Is open seating on Norwegian Cruises easy or pain in butt?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

Here's my experience and recommendations on NCL's "freestyle" cruising:

Freestyle Cruising means that you do not have to specify a dining option when you book your cruise and thus don't have a table and waiter assigned to you. "FREESTYLE" means you can go to dinner in the main dining room, or any other alternative restaurant, any time of the evening after 6:00 PM.. But you will have to reserve a time in the alternate restaurants. It also means that you don't have to "dress up" for dinner, but just go "sports casual". But it also means that you may be standing in line awaiting a table on some days (like we had to do a couple times); not what you want on a cruise. Since you go when you want, you rarely get the same waiter and so never really get to know your waiter and he/she never learns what you prefer as is done on â€œtraditionalâ€ cruise lines.

I have been on many Norwegian ships and at one time NCL was my favorite cruise line. However, after NCL was bought by Star Cruises and they instituted the "Freestyle Cruising", I do not care for their cruises and do not recommend them, especially for people who have been on a number of cruises and prefer traditional cruising. Since Star Cruises took over NCL the line it has an Asian flavor; Star is an Oriental company. Some of the performers and musicians were Asian and they have Karioke every evening. Not my cup of tea.

The option to traditional dining being pushed on NCL is their optional dining restaurants. However, these dining options can cost $10 to $20 a person for dinner each night. This is not what you want after paying for a cruise which is supposed to be all inclusive. The optional restaurants are very nice, including French, Chinese/Sushi, Tex-Mex, Italian, and steak house restaurants. But who wants to go pay to eat on a cruise ship where all the meals are supposed to be included. We always skipped the optional restaurants and just got to the main dining early. That worked fine, except on "at sea" days when everyone wanted to go eat early. We later found that we could reserve a time in the main dining room, but we still got a different table and waiter for dinner each night. SInce you have a large group you may be able to reserve a table as many of their table seat 10, 12 or 15 people.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Mary

I prefer open seating. That way I am not rushing to dinner and eat only when I am hungry. Also after returning on board from a port you have time to shower and relax before dinner.

svg7373

I've been on one cruise in my life and it was on the Norwegian Dawn. I had nothing to compare the "freestyle cruising" with but I was extremely happy with my week spent with them. I was in a smaller party than you but we never had problems being seated. The staff were always extremely pleasant and very accommodating. I don't think you'll have any problems. Have fun!!!!

Lex

If you make reservations at the fancier restaurants, there should be no problems. If you eat at one of the buffets, there could be trouble. At the busiest times, there might be one or two four people tables available. You have to go at the right time and you can usually get a lot of tables if you need it.

Jessica C

If you all want to eat together then just show up at the same restaurant at the same time. They will be happy to seat you together or separately. My husabnd and I were able to eat just the 2 of us several times on our 6 night cruise to Bermuda.

padwinlearner

Loved it! Really did not have to wait very long - maybe 10 minutes at the busiest times - but you can alway make a reservation and be seated right away. I don't like the assigned seating anymore since I experienced fee style seatings.

1Cheapcruise

Just make sure that you explain to NCL that you want to dine at the same time. Once that is understood they should accomadate your group.
Have a great vacation!

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