point out that I have waited for traditional dining as well as for freestyle - and I have not waited for freestyle, too. All I really care about is that I'm on a ship and on vacation :D

 

The only times that I had to wait at the door for traditional dining was when I arrived early. If you arrive at 6 PM for dining that begins at 6:15. you will obviously have a 15 minute wait. Never have I had to wait when I arrived at my assigned dining room, at my assigned time.

[cruisead]

Karen, it's quite different having to wait for the doors to open and waiting for 20 minutes for a table to open up. The only time you have to wait during traditional seating is if you arrive at the dining room too early. Don't do that and you don't wait for one second.

[KarenMF]

Karen, it's quite different having to wait for the doors to open and waiting for 20 minutes for a table to open up. The only time you have to wait during traditional seating is if you arrive at the dining room too early. Don't do that and you don't wait for one second.

 

I have arrived at the dining room AT my appointed time and had to wait for the doors to open.

 

I didn't say it upset me - although I did feel claustrophobic - I was just pointing out that you CAN wait in a traditional dining room, too.

[ce2000]

KarenMF, I don't understand either. I have never waited to get into the dinning room or waited for a table to open up on a traditional dinning cruise. Now I have waited for a table to open up when I was aboard the NCL Jewel in Dec. 2005, but I attribute that to their Freestyle concept. I know they tell you that you can eat where you want, when you want and with who you want. That just was not my experience. I have a feeling that was susieh,s experience also. Another problem with NCL Freestyle is the food that is servered in the main dinning rooms for lunch and dinner is not very good. I did like the breakfast that was served in the main dinning room. I was able to eat in Mama's Kitchen and Cagney's, two of the specialty restaurants on the NCL Jewel and the food there was very good. I have to agree with susieh, I much prefer any other cruise lines traditional dinning over NCL Freestyle.

susieh, give, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess or Carnival a try, I believe that you will be much more satisfied with your cruise.

[iheartbda]

KarenMF, I don't understand either. I have never waited to get into the dinning room or waited for a table to open up on a traditional dinning cruise. Now I have waited for a table to open up when I was aboard the NCL Jewel in Dec. 2005, but I attribute that to their Freestyle concept. I know they tell you that you can eat where you want, when you want and with who you want. That just was not my experience. I have a feeling that was susieh,s experience also. Another problem with NCL Freestyle is the food that is servered in the main dinning rooms for lunch and dinner is not very good. I did like the breakfast that was served in the main dinning room. I was able to eat in Mama's Kitchen and Cagney's, two of the specialty restaurants on the NCL Jewel and the food there was very good. I have to agree with susieh, I much prefer any other cruise lines traditional dinning over NCL Freestyle.

susieh, give, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess or Carnival a try, I believe that you will be much more satisfied with your cruise.

 

Ditto on no wait for traditional dining. Nice to get to know your wait staff and likewise they get to know your preferences. Also nice to bond with your tablemates, however if it's not working you can always change tables.

 

That when, where and with whom didn't fly AT ALL with us either. People have told me we were trying to go to dinner at the wrong time, should go either early or late...does that sound familiar, maybe like traditional dining ? We tried going at different times and it still was a hassle. I'm a shrinking violet and never complain but it was so bad one night that I did complain. Went to one resturant and was told a 20 minute wait but if we went to the other one we could be seated right away. Waited in a 20 minute line to get to hostess#2 who told us it would be another 20 minutes. Told her we would go check with resaurant #1 where we were told thay hadn't seated anyone yet so is was back to restaurant #2 only to get there and she had taken our name off the list and guess what? Another 20 minutes! Someone saw the folly involved and finally got us seated. We didn't finish dinner until 10:00 and missed the show that night. I will give NCL credit, (first stray from Celebrity), the restaurant manager called the next day with an offer to fix the problem. He would have the same table, same waiter and same time for us, sound familiar? We declined the offer becasue we didn't think it was fair to all the other people who were waiting in long lines. Like George Costanza would say,"was that wrong?" :rolleyes:

Didn't like having to "break the ice" with new people every night.

 

Believe it or not, I may go back on the same cruise because I now know

what to expect and how to handle it. The real reason to go back is it gets me on sunny beaches with warm water in the middle of Feb. and it's CHEAP. I leave DH home for this one and go with a girlfriend

[joeyd50]

Hi all, the reason I asked susieh way she hated Freestyle Dinning is, I been on 5 cruises so far and going again in Feb. 2008 on the NCL Gem. My first cruise was on Carnival with late seating for dinner and I remember it interfering with the shows, we really didn't like be told when we had to eat, I know we could have gone to the buffet. After that we booked a NCL cruise and loved it and the food was great, all are cruises have been with NCL since.:D Assigned seating and times just isn’t our cup of tea.

Joe

[KarenMF]

Guys - you don't have to understand - except that I like both traditional and freestyle dining. I'm not knocking either, but all I did was state that I have waited, in a crowded stairway or hallway with lots of other people for the traditional dining room to open. I was not saying that it was horrible or anything, just stating my experience. Yes - I could have waited a few more mins until the doors opened, but I didn't and this is what I experienced. I have also waited to be seated for freestyle dining and I do not mind that either. I have also been seated immediately for freestyle dining.

 

That's it - that's all - just giving my experiences, not saying either was bad - it's all good when you're on a cruise ship! :D

[samtig]

I agree with Joey. We've been on Carnival, RCI and Norwegian & enjoyed them all. Each line is different & had things we enjoyed. However, we very much prefer free-style dining on Norwegian. Some of Norwegian's older ships, like the Dream, were not designed for free-style. We found it didn't run as smoothly as newer ships. We've never had to wait long if at all for a table, even when requesting a table for 2. We may cruise other lines again, but Norwegian's our first choice.

[Coolmama_1]

Princess is our favorite and we love anytime dining. We have never had to wait for a table and always have had great service. I guess we must not be too picky or just plain lucky!:)

[ce2000]

I like this thread. It has been civil, with no name calling. Everyone that has participated has been able to give their honest opinion regrading Freestyle/Anytime dining or Traditional dining. Having tried both, I prefer traditional, but many people prefer NCL Freestyle or Princess Anytime dining, isn't it great that we have the choice? I believe that someone who has never cruised before could learn a lot from this thread. At least they would understand the differences between freestyle and traditional and why some people prefer one over the other. I would like to see opinions from others that have not posted here to share their thoughts and experiences.

[Plant]

We also love Anytime and Freestyle dining. Being able to eat when you want and with whoever you want (or alone) is very important to us, so we now book with Princess or NCL only.

 

We like to eat between 7:30 and 8:00 and sometimes we've had to wait a few minutes for a table for two (never more than 15 minutes). We also enjoy eating at a large table sometimes, and have never had to wait to be seated. We're never in a hurry, so it doesn't bother us to wait :) .

 

Yes, ce2000, it is great that we all have a choice!

[joeyd50]

I know this is a old thread but it's a good one. Now does anyone have a list of cruise lines that offer eating anytime you want and those who just offer traditional dinning?

Thanks

Joe

[cb at sea]

It might be best to start a new thread, so folks don't get the wrong info from 4 years ago!

 

All of the lines now have some form of "anytime" dining....Carnival, RCI, Princess, Hal, and of course the original "freestyle" line...NCL!

[paul929207]

Princess has both on most ships. The small ships (Ocean, Pacific and Royal Princesses) and the Australian ship (Dawn and Sun Princesses) only have traditional. They do not have Anytime.

[UKBayern]

2009 RCCL and 2010 Princess we both chose to be flexible in the times and managed to develop a rapport with dining room staff anyway.

It suited us really well and we would not like to return to set-time dining although we are more itinerary-driven and it would not be a deal-breaker for us.

 

As an added bonus, you get to know more of your fellow passengers, who you might chat with later in the lounge, in the bar, on the tender, etcetera; and if you happen to be unlucky in your table mates it is only for one night.

 

You tend to meet people more than once on a longer cruise (our last 2 were 11 and 12 nights) anyway and because of your personal preference of dinner time (we like between 7 and 8 pm and tend not to meet the people who like to eat early) you are limited to a pool of a few hundred tablemates even on a 2 or 3.000 passenger ship. You'll be surprised how often you bump into the same folks!

[marco]

We've done "anytime" on Pricness once. We were a group of 16, so we had two tables that we round robined at. We had the same tables at 7:30 everynight, so we kind of turned it into a set dining time, but at the time we wanted, not the early or late seating as mandated by the ship. That worked out fine. We just got off of an RCI cruise and some folks we were traveling with made these comments. A) with the "anytime" if you didn't call ahead for a reservation, you did have to wait. B) if you didn't call ahead early enough for a reservation, the time they wanted was not available, and sometimes you don't know at 11AM what time you want to have dinner C) one person told us when they were on NCL, if you didn't dine in the surcharge restaurants, the menu was the same every evening. I don't know if they literally meant it was the identical menu every night, or if they meant it was the "same ol' same ol' " all of the time. We've found dining late seating works best. There is plenty of food around all day, so we were not starving by the time we went to dinner, you don't have to rush back from a day's activities to be ready for dinner at 6, and they don't rush you through dinner, so they can have the room ready for the next sitting. Most lines now do shows pre-dinner for late seating passengers, so if you're not a night owl, you don't have to stay up till midnight just to see the evening show.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Ever since Anytime dining (or whatever it's called on various ships: My Time, etc.) we've opted for it and never looked back. We love the ability to eat when we want to and to adjust our times according to what we are doing that night.

 

We especially appreciate not having to eat really early, like 5:30 or 6:00, yet don't late traditional either.

 

Yes, we do kind of miss getting to know our tablemates and waiters sometimes, but the flexibility is worth it to us. Sometimes we have eaten with the same people and had the same waiters anyway, just by chance.

 

I guess we've been lucky, but we've really never had a line to get in longer than 5-6 minutes; usually it's walk right in. Of course, we don't usually eat at the most popular times. Sometimes we get reservations ahead, but often not.

 

We've only been on one NCL cruise (Jewel), ate only in the MDR and buffet and thought the food was very good. I especially liked their buffet layout.

[joeyd50]

We've done "anytime" on Pricness once. We were a group of 16, so we had two tables that we round robined at. We had the same tables at 7:30 everynight, so we kind of turned it into a set dining time, but at the time we wanted, not the early or late seating as mandated by the ship. That worked out fine. We just got off of an RCI cruise and some folks we were traveling with made these comments. A) with the "anytime" if you didn't call ahead for a reservation, you did have to wait. B) if you didn't call ahead early enough for a reservation, the time they wanted was not available, and sometimes you don't know at 11AM what time you want to have dinner C) one person told us when they were on NCL, if you didn't dine in the surcharge restaurants, the menu was the same every evening. I don't know if they literally meant it was the identical menu every night, or if they meant it was the "same ol' same ol' " all of the time. We've found dining late seating works best. There is plenty of food around all day, so we were not starving by the time we went to dinner, you don't have to rush back from a day's activities to be ready for dinner at 6, and they don't rush you through dinner, so they can have the room ready for the next sitting. Most lines now do shows pre-dinner for late seating passengers, so if you're not a night owl, you don't have to stay up till midnight just to see the evening show.

 

 

NCL, has two large dinning rooms, they both have the same menu but its not the same menu every night. NCL will have a dress up night in one dinning room and casual in the other dinning room, the menu is the same in both dinning rooms so your not missing anything by not dressing up