Opinions on Freestyle Cruising

[hucifer]

My DH and I went on an NCL cruise in 2000, back when they had traditional dining. My aunt, an experienced cruiser, recently went on an NCL trip and had positive reviews about it...except for the Freestyle Cruising part. She said the "free" food was inferior to her previous dining on NCL ships, and in order to get the quality meal that she used to get, she had to pay extra in one of their restaurants.

 

I have searched several pages in this board, but did not see a thread on this. Are opinions varied on this topic, or do most people agree with my aunt? I am planning to take a Mediterranean cruise next summer and do not know if I should reconsider NCL or not.

 

Thanks!

[Dukegirl5577]

There are many threads devoted to this and you'll never get one absolute answer because there isn't ONE absolute answer.

 

I, for one, have only been on two "traditional dining" cruises...the first more than 20 years ago opn Sitmar, when I was a child, and the other just last year, but on Carnival, so I can't really compare Freestyle vs previous traditional dining on NCL.

 

But I've sailed 3 times as an adult (the first two on NCL with Freestyle and the third on Carnival with traditional dining). My 2 Freestyle experiences on NCL have been leaps and bounds better than my traditional dining experience on Carnival. I have booked another Freestyle cruise for this March because I like it so much.

 

First of all, I much prefer getting to eat on my own schedule and with dining companions (or none) of my own choosing, and for me, that's most important. Second of all, I found the dining on NCL, including in the free main dining rooms (in fact, I'll be trying my very first specialy dining room in March for our anniversary cruise...have always just gone to the MDR) to be much better than on Carnival. The quality, preparation, selection, taste...everything was better on NCL. The menus were much more interesting and varied, and everything tasted much better. The food on Carnival was rather bland and uninteresting. There was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't as good as on NCL.

 

Some will say that quality in the MDR on NCL has slipped, and that may be the case. I can't say, since I've only ever experienced FReestyle with NCL. But I can say that I've never experienced a bad dining room meal. I may have liked some things better than others, but all have been at least "very good", if not "excellent." Was it necessarily gourmet? Some things came darn near close. Other things, no, but were still very good. But I don't expect a 5 star gourmet meal at mass-market prices. At mass market prices, I would expect a mass market meal...and with very, very few exceptions, I've found my meals to far exceed my expectations.

 

The only place where I would give Carnival a leg up in the food category (or really any category, for that matter) is the buffet. They had a larger and more varied menu selection in the buffet, and it was better laid out.

[uppitycats]

I don't know how the search works, but there are countless threads here about the quality of the food, and freestyle dining.

 

I happen to love it. I've cruised on other cruise lines, and won't go back to the traditional dining (TD) option, with set dinner times and having to show up at the dining room at a specific time, or not be served.

 

NCL seems to be one of those cruise lines that people either love or hate, so it's hard to sort through, but basically those who love the convenience of freestyle dining love NCL..and those who don't...don't.

 

Food quality is fine. Perhaps not gourmet..but you're not paying for gourmet! For a mass-market cruise line, feeding 2,000+ passengers, the food was quite good, abundant, varied, on our last cruise (In October, 2008). From what I gather, food quality on most of the lines has diminished some -- I suspect it has more to do with the tanking economy than with anything else. And all the lines now have "speciality restaurants" where you pay more for fancier food. NCL was just the first to do that.

 

Anyway...any cruise is better than not cruising at all! But don't base your decision just on hearsay about food quality. Have fun on your next cruise!

[hucifer]

Thanks for your posts!

 

When we went in 2000, we thought the food was outstanding. We have also been on two RCL cruises, and loved the food on those too. We thought that the service on NCL was a touch better. (And the chocolate buffet was TO DIE FOR. Do they still have those? Could be a deal breaker...)

 

I was excited at the thought of Freestyle's flexibility (and lack of dress code), but less-than-thrilled at the idea of having an inferior meal. The quality of food is very important to my DH and I.

 

To be honest, I didn't do a search, but did scan the first several pages of this board. I'm sure there are lots of threads devoted to this topic, I just had not come across any.

[sottovoce]

Firstly, I don't think the concept of freestyle has anything to do with the quality of the food. Freestyle means you can choose from many venues in which to dine, you can choose the time at which you'd like to dine, you can choose with whom you'd like to dine, and--within the constraints of "resort casual"--you can choose what to wear when you dine. To some of us this is an important factor in choosing a cruise line. Others much prefer so-called "traditional" dining with fixed seating time, table, and table-mates. If someone were to have a strong preference one way or the other, it wouldn't surprise me if that affected his or her opinion on food quality. We, like it or not, are all human.

 

I don't know what (or when) your aunt was comparing NCL's food to, but in our opinion the main dining room food on our six NCL cruises was of comparable quality with the food we've had in the main dining rooms on four other mass-market cruise lines. Yes, cuts of beef are typically better in extra-charge dining rooms like Cagney's and Le Bistro, but they are also better than what we've been served in other lines' main dining rooms.

[hucifer]

I don't think the concept of freestyle has anything to do with the quality of the food.

I realize that, according to my aunt it was just an unintended consequence. She has taken NCL and RCCL cruises in the past...I don't know any other details than that.

 

I just started this thread to see if others held the same opinion...that the food quality in NCL went down since Freestyle Cruising started.

[cruise4usnow]

Recently we have cruised RCCL, Princess and NCL. We prefer eating when we wish and with whom we wish. We also prefer deciding if we want to pay extra for an exceptional meal (love the Le Bistro on the Jade), go to the MDR, or go really simple and hit the buffet. Sometimes there are early bird specials for the "specialty" restaurants on port days.

 

So is the food ok? Well, when you eat out at home you can choose the type of restaurant. Say on shore for Denny's (very low end and probably wouldn't go there again) you'd pay $5.50 for B, $8 for lunch, and $12.5 for dinner-without beverages - that would be $26/day. Even at Burger King now you'd pay almost that much with your drink for B&L. Then if you went to a bit nicer place - you'd pay more. And if you went out to a nice steak house a one dinner just a single chicken entree you would start at $20 (plus salad - $7-8 and desert $7-9) - that makes the price of $15 for the whole upgraded meal a bargain with a "to die for desert"! For our budget - the meals served by NCL at the MDR well surpass the average local restaurant and were very similar to Princess and RCCL MDR (except the chocolate buffet). As with any place - some dishes are better than others and everyone has different taste buds.

 

I like having the choice to splurge one or more nights on a great dinner (at a cost of $15-20 for one night), rather than paying high fees for the total cruise (+100-500 higher cruise fare) and then only truly enjoying one night of eating. (BTW - other cruise lines also have the "pay extra" restaurants)

 

The down side of eating when you wish is that everyone may wish to eat at the same time - that translates into LINES - plan an alternate time or make reservations. Also, check out the posted menus in the morning for the MDRs and decide if you'd rather go to a specialty restaurant that night. The specialty dinner menus do not change during the cruise.

 

hucifer - I loved the Jade and it's iten for the Med. It is being repeated in the fall.

[hucifer]

Cruise4usnow, that was a very informative post! You gave me some more things to consider.