freestyle...pros and cons please...

[sgip2000]

Your statements lose its validity when you now have so many other lines, who have had time to see how it works on NCL & Princess, now jumping on the bandwagon with their own versions of freestyle. They seem to believe it works. Plus, if a good number of people hadn't stated they want more freedom in their dining times, they would never have done it.

 

Funny how it never seems to work very well for those that need the pomp of traditional dining but seems to work very well for those that do not need that pomp and want the freedom to choise when and with who they dine.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea. I just don't think it works so well concidering the ratio of passengers to crew and the number of restaurants on board and the long hours each is open.

 

For example:

 

Last week on PoAm, there were over 2000 passengers and about 900 crew total. Of that 900 crew, the wait staff was probably about 7-10%. There are 10 restaurants. That leaves approximately 10 wait staff per restaurant. The bigger restaurants are open most of the day which results in the wait staff taking shifts. The 2 main dining rooms seat a lot of people and 10 wait staff in each of them is not enough. We had some issues with the Skyline restaurant on more than one occasion(I'll save the details for my review).

 

The staff really does try, but it's just too much to keep up with when everyone eats at different times.

 

I just think it would be more efficient to make dining at the restaurants available at set times but keep the buffet open during the day.

[greywillow]

"Freestyle" is a nice concept; however, it doesn't work very well.

Worked perfectly well for us on more than 50 nights cruising NCL. Wouldn't cruise any other way.

[DAGVBSB]

"Freestyle" is a nice concept; however, it doesn't work very well. Most guests seemed to prefer to eat during the same timeframe. For those who don't mind eating later, it's nice.

 

It is the same at any land restaurant. Go to a restaurant between 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and expect to have a wait. That is why they are called "prime dining hours."

 

We always go before 6:00 p.m. and have never had to wait for a table in any restaurant. Even on land we do that.

 

Traditional would not work for us. My mother, wife and mother in law are all very strict with their eating times. If it is past 7:00 p.m., when they begin a meal, they won't eat. They believe that eating a full meal after 7:00 p.m. makes you fat because the food doesn't have time to digest properly before bed.

 

My mother in law got stuck with late seating on a cruise once and simply did not eat a dining room meal all week. She went to the buffet every night at 6:00 p.m..

[greywillow]

My mother in law got stuck with late seating on a cruise once and simply did not eat a dining room meal all week. She went to the buffet every night at 6:00 p.m..

The key word above is "stuck." You don't always get a choice, especially if you book the cruise late. Boggles the mind that someone can "stick" you with when you must eat dinner every night while you're vacationing--and people will put up with this.