Just off the Gem. Not sure 'bout Freestyle.

[newmexicoNita]

To Nita:

 

AR=Arizona? We were there, too. Sedona was a most incredible place.

 

To We Love:

 

Yeah, we had concierge service back in 03. And since the concierge never returned my calls, I have not a clue what her name was/is.

 

I don't know the names, except for Second City.(they were great) I'll check with my group and get back to you on other names. The "house" singers and dancers were good, talented kids. The Cruise Director reminded me of John Lovitz.

actually no, we are in Arkansas, now you know about age, we decided we needed to be close to family in AR, TX and Ok...I hate to admit we are thinking such thoughts. LOL

[Studebaker59]

3rdtimecruising -There will be plenty of parking spaces in March on the roof of the N.Y. Cruiseship Terminal. Also, the people from the previous sailing leave, and their spaces become available.

 

Drop off the luggage and passengers first. The porters take the luggage. Arrange to meet the rest of your party in front of the snack bar just inside the front doors after you pay and park the car. It's $30 a day, payable with cash, Visa, or MasterCard.

 

On the return, follow a porter pushing your luggage. He can take it in the elevator with you. He can put it in your car which is parked on the roof.

 

It's really very easy!

[warb]

I also have given NCL a try twice and truly was not impressed. I felt it was difficult to get to eat when you wanted. I felt the ones you had to pay for were basically what you got in the dining room on other lines for free and that the dining room food was completely sub par to anything else. Not good. The whole freestyle concept for dining just made it chaos. The main dining room food was usually cold and steaks were dried up and over done.

 

I agree. We gave the Jewel a try this past Oct. The Dining room food was a joke. Always

cold food. It was so bad we met with management. They had excuses. We will take our

chances with Princess, Holland, or RCL. Good post Conn.

[dfishner]

Great review thanks so much for sharing it. All though our cruise on NCL Pearl is not until 11/09 by reading all the posts we have familiarize ourselves with the dining process. We know we like to dine at 7 to 7:30 I know we will make reservations in the morning, I am not sure if this is correct but read somewhere if you are in a mini suite you can make reservations 48 hours in advance if so then that is what we will do. Since there are so many restaurants on the Pearl I feel we can be flexible on our choices to best fit the time we like to dine at. To me that is what I believe Freestyle is all about. It is not a set time it is the time we like dining at.

 

I really do not expect to show up at one of the restaurants and be seated without reservations with over 2500 passengers and only 10 or 12 restaurants I am sure there are times that book up quickly. We feel the best option for us is to decided which restaurants we want to go to before we cruise and plan out our week accordingly and see what is available when we call to make reservations. I think for us that is the best approach.

[punkmuse]

wow ConnCruiser i cant imagine being vegan on a cruise!!

sound like a lot of fruits and veggies!! ive never seen any veggie protein on a cruise, you are too right!

 

at least on a land based vacation you can run to a grocery store if you have to.

 

sounds like you made due though :)

[sharonax3]

WOW, A lot of people on these boards are always saying they had to wait to get in the dining room. We were on Dawn about a year ago, and I swear we never waited once to get into the main dining rooms. There were only 2 of us, but we always were able to walk right in and we always ate around 7 or 7:30.

 

Maybe I was just lucky and didn't realize it!

[Hockey19]

On the Pearl reservations for pay restaurants could be made at the Garden Cafe as well as a reservations desk at reception. They used a tablet computer so searching all available venues and available times were a breeze.

[julieanne]

Just off the Sun. We never waited to dine and we dined every night between 7-7:30. I agree with many that some of the food is just mediocre, but then some is really good as well! It had been 10 years and I wasn't blown away by the Freestyle or the fact that the chef "freestyled" my meals a few times (meaning I got something completely different than what I ordered). All in all we had a great cruise and booked another. Only one excellent meal in Le Bistro, wasn't impressed by Il Adagio.

[NevadaHiRoller]

I also have given NCL a try twice and truly was not impressed. I felt it was difficult to get to eat when you wanted. I felt the ones you had to pay for were basically what you got in the dining room on other lines for free and that the dining room food was completely sub par to anything else. Not good. The whole freestyle concept for dining just made it chaos. The main dining room food was usually cold and steaks were dried up and over done.

 

I agree. We gave the Jewel a try this past Oct. The Dining room food was a joke. Always

cold food. It was so bad we met with management. They had excuses. We will take our

chances with Princess, Holland, or RCL. Good post Conn.

 

Interesting to know it wasn't just me. The freestyle dining to me was stressful also. At least with fixed seating dining, I know where I need to be and what time and it's way less stressful. Even so, if the food would have been decent, it wouldn't have bothered me so bad. But all the hassle and hussle for what?

[OceanDreaming2]

The main dining room food was usually cold and steaks were dried up and over done.

 

After several NCL cruises, I have to say, this has NEVER happened to me!

[groo]

I was on the Dawn in December and we never had a problem getting into a restaurant. We had a short wait one night, but the steak I had was better than the one I had in Cagney's the night before. We ate at various times depending on the show schedule and when we got back from shore. The food was wonderful every night, and I'm picky about food quality.

 

 

Darry Howard

[newmexicoNita]

WOW, A lot of people on these boards are always saying they had to wait to get in the dining room. We were on Dawn about a year ago, and I swear we never waited once to get into the main dining rooms. There were only 2 of us, but we always were able to walk right in and we always ate around 7 or 7:30.

 

Maybe I was just lucky and didn't realize it!

Like you, we have never really waited except once and have done 7 freestyle cruises. I have seen some lines on Lobster night, but even that is rare. I know these people aren't all making up the stories, though some may be exagerating a little, regardless it is hard to understand why some have waited and others have never????

 

For those who have experienced poor food quality: again this is so subjective. I will add here, I am considered a blue ribbon cook (I am not bragging, just wanted to qualify myself) our last cruise, we ate 4 dinners in the main dining rooms: one night we had prime rib, the helpings were not huge but were very good, one night the seafood surf and more surf entree with pasta, great, but almost too rich, and one night (the last) the English Loin of beef, cooked to perfection and plenty of it..One night we did order the alternative entree (8 oz steak) it could have been much better, but I think a 75% satisfactory record is pretty good.

 

Nita

[ConnCruise]

Glad folks enjoyed my "review." One thing about this particular board that strikes me after reading a bunch of different topic posts, is that some folks seem to take any criticism of NCL personally. Now you all have been nice to me, even though I did have a less than glowing review of my time on the Gem, but all need to try and remember that the site's name is Cruise CRITIC. If I was an employee of NCL or any other line, I would be sure to read the posts, good and not so good. What a great tool for management.

 

Also a few ironic posters have played with the FREEstyle brand name, like I just did, when commenting about the upcharge for the specialty restaurants. Others, missing the irony have been quick to point out that free and freestyle have different meanings. DUH.

 

Anyway, over the years, either just before or after my cruise, I stop by. Its always been a plus for me.

 

To Punk:

 

I can tell you the exact locations of really good natural food markets in Key West and St.

Thomas. I know I'm one of the few cruisers who ever bring food on board. :-)

[3rdtimecruising]

Hi Studebaker59

 

This is Ann and Bernie from Boston. Thanks for the info on the parking in NYC. That will really be great for us. In the past we have parked at a relatives in Clifton NJ and taken a limo in to the pier, but last time the limo was lost and we waited so long we didn't get back to Boston til the evening.

 

We love going out of NYC. Flying to Florida is such a hassle. Last year we cruised out of Los Angeles and while it was wonderful we still work and found ourselves exhausted upon returning home.

 

Our son and daughter in law sailed on the Gem last Feb and loved it. I see you are going on an upcoming Gem sailing. Have you sailed on NCL before? This will be our 4th and in Sept we will be on the Spirit out of Boston. We enjoy Freestyle. It is all about convenience and planning.

 

Is Studebaker your name or do you own one? My uncle did and I remember it well.

 

Ann and Bernie