There are two main dining rooms on this ship, with a number of specialty restaurants. The Windows Restaurant is at the stern of the ship and has a lovely setting with windows along the two sides of the room and then three story windows the width of the restaurant at the stern. The ceiling gradually elevates in stages to the height of the windows, and is very pretty. Windows is the largest restaurant and seats the most people.

The Garden Room Restaurant is the second main restaurant and is at midship. It is a much smaller restaurant than Windows. It has windows along one side and is decorated in an oriental style. It is an elegant room, as well. We dined there only once, because it filled up more quickly.

Pluses to Freestyle Dining on the Norwegian Spirit:

We were two people and were always seated at a table for two in Windows when we arrived for dinner regardless of the time. We almost always were seated next to a window looking out on the sea. This was wonderful. I think we were perhaps lucky in our timing, since not all tables for 2 are by the windows, but it shows a party for two has a good chance of a table by the windows. The service that we received was good to very good – often very good. NCL seems to have worked out the problem with service, at least it seemed this way to us on this ship. We often ate lunch in this dining room, also.

NCL has teamed with Cooking Light Magazine to offer “delicious and healthy” meals for their guests. Each menu listed a Cooking Light selection for the appetizer, entrée and dessert. I tried a number of the CL suggestions and they were good. One thing about them is that they were actually a serving size, meaning there is not a huge amount of food on the plate. This suited me fine, but I know that the normal entrée on a cruise ship is usually larger. Since there were still a number of other selections on the menu, I thought this was a good addition to the menu.

NCL had electronic displays at each restaurant showing how full all the restaurants are. This is a plus and a con for Freestyle Dining. The displays are not in bad taste and serve a useful purpose when you do not have an assigned table. On the con side, I want it to be easy to eat dinner on a cruise ship. The displays show you need a strategy.

Cons to Freestyle Dining on the Norwegian Spirit:

To accommodate more people in the Windows dining room, some of the tables are placed closer to one another than is typical. We were always seated at a table for two. There was another table for two about 18” from us, set directly in line with our table. There were two rows of two tables for two set up like this. This seemed too close at times. Sometimes a table for 4 would be set at an angle to a table for two, and this put one chair close to our table, as well. This lets NCL seat more people, so fewer people are waiting.

The menu no longer lists both an appetizer section and a salad section on the menu. There is an appetizer section, with a note to order as many as you like. This combined the two menu sections, to a degree, but there were not many green salads listed. A Caesar salad could always be ordered from the section of the menu for dishes that were always available, but not a green salad. Combining the two selections saves time, in that the waiter does not come twice to deliver and take away two courses, and those waiting for a table get seated sooner. I last cruised in 2003 on a ship with assigned tables and I remember appetizers and salads offered separately, resulting in more of a selection.

We were asked to order dessert when we ordered at the start of the meal. They do not bring back the menus after the main course for you to select a dessert. They did offer coffee after dinner before the dessert came, and asked about an after dinner drink. Taking the dessert order at the start saves times, especially with a larger group. Again, this must be to shorten the time some guests might be waiting for a table.

Dinner in the main dining rooms started at 5:30. One evening we went to dinner early and looked around at 6:15 and the dining room was full. I think people, especially large groups, eat early in an effort to get a table. As a table for two, we seemed to always be able to get a table whenever we arrived. If people feel they need to eat early, or late, to get a table, is it really Freestyle Dining? You still cannot eat when you actually want to, unless you are just two people, and isn’t eating when you want and where you want what Freestyle Dining is about?

They give out pagers to the people waiting for a table. This is an efficient way to handle people waiting for a table, and they at least are not calling out names when tables become available, but it seemed too much like eating in a restaurant at home, when I would see the stack of blinking pagers. It takes away from the elegant setting that dining on cruise ship offers. I may be out of step with reality in thinking like this.

There is no good place for people to wait for their table outside the restaurant. Some stand in the elevator lobby. Most sit on the stairs and this makes it hard to walk down or up the stairs. Often you cannot hold onto the railing because people are sitting next to it.

The Raffles restaurant is the 12th deck buffet and always seemed crowded. There was a large selection of food, and usually a sandwich bar at lunch where a chef would make the sandwich to your specifications. It may be that the way the buffet is set up is not good, or maybe there were just too many people at the same time deciding to eat lunch there. We ate lunch in the dining room when we could and no one ever had to wait for a table for lunch.

I find it interesting NCL haven't really controlled the crowd outside the restaurants, but to correct you, the NORWEGIAN SPIRIT was actually built for the "first version" of Freestyle Cruising. She was built for Star Cruises (NCL's parent company) as SUPERSTAR LEO for the Asian market. She was transferred to NCL in 2003(?).

You are definitely right, Wayaro, about the the casino. The Superstar Leo was built with a huge casino, so Asians must like casinos on ships. The Norwegian Spirit still has a huge casino, the largest I have ever seen on a cruise ship, but when the ship came to North America, they remodeled the casino and added the Marharini Lounge and Bar behind the casino. Still, it is one very large casino.

Thank you for the review I enjoyed reading it pros and cons.. she still sounds worth a cruise and has had tempting itins in the past.. not sure what she's doing at present though.

Ordering dessert with the main course is becoming more common... [and often done in Med areas].. many don't like it, as how does one now how satisfied one is and how much 'room' there is left after eating the appetisers/entrees etc...

Eyes are large at the outset when hungry, but may not be so by the time dessert is offered. I am easy as I rarely have anything other than cheese and/or fruit plate, but others in the family never know and may well change their mind.

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Originally posted by PamM:
In the past I have also read comments that the beds were smaller [both narrower and shorter] than the standard for Western cruising... is that the case? or a myth?

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I sailed on NORWEGIAN SPIRIT two years ago, and I did notice that the height of things was lower than usual on other ships, by 3 or 4 inches, to accommodate the typical Asian body frame. Things like the sink and counter in the bathrooms, the desk/dressing table in the cabin, even the buffet lines.

quote:

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Originally posted by KansasK:
You are definitely right, Wayaro, about the the casino. The Superstar Leo was built with a huge casino, so Asians must like casinos on ships. The Norwegian Spirit still has a huge casino, the largest I have ever seen on a cruise ship, but when the ship came to North America, they remodeled the casino and added the Marharini Lounge and Bar behind the casino. Still, it is one very large casino.

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The casino support the whole Star Cruises,
that's why N.Spirit has a huge casino!!!.

Anyway, the gist of the complaints seemd to be do with Freestyle Dining. As far as I could understand it, what is happening on that ship is that large numbers of passengers are reserving their dinner slots in the main restaurant(s), for the whole cruise, when they board. So those passengers who haven't done this are arriving at the restaurant to be told that there are no places available and they will have to wait, even though these would-be diners can see many empty tables in the restaurant. The tables are empty because they are being held for the reservations, of course.

This seems to be contrary to the spirit of Freestyle Dining, surely. I can't see any difference in practice between deciding when you board what time you will dine on each night of the cruise, and having a formal dinner time set, ie either early or late in the traditional style.