Freestyle on the right course - Letters

Cruise Travel, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Robert Lerner

Having cruised a couple of dozen times on various cruise lines, we thought we would try the new "Freestyle Cruising" on Norwegian Cruise Line. We spent 10 days onboard the Norwegian Dream. Here are some observations.

Dress code: It was nice not to have to drag along a coat and tie or tux, and everyone onboard seemed to respect the suggested resort casual attire. It works.

Dining: We were apprehensive about the invitation to show up whenever you want to eat, but we never had to wait more than three minutes at any of the three main restaurants, regardless of when we approached the dining room. It works.

Debarkation: NCL says to relax and enjoy the final morning onboard without having to hurry. Housekeeping knocked on our door at 7:50 a.m. wanting to clean the cabin, the dining room closed at 8:30, and coffee was impossible to find by 9. This needs work.

Tips: NCL automatically added $10 per day/per person to our shipboard account for gratuities. We normally tip more than that amount to our cabin and wait staff. The result is that service appears to suffer. On the two occasions we met our cabin steward, he was less than friendly and I never learned his name. In the dining rooms, the assistant waiters (once called bus boys, and now comprising mostly very cordial Eastern European ladies) were pleasant, but the waiters were quite perfunctory. In 10 days, only one waiter introduced himself by name. While adding the tips automatically is a nice convenience, I wonder how much is skimmed from the top by NCL, how much goes to the maitre d's (whom we generally do not tip), and how much is actually left over for the hardworking staff.

All things considered, it was a nice experience.

Robert Lerner, San Diego