Group Dining w/FreeStyle?

[cpizzull]

Hi All!

 

Never been on Norwegian, but am entertaining the idea for a June/July Bermuda cruise. I'm also possibly looking to book a group (8 cabins possibly). I was curious how a group would dine together with the free-style dining? Easier ? Same? Waiting?

 

Any comments about booking groups, etc, as it pertains to NCL is greatly appreciated.

 

PS. I'm a bit hesitant about this ship as it is smaller than Celeb's Horizon, which I thought was somewhat boring since it rained almost every day for us. Would love to do the big ole Voyager, but 2 days in Bermuda is a bit disheartening, especially if it rains!

 

Thanks in advance!

Chet

[ute_fan]

We were part of a large group (probably 30 cabins) on the Sea last January, but we obviously didn't all try to eat together. We split up into smaller groups for dining, normally 6-8 people. For us, freestyle worked great, but most of the big complaints about freestyle seem to be for larger groups (more than 8 - 10).

 

I read one suggestion that you make reservations with the maitre'd as soon as you board the ship if you have a large party. Of course, that sort of eliminates the other advantages of freestyle, but with a large group that seems to be the recommendation. If you can split up into 2 smaller groups, you might have better luck without making reservations.

 

Our group of 6 on the Sun never waited longer than 20 minutes for a table, on formal night in the formal dining room. The only exception was the last night of the cruise, when we had requested a table in a specific waitress' area. Then we had to wait about 1 hour, but we went to our rooms and packed and they called us when she had a free table. That was, however, our choice. We could have been seated immediately in another area if we didn't choose to wait for that waitress.