Similar to Free Style

[riddle]

We are planning a cruise in August of 09 to celebrate our daughter's completion of law school and taking the bar. While we normally cruise NCL because we thoroughly prefer Free Style there is a possibility that our specific timing needs and what is available from NCL will not correspond to what we need. Are there any other lines which have a dining style similar to Free Style? We are looking at the first week in August 2009 and most itineraries are not posted as yet.

[awatt]

Princess is the closest to freestyle as far as dining goes, and now they also have freestyle debarkation. We really enjoyed Princess, and we are NCL fans.

[silkhair1]

Congratulations to your daughter! Princess has anytime dining. They also have traditional dining. When I did Princess, most of my group wanted to do traditional fixed dining, so I never experienced the anytime dining. I think that is the only line with anything similar. Good luck with your choice and have fun!!!!!

[CC Help Michell]

Holland America has As You Wish dining, as well as traditional, in the main dining room. Congratulations to your daughter on completing the slog -- I remember it well!

[shark_bait]

This brings up a good question. I see the term freestyle used alot when referring to NCL. It seems lots of people use NCL because of the freestyle way of cruising. What else, other than being able to dine whenever you want makes this any different than say Princess or Holland? Just curious.

[nicknack]

Princess still requires two nights of formal dress-up for its main dining rooms.

[chrisbd1]

First I want to say yaaa, the board is working!!!

 

NCL has 11 restuarants. Princess and HAL have, I think 1 dining room, 1 casual venue, 1 specialty restuarant and a pizzia/hamburger place.

[newmexicoNita]

This brings up a good question. I see the term freestyle used alot when referring to NCL. It seems lots of people use NCL because of the freestyle way of cruising. What else, other than being able to dine whenever you want makes this any different than say Princess or Holland? Just curious.

Two things come to mind or actually 3: 1-as well as dining when you want you have totally casual dress (no I don't mean speedos and flip flops) 2-there are several dining rooms choices compared to just a couple on other lines and 3-the set up is different. On NCL most of the tables are set for 2 or 4, on Princes they are 6 or 8. With so many people coming in and out plus the larger tables it seeme to us the wait staff was husstling so much they didn't have time to say HI and it was very noisy. The food on Princess was great the overall dining experience reminded us of a diner almost. I know some will not agree and that's ok. This was our experience.

 

Still that being said, I would consider Princess. It is similar to NCL if you opt for "personal Choice dining" and the ships are very nice. We were on the Golden, the cabin was small and the bathroom tiny, tiny, tiny....

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

First I want to say yaaa, the board is working!!!

 

NCL has 11 restuarants. Princess and HAL have, I think 1 dining room, 1 casual venue, 1 specialty restuarant and a pizzia/hamburger place.

 

Princess does have 2 dining rooms and I think all HAL ships do as well but HAL only has one specialty dining room, Princess two. Still this can not compare with NCL>

 

and yes, the the boards are working, I began to think it would never happen

again.........

[shark_bait]

First I want to say yaaa, the board is working!!!

 

NCL has 11 restuarants. Princess and HAL have, I think 1 dining room, 1 casual venue, 1 specialty restuarant and a pizzia/hamburger place.

 

 

Yeah that's what I thought too until after I booked our sailing on the Sun. Two Dining Rooms that both serve the same fare and a reservation only "Healthy" type dining room. Other than that the rest are pay specialty restaurants which Princess & Holland also has plenty of. From my understanding this was the first ship built by NCL with the Freestyle Concept in mind so I guess I expected more.

 

Not having to pack for Formal Night I guess is a plus (For me not her):)

 

Looking forward to our upcoming sailing with NCL, have always wanted to give them a try. Seems to me that maybe this "Freestyle" idea might be more marketing than substance. Alcohol policy is definately not Freestyle.:D Never had to wrok so hard to be able to get a bottle put into my room.

 

Hopefully I'm not sounding like I'm bashing NCL because that's not what I'm trying to do. We are very excited for our upcoming cruise and whether they consider themselves freestyle or not wouldn't have made a difference on us booking this cruise. Give credit where credit is due, good marketing on NCL's side.:)

[cruise4kicks]

First I want to say yaaa, the board is working!!!

 

NCL has 11 restuarants. Princess and HAL have, I think 1 dining room, 1 casual venue, 1 specialty restuarant and a pizzia/hamburger place.

I can only speak to the Crown Princess. She had two traditional dining rooms, 2 anytime dining rooms, a steak specialty restaurant, a sushi bar, the atrium snack place (~great~ salads and sandwiches!), and a buffet. There may have been more -- this is all we found. :) We had a party of four, and never had any problem getting a table for 4 in either of the anytime restaurants. There was also a decent number of tables for 2.

[newmexicoNita]

Yeah that's what I thought too until after I booked our sailing on the Sun. Two Dining Rooms that both serve the same fare and a reservation only "Healthy" type dining room. Other than that the rest are pay specialty restaurants which Princess & Holland also has plenty of. From my understanding this was the first ship built by NCL with the Freestyle Concept in mind so I guess I expected more.

 

Not having to pack for Formal Night I guess is a plus (For me not her):)

 

Looking forward to our upcoming sailing with NCL, have always wanted to give them a try. Seems to me that maybe this "Freestyle" idea might be more marketing than substance. Alcohol policy is definately not Freestyle.:D Never had to wrok so hard to be able to get a bottle put into my room.

 

Hopefully I'm not sounding like I'm bashing NCL because that's not what I'm trying to do. We are very excited for our upcoming cruise and whether they consider themselves freestyle or not wouldn't have made a difference on us booking this cruise. Give credit where credit is due, good marketing on NCL's side.:)

No you are can not be accussed of bashing, you are complaining about the same most of us do. The liquor policy isn't popular by any stretch of the imagination. It is one of the two or three things I wish NCL would adjust.

Nita

[CC Help Michell]

Yeah that's what I thought too until after I booked our sailing on the Sun. Two Dining Rooms that both serve the same fare and a reservation only "Healthy" type dining room. Other than that the rest are pay specialty restaurants which Princess & Holland also has plenty of. From my understanding this was the first ship built by NCL with the Freestyle Concept in mind so I guess I expected more.

 

Not having to pack for Formal Night I guess is a plus (For me not her):)

 

Looking forward to our upcoming sailing with NCL, have always wanted to give them a try. Seems to me that maybe this "Freestyle" idea might be more marketing than substance. Alcohol policy is definately not Freestyle.:D Never had to wrok so hard to be able to get a bottle put into my room.

 

Hopefully I'm not sounding like I'm bashing NCL because that's not what I'm trying to do. We are very excited for our upcoming cruise and whether they consider themselves freestyle or not wouldn't have made a difference on us booking this cruise. Give credit where credit is due, good marketing on NCL's side.:)

 

Actually, not every "specialty" restaurant is also a "pay" restaurant. I believe Las Ramblas has no fee; on many of the ships of the line the Italian specialty restaurant is also no fee, but I believe the Sun has a surcharge because it serves the more upscale Italian menu. I wouldn't say that HAL has "plenty" of specialty restaurants -- at least on our R class ship for our cruise this summer we'll have one, which carries a $30 per person surcharge. I'm sure we'll try it, but mostly we'll be doing the dining room thing, or the lido restaurant (buffet) -- and we do have AYW dining, which might help a bit on the timing issue.

 

I think of Freestyle on NCL as being about three things, mostly. First, freedom to eat WHEN you want (no fixed dining times, no dashing back from shore to make an arbitrary time to be seated in the dining room). I think the "freedom to eat WHERE you want" is overstated/overmarketed -- reservations are needed at many venues, and some of the restaurants do have a surcharge. But overall I do like being able to eat WHEN I want without being relegated to the lido.

 

Second, freedom to dress in resort casual and NEVER having to get all gussied up in order to participate in the evening's dining and activities (on some other lines they still request pax to remain in formal attire in public rooms after dinner those evenings). Third (and nobody's mentioned this), I love freestyle debarkation -- staying in your cabin until you have to leave the ship, instead of being forced to wait for hours in some overcrowded, hot, lounge with a zillion others until they let you disembark. That last day is sad enough without THAT zoo, so I really like being able to go have breakfast, come back and take a shower, and hang out in the cabin until it's time to go.

 

I agree that NCL makes you jump through hoops to have a bottle of booze in your cabin (they aren't alone in this) -- but I figure, hey, at least they give you that option. Several other mainstream lines won't even let you (over)pay for the privilege of having a bottle in your cabin.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise. You and your companion might want to consider the romance/anniversary package for your cruise, by the way. It's an amazing bargain for what's included (1 bottle of champagne at sailaway, chocolate covered strawberries, a photo, a champagne and cake party, and two cover charges plus a bottle of wine at Le Bistro).

[newmexicoNita]

I can only speak to the Crown Princess. She had two traditional dining rooms, 2 anytime dining rooms, a steak specialty restaurant, a sushi bar, the atrium snack place (~great~ salads and sandwiches!), and a buffet. There may have been more -- this is all we found. :) We had a party of four, and never had any problem getting a table for 4 in either of the anytime restaurants. There was also a decent number of tables for 2.

Becky, maybe it was just the Golden. They did have a few tables for 2 but most were reserved at the beginning of the cruise so if you wanted one you had to wait 1/2 hour or longer with no beepers like NCL. Most of the tables were large.

 

Nita

[shark_bait]

Being able to stay in your cabin during disembarkation- Huge plus.:) Also from everything I've read Embarkation Process is the best in the biz.